30 weeks

Only (hopefully) 10 weeks left!

from babycenter:

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

See what your baby looks like this week.

How your life's changing:

You may be feeling a little tired these days, especially if you're having trouble sleeping. You might also feel clumsier than normal, which is perfectly understandable. Not only are you heavier, but the concentration of weight in your pregnant belly causes a shift in your center of gravity. Plus, thanks to hormonal changes, your ligaments are more lax, so your joints are looser, which may also contribute to your balance being a bit off. Also, this relaxation of your ligaments can actually cause your feet to spread permanently, so you may have to invest in some new shoes in a bigger size.

Remember those mood swings you had earlier in pregnancy? The combination of uncomfortable symptoms and hormonal changes can result in a return of those emotional ups and downs. It's normal to worry about what your labor will be like or whether you'll be a good parent. But if you can't shake the blues or feel increasingly irritable or agitated, talk to your doctor or midwife. You may be among the 1 in 10 expectant women who battle depression during pregnancy. Also let your caregiver know if you're frequently nervous or anxious.


I have been feeling very good overall so far. I've been having some tummy troubles, so my OB suggested eating 6 times a day with protein at every meal. I think it is helping!

Baby is doing great and moving around a ton! Scott felt a kick last night and I don't think he really believed that baby was kicking that hard!

3 Years!

Today is our 3rd Anniversary!

My, how time flies!

Did we think this is where we would be 3 years from that day? It is hard to say!

It was such a beautiful day, and I still think about it often! It honestly feels like yesterday! But, I think we have grown a lot in our marriage together and commitment to each other. We are a pretty well-oiled machines these days! :o)

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Here's to the hope that someday I will look that beautiful again!

Shutterfly Books Project

Do you remember how I said one of my summer goals was to organize my photos into albums?

Well, I am done with 2006! Yay!

I ordered 3 shutterfly books, and here they are!


We did one 8x11 for our honeymoon pics:



One 8x11 for our Disney World trip taken in summer 2006:



And then one big 12x12 book for the rest of 2006:



Here is an example of one of the pages: it turned out great!

2006 was a big year with getting married, so I think the next project will be a combined book of 2007/2008. Why do we get so much more boring as we get older? :o)

Sewing Baby Burp Rags

While Scott was gone all week on RAGBRAI, I started a fun sewing project and I just finished it this morning: Burp rags for baby!!



I had seen some very cute ones on etsy.com, but they were kind of expensive for what they were. So I thought, heck, I would try and make my own. I already had about 40 flat cloth diapers (the good ones with the thick part in the middle) so all I needed was the material. I found some great stuff that matches what I have in mind for the nursery at JoAnn's. I just bought half a yard of the dark brown, and then the other patterns were those quilt block squares, which I think is about a 1/4 of a yard. I think I spent about $5 on fabric-it was also 40% off that day.

Okay...enough rambling!

Here is the tutorial I used to get me started.

Let me preface this by saying I am not a professional, but I am lucky enough to have been handed down a sweet, sweet sewing machine from Scott's grandma. Here she is:



This is my favorite part of it:



Date of purchase: 12/17/56

Wow!! This baby is going to last forever! I'm so glad I have it!

So here they are:




All in all, this project probably took me about an hour to do. The hardest part was ironing down the edges of the fabric because I kept burning myself. I think they turned out very nice!

I hope the new baby likes them! :o)

RAGBRAI survivor!!

After a very long week of RAGBRAI, my husband survived and is back home with me!!

I think he had a great time, and I'm really glad he did the whole week. That is 442 miles of riding across the whole state of Iowa! Wow!

Since he is at work now and I couldn't steal the photos from his iphone, here are some of my favorites from ragbrai.com. Check it out-it's awesome!

I think this is so typical of RAGBRAI...a little tiny town, eating outside the feed store!



Our local news chopper took footage of several days of RAGBRAI, including this photo. It was super fun to see the coverage on the news even though I wasn't on the ride!





The nightglow hot air balloons put on in Indianola! So cool!

And here is proof that I actually did used to have the ability to ride a bike 70+ miles in one day!

Maybe someday I will be able to do it again!!

29 Weeks

Baby Kundel is the size of a squash!

Baby’s energy is surging, thanks to the formation of white fat deposits beneath the skin. (Have those kicks and jabs to the ribs tipped you off yet?) Baby is also settling into sleep and waking cycles, though -- as you’ve also probably noticed -- they don’t necessarily coincide with your own. Also this month, all five senses are finally functional, and the brain and nervous system are going through major developments.

