29 Weeks

Leland is getting WAY bigger...and so is mommy's belly!

frontal view...you can see a faint view of "the line!"

this is my go to "dance move" when I'm not pregnant and even MORE fun to do when I am pregnant! Nate LOVES it!

How far along? 29 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 19.2 lbs. I only gained a pound this past week and I'm very proud since we were in Buffalo, New York celebrating Christmas and eating delicious and unhealthy food for 10 solid days!

Maternity clothes? Yes.

Stretch marks? No. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Sleep: Sleeping great. We got to sleep on a brand new FIRM mattress in Buffalo at Nate's parent's house.  Linus, our puppy baby, was such a good boy sleeping with us and slept in until anout 7:30am every morning.   I slept great while I was there...something I had been stressing about for about 3 months! 
 Other symptoms: The varicose veins are still a problem but when I ice them they feel so much better! 

Best moment this week: We had our first baby shower at Nate's parent's house.  It was so nice.  All 4 of his sisters were there and about 8 people that I had never even met before!  Like I said when we were getting married, people are SO GENEROUS!  I couldn't believe how sweet all of these people were coming to a baby shower for me when I had never met them before.  It was wonderful.  We got so much stuff!  We even got our first CLOTH DIAPER & WET BAG!!

Movement: Yes! Lots. 

Food cravings:  Sweets. Rootbeer floats!

Anything making you queasy or sick: These past 4 days, Leland has been moving so much that sometimes I get a little nauseous!  

Have you started to show yet: Yes.

Gender: BOY!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out?  It is still in but getting A LOT flatter!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody: Happy!

  Looking forward to: We are looking forward to 2013!  This past year has been sensational!  We bought a house, got our puppy baby, and made baby Leland!  We can not wait until he arrives sometime in March!  Very exciting! I am also looking forward to having my baby shower in Snellville, Ga that is being hosted by my mom's friends and my two sisters on January 12th!

      The baby shower was so great.  We received so many things!  I think that bath items are my most favorite!  They are so cute!  

     My sister in law, Jill , made me some adorable items as well; I got a whale onesie and an anchor bib and burp cloth!  She also loaned me a precious knitted sweater that Addison, her son, and my other nephew, Emmaus, wore that she made.  

     Nate's brother and parents found the cutest handmade Noah's Ark shelf and animals at a local craft show.  The animals are perfectly painted and the wooden look of the whole thing is so perfect! 

     One item I am very excited about is our first cloth diaper & wet bag!  Nathan and I are planning on cloth diapering once Leland is about 2 or 3 months old.  I have a parent of one of my students who mentioned that she would donate all of her cloth diapers to us.  I can't wait.  We also registered for a bunch of cloth diapers and a sprayer attachment that you attach to the water pipe on your toilet that hopefully makes it easier to get rid of poopie! There is an adorable cloth diaper store right next to Nate's parent's house in the Village of Hamburg where they live.  It is FULL of all of these patterned cloth diapers and accessories.  The owner was so helpful.  I may or may not have spent 45 minutes asking her every question I could think of about cloth diapering!  This is the website for her store! Fresh & Fluffy!  You should check it out.  I bought an adorable wet bag to hang next to our toilet to put dirty diapers in.  We also registered for a couple of them from Buy Buy Baby so that we have a spare while one is in the wash.  She also recommended that we get two small ones to keep in each of our diaper bags! The prints that they have are so precious so we can be super stylish, environmentally friendly, cloth diapering parents!  hahaha!   

Here are a few of the Baby Shower goodies:  

is this not the most adorable handmade toy you have ever seen?!

 

Look how sweet this sweater is!  Leland will be such a gentleman when he has this on!

We HAD to buy a few Buffalo Sabres items while in Buffalo! 

Our first cloth diaper!  Oh yeah!!!!

Monster print wet bag!  How great is this pattern

28 Weeks

How far along? 28 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 18 pounds
Maternity clothes? Yes.
Stretch marks? No. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Sleep: Sleeping great. Sleeping in the guest room has been great on my back and I'm sleeping almost 9 hours a night (I know I'm crazy!)
 Other symptoms: varicose veins are still pretty annoying and painful at times. I just take it as a reminder that I need to slow down sometimes!
Best moment this week: This past weekend, Nathan and I did some crafting for the nursery! I made a cloud mobile for above the changing table, recovered a small lamp for the bookshelf, and I sewed three strands of bunting to hang above the crib! Nathan cut out a large "L" to hang over the twin bed and spray painted it red. He also sanded the small rocking chair that we will spray paint red as well and place in Leland's book corner!
Movement: Yes! Sometimes I am stopped in my tracks because of what I'm feeling inside! Crazy!
Food cravings:  Rootbeer floats!!
Anything making you queasy or sick: No.
Have you started to show yet: Yes. Today was our Christmas program at school and I wore a new black dress with white polka dots and about 6 kids said that they could really see the baby an that they thought it was coming out very soon! Haha.
Gender: BOY!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out?  Still a small indention but I'm guessing it will be out in about 2 weeks!
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody: Happy!
Looking forward to: Having a white Christmas in Buffalo!

