Brian Braun shot some incredible photos today…here’s a teaser:
50 days to go and it feels like forever and like it’s coming too soon! My list of things to do is mainly for me, but I thought you might enjoy seeing the madness going on inside my brain at 1am.
1. Wash bedding…my dear friend Niccole is washing the rest of baby boys clothes. Thank you Niccole!!!!
2. Find a rocker/glider that’s not ugly, but affordable
3. Paint the room
4. Assemble shelves and find cute baskets
5. Start long-term sub binder!!
6. Find fabric for artwork
7. Stalk mama bargains daily
8. Read “No Cry Sleep Solution” and ”The Breastfeeding Book” to name a few.
9. Relax and enjoy the last 50 days…it will be here before we know it!
Hi there friends! I cannot complete a single task right now as pregnancy brain/nesting/being frantic as the due date nears has completely taken over. I started cleaning, writing a grocery list, organizing, unloading the dishwasher and here I am on the computer writing a blog. Goodness, I need help.
As you can see in the title, baby H is busy cooking and preparing to meet everyone very soon! It’s looks like an alien moving inside my stomach and you can see him moving inside. I can’t imagine what he’s doing in there! I wonder what he’s thinking, if he knows my voice. If he is prepared to be smothered with hugs and kisses from his mommy and daddy. I wonder if sweet baby H knows how much he is already loved!
I’m 32 weeks along and feeling great. At my 32 week appointment, I measured 32 1/2 cm, right on schedule! 10 toilet paper squares around for those who like non-standard units. 
We’re excited to take some maternity pictures soon with the incredible Brian Braun. He’s never taken maternity pictures, as he’s accustomed to taking pictures for Porche, BCBG, etc. I told him to just make me look good and that’s all that matters. I can’t wait!!
Other than that, I’ve been busy researching and buying things for the nursery and got some HOT deals:
*Skip Hop “Mod Dot Bedding” Normally $220…mine for $131. The bedding previously posted was discontinued and after Right Start had a going out of business sale and I finally bought my orginal bedding selection. It worked out perfectly! It also comes with a white/brown polka dot sheet, but I love how bright the yellow is.
*Easy Walker carrycot for my stroller! I tell you, THIS was seriously a huge blessing. The day I found out about the website, www.mamabargains.com was the day they were featuring the carrycot for EasyWalker….for $57.00!! It normally costs $150 so we seriously scored big!
*Letterpress Alphabet Poster – well, this wasn’t a steal, but will certainly look cute framed in baby boys room!
And lastly, we went to a baby shower for our friends Trog and Mendi last night. Mendi is due the day after me so it was fun comparing bumps last night. She was wearing HIGH boots, but she’s not that much taller than me actually. Ok, she’s still quite a bit taller than me. It’s a cute pic nonetheless.
Happy Sunday to everyone!
February has come and gone and only 10 weeks are left until Baby Hembree makes his appearance. Many have asked what I’ve been up to and I think I can sum it up in a few phrases: Bronchitis, baby planning/organizing/ordering, enjoying my last days with my teammate, loving this growing baby inside my belly!
Bronchitis:
It certainly knocked me off my feet! I was out for a total of 5 days the past 2 weeks and thankfully am on the mend. Baby H was such a trooper. I’ve come to learn that babies are amazingly resiliant!
Baby planning:
We FINALLY got our crib and dresser and just ordered our bedding. I’m so excited to piece his room together and see it transform into a nursery. My hopes are that it will be a room that is warm, functional, modern and bright. Here is what I’m planning:
Crib: Modern and clean looking and converts into a toddler bed.
Bedding:
Colors: (the bedding is also featured!) Yellow and blue/green 
Shelves: The Expedit shelves from Ikea. Perfect for just about everything! It’s on our “to buy list”
Rocker: Also on our list of things to buy. This little guy gets expensive! Our dresser is featured below.
Counting down the days I have left with my teammate:
Kelley, the other half of my brain and teammate, is leaving me on Tuesday to have her baby. I’m thinking that there will be some tears shed! It’s been so much fun working with her for the past 4 years and especially these past 2 as we’ve become team teaching teammates: I do the Spanish and she does the English. So if you see my moping around for the next few weeks, you’ll know why. We’ll miss you Kelley!!!
The growing belly:
At 30 weeks here are some fun baby facts: I’m 10 toilet paper squares around. Baby H prefers to kick, punch, jab on my left side. His heartbeat is 140 beats/minute, weighs about 3 lbs, is 14-17 inches long, is the most active between 7-11 pm, just when I’m trying to rest! And the best part of all, no stretch marks yet! I’m still holding out that I’ll be one of the lucky ones that is able to avoid those pregnancy battle wounds.
