I'm actually 38 weeks today but these are some photos we took last week. I figured after 37 weeks you never know when the baby could come so we wanted to get some last photos in before I lose the bump! 

It's been interesting for me to observe the way my feelings have been changing over the past couple of days. Being this close to the due date I would have thought I would be terrified of the delivery but, whether thanks to our birth classes or other factors, I'm feeling pretty good about it. Instead I find myself experiencing anxiety over the fact that there is physically no way I can prepare myself for this life changing event. I'm daily overwhelmed with excitement over meeting our child for the first time in just a short time. This child that is here because papa bear and I fell in love all those years ago, this child that will change our life forever, this child that has already stolen a giant piece of my heart and will carry it with him/her for the rest of their life... 

The baby's room is ready, the car seat is locked in place, the bags are by the door but most of all our hearts are so, so ready to fall in love with baby bear.

Baby we are ready for you!

This year for Thanksgiving it was just the two of us and the fur babies. My midwife wasn't looking kindly at us driving more than an hour anywhere and personally I don't enjoy drives more than fifteen minutes long myself these days so... So at home we stayed. And it was glorious.

We were incredibly lazy and ordered a thanksgiving meal from Whole Foods that included the most dreamy pumpkin pie. We checked in with our families throughout the day but it was so nice to spend the day by the fire simply re-heating food rather than cooking it. 

After the whirlwind that were the past few months I was so grateful to be in our little cabin with papa bear just focused on really appreciating the last few days that we have left as a family of two. 

Thanksgiving was a big "mile marker," so to speak, for this pregnancy and it's unfathomable to think that the countdown is at two weeks now. I'm going to try and not obsess over my due date and just enjoy the fact that this means Christmas is officially here! And you better believe I've been playing Christmas music in this house non-stop since Friday. 

Here's to trimming our trees and baking lots of yummy things!

I've always loved Christmas but it wasn't until we moved to the US that my love turned into an obsession. I'll never forget arriving at JFK that December and thinking that we must have landed in heaven. Christmas music softly emanated from speakers, steaming cups of peppermint lattes in festive red cups lined the bar at Starbucks and the gift shops were brimming with candy wrapped in shiny cellophane and tied with bright red bows. 

My dad has always been the biggest Christmas aficionado in our family and he too went a little crazy when we moved here. Every Christmas he wants to buy "all the lights" and just recently we had an intervention regarding a hideous plastic snowman that he insisted on having for years. A couple Christmases ago the wind blew it onto the street and we told him that even nature thinks it's ugly... Then there was the year we first watched Elf and felt that we were no longer weird because we're not the only two people in the world who jump up and down with excitement over Christmas and Santa (in fact he was doing just that in the kitchen a few weeks ago when he realized how close Christmas was). He even dressed up as Santa every year until I was in high school!! So yeah, we realllllyyyyyyy, realllyyyyy love Christmas in this family. 

And so as the holiday season officially kicks off this Friday I can't wait to put up our tree, start baking cookies that will fill the house with the smell of ginger, get a nice fire going in the fireplace, put on my favorite Christmas record and pull on the coziest of sweaters!

Here's to all things cozy, sparkly, twinkling, crackling, steaming and good!!

*links to images: gingerbread garland, fireplace, hot cocoa

Goodness I feel like there is just so much to be thankful for...

I'm thankful for the beautiful autumn season we experienced this year

I'm thankful for this miracle growing inside of me

I'm thankful for chewy gingerbread cookies from Trader Joe's

I'm thankful for kitty snuggles late at night

I'm thankful for the life papa bear and I have have built together here at the cabin

I'm thankful for good music, books that bring me to tears and movies that make me smile

I'm thankful for bubble baths that allow me to be weightless if only for a short time

I'm thankful for the family & friends that have supported us through this pregnancy 

I'm thankful for grapefruits, pomegranates & dark chocolate

I'm thankful that pumpkins are edible

I'm thankful for water (being without it when our pump broke made me really appreciate it)

I'm thankful for all the hugs, laughs, kisses and smiles I've been blessed to experience this year

And I'm thankful that the holiday season is finally upon us!

Wishing all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

xo