Twas the Night Before BABY!

So here we sit the night before the big day. So many different thoughts and feelings are going through both of our minds. Excitement is prob the biggest one of them all. Brycen cant sleep as he is also anxiously awaiting the arrival of either his new sister or brother.. He keeps saying he really wants a sister, and then proceeds to explain to me how reverse psychology works..

Jon and I are set to arrive at the hospital at 10am with my c-section scheduled for Noon.  I pray for a very smooth surgery and the healthy arrival of our new baby...

Everyone ask us what we think this baby is. Even thou ppl don't believe us, we have no idea what we are having. We have prepped ourselves for a lil girl as that is what everyone seems to think.. We also think that the ultrasound tech slipped as she called it a " she" during our ultrasound. Also in a previous post, Michelle and I took belly shots together and her belly is very different than mine , and we know for sure she is carrying a boy.. I do have a few hesitations on committing to " IT" being a girl for the following reasons.. I feel exactly as I did when I was pregnant with Brycen. This babies heart rate has always been in the 130 range, and they say boys tend to have lower heart rates.  I am carrying very high and to me seems to be all in the front..While I know these are all just an old wives tale, it does make me think...

None the less tomorrow we will meet our baby.. We are all very excited...I know the waiting room will be packed with our families and a few of my very dear friends..

Is it a Boy or a Girl??

13 sleeps to go... OMG

OMG.... Only 13 sleeps till we meet our sweet little baby.. That is crazy to me... This picture really kind of made it a reality for me.. 

But to be honest with you I have never felt more calm and ready for something in my entire life.  I think my lack of urgency and stress is causing others to stress :) My boys are very ready and super excited.. I can't wait to see each of them with our baby.. Also can you believe Christmas is next week??

37 weeks 4 days..

Well here we are at 37 weeks 4 days.. Had a great Dr.'s appointment today and everything still looks great.. Baby Pate is quite cozy in it's current living quarters and has no intentions of trying to make an early appearance.  Just as last week " IT" is still laying in the breeched position with it's feet directly on my bladder. Not enjoyable by any means. Here are a few snapshots of the belly, def growing.. I feel huge at times, but I also feel great and realize it could be a lot worse.. I feel very blessed that we have had such an easy and enjoyable pregnancy..

I think Brycen is nesting....

So I have to write about my boy... Such a sweet kid, yet always has been a kid that could care less about cleaning his room, or keeping anything tidy for that matter.. Its been an on-going threat that I am going to switch him to one of the smaller rooms so he wont have so much room.. Not that I would ever actually take his room away from him, but a little threatening never hurt a kid.. Last Wednesday he came home from school with a fever and complaints that he had a sore throat. We got home gave him some medicine and let him just lay around. When it was time to tuck him in for the night, I went upstairs and much to my surprise Brycen and Mr. Bubbles had become best friends.. He scrubbed his bath tub, toilet, bathroom sink, mirror, organized the linen closet and even washed his bedside table and tossed a little cologne on it for good measure. I was in total shock.. What or who has taken over my messy kid that could care less about being clean?? I have to say it was one of the most precious things I have ever seen, my boy is nesting...

Come Thursday morning we go to the Dr. and get confirmation that Brycen in fact has strep throat just as I suspected.. We get it once a year and it always takes on the very same pattern. Lucky for him he was prob only really laid up for about 1 day and then was up to his usual shenanigans. However FF to Sunday, I leave and go to the grocery store. As I walk in Jon says you wont believe it but Bry is upstairs cleaning his room. Jon was dying for me to see how good he was doing but I was not allowed upstairs until he was done.. To say the least the nesting bug has really bitten Brycen because that boy has never cleaned his room like he did.. I mean he got under his bed , organized his movies, books, toys, everything put away right where it should be..
I'm even more happy to say that today is Thursday and his bathroom and room are still super clean..

I love you buddy... You make your mama proud!

36 weeks 4 days...

Had our usual Dr's appointment today.. Had our last ultrasound, everything looks great and the little nugget is weighing in at 6lbs on the nose. Its so weird how before you could see so many details of your baby on the screen. Space is limited in there so know we can just sneak glimpses of body parts.. We got to see an ear and a hand with 1 finger sticking out ( no worries it was a good finger).. We have entered the last phase of Dr's appointments, the joy of physical checks.. As of today we are sealed up with no indication of labor..
Thursday is my last day of work and I am officially on maternity leave.. I have to say I have been really looking forward to that day, but its a tad bittersweet..

Baby Pate & Carter -Say Cheese!!

If you know me you def know my Best Friend Michelle.. For years she has told me that in order to fulfill my friendly duties to her I was required to give her a baby. She justified this because Amber and I were pregnant at the same time, and it was only fair that I have that same experience with her.  I can't lie, Im glad the man upstairs made this happen for us. Michelle and I have been side by side for every important milestone in our lives thus far and this is just the beginning of a whole new chapter.. In true Michelle fashion, she insisted we capture this moment on film.

We are exactly 10 weeks apart. I am 36 weeks and Mich is 26 weeks.. We were pretty shocked once we were side by side how different our bellies actually are. Michelle is very low and seriously looks like she swallowed a basketball. Carter isn't hiding by any means.. Me on the other hand am carrying very high and kind of all over the place. I thought it was kind of like a basketball but once I saw Carter's dormitory I quickly realized Baby Pate is all over. 

Showered with Love...

I don't think I can possibly express our thanks and gratitude to all of those who have come out and celebrated our upcoming arrival with us. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing families and friends.

This weekend the Pate Ladies ( minus me) hosted a beautiful and very well thought out shower for us while the boys of course arranged their own golf outing.. Men celebrate babies in very different ways. Here are a few pictures from a very fun afternoon.. I absolutely adore all of these women.