36.5 Weeks

Sorry for the delay in posting, I have been super tired the past few weeks and am pretty much on the couch once I get home from work. Do you see our purple wall!!!!! Thanks Sara and Travis!!! They surprised Geoff and I by purchasing and accent wall in our nursery. Geoff and I picked the color and it was painted this week!!! We love it! Here is Geoff hanging up the letter's for our little girl's name. He was very methodical using the laser level and tape measure - it looks great! (I took lots of pictures, but you can't see them yet)

Here is her changing station. I made some little butterfly pictures for her. I hope she likes them. Oh you can also barley see, but we hung up black and white polk-a-dot curtains that my mom made, they pull the room all together. I will take some pictures and post them soon. We have been busy getting everything ready this week!
Larry has found a new hiding spot - under the crib. I wonder if he will spend much time down there once there is a crying baby above him???
Here I am! Yep big as a house. I am going to the doctor every week now. I went on Monday and was already at 3cm!!! The doctor said that is good, and if I keep up at this rate, I will not have to worry about going past my due date:) The baby is measuring a little small still, so I am going to take it easy so she will cook as long as possible.
Front view. Yes the picture frame behind be is blank - I am trying to figure out what to put in it. I was thinking of some Larry pictures, but we will see.

33 weeks

Here are some pictures I took myself:) Geoff is in MO currently trying to stay out of trouble while making sure Collin has a memorable bach party weekend. So far is sounds like they are behaving and having a good time. (Just as you would expect from the Bowers' men)

Warning bare belly!

Larry is peaking in to see what on earth I am doing.

I am doing fine. Really, really tired! Just like at the beginning. My routine consists of going to work, maybe doing something like cooking or walking the dog, then I am planted on the couch! There are so many things I need to do- finish the nursery, pack my bag, daily chores- oh well they will all get done somehow. (Geoff will be home soon, so he will have a long list)

Other that that not much to report. The baby girl is kicking me all them time. She seems to be really active in the afternoon and late evening. I have an appointment this week and after that I move to weekly check-ups! It's a sign that she will be here soon and boy am I ready! (7 weeks more to go!)

27 weeks

Here I am with my big belly. It was gorgeous here this weekend - 80 degrees both days! (no humidity!)

The babies room is just starting to come together. I figured I would take a picture so you can see the step by step process. After lots of debates, we have decided to keep the double bed in the room for now. (We hope to have visitors this summer) The room is not huge, but it works for now. I think we have narrowed down the bedding selections to 3 choices, Monkeys (green and tan), butterflys (Purple and pink), or ladybugs (Pink, red, and black). I am hoping to make the decision soon, I think it will really help pull the room together. Also we are closing in on a name, which will go on the wall over her crib.

The baby got a new bookshelf/storage thing. One of the projects I worked on while Geoff was away in Montana. She has lots of stuff already, so I figured might as well organize it. As for our first born...
He participated with Geoff in a 5k run for Bark in the Park (I walked the 2k with some co-workers) benefiting the local humane society(Larry is from the Humane society in STL, so we are big supporters of it). The event was not as big as St. Louis' annual one, but still really fun. I forgot my camera, but this is Larry when we got home, he was beat!
On a side note. So Eugene is affectionately refereed to as "Tracktown USA" basically running is a big deal here. Well I thought it was about time to check out a track meet. I went with my friend Andrea. It was great. So many events going on all at once. We also happen to be there on a special night where a relay team from the University of Oregon was going to attempt to break the 4 by 1 mile relay collegiate record. It was very exciting to watch!

Here is the final baton pass! They let spectators down on the track to give the runners some extra encouragement. I stayed in the stands because I already had a great view.
Here he is crossing the finish line. The old record was 16:08, so they shaved off 5 seconds. Pretty cool!
The relay team doing a victory lap.

All is well otherwise. I had a slight scare on Friday - pretty much I was in a lot of pain - Dr. Geoff fed me water. It worked, so I guess it was dehydration. I go to the doc on Tuesday, so we will tell her all about it and how to avoid that from happening again:)

Crib Assembly

We finally got around to putting the crib together. I have been wanting to for weeks. We didn't move the desk out of the room yet, so the space is tight, but we still squeezed it in. Here is Geoff making sure all the screws are in tight.

Larry was around for general support

Geoff checking out his handy work

Crib complete! Now we just have to pick up the mattress and find some bedding!

22 weeks and Easter

Here is me with my 22 week belly. It is getting rounder by the day:)

The baby is almost a pound and is the size of a spaghetti squash. Geoff finally got to feel her from the outside. She moves around and kicks like crazy. I am feeling good. I just started prenatal yoga, which so far is great. There are a lot of hippie all natural child birth people in the class, I am still planning on getting the drugs!
Side Shot - oh I just got 2-3 inches cut off my hair - it's still pretty long as you can see.

Geoff and I taking a picture of ourselves after we got back from our big date night. We went to Mexican, Old Navy, and Boarders (I wanted to look at fluffy girl aka maternity clothes and baby clothes) Geoff ended up buying a swim suit, I got a skirt, and baby got a ducky washcloth/hand puppet. We are a crazy couple these days!!!
My bunny cake for our Easter party. (I think it was Aunt Kay who always used to make these, I always remember hers looking so much cuter)
We dyed some eggs. One for each of us:)

Cute random picture of Larry. He was just relaxing. I have my next appointment in a week, then I will be on a plane coming to STL!!!

