Week 35 letter

Dear girly,

This week has been a great week! All of them have been, but today as I reflect on this week so far, I just feel joyful and content. It might have a little something to do with the fact that I get the entire week of from work too :) But also, I have been getting lots of little things done and just thinking about you a lot.

This week, you are about 5.5 lbs and around 18 inches long now, or comparable to the length of a Costco birthday cake! We had another mid-wife appointment yesterday day and everything looks great! We are both right on track with our size and blood pressure and heart rate. All the things they measure. Your daddy and I really can't say enough how much we love Bella Vie (the Birth Center). All the staff are amazing and we just feel so comfortable and at home there. What a blessing to be able to go there for your birth! From now on until you come, I will have an appointment once a week as well!

This week we have also made a lot of progress in the preparations department...your Dad almost has our bedroom done, he's been painting trim for the window most of the day today and *fingers crossed* he will do the carpet next Saturday when I'm at our baby shower and maybe even surprise me by moving our stuff in....(hint, hint love!)

After that we can paint your room and I can start decorating it!! I have been working on your bedding and just love it! I have to decide the official paint color still but it is definitely going to be a light shade of pink, close to cotton candy colored.

Tonight is New Year's Eve and when I think about 2009, I am so blessed and thankful for all that has come with it! Especially this pregnancy! And 2010 brings YOU! into our arms! I was thinking if I should make some resolutions for the year but really can only think of mama ones....here they are:

1. I resolve to love you unconditionally with my whole heart.

2. I resolve to nurture and take care of you with all that I am.

3. I resolve to share the Lord with you in whatever ways He leads me.

Just a few and I'm sure I'll think of more and add to the list over time. I want to/hope to be the best mama I can for you!

Ellie girl, I love you so much and am so excited to meet you!

love,

your mama

Another update!

Here I am at 35 weeks and also showing off our new bedroom wall color that Matt picked out and painted!

Also Matt made his first daddy purchase for the girly! He couldn't resist the hearts!

(In the background is the fabric I am using to make the crib bumpers, a blanket/quilt for her, and in a few other parts of the room. The green with the tiny polka dots is the piping for the bumper and the ties on the bumper.)

Week 34 letter

Dear Ellie girl,

Today is Christmas eve! What a gift YOU are to us this year! We are getting so excited to meet you. This week you are about 5 pounds or comparable to a bag of sugar and almost 18 inches long. Like, I said last week, that feels about right because I sure am feeling full! Of you my love! And it is such a great and special feeling.

This week I have found myself wondering what next year will be like, but I don't want to miss out on what this year is as well. I am so looking forward to all that is to come but I want to soak in the here and now too. Times with loved ones, the last few weeks of just your daddy and I, the little things and the big. I think that is important to live in the moment and a lesson I am always having to remind myself of. What I really want to focus on today and all my days for that matter is the true reason for this Christmas season, and that IS Jesus, who was born to save us! Like our Pastor shared at the Christmas service last night, it IS a beautiful love story.....one I can't wait to share with you! One I hope you will come to know and accept in your heart. We are so blessed and would be lost with out His grace. Baby girl, I am praying for you now and will always.

This week has also brought some special presents for you in the mail! You have so many people who love you so much! Everytime I see my sister she tells me she has gotten you something else and the stuff your Auntie Chare' sent is sooo cute and perfect! I can't wait for you to meet your Aunt Chare'. She has been my best friend for many years and is quite the amazing lady!

Tonight we will go to the Talbot family Christmas in Silverton, with my grandparents, and all my dad's brothers and sisters. It is a large and loud! event but one I have loved for many years! Then we will spend the night with my parents so we can watch your Uncle Zach and Aunt Grace open their presents in the morning and then head home to have Christmas with the Miller family at our house. But not without having Auntie Noel's waffles first! That's also a tradition :)

Next year, with you here we hope to travel to California to share Christmas with my mom and that entire side of the family. (That's right Cali fam! Plan on that and cousins that don't live there, please come too!!) I know I say I can't wait for this and can't wait for that throughout all these letters, but here's another one.....I can't wait for everyone to meet you too! and for another Christmas in California.

Little lady, I love you so much! I am so thankful for you and excited to become your mama. I am so blessed!

love,

mama

note to self...

(source)

Even though at next years Christmas, Ellie will only be 10 months old, this is definitely a tradition or guideline for the way I want to do gifts in our family, for her and for other kids to come :)

4 presents = the perfect amount (in my opinion!)

