My husband is sleep deprived but we have a painted baby room!

I think the title of this entry says it all. Who else, but the Ward-Wards decide to paint their baby's nursery on the busiest week of the fall so far! Scott stayed up WAY too late to get the room painted, but painted it is! As I sit typing this entry I can look down our hallway and see the yellows and pinks that will welcome our little girl in February. It's unbelievable!

Here is the "Before" picture. The first step was to tape the walls of course! I was able to help with this part. You can see my contribution to the baby room along all of the baseboards (the only part I could tape sitting down...)

Lowes was more than happy to provide us with all of the necessary supplies. And Tober was more than willing to investigate these supplies consistently. He was a BIG fan of the blue tape...

Here is the happy dad painting away!

Not only did Scott GET to paint some yellow walls he also got to paint some pale pink!

Wait for it....the FINISHED PRODUCT!

The yellow is paler than it appears in pictures, but I haven't figured out the setting on our camera. Where there is a beige stripe will be a white wooden chair rail, but you get the idea.

And the green wall is now a lovely shade of pink. I can tell our little girl loves it already, and Scott did such a BEAUTIFUL job. It's really starting to come together!

swing

This may not be exciting to anyone else, but Scott and I are thrilled at the baby swing we found today. It is so cute and swingy, and we can't believe it is actually ours, for someone we will meet in February!

Delicious!

Today, I went into Noodles and Company, and little Audrey was kicking around so I was rubbing my stomach, and the guy behind the counter gave me a free rice crispy treat! He said it was because he couldn't imagine being kicked from the inside. All I can say is that was the BEST free rice crispy treat EVER!

AND! We bought paint for little girl's room :) Pale yellow and paler pink with only ONE minor meltdown along the way! (choosing paint is very daunting I tell you!)

It will look similar to this, only much cuter. The yellow is paler in person. Trust me, or we wouldn't have chosen it. After much deliberation and some help from the master paint selector at Lowes, we are about to begin making a home for our little girl!

Click this link

http://www.valsparpaint.com/en/explore-colors/color-selector/index.html#1

Well, perhaps the link doesn't do what I was hoping...but if you go to Valspar our colors are "peach tickle" and "pink kiss" Very little girl appropriate :)

Happy Anniversary

Scott and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary by heading to the mountains. It looked like we had chosen the only rainy day in October to make our journey but by the time we were out of Loveland and into the canyon the rain had stopped and we had a fabulous time! Fall has come later this year than usual, so the leaves were just changing up in Estes Park and we were able to get some great photos! It is shocking to think of this anniversary as our last without a third member to our family. Right now, as I type, baby girl is doing the hand-jive-loopty-loo. I can't help but smile when she gets really active. It is the most amazing and bizarre feeling all rolled into one. Our book says she is just under a pound and a half, and is over 8 inches head to rump. Quite an amazing accomplishment for someone who started off so very small!

Part of me gets a little sad thinking about today, and how this is the last anniversary it will just be Scott and me. I have gotten used to having Scott to myself, and am not sure I'm ready to share him with another female! It's quite overwhelming to think that all of the relationship structures we have in place that make us who we are, and make me so happy, are all about to change. I know it's going to be an amazing adjustment, getting used to being married and raising a baby. Part of me wants to just close my eyes and pretend things will be the same but then I get a good solid elbow to the gut and remember there's no turning back now!

We are getting to the nitty-gritty of this baby making process. What in the WORLD will her name be? We have painting, and shopping, and building, and sewing projects to complete, and it's not like we can ask her to wait if we get behind schedule. She's coming whether we're ready or not.

Right now I sit on the couch, preparing to upload photos, my daughter is kicking my insides, my husband is snuggled watching baseball, my dog is snoozing in his chair, and I can't help but feel extremely thankful and lucky. I have the nicest friends that listen to me bemoan my pregnancy woes, the most supportive and excited family, and the most wonderful husband and partner ever. Tonight, at dinner, I was airing my anxiety woes, and thought aloud about how challenging it has to be to deal with my ever changing hormones and anxieties and Scott had the perfect response: "What fun would it be if you were a two page book?"