That’s all for now…10 weeks to go!
Today, I have 99 days until our little one arrives. There is something about being under 100 days that makes my heart leap in anticipation…and freaks me out quite a bit too! Before he comes we still have to…
- Get a crib
- Get bedding for the crib
- Get furniture for the nursery
- Clear out the furniture in the spare room to make room for the baby stuff
- Learn how to cloth diaper so he doesn’t look homeless and have so many accidents that it makes mommy regret using cloth
- Make major decisions about vaccinations, circumcision, co-sleeping just to name a few (No pressure.)
- Workout so I’m in great shape for labor
- Get mentally prepared for natural labor
- Learn how to care for a newborn
- Drink lots of rootbeer to keep mommy and baby happy
- Read up on my Bradley Books and burn the other ones that are useless
- Pray to sweet Jesus that I don’t have to hear stories over and over about how people thought they were having a boy and it ended up being a girl. And so they had tons of boy cloths, but it was a girl. I’ve only heard it 4 times, but it’s already old.
- Learn how to get ready really fast so I don’t look like a truck hit me after baby comes
- Enjoy pregnancy and quit stressing out
I think I like the last one the best. After all, everything else will fall into place and the rest really won’t matter. 99 days left. I better get cracking! I think I’ll start with number ten.
I’m back. And man, it feels good. To say that these past 2 months have been crazy would be an understatement, but that’s exactly what they’ve been. We have been so blessed these past few months, all the while broken and realizing our need for Jesus. It’s amazing how our brokeness reveals a need we wouldn’t see otherwise. After reading the Twilight series, my book club and I read “Reedeeming Love” by Francine Rivers and I can’t begin to tell you the way the Lord wooed me. It’s based off of the book of Hosea and has a love story more stunning than Edward and Bella. The ladies in my book club and I laughed at how infatuated we were with Twilight and how in hindsight, their love is in no way comparable to that of what you’ll find in Redeeming Love…because it’s a love story where the Lord is at the center. How can you beat that?! If you haven’t read it it, read it! And then let me know how your world was turned upside down. In a good way of course. =)
There is so much to post since it has been awhile so I will make a list of the top 5 things that have been going on, both big and small:
5. Nate is working as a Technical Recruiter and loving it. It’s quite a departure from the ministry he had in mind, but he puts on the business persona quite well! Not to metion he looks pretty cute in a tie.
4. For those that don’t know yet…it’s a boy! We found out right before Christmas and are beyond thrilled to have our first child be the big brother of the family.
3. We made our first big baby purchases a few weeks ago: A stroller and cloth diapers! Yes, I’m cloth diapering. And no, it’s not nasty. What’s nasty is all the chlorine and sodium polyacrylate babies have to sit in when they have disposables. Ba-zing! (Disclaimer: I am in no way judging you if your baby wears disposable diapers. It just gets a little annoying when people think it’s so nasty and can’t believe we’d want to cloth diaper. So that was my jab at those people. Not you. The ambiguous, “them”) =)
Here is a peek at our super cool stroller, the “Easy Walker Sky”. It’s popular in the Netherlands, Germany and Spain and is so versatile you can use it as a baby jogger, attach a bassinet (carry cot as they call it for that old fashioned pram look – adorable!) attach a carseat, a skateboard looking thing for older kids to stand on so it turns into a double stroller. The best part is that it folds easily, has an adjustable handlebar, air-filled wheels for off roading, is light, durable and is affordable. How can you beat that?!
The carrycot I dream about getting. How precious!!
We registered for the Maxi-Cosi car seat so it will be a breeze to snap baby in and get going!
And here are our beloved cloth diapers. In case you’re curious, they are Indian Prefolds and compared to Diaper Service quality, so we’ll see how true that is! Regardless, Baby Hembree is going to be simply adorable. I love the tie-dye ones…so funky!
Here are “wetbags” for when you’re on the go and need to store dirty diapers. Cute!
2. Nate and I are in our 4th week of the “Bradley Method” class. It’s a husband-coached philosophy and has been so incredible in educating us and preparing us for birth. Nate will be a great coach…that is if I’m not screaming at him. 
