Brynlee Kay

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Onto the 9th Month!

I can't believe it's been 36 weeks already and Baby girl will be here soon! It's a little hard to believe we'll be able to hold our little girl in just a few weeks! I can't even wait!!!

We've had a very busy past month!

My college girlfriends threw me an amazing shower March 21. They had adorable decorations, pink cupcakes, hilarious games, yummy food, and so much FUN!!! Baby Girl got spoiled with some fabulous gifts!!! I have the best friends on earth!!! Here are some pictures:

My mom's side of the family came up from Marshall March 27-28 and stayed for the night. My cousin Nicki planned an amazing baby shower day with my family! We had a BBQ, played games (the girls kicked BUTT at Family Fued!), and ate yummy food! Once again, Baby Girl got lots of great gifts! I absolutely LOVE my family and am so appreciative of them! Pictures to come from my mom once she gets them uploaded for me!

My co-workers threw a shower March 30, along with another co-worker, JoAnn, who is due a week after me with her first baby boy! My manager decorated the most beautiful cakes for the babies! The shower was ADORABLE and so much fun. My co-workers are so amazing! Pictures are to come from this as well!

We went out of town to Marshall for Easter weekend and had a good last weekend away from home for a while! The next time we travel to Marshall we'll have a LOT more to bring along! :)

We've been finishing up some things around the house, organizing things for Baby Girl, taking classes, and trying to get everything all ready!

The beginning of March we took our "Preparing for Birth" class where we learned all about labor and what to do in 8 hours. Hopefully we'll remember it all! Haha!

Toward the end of March we took our "Caring for Your Newborn" class, so learned all about bathing, swaddling, changing, etc.

And lastly we took a "Breastfeeding Basics" class where we learned all about the methods of nursing.

Soo...we know how to get her our, how to care for her, and how to feed her. NOW the big challenge will be remembering it all! But I'm not too worried - I know we'll do great and be fabulous parents, it'll all come naturally. It's just a very new transition, and I'm sure we'll get WAY too much advice, but that's where we smile, say thanks, and then take it or leave it. UGH, that'll get old fast! Haha!

Here are some updated pictures of how much she's grown the last few weeks!

31 Weeks 3 Days

36 Weeks

Now we're onto weekly appointments and just watching and waiting to see how things progress and she could be here tomorrow or in 5 weeks from now - we'll see!!! Last appointment I was measuring exactly on for 35 weeks, and dilated to 1 (yay!). We go in tomorrow for our 36 week appointment - hopefully things just continue to move right along and get her (and us) all ready for the big day! AND I still need to pack my hospital bag! It's just so hard to do when half the stuff I need to pack is clothing I need to wear now! Well, hopefully there will be more posts to come before Baby Girl is here!

More baby updates

Baby Girl Boline is still doing great! She's very active and growing strong. We can't wait to meet her - can't believe it's only 10 weeks away! We're just finishing up the final touches of the nursery. We're planning on hanging wooden letters to spell her name above the crib, but can't do that until after she's born and we've decided on a name for sure. We're down to 2 names - but not telling! They're both unique and adorable - not common or boring at all.
Daycare and Pediatrician are in the works - mostly done, but just finalizing decisions. So much to do before she arrives!
Here are some updated pictures of Mama-to-be and growing baby. Enjoy!

27 Weeks


28 Weeks, 5 Days

Belly Pics!

Some new belly pics - I wish I'd been doing better about getting pictures every week, but have been slacking a bit...oops!

21 Weeks 4 Days

23 Weeks

Still growing strong!

Everything's still going great here, busy busy busy!

So we went in for our 20 week ultrasound right before Christmas and it was AMAZING! We are definitely having a GIRL! It was a very clear shot! Haha! It was incredible seeing how much she's grown since the last ultrasound! And everything looks perfect - she has all 5 fingers and toes, and a cute little nose, and all her bones and organs looks great! And she's VERY active - lost of kicks and punches and rolls! I can feel her all the time now, and I love it! Every single little movement puts a smile on my face cuz it's a constant reminder of the little blessing growing in me! It's just an incredible miracle from God!

Our 24 week appointment also went very well, everything's measuring right on track and her heartbeat is 156. Very healthy!

We registered at Target and Babies R Us within the last few weeks. Talk about overwhelming!!! There are soo many options for everything, which is a good thing, but still overwhelming! We've decided to do most of the bigger items at Babies R Us because there are so many more options, and we did the smaller things at Target - with a few duplicates between the 2 places.

