30 Weeks - Maternity Pictures

30 weeks! 

(May 27th)

In an attempt to catch up on my weeks and the fact that I have so many pictures that this blog will be long enough on its own.......I'm keeping my words to a minimum here and instead posting a bunch of my favorite maternity pictures we took during 29-30 weeks. My sister Amy is super awesome, real creative, (and has a really nice camera) and took all these pictures for us while we were in Missouri. I can't wait to see the pictures she takes some day of our little nug-face. :)

Would you believe me if I told you we took so many that I didn't even post ALL of them below? Good thing I got a pretty good discount with the photographer! :)
Some of my favorites of the favorites I made bigger.........

We have wedding pictures taken in this same exact spot at my parents' house just 2 years ago.... :)

Dear baby in my belly,
It's okay with me if you have the adorable dimple on your cheek like your daddy has. It melts my heart. :)
Love,
Your Mommy

Sitting in my favorite chair on the porch. :)

Cali needed some camera time too. 

See the carve out in the wood? It says 'C+B 6-12-10' Chad did that the morning of our wedding day since we were supposed to get married on that exact spot. Turns out mother nature had a better idea and we ended up getting married in my dad's barn but it was all perfect just the same. :) I still love seeing this carved on the bridge.

I really love this picture but I made it big so I could point out to you the large vein protruding from my forehead. :) You can't really tell but the bridge is at a downward angle here so all the blood (and apparently you have an extra amount of it when your pregnant!) was rushing to my head. I kinda felt like I was gonna pass out while taking this picture so it didn't last long. But I can't help but wonder....Does that little vein pop out when I'm angry? Will Baby Jo see that vein some day as a sign to stop what he's doing and get his act together before Momma freaks out? 

Chad was fishing with Tracy and Ashley in between pictures.....caught one!

I've had a thing for four leaf clovers for as long as I can remember.  Ever since I was little I've been able to find them everywhere. When I'm looking for them and when I'm just walking along and happen to look down and spot one. My MaMa told me once that her mom was the same way. (Is that a gene you can inherit?) Anyway, my mom planted a bunch of four leaf clovers around the lake where we were supposed to get married. 2 years now and they're still there and growing!

Lucky clovers. :) And I think this baby will be pretty lucky too....surrounded by so much love.

Oh I just love these pictures we took with my MaMa and PaPa. They came to the house while we were taking pictures to water PaPa's tomato plants (he's working on growing the biggest one in the church competition.)

This picture makes so so happy I can't even explain it.

They're so sweet to their great grandbaby already. :)

The coolest great grandparents this side of the Mississippi. Love these two.

Ahhh! Bare belly shot! I love the necklace my BF Melis got for me. (Somewhere on Etsy I believe?) It's a magnetic locket that says "mama" and has a "J" and both Chad and my birthstones in it. Once we find out if baby will have a July or August birthdate...we'll get that one too. :)
Disclaimers: I feel like Amy photoshopped my belly because my LN seems much darker when I look at it in the mirror and you can't see the one that goes up the top of my belly in this picture either. You also can't see the lovely mark above my "used to be pierced before I got pregnant and took it out" belly button because the necklace is strategically hiding it. And lastly, yes these are my regular jeans....no, I never wear them buttoned except in this picture....no, I hadn't bought maternity jeans before we took these pictures but I did the very next day....yes, I had to have some help getting them buttoned....no, I could not breathe while they were buttoned for the whole 10 seconds I had them that way. :)

Cali got a picture so Summer had to have one too. :)

Dear baby in my belly,
I'm so sorry in advance that your parents are so embarrassing. I absolutely love taking awkward family photos and I'm REAL excited about having a third person being involved in those. I can't wait for this year's Christmas card...it will be so much more fun with you in it!
Love Always,
Your Super Awkward Mom

xo,
Brooke

16 weeks.

Here we are at 16 weeks/4 months!!

I don't feel like there's much of a change between this week and last...but maybe that's because last week I felt like it was a crazy change between no bump to "holy crap I'm really growing something in there."

I'm finally all caught up with my pregnancy weeks on the blog! If you haven't already...go ahead and scroll through them. I know you don't want to miss pictures of the little nugget or anything that has to do with me pooping.

