Alaina ________ Etten

We have decided that we are going to name our baby girl Alaina ___ Etten. I am not sure when we first thought of it, but it derived from my Grandma Elaine Shaffer. We thought this name has a few options for nick names if she wants, otherwise Alaina is a very pretty and girly name, so we are excited to see what she looks like, acts like and hopefully she is as sweet when she arrives, as she has been so sweet to her momma while she has been in my tummy. I can honestly say that being pregnant has not hindered me or my lifestyle in the slightest, and I could not be more lucky than to have married a man dedicated and leads a healthy lifestyle so that way I never have to feel like I cannot be a part of everything. We are still debating on the middle name, but pretty much have it narrowed down. But, that name is staying a secret until she gets here, no one knows about it but Nate and Myself :)

Half Ironman--CHECK!

As you all know my amazing husband has been training to run a full Ironman in Wisconsin on 9-11-11. This past weekend Nate competed in his first Half Ironman in Palo. I must say that I have never been more proud of him in my life. For those that do not know how far just a HALF Ironman is, it is: Swim 1.2 Miles, Bike 56 Miles, Run 13.1 Miles. I have seen how much time Nate has put into his training so I knew that he could do it :) His goal was less than 7 hours, and he did outstanding at a total time of 5 hours 50 minutes. He even said that during the swim he purposely would put himself in tough situations (example: having someone draft behind him) and then in the run, he walked two of the miles, as he drank too much water and needed to readjust. We were mostly anxious about the swim, and he was out of the water in 37 minutes!! So, after this weekend we are so confident in his ability to do great for the full Ironman, 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a full marathon to finish at 26.2 miles. This wife is SO ready to have her husband back!! :o)

Baby's Shower

My family threw me a baby shower and I must say that it was so fun! My sister and her girls along with my mom did such an amazing job celebrating this experience! We had Hy-Vee cater to my house and we had around 20 friends and family help make the day so special. The gifts that we received were so great and I could tell that people really put a lot of time, energy and thought into them.

I would say that my favorite part (besides having everyone in one place at one time) was making the onsies and bows. Our little girl has some very special handcrafted onsies to wear and I cannot wait to dress her up in them when she gets here! Some examples of the onsies are, "my mom is hot", "pretty like mommy", "baby gaga" and one that is truly fitting, "Jab Cross Kick" :) She also had some that had Tu-Tu's on them :) It was so amazing to feel how much love this baby girl is going to have! Just counting down the days that she gets here!