Well dear, our book is about to add another chapter. One I believe will have many more than 2 pages :)

Sitting on top of the "Dam Tower"

A stop to see the fall leaves

Little girls, Little girls, Everywhere I turn I Can See Them

A little tribute to Annie, even though Miss Hannigan did not sing fondly of them :)

In case you didn't know... it turns out our little growing human is a GIRL! We are SO very excited. We had our ultrasound appointment a week and a half ago, and even though the power went out halfway through and we had to come back the next day to finish up, she was very cooperative and gave us a very good view of all the important parts :)

She has two arms, two legs, two hands, two feet, a well developed brain, connected spinal cord, no cleft pallet, and best of all she has lady parts :)

You've never seen someone so excited as this little girl's dad. Scott is besides himself with happiness. I think it's every guy's dream to have a little boy to coach and mentor through life, but my husband is ecstatic for a little girl. Our next hurdle is naming the cutester! We've made it through an entire book of 30,000 names for girls, and are no closer than we were before we looked. Scott insists on making a a list of "possibilities" but if I don't like it now, I don't anticipate waking up and loving the name 4 months from now! With 30,000 names to choose from you would think we could find at LEAST one good name, but nothing sounds right! Below are some of the helpful suggestions offered from family members (some in all seriousness, and some in jest, but I won't tell you which, to keep you guessing...)

Chase Michael's suggestions (our 5 year old nephew)
Lolly or Journey

Dave's suggestion (My brother in med school)
Shar'Analice

Luke's suggestion (My brother in high school)
Labron

Brian's suggestion (My brother in college)
Baraquisha Obamaniqua

Dan's suggestion (My principal)
Danielle

The staff's suggestions (via the staff lounge)
Sasquatch
Mental
Salt
Ramon

Sharon's (my mother-in-law) suggestion
Antoinette

My student's suggestions:
Each one has kindly offered their own name as a suggestion, and a surprising amount of them think we should name her Isabelle.

So you can see why were in desperate need for a baby name book.

I have finally reached a point where I can tell that I'm pregnant without pooching out my stomach at the end of the day :) The other day on the playground one of my students put a basketball under her shirt and said "my baby is a girl too!" It's been so much fun to feel her move and kick, and I'm getting excited thinking about decorating a little girls room! One of the key components of the baby's room is going to be having her name on the wall, in little girl colors, so we're trying to pick up the pace and make a decision! Keep the suggestions coming, or little Labron Ward will be terrorizing the world soon :)

So funny!

I know our blogs are supposed to be totally focused around the baby, because the baby is exciting, and growing, and makes itself known these days, but I have two funny stories from work that I feel must be documented.

The first involves a student I had last year. He is one of my most special students, he and I created a bond over Super Mario. He has a tough time at school, and has had some trouble adjusting to third grade, so he and I hang out at recess when I have duty and he is outside playing (a side note: 2nd grade has recess at the same time as 3rd and 4th, so I see my old students weekly, which is AWESOME!) So anyway, on Wednesday morning last week I noticed my little friend moping around the playground, so I went up and asked him to patrol the playground with me so we could chat. We began talking about the usual subjects, Super Mario, trips to Utah, homework, etc, when the conversation took a humorous turn.

Me: " M., how are your sisters doing?"
M: "You know my sister who goes to school here, she is doing fine. But do you remember my sister H?"
Me: "Sure!"
M: Well! She joined the swim team!
Me: "That's great!"
M: "AND! She started her period! And she barely had any cramps at all!"

Me: "Um....FABULOUS!?!"


My other story does involve our little growing human. I am trying to get my students to guess that I am pregnant, rather than just telling them outright. Yesterday, I cracked.

Here are my clues (They go from abstract to what I feel are very obvious)

1. 2+ 1 =3
2.My secret makes me hungry
3. My secret makes my clothes feel tight
4. My secret can get sick from germs (SO WASH YOUR HANDS was the hidden message)
5. My secret has arms, legs, hands, feet, eyes, ears, and a nose
6. My secret needs a place to live (this was the clue the day we bought our house)
7. My secret is with me ALL the time. It's there when I sleep, when I eat, when I work, when I go home, it's in the room RIGHT NOW!

Each day I allow my students to guess my secret in my ear. I told them that once they guessed it became their secret too. Until yesterday, when I cracked, only 2 students had guessed it. Now, I know I'm not huge, but come 3:00 it is obvious that my stomach is not the shape it should be, so while all these clues are being given, I am walking around with what looks like a mini-basketball shoved under my shirt.

My student guesses:
I am getting a new fish (does a fish have HANDS?)
I am getting a dog (Does my dog make my clothes feel tight?)
Mr. Scotty is coming in (Is Mr. Scotty in the room RIGHT NOW???)
and my all time favorite...You are getting a new watch! (WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN!)

This went on for days, students repeatedly guessing the same terrible guesses, but the tipping point occurred as we were leaving yesterday. I was going back through all the clues, while sticking out my stomach and pointing to it, and someone said "OH I KNOW! YOU'RE HAVING A BABY!" To which another student turned and said "THAT was not a good guess."

I cracked. I bellied over laughing and said that YES in fact I WAS having a baby! In February. All the students looked disappointed. I think they were hoping for a fish.

Chunky!

How come, when I wear my regular clothes, I look like I over ate spaghetti, but at night, when we take the pictures, it's obvious that I'm growing a human? (At least in our opinion :) :) :) )