Are we there yet?

Headed into our 39th week appointment!

As the hours and days tick past, we hover on the precipice of great change. Today, waiting in the doctor's office, chatting with Jacob, it struck me how precious these moments are. I could have sat there and talked with him all day (except for my need to eat and use the restroom every 30 min.). We'll never be in this place again.
Quiet.
Waiting.
Excitement.
Anxiety.
The anticipation is so strong; two work friends let me know that they dreamed about me last night. Each day my mom calls and asks, "Have you had that baby yet?" Jacob is watching over me like a hawk; checking for signs of early labor. As we left the doctor's office today, we made our appointment for next Tuesday knowing we may never keep it, and if we do, we will need to scheduled our induction date. Which brings me to a question for y'all. We want to let the (not so) little blueberry take as much time as needed to grow in there, but we would like to avoid induction if possible. SO, at what point do we pull out all the stops and really try to get labor going. AND, what are the ol' wives (and husbands) remedies to give blueberry the boot?

Surprise! Jacob's a dad!

We are (once again!) overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity of our community. A couple of weeks ago, some of Jacob's fire colleagues contacted me to plan a surprise baby shower for the man of the hour. Now, Jacob is a tough one to surprise. He had us pretty much sniffed out beforehand, but that didn't stop us from celebrating him and the blueberry in grand style. Thanks to the entire Teton Helitack crew and S.O. for pulling it together!

Head-to-head diapering competition!

SKILLS.

2nd place

Jacob's favorites: survival kits and pumpkin desserts!

Week 38

Saturday night in Jackson Hole, GO MOOOOOOSE!

Luckily my black puffy coat still fits!

Jacob, "Isn't it crazy that we could have a baby this week?" Kjera, "Yes."

End of the 38th week!

LADIES NIGHT!!!

Ladies Night is a long standing tradition with this group of JH women. They are my reality check, sanity, physical therapists, life coaches and comic relief. We potluck it up about every other month (we can be so busy!) and settle in with many glasses of wine and our individual agenda items. Yes, that's right, we use an agenda and have a note-taker. Agenda items include surgeries, babies, weddings and the true important life questions, but I don't want to divulge too much of our secret society! As much as we'd like to spend time together often, we use these nights to get all caught up. This week was my last pre-baby night with these ladies, who will be there to care about all the details on the other side. Xoxo!

From left: Emily, Sara, Martha, Kelly, Martina, Cooper, Jill and Katie
(We miss you, Holly!)

Meat, meat, baby!

Despite pregnancy cravings circling around pizza, dairy products, baked goods and chocolate chips, we've managed to keep our menu on the healthy side (I can't wait for my snack of orange-clementine-pomegranate-salad today!) . . . especially when it comes to lean protein!

Brian and Kelly treated us to an evening of rich laughter . . .

. . . and butternut squash soup, elk steak and brussel sprouts!

Jacob's breakfast special:
eggs from the Culp family, Jacob's elk sausage, Blackfoot potatoes and multi grain toast!

Made with LOVE!

Week 37

With borrowed equipment we try to figure out my blood pressure . . .
The stethoscope didn't work, but at least the nurse was cute!

Celebrating our 15th month-a-versary with Thai food and The Second City.

I have achieved muffin-top with maternity pants.

37th week

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

We have exciting news as the blueberry's d-date is quickly arriving . . . we won an infant photo shoot from the talented Kisa Koenig! Our winning entry read:

"My husband, Jacob, and I are expecting our first child sometime around January 31 (soon!). We decided not to find out the gender of our baby who has affectionately become known as “the blueberry”. We like old-fashioned surprises! As my weeks of pregnancy draw to an end, my dear friend Charlotte tipped me off to your contest. We would LOVE to have the first days of our precious little one documented for our own (sleep-deprived) memories and to share with our family which is all too far away and yet so respectful of our wishes to spend those first couple of weeks as a new family, bonding and growing in a protected and natural way. Due to our conflicting school-teacher and fire-fighter schedules, it’s difficult for us to find time to travel as much as we’d like to be with our families, so photos tell much of our story. At the beginning of this pregnancy, we started our own blog to keep everyone in the loop, and it would be such a treat to jump start our baby’s debut with your light and joyful style of photos. Thank you for considering us!"


Stay tuned for some drool-worthy photos capturing the blueberry's first weeks!

