Weekly Updates

Around Christmas time 2011 after talking baby with Zac, I stumbled upon Little Baby Garvin (a blog I'm sure most, if not all of you have seen and are familar with) and was inspired by Jessica's weekly updates and knew immediately that I should put that in my back pocket for when I got pregnant. Less than a year later I had the chance to start documenting my own weekly updates.

I used one of our chalkboards that Zac made for our wedding to create the menu for our Mommy & Daddy to be Breakfast announcement. Zac loves the menu so much that he still refuses to erase the message. We used the second chalkboard from the wedding for all of the chalkboard updates.We started to share the photos with family and friends via instagram ( @cristina_chapman) and Facebook starting week 13.

Here is a peek at all of our updates from week 11 through week 37:

   

     

        

         

Yesterday officially marked the end of week 37. Here are my 37 week stats:

How far along? 37 Weeks

Total weight gain: 30lbs (5lbs more than I was hoping to but....oh well)

Maternity clothes? Only a pair of maternity jeans. Other than that I've just been stretching out my regular shirts and wearing dresses as tops.

Stretch marks? none yet! *Fingers crossed that I'll miss out on this all together!*

Sleep: As I am a stomach sleeper, sleeping has been less comfortable since the bump started growing. These days sleep is difficult only because of the crazy dreams I've been having and the fact that I now have to pee at least twice throughout the night.

Best moment this week: Going on leave and having time to start really focusing on getting everything ready for our little one's arrival.

Miss Anything? A lot of things: not getting winded going up and down the stairs, a little champagne every once in a while, having a wider selection where my wardrobe is concerned! Also, sleeping in the same bed as my husband. My poor Zac has started to sleep in the guest bedroom. My tossing and turning, frequent bathroom visits and unfortunate new habit of snoring make it almost impossible for him to get a good night's sleep otherwise.

Movement: All the time! Hiccups are plentiful and the movements are big and frequent....and sometimes a little uncomfortable.

Food cravings: Watermelon!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing really.

Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: As you can see from the chalkboard on our last visit to the doctor I was 70% effaced and 2cm dilated. I've had mild cramps that felt like menstrual cramps but they didn't last long. Doctor says that baby's head is down. We think he's getting ready.

Symptoms: Swollen hands and feet, charlie horse style cramps occassionally when I sleep, and in the last few days I've had bleeding gums and have seen a little blood in the tissue when I blow my nose.

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? Off. My poor hands have been crazy swollen and my rings have been gone since week 29. My right hand has been numb and doc says that I have pregnancy induced carpel tunnel. My fingers have been numb for weeks.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I do get a little moody every once in a while when he moves around and I get uncomfortable, but happy for the most part.

Looking forward to: Meeting our little man! ....and getting feeling back in my fingers!

I am SO happy that we've been documenting this pregnancy this way. I only wish that we had figured out a way to incorporate Zac in these photos.

Has anyone else been inspired by the Little Baby Garvin blog? I've seen a ton of others on Pinterest. I'd love to see your photos if you're documenting your own pregnancy.

Planning on documenting your pregnancy the same way? Here are some blogs that I have found that you might get some inspiration from:

Little Baby Garvin

The Girl In The Red Shoes

Becoming the Barrs

In This Joyful Life

Mommy's Little Sunshine

Baby Chapman: Telling Family and Friends

After I spilled our baby news to Zac and we had time to celebrate and take it all in, we got to work on finding a doctor. We wanted to make sure that I was indeed pregnant and that everything was okay with our little jellybean before filling our family in on our exciting news. A week or so later we found ourselves in a doctor's office answering a ton of questions and I geared myself up for the not so fun physical examinations I knew were ahead of me. The doctor confirmed that we had a little one on the way and estimated our due date as May 14. A few days after this appointment we went to an imaging facility to get the first peek at our little bean.

It was great to see that there really was something in there since I wasn't feeling pregnant in the slightest (this changed VERY soon...but more on that later). The sonogram technician estimated that I was about 6 weeks pregnant and that little baby's due date was actually May 20.

Now that we had confirmation that our family was expanding we started to discuss when and how we were going to let family know. We decided not to tell friends and coworkers until I hit the second trimester and everything was going great. Keeping the secret from our parents and immediate families for six weeks however was not something that we wanted to do.

We were inspired by this photo from our wedding:

We thought that it would be cute to put a little spin on this picture using the shoes that I had purchased to tell Zac about baby. This is what we came up with:

We put the pictures together in double frames, wrapped them up, and prepared to give them to our parents. Zac's parents were coming for a visit and my dad's birthday was right around the corner. We had the perfect opportunities to give these gifts and share our news. The funny thing about these reveals is that it took a few moments for our parents to understand what the pictures meant. My mom was the only one who got the idea right away. Once everyone understood that there were three pairs of shoes in the bottom picture and that the empty shoes were baby sized the hugs and kisses were countless and the excitement was unmeasurable. Both sets of parents were anxious to share the news with others as much as we were. The time couldn't pass quickly enough. (That changed pretty quickly, too.)

I have been blessed with an amazing group of ladies in my life. I have the sweetest most thoughtful and fun girls to call my sisters. I couldn't ask for better relationships! I knew that my baby was going to have some fantastic aunties and I wanted to find a fun way to tell these girlies the news. I got my craft on...

...and hand painted some tote bags for each of these special girls. I was able to see some of them in person and the others who live out of town were sent little care packages. The phone calls that followed the out of town deliveries and the moments that came after the in person announcements are ones I won't forget.

