PUMPKINS!

My social media is literally blowing up with photos of kids in pumpkin patches…so what’s one more? Plus I promise this kid is by far the cutest of them all. And I tried to stir it up a little by taking mostly corn field shots. Because what is cuter than a little boy in a big corn field? Not much I tell you.

My friend Kristina and I went to Cornbelly’s the other day, and I’d say our boys gave it 2 thumbs up. They had sooo much to do, probably more for 3 years and up, but our 1 year olds had fun playing in the corn sandbox, watching the funny singing puppet bandstand show, touching all the pumpkins,  hayrides, going on slides, and most of all just running around as far away from their mamas.

Kai is so funny and refuses to hold my hand. He wants to explore all on his own and choose where he goes, and get as far away as possible from me without even a glance back. He’s getting too independent! Also, he hates having his picture taken and refuses to smile.

Sure love my little pumpkin. He is so much fun!

Don't mind my 24 week belly in these pics. It's not a donut gut I promise.

24 WEEKS PREGNANT

Hat: H&M

Dress: Forever 21 (only $13!) buy it here

Shoes: Target, but I don't love those flats and have my eye on these instead

Hello 24 weeks!

Ever since they moved my due date back 3 weeks, time seems to be going so slow, and I feel like I've been pregnant foreverrrr. I'll take it though, because I love being pregnant more than anything! Really I do.

Except when I black out at work and fall face down on the ground, acquiring a lovely goose egg and cut nose and lip. Not exactly sure what happened, but I was just giving medications to a patient and started to feel lightheaded, so I sat down. (This has happened a few times in the last 2 months, but it's never progressed past seeing a few spots). Within 3 minutes, I couldn't breathe and was losing my vision. I told the nurse next to me I was gonna pass out, so she ran to get juice and told an office worker to stay with me. That office worker left (yeah, not very smart), and immediately I fell from the chair to the floor. The collision of my head on the ground rudely awakened me, and I thought I was having a bad dream and had been hit in the head with a baseball bat.

When I started to come to and realize I was at work, a group of people surrounded me and asked if I was ok, and started getting my vital signs. (Thankfully I was surrounded by nurses!) I was mostly just concerned about baby girl, and anxious to know if she was ok. My lip was bleeding and people kept saying I had a big bump on my head. I immediately texted my husband and then called my OB to ask if I could come in and check on baby girl. My boss drove me there, where I met my husband, to hear baby's heartbeat. I was very frustrated with my OB, since they made me wait over 40 minutes to see someone. . I'm like helllooo this is an EMERGENCY. I just blacked out and hit my head! No one seemed to care or take it seriously. I was extra anxious since I hadn't felt baby girl move since my fall.

Anywaysss, I finally went to the front desk and said "Please send someone in to check the baby's heartbeat, NOW." I was about to do it myself since the equipment was there and I've done it before as a nurse, but just then the nurse practitioner walked in. She found the heartbeat fairly quickly and I felt baby girl move, and relief washed over me. Ok, we were ok. Phew.

Kolby wants me to quit my jobs (all 3 of them), but they challenge me and keep my nurse skills current, so I'm gonna try to work as long as I can before this sweetie pie comes, unless I feel like it's becoming too dangerous.

Besides that scary episode, things have been great. I feel baby girl move a lot more than Kai ever did, which is so fun. She especially likes to move at night while I'm sleeping, and I wake up happy to feel her little movements. I find myself constantly trying to imagine life with her, even when she's 20 years old. Will she call me every day and be my best friend, like my mom and I are? I would love that more than anything.

I still seem to require some kind of baked good in my mouth 24/7 (cookies, brownies etc), which explains the 20+ lbs I've gained. My doctor isn't concerned about it, but I sure am. My hips are ten times wider and I've got some chub on my face...eek. Salads and veggies just don't do it for me! I'm hoping I can lose the baby weight quick this time since I plan to exclusively nurse and pump extra, as often as I can. With Kai, I only pumped 4 times a day, and I still lost tons of weight and got down to 100 lbs.

Anywaysss, it seems like such a long time until we get to meet her, but we cannot wait! I've already bought some adorable clothes from Gap for her, she is gonna be such a doll.

BABY SHOWER FOR BABY GIRL

My mom came into town for a few days last week (not long enough!), so she decided to throw me a baby shower for lil girl. Apparently the rule is that you have a baby shower for your first boy and first girl. I really don't have any girl stuff yet, especially since I'm only 23 weeks, so it was great to get some adorable baby girl outfits from sweet friends and family. I keep telling Kolby that we BETTER have another boy because I have more boy clothes than I know what to do with. Seriously probably $500 worth...

Anyways, it was so fun to catch up with friends and picture baby girl in all these clothes. We had a brunch with bagels, breakfast casserole, muffins, fruit, and waffle kebabs. My mom put such a cute shower together, with the help of my aunt and grandma! She even had the cutest little labels for food. She's so crafty and creative, I wish I had even an ounce of her talent!

We had a blast making headbands for baby girl, playing Price is Right (guessing prices of various baby items), and baby gift bingo.  My mom and aunt sure know how to throw a fun shower!


She also surprised me with a beautiful rocking chair that I've been eyeing for months. I was overwhelmed to see it sitting there as a gift!

Thanks mom, aunt Mandy, and grandma for throwing the cutest shower! And thanks to all my wonderful friends and family who came and showed so much love for me and baby girl. I'm one lucky girl!

I made this face more than I can count. It's my "oh my gosh this is so adorable!" face.

The matching shoes and dress are just too much to handle!

 Me and one of my besties, Nicole, and her handsome little guy, Kai's BFF.

Love my Aunt and Mom so much!

KAI'S FIRST BIRTHDAY, VINTAGE BASEBALL THEME

I know it's a little late to post about Kai's first birthday party, but I just got the photos back and they are oh so cute! I don't usually throw parties or do creative things, but I thought it would be fun to challenge myself and do something Pinterest-worthy for once :) For some reason the idea of a vintage baseball theme just seemed so cute and perfect. Our favorite movie is The Sandlot, and I feel like Kai will love baseball one day! 

I was pretty happy with the end result, and feel slightly more confident in my party throwing/creative abilities. My favorite thing of all was our matching baseball tees. You can't tell in most of the pics, but Kai's said "Smalls," (Sandlot reference!) mine said "Mom," and Kolby's said "Coach."

I designed Kai's Happy Birthday banner, the food labels, hall of fame sign, and the 1-12 month banner on powerpoint. It took me a while but I think it all turned out pretty cute. One tip for any of you mom's throwing  your child's first party...plan it months ahead! I didn't start any planning until the week of, and I was busy 24/7 making the decorations, buying and choosing the food, making the shirts etc. But then again I'm kind of a perfectionist.

For food, we had grilled hot dogs, chips, cracker jacks, peanuts, popcorn, white chocolate covered oreos on sticks, and baseball cupcakes.

We planned to have a big slip n slide too, and watch The Sandlot on a projector, but it got dark quick and everyone just wanted to relax, so we watched The Sandlot inside  and called it good. It was a fun night and I hope everyone else had fun too! I sure love celebrating our amazing little boy any chance we get.

Thanks Shelbi and Jeff (Cocoa productions) for making Kai's adorable invitations and taking some of these photos!

You can all see where Kai gets his good looks from :)

I also had a "hall of fame" with a string of photos of Kai from 1 through 12 months. It's crazy to see how much he's grown. He's always been the cutest baby!

What a fun first birthday party we had! I know Kai won't remember any of it but I just wanted him to feel special. He looked so happy when we all sang happy birthday to him, it made my heart melt! Gosh we love that little boy!