Still Pregnant.....

So I am 2 Days away from my due date and I am still pregnant. However, I am starting to have contractions!! I am so excited. I know that I am still in the early stages of labor, but I feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel! I am hoping tonight or tomorrow we will be heading up to the hospital so that I can deliver this cute baby. I know it's going to be tough, but well worth it. I am trying to do this birth naturally....so wish me luck. I hope that I can do it with out the epidural, but I am not refusing to have one either. Whatever I have to do to get this baby out safely is what I am going to do. I will keep everyone updated and hopefully the next time I am blogging it will be about the birth of our new baby! YEAH!!!!

****The Nursery****

Ok I know I have been the biggest slacker with updating my blog....I am sorry! This is what's been going on with us. I am 39 weeks and still NO BABY! I was in the hospital last week overnight because my fluid is low around the baby and the Dr wanted to try to bring it up. Well, it worked so they sent me home. I really thought we were going to have the baby last week. We had an ultrasound while we were in the hospital and the baby was measuring 8lbs 9oz!! Can you stand it? This is going to be one big baby. I have to go back to the dr's tomorrow (12/6) to see what is going on with my fluid level. If it's still low then the Dr will induce me on Tuesday (12/7) I will be 39 1/2 weeks so that is safe for the baby to come out. I have been out of work since last Monday because of my fluid levels. But hopefully this week we will have a baby!!! Thank you to our families for being so supportive and helpful thru this whole process, we really appreciate it.
I posted pictures of the baby's nursery. I think it's awesome and very peaceful. Many thanks to Lynne for the help and for everyone that helped me put the nursery together with your wonderful gifts.

It's the changing table and my glider. I love my glider, it's so comfy. I am sure I will be spending a lot of time in there feeding the baby.

Here are some wall decals that go with the rest of the nursery's theme. It's a mama/daddy and the baby with some cute A B C blocks in between. The toy box below that was hand made for Nate when he was little by his grandfather. I am so thankful that we can have that in our babies nursery, it's beautiful. There is my hospital bag all ready to go!!!

The baby's dresser with it's cute little clothes in there......

Here is the cute matching lamp and stuffed giraffe that go with the rest of the decor. I got this book shelf at a garage sale for $5....I love when that happens. We have all of Nate's golden books from when he was a kid. It's so cute, he wrote his name in some of them. It will be awesome for our baby to be able to see that. I just love it and now we just need our baby to fill the room!!

My Two Boys....I'm So Proud

I just absolutely love this picture, it's one of my favorite of all time!! Nate, Yukon, his friend Seth & his dog Kayla went phesant hunting & do you think Yukon could look more proud of the results?!! First of all, he loves going ANYWHERE with his Daddy...he just loves Nate, so when he finds out that he gets to go hunting with Nate it just makes him so excited.
Yukon kicked this phesant out of the bushes and Nate was able to get a shot at it. Now Nate is going to get the phesant "stuffed" so we can hang it on our wall with all of his other animals...LOL. Nate has been doing a lot of phesant & duck hunting this year and he's been really liking it a lot. He's also been doing so well with deer hunting. He's already shot 3 deer this year! Way to go Babe :) Unfortunately, I have gotten too big and can't go anymore because it's too hard for me to walk thru the woods with all of my gear on :( There is always next year. I am so proud of my husband, he truely is such a talented man on so many levels. Hopefully he passes this talent on to our baby! Love you babe.

My Baby Shower!!

I know that I am so late posting the pictures of my baby shower, but better late than never right?! My shower was on October 16th. It was at Lakeshore Yacht & Country Club (where Nate and I had our wedding reception) and it was so beautiful. We got so many wonderful gifts and I am so thankful and grateful for all of them. Seriously we are so blessed to have received so many wonderful gifts, it makes me cry thinking about it. I posted pictures of some of the presents that we got.
Here is a picture of a diaper cake that Lynne made for us....it's so cute.

Instead of having a cake table, we decided to have a cupcake table. It was so cute. The little cupcakes had giraffes and little monkey's all over them. My stepmom, Lynne worked very hard to put together a very nice baby shower for me. It turned out beautifully.....

Here is a close up of one of the cute little cupcakes that Lynne made.....

Lynne and me before the shower started (please excuse how HUGE I am!!). She put on a wonderful shower for me, I was so thankful for what she did. She really means a lot to me :)

I tried to get a picture with everyone in it, but it kind of got cut off. I was so happy that so many of my friends and family came to support me, it was a very touching moment for me.