I'm going to start putting "notes to self" on the blog of things I would like to do, as a mama, wife and just a human being :)

Week 33 letter

Dear Ellie,

Well, this week your size is not compared to something in inches, but rather lbs. as in you are the same weight as an adult duck! Silly websites! but yep, that feels about right ;)

This week has been another great week. We had another midwife appointment and we just LOVE our midwife, Patricia. She is so warm and we just feel right at home with her. She also loves Hypnobabies moms and gets so excited for them. It feels good to know we will be so supported at your birth.

Today is our last class in Portland. I am a little sad for it to be over, but it also means we are just that much closer to you! We will continue to practice and prepare every day for your coming, little girl. We want to do the best we can for you.

Last night, your Auntie Noel, helped me get a Christmas tree and decorate it. We weren't going to have one this year, but I am so glad we got one. It's nice to snuggle on the couch with your daddy and just soak in the pretty view of those colored lights. I can't wait to see your reaction to all things Christmas next year. Your Auntie Noel is quite the little elf between constantly singing Christmas songs, making presents, and she also keeps telling me she is finding more and more presents for you! She loves you so much! I am sure she will be a special person in your life; she always has been in mine.

We are so excited for you to come into our lives. About 6 weeks +/- to go!!

love,

mama

...How lovely are your branches....

The christmas tree that almost WASN'T....

But I'm so GLAD we decided to go for it! Big thanks to Noel, my personal elf who made it all possible for me, and danced around my house singing Christmas songs while helping me decorate this beauty!

Even though that pic of me with Noel is horrible (lazy eye!) I am still posting because I know that my mom and Grandma Linnartz will appreciate it :)

Photo update!

33 weeks!

Matt's making quite the progress too! Soooo thankful for him and his hard hard work!

things I'm thinking about....

1. More frequent posting is probably coming this blogs way as we really are starting to get close to the girl's arrival!

2. The fact that after making the switch to Bella Vie, it looks like our insurance covered 100% of the pro-rated cost of Salem Nurse Midwives through the 29 weeks we were with them! This is AWESOME!! Praise the Lord!

3. How much WE love Hypnobabies!

4. That I really want to clean all the light fixtures in my house :)

5. Christmas is 10 days away, woohoo! Looking forward to family time!

6. Lunch!

7. How much I am looking forward to being a mom and hanging out with my mom friends!

8. The fact that the shirts I am wearing today don't exactly cover my belly, but I'm thankful for the kind of maternity jeans that have the band that comes up high so it just looks like I have a purple, white and navy shirt on! I keep finding my wardrobe "malfunctions" entertaining!

9. Chips and Salsa, did I mention lunch ;)

10. How I think it is neat that Bella Vie called me today to reschedule my appointment for tomorrow because my midwife is IN a birth and the new receptionist that called me is actually someone I know.

11. Ellie's room and what I need/want to do to decorate it and how the week after Christmas I have A LOT of sewing to do! I am so thankful to be able to create a special place for her.

12. My grandparents in California and the goodies they sent us this week!

13. Cute girly clothes...so fun!

14. About being pregnant at Christmas and what Mary must have felt and been going through. How amazing, humbling, and overwhelming it must have been to be carrying the Son of God and feeling him grow, stretch and move inside her. How I'm sure as a mother she wondered and dreamed of what His future would be like, His personality, His voice, everything! How thankful she was for her Savior. and I am as well!

15. God is good!

Not a complaint, just an observation!

Seriously this week, I think I have two cute little feet in my ribs! Definitely a new feeling in the pregnancy world. 7 weeks to go and it kinda feels like I might just be running out of space in there due to the shortness of my torso...

i love my girl!

that's all....... :)

Menu Plan Monday #7

Another week, another menu plan! Which is good because our fridge is EMPTY!!

Mon: Mexican Ravioli and Salad

Tue: Leftovers, leftovers!

Wed: Grilled talapia fish tacos, beans and rice

Thur: Crockpot Chili, cornbread, and salad

Fri: Steak, Baked potatoes, and steamed or grilled veggies (never had the Steak meal last week!)

Now I'm off to "enjoy" Winco....