We've also started setting up the nursery. Ben and Chuck painted it - it's called "Christopher Robin's Swing"- a subtle yet bright sage green kind of color. We LOVE it! We set up the crib and changing table, both which are a honey oak color. AND we got the bedding! We originally registered for it at Target, but then went there one day to find it on clearance for super cheap so bought it! It's all pink and green with touches of brown, and a polka dot and flower theme. Soo cute! We'll hang the comforter on the wall since you obviously can't use a comforter on a newborn! (I think it's silly they even include them in baby bedding sets - but kind of cute too)

Here are pics of the bedding, crib, and changing table (minus the baskets):

So our next step is childcare, which we've started looking into. And holy cow, daycare is so ridiculously expensive! We're looking for home daycare options or nannies, if we can find one we can afford. And I didn't realize how early you need to find a pediatrician, so that's on our to-do list too!

I feel like we're running out of time to do all the things we need to do! Haha! But at the same time, it doesn't seem like she can get here soon enough! If only we could figure out what to name her! We have our top options, but it's just a matter of deciding which name we like best. I think we're going to have to wait and meet her to know what her name will be!

So basically, we've been very busy getting things ready for our little baby girl! Can't wait!

Time for some belly pics!

10 Weeks 12 Weeks

16 Weeks
17 Weeks 4 days
18 Weeks

Fun little survey

So here's a little survey I found on the What to Expect When You're Expecting online community...kinda fun!

About You
Name?: Natosha
Age?: 25
Height?: 5'3
Pre-pregnancy weight?: 128

About The Father
Name?: Ben
Age?: 27
Height?: 6'0"
Are you still together?: Yes - happily married!

About Your Pregnancy
Is this your first pregnancy?: yes & no - had a miscarriage in April
When did you find out you were pregnant?:September 4
Was it planned?: Yep!
What was your first reaction?: Shock...definitely didn't think it would happen that soon, fear of another miscarriage...HAPPINESS! We were very excited!
Who was with you when you found out?: Ben
Who was the first person you told?: First Ben, then my mom and brother
How did your parents react?: Everyone was ecstatic!!!
How far along are you?: 18 weeks 5 days
What was your first symptom?: Sore boobs & constipation
What is your due date?: May 10, 2010
Do you know the sex of the baby?: not yet!
If so, what is it?: I find out Dec 23 at 8am!
Have you picked out names?: Kind of - definitely for girls and a few for boys
If so, what are they?: It's a secret!
How much weight have you gained?: 9 lbs
Do you have stretch marks?: Nope - I hope the cocoa butter thing truly does help!
Have you felt the baby move?: Yes! Just a few flutters here and there and it's amazing!
Have you heard the heartbeat?: Yes, a few times!

About the birth
Will you keep the baby?: Absolutely!!!
Home or hospital birth?: Hospital
Natural or medicated birth?: Medicated - but would prefer no epidural
Who will be in the delivery room with you?: Just Ben
Will you breastfeed?: Of course!
Do you think you'll need a c-section?: I hope not but will go with what the dr says - I totally trust her!
Will you cry when you hold the baby for the first time?: For sure!
What's the first thing you might say to him/her?: I love you
Would you let someone videotape the birth?: maybe...probably
Are you excited about the birth, or scared?: I'm super scared, but very excited because I know it'll mean I finally get to hold my little one in my arms!

New Life!

