3+1=4

3+1=4 which means the Barntsen family is growing! 

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Dear baby,

Your daddy and big sister and I love you so much. (Well, to be honest, big sister is still a bit unsure about you, but we have a few months to work on it.) We are so thankful for you and feel so blessed that God has chosen you for our family. I am blessed to be carrying you and to be your mommy, and I can already imagine the many hours and days and years of joy you'll bring us. 

It's just as amazing to be pregnant with you as it was when I was pregnant with your sister. The growing tummy, the sweet sound of your heartbeat (one of my favorite sounds ever!), the great anticipation of who you'll be and what you'll look like and what your future will hold...I wish I could freeze time and capture all of the emotion so I never, ever forget. I do know that you are perfect in God's eyes and are fearfully and wonderfully made. He continues to amaze us at how richly His blessings overflow when we're so undeserving. 

Your big sister is very caring and loving and I know she'll be helpful and want to teach you things. Your daddy and I talk about you and picture you here often and are so eager to meet you at the end of April. We can't wait to hold you in our arms and smell you and kiss your soft cheeks and love on you like crazy. Until then, we'll keep praying that you grow big and strong and come only at the perfect time. 

We love you!

Love,

Daddy, Mommy & Gwendolyn

 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. 

Proverbs 22:6

 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-16 

40 Weeks

I. Am. Huge.

Me and Leo taken yesterday.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: We made it to 40 weeks! 

Size of baby: 20-ish", 7.5-ish lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 22 lbs 

Maternity Clothes: Absolutely. Except for sleeping wear and then I'm still in my favorite Loft pj pants and tank tops that I would only allow my husband to see me in *smile.

Gender: Can't believe we're down to hours/days before we find out!!

Movement: He/she is still somehow moving around in there. I often feel a little foot or knee on my side.Will never get sick of it.

Sleep: Friday night I didn't get up to the use the bathroom until 6:15 am. Um, that is incredible. Last night was back to being rough. Wonder what tonight will bring...

What I miss: Shopping at Loft, wearing my old clothes (my maternity clothes that actually fit are a taaaad slim right now), being able to sit comfortably, hugging my hubby without having a big tummy between us, exercising without bringing on Braxton Hicks contractions.

What I WILL miss: the crazy and exciting unknowns of what is to come.

Cravings: Nothing crazy. 

Symptoms: lots of BH contractions and other normal 40-weeks-pregnant-stuff that some of you may know about.

Best moment(s) this past week: My SIL, Nikki, surprising me with dinner and a pedicure!

Exercise: Not much exercise this past week, but when I can and feel up to it - biking, elliptical, lifting, using the stair climber and lots of stretching.

We made it to 40 weeks! I can't believe that our son/daughter will be here any hour or day! This pregnancy has been amazing and even today, I felt great and was full of energy. Sign of approaching labor?! Who knows, but I am grateful and blessed *smile.

Pregnancy Portraits

I love photography, so naturally I wanted to capture this precious time in our lives in pictures. I found inspiration online and then Trisha's boyfriend, John, who does photography as a hobby, tried to replicate the ideas.These were taken at 37 weeks. I love how beautiful a baby in a belly can look.

Thanks so much, John!

My talented hubby took some additional ones the following weekend at 38 weeks. I'll cherish the mirror portraits b/c I have spent the last almost 40 weeks looking in that mirror every day, staring in amazement at the precious gift from God that has been growing and developing. I was brought to tears while I was editing them as I reflected on these 9 months.

I'm so thankful to have these - I only wish they captured the kicks and punches that are going on as I type this *smile.

(Click on the collages to view the pictures larger.)


We're ready and waiting little baby!
We love you so much and can't wait to meet you and snuggle.

39 Weeks

Because you never know what tomorrow (or tonight) brings...

Here we are today at 39 weeks!

I honestly have no clue how huge I am until I look at myself from the side. Tom and I just laugh every night in amazement at this belly of mine. I can't WAIT to meet the little one in there!

How we shared the BIG news!

I can't believe I haven't posted about how we revealed out big baby news to our families!

Better late than never....

My family:

For the Sinclair family reveal, we decided to tell everyone at our summer vacation when I was 8 weeks. We all arrived on Saturday afternoon and we had to wait until dinner, which seemed to take for.ever. I was so giddy with excitement. I knew everyone would be shocked and I love good surprises! Tom and I brought a bouquet of flowers along with us and asked the resort owners to help us out. Their instructions were to wait for one of us to let them know when we were headed to dinner (I ran back to our cabin to "get some condiments" and actually ran to their place instead) and then they were to hand deliver the flowers exactly 15 minutes later and say that these had just arrived. Everything worked exactly as planned. We all got our food, sat down, prayed and then the doorbell rang.

Tom and I were sweating and I about passed out with nervousness (not really.)

No one had any idea what was going on and my sister grabbed the card and read it aloud to everyone.

It said:

Dear family,

I can't wait to meet all of you in March.