Here are some sneak peaks of the nursery crafts:

This will hang over the twin bed in the nursery!

Hubby / Daddy sanding the rocking chair from my little cousin.  We will paint this the same color red as the "L" and it will go in the reading corner!

"L" for Leland painted red!  It looks so great in the nursery!

Christmas at the Kivetts

Well, I finally mailed out our Christmas cards!  They will arrive to everyone's house right at Christmas time.  The plan was to do a card similar to the one I saw on Little Baby Garvin .  We set up a mock studio in the nursery and Nate's sister, Jill , took our pictures on Saturday afternoon.  Funny how you can plan and plan and things just don't work out quite how you expected!  I guess this is practice for plans not turning out exactly as I imagined when we have a newborn arriving in a short 12 weeks!  AHHHHHHH!  

Here are the Christmas photos that we sent out this year:

This was my favorite but Nate wasn't too thrilled to send everyone he knew a 5x7 of this photo.  This ended up being a small one on the back!

Our puppy baby, Linus, was supposed to be in the picture with us but was an absolute maniac and he had to have his taken by himself!

This was the photo that we used on the front of the card.  A sweet compromise between husband and wife!

Hope everyone has a very Happy Christmas!  

Love,

Katie, Nathan, Leland, & Linus

** to make a cute photo backdrop we hung some white icicle lights; then we added a white sheet on the wall and one on the floor; we hung the fake mistletoe from the ceiling to add some color to the picture and make it more merry!**

Week 27

Cauliflower was too boring and the lack of hockey in our lives right now is pretty depressing so we went hockey themed this week!

How far along? 27 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 16.8 lbs. I still have 13 weeks to go so I do not think that I will stick to my 25lb. goal.  Maybe 30lbs. gained will be my new goal!! 

Maternity clothes? Yes.

Stretch marks? No. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Sleep: Sleeping great. This past week, I have woken up about 3:55-4:15am everyday to use the restroom and Leland is doing back-flips!! It is amazing how much you can actually feel.  Sometimes I get a little concerned about all of the movement I can feel.
 Other symptoms: Since this is a blog where I plan to keep track of my pregnancy (changing life and crafting creations) I guess I need to add this to the weekly update!  I have developed varicose veins.  Not the most pleasant things to have.  I have made it 27 weeks without any pain or sickness so I am not complaining...yet!  They are pretty painful when I stand up a lot, which is something I do for about 5 hours a day.  Teaching is not a job where you can sit all day, especially when you teach 4 year olds!  I am constantly walking around, helping children, walking up flights of stairs, playing with them on the playground, and moving from one place to another.  I have tried to make an effort to sit down as much as I can.  The kids bring me pillows from our cozy corner to sit on and are super sweet!  I try to take our puppy baby on a walk each day when I get home because he has been by himself in the house for 6-8 hours and I feel horrible about that!  Then, I take a warm bath each night and ice the veins.  Awesome.  Hopefully they won't get as bad as some of the comments that I have read from people on pregnancy blogs!

Best moment this week: Planning for baby Leland's nursery with Jill.  I feel much better having a plan about what exactly we are going to be making for the nursery! 

Movement: Yes! Lots.  I feel everything and sometimes it is WEIRD!!

Food cravings:  Sweets.  Mexican food - this is nothing new.  I could eat Mexican food every meal, every day, pregnant or NOT!

Anything making you queasy or sick: No.  

Have you started to show yet: Yes.

Gender: BOY!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out?  It is still in but getting A LOT flatter!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody: Happy!

  Looking forward to: Growing growing growing.  I'm pretty excited for the baby showers that are fast approaching!  Nate's sweet family in Buffalo has one planned for December 28th.  My sisters and my parent's friends have one scheduled for January 12th in Georgia, and my Nashville and Birmingham friends have one planned for February 2nd.  I'm sooooo excited!!

Baby Leland's Nursery Inspiration!