After reading this list again, I just realized that 3 of our meals contain beans!.......uh-oh :)

Week 32 letter

Dear Ellie June,

This week you are compared to the length of knee high boots, so random! But in other words, it means you are between 16 and 17 inches long and about 4lbs. I am definitely feeling like you are that size! I really feel like I am ALL baby belly now! It's crazy to think you've still got growing to do in there cause it doesn't feel like there's lot of room left. I think I can finally feel body parts sticking out here and there. I don't know what is what but it is very neat to feel!

Something else that has seemed to become at least once a day thing is your hiccups! Cute, funny, and weird feeling all at the same time! It's probably cause I give you spicy food :) I love spicy food and maybe you will too!

Last weekend, I finally made up my mind about your bedding, which I will be making and hopefully starting on soon! Your daddy and I both love the alphabet fabric I found and I am going to incorporate the alphabet in a few ways throughout the decor of your room. Hopefully this will encourage a love for reading and writing at an early age :)

This week I got to hang out with your Uncle Zach and Aunt Gracie! I love those two and you will too! It will be fun for you to be close in age with them. While Gracie took a nap, Zach and I mad a bunch of snowflakes to decorate the windows with. Maybe this can be one of our traditions when you become his age. I am looking forward to having Christmas season traditions with you like an advent calendar and decorating the Christmas tree and making snowflakes! It will be fun to do a annual family Christmas card too and watch you grow over the years.

Speaking of Christmas, makes me think a little about presents and let me tell you baby girl, YOU are the BEST present I could possibly have for this Christmas!!

I love you my little one!

love,

mama

So thankful for my handyman husband!

I came home today to find closet doors installed!! on our new closet in our new room. All the drywall is up and he is mudding it like a madman. He has been working so hard and diligently to get this done. Our goal is to move into our new room by Christmas. I am so thankful for all the ways Matt has helped make our house a home!

As soon as we get into our "new" room, we get to make our old one Ellie's! She and I are both so blessed to have Matt in our life.

I love you my sweet and amazing husband!

Menu Plan Monday #6

Yay for 6 weeks of consistency!!

Monday: Meat Lasagna with spinach added in (checking off the leafy greens requirement/suggestion of my midwife!)

Tuesday: Leftovers as usual! Gotta love youth group nights :)

Wednesday: White Bean Soup with Kale (leafy greens-check!)

Thursday: Healthy! Pita Wraps with Hummus, Spinach (leafy greens!), grilled chicken and other veggies

Friday: Steak, baked potatoes, grilled veggies or salad

Week 31 letter

Dear daughter of mine,

Wow! That is crazy to say and type, to call you daughter!! What a special privilege. And it will be great to hear you call me mama when the time comes too! Girly, this week you are about 16 inches long or the length of miniskirt (according to this weeks funny email) and still are about 3.5 lbs. Though the email told me that from here on out you'll gain about 1/2 a pound week until birth.

Speaking of birth, we are still getting ready each day, doing our homework and other things to prepare. I am SO happy we made the switch to the birth center and that is all I can see when I picture your birth now. It really is such a beautiful place to have such a beautiful experience of you entering our world!

I had my first official appointment with my new midwife this week and I just love her! She is so kind, warm and friendly. One neat thing from the appointment was that she drew the position of you on my belly! In a few weeks she actually paint it all on, but this at least let me know that you are head down! Which is perfect and it made perfect sense when she said your on your side and your feet and hands are on my right side because that's exactly where I feel your kicks and pokes!

You sure do seem to get shy when I am trying to show off your dance moves to someone else though! Every time I try to get your Auntie Noel to feel you moving, you freeze up and won't give her any action and the other night I was laying in bed watching you move all around but as soon as I got your dad to come watch, we got nothing! I'm taking it to just mean you're playful and can tease with the best of them.....hmmm...wonder where you might get that from?......yeah, I think your dad!

Last Saturday, we went a registered for you at Babies R Us. I tried not to overwhelm your dad too much with all the babies gadgets and gizmos! Some stuff was super cute and some of it is just so so cheesy and not our style at all. I was a little surprised too that your dad and I have different tastes in some of it, but in the end, I think I heard him say "I'll just have to learn to accept all the PINK!" Ha! I have never really been a pink person either, but when you throw in oranges and yellows and fun prints, I can't help but get excited to see you in the little clothes or wrapped in the soft blankets!

Just like with the pink thing, I am sure having you in my life will change many more things about me, but in the best ways! I know my life will be so much richer because of it. That being your mom and knowing you will make me a better person, sister, daughter, and friend. I look forward to all that YOU will teach ME! I love you so much Ellie girl!

love,

mama