Love, Baby

We deliberately didn't write Baby B so that there would be suspense, and sure enough, we were the last ones to be guessed. Hilarious.

Yep, it's us! 

(Gasps and hugs all around.)

My sister could not believe I didn't tell her.

It was a moment I'll never forget, and a great way to kick off vacation.

Tom's family:

A week after returning from vacation, we were going to see Tom's parents at his aunt and uncle's house in Mason City. Perfect timing! We wanted to tell his sister, Trisha, and our good friend, Erin, the Friday night before so thankfully both of them were available for a quick dinner at Noodles & Company. Trisha had just gotten her hair colored, so naturally I requested that we take a picture to document the new do. She was hesitant b/c it wasn't styled just perfectly, but we talked her into it anyway. Phew! 

On the second picture (the first one is never a keeper), Tom secretly switched our camera to video and said "Ok, now say...Sarah's pregnant."

They both looked confused. Actually Erin doesn't flinch and is just as ready as ever to take a picture and Trisha maybe thinks about it for a split second.

"Say...Sarah's pregnant!"

Again, not sure what to think.

Finally on the third try, I confirmed we weren't kidding and they got the big news!

Here is the video:

So the next day we drove to Mason City to visit Tom and Trisha's aunt and uncle and their parents who were visiting for a few days. We had worked frantically to make a Kodak book with all of our Scotland and Ireland pictures to show all of them with a picture of the positive pregnancy test and an Irish lullaby on the very last page. Unfortunately, Kodak failed us and it was delivered on Monday when we needed it on Saturday. Grrrrr. But I'm over it. Anyway, we were disappointed but decided we'd just show them the book online and all would be well. We set up two computers and it actually worked out quite well, maybe even better than if we had had the book b/c his dad and uncle could be at one computer and his aunt and mom at another. 

It took about 45 minutes to get through the book b/c they had questions and comments on every page. My heart was racing as we were nearing the end and FINALLY we get to the second to last page, which said:

It was hard saying goodbye, but Kevin managed to make Sarah laugh through her tears. Our last night's stay was at the Fitzwilliam Hotel, overlooking St. Stephens Green in Dublin. On a whim we saw Riverdance, which Sarah also cried through. 

(I was reeeeally sad to leave Ireland, as you can imagine.)

We later discovered we had the luck of the Irish on our trip...

And then they turned the page (Trisha was taping for us) and under a picture of our positive pregnancy test and my 8-week "belly shot" it said: 

We found out on July 12th that Baby B will be arriving March 2011! We'll always have a precious souvenir from our trip of a lifetime.

Here is their (mostly Tom's mom) reaction *smile. They realize the news around 36 seconds so pay attention. Well, I guess you can't miss it b/c she jumps up. You can't really understand her, but she goes on to say "well people have been asking me if I think Tom and Sarah are going to have a baby soon, and I've been telling them well I don't think so" or something....

Here is the video:

And after the big news, we all went out to eat!

We told Tom's brother and sister-in-law via skype a few weeks later using the video above. We told them it was really funny and they had to watch it.

So that's that! I wish we could go back and redo each one, b/c they were all so fun. It's just the most exciting news we've ever shared with our friends and families *smile.

And now we're literally days away from meeting our precious souvenir!

Going Home Outfits

What's it gonna be?!

Guitars (daddy picked out) or roses and lace (mommy picked out)?

(Um, seriously?!)

I don't know, but I can not WAIT to find out!!

(The Shamrock outfit is our backup for either boy or girl. We bought an extra b/c I hear babies spit up a lot and we wouldn't want he/she to get cold on the way home!)

What do you think it's gonna be?!

We are on the edge of our seats!

Sundays

What do you do on a Sunday morning when you're 38 weeks pregnant, one girlfriend has a three month old, and another girlfriend has a 14 month old and 10 day old and ya'll want to hang out b/c you could basically go into labor at any moment?

You get together for breakfast, of course!

At least that's what we do *smile.

38 Weeks

38 weeks?! This is crazy people!

And just for fun...

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 38 weeks

Size of baby: 19.5", 6.8 lb

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 23 lbs (2 of those pounds were in 5 days - ha!)

Maternity Clothes: Loving some new maternity tops I finally splurged on. And the pants are getting just.a.tad.tight. I definitely run home to change into more comfortable clothes.

Gender: Back to boy.

Movement: Lots of movement still. Pretty sure he/she is taking up every possible square inch in there. At least it feels like it.

Sleep: Sometimes I'll sleep straight through (and by "straight through" I mean only waking up whenever I roll over/move. Ha.) Other nights I get up once. And the next night I am up twice. I can't seem to find a pattern. However, I will say that sleeping is TOUGH. I occasionally read a girl's blog who is due any day now and she had this to say about her own sleeping:

----------

I wake up in the morning, I feel like I have gone to war with my pregnant body all night, and I lost.  Sleeping hurts.

----------

I wouldn't say it's THAT bad, but my body is definitely sore when I get up in the middle of the night.