     A few months ago I saw a nursery pin on pinterest for a baby named Hank
( Daffodil Design ).  The nursery is painted a pale grey color and filled with all things "boy".  Most of the decorations are handmade, found on ETSY, or from a thrift store.  When looking at the pictures, it looks so peaceful.  She had a pillow sitting on a window bench made with Sarah Jane fabric of little boys playing with rocket chips.  It is so precious. When we found out we were having a boy, I immediately ran to the computer and just stared at her blog of her baby boy's nursery.  After our gender reveal party, I ordered several yards of Sarah Jane fabric from fabric.com!  My first purchase for Baby Leland!
    Above you will find Baby Leland's Nursery Inspiration board.  We painted the nursery a soft grey, Benjamin Moore Lattice to be exact.  It is the same color that fills our whole house.  It is amazing how the same color can look so different when paired with different accent colors.  I love that about paint!  I plan on using navy, red, and teal colors to accent the grey walls.  I am not normally into nautical themed rooms but I found some adorable Sarah Jane fabric of little boys playing pirates and then some crib sheets with adorable sailboats on them.  My sister in law, Jill Hickman over at Just Dandy is helping me with all of the bedding, curtains, and other fabric related creations!  You should check her stuff out on ETSY, it is amazing -  Oh Just Dandy.  We plan on making window length, navy and white stripe curtains for the two windows.  She is also making me a teal with white polka dot crib skirt and maybe one for the twin bed we have in the nursery as well!  When we planned last Saturday the list of things to do looks completely over-whelming.  She reassured me that we can get things done and we will do large projects first and then work down to smaller ones.  I think that I am most excited to make some adorably soft blankets using the printed Sarah Jane fabric backed with minky and a contrasting binding!  I can't wait to start completing projects!
    Last night, Nathan asked me what my plans were for the weekend.  I explained to him that I didn't have any.  He couldn't believe it.  So, last night before going to bed I managed to make an entire "To Do" list of things that we could do around the house, and more specifically, the nursery! Some of the tasks on the "To Do" list are: make bunting for above the crib with Sarah Jane fabric, make a 3-D cloud mobile with white felt and an embroidery hoop , cut out an "L"from hardwood and paint it red for above the crib, recover a lampshade I bought at a thrift store,and paint the precious child sized rocking chair for the reading nook from my cousins red!  Nathan was very excited to wake up this morning to a "To Do" list waiting for him!

    Now, I must get to crafting! Happy Saturday! I will share my creations later this week!

Gender Reveal Party

     On October 27, 2012 Nate and I had a little gathering at our house to reveal the gender of Baby Kivett.  Our original plan was to go to our ultrasound on Tuesday, October 22nd and have the tech put the gender in an envelope and a friend would stuff lanterns with either blue or pink confetti.  On the day of the party we would pull a string and find out if baby Kivett was a boy or girl! 
     Well, things did not go according to plan.  We went to our ultrasound and midwife appointment to check on Baby Kivett.  Everything was perfect and baby was growing well and I was healthy.  Nate wanted to know so badly what we would be having before the party.  At first, I was totally against peeking.  Well, around 8:00pm that night I couldn't stand it!  We decided though that we could wait until Saturday to find out.
     Throughout the entire pregnancy I didn't have any dreams of baby being a girl or a boy.  I had thought girl because most of my friends had boys, we didn't have a girl name picked out, and I thought that my Dad would have 3 daughters, and 3 grand-daughters, and a girl dog.  Tuesday night I had the most vivid dreams of Baby Kivett being a GIRL!  On Wednesday morning, I woke up before my alarm and told Nate we HAD TO PEEK!  He was all for it so it didn't take too much convincing!  He ran downstairs and got the envelope and our puppy baby, Linus, jumped on the bed with us.  He tore it open.  There it was in little pink letters..."It's a BOY!"  I WAS IN TOTAL SHOCK! 

Here we are right after we opened the envelope!  It was a lot of fun knowing when no one else did and special opening it together in bed with our puppy baby!

Cupcakes from The Cupcake Collection! My favorite!

The confetti filled box!

Aunt Jill is making her guess of whether she thinks it is a boy or girl!

Dad and cousin Laurel!

 

Here I am filling out the old wives tales of gender prediction.  According to the the old wives tales, I was supposed to be having a girl!

After Addison got over the initial shock of everyone screaming and throwing confetti into his face, he was very happy to have a new baby boy cousin in Nashville

Uncle Ne, Gi, and Addison!

We took a tally in my classroom to see how many kids thought it was a boy and how many thought it was a girl.  On Monday morning, I brought blue balloons to the classroom!

Here is our baby boy - genitalia and all!

We will have little boys just 9 and a half months apart!

Besties at the party!

My sister, Kristen captured this photo while driving to Virginia.  How perfect! 

The party was so much fun.  I loved having everyone together to announce the gender.  

Leland Henning Kivett

Week 25

How far along? 25 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 13 lbs. I only gained 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks so I am pretty proud!

Maternity clothes? Yes. I will be purchasing another pair of black, maternity leggings.  They are so very comfortable and only having one pair for the next 15+ weeks will not cut it!

Stretch marks? No.

Sleep: Sleeping great.

Best moment this week: I am sticking with the best moment being that Nate can feel baby Leland kick!

Movement: Yes! 

