Professional Maternity Photos

Three weeks ago, right when I was 35 weeks pregnant, Dan and I had maternity photos taken! I had been looking forward to these, and I am SO glad we had them done.

They will be great to look back on as Baby Cookie grows, and I'm sure it'll be fun for her to see life before she was born!

Our good friend, Megan (of Magical Moments by Megan), took the photos for us on what has probably been the sunniest / brightest day in Dayton all summer - no joke!

We love how they turned out - and we did so many poses! I wanted to make sure I had enough so I can make a collage to match the rest of ours for our home.

Have you had maternity photos taken?

    

Baby Shower in Kansas City

Way back at the end of June, Dan and I drove back to Kansas City, Missouri for our baby shower. We were lucky enough to spend several days there before, and we had the best time seeing family and friends!

The day before we had to drive back, my mom and grandma threw a baby shower for Baby Cookie! There was a small problem in the logistics (as in there was a huge thunderstorm two nights before, and the power was out at our location), but everything worked out, and we had a blast!

Our cake was from Hy-Vee (shout out, MidWest!) and was so delicious. I wish we had one here...

My grandma and my husband unintentionally matched, and it was awesome.

The coolest gift we could ever receive was this old wagon full of blocks. It was my dad's when he was a kid, and I played with it when I was little too. It's so special to have for Baby Cookie!

My friend Megan (you may remember her as the Maid of Honor in our wedding) made this adorable pink tutu for Baby Cookie, along with two taggie blankets and an awesome belt! She is so creative and thoughtful!

My mom and grandma did such a great job putting this together for us!

We were so happy to see everyone (some for the first time in forever!), and we will definitely never forget this day! 

    

The Dadmobile: Babe Lincoln

Well, the time came for Lieutenant Lovemuffin to sell his beloved Susan, his 1998 Dodge Ram. She was amazing while we had her... but it was time to move on to a vehicle that can safely hold a car seat for Baby Cookie.

Dan searched and searched for months (no, really - he did) in all of his spare time. We narrowed it down to a few select SUVs, and we went and test drove several.

The winner was the Ford Expedition - because the third row seats fold completely flat without having to take them out. That's a win in our book since we will be traveling a lot with a baby, a big dog, two cats, and all of our luggage. We need space.

The only problem with the Expedition was that we couldn't find one for a price we were willing to pay in our area. Since we wanted used (but new-ish), nice SUVs are hard to come buy. People buy them and then drive them forever. 

Then, Dan found a 2013 certified pre-owned Lincoln Navigator... which is the same as the Expedition. Lincoln is part of Ford, and we totally lucked out! 

The selling point for this pregnant lady? The air conditioned seats. Yeah, you heard that right. I knew some newer vehicles had heated seats, but I am always hot (even when not pregnant) and definitely not interested in that. But air conditioned seats? You guys - it's amazing. I turn that feature on every single time... even when it's not super hot outside. I just love it.

The Navigator drives just like my Ford Escape, so that's convenient for me. And being up a little higher is more fun... parking is a little tougher, but I'm getting used to it. This is Dan's daily driver, though, so I don't drive it TOO often. 

Oh, and we named her Babe... short for Baberaham... like Babe Lincoln. #nerds

Do you like SUVs? 
Did you upgrade your car when you had a baby?


    

Bumpdate: Weeks 35-36

If you missed my previous bumpdates, you can check out weeks 5-12 here, weeks 13-14 here, weeks 15-16 here, weeks 17-18 here, weeks 19-20 here, weeks 21-22 here, weeks 23-24 here, weeks 25-26 here, weeks 27-28 here, weeks 29-30 here, weeks 31-32 here, and weeks 33-34 here! I've decided that at the very end of this, I'm going to make a book out of all of my weeks so Baby Cookie can look back and read through them someday. I also hope to make one giant blog post compiling all of my weeks together to see the progress.

How far along? 36 weeks

Size of baby?

35 weeks: honeydew melon

36 weeks: head of romaine lettuce

Total weight gain? I'm finally gaining... and I hope it's all baby! I'm up 7 pounds now! 

Gender? GIRL! You can read about it here! 

Maternity clothes? Yep - all the time still except for some huge t-shirts!

Sleep? I'm getting maybe three hours a night altogether... but I am in bed for eight hours or so. Heartburn, aching hips, cramping/contractions, and needing to pee are all keeping me awake at night!

Work outs? Walking through the grocery store leaves me huffing and puffing. It'll be fun to see how I do at the baseball stadium later this week! 

Cravings? What I'm craving now is basically not cooking... which is funny, since Dan and I prepared 32 freezer meals over the weekend! So over cooking. 

Aversions? Still tomatoes and peppers because they are causing heartburn at night.

Best moment of this week? We took one last road trip to see some wonderful friends get married in KC! 

Worst moment of this week? On our road trip back to Dayton, I started cramping and having some small contractions... got checked out, though, and all is good. The midwife said she does not see the baby coming "this week" - so we'll see! Could this be my last bumpdate? I'm thinking not... but she may surprise us!

Looking forward to? Having this baby out of my body and in my arms!!! Baby Cookie, I know your timing is your timing, but we are so anxious over here!