May 28

Hi little one,
Today we're getting back on track with our pregnancy chalkboard! Here we are at 20 weeks.

I think we have finally mastered the no shadow trick. Who would have thought it's as easy as turning out the ceiling fan light, and just using the flash on my phone? We have a lot to learn before we take adorable newborn pictures of you!!

Nice cheeks, mama: You can definitely tell I'm gaining weight in my face, but I guess I always look like a little chipmunk when I put on any weight. No worries...daddy just says there is more of me to love now :)

Wedding: Your daddy and I are going to have a beautiful wedding. I hate bragging and boasting, but after meeting with the reception venue today, I'm just in love with all of this wedding business all over again. Things are finally falling into place, and I really couldn't be any happier. Less than a month now until it's official! Here is your daddy in free-wedding-tasting-pasta heaven yesterday. We went to our final tasting at Salvatore's in Independence. If you couldn't tell, he's about to eat himself into a food coma because it was so delicious. Needless to say, we booked them to cater!

Sweet dreams: Okay, maybe they're not so sweet lately. I've been waking up a million times a night, scared to death because of my nightmares. Last night I had a terrible dream that my ankles were the size of coconuts. It sounds silly,  but they were the first thing I looked at when I woke up. Thankfully they're normal sized, but man. No more ice cream before bed if that's what I have to look forward to.

Sickyface: I feel like poo. After I checked my ankles to make sure they didn't balloon up overnight, I realized I felt really congested and that my throat felt raw. I was hoping it'd get better once I got up and moving, but it's almost 7:30pm and I don't still don't feel right. Daddy went to Walgreens and got me some Emergen-C after he cleared it with the doctor. He's so good to us! I'm hoping that it works, because I had big plans for this weekend to start painting your nursery!!

Okay, mama is going to rest and try to feel better. I love you, little tomato!
Mommy

May 25

Hi little one,
YOU'RE A LITTLE PRINCESS!!! We found out last Monday, and we absolutely couldn't be any happier. It's so nice to be able to describe you as a "she" or "her" instead of just "baby". I think you're going to be a little sugar addict like your daddy is...every time I eat something with sugar in it, you just start kicking and moving around in there like crazy! The ultrasound technician didn't have any trouble peeking right between your legs to tell us that you're a little girl (I ate a pack of Twizzlers and drank a strawberry limeade to make sure you'd be active, and it worked!). I started crying when we found out, and even though your daddy won't admit it, I think he teared up too. I can't wait to meet you, sweet little baby girl!! Here is our 19 week bump board, with our announcement on it!!

Here you are, looking like the little princess that I know you'll be:


We also asked our friend Amelia to take some pictures for our big gender reveal to your grandma Gigi, Papa G, and your Uncle Eli and Aunt Sally. (Your Auntie Darcy and Uncle Scott listened on the phone, since they're so far away!) We bought a bunch of pink stuff like pink Hershey kisses, pink butter mints, pink and purple sequins, pacifiers, and glitter, and then taped these pictures inside. Here are a few of my favorites:

Can you tell how excited your daddy is?! He's already talking about spoiling you with cute little dresses, and building you a playhouse in the backyard, or a dollhouse for the basement. You're a very lucky little girl, to have a daddy who loves you so much!

We also told your great grandparents, when we found out on Monday. Of course Frannie started shopping for cute little dresses like, a minute after she found out you're a little girl! You're SO going to be spoiled :)

Congratulations, Class of 2017: I had to day goodbye to my 8th graders on Friday. It was SO HARD! I cried when we did the 8th grade circle, and then I got mobbed on the middle of the gym floor with goodbyes. They are so excited that you're on your way and healthy, and I know a lot of them are going to come back next year and want to know all about you. It's always so weird seeing them after they leave my classroom...they get so big! I'll make sure to have lots of pictures of all of your adorableness. And they LOVE your name, which daddy wants to keep a secret from the family until you're born. I liked being able to tell them and make them feel special before they left the middle school :)

Landscaping: We got to go to Suburban Lawn and Garden with your grandparents to start landscaping the front yard. It was awesome! We decided on some gorgeous plants, and I'm really excited that the front will be done in time for your arrival. You'll be coming home in October to a beautiful yard!! The only less than fun part was realizing that I didn't put on sunscreen again, and so my shoulders got burned. It's so weird how my body is changing while I'm carrying you. I never got sunburned before, and now I've gotten three in the past few months! But no worries...I'll be careful. Lesson learned!