1. I’m 25 weeks along and feeling great. It’s hard to believe that I only have 3 months to go before our little bambino makes his debut. I feel like I fell madly in love with this little guy this past week. I had a dream where I felt the urge to push and without any effort, our little one appeared with jet black hair and long sideburns. The painfree, effortless birth might be a dream, but I know this little guy is going to be a keeper!
25 weeks pregnant.
That’s it for now! Hopefully it won’t be so long next time. Until then.
We have made it back from Mexico safe and sound, and not a little bit sad to be back to real life! It was a wonderful, refreshing, beautiful, fun-filled trip. I don’t think we could have asked for a better vacation! Here is a link to more pictures so you can check out our trip.
Auntie Kelly, want to come on our next trip and help with baby H? =)
My 27th birthday was simply wonderful. It will be one to certainly remember! Here is a recap of the day in pictures…
The baby bump has arrived!
A surprise birthday party thrown by my AMAZING friend and teammate Kelley who made me wear the crown and sash as pictured above. I was showered with flowers, chocolates, handmade gifts and even a special dance from Jafeth who said, “Mrs. Hembree, I didn’t bring a gift, but I do have this dance.” It was incredible. It’s hard to believe that this could be my last year teaching for awhile! I’ll sure miss these little boogers!
The infamous dance. A little blurry, but you get the idea.
Nate planned a surprise party for me at….Awesome Jake’s. It was well, awesome. When we pulled up to the place, I was thinking, “Seriously? No, he’s got to be kidding. Nope, this is where we’re going for dinner…” Not what I expected AT ALL, which made it for a really fun surprise. And so we walked up to the large, very purple building and I was greeted by Nate’s parents, sister, and friends from our homegroup. We ate in the “jungle room” (as pictured above) and played laser tag, dance dance revolution, air hockey, basketball, go-carts, until our hearts were content. It was a fun way to remember that you’re never too old for things like that.
And you better believe that I was playing laser tag, sniping 10 year olds and laughing hysterically as I took them out. And don’t doubt that I played Dance, dance, revolution until I was sweaty, pregnant bump at all. At least this mama’s got some moves.
What a great day to be 27…
To say that Nate and I are in need of a vacation together is probably the biggest understatement of the year. We DESPERATELY needed to get away. To relax. To enjoy each other and to not worry about daily stresses. We need to laugh and be still in one another’s company. So here’s our chance…and I can’t wait!!
We’re headed to Cozumel next Sunday and return Thanksgiving Day and got such a great deal via Funjet. Our package included two roundtrip tickets (nonstop!!) room and all-inclusive amenities at the resort (meaning food, snacks, drinks, scuba, kayaking, sailing, windsurfing…) It’s going to be wicked fun!
Since my post about Twilight, I’ve had so much encouragement from friends and family and I just wanted to say thanks. Thank you for your prayers and support! They have meant the world to me. It’s been a dry season spirtually for me and I think that was manifesting itself into my marriage. So as I long to come out of the desert into more abundant times, I look back and thank God for reminding me that He alone can satisfy my thirst.
Isaiah 55:1-2
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
(B) come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.”
Here’s to richer times ahead and to 5 days in Cozumel with my sweetie!
Today I met my new midwife, Becky Burpo. I was scared to death. I was thinking, “If I don’t click with her or don’t like her I think Niccole will just have to deliver my baby!” (The offer’s still on the table Niccole! =) ) Well, I had nothing to be afraid of as Becky and I are a perfect match. She is warm, caring, so knowledgable and has such a passion for natural childbirth.
My appointment went smoothly and I came to the thing I was looking forward to the most…hearing the heartbeat. She told me it might be tricky at first to find baby H’s heartbeat and carefully pressed the doppler to my abdomen. Right away we heard a strong, vibrant heart beating and I joked at how my mother in law kept saying I was going to have twins. She raised an eyebrow and moved the doppler to the left and right, but the heart beat didn’t ease up. She told me the only way to know was to do an ultra sound. So the family practitioner next door took me in right away and I nervously wondered about if there were two baby Hembree’s being knit together inside of me. The power kept flickering and thus delayed the ultrasound. I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest!! Finally we came to the moment of truth and saw just 1 baby…1 beautiful baby who was squirming and flipping, putting his/her hands over their face and would not stop moving! It was such a sweet moment and I felt like I finally connected with the living being growing inside me.
The baby is healthy and very active! I am so thankful for two hands, two feet, a stomach that functions and kidneys that are working as well. What little celebrations and milestones! This December we’ll FINALLY get to know whether our little one is going to need trucks or princesses for next Christmas. Any guesses?
side shot
Da spine.
