Anistynn Grace Hermesman

Welcome to the world, little love!

Anistynn Grace Hermesman

September 16, 2011

3:42 PM

6 pounds 15 ounces

Perfection

We are a very proud mommy and daddy!!!

I also want to take a moment to remember my mom who passed away on this date years ago. I so wish she could have been here for the birth of her first granddaughter, but I know she is watching over all of us from above. She is the reason why our baby girl was brought here safely and why she's so perfect! :) I love you, mama!

Dear Anistynn ~

Dear Anistynn -

I'm writing you this letter on the morning of your birth. You have yet to be born, but we are about 3 hours away from the blessed event. I have been waiting for this moment almost my whole life. I have always dreamed of being a mom and now you are finally arriving to fulfill my dream. Your daddy and I have been eagerly awaiting your arrival since we found out you were coming 9 months ago. We became emotional when we saw you on the ultrasound screen and whenever we had the chance to hear your little heartbeat. We have marveled in your growth progress. We have gotten so excited every time we could feel or see you move from inside my tummy. You have always been so active and we are excited to see you on the go once you get here. Speaking of which, you will be here soon. Very soon. While we are so excited to finally meet you, I am sad that you will not be in my tummy anymore. You have made quite a nice little home in there and I hope I made it comfortable for you. I'm already very protective of you - you are a part of me. Even though you will still be mine, right now we have a connection where I feel so close to you. Once you come out, it's a whole other ball game. I hope we will always remain close and have a very special bond. I will try my hardest to maintain an amazing relationship with you throughout your whole life. You are so very special and you need to always know that. Please know that you can always come to me with anything. Though times may not always be the best, we can work through them together with love and compassion. Everyone tells me how fast you'll grow up once you're here; I'm sure that's true and I will savor every moment that we spend together. I will relish seeing you grow up, learning about yourself, the people, and the world around you. I'm sure you will succeed and go above and beyond in everything you set out to do in life. I already know you'll be so very smart.

I cant wait to see you and your daddy together. He is such a great man and I know he'll be an amazing father. He is so excited for you to come into our lives. He cant wait to create a special bond with you and have daddy-daughter time. You can also go to him with anything, as we will both always be here for you. 

We both cant wait to meet you, cuddle with you, spend holidays with you, show you off to all our friends and family (who will now be your friends and family too), watch you grow and learn, see you go to school, embrace what activities and interests you accumulate, and so on and so forth. I dont want to keep going because time is already moving so fast - I want to cherish each and every moment that we have with you before you grow up way too fast. 

So we are about to leave for the hospital here soon - and sooner than we know it, we will be seeing your pretty little face! Your daddy and I will be there to immediately let you know how much you are loved. Other friends and family are coming to see how amazing you are and trust me, you will be so loved by many. There are also some wonderful women watching down from heaven above and I believe they will help guide you safely into this world. So come on, baby girl - we're all waiting here on the other side for you. It's time to make your appearance!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH. Always always remember that and how much you mean to us. You are a miracle, an answered prayer, a blessing, a gift. 

Love, 

Mommy (and Daddy, too!)

Our New Home!

I just wanted to post some pics of our new place! I'm sure there will be more things added later but it's pretty well put together now and since baby girl is coming TOMORROW, this is basically what it will look like for a while (with baby stuff everywhere soon, I'm sure). 

Welcome! 

Entryway

Laundry Room

Tony's photography in the front entryway

Bathroom # 1

We have a linen closet in the bathroom but I didnt like the way the shelves looked so we hung up a curtain

This is what's behind it!

Living Room

Patio Door

Patio

Kitchen

Built In Desk Area

Closet

Master Bedroom

Our Closet

Our Bathroom

Heading back out - good bye!

The nursery is not yet finished but it should be okay since Anistynn will be staying with us in our room in her bassinet for at least the first little while. We only really have her crib and bedding set up, as well as a pretty full closet, so here are a couple pics of those:

Nursery

Closet

Crib

We still have her dresser, changing table, bookshelf, glider / ottoman, and curtains on the way and we also have a few more decor items that we plan on getting and putting up: a couple shelves, some frames on the wall, a chandelier, and her name spelled out in wooden letters. So stay tuned! In the meantime, here are a few other baby things:

My Favorite Outfit :)

Diaper Bag

Stocked For Baby!

Bassinet 

Well, that's it for now. I will post nursery pictures once it's complete. I cant believe baby will be here tomorrow! I'm still terrified and excited all at once, but we're ready to go - here are our hospital bags!

Ohmygoodness! I'm almost shaking, it's so close. I hope I can get a nap in sometime today but it's always hard to sleep when you're anxious for something. I had to get up early though so I could let this guy in to test the sprinklers and alarms in our apartment. Of course the complex decides to have them do this the day before I'm supposed to have a baby - and they say that they will be here anytime between 9 AM - 4 PM. I was really hoping to sleep in on my last baby-free day, especially since I havent been getting much sleep lately and I've been up early the last few days trying to get things done. Maybe I can get a nap later though. I know I wont be sleeping in tomorrow!! 

Alright; tomorrow it is. LET'S DO THIS!!!

Is It Really Just 2 Days Now??