Here is part of Nate's family at the shower....

Here is a picture of Tiff and me right before I was going to open my gifts. She was my "helper" and wrote everything down for me and threw away all of the wrapping paper. She is such a sweetie for always being there for me!

Here is a picture of my cute Gramma (in pink) and her sister at the shower. They were confused on so many of the gifts I got because they didn't know what anything was used for. They kept saying, "We never had anything like that back then" ha ha ha.....

My girlfriends at work all got me lots of gifts, and this was one of them. It's a pillow to lay the baby on while I am breast feeding. I heard that it makes all of the difference. I will have to let you know.....

This outfit is so cute. It has a dog on it that says, "I Woof You" Just a cute little outfit.... it has ducks on it :)

This is something that the baby will lay on the floor under and it has cool toys/animals hanging from it. It's jungle themed.

Here is all of the bedding for the nursery. The theme we went with is called "Snickerdoodle" I just thought it was perfect because we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl. I liked the neutral colors.

My cousin knitted this blanket, it is so beautiful. The funny thing is that she didn't even know that our theme was giraffes! I just love the mama and the baby together like that. It's so cute!!

I was very excited when we got this Arm & Hammer Diaper Pail. Hopefully it will keep the nursery from getting too stinky. LOL

We got this cute little Dog book that I can't wait to read to the baby. It has little tabs that you can pull on to make the dogs tail wag & paws wave and cool things like that.

This was one of my coolest gifts from my girlfriend Tiff. She got me that handmade zebra print bag, with our last name on it! She also got me tons of other cute things like this SU (Syracuse University) Onzie. Anyone that knows Nate and me knows we LOVE SU basketball! I can't wait to dress the baby in that :) We will have the baby just in time for the season to start.

I just want to say again how thankful I am for all of our friends and family that have been a wonderful support system throughout my pregnancy. It has made it a very joyous, memorable time for me. We love you all!! :)

Almost 8 Months.......

I know that it has been forever since I have given an update, I am sorry! Life has been very busy for us lately preparing for our little one to arrive. Currently, I am 31 weeks (almost 8 months) along and I am feeling pretty good. The baby is about 3lbs and 16 inches right now... The more the baby grows, the hungrier I get! I have to eat at least every 2 hours!! I go to my midwife every 2 weeks now and she says that I am so healthy and right on track! That is so comforting to know.
I am tired and having a hard time sleeping. My belly is big so it's hard to flip flop at night w/ a pillow in between my legs and having to go to the bathroom every 3 hours I don't get much sleep. I am still working full time and am in total "nesting" mode at home. I have been doing a lot of organizing (throwing away) things that we don't use because I just feel like there is no room for all of the babies neccesities. I know that all will work out, but I still am stressing because really, we only have like 9 weeks left before our baby gets here!! I can't believe it.
We've started moving everything into the nursery slowly & will be able to really organize it after I have my shower on Oct. 16th. Our nursery is going to be neutral colors (cream, tan & beige) with baby giraffes decorating the walls & the crib and we'll accent it with either blue or pink after the baby is born. I will definately post pictures once we have the room all set up. It's so exciting.
Hunting season also started for Nate and me. I tried to take this picture of myself & my belly, but it wouldn't all fit in there! I will have to try to get Nate to take a good one of me. Of course my wonderful husband has already shot a deer and we have meat in the freezer.....he's so good! I am very surprised at how well I did while I was hunting with this huge belly. I really thought that it was going to be a struggle, but it hasn't been. My midwife said I can hunt as long as I want to, but no sitting in tree stands. SO, I have to sit on the ground in a camo chair, it's not so bad...... My goal is to shoot a deer while I am pregnant, I really want to accomplish that. Other than that Nate has been working out of town still all the time and I miss him all the time. We are just waiting for our little Baby Butera to join us in this world......we can't wait!!!

5 1/2 months....almost 6!