Updates for the week.....let's see....well I feel like ever since I stopped the whole morning all day sickness thing I developed a fun new game that involves standing up from a seated position too quickly and getting really dizzy. Sometimes it's worse than others, most of the time it just leaves me a little off balance but other times I get tunnel vision and things go dark for a quick second and I have to stand still while holding on to something. Chad has seen a few of those "fun" moments and says I also go pretty pale and look like I'm going to pass out. Cool trick, huh? I never really feel like I'm going to faint and barf on myself or anything (ahem...Amy...) and it usually goes away in a matter of seconds. But I did mention it to my doctor the last appointment and she suggested I start paying attention to when it happens. Like time of day, have I eaten in the last couple of hours, did I just eat something sugary, have I been sitting for a long period, etc. So I'm trying to pay close attention to that.

Something else that has got my attention....I think I felt the baby move for the first time last week?!? I was sitting very still at my desk at work when a sneeze snuck up on me and almost sent me out of my chair (it was a good one)...after I got it out I was sitting still again at my computer and I felt something very....not me. I just kept looking around the room like..."Was that just what I think it was?" I wasn't sure and I guess I'm still not certain. But more clues are coming in every couple of days because I'll feel the same thing every now and again. I've read that a lot of women describe the feeling as "flutters" or "like pop corn popping" but to me it feels like a fish living in your lower belly and flappin' around in there. You know...kinda like my beloved Slippy Slappy, Swimmin' Swanson, and Samsonite. {Who are all still alive!! Surely if I can keep 3 fish alive in a tank I can handle the whole "mommy" thing right? RIGHT?!?!?} The feeling comes and goes, only jumps around and gets excited every few days. I'm still not sure I'm really feeling our fish.....I keep thinking maybe it's some weird indigestion or something I'm making up in my head. I suppose I'll know for sure in a few more weeks when those fins arms and legs are stronger and I know what I'm feeling. :)

EXCITING NEWS!!! Chad and I got to meet some precious babies this weekend!! Chad's sister Michelle and husband Corey had our nephew on the 11th and our friends Brittany and Neil had their little girl on the 10th! They both live in Orange County so we got to meet both of them when we drove down last weekend for a quick trip. Let me tell you.....they are sooooo sweet.

Cash Arne

8 lbs 12oz

21 inches

Look at that big fist he's making!

Oh man...I can't handle his picture. Those squishy cheeks make me wanna take a bite.

Well hello there, nice to meet you.

Dear Cash: Please stay snuggly and little forever.  Thanks, Auntie Brooke

Cash looks very much like big sister Autumn when she was a newborn. Which means he'll probably have blonde hair and blue eyes like her too. He's already so strong! Only a week old and he can keep his head up for a few seconds at a time. And he's a snuggly little guy that has already stolen my heart. :)
Sidenote: Apparently I didn't take any pictures of Chad with his nephew. Oops. I'm a horrible wife but a pretty cool auntie. :)

Kendall Autry

6 lbs

18 inches

Precious little Kendall and a proud big sissy McKenna in the background.

This is what she does before she "cries"...are you kidding me? I just giggled every time she got mad because it was so cute!

She looks a lot like a baby doll. :) And I wanna eat her up.

Kendall looks a lot like her big sister too. I used to be real jealous of infant McKenna and tell her she was a huge whore for having such lonnnnnngggg, dark and pretty eyelashes. You know, in the nicest, most auntie appropriate kind of way. :) Kendall is just so dainty and precious. Love her already too.

Here are a few more pictures from our fun weekend down south....

These two (Autumn and Zoie) were BFF all weekend. It was so cute. Here they are giggling and trying to warm up after playing in the water at the beach.

Knowing the relationships I had and have with my cousins and seeing our nieces playing together this weekend made me excited for our little nugget to have that too. 

Olivia is a pretty clever girl...she was using her dad's surf board cover to stay warm when it got cold on the beach. :)

Chad playing princess with Autumn in her new dress up clothes we got her. :)

Game night at the Dutton house!!

Have a good weekend everybody!!
xo,
Brooke