So after 3 months of waiting to be able to try for a little baby again, we reached August - the month we'd been waiting for to start trying again! Well, try we did, and Sept 4 was the magical day that we got a big fat POSITIVE test! I have never experienced so many emotions in such a short time - happiness, fear, excitement, grief, joy, fear...
After having experienced a miscarriage, I couldn't help but think of all the awful things that could, and had previously, happened. I felt so much excitement, but was also nervous about all the things most pregnant women shouldn't be thinking about. The dr got me in right away and did an ultrasound to make sure everything was in the right places, and it all looked good with the exception of a HUGE cyst on my right ovary. If the cyst got too big and didn't shrink, it could potentially twist, cutting off blood supply to the baby. Talk about adding nerves to the already nervous mama!
So basically they monitored the cyst and I got to see the baby many times as they checked the cyst. It got bigger and bigger, until it reached 5.9cm at about week 8. I was considered high risk and had to avoid bending, twisting, lifting, jogging, pushing, pulling, all those things that were basically required for packing and moving into a new house! Soo...my wonderful husband, mother, and mother in law packed up the majority of the apartment, and everyone helped us move in! Well I went back into the dr at week 10 cuz I was having back pain and was nervous that something might be wrong. However, when I went in everything was fine and we got to see the baby's little heartbeat. It was so surreal but such a reassurance that everything was fine. The ultrasound tech called it the "gummi bear" stage because it looked like a little gummi bear! And the other good news was that the cyst had shrunk - to 2.5 cm! Praise God! Prayer really does do wonders!!
At the 12 week ultrasound the cyst had gone down again to 1.3cm and the baby was healthy and showed no neural tube defects, AND it was sucking its thumb! It was only 3 inches long and it could suck its thumb and had vertebrate and organs...only 3 inches - what a miracle!
And THEN, at my 12 week OB, we got to experience the best part yet - we got to hear the heartbeat! There is nothing like hearing the heartbeat of a little baby growing inside you! It was crazy!!! I don't understand how anyone can NOT believe in God when I hear that! I know there is a scientific part of having a baby, but that all was CREATED by HIM! I mean, do people really believe in that "big bang" crap that things just exploded into little detailed arteries and uteruses and growing babies? Is it really SO hard for people to believe that there is a higher power that created them and will be the ultimate judgement? My heart goes out to and my prayers are with those who have yet to understand and believe in Him and the wonder of it all!
Soo...back to MY little gift from God! Once I reached 12 weeks, heard the heartbeat, and was no longer at risk with the cyst, my worry went WAY down and I began to enjoy everything that much more! I am now 15 weeks 4 days along and cannot wait until I start to feel the baby move! I am so blessed to have a beautiful little baby growing in me! I hope and pray every day that God will continue to keep our baby growing strong and healthy! I have my 16 week appt on Tuesday and am so excited to hear the heartbeat again!
The due date is May 10. We are going to find out what we're having - we figure it's going to be a surprise whether we find out now or at birth. And why not alleviate all the frustration with the yellows and greens and everyone not knowing if it's a little boy or a little girl. I mean honestly, can you REALLY tell if it's a boy or a girl when it's wearing gender neutral colors? If I have a little girl it's going to be dressed like a little girl - pink, purple, polka dots, the works. And if it's a boy, it's going to be full of trucks, and baseballs, and blue and green!
I cannot WAIT to find out what we're having. We have names picked out but we're not telling anyone what they are until the baby's born. This may sound rude, but we don't really care about everyone else's opinions on whether or not they like the names we have chosen. We figure that once the name is attached to a beautiful little baby, there can't be any complaints, right!?
I may sound like an opinionated emotional pregnant women, and perhaps that's true, but just setting my thoughts and feelings straight about the comments I've already received. "Oh really, are you sure you want to find out what you're having? You don't want it to be a surprise?" or opinions about traditional vs modern names, or making sure some family tradition is carried on with a name. It's a little much at times!
However, we have amazing families who are extremely supportive and caring and excited about this new life! And my little brother is soo excited about his first niece/nephew. He's living with us for a while and is soo willing and helpful around the house and in our lives! He is always asking how I'm doing or feeling and is so happy for us! I am so lucky to have such a loving supportive little brother!!! And our parents, as always, are fabulous! Ben's parents have been here on numerous occasions helping in the yard or with little projects around the house. From pulling dead plants to creating a new outlet in the basement, or fixing the leak in our dishwasher...it's all been soo helpful! My dad has been pretty preoccupied with a wedding and school, but is definitely looking forward to being a grandpa! My mom has helped me unpack box after box after box...and put up with my indecisiveness as I sit in Target debating over which type of organization method I want to use in the bathroom or bedroom or wherever else - and her decorating skills definitely come in handy! Picking out paint is the next battle! Haha!

So needless to say, we have amazing support, are in a great place in life, and we cannot wait until we have our little baby to hold in our arms in 25 weeks!

Stay posted to hear more about little baby Boline's journey from my womb to our arms!

UPDATES!

Well, it's been quite a while since I've updated my little blogger about my life. Let's see if I can sum up the lighter parts of the last few months...

Summer was an adventure consisting mostly of searching high and low for that perfect house... We put offers on 5 houses, one we were outbid by only $400, one we waited for 60 days to have the sellers back out...grr! But then in August we came across the first house we looked at in June and ta-da - we now have a home! We put in an offer and closed 3 weeks later - October 19th!!! Crazy!

We spent a wonderful 4th of July at the Luth cabin drinking yummy drinks (aka beer!) and hanging out in the sun on the boat.

