nora belle's nursery!

nora belle's nursery is finished!  it's bright & cheerful & makes me oh so happy.  so many people put so much love into this little girl's room.  thank you, friends & family, for helping create a wonderful space for miss nora belle.

{the perfect place to sit & read to our little girl.
& rock her to sleep.
& maybe fall asleep with her too.}

{tanky loves her room too}

the gallery wall is one of my favorite parts of the nursery.  it's full of so many wonderful things - paintings from two extremely talented & wonderful gals, a piece i remember hanging in my bathroom while growing up, beautiful details from her baby party like the amazing gold polka dot napkins, a piece of oklahoma, a piece of birmingham, & fingerprints from so many loved ones!

your nursery is ready for you, nora belle!

love love,

kjp.

week 36: football date night

thirty-six weeks means it's date night time for blakey & me!  & we got to go on a dream date night - monday night football at arrowhead stadium!  we arrived in time to do a little tailgating outside of the stadium & see the army's parachute team parachute over us & into the stadium to deliver the game ball.

our seats were amazing!  50 yard line in the upper deck.  my pregnant self loved that this was a mostly sitting section.  thank you, blake's attending, for letting us use your awesome seats!

one of blake's life goals is to break a guinness world record & OH MY GOSH we got to be apart of breaking one!  the chiefs held the title for the loudest stadium in the world & the seahawks beat it by 0.1 points last year.  chiefs kingdom once again won the title with a record of 142.2, beating the seawhawks by 4.6 points!  go chiefs!

while blakey was geeking out about being a world record breaker, i was freaking out about being in the same place as hot brady himself!  that's right - the hottest qb tom brady & i pretty much hung out :)

oh!  & the chiefs won!  really, they kicked the patriots' butts.  it was oh so much fun.  two nfl games down for nora belle & me.

love love,

kjp.

week 35: one more month!

oh my goodness - only one more month until nora belle is expected to arrive!!  my hospital bag is packed.  our car seats are in our cars.  the nursery is complete.  we are ready for the little lady, but happy for her to stay in there a few more weeks & keep growing & getting healthier.

 {blake & his empathy belly}

nora belle had hiccups for the first time the other night!  it was really funny to feel hiccups in my lower abdomen.  she is still kicking away all the time.  we think she is in the correct head down position with all of her kicking & pushing up top.  good job, little girl.

for one of our last family of two weekends, we watched football & grilled out & spent most of the day outside yesterday.  it was an absolutely gorgeous day!  i think i'm going to love kansas city in the fall.  blake made havarti-stuffed burgers with roasted green chilies & caramelized balsamic onions. that were so delicious.  & i made a roasted fall vegetable dish with butternut squash & red potatoes & rosemary & green apples.  & tank ran around playing with his ball for hours.  all in the beauty of our own backyard.  oooh, the marvelous fall.

love love,

kjp.

week 33: go chiefs go!

33 weeks!  33 weeks!  my nora belly is getting huge!  bigger every day, right blakey ;)

this weekend, dave & beau came to visit us!  we had an incredible dinner at gram & dun with amazing asian pig wings, delicious fried catfish with greens & mashed potatoes, & the most ridiculously large tomahawk ribeye.  the evening was filled with wonderful beverages {even a mocktail for me!}, lots of football talk, & fantastic company.

on sunday, we went to nora belle & my first NFL game & blake's first chiefs game.  it was absolutely one of the best days. we all got to go on the field for pregame & watch the players come out & warm up.  we took tons of photos, acted like we were under the review booth hood, & marveled at the size of these guys.  it was an experience we will never forget.  the boys geeked out the entire time & stood there with a huge smile on my face.  an amazing sunday!

 {chiefs kingdom!}

 {someone is going to score a touchdown right here.}

 {nice catch, jamaal charles}

 {oh hey there, gigantic linemen}

 {the happiest brothers in all the world}

 {the chiefs' superbowl trophy!}

 {ready to cheer the boys on}

a wonderful, wonderful weekend.  happy 33 weeks to us!

love love,

kjp.

week 32: it's football time!

32 weeks means only a few football saturdays are in between us & our little girl arriving!  it also means miss nora belle is growing about a half a pound a week.  & my nora belly is growing right along with her.  i've learned about being crazy hot for no reason, that my two options for hunger are either "i am starving!" or "i am ridiculously full!", that singing a few lines to a song could lead me to being out of breath, that just because i went to the bathroom five minutes ago, that does not mean i don't need to go right now, & that God is getting me ready to take care of my little one by waking me up every night.  & you know what, her little kicks make it all worth it.

 {nate & blake & our 26 inch pizza}

oklahoma football is here!!  & for the first game, blakey & i met up with our friends & neighbors, rachel & nate, & headed to the ou club of kansas city watch party!  it was marvelous cheering on our sooners to a fantastic victory.  looking forward to many more of those days ahead.

{tanky was ready for some football too!}

love love,

kjp.

week 31: grandpa & samma came to visit!

norabelle's grandpa & samma came to kc to visit us this weekend!  & oh boy were we productive.  they brought up my grandmother's china cabinet that is going to {eventually} be painted & displayed in our dining room.  the fellas built a 12' by 5' raised garden in our backyard.  nora belle's nursery is almost finished!  that, my friends, you will have to wait to see.  & with all of that doing, we had time to eat at a couple of kansas city staples - oklahoma joe's & stroud's fried chicken!  a most lovely weekend indeed.

{a very proud grandpa}

{dad & tank even bonded}

{by the way, there is now a baby swing in our living room.}

{whoa.}

happy 31 weeks!

love love,

kjp.

week 26: happy birthday, blakey!

it was blakey's birthday this weekend!  the big 3-1.  old man :)  we celebrated with his parents in kansas city all weekend with lots of delicious dinners, including one of blake's favorite restaurant concepts - the brazilian steakhouse {fogo de chao}.  all the meat you can eat served on a sword?!  yes, please.  it was awesome & delicious.  we also went to an old kansas city favorite burger joint {westport flea market} & a delicious local frozen custard place {foo's fabulous frozen custard}.  so many birthday feasts! that's the best kind of birthday.

blake & dave also spent the weekend fancying up nora belle's nursery!  they installed a pretty white fan & built her crib!  {thank you mom & ray for the beautiful crib!}  she now has a place to sleep, a place to get rocked to sleep, & place to put all of her teeny tiny clothes.  it's coming together, nora belle!

 {the fellas hard at work}

 {LOVE her modern crib}

we hit the 100 days 'til mark this week!  & then we fast forwarded three days at our first OB appointment in kansas city - our new due date is october 21st!  little girl is growing right on schedule & has a healthy heartbeat.  we'll get to see her little face again in another week!  

love love,

kjp.

week 23: sweet home kansas city!

we're here!!  kansas city is our new home for the next three years, as blake begins his fellowship training in maternal fetal medicine, aka high risk ob.  we are so excited to be closer to oklahoma, closer to family, closer to life long friends, closer to sooner football.  we are thrilled to begin this chapter of our lives in which we learn to mom & dad, in addition to husband & wife.

{our adorable new home & first house!}

i'll catch you up on all things saying goodbye to birmingham, as i begin my new career of "homemaker".  that involves blogging, right?  

blakey & i are so incredibly grateful to all of our family who helped us pack up, move out, & begin again.  we've said it a hundred times but we absolutely could not have done it without all of you.  seriously.  so so many thanks.

{my sweet mom & me}

{dad & blake having man time at home depot}

happy to begin our family of three {ok, tanky, family of four} in sweet home kansas city!  ready to experience all that's next.

love love,

kjp.