Pretty soon we had hit the second trimester and made our announcement to friends and coworkers. I posted our shoe photo on instagram (@cristina_chapman) and Facebook and the response was overwhelming. The sweet congratulatory messages were plentiful and Zac and I were happy to finally share our happy news.  

Baby Chapman... How We Found Out

If you saw yesterday's post then you know our big announcement. Zac and I are expecting our first baby in just a few weeks. Tomorrow I will officially be 37 weeks pregnant. We're in the home stretch and we can't wait to meet our baby.

As it's been a while since I've posted regularly, this information is all news to my blogging buddies so I thought that I would catch you all up on all things baby. First things first: how we found out.

Zac and I had been talking baby long before we were married. While planning our wedding, we were also planning our timeline for baby and we decided that we wanted to start trying right after our honeymoon. It was three months after our wedding that the positive results popped up on the tests. (Yes I took four)

We had a stash of pregnancy tests in our bathroom and from time to time I would take one just to see. On Thursday, September 6 after Zac went to work I decided to take one. I had taken one just a few days before and it was negative so I wasn't really expecting anything. After taking the test and leaving it in our bathroom upstairs, I went downstairs to make myself dinner. To be honest, I had forgotten about it for a little bit. When I finally remembered a few minutes later, I ran upstairs to check it and was blown away when I saw a faint pink line. I've read that leaving tests for longer than 5 minutes can result in a false positive so I didn't take it too seriously. Still, a part of me was hopeful. I decided that I would wait to take another one until first thing the next morning.

Friday morning I woke up early to get ready for work and rushed to the bathroom to take the test before doing anything else. Zac was still blissfully sleeping as I sat on the bathroom floor with wide eyes staring at the very clear pink line on the test.

I decided not to wake Zac. I knew that if I told him right then I would just want to spend the whole rest of the day with him celebrating our amazing news. Unfortunately, that wasn't a possibility as I needed to hurry up and get ready for work. So I rushed out the door without waking him and opted to get another box of tests on my way home....just to be sure. By the time I got home from work that evening, Zac had already gone to work so I was able to take the tests on my own. I got the Clearblue digital ones this time. There was something about seeing the word 'pregnant' that madeit more official...more real.

Now that it had started to settle in, I brainstormed ways to tell Zac about our baby news. That evening I went to dinner with a friend at a restaurant right next to the mall. After our meal and catch up session I headed into Mainland and purchased a pair of baby Toms in gray. Zac and I always have Sundays off together so I thought this would be the perfect time to tell him. I planned on making him a big breakfast and spilling the beans first thing in the morning.

Waiting until Sunday meant that I had to keep this secret for a few days. This was an unbelievably difficult task that had me dodging my poor husband as I was SURE that I would let it slip. Zac worked on Saturday afternoon so I only had to keep the secret for the evening. It was still difficult and I ended up telling him that I was super tired at around 8:00pm and I went to bed.

On Sunday morning I banished Zac to our bedroom and ran downstairs to start breakfast.

On Friday night, after I got home from the mall I had set to work drawing up a fun menu for our Sunday breakfast. I used one of the chalkboard menus that Zad had built for our wedding and wrote out the following: Chateau de Chapman Specials Mommy & Daddy to be Breakfast Baby Chapman arriving May 2013.

I set up the shoes that I purchased just a few days before and the second positive test I had taken in a pastry dish with a dome. I set this in the center of the table next to a vase of flowers.

Once breakfast was all made I put on some music and called Zac down to eat. I am not a cook and making a meal is a rare thing for me so Zac was quite excited that I had prepared something this morning. His already smiling face was priceless once he spotted the pastry dish and the tiny shoes on the table. (He didn't even notice the giant chalkboard until halfway through the meal!) We shared an emotional moment and a tight hug before sitting down to eat and discuss our excitement.

Next came telling our family and friends....

Changes

Hello blogger buddies! It's been far too long since I've written a blog post and I've really come to miss my regular posts. Recently I've looked at this blog and I have been quite grateful to have a record of all the wonderful things and events leading up to our wedding day. I'm disappointed that I haven't been able to keep up and that I haven't filled all of you in on how all of the details we worked so hard on came together on our big day.

As our one year anniversary quickly approaches (May 4th is just one week away!) Zac and I have reflected on our first year of marriage. It's amazing the things that can happen in just one year and we are unbelievably grateful for all of the wonderful things that we've experienced.

Just a few days after we said 'I do', Zac and I boarded a plane and spent 10 fantastic days in Maui. Our honeymoon was the best vacation we could have asked for. We were excited to be married and to have the opportunity to spend so much uninterrupted time together. The stress of the wedding was all over and we could finally relax.

Though we did venture out to restaurants and experienced some mini adventures like ziplining, we spent the majority of our days just laying out on the beach with a stack of books and bottles of booze. We had no worries, no responsibilities, and no itinerary. It was perfect.

We kept in touch with family and friends and even sent out a Happy Mother's Day message to all of the wonderful mamas in our lives.

After we returned home, our summer was filled with many more wedding celebrations....

On September 1st by sweet husband turned 31.... and just over a week later we celebrated the biggest life changing news ever....

We're having a baby!!!!

Yesterday was my last day of work and I am officially on maternity leave. With a due date of May 20th, it won't be long now until we are a family of three.

As you can probably guess, things have been a little crazy in our house over the last nine months! It's all super exciting and I think it's time to finally share all of our news in detail over the next few weeks. I'm hoping to be able to keep up with my blog again. It served as a great record of our wedding planning and I would love to have a similar record of our little bean!

More news to come :)