What I miss: Sitting or standing comfortably for any length of time. Standing up from sitting without having to move reeeeally slooooowly at first. Getting in and out of my car like a normal person. Sleeping a full 7/8 hours. And alas my running days have come to an end *sad face.

What I WILL miss: Hiccups, kicks, punches, midwife appointments, Tom talking and singing to my tummy (it's absolutely precious), and the moments before we fall asleep where we just lay there and talk and dream about what is to come together. Even waddling is kind of fun *smile.

Cravings: Nothing crazy. But I sure am hungry.

Symptoms: Braxton Hicks contractions, crazy emotions, dropping things sometimes multiple times, losing my balance, back achiness, getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, having to position a pillow perfectly underneath the belly, and being very thirsty.

Best moment(s) this past week: Washing, folding and putting away three loads of baby stuff (it all smells so good!), setting up the pack-n-play, prepping for the hospital stay, getting the car seat in the car and confirming that baby is - indeed - head down. Praise Jesus!

Exercise: Biking, elliptical, lifting, using the stair climber and lots of stretching. (Although I think I may stop doing the stair climber - I didn't really think about steps inducing labor and we want Dixie in there as long as possible.)

Aside from my back hurting when I've overdone it, I am still feeling great. I am now being adjusted on a weekly basis, which helps a ton. We have a few more things we'd like to get done at home (finishing taxes is one of them), and I'd like to leave work a bit more organized, but we're pretty much ready. Everyone seems to think when you're 38 weeks pregnant that you're ready to be done and want it to be over, but I would say that I'm weird and would love another 2-4 weeks. God's timing is perfect though!

Baby Shower in Des Moines

My sister, bf from high school and two of my bfs from college hosted an adooooorable baby shower for me in Des Moines on February 19th. I was surrounded by awesome friends from all stages of my life, cousins, my aunt, moms of my friends, my sister's two best friends who are like big sisters to me, my MIL and my mom. It was quite the crew! And I felt so loved. It was held in a perfectly sized back room at a local Clive restaurant.

Everyone (except those who forgot) brought a baby picture. I had fun guessing who was who and for the most part, got almost everyone right!

The invites said:

An Irish Blessing as Good as Gold...a Wee Little to Love and to Hold.

The Barntsens are expecting a new addition, so join us to celebrate in Irish tradition.

With this little seed sprouting in the Celtic lands,

wouldn't a little bit of blarney and Irish cheer be GRAND!

Every one was asked to wear a touch of green as well. 

Everyone hard at work on their scrapbook pages. There was some real talent in the crowd.

I'm looking forward to using them for a baby book and remembering this special day.

My cousin's new daughter, Lindee. Are those dimples not to die for?!

Squish!

The food was fabulous - shrimp, crab cakes, chicken skewers, fresh fruit, three different kinds of mini cupcakes (double chocolate, raspberry lime and almond vanilla - uh, I'll take one of each!) and green punch.

See - lots of green! 

College friends and sorority sisters - Michelle and Malynda

Charles City girls - Tara, Kara, Amanda, Libby, Laura and Megan (with Drew)

After college friend and old roommate - Elizabeth

Best friends from college - Celeste, Liz and Sophie

The pregnant girls!

Me, my sister (late April), Libby (early May) and Liz (late May)

Me and my thoughtful, giving, loving shower hosts.

The greatest hubby in the world!

My MIL, Pam, and my mom, Lin. 

My parents, sister, her hubby and son and Tom and I stayed in a hotel for the weekend. We invited a few people over for dinner. It was one packed hotel room, but we made it work. We're flexible like that.

Next time my sis and I see each other we'll both have new babies in our arms.

Crazy!

Tom made a new friend. Aaliyah, my sister's friend's daughter loved Tom and was crawling all over him. 

It was so sweet. I'm pretty sure he'd handle a girl just fiiiiiine *smile.

After a six (normally four) hour drive home without stopping due to rain, slush and snow, we finally got the car unloaded and unpacked. This was our nursery after taking all of our gifts upstairs. 

I'd say we're pretty blessed, wouldn't you?!

 The love and support that has been shown to us and our baby overwhelms me. Everyone was so generous and giving.

I continue to feel great and am feeling confident and ready. I loooove surprises, so the anticipation of when will I go into labor and where and how long will it all last and is it a boy or a girl and what color hair will it have is so exciting for us right now. We talk about it every night before we fall asleep while we feel the baby kick and move for a little while. I cherish that time. We just lay there in amazement.

This is a typical conversation:

Me: "honey, we're going to have a BABY."

Tom: "I know. It's so CRAZY."

Me: "you're going to be a DAD."

Tom: "ohmigosh."

Me: "and I'm going to be a MOM."

Tom: "I know, you'll be so great honey."

Me: "what do you think it is?!"

Tom: "I have no idea, but I hope it's sweet and smart and funny like you."

Ok, I made up that last line, but I'm sure he's said it at one point recently *smile.

There are a lot of unknowns right now, but it's all in God's sovereign hands and for that we are so very, very thankful.