Easter 2014

We had such a great Easter this year, I hope you all did too!

We got up and got ready for church and then once we were ready, we had Jackson's basket sitting in the living room waiting for him. 

Then, we had a little Easter Egg Hunt for him in our living room.

After the egg hunt, we headed to church for breakfast and the morning Easter Service. After service, they had an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids. Jackson loved looking for the eggs!

After the Egg Hunt, we took a few family pictures.

Jackson with his cousins, Landon and Mason.

Our little family of 3 (almost 4).

My sister with her family.

My parents with my sister and I and our families. :-)

After pictures, we went and visited my Grammy's grave. She has been gone 3 years today. She is missed Every. Single. Day.

Then we all went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for lunch. My Aunt had gotten each of the boys a little bag for Easter and my sister got Jackson some candy. None of them really wanted to cooperate for a picture, so this was the best I could get. :-)

Then we went to my Mother In Law's for dinner and another Easter Egg Hunt. :-) We had the Egg Hunt at the park and since Jackson had already done 2 hunts that day, he was much more into the playground. 

Going down the slide with his cousin Sophia.

Once we got back from the Egg Hunt, my Mother in Law had a little goody bag for each of the kids. Here's Jackson with his bag. :-) He was so cute and sat so patiently waiting for his turn to see what was inside of his bag. He's getting so big. :-)

So that was our busy, but super fun Easter. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter too.

A Few More Maternity Photos

This past weekend, my sister took a few more maternity pictures for us so that we could get a couple family shots and some of just Jake and I. (You can see our first little mini session from a couple weeks ago here.) They turned out really good, despite the wind, so I just wanted to share them here with you. :-)

Jackson's 2014 Easter Basket

I'm linking up with Sarah from Our Journey and Darci from The Good Life to share what I put together for Jackson's Easter Basket this year! 

This year, I got Jackson his first little Bible (Walmart), some Mickey Mouse Sidewalk Chalk (Walgreens), a Cars Bubble Kit (Walgreens), a package of Peeps, Reeses in the shape of a Carrot (mostly because those are my favorite and it's a little tradition of mine), and a few eggs with Starburst Jelly Beans inside. I also used the same basket as I have every year since Jackson's first Easter. You can see the last 2 Easter's here and here.

Jake and I are hoping to have a little Easter Egg Hunt for Jackson at our house before church on Easter morning, and then he'll enjoy several more that day as we'll have one at church, one with my family and one with Jake's family as well. He should be a pro by the end of the day. :-) Now I just hope we have nice weather.

Happy Easter!

37 Week Bumpdate

How Far Along: 37 Weeks + 1 day (2 more weeks to go!)

(You can check out my 37 week post from when I was pregnant with Jackson here.)

Size of Baby: (According to babycenter.com) 37 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a bunch of Swiss Chard. She measures roughly 19 inches from head to heel and weighs about 6 1/3 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I believe its still 29 pounds total.

 Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity clothes and growing out of some of them. :-( I am so ready to be back in normal clothes again.

Gender: Its a GIRL!! Our sweet Avery Rose.

Movement: Yes, she's moving around, but her movements are a little different now that she's taking up so much room.

Food Cravings: No real cravings this week, just really thirsty as I've been this entire pregnancy.

What I miss: Just being able to do normal things without feeling tired or out of breath. I also miss being able to wear my wedding rings, which I haven't been able to wear for quite some time now. :-(

Sleep: Not great. I'm having to get up several times a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes. It's so hard to roll over in bed too. :-(

Symptoms: Feeling very tired, having a few Braxton Hicks contractions, some cramping here and there, heartburn and some minimal swelling in my legs, feet and hands. I'm also having an occasional sharp pain in my pelvis, which is not very fun and occasional sciatic nerve pain again. 

