Half Marathon Weekend!

Andrew ran the Carlsbad Half Marathon this weekend and his parents saw it as a great excuse to fly down to southern California for the weekend. They flew in Friday evening and Saturday was filled with a trip to the expo to pick up Andrew's race packet, lunch at Panera, and some shopping at the Magical Child. Of course no trip to SD is complete without a trip to Piatti! This time his aunts and uncles and cousins came as well! Me and my hubby with just six weeks to go!

The whole group!Sunday morning was the big race! We were up by 5:30 and pretty much rolled out of bed and into the car! Here is Andrew and his cousin Heidi and her friend pre race.

Some of the runners!

Andrew and our friend Kelly running along! There were running buddies pretty much the whole race. The race route runs along the 101 making it a super scenic marathon.

Kelly with her hubby Seth. Our friend Sarah came out to support the runners too and so Seth, Sarah and I went to Starbucks for a bit while they were running and got back in time to stake out a spot on the finish line!

Me and my hubby!! So proud of him and Kelly! They did so great and made great time! Andrew ran the half in an hour 48 minutes!

Andrew with his parents.

After the race Andrew and I ran home to shower up and then headed back over to his aunts house for lunch. Heidi's son Jeff was being so cute holding his cousin Laura's baby Ella! He just loves the babies and kept hugging and kissing my stomach all afternoon too.

Andrew had some fun teaching the boys some soccer! So cute!

Andrew's parents flew out yesterday morning and once again I am one wiped out preggo lady! Next weekend Andrew and I are getting away for a night for a mini babymoon and I can't wait!!

Diapers . . .

What we got in the mail yesterday! 12 BumGenius diapers. Plus a pair of baby leg warmers, a diaper sprayer and a five pound box of Allens detergent. Enough to get started right? :)

So in thinking about diapers and how much money we would spend on them and how many we would go through and how long they take to decompose and how much money we would save (oh did I already mention that? :) I started considering cloth diapers. It doesn't hurt that bumgenius makes some pretty cute ones too! I have yet to try them out (obviously) but have friends who use them so I feel fairly confident using them. But then I held them up next to a newborn pamper. And the bumgenius is snapped at it's smallest size and it still seems huge next to it! I know she won't be that small forever but I'm starting to wonder how old she will be before she will be able to fill one up! I was going to wait until she was not a newborn and on a more regular digestive schedule anyway but was going to try and use them as soon as I felt comfortable. We probably will still use disposable when we know we will be gone for a while or when we travel but I'm sure we will be spending a lot of time at home! So that is the diaper plan for now! I do love how soft the cloth diapers are!

Anyone have cloth experience? Except for my friend Mel who happens to not only use cloth but makes her own!!

Nursery progress & surprises!

So we just got back from vacation last Monday and we all along had planned to start working on her nursery after the holidays. Well I'm not sure if it was coming home on a Monday or realizing that we only had eight weeks left give or take but I started to panic a little about all we had to do to get ready for her in the next couple of months! Especially because this coming weekend Andrew and I are going to a two day birthing class instead of doing the normal every week for six nights class. And then the weekend after that Andrew is running the Carlsbad half marathon and his family will be in town. So really it would be a few more weeks before we had a day to do anything. So we hit last weekend bound and determined to be productive:) We got the Christmas ornaments put away finally on Friday night. On Saturday morning our doula and friend Jenna came over to go over our birth plan with us and just chat which always feels great! Then we spent the rest of the day running errands! On Sunday we met some friends who are moving in a couple weeks for breakfast at Swamis and after breakfast stopped by this cute store called the Rustic Rooster. It is an adorable little beachy store right off the 101 and my friend Kelly suggested checking them out for cute nursery stuff. So we stopped in without any expectations except to maybe find a cute frame or something but instead we found a dresser for the nursery!! Andrew and I were really excited about getting her dresser since we felt like it was the one bigger thing that we were going to do for her. The one bigger thing but don't get me wrong we don't exactly have lots of money to spend on anything so we had mostly looked at ikea and walmart and target and couldn't find anything that wasn't inexpensive and quality. So anyway we found this adorable white dresser that was real wood and quality made, as in dove tailed drawers and all! :) I know it's the little things right! So Andrew planned to go up today to pick it up.

It was a totally beautiful weekend and felt like summer! I couldn't believe it was in the 80's and it is January!