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Blueberry Belly Bliss!

Thanks to our friend Arnica, we have some belly photos for you!
http://arnicaspring.com/proofs2010/portraits/slideshows/kjera_maternity_slideshow.html

Which is your fav?

Week 36

Jacob and Joe running a black market butcher out of our garage!
That's one steer's worth of meat, now happily distributed among friends.

Poor, poor blue tank top!

36th week
(when Jacob said me getting into bed was like an earthquake)

Ready? Or not?

"Are you ready?"
"Do you have everything you need?"
"Do you just want to have it already?"
"Are you just so excited?"
These are the questions flooding our social interactions these days. Although we technically have about 3 weeks to go, I can't help but think of our friends who have had their babies sooner than now! As Deborah pointed out a couple weeks ago, "Kjera's more pregnant now than I ever was!" Also, our friend Margot gave birth to her beautiful baby boy three weeks before his prescribed "due date". So, certainly the arrival of our blueberry is on our minds. That said, Jacob seems really ready to meet this little one. Last weekend, he could hardly stand it, saying, "How about we have this thing on Tuesday?" From the mama's perspective, I am content to let this little one enjoy the last few weeks in womblandia and make his/her debut when completely prepared (I could also use a few more weeks to clean the house, read a couple books, and somehow prep for motherhood). The truth of the matter is that it's not in either of our hands. After our last meeting with our doula, we are even more convinced that we are along for the ride and will do everything we can to make our blueberry's arrival natural and peaceful, but until that joyous occasion, we, like you, will be busy getting "ready".

Rio, Jacob and Bear are all set!

Epiphany

Today is Epiphany. The day of celebrating understanding and the reward of a long search such as wise men seeking a baby by following a star. As we talked through our birth plan with our doula (birth coach) last night, it is becoming more and more evident that this phase our of journey will soon be coming to a close. Soon, I will not be pregnant anymore. We will not refer to the blueberry as "baby" and avoid all use of pronouns. The nursery will no longer be so pristine and serene. We will joke about how we used to feel tired from pregnancy insomnia and all night laps to the bathroom. Soon, we will not be waiting in wonder for the arrival of our little joy. Until then, we wait for our moment of revelation and insight. . .

"The Great Events of this world are not battles and elections and earthquakes and thunderbolts. The great events are BABIES, for each child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged with humanity, but is still expecting love and goodwill to be incarnate in each human life." --Fred Craddock

Week 35

Jacob thinks the blueberry has "dropped", I still feel like I can't take a deep breath.
What do you think?

35th week

Happy NEW Year!

We rang in 2011 like it was our last childless night on the town! We went to two pre-parties (after Kjera napped) and then hit SnowKing to see The Jalan Crossland Band. We love him! Talk about tons of talent with a strong dose of snarky. Perfect way to celebrate all the NEWness about to enter our lives. Then, of course, we began the new year with our first ever drunk-Skype (not the pregnant one) with T&T in Chicago! A toast to NEW beginnings!



Happy Slappy New Year!



Sibling celebration!

We even got some dancing in! (Thanks for the encouragement Matt!)

Check out the size of that blueberry! At least my cowgirl boots still fit . . .

Feathering Our Nest

We took advantage of our Winter Staycation to do about a million loads of laundry and prep our little home for our little one. Although we have yet to hang any art on the nursery walls, baby clothes have been prepped and sorted into a drawer (for newborn and 0-3 months) and tubs for 3-6 and 6-12 months. Our glass bottles (thanks Allison!) have been washed and found a drawer in the kitchen (linens got the boot!). We also installed the infant car seat and got it inspected by Jackson Hole Fire/EMS. Thanks to Santa who helped to round out a couple of extra baby goodies, it now seems that the only "need to buy" item left is the breast pump. As Jacob pointed out the other day, this was our last milestone before the baby's birth. He's so excited that the blueberry could come at any time, I'm content to wait until our due date . . . January 31ish. We're all been doing our part to prepare for the great unknown!

Our new glider chair!

Left: hats, mittens, and socks, OH MY! Right: Jacob's swaddling materials

Left: Lots of CLEAN onesies! Right: hooded towels and Guatemalan blankets

Left: The Great Diaper Experiment of 2011, Right: Baby stuff we don't know how to use

Yep, the closet still looks like this . . .

The beautiful crib that just got recalled (we're sending off for replacement parts).