Introducing Elin Grace!

Well it's August and I promise you the truth when I say I've been trying to get an entry in since June 21st. On June 21st Colin and I welcomed our daughter Elin Grace Chance into the world. Elin (pronounced "eee-lin") weighed in at 8 lbs 1 oz and 21 1/2" long. Since then, well, we've been busy. The shock & awe of being thrown into full time parenting is unbelievable. Being a person who doesn't function (AT ALL) on little sleep, it's been quite a roller coaster. But I must admit, it's been pretty awesome. We've had a very eventful six weeks, lots of relatives in town and an unexpected stay at the Children's Hospital have kept our schedules full. I'll have to catch you all up on that later but for now, here are a couple of photos of our cute little bug.

And so here I am...

still pregnant! Granted my due date is still two days away but if you've ever been pregnant you probably know, it gets old! I left my job on June 8th and since then I've been forcing myself to nest. I've decorated the baby's room. Scrubbed the floors. Done about 86 loads of laundry. Scrubbed the bathrooms. Planted flowers. Washed baby clothes. Set up the baby swing and pack-n-play. And baked. Baked my brains out. I am prepared to accept full responsibility for Colin's squadron's failure at next the PRT (Physical Readiness Test) as I've baked some lovely treats...sometimes three times a week. Sorry guys. This girl is nesting.

Pregnancy is a wonderful thing. But all wonderful things must come to an end. I'm just trying to figure out when this little gal will decide that is going to happen. So far two of my good friends, Tessa & Alyssa in our squadron gave birth to handsome little boys 11 hours apart two weeks ago. Alyssa shared my due date. Grrr. As if that isn't bad enough, another gal due July 5th is on the verge of labor right now. Drat. And then I check my Facebook at 4am this morning (sleep is a long lost memory). My friend Allison gave birth to her baby girl yesterday. Her due date was June 27th. Good grief! Either I'm going to have a very patient little daughter. Or I'm going to have one heck of a stubborn, "I will come when I'm darn well ready" type of daughter. Either way, judging by her size on the last ultrasound and the sudden growth of my stomach in the last two weeks, I'm going to give birth to a whopper of a child.  I never thought I'd be so excited yet terrified in my life!

So until she arrives I will continue to nest, rest and relax for hours in the pool like I did today. It was glorious people. I highly recommend it when you're 14 months pregnant and it's 95 degrees outside. Really, it rocks.

And since I have no desire to give you nightmares tonight, I will not post a picture of myself in a bikini. Instead, here's are a couple of photos I took last week.

Can that bump get any bigger?

Nesting is in full gear!

So I hit my 36 week mark and have just one more week until this kid is considered full term. Honestly, by the way I'm looking, I'd say this babe is cooked. But that is just her mother's opinion...which I think is fairly valid considering I am walking (er, waddling) around carrying a bowling ball (who gains an ounce every day!) everywhere I go.

 A picture of me at 33 weeks. Dear goodness...

So since I'm at 36 weeks I think I hit my nesting point. For example, Colin and I hit up Home Depot on Thursday morning. We came out pushing two full carts of plants, planters, potting soil, a ceiling fan and more, yes more paint supplies. I put myself to work planting hydrangeas, a new planter of herbs and a mum that although I believe is seasonal, refused to die and therefore I have decided to try and relocate it to a new home for the summer. Hopefully it'll survive better than the two gardenias and boxwood that keeled over this spring. 

A few rows of corn, tomatoes, carrots, basil & onions. Whenever Cheddar gets thrown outside she retaliates by eating the corn leaves. This may explain why the onions and basil are sporting a trampled look. 

Encouraged by my friend Peyton at Peyt's Island, I decided to try my hand at herbs again. After the first planter did so well this spring I decided to add another planter. The parsley and rosemary look like they're on steroids. As much as I hate throwing away herbs, I have to keep them from overtaking the smaller plants! 

Moving to the inside, we are almost finished with the baby's room. Tired of painting and with one room to go, I picked out one sample color and decided it was good enough. Since I doubt our kid is going to have issues later on regarding the paint color or her room as a baby, we decided to go with that color. It's a pretty pale, lime green which will go nicely with the sea coral curtains and crib skirt my mom is putting together. Since the room does not have a closet we bought an armoire from Pottery Barn to double as a closet and dresser. Seriously, this kid is well on her way to a fancier wardrobe than me, or even her Aunt Courtney...which is really saying something:

Based upon the recommendations of several friends we purchased a Babi Italia crib. I am already in love with it. 

Baby still has a quilt in the making but if its anything like the one below, she may reach her first birthday before it's finished. I started this butterfly quilt during the hurricane last year and just finished it up a few weeks ago. I'm great at starting projects. Terrible at finishing them. 

That's it for now. We have a few more small projects on tap and hope we can accomplish those sooner than later. Between work and school, Colin and I are staying busy right up until D-day!

