We're ready for Sophia!

I think Niko says it all....we're ready for you Sophia! Lol I couldn't help but snap this photo. Every time I go into the nursery to do something, Niko trails in behind me and just lays down until I leave the room. Niko definitely knows that I'm pregnant as he has become more protective but also he is curious about absolutely everything in that room! He looks quite chubby in this photo though, haha but he really is not. Well Sophia and I both have our bags packed , extra packing list attached to suitcase just in case now counting down the days...

18 days to go.....

Sophia's Nursery & Thank You!

 Sophia's crib

 Bags packed!

Car seat ready to go!

Here is Sophia's nursery so far! We have worked hard on cleaning and organizing this room and the closet to make space for all of Sophia's things. We still are not done, we have curtains and some decorations to put up plus I plan on getting a glider rocker for the room as well. But I'm very happy with this cute little monster's room :) 

I would also like to say THANK YOU to everyone. To everyone family or friend that has helped Dan and I with anything that has to do with Sophia, all of the gifts, help, kindness, and love that has been shown to us go never goes unnoticed. I have never felt more loved and supported as I do now and I pray that all of my friends and family who have been there for me are showered with blessings because you all deserve it. Heavenly Father has truly blessed me with a chance to raise my own beautiful family, a loving husband, a few close family members, and a church with MANY people who all make me feel loved every day :) Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

GirL's RoCk!

 Did I ever mention that I LOVE LOVE LOVE absolutely LOVE shopping for a little girl?! Dan and I have only bought a few things as I've been told over and over "wait for your baby showers!" but there are just some times and some things that you can't pass up on! I found some adorable outfits (the color is actually purple not blue). The pink skirt below is one that I saw in a store 2 months and they sold out in the size I needed! I was heart broken! I swore if I ever saw it again I would get it....who would have thought 2 months later I would receive not only a coupon in the mail but an ad for the same skirt at another store?!? I was stoked and immediately went out and got the last pink skirt in her size! Ahhh victory! LOL

Isn't this just so darn adorable?!? So I won't do this with EVERY thing I get for Sophia....maybe just a few tho ;) Graduation is in 2 days...Sophia is due in 6 weeks...I couldn't be happier. I am doing well with my happy little family and now that I am done with school I have time to read some books, catch up on cleaning the house, and doing what I can to prepare for little Sophia Rae :)

* Babies & Graduations! *

 

This is what our current "nursery" looks like...not exactly what I had planned. This used to be our movie room and then we got surprised with a soon to be little girl. But since our lease is up less than a month before the baby is due, the baby furniture you see there still in the boxes weights over 90 lbs each, and the fact that we are wanting to move, we haven't decided what to do yet with this room. I have been reassure by Dan though, IF Sophia comes early...this room will be set up while I am in the hospital and before I come home. But those of you know really know me, I am a perfectionist....I love to organize, clean, and keep items in their rightful places....this room? It's KILLING me!!! LOL. I'd honestly feel better if the room was just empty so I am now in the process of carefully storing things away in orderly fashion and throwing away stuff at the same time. Good bye movie room with all of my Twilight memorabilia until we get an extra room...but.....

My graduation is in 13 days!!!! I am STOKED, HAPPY, EXCITED, and READY FOR THIS!!! I have been imaging this moment for years and it's so close I can taste it! Every moment of my life up until in 13 days, I have always had to plan my life around school, work for free, work for less so that I could go to school at the same time, and just my life revolved around school. I do plan on getting my masters but for now I just want my degree and to concentrate on being a new mommy :) I don't know how this summer will be...jobs I or Dan will have...we have things in the works right now so if you ask me two days in a row what my plan is you will probably get 5 different answers, I'm not worried though, I know things will work out one way or another, I just have to sit back and watch how they will work out.

And here is part of my happy family....we all like naps :) I didn't realize I had passed out nor that someone was spying on me ;) But this is our typical family naps...Niko lays beside me or Dan on the ground and Lola is somewhere cuddled on top of one of us. I almost don't even look pregnant in this photo...unless you look super close and see a little bump peeking up.


Well well....I am 32 weeks along....8 more weeks to go! I am doing good...craving sweets every bit of the way and even though I passed my dreaded 3 hour glucose test I got a lecture from my ob that I still have really high sugar. Have you ever been pregnant and tried NOT eating the few things you were craving?!?! It is SO difficult and when I'm not eating sweets I'm thinking about eating sweets. For the past week, every person I've seen that knows me has just glowed with joy about how big I "suddenly" am...really? Hmmm I feel like the weight has been coming on pretty steadily but apparently others view me differently. Oh well, it totally does not offend me when people say how big I look..although I've heard your not supposed to say that to a pregnant woman because it's rude? I don't know...it doesn't offend me at all but that's just me. Dan has been amazing throughout the pregnant...completely sweet and amazing! He tries to shop for me and choose low sugar items, he's fixed me breakfast before I go into work, and when he comes home from work or leaves for work, he always kisses Sophia and says "Hello little girl" or "Goodbye little girl". She has already acquired more nicknames then I could imagine before she is even in this world. Haha I've given up already as well on wanting people to call her Sophia and only Sophia.

2 Days Is Not Long Enough....

I felt compelled to share this story and I hope my dear friend doesn't mind that I'm actually sharing "her" story. I just read a blog post from a good friend however, I won't share her name or her exact post because it is very personal to her family but I wanted her to know how much her story affected me. Reading her blog post broke my heart, made me cry, but also made me more thankful than ever for the blessings I have. Here a just a few things going through my head:

The average time it takes a for a couple to get pregnant is approximately 8 months.