Food cravings:  Sweets.

Anything making you queasy or sick: No.  

Have you started to show yet: Yes. I'm still measuring at 38.5 inches.

Gender: BOY!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out?  It is still in but getting A LOT flatter!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody: Happy!

  Looking forward to:  We have an appointment with our midwife on December 6th and we are very excited about that.  We haven't been since I was 19.5 weeks so it will be a fun check up!  I am also looking forward to crafting with Aunt Jill this Saturday and getting my nursery inspiration board organized since I have about 300 ideas floating around in my head!Hopefully we will get some Christmas card pictures taken and we can mail our our Christmas cards next week - A LOT has happened in the last year for the growing Kivett family!

Week 24

How far along? 24 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 12 lbs. I am still STARVING all of the time.  It is unbelievable how much food I can actually consume.  I thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant on Thanksgiving and eating a TON of food!  The one thing that I have been watching is my sodium intake - less than 2,000 mg has been the goal and sticking to it has been HARD! I have also been trying to eat fresh fruits and veggies as much as I can.  Thankfully, I could eat a cold, sliced apple at any point in the day! Yummy! Spinach salads with green olives (sodium olives, so I can only eat 4 at a time) have been a favorite these last couple of weeks! 

Maternity clothes? Yes.  On Tuesday, November 27, I was MISERABLE!  I wore regular, grey corduroy pants with a belly band and a cute black top to work - non maternity.  I hadn't slept Monday night, my back was killing me, my feet were throbbing, and everything was TIGHT! I couldn't bend over, I was starving but didn't pack a great lunch, and I was an emotional wreck (I think I cried 4 times that day!).  It was the 1st time in these last 24 weeks that I had truly felt PREGNANT!  Nate had made me a lil' bath when I got home from work, I ate an entire box of baby spinach with a whole cucumber, an entire tomato, a whole onion, two carrots, and about 30 green olives!  I felt much better on Wednesday morning! 

Stretch marks? No.

Sleep: Sleeping great, but the time has come where I can't sleep on my back anymore.  I normally sleep on my side and back so I am still lucky that I'm not a stomach sleeper and can sleep on my side!

Best moment this week: NATE FELT LELAND KICK!  We went to a Gladiators hockey game in Atlanta while we were home for Thanksgiving.  It was the 4th period and I had felt Leland kick the hardest I had ever felt.  I grabbed Nate's hand and put it on my stomach and sure enough he kicked one more time!  It was very exciting!  We were both pretty pumped that it happened at a hockey game too!  My mom and dad were able to feel him when we got home from the hockey game that same night.  Nate has been feeling him ever since! 

Movement: Yes!  LOTS!  Every time I eat or drink anything, baby Leland goes crazy. He is moving so much at night before I go to bed and I can feel things that I didn't know were possible to feel!

Food cravings:  Sweets. I have made a few Sweet Cece's runs solo which is always a little awkward!

Anything making you queasy or sick: No.  

Have you started to show yet: Yes. I measured my stomach again this week and it is now 38.5 inches.  An inch and a half in about 9 days.  This will be interesting to see how huge I get in the next 16 weeks! 

Gender: BOY!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out?  It is still in but getting A LOT flatter!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody: Happy!

  Looking forward to:  Crafting with Aunt Jill next Saturday and getting my nursery inspiration board organized since I have about 300 ideas floating around in my head!

Week 23

How far along? 23 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 12 lbs. This past week I have been STARVING!  Our midwife said that an appetite increase would happen when my body and the baby are ready - well, it's happening!  I feel like I could eat two of everything!  As you can see in the frontal view - BABY AND BELLY ARE GROWING!!

Maternity clothes? Yes.

Stretch marks? No.

Sleep: Sleeping great, but the time has come where I can't sleep on my back anymore.  I normally sleep on my side and back so I am still lucky that I'm not a stomach sleeper and can sleep on my side!

Best moment this week: Nate surprised me and painted the nursery grey while I was at work!!!  Such a sweet sweet husband! It is called Lattice by Benjamin Moore and it is the same color that we have throughout our whole house.  We love it and decided to use the same color to save us $60 and use what we had!

Movement:Yes!  LOTS!  Every time I eat or drink anything, baby Leland goes crazy.  I tried to take a video of my stomach moving to show Nate but Leland stops kicking when the cameras or Nate's hand is on him!

Food cravings:Sweets.  All of this Halloween candy is not helping me stay on track and eating healthy!

Anything making you queasy or sick: No.  

Have you started to show yet: Yes.I measured my stomach this week because Mimi (my mom) was curious and it is 37 inches around!  WOW!!  I think I am going to start measuring every couple of weeks to see how I grow!

Gender: BOY!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody: Happy!

  Looking forward to:  Nate feeling the baby move and decorating baby boy's nursery!