36 1/2 Weeks

Wow! What a journey this has been! I can't believe we have almost reached the end of the rainbow. Scotty and I are so excited about our little one's arrival. Although I think I'm a little freaked out about the 'actual arrival.' We will have an ultrasound tomorrow morning. We can't wait to see our little girl again! It's been 16 weeks since we last saw her. Hopefully I will have more pictures to post at that point.

These days I'm moving a bit slower and making plenty of stops to the restroom. I'm so glad we've gotten so much accomplished before this point because my energy level is slim to none. We've washed all of Baby Shannon's clothes, blankets and sheets. The rocker came in this weekend and I'm so glad it didn't take 12 weeks as we suspected! Whew! We're still fixing up her room, as it isn't finished yet. We plan to make the final touches this weekend. My hospital bag is packed, for the most part. So, I think at this point we are just waiting for our little girl to make her way into this world!

36 Weeks

Here's a sneak peek at the nursery!

Baby Shower

On March 20th my mom, sister, sister-in-law and two friends threw a baby shower for me. It was so great! It was one of my favorite days. Everyone was so generous and they made me feel so special. Our little girl is set now! I am so blessed to have so much support and love from friends and family. I really, truly appreciate it.

Hostess with the mostess

Michelle, Ely, Liz, Leah and my mom

My Grammie crochetted a beautiful baby blanket for Baby Shannon!

Liz, my sister, made this really cute bow frame for all of Baby Shannon's bows!

My mom made this really sweet night light for Baby Shannon's room!

My mom also made a first year scrapbook for Baby Shannon!

Baby Shower at Work

On March 19th my department at work put together a surprise baby shower for me! It was so sweet! They were very generous with the gifts and they were so excited to surprise me. What great people!

33 Weeks

Well, this picture was taken at 32 weeks, but I would guess that I look very similar a week later. When we were finished taking this picture, we realized that our dog, Harley, decided to pop in it. He's so funny. I foresee him being in many of our little one's pictures!

Everything has been going well lately. I'm starting to get that exhausted feeling at the end of each day and I'm back to going to bed earlier than usual. I'm beginning to feel some of the side effects of the 3rd trimester and I have to admit, some of it isn't fun, but I know it will all be worth it in the end. Overall though, I've been in good spirits and I'm happy!

We had another appointment on Thursday. The dr. heard Baby Shannon's heartbeat and said that it sounded great. We love to hear that! I think I have another 3 weeks before I start having an appointment every week.

Scotty and I have a few things on our list to take care of before our little one is here, like registering for some classes at the hospital, finishing up her room, preparing things at work .... I'm sure the list gets longer every week. I am still enjoying feeling her move around in my belly. Sometimes I feel like she's telling me, "Mom, there isn't much room in here!" My dr. assured me that there was. :) Another favorite moment of mine - the other night Scotty and I got into bed. He put his hand on my belly and said, "I can't wait to meet you." I love those moments! She will be here in 7 weeks, which is still really hard to imagine!

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year! I love, love, love getting out in the yard and filling our flower beds with new flowers. I've been trying to think of when I should do it this year since I doubted I would be able to do much of anything. Yesterday we bought plants and today Scotty and I worked in the yard making it look beautiful! I'm exhausted, but it was worth doing. I don't even know if I would have the energy to do something like that in a couple of weeks. I do have to say that it's really hard to get up off the ground at 33 weeks along. That was a struggle today.

Please keep praying for a healthy baby girl!

29 Weeks

Wow! Are we really this far already??? I can't believe this little one will be here in 2 1/2 months! Scotty and I are so excited! Yes, as you can see this baby bump of mine has GROWN! I was looking at my 21 week picture and thinking, "Gosh I was so small back then!" If you think I've grown at least 3 1/2 belly inches within the last 2 months, you are right! It's not the easiest thing to watch your body blow up this way, but it's easier when you have a wonderful husband like Scotty. He's been great throughout the last 7 months.

About a month or so ago Scotty felt Baby Shannon for the first time. It was such an amazing moment! We tried several times to get him to feel her, but it's hard when she's small and not moving constantly. When he felt her he looked at me and said, "Was that you?" I said, "No! That was her!" He had this huge smile on his face. That is one of my favorite moments of the last 7 months. Since then she's been doing cartwheels in my belly! These days you can actually see the outside of my belly rolling. It's crazy, but I love it!

This week I've started to get tired and I've been taking advantage of my naps on the bus ride into work and back home. Scotty and I have had to compromise our sleeping arrangements. These days he has a couple extra blankets on him, while I try not to sweat during the night. Got to love the third trimester! All in all though, I'm still feeling good and in good spirits!

Scotty and I are both so excited about our baby's arrival! Once we receive a gift from someone Scotty immediately finds a place for it in the nursery. He makes me laugh, but I realize that it's his way of showing his excitement. I'm so glad that God put us together. There's no one else I'd rather share these precious moments with!

The Nursery

Before Christmas we ordered the nursery furniture. One of my friends ordered her nursery furniture and it came the weekend before she had her baby. I was nervous this would happen, so we ordered it early and then we didn't have a place to put it because we still needed to clean out the nursery room. Oh well! At least we have it and we love it!
As my mom has said, "The Nesting Bug has officially hit the Shannon house!" After New Years Scotty and I got busy cleaning out the room that would eventually be the nursery. This involved purging a lot of items into the guest room closet, our closet and the attic. It felt so good to get that room clean and clear! Scotty built a shelving unit in the nursery closet so that we could utilize as much space as possible. You know how I love organization! He did a great job! I love how it turned out! Of course, the items in the closet will be organized at some point, but for now they just needed to go into the closet so the room could be clear for painting.

Matt, Scotty's best friend, came this weekend to help Scotty paint the nursery. They did an amazing job!!! They painted the room, lined the stripes and cut, put up and painted the chair rail! I LOVE IT!!! I know our little girl will love it too! It's so cute! The bedding is on the bench if you want to get an idea of what everything will look like together. We'll get the carpets cleaned next week, move the furniture into the room and the room will look even more put together! This makes me so excited for little Shannon's arrival! Scotty and I are both so excited! She has no idea how much love she has waiting for her already!

Before

After

Christmas 2009

For Christmas this year we decided to surprise Scotty's family! This was planned for 6 months and they didn't even suspect it! Barbie helped us with the surprise and picked us up from the airport. We showed up at 11pm that night and they were very surprised. We were all excited that we could celebrate Christmas together.

Scotty & Natalie

Christmas 2009

The Saturday before Christmas my family got together to celebrate. We had a wonderful time! We are so blessed!

Pictures of Baby Shannon

Last Wednesday was exciting! We got to see our baby girl again! She is still adorable! Her measurements were great too! She even has Scotty's feet!! "How do you know she has Scotty's feet?" you say? Trust us, she DEFINITELY has Scotty's feet!! We have laughed and laughed about this all week!

Our baby is so precious!