So I knew he was going to pick up the dresser and then I came home to this:

Not only had he picked up the dresser but he also picked up a glider we saw on craigslist and the crib his cousin Heidi is giving to us!! The glider is used but it's nothing a little Sol-u-mel can't fix! It was like coming home from work to insta nursery!! I was speechless! I called him on my way home from work to see if he had heard back from the lady about the glider and he said someone else beat him to it! Sneaky little guy! Seriously when will I stop being so gullible!

Putting the crib together! I can't tell you how excited I am to have a crib in that room now! It feels like we are really starting to make progress! I will post more pictures as we get more done! We are expecting all our baby stuff from Oregon to arrive tomorrow!

Here is the dresser all set up!

What's in a name

You may have noticed in my last post a name framed! Yes I believe we have settled on a name. Actually before we even knew our sweet babe was a girl we loved this name and haven't had any second runner ups so I think it is safe to say we are planning on naming her:

Audra Elizabeth (Hawaiian middle name) Palmer


I love the name Audra and that it means noble strength. I know kids don't go running around the playground saying, "my name means noble strength, what does your name mean?" but for us what her name meant was just as important as what her name was! I do want her to grow up knowing too that her strength is from God and that she is a princess not in the bratty way but in the way God sees her.

Her middle name will be Elizabeth and she will actually be the sixth generation of Elizabeth!

In Hawaii it is a tradition that the grandparents christen the grandchildren with a Hawaiian middle name usually once they have met them and seen a bit of their personality. This isn't always done right at birth but I hoped she would have hers so it could be on her birth certificate. I guess my dad has already picked one out but is keeping it a secret so that is yet to be revealed!

Baby Shower in Salem!

My mama and sister threw a baby shower for me and our baby girl in Salem the Sunday before we flew home!

The cute table set up! The polka dot frame was actually from the Bolens and I thought it fit in perfectly!

The yummy spread! My grandma made pink cake balls and they were delish!

Playing the game, how huge has my belly gotten! Our dear family friend Joyce Satter won and she was right on! Here is Andrew's mom giving it a go.

Present time! A cute blankie for our baby from her great grandma! I can't believe my grandma is a great grandma now!

Kelly made her this one:) She will be cuter than a puppy!

This is where Lucy spent pretty much the whole party!

My sister and I and cute baby Kai!

Erin and I! Thanks friend for taking so many pictures!

Even though we weren't able to have a shower in Portland because of the weather Annie was able to incorporate a book of encouragement that she was going to do at that shower at the Salem shower! So thoughtful! We ended the shower with a time of prayer and I got a little teary from all of the sweet prayers for our family and our baby girl. Andrew and I both feel so blessed by all of the support we have received during our pregnancy!

Breakfast in Salem

The day after new years my parents took Andrew and I out to breakfast in salem to a new little place called Word of Mouth. It was so yummy seriously melt in your mouth goodness!! I guess the story goes that the owners spent a few years bumming around southern california and even got their hash training at a breakfast place down in san diego.

Ethan Rex and fun with the Bolens

When we got back to Salem we headed up to meet the six day old newest member of the Bolen family, little Ethan Rex. He was a little over a week early and I'm so glad he was because it would have been months otherwise before we would have been able to hold him! He was so tiny and pure sweetness! He is just as mellow as can be!

Group shot!

The girls and Ethan!

Klaire had woken up from a nap after we had been there for a bit and I am always amazed at all her changes since the last time I saw her! I love her sweet little one year old voice!
Deciding which book to read:

It was so great to spend some time with our friends who we miss dearly! Our time together is always so precious!

The rest of our time with the Palmers

We got back to the Palmer house on Sunday night and spent the next few days relaxing. We went to the outlets a couple of times and out to some yummy dinners. Andrew and I spent one afternoon drinking decaf coffees, watching the waves and working on our birth plan.

On New Years Eve I woke up to a crash. The room Andrew and I sleep in is right below this deck so to me it sounded like the house was falling down! I ran to the back door and saw Andrew running around outside and opened the door for him. Come to find out he had just stepped out on the deck when it came crashing down! Praise the Lord he survived with only a few scrapes! Had he stepped any further out when it decided to fall the black metal furniture could have been behind him and fallen on top of him or who knows! Needless to say I didn't get much sleep the rest of that night I couldn't get my heart to stop pounding!

So scary!

That next morning Andrew's mom hosted a shower for us and for her friend Doris's daughter who is due the same week we are. I think Andrew's favorite present she got was these cute sunglasses!

Andrew did a great job taking notes!

Here we were at 31 weeks! I can't believe we only had nine more to go!