21 Weeks

I am half way through!!! My belly is getting huge. I am still able to mix pre-preggo clothes with maternity, but those days are getting very limited.

Here is me and Larry. I never look good in any of these pictures, we usually take them at like 11pm after the day has caused havoc on my hair and makeup, but you can get the point.


Babies new dresser. We are going to put a changing pad on top so it will double as a changing table too. I guess I am in what you call "nesting" mode. I couldn't wait for Geoff to get home when I got this piece from IKEA and I know I am not supposed to lift, so I brought it in piece by piece. Over 10 trips down to my car - keep in mind I live in an apartment. Then I put it all together before he could get home. He moved it into the room for me:)
Here is the crib, well parts of it. This is our project coming up this weekend. We have to move some furniture around to make it all fit, but I am dying to see how it all looks! We also looked at paint colors - purple of course.

Other than that our weekend was god. Geoff took an extra day off to hang out with me. We got our taxes done, thanks dad and Travis for the help. We also looked at baby mobiles- AKA SUV's. I found one that I love, (Navy Blue Honda CRV) but it is a buyers market, so I am trying to play hardball. I am coming home in about 3 weeks! Geoff is coming about a month later.

Mary Anne's Visit

Mary Anne came to visit Geoff and I in Oregon. Here is Mary Anne at the top of Skinner Butte overlooking Eugene.


20 Week shot. I am staring to really feel the baby move!


Ok-I realize not everyone wants to see this, but some have asked, here is my huge belly!
We took a trip to the Oregon Coast. Here is a picture at Devils Churn. The tide was really high this day.
Some sea lions tanning in the sun. The were super loud and very lazy.
Geoff and Mary Anne exploring the rocks at Hobbit Beach
Babies first trip to the ocean.
Us on the Pacific!


Geoff and Mary Anne on the hiking Trail
Our last stop before the airport, IKEA! It's a wonderful place.

Mary Anne's visit flew by. We had such a good time and I was sad to see it end. I miss having by best friend here, but having someone like her in the world still makes me a very lucky person. Thanks for coming, see you soon!

It's a Girl!!!

Well we had the big ultrasound today and were not disappointed. Most importantly, we found out we were having a healthy baby. Oh yeah we also found out it was a she!!!! Mckinley doesn't have to worry about being the only girl in the family anymore. Here is a picture of Mary Anne with her baby gift! Isn't it great! Go cards!
To celebrate, Mary Anne and I hit the mall to check out all the cute girl stuff. We found an "I love Daddy" outfit for Geoff. Here he is posing with it, I don't know which one of us is more excited that it is a girl!
So cute - both outfits together.
I found some really cute onesies that were purple! Oh and Strawberry and cherry Pj's- how could you go wrong! I had to restrain myself from buying all the cute dresses and skirts for now, but that might change as my due date approaches. Everything else is good. She is a great size and appears to be in perfect health! My due date stays the same, mid August or so. We had a boy name all picked out, so now we have to come up with a girl one, oh well - I am very excited to do so! (We actually have narrowed it down to 5 or so already)

Thanks for every ones thoughts all day, you excitement made us feel as close to STL as we have in months. We will be cheering on the Tigers and the Xavier Musketeers tomorrow, then the chickenhawks on Friday. I hope they all advance!

Getting Ready for Baby

So I had this crazy idea to put the dresser in the closet. You see the dress is a part of a really nice set that I would like to see all together one day, but for now, it doesn't match my black nursery theme.

Larry thought hanging out in the closet was really cool for some reason.

We quickly discovered that the doors were going to have to come off for the dress to fit. No problem, Geoff had them off in seconds.

Dresser in the closet.

Doors back on! Project accomplished! (Now we just have to find new spaces for all the crap that was in the closet!!) Oh please note, the Jayhawks have struck! A cute little outfit from Grandma Bowers arrive this week. You can see it hanging next to the Tiger outfit in the closet.

Larry had another play date with Bailey. They played all night.

The big ultrasound is coming up on Wednesday!!!! I will post here as soon as I can so you can all know what the baby is. I still think boy, Geoff girl.

Happy Birthday Larry!!!!

Today is Larry's 5th Birthday! I can't believe our first born is growing up. He still needs us to fix all his meals, unlock and open all the doors, and take him everywhere, but we don't mind:)


Here is a proud picture of him with his B-day gift, a new bone. He trotted around with it for an hour or so, then hid it until it was time to go to sleep.



Random picture of Geoff preparing dinner. He has become the stir fry master! Come for a visit and he will make you some for sure!

Me at 18 weeks. I am wearing a maternity tank. Now that I have taken the plunge into maternity clothes, I am so much more comfortable. Thanks Jen and Steph for the fashionable preggo shirts, I love them! It's great to have cute clothes, then I can forget that I am ballooning to twice my size!

Nothing else too exciting here. One week until we find out what the critter is!!!! Geoff and I are working on getting culture for the baby. We enjoyed the opera this weekend.