paparazzi

he is eating, sleeping and pooping right on schedule.... he must be some sort of genius.

he has already peed on both arron and i, so we are officially parents of a boy.

he pooped on my right after his first bath

his first explosion only took me 4 diapers to get it right. haha

he loves the utes..haha

him and our little dog Bo are already best friends.

he is cuter every morning when i wake up.

WE LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. HIM! i dont know how we got so blessed but we are soaking in every minute of it. :)

HE IS HERE!!!!

Gabe Thomas Echols

6/24/10

6:13 pm

8 lbs.

20 inches

We are all doing FANTASTIC.

We are so in love with this little man.

more pictures to come. try to prepare yourself cuz he is SO cute!

transformation...

so this first picture is at 10 weeks, now i have 3 days left and this body "transformation" blows my mind, i've gone from...scared to gain weight... to sorta being ticked that you have to gain weight when your whole life you've been trying to do the the exact opposite...to worrying that my body will never be the same again...to knowing that my body will never be the same again...and now with 3 days left i have come to appreciate that my body can grow a baby and i sort of don't care what happens anymore because the whole thing is such a miracle.

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........18 weeks............................26 weeks.........................30 weeks..........

..............32 weeks......................34 weeks.....................39 weeks.........

some things i've learned over the past 9 months........

*when you sneeze or cough really hard....that might not be the only thing that happens.

*even though your belly is big, it looks EVEN bigger with a stain down the front of your shirt.

*when you get pregnant you develop a hole in your lip that leads to stains down your shirt.

*strangers really do believe that your belly is public property.

*you shouldn't take painting your own toenails for granted.

*walking a mile while 9 months pregnant is equal to a 10k when not pregnant.

*little things like getting out of bed by yourself should be celebrated.

*even flip flops can feel tight at times.

*when you drop something on the floor you want to swear at it (and sometimes you do).

*when people tell you pregnancy is a glorious, wonderful, beautiful thing...they are lying.

*when your baby moves for the first time its the most amazing thing ever!

*the bond you have with your husband increases tenfold.

*you really can fall in love with someone you've never met.

The list could go on and on because, well, i didn't know anything before this journey started 9 months ago, but i've loved and hated being pregnant every step of the way!

made with love

Finally the nursery is finished!! now we just need a baby to put in it!

We had a a lot of helping hands in getting ready for our little mans arrival. here are JUST A FEW contributors!!

shelving/window seat/toy box-built by dad

dresser and paintings- by mom

Tonka trucks- grandpa felman

rocking horse- built by great grandpa wilson, painted by grandma felman

crib- from grandma and grandpa echols

toys and books and clothes- too many friends and family to name but you are all LOVED and appreciated.

before and after: part 2

there is reason i keep arron around besides the fact that he is a sexy beast! he is oh so handy!! he is getting a little antsy for the baby to get here and needed another project to pass the time. so early Saturday morning i hear a loud bang! i go into the nursery and he says "this closet sucks, i'm re-doing it." hahahaha. well i'm glad he did it looks awesome and will be way more efficient then before. he is the best. He really is for hire so if you need some shelves he is becoming somewhat of a pro and LOVES building them. he just refuses to paint. :)

there is not really a before picture for my little project, cuz it would just be 4 blank canvas'. after painting the owl picture i thought i better do something he might like hanging in his room past the age of 5, if not, i might be having an art sale. ;)

juan......

For those of you who don't know, my mom and paps took in a boy named Juan last year because he was homeless and the opportunity arose and they stepped up! i wish i could say i would do the same, but its hard to let someone you don't know into your life so fully. I'm glad they did, he really has become part of the family.. anyway, the tribune wrote and article about him, so if you're interested. Here is his story...
http://www.sltrib.com/davis/ci_15142809

34 weeks down, 6 to go!

Well i couldn't decide if i wanted to get "pregnancy pictures" taken, because, well, the last thing you feel like doing when you're carrying around 25 extra pounds is a photo shoot, but my VERY Talented cousin Leslie is a photographer and offered to do it for free. i couldn't pass up the chance. so here they are in all their glory. i'm not sure what i'll do with these, most likely they'll just go in the babies scrapbook, but i'm still glad i did it.

Before and After...

Arrons project was to build shelves and box in the window so we could have a window seat/toy box. i drew him a picture of what i wanted and i think he out did himself, he is so fetching awesome, i think i'll keep him around! when you ask arron what we are going to fill up all these shelves with, his reply.... all of babies trophies!? he is weird.



Lisa's project not as impressive as arrons but still i'm loving it! after scouring the Internet to find a dresser/changing table for babies room and not finding anything under $200.00 that i loved. i turned to our old friend KSL classifieds and found this gem for $40.00. so i sanded it down, painted and stained it and got some new hardware, and...... i am in love with my orange dresser!

addiction!

1. captain crunch berries
2. jell-O with whip cream topping
3. OJ

So, do you think that its a problem if i have had this EXACT meal for breakfast and lunch almost every day for the past 2 weeks????

i hope not because i am ADDICTED!!

Whoo...

i just finished painting this oil on canvas for the nursery. i'm so excited about how it turned out even if when my little boy gets big he'll probably want it out of his room cuz its too "baby-ish". maybe then i'll put it in my room???

random thoughts....

i don't know if this is what the "pregnancy world" considers "nesting" but i know my "to do" list keeps getting longer and longer! and the 10 weeks i have left till this baby comes seems like not near enough time to do it all. :( after talking with my other prego friend amber i realized that blinds and baseboards should be on the list. FETCH!!! so much to do, so little time, and all with such a big belly. Wish me luck! Or even better come on over and bring your cleaning supplies. ;)

and just a bit randomness......

i bought this house plant the week before arron and i got married, that was in july 2001. so if you're doing the math, that was almost 9 years ago. my goal was to keep it alive and thriving, proving that if i could keep this house plant alive i could hopefully move on to keeping a child alive. well, by the looks of things my kid might not have a very good 10th birthday. :(

WeLcOmE HoMe!!!!

Welcome home Bro!

we missed you and we are SOOO proud of you.

Austins favorite quote from the mission...
"keep your face toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you." -helen keller

progress!

********************18 weeks*************************************26 weeks*********************
i'm claiming this as progress. you know, proof that little belly baby is growing and getting strong and healthy. i'm trying to embrace the fact that no matter how much i go to the gym, its not slowing this mole hill from turning into a mountain, and that's OK!?!? right? and, well the box of girl scout cookies didn't help much either. :(

CRUISEN'

I realize i'm WAY behind on this posting but what can i say, i'm lazy these days. so here is a breakdown of our cruise in top 10 fashion......

10. getting away from the cold.

9. having and excuse to get all dressed up, glitter eyeliner and all. i really need more excuses to use my glitter eyeliner.

8. riding around like royalty in a 24 person limo (it was cheaper then taxi's for 16 people)

7. pinacoladas

6. food, food, food, food, food, food

5. kissing a stingray

4. dancing on the deck of a giant ship in the middle of the ocean.

3. arron finding a wedding ring he likes in grand turk of all places. finally we are "officially" married.

2. spending quality time with the fam...thanks mom and dad for the great christmas present!

1. and lastly....getting away with my best friend one last time before baby makes 3, and makes it a lot harder to travel the world. (but oh soooo worth it...i hope)