Another week down! I have been feeling a lot more movement from the baby just recently-and stronger too! It is pretty funny to imagine what it is doing in there sometimes! I have still been feeling pretty good overall, except for a brief episode with swollen feet this past weekend after all the wedding and ragbrai festivities. I have been downing the water and keeping my feet up since then and they have been fine! Although, I think I will mention this to my OB at my next appointment!

We are getting closer! :o)

Weekend Recap

What a weekend!

After all the wedding festivities Friday night, the weekend still wasn't over!

Friday night we hosted his parents at our house, so I got up early and made breakfast while Scott and his Dad mowed the lawn. Then we had some friends stop over and check out our house since they are building their own this fall, and then finally we had to get all of Scott's gear packed up for his week-long trek on RAGBRAI! (and you need a lot of stuff for a week on your bike!)

It took us FOREVER to get going and to Council Bluffs, thanks to lots of construction on I-80. It was crazy!

Luckily, it was a beautiful night and they had a great spot to camp with Steve's (Scott's brother) team.

Look how clean and fresh Scott looks before riding his bike for 7 days in a row!

(p.s., are these great photos from my iphone, or what? I think it is a better camera than my first digital Elph!)

Since I knew I would be missing my husband for a whole week and didn't want to stay home by myself, I headed home to stay with my parents for a few days. We had lots of fun shopping for baby and for a friend who is having a shower in a few weeks! I did a horrible job of taking pictures, as these are the only 3 I have from the stay home! The first is my sister's county fair queen contest dress, the second is a baby kitty I really wanted to steal, and the third is my mom's kitty who does not like to snuggle EVER!

Needless to say, I was happy to get home to my snuggly kitty who missed me lots!

Hetzel Wedding

Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Hetzel (finally!)

It was a beautiful wedding weekend! I had a great time catching up with friends I see lots and some I don't get to see very much anymore! Kelly and Josh were so happy all day, and it was just perfect. Here are some of my pictures from the big day:


A big day takes a lot to get ready for! We all had a great time with Wally and we looked great!





Beautiful bride!



The happy couple!



The obligatory under the campanile shot that I think all Iowa Staters should have!

And case in point:



Here is my "Holy cow I look huge!!" picture. Because really, I do. At least my hair looks good, right?



I was also in love with those hydrandeas! They must have been growing there for YEARS!! So beautiful.

Anyway, I realize these are pretty crappy pictures, but that is just because I knew that Kelly and Josh would have some AWESOME pictures from their photographers, such as this one:

How rockstar is that?

Big Picture!!

I finally figured out how to do it!! Sweet!!

Garden time!

I am very busy procrastinating cleaning my house, so I thought this would be a perfect day to take some pictures and post them of my garden!! :o)

I was also feeling very victorious after spraying weeds outside for about an hour. Hopefully they die!!

white coneflower

My perennial garden in all its wild glory:



Black eyed susan...these do so well here!



My zinnias....also do so well! So many flowers on this plant!



My Karl Foerester is doing well also...I love the color!



My favorite plant ever...sweet potato vine! It is finally starting to trail after lots of coaxing.



My giant tomato plants:

I spy some red ones! I will have go eat those sometime this afternoon!



A funny little spinach plant my grandma gave me. It loves to climb up the trellis!



Here are my front pots, I really like the little pots of petunias:

The front area I redid this year...the petunias are so pretty!

Some more planted in the front also:

There you have it! Hopefully these photos helped you procrastinate as much me! :o)

Nursery Progress

Please be forewarned: I am using the term "progress" very loosely here!

I got this nifty organizer for our closet at the closet store. After I told my mom about it, she said she got some that were similiar at Lowe's for about 1/4 of the price! Geeze! Anyway, it is sturdy and I like it. Maybe I can get some more at Lowe's today or tomorrow.

For now it is holding my supply of flat diapers, and regular diapers. Yay for baby things! :o)
These will probably be moved to the changing table/dresser once we get that in place, but for now it is fun just to put things away.

We also go these cool circle curtains for the room, and this is the paint color I am thinking about using. I want to do a border around the room of either a stripe or some vinyl decals. Or maybe both? I am debating whether to keep the theme of the circles going or not.

Here are some inspiration images for you:

I love the idea of doing a tree/nature themed room...but I don't know. They are so pretty!



Here is an example of a stripe I like. I would have mine be the lighter color that is already in the room so I would just have to tape before I painted.



Here is a cute circle room, with wall decals I like. I think those would make a nice border as well.

Thoughts?