I got pregnant in about 6 weeks.

I'm almost 22 weeks along and many women by this time have swelling, pain, back aches, nausea still, or may have other health problems going on such as high blood pressure.

I was nauseated for 6 weeks in my first trimester and that was all. I'm feeling great, every so often I may have a LITTLE gas or a spurt of tummy pain from my ligaments/muscles stretching but that's all. No swelling no nothing.

Baby? Oh yea, she (Sophia Rae) is healthy so far! 1 more ultrasound to go to double check the heart but all 4 valves were seen in the last ultrasound and looked good. She has no birth defects. All tests and bloodwork done on mommy and baby have come back normal.

BUT.....

For a dear friend of mine, she got to her 20 week mark with her second baby......her world was then turned upside down.

Her sweet baby boy was diagnosed with a heart defect. 

Why is it this things have been easy for me? I've had minor stuff here and there and a little pain here and there but that's nothing. Why has Heavenly Father decided to bless me so greatly? But for my friend, her and her son's fate were so extremely different?

Why did she have it so hard? She's one of the most genuine, amazing, sweet, beautiful, good-hearted people I've ever met. Why her? She deserves the world.

In January, he was born. Surprisingly he was doing great. Then....something went wrong. No one knows what failed him, but it wasn't his heart. It heart kept fighting. But ultimately Heavenly Father felt the boy deserved to be with him and so....

Quietly, Heavenly Father took him.  

I don't know the answers to my own questions but I know in some way some how this will all work out in the end. When we all meet again, we will finally know the reasons for these things. I know, have faith, love, and trust my Heavenly Father that he knows what he is doing.

Not a day or a minute goes by that I don't thank Heavenly Father for my blessings, that I don't think of how incredibly lucky and grateful I am for the amazing experience I am going through.

And all I can do is hope and pray for my friend and her family that their healing comes quick, Heavenly Father will take away their pain, and that they will meet their beautiful boy again.

I want people to know to not take what they have for granted and just because your going through struggles, there will always be someone else to have it worse. Be thankful for the times you do and don't have...live in the moment and don't dwell on the past or future.

With all my love,
Cari

4 DaYS TiLL We FiNd OuT!

Friday is a BIG BIG day! We find out if we're having a boy or girl! SOOOO excited that the only thing that is keeping my mind off of it is because I have the first 10 pgs of a 35-50 pg paper of my Capstone ( my final graduation paper- kinda like a thesis that English majors have to do) due on Thursday. At least I have something else to concentrate on! My pregnancy is going well and I'm very thankful for that. I am feeling great....I still get sick here and there but who doesn't? It is harder to sit straight up because I feel like I'm going to pop my stomach open so I'm starting to have to lean back more when sitting down or popping my stomach out when I'm walking, lol. Time is still going by SLOWWWWWW for me...I'm ready to get this show on the road and start being able to be active with baby, I've only felt it kick strongly once and the other times I can't tell if it's gas, twitching, the baby kicking, or whatever it may be! Welp I'm sure I'll write again! P.S. I FINALLY finished the scrapbook for my hubby and I's wedding and honeymoon, I'll post pictures soon because it's my first true scrapbook and I'm so proud of it! :)

 

CraFTs AnD PrEgGo UpDaTe

 

The glass jar above is something I made for a friend. I had an empty pickle jar and couldn't figure out what to do with it and then I thought of this! Next time I would use Mod Podge so the jar could get wet if need be but I didn't have so I used a hot glue gun, scrapbook paper, ribbon, and a button there we go! It took 5 mins...it's easy, cute, and can be used for anything! I love the jars that can be used to store pencils, pens, candy, add some stones and put a candle in the middle, seashells, etc. you name it you can do it! :)

The wreath is a project from my other blog entry http://carianddanmarino.blogspot.com/2011/08/fabric-wreath.html  . But I have a different camera now and I thought these photos looked better so I retook the pictures :)

 Pregnancy Update!

First and foremost, I have to say how incredibly blessed I am for my pregnancy and my family. Over the past few months I've learned of several friends that have miscarried, had difficult pregnancies, lost their newborns, or have not been able to get pregnant at all. I am so extremely blessed because I have my pregnancy has started and is going by with ease. Yes I was very sick for about 6 weeks in my first trimester but it is nothing compared to the pain some of my other friends are feeling and I know that I owe my blessings to Heavenly Father. I haven't gained any weight yet but that's okay, my last dr appt the heartbeat was 156, all of my lab work and everything has been normal so far. January 27th, I find out if it is a boy or girl and that's when they do the entire fetal check of heart, lungs, etc.  I feel the "butterflies" often now and I have been able to tell 2X where my baby is in my stomach. Once the baby was crammed into my left rib and the other it was crammed into my right rib. Dan and I are very excited and we can't wait till we can find out what it is and feel the full blown kicks :) My moods are still pretty normal, my friend told me she noticed me "waddling" a little bit, I refuse for that to be the case so early in the pregnancy. I got maternity clothes to fit me now and I love them! Slip on maternity jeans are the best!! I am still LOVING potato chips but I am also loving tuna fish but I have to limit my amount (DARN!). Limiting one of the few things that I am loving stinks tho! Well that's all for now, see ya'll later!