Wow, how time flies by!! I can't believe that I am almost 6 months pregnant and just getting bigger by the month.....LOL! I have been feeling great and the baby is growing like a weed. The baby is about 1 pound now and is around 12 inches long. For the first time today I saw the baby kick through my belly. It was this little foot, hand or head that was trying to push through. I imagine this little boy/girl is just so full of life and can't wait to come out. I can't wait to meet the baby and watch all of the amazing new things that will happen. I always heard mom's say, "I can't picture life before having a baby" and I was always thnking, "Really?? Cause I think life is awesome and I don't have any kids yet" But let me tell you how much that changed once I found out I was pregnant. It's so cliche, but it's true. Life is wonderful and you turn into this very emotional, protective state of the little being growing inside of you. It consumes you. Instead of getting all excited over a new pair of boots or new earrings, you get so excited when you see a cute onzie or outfit that's "perfect" for the baby. I am sure once I have the baby I will get back into my shoes/accessories obsession, but for now I am having a blast picking out things for the baby. My next dr's appt is on August 24th so I will update again after that.

Other than just obsessing over the baby Nate and I have not been doing way too much this summer. Since he works out of town it's hard for us to squeeze in lots of fun stuff in one day. We usually will golf or go out on the boat and I am content with that. I really look forward to when Nate won't have to be gone all the time :(

1st Pictures of Our Baby!

Yesterday was one of the most exciting days I have ever had in my entire life....we had our ultrasound. Good news is that the baby is healthy and everything is in the right place. It was the most amazing thing watching our little baby move around in my belly....boy is it active! While the ultrasound was going on the baby was kicking it's legs, waving it's hands and doing summersaults. The baby had the hiccups during the ultrasound, it was so cute to see, and we were able to watch the baby yawn. I know everyone is probably wondering what the sex of the baby is, but we're not going to be finding out. I know, I know, so annoying, but we would really like it to be a big surprise. We will all find out soon enough. I am just so happy that the baby is healthy and growing just like it should. Nate and I could not be happier. I am posting 4 pictures of the baby, it's amazing to see what he/she looks like!!

Profile shot of the baby, isn't it soooooo cute!


Here is the baby's leg....look at the little toes curled up. I can't believe how long it's leg is!
This is a picture of the baby yawning.....

Here is another profile shot of the baby. You can actually see the baby's teeth that are up in the gums. I was so happy to see that the baby is healthy....I am a proud Mama!

4 Months Along.....

I am now 17 weeks along and feeling great. I went to my midwife the other day and she said that everything is "perfect". That felt so great to hear. She said I am right where I am supposed to be with the whole pregnancy. I was able to hear the baby's heartbeat again, it just makes me feel so much better hearing that. Our little baby is now 5 inches long and weighs only 5 ounces.... how tiny is that? The baby is very active and moves around all the time. We get to go back to the dr's on July 12th for the ultrasound...I can't wait. Being pregnant is the coolest thing in the whole world....I love it. Here is a picture of me at 4 months.

Other than being pregnant Nate and I have been doing a lot of other things. Unfortunately, Nate works out of town about an hour and a half away and is gone most of the week :( It's okay thou because it's his job and we're so thankful that he has one. We will just have to tough it out. We have been golfing a lot! I never thought I would like to play golf, but it's actually a pretty cool game. Don't get me wrong, it's extremely frustrating, but it's also fun. Who knew a tiny, little, white ball could make you so mad...LOL!! We have gone fishing only a couple of times and I have had NO luck. Of course Nate has caught one.... he got this one last weekend. It's so ugly. ha ha ha....

*****FUN NEWS******

I Felt The Baby Move For The First Time!!!
It happened on Friday, June 18th. I was sitting at my desk at work when all of a sudden I just felt little flutters in my belly. I was amazed.... It was so heartstopping. I literally just stopped working and sat there for a minute. I didn't feel it again until Monday, but now it's happening all the time. The baby is very active right after I eat and also when I am laying in bed at night. I can't wait for the baby to get bigger so that Nate can experience this too...it's so fun! I go back to the dr's next week for a check-up, I can't wait to hear his/her heartbeat. I will give an update next week :)

My Baby Bump

I am about 14 weeks along now and as you can see I have a little belly. It's so exciting!! I am still able to wear my normal clothes, but I can't button my pants...LOL. I bought something at Target called the Belly Band, it works like a charm. You just slip it over your unbuttoned pants, that way you can still wear your old clothes. Hopefully it stays like that for a while?

I went to the dr's on June 1st for a checkup. Everything is going great, the baby is about the size of a lemon right now. I was also able to hear the baby's heartbeat, it was so fast! It's really setting in now that there is something real in there, I can't wait to be a mom. I get to go back to the dr's on June 29th for another check up. I will have to let you know how that one goes.

