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!