So our apartment is finally almost done. I'm so proud of Tony and I for getting it together under these conditions, what with him working full time and me being 9 months pregnant. We have just a few select items left to move over (small things) and then do a final drop off at our storage unit. We need to make a run to the store to get some easy to make meals / frozen meals to stock up our freezer and fridge for after baby comes. And we still dont have everything we would like for the nursery but it's things we can make do without for now. We'll probably finish it within a couple months. It wont matter too much because we plan on keeping Anistynn with us in our room in her bassinet for the first little while. 

So I'm feeling better about that. And I'm so glad the weather is a bit cooler. Thank God. It's more bearable now. Baby is still keeping me up until the early morning hours, but it's probably because I'm moving around so much during the day that she sleeps during that time. When I finally lay down, she decides she's up and ready to go! She kicked so much last night that I thought she was going to rip out of my stomach on her own! 

Ummmm..... I cant believe there are only 2 days left. I feel like I'm not even really here; kind of like I'm just existing, if you will. I cant believe what's about to happen and no matter how many times I try to picture the scene, I just cant believe it's something that will actually happen. And in 2 days, no less. Oh Lord. It's just so hard for me to grasp. We've been anticipating this day (well, I have for a good portion of my life), but Tony and I have been anxiously awaiting this day for the last 9 months. Each week brought us closer and made it more realistic. Every ultrasound and hearing of the heartbeat reminded us of the tiny little miracle we had created. And now, in just 2 short days, we will finally get to meet her - a real live little baby! We will get to see what she looks like, what her personality is, who she resembles - both physically and trait-wise.... Man, oh, man. Just crazy!

Now if only I could get over my anxious nerves about having surgery..... I know they wont fully go away and that it's totally normal for anyone to be nervous about it, but since I'm overly freaked out by the hospital, it's just a bit harder for me to deal with. I pray that I can have the strength and the courage to make it through this. It does make it easier knowing that I'll get to meet my daughter on the other side of it... I just have to hold on tight to that knowledge and just push through the temporary fear.

Sugar & Spice Or Puppy Dog Tails?

Last night sucked. Baby girl would not let me sleep - perhaps an indicator of what's to come? Haha. She was doing all sorts of acrobatics (maybe she flipped??) and she was really playing a number on my bladder. I'd drink like a sip of water and I'd have to go use the restroom. Gooood times. Anyway, my mind is in serious overdrive. It is going from one thing to the next. It gears up especially at night. I try to read or do something else that will make me tired so I can fall asleep right after, but nope.... my mind is still going 50 million miles a minute. It's all over the place too - from random things to baby things. Mostly baby things. 

And have I mentioned that I keep having dreams where she comes out a boy?? I know I keep going back to that just because she was in a difficult position... All 3 technicians who looked said they were pretty sure it was a girl because they "didnt see much going on between the legs." However, her legs were closed so dang tightly that something could have easily been hiding ;) They ended up telling us that they were 95% sure that it was a girl - but then my doctor said she was 95% sure that baby was in the head down position and lo and behold, she was breech! So who even knows? They told us to embrace the girl - and I have. We have all girl stuff. God help us with returns and exchanges if it comes out a boy HAHA. 

No matter what that little baby comes out as though, we will still be so in love. We didnt care what gender it was at the beginning (although, if it does come out a boy, I will be a little shocked right off the get go because we've been anticipating a girl) but I will be SO excited either way! Tony is still positive that she's a girl, despite her position on the anatomy ultrasound. He claimed she was just being modest ;) He said he felt it was a girl from the time I announced I was pregnant. And what's weird is that all my life I always pictured being a mom of boys; when I thought of having children (which was often) it was always little boys running around. No matter how many I had, they were always all boys, never girls. But for some reason, when I met the man who would become my husband, I always pictured a girl with him. And then I got so sick, so of course I was having a girl (based on the old wives tales - although I know a few girls who had bad sickness and they had boys). 

The reason I bring all this up is not because I'm concerned it will be a boy (again, I would love either a boy or a girl, and as along as he or she is healthy and happy, that is all that matters in this world), it's just that I keep trying to imagine what this Friday at noon will be like. I'm trying to picture the whole scene from beginning to end and when they pull out baby, what will they say? 

"Congratulations! You have a little boy!"

OR

"Congratulations! It's a baby girl!"

And because I've never felt fully sure what we were having because they couldnt point out anything clarifying the gender, I've always been a bit back and forth, so that is probably why my dreams and thoughts are the way they are. I cant help it. Some of my friends who have had girls also had ultrasounds where they were in difficult positions... And I've said before that if people find out they're having a boy, they dont really question it, but if they find out it's a girl, there's always a chance it could be a boy ;) Well, I guess we'll find out in 3 DAYS!

Everything MUST Go!

If you've been following my posts, you know that we moved and in the process we came across things that we wanted / needed to sell. Here is an update on what's still left. If you or anyone you know would be interested in any of the below listed items, please let us know! The items are also on Craig's List. Prices are negotioable. 

EVERYTHING MUST GO BY SEPTEMBER 20TH! (I sound like a store going out of business - haha)

- Check out this post! Everything is still for sale except the bike trainer and the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX Wheels. 

- This post is about the sectional couch we are selling.

And we have 3 new things to add to the list:

* Box Sanyo TV (remote included) = $50

* Decorative coat / purse hanger with 4 hooks, 2 drawers, and a mirror for front entryway = $35

* 2007 Fixed Gear FELT Curbside Bike = $700

Please contact Tony or I if interested in anything - THANK YOU!