April Baby Shower Fun!

So I have to admit things haven't been all that exciting around here lately which is why the blog has taken a backseat. Although I think the real reason is I have avoided the camera like a disease as I've come to find pregnancy weight just isn't all that flattering on me! 

However I did want to share my latest (and last trip before baby) trip to San Diego last month to see my family. It was a great week. My good friend Chelsey came down for a visit with her two boys! My sister Courtney treated us to a Padre game on Friday night which was a blast. Court works for the Pad Squad (the Padre's pep squad) and was able to not only get us park passes but free parking. We were expecting a spot in the parking lot adjacent to the stadium (which totally trumps a $20 spot in the twelve story parking garage that takes 30 minutes to exit after a game). Imagine our surprise when the Chief of Police escorts us to a private spot right in front of the stadium. Apparently it was law enforcement appreciation night, imagine our luck!

The next day my good friend Julie threw me a baby shower at my parent's house. We must have had a good time because we all forgot to take pictures! Thanks to Chelsey we did get a shot of the yard before the guests arrived. 

Navy girls! My good friend Crystal from Guam came with her adorable daughter Caroline. Mickey to my left made an amazing quilt (in ONE day no less!) for the baby. She rocks! Chelsey is looking AH-MAZING after having a baby last year. I hope I can do the same!!

Me in all my enormity with Courtney and my dad before dad escaped the mass arrival of baby shower guests. 

I received a ton of adorable gifts for the baby. Getting it all home was quite a challenge but with the help of my mom and the USPS, we managed to get it home to Virginia. It really makes me realize how fortunate I am, I haven't lived in San Diego in 3 1/2 years but so many women made time to come to my shower! I really had a great time in San Diego and can't wait to bring Baby Girl back to see everyone in a few months!

As if one shower isn't enough my sister Carissa and friend Tessa threw me ANOTHER baby shower in Norfolk last weekend. They did a spectacular job and once again Baby Girl came away quite the winner!

She'll be rockin' some sparkly pink TOMS thanks to Andrea!

Every heard of a diaper wreath? Isn't this awesome? Thank you Sara!

Humble pie moment. My reaction to this object? "Aww, a chew toy!" That's Tessa next to me letting me know that dogs have chew toys, babies have teething rings. I guess I still have a few things to learn....

Rissy made Baby Girl a quilt and diaper bag, The quilt has this awesome yellow minky backing that is super snuggly!

My good friend Mary.

Team J&A: My coworker Kristyn and my boss, Amy. I love them!!

Team Guam. My Guam girls who now live in VA and NC came to celebrate with me!

My neighbor Joanna who gave birth to a baby boy just 8 days before my shower. Isn't she amazing??

The fabulous hostesses with the mostesses! Thanks Tessa & Rissy!

It's a........!!

So it's been awhile. But I suppose pregnancy will do that to you! Anyway, just a quick update on the happenings in the Chance household:

I'm feeling better! Gone are the nauseous days of the first trimester. I'm eating much better and still running 8-9 miles a week. This baby LOVES to run, always settling in for a nap once we get going.

Colin started grad school. So when he's not flying 5 days a week he's studying his tail off all the time. I wish I had half his motivation.

I got a job! Great timing I know. However it's a fantastic setup for me and will allow me to work up until the baby is born. I work for a local race event company. We just finished the Virginia is for Lovers 14K yesterday and still have our biggest event, the Shamrock Marathon next month. It's a great job worthy of a separate blog post for later!

Perhaps the best update of all. We found out on Thursday that we're going to have a  baby GIRL!! It is sufficient to say I'm absolutely elated with the news. Colin's adjusting very well. Mostly because he has an excuse to buy a shotgun now. I think he's going to be a pretty awesome daddy. If anything, he got to accompany me to the ultrasound and he thought seeing his daughter for the first time was pretty stinkin' cool. 

It was a fairly eventful appointment in the fact that she was NOT interested in showing us her girl parts. Hence why we found her curled up in a ball with her legs crossed. The technician patiently spent over ten minutes wiggling my belly in hopes of waking her up. Finally after I shifted to my side, followed by some more wiggling she gave us a peek, probably in hopes we'd let her get back to her nap. The appointment was only 25 minutes but I was so anxious to find out that it felt like an eternity. The phone calls that followed later were fun, my parents are pretty excited, as are Colin's. I even got my first baby girl outfit from my co-worker, it even has little ballet slippers sewn into the feet, how cute is that? I think it's all starting to feel more real. More real than just the thought of a goldfish swimming around in me. I'm sure it'll get even more real as I continue to expand in more directions than I care to accept. At least I know it's all for a great cause. :)

Me at 19 weeks.

Baby Chance at 20 weeks!

It's a Girl!

Despite being ticked off at being woken up, she gave us a little wave. How cute is that?