The first week in August we went to Wisconsin Dells with the family I used to nanny for - best kids in the whole wide world! They're more like our "unofficial" family and we LOVE spending time with them!

As always, we supported our MN Twins!!!

We also spent time at one of my favorite places ever - THE MN STATE FAIR!!!!!!! Here's a hot little picture of Ben and me at the MN Turkey booth, while we were in line for ice cream!!

And my friend Jen is amazing and brought me to Favre's first year s a MN Viking!!! Aah! The energy and excitement in that place was AMAZING!!!

Then this fall we had 2 weddings for 2 of my closest girl friends. Amy & Eric in September, and Jackie & Brandon in October. Soo much fun to celebrate fun times with great friends!

And of course there were many many more fun times this summer - these just happen to be the highlights and the things I have pictures of! It was a fun, rejuvenating, healing summer and early fall!!!

So much to catch up on!

So I've just realized it's been a whole month since I last blogged! Yikes!

Soo... the last month I've been super busy!

My best friend's (Heather) boyfriend flew me out to LA the last weekend in May to surprise her for her birthday! He had a surprise party for her so she didn't know I was there until the surprise party and she was sooo surpised! It was amazing! So we had a fun girley weekend just hanging out and going our in LA.

Then the next weekend we went to AZ with Heather & Jesse and another couple (Matt & Nicole) to stay at her parents' home. It was amazing! It was better than a 5-star resort! We hung out by the pool, drank mimosas, yummy drinks, and of course some tequila, played lots of games - out favorite is a game we just learned called Dutch Blitz. It is honestly the best card game ever! So needless to say, we had zero desire to leave Sunday night. Well, we got out wish cuz our flight was cancelled! Unfortunately, everyone else had already flown out so the airline put us up in a hotel for the night and we made it back to MN Monday night. It was one of my top favorite trips in my life! And I can't wait to do it again!



And to top it all off, I just had my wisdom teeth removed this morning and I am in horrible pain!!!

Between our crazy vacations, we've been trying ot look at houses to buy! I also went to the dr before AZ and was given very very good news! She said I'm all back to normal and all is well, so we can start trying for a little baby again as soon as we want! We're going to wait through this cycle and then we'll see!!!

So that's my short and sweet version of all our excitement. And I think the Vicadin is kicking in... See 'ya!

Rutgers Resort 2009!

We were very fortunate to spend a lovely weekend with Ben's side of our family. We went up to a resort in northern MN called Rutgers that we started as a tradition last year's Memorial Day weekend. My favorite moments of the weekend (in no particular order):

• THE FOOD!!! I cannot even begin to explain the amazing buffet we had every morning and night! Breakfast for me each morning was french toast, fruit, bacon, hashbrowns, more hashbrowns, and a side of hashbrowns - haha! Dinner was always some kind of steak or prime rib, a type of fish, pork, and a pasta. They had yummy grilled asparagus, and a GREAT salad bar!!! And then there were the desserts - need I say more? My favorite was brownie pie - the kind of brownie that's still a little gooey inside...HEAVEN!!!!
• I learned to golf! Well, technically I learned last year, but each year it's a complete re-teach! My wonderful mother-in-law, Ann, taught me...again! Whoever said mother and daughter in-laws can't get along - you are VERY wrong! We had a super fun afternoon, with the boys teeing off behind us! My 2 brother-in-laws gave me some great tips as well!
• My youngest brother-in-law laughing until he puked, literally, while we were playing Balderdash. It resulted in about 10 minutes of rolling-on-the-floor laughter for everyone!!! Hahaha!
• WINNING Family Feud - the prize being a weekend for 2 over Mother's Day weekend next year. (AND we cleaned up at BINGO too!)
• Watching the boys playing water Bocce - I have a WONDERFUL husband & WONDERFUL brother-in-laws.
• The beer after 18 holes of golf...I never understood why guys always say beer with golf is such a great thing...now I get it! Beer is definitely a necessity with golf!
• The quesadilla my mother-in-law and I had while sitting by the pool after going out on the paddleboat - it really was the best!
• My father-in-law's Scattergories answers AND my oldest brother-in-law's Balderdash answers - VERY entertaining!
• Sitting by the lake with Ben Saturday morning reading our books. SO pretty and quiet and relaxing
• Overall FUN with everyone! I love my family!!!

And here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Ben and I on the golf course! Me with my ridiculously huge sunglasses that left HORRIBLE tan lines!

Our cabin on the lake. Cabin 735 for the 2nd year in a row!

The boys playing water Bocce- BRR!

Our Family!