Here comes the bride: Your daddy and I got a lot of stuff done for the wedding this week, and we'll finalize a lot more next week, too. We got a steal on beautiful flowers, and we looked at wedding bands. Your daddy has very tiny fingers (who would have thought?), so shopping for them is a little difficult. We meet with Unity Village and The Stanley to make sure the ceremony and reception go smoothly. Only 33 more days until I become Mrs. Raleigh Groesbeck! <3

I'm going to repaint your chalkboard tomorrow, so I can be ready to work on the 20 week board Tuesday night. I have a really cuuuute layout all ready to go! I'm so excited for the day when you can look back at these pictures and smile :)

I love you, sweet little girl!!
Mommy

May 14

Hi little one,
Here is this week's chalkboard! I don't think it came out nearly as good as last week's,  but that's because of the terrible shadow and lighting. Looks like your daddy won't be going to the gym after work on Wednesdays anymore, if we can't get decent pictures! Auntie Bretta is calling it the "Peter Pan effect" since the shadow just had to get in the picture, but I'm still kind of irritated. Next week we'll do better for you :)

Boy or girl? We find out Monday if you're a little prince or princess :) I don't think your daddy will get mad if I tell you we have a bet going about your gender, and the stakes are Cold Stone ice cream sundaes. We will both be over the moon no matter what you are, and a little ice cream never hurt anyone! See? It's actually the perfect bet.

Delicious food: Speaking of ice cream, I've been craving sweets in a major way lately
Daddy took me to get frozen custard last night, and I almost finished my medium 'decadent chocolate brownie' all on my own! That never happens...I can barely ever finish a mini size. And I made double fudge brownies tonight because I saw them on a shelf at Target and I just couldn't resist. Mmmmmm!

Wedding business: I feel like we're making some good progress on wedding things. We have another tasting with Zio's tomorrow afternoon, and then we'll make our final decision as to who will be the caterer. We're going to order flowers this weekend, and go look for your daddy's wedding band. It's hard to believe we get married in 44 days!!!!

Countdown: Another countdown we have going is how many days I have left until school gets out for the summer. Including tomorrow, the countdown is down to 7!!!! It kind of sucks that we only get one day off between the end of the school year and starting summer school, but I won't complain too much. Those snow days that we had to make up were worth it, since they brought us you :)

I think that's all for now. It's going to be a busy weekend, so I'm going to get some rest before the madness begins. Amelia graduates on Friday night, and we get to go! And then we have to wrap up those wedding details I mentioned, and I need to finish organizing the upstairs hallway closet. Daddy is talking about painting the laundry room, but we'll see. So many things on our to-do list before you get here!

I love you, little one.
Mommy

May 7

Hi little one,
Here's our Week 17 pregnancy bump board on the new frame! I love how much space we have so I can get more creative with what I write on it, and I can't wait to put this in your room someday and see all of your beautiful chalk artwork!!

Wedding: It's been a busy week trying to plan more wedding details! Tonight we got to do a tasting at Garrozzo's Italian Ristorante. It sounds a little fancy, but in reality, it's just a delicious pasta place in Lee's Summit. We tried two appetizers, four pastas, meatballs, AND three pieces of chicken--each! Needless to say, your daddy and I are STUFFED. Here's a picture of him as we try the ravioli and Italian sausage (which were sooooo good!).

RIP mixing bowl: One thing I'll be looking forward to in October is getting my center of gravity back. I've never been a particularly graceful person, but now...whoa. I am dropping things left and right, and I can't seem to even walk straight! In fact, I walked from the couch to the kitchen this weekend, and put my hand on the kitchen counter to steady myself, then BAM. My hand totally missed the counter and instead landed on a glass mixing bowl which dropped to the floor and shattered into a million pieces. Talk about getting flustered! It was not a fun mess to clean up, but thankfully your daddy helped me when he got home from writing his final paper.


Motherly instinct: I think I've started my "nesting" phase. The all-the-time tiredness has come and gone, and now I feel like I have all of the energy in the world! So this past weekend I channeled it into getting things ready for your arrival. This includes: cleaning out the guest bedroom closet (we literally donated seven bags of clothes and shoes to Goodwill), and spending a few hours in what will soon be your room (vacuuming, cleaning the walls, and cleaning out even more clothes and shoes!). I feel like Baxter and Harlowe know something is up, but don't worry. I told them all about you and I know you're going to grow up to love them as much as I do. Now that your room is closer to getting done, I'm getting more and more psyched to start decorating it with precious little baby things! Daddy and I have a few ideas about how we want it to look, but they all depend on if you're a little boy or a little girl! (And we find out in 12 days!!!!!!)

Wedding shower:  On Monday after school I thought I was walking into a Book Club meeting, but it was actually a wedding shower!!!!! I've never felt so loved by all of my co-workers as I did that day. Almost every single female staff member was there, and they were all so excited to help me celebrate getting married to your daddy. I got to wear a sash that said 'bride to be' on it, and I got served amazing cupcakes while I sat in a high chair and was showered with beautiful gifts. The pictures are still getting developed, but I'll post some when I get them. It was a teeny tiny bit uncomfortable for me to be the center of attention like that, but I smiled through it and I'm so glad I did. Here's a BIG  PANTHER THANK YOU to everyone at OGMS (especially Betheny and Bretta)!!!!

More thanks: Your Gigi and Papa G are also due a special thanks from your daddy and me. They gave us an amazing wedding gift, which will really help us as we get the house ready for you. Sometimes it's unreal that I'm marrying into such a wonderful, supportive, and unconditionally loving family. I hope you grow up knowing how lucky you are so have amazing grandparents!

