Love is in Stiles

Hello all! Welcome from me and baby Scottie Maverick (aka Mav), who are enduring week 32 of pregnancy. This is a pretty eventful week, full of Christmas parties out the wazoo, with Scott's birthday being December 8th, my birthday being tomorrow (December 12th), and now there are only 14 days until Scott comes home on December 25th! I have sooo much to be grateful for this holiday season. I know that I am a very fortunate soul, and every year I have about 2 gajillion things to be grateful for, but this year I am feeling extra aware and grateful. Every night when I say my prayers my 'thank you for' list far outweighs my 'please bless...' list, and it is a wonderful feeling. 

WARNING, the next section waxes pretty mushy and nostalgic, so feel free to skip it...

I have family nearby that are so sweet and loving to me. Constantly cooking me food, inviting me to activities with them, letting me hold their babies....

I have family (on the Holbrook and Stiles sides) far away that are so thoughtful as well. Sending me sweet cards, texts, calls, emails, ect. 

Sunnee, David, and their kids have been beyond gracious in welcoming Scott into their home. I find it especially sweet that my little nephew Kale (only about 9 years old) never complains about having to share his bedroom with his two little sisters because Scott is staying in his room. He hasn't said a single complaint as far as I know, and I hear reports that every time he says a prayer he prays that me and the baby will feel better soon so that we can come to Hong Kong soon. 

My parents have also been amazing hosts to me. They are so thoughtful, always inviting me to do things, feeding me, taking care of me when I feel awful. I am especially appreciative of the time they spend with me just sitting on the couch, or when my mom would hold me as I cried or held my hair back when I got sick. 

I have a job that allows me such great benefits that I have been able to take advantage of, especially my health care and disability coverage. It always amazes me that if I hadn't started working at Medicity at the time I did last year, my coverage would have been much different for this pregnancy. 

I have easy access to some amazing doctors, who are very good at what they do. 

I have an amazing husband whom I miss very dearly. He is my best friend. He is so supportive and loving. I am grateful that I get to talk to him every day even though he is so far away. He is every quality I adore and I hope that our baby boy is just like his daddy. He loves me and the baby very much, and he works very hard to give us everything we want and need. 

My baby is healthy and safe. It always astounds me that no matter what weird problems I have during the pregnancy, and no matter how crappy I feel, none of my many doctors has even suggested that the baby is unhealthy. He is growing so big and strong (70% they say!). I love to feel him move, even now when he seems to be right under my lungs, and getting a little too strong.

I am a member of and have faith in a church that brings me happiness, hope, and understanding. I always get kind of nervous sharing my feelings or thoughts about church with people, but let me simply tell you that I believe in Christ, and the Atonement. And I have been blessed in so many ways because of it. 

Anyways. A quick recap of how I've been keeping myself busy for the past month. First off, I made Scottie Maverick a Christmas stocking. My family has these HUGE felt stockings that my mom made us, and we are each represented by different characters. If you read my blog last Christmas (or was that two years ago?) you saw me and Scott's stockings. I am a princess, and I made one for Scott when we got engaged that is a Dallas Cowboy's football player. I have been stressing out for a few weeks because I can not find where we packed them :(. But here is the baby's nonetheless. 

Ta-da!

That's right. A Dallas Maverick football player. Looking unintentionally Asian. 

After the stocking I started working on a Quiet Book for the baby. They have all these great page ideas, some even with tutorials, on Pinterest. And I know he won't be able to really enjoy it for at least a year, but who knows when I will have this much time again! So here is a compilation of all the pages I made. I am not a great sewer, and some of it looks kind of ghetto. But it turned out pretty cute, and I doubt the baby will notice (or care). I hope. Especially because a lot of the pages took me about 8 hours each. UGH.

Mr Potato head (more accessories inside the page, not shown)

Two cars pages. I tied the car on with a shoelace so we don't loose it, but we will see how long that lasts :)

A mailbox with letters inside

A rice-search page. 

A clock- with moving hands!

A toolbox, with little tools inside. So cute. 

A tie-the-shoe page. If he's like me he won't be able to do this until he's 8, but hey....

A farm barn.

And a hill with tiny little farm animal finger puppets. These took me AGES. But they are so adorable I about died. I will have to watch Mav like a hawk when he plays with them, because I do NOT want to have to remake them. 

A count-the-beads page. With tiny rainbow colored zoo animal beads. Of course. 

A ladybug page. Where the spots snap-on, and a zippered inside to hide them in. 

Two matching game pages. With little pieces for you to match the shapes and colors. 

Here is the flannel cover/carrying case I made for it. Complete with a Velcro closing!

The pages fit inside with some binder rings, and a ribbon connected to the cover holds them in the case. 

I had to make a pocket for the rice search since it was so bulky. 

And last, but not least, I added a little tag that says 'Specially Hand Made By Kelsey'. But I can't figure out how to flip photos once they are in Blogger, so it appears to be upside down :).

Also, before you go, here are a few belly update pics of me from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Week 30: 

And week 32: