Baby Boy is Here!

He's here! Long overdue and one month late, Benjamin Hudson Ganz has arrived!

I can't wait to share details, but since time is very limited right now {time to feed, again!} here are a few first pictures of our PRECIOUS baby boy:

He's here, and I'm in love! 

perfect little family

oh my cuteness

first family photo

We are so thankful for this little miracle!!

3rd Trimester

The Third Trimester was filled with lots of blessings--feeling baby kick, working on baby's room, showers--and lots of very pregnant feelings--being swollen, hot, tired--but I can't believe how fast it went! Here are my collages!

Here is my photo collage of the baby bump:

And here is the Chalkboard Tracker Collage for each week:

It's almost over! Can't believe it!!

Happy Due Date Baby Boy!!

Well, I'm not surprised I made it to my due date...but deep down, I had hoped I'd be holding a sweet little one right now instead of waddling around with a bowling ball (albeit precious) in my tummy.

An adorable student asked me today when the baby would come. I explained that the baby was supposed to come today, or around today, but babies don't always come on time.  Another sweet student said she thought the baby would come in 3 days. A horrible child **note sarcasm** then stated she didn't think the baby would come for 100 more days! Oh my...just the thought of it made me squirm!

 Here are a few snapshots of the past week:

Attempting to walk baby boy out!

The look of fear...that's a big bump! 

I've been very blessed with a smooth pregnancy. This past week, though, I've definitely hit the "uncomfortable" phase. Is is hard to bend, my feet are swollen, my back hurts and driving? I can hardly get in the driver's seat!  However, I'm trying to love every minute, because, I know I'll miss baby boy's kicks and movements being with me constantly. Being pregnant has been such a blessing, and a longing I had for so long...and back then I promised I would NEVER complain about anything related to being pregnant! So, as much as I want baby boy out to hold and cuddle, I want to treasure this incredible miracle and blessing of having him grow and develop inside me!!

Baby Boy's Nursery

My labor of love is finally revealed--baby boy's nursery!!! I'm SO excited to reveal the adorable and fabulous nursery that we will *soon* be bringing baby boy home to!

Here are some pictures of the nursery being transformed:

Someone is looking very preggo!

Tom's wainscoting makes the room! It is gorgeous, he did a fabulous job. And, as with any project, he taught himself, figured it out, and made it look incredible!

You'll notice a theme, that we have a lot of people who love baby boy enough to spend a lot of time and energy on making his nursery very special. We're so thankful for them!

I chose this fabric [from Hancock Fabrics] for the draperies and my talented mother in law made beautiful draperies. I wanted to try grommets, so she made them to my measurements, and I added the grommets. It was fun to figure out something new. Grommets? EASY. Measuring? HARD. My hatred of math didn't help here!

The "during" pictures of my biggest labor of love: the Alphabet wall. I found some inspiration on Pinterest [of course] but I wanted to make it my own. I LOVE how it turned out! I got most of the letters from Hobby Lobby [don't forget your 40% off coupon!], Buy Buy Baby, Babies R Us [the Life Preserver], and my own creativity. The y is a rope, the d [vinyl] and f [framed cut out letter on cute paper] I created using my Silouette Cameo, the J is a painted canvas with buttons, the v is a photo [found online] in a frame, and the t is a cross from my parents. The hardest part was getting them up on the wall! My mom helped and we measured, measured, measured. I recommend created a "border" of top and bottom, then spacing them out along the floor and working on hanging groups of letters at a time. For instance, the top row we hung A, B,C, then L, M N, then the middle. On the bottom we anchored the big letters S and W and then spaced the smaller letters around them. Whew.

The Alphabet Wall

Walking into the room

Refinished armoire

Wreath from my family baby shower on the door

Oh. my. cuteness. Maggie loves the baby's room and likes to take her naps here. And leave her toys here. I think it is a sign she's ready to be a big sister!

Getting Schooled

I finally get to work with my kiddos! YEA!! Probably the only real downside of my Reading Specialist job is the fact that at the beginning of the school year, I have SO MUCH TESTING to do to determine my caseload. When it is finally all done, we have to hash out schedules and paperwork, and eventually I get to work with my sweet students. Today was that day! I'm always so refreshed when I get to enjoy a day of teaching versus all the other [boring] stuff.

Trying to explain to 5-9 year old students about my pregnancy and when the baby is going to arrive is always entertaining, and usually makes me a bit nervous. You just never know what they will ask! Here are some comments that schooled me today!

"You're having a baby. I can tell by looking at you." -1st grade boy
"You havin' a baby? A girl baby? No? you havin' a boy baby? Oh." -2nd grade girl
"You know what the biggest surprise is, right? It's when you think you are having a boy but then you have a girl!" -2nd grade girl
"You could have this baby any minute, like right NOW." -2nd grade boy
"How do they know it is a boy?" [I gave a explanation including how doctors have a special machine, like an x-ray to look inside my tummy and see if it is a boy or a girl.] "No, HOW do they know it is a BOY or a GIRL?" [I go through my explanation again.] NO, like do the girls have long hair and the boys have short hair?? How can they TELL if it is a boy or a girl?" [Um...."They just can," I respond.] -1st grade girl

I also had multiple kids tell me their moms were also having babies...some of which I was a bit skeptical on, but we'll see! Kids are so fun! I'm so glad to be working with them, and a little sad that I'll miss them while I'm on my maternity leave.

Pictures of Pregnancy

I am loving pregnancy...not because it doesn't come with its difficulties, but because I'm so thankful to be pregnant. Isn't is crazy how perspective works? I don't think 2 years ago I would have appreciated the morning sickness, weird pains, exhaustion and increasing numbers on the scale. But, between the rough sleepless nights, largely swollen hands and feet, there is also the fabulous feeling of having baby boy kick and squirm, and the excitement of baby coming home and joining our family!

Here are some pictures of pregnancy:

Loving these oh so close parking spots!

 I think ALL stores should have this awesome perk...whose with me!?

Oh my swollen...rings? long gone!!

Registering for goodies for baby!

 Uh, is there an instruction book on how to use these items?!

So thankful, so excited for this little gift! He is definitely worth all the little complaints!

Daddy's Hospital Bag

Gifts for nurses? Check!
Nursery done? Check!
Hospital Bag for Dad? ...Check!

Since Tom works at the hospital, and has a locker with some basic items waiting for him, I wanted to keep a hospital treat bag simple and cheap. [He doesn't need a toothbrush, deodorant, etc., as those essentials are in his locker, and packed in our toiletry bag. Tom also thinks he is going to wear scrubs the entire time we're at the hospital. I finally broke the news to him that he will need to bring at least ONE regular outfit to wear!!]

 Basically, I raided our basement storage area, and used the leftovers from the nurse gifts to come up with a simple bag of goodies that I know Tom will enjoy.

I included:
2 bottled waters
2 Diet Dr. Pepper bottles
beef jerk
peanut M&Ms
Snickers candy bars
Clif Bars
Gum
Almond snack size bags

I found the adorable *free* printable via Pinterest here. Print, cut, done!

The MOST important thing I included in the bag? A hand written letter expressing how thrilled I am for us to go down this parenting road together!