Not too much else is going on with us. Nate was in a fishing tournament over Memorial Day weekend with his cousin. He caught a lake trout that had him in first place, but unfortunately someone caught a bigger fish and it knocked him off the board :( Here is a picture of his fish that was displayed in the showcase....Way to go Babe!!

We are just trying to enjoy the summer and hopefully get out on the boat this weekend. I hope I can stomach that??? I had sea sickness before, I can only hope that it won't be bad now that I am pregnant. Being pregnant is the most amazing feeling in the whole world. Sure you're sick for a little while, but it's just such a blessing being able to bring another human being into this world. I truely feel extremely blessed.

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!




Nate and I are so excited to announce that we're having a baby! I am 10 weeks along and doing great. I am over most of the morning sickness and I am just trying to keep up with the rest of the world. It's amazing how my energy level just plummetted, but it's all worth it. I found out that I was pregnant on April 7th and I will have to say I was definately surprised. I know that this baby is such a wonderful blessing and we can't wait til he/she gets here! We were able to go have a sonogram on May 4th (when I was 8 1/2) weeks and we saw little baby's heartbeat. That was the most amazing thing that I have ever seen in my life. The hardest thing has been keeping it a secret, but we feel we can tell people now. The baby's due date is December 10th. I just feel so blessed that I am able to experience this wonderful joy and I will do my best to update the blog every month. My big question now is....Do we find out what we're having? I totally want to know, but Nate is still on the fence...guess I will have to keep working at him to try to sway him. I posted the baby's sonogram pic, it's very hard to see, but you can make out the little baby's head and body. How awesome! I just thank the Lord that Nate and I have the opportunity to bring a beautiful baby into this world. :-)

Visiting Friends & Ice Fishing in Albany

Last weekend we ventured out to Albany to visit our friend John and his dog Roxy. We love going out there cause John lives right on a lake and it's so beautiful. Yukon loves "car rides" too and he loves to go visit Roxy, "his girlfriend" We always have a blast when we stay with John and he always shows us such a wonderful time. We did a lot of laughing, wine drinking and playing the game "Sequence" I love that game! We also came out to Albany to try out Ice Fishing on the lake John lives on. It's so nice to have a lake right out your backyard and you don't have to drive anywhere. The boys are getting their gear ready for ice fishing. I was so nervous cause I looked at the temperature right before we went outside to fish and it read ZERO degrees! OMG, we're nuts for going out there!

Yukon..."The watch dog" LOL, yeah right!

We weren't having any luck catching fish :( so Roxy decided to take a break

A flag on one of the tip-up's finally went off! It's the first fish of the day!!! Even the dogs are going to check it out!!

Nate's pullin in the big one...LOL!

It was a small Northern Pike... for some reason that is all that Nate has been catching lately! Guess they like him.....

Since we weren't catching many fish out on the ice, I went into the hut to try my luck on some smaller fish. I was using my new "hot pink" fishing pole that my awesome husband got me for Christmas. I just love that it matches my jacket!

It's kind of hard to see, but on the ice there is a leaf that was blowing around. Yukon was running after it on the ice, which was hard for him cause there was no snow. Our friend John was calling it the "scooby doo" ha ha...I was watching him do this for like a half an hour. It doesn't take much to amuse me!

He's getting closer......

Yukon finally got the leaf!!! He is getting a nice belly rub from his Daddy!
He is just too funny... he carried that leaf with him all over the ice!!

After fishing for a few hours in the freezing cold, we went back inside for dinner. Our friends Mike and Toni came over for dinner too. They had a little baby boy named Andrew in December. He is so teeny tiny and so adorable. We had music playing and he was nodding his little head and doing the Jersey Shore "Fist Pump" LOL!!

Yukon was checking out little baby Andrew. It's so cute to see how inquisitive he is with a baby. Little Andrew's eyes got so big when Yukon got close to him...he was probably thinking, "Whoa, this dog's HUGE"

Our friends Mike and John could not get this bottle of wine open, the cork was stuck. The two of them tried to pull the cork out together, it just wasn't budging. They resulted to pushing the cork into the bottle. I will say it was terrific wine, it was worth all the hard work. I was laughing so hard watching these two guys trying to open the bottle!



Roxy in Yukon's bed....look at her little paws..too cute!

After ice fishing in zero degree weather, good food and lots of laughs it was time to go to bed. Yukon was exhausted & "stole" Roxy's new bed! We always have so much fun going to Albany to visit our friends John and Roxy. Thanks again for the awesome time!!