That's all for now, little onion. I love you SO MUCH!
Mommy

April 30

Hi little one!
Here's our week 16 bump board. As you can tell, you and your mommy are growing every week! I love making the chalkboard, and your daddy loves taking the picture :)

Next week, you should see a new, bigger, and more improved board. We got a quite hideous picture off of Craigslist for only $5.00 last night and I have serious plans to remake it into a beautiful board that we can use for the next 24 weeks. Let's hope my vision matches my "talent"!

Coffee: To quote your awesome Aunt Sally, I had some "less fun, pregnant coffee" yesterday. But not with your cousin Griffin...with your cousin Marra! It was so good to see her, and she has some fantastic ideas for our wedding. She's such a creative girl, and I am so excited for you to meet her soon! She'll be a great influence whenever you need anything.

Say what?: I've been feeling pretty good this past week. It's nice to have my energy levels return to almost normal. I have been speaking a little nonsense lately, however. I actually tried to use the word 'estimative' in a conversation with your daddy last night. For someone who prides herself on using words correctly, it's been hard for my head to feel so fuzzy. Also, math. Math has never been a strong point of mine (thank GOD your daddy is good at it), but it's been especially hard as of late. I tried to add 10 to 67 and got 76...five times! It didn't even look wrong to me until Susan pointed it out one morning to me at work. Oh.my.goodness! :(

Gigi and Papa G: Your grandparents came up from Topeka last Friday night, and we got to see them for the first time since January. We all got together at your Uncle Eli and Aunt Sally's for a delicious dinner. It was so great to catch up with everyone and plan what we're going to do with our front yard. They'll be coming up again this weekend so we can take a trip to Suburban Lawn and Garden to look at landscaping rocks and plants. Daddy is super excited because he's been wanting to tackle that project for awhile, and I'm ready for you to grow up with a beautiful lawn just like he did.

I think that's all for now. Daddy is making dinner, so I probably should go make sure he isn't burning the chicken or the rice. He's not a bad cook, but it can get crazy in the kitchen when both of the dogs are at your ankles constantly whining and  begging for table scraps!

I love you, little avocado!
Mommy

April 23

Hi little one,
Happy 15 weeks! Here's a picture of what we look like today. See? Much better than last week!! Your mommy is definitely starting to look like a mommy!

Royals: Your daddy took us to a Royals game last weekend. It was awesome! They won 5-4 against the Minnesota Twins. The weather was perfect and we stayed for the whole game. I ate some delicious nachos out of a plastic baseball hat and had a tasty cherry limeade. Best game of the season yet! Here we are after we reconnoitered to better seats once your mommy started getting too hot sitting in the sun.

Ouch: I've been experiencing what I think is heartburn the past two days. I can't really explain it, but it's a sharp pain in my ribcage that almost leaves me paralyzed when I breathe in too fast. It helps when I can crawl into bed and stretch out, but it is getting a little old already. I've also been having some pretty awesome round ligament pains while my body gets used to all of the stretching and growing that's going on. I don't mind it so much, because I'm trying to look at it like the pains are just reminders that you're in there and growing like you should!

Sweet dreams: Your daddy is an amazing man. He bought me this pregnancy pillow so I can sleep better at night. It takes up a majority of the bed, but he hasn't complained once about it. I'm a lucky mommy because I know it wasn't cheap, and you're a lucky little one to have such a supportive daddy who wants us to get a good night's rest!

Take our stuff: We got rid of a lot of stuff this weekend! We sold the old plasma tv that sat in Harlowe and Baxter's room for two years. It was a pretty quick sell on Craigslist! And I'm happy to sell stuff we never use, especially since the money went into what I call the "baby fund" for when I have to stop working in October. It's never too early to saving up for your arrival!! And we also got rid of a bunch of landscaping rocks from the backyard. I think we got rid of maybe two truck's worth, but we still have 4 or 5 more truckloads left. I might make another post this weekend, but we'll have to wait to see what the weather is like.

Leprechauns and gold: I have to mention this, just because it's hilarious. Your daddy left his iPad at work last night, so he couldn't "clash" his "clans" when he got home. Needless to say, he was sad. I hope this picture I sent him cheered him up a little bit.

Doctor: We went to see Dr. Shipman on Monday for our monthly appointment. She gave us the green light for flying to Jamaica (but did caution us that I'll need a lot of water and to walk around the plane frequently to avoid circulation problems). She also used the doppler and found your heartbeat SUPER fast, which she was pleased about. Your little heart was beating at 158 beats per minute, and she said that the drop from the 160s is totally normal at this stage. We left her office very happy parents-to-be!

Happy, happy, happy: Lastly, congratulations are in order to your Uncle Eli and Aunt Sally.
They sold their house in less than one day! We are sad that they'll be moving farther away, but can't wait for them to be happy in their new beautiful home!

That's all for now, little orange! I love you so much.
Mommy

April 16

Hi little one,
Today we are 14 weeks! In honor of being three and a half months pregnant and because there's just no way to hide it any longer, I finally started our weekly chalkboard for you! Here's your first glimpse of what I look like with you growing in my tummy.

We'll get better at the picture taking the more practice we have each week. The chalkboard is also very special because it's one of the ones that your daddy bought when he asked me to marry him :)

I love you, tiny lemon!
Mommy