Best Moment this week: A much needed hair cut and color on Saturday and dinner out with  my family for my birthday. Jake and Jackson took me out to lunch on Sunday after church for my birthday which was also fun. :-)

What I am looking forward to: At this point, I'm just really ready to meet my sweet girl on (or before) April 28th!! :-)

 

* I had a Dr. appt. yesterday and am actually measuring about 2-3 weeks ahead now! Wow! I also found out I haven't progressed any more since last week, (still at 1 cm dilated) but ultimately that's not a big deal since I'm having a scheduled c-section anyways. I just kind of like to know what's going on in case I would go into labor early. :-)

**Hoping to get the last few things on our baby checklist done this week so we can enjoy the last week of being a family of 3 just relaxing as best we can. We just have to pack our bags (Avery is already packed), get my car cleaned and install the infant car seat base. I can't believe we are so close already!!

Comparison of me pregnant with Jackson and Avery at 37 weeks.

250 Cakes for 250 Years of St. Louis

This year is the 250th Anniversary of our city of St. Louis. In honor of the city turning 250 years, they have placed 250 4-Foot Fiberglass Cakes all around the St. Louis Metropolitan area at all kinds of Landmark Sites and Local Favorite Places. (Here's the list of all 250 cake locations.) I (and many other St. Louisisans) thought it would be fun to try and visit each cake site before the end of the year when they take them all down. I'm actually a little late to the party, but thought I'd try my best to see them all. 

Last night Jackson and I visited our first cake. It happens to be at a local church in our city of Florissant, so it was easy to stop at on our way home yesterday evening. Jackson thought this was pretty cool!! I'm hoping throughout this Spring and Summer we can get to several more, if not all of them. I'll be posting all of our pictures to Facebook and Instagram as we find more cakes, if you'd like to follow along. :-)

Our first cake encounter @ Old St. Ferdinand Shrine in Florissant, MO.

36 Week Bumpdate

How Far Along: 36 Weeks (3 more weeks to go!)

(You can check out my 36 week post from when I was pregnant with Jackson here.)

 Size of Baby: (According to babycenter.com) 36 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a head of romaine lettuce. Your not-so-little lettuce now measures more than 18 1/2 inches from head to heel and weighs almost 6 pounds (and is still packing it on at a rate of about an ounce a day).

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 29 pounds total

 Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity clothes and growing out of some of them. :-( I am so ready to be back in normal clothes again.

Gender: Its a GIRL!! Our sweet Avery Rose.

Movement: Yes, she's moving around, but her movements are a little different now that she's taking up so much room.

Food Cravings: No real cravings this week, just really thirsty as I've been this entire pregnancy.

What I miss: Just being able to do normal things without feeling tired or out of breath. I also miss being able to wear my wedding rings, which I haven't been able to wear for quite some time now. :-(

Sleep: Not great. I'm having to get up several times a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes. It's getting so hard to roll over in bed too. :-(

Symptoms: Feeling very tired, having a few Braxton Hicks contractions, heartburn and some minimal swelling in my legs, feet and hands. I'm also having an occasional sharp pain in my pelvis, which is not very fun. 

Best Moment this week: My nephew's birthday party this past Saturday and having some down time yesterday. I also had a doctor's appointment today and found out I'm 1cm dilated and 50% effaced!! Yay for progress.

What I am looking forward to: At this point, I'm just really ready to meet my sweet girl on (or before) April 28th!! :-)


And for fun, a comparison from when I was 36 weeks pregnant with Jackson and 36 weeks pregnant with Avery.

A Few Maternity Photos

My sweet sister took a few Maternity Photos for me this past weekend. I'm loving them so much! She just used my camera and I did a little editing on them. I think they turned out great!! I would like to get a few more with Jake in them as well, but I love the ones we have so far. :-) 

 The pictures with Jackson took a little bribing, but we managed to get some great shots. Thankfully my sister is fast and was able to snap some of these split second shots. Ha.

I'm hoping to get some family shots and some of just Jake and I on the 12th (after I get a much needed hair cut and color). That also happens to be my birthday, so I told him he has to go with the flow that day and not complain while getting pictures taken. ;-)