Monday, April 10, 2006

1...


I'm a little late getting this week's post out, so now it's actually 5 days till my due date!!! As the end is approaching (or pretty much here), I can't help but reflect on these past nine months. It seems like a lifetime ago that Josh and I found out we were pregnant. So much has changed since then, as we have grown to love this little baby inside of me. We were ecstatic and in shock when we found out, and the days that followed were so much fun...daydreaming about what life was going to be like with our new little family and just being in awe that our child was already here on earth, growing inside of me. You can hear about it over and over again, but it's the strangest thing when it happens to you! Then we went through phases of it hitting one of us or the other and then it just being so bizarre to one of us or the other. I got obsessed with reading about what was going on that week with the baby, and would share it with Josh. Then, it was so much fun when I started to get a little belly! I would check for growth every day and even jumped the gun a few times, sending pictures of my belly out to a few friends, and then realizing the next day when it was gone, that I was just bloated! =) Then, what I call the magical stage started, when I started feeling him kick. I felt so connected to him, and loved going to work, and just having that little feeling inside that noone else could share. Not too long after that, Josh was able to feel him and even see moving (I think the first time was during church), which he was amazed by. It always seemed to happen at church, so we liked to say that he was very spiritual. I'll never forget the excitement we felt when we found out he was a boy! I kind of thought he was a girl, because everyone told me he was, but Josh always said he was a boy. I think he just wanted to be different, so that if he was, he could claim that he was the only one who knew! I was glad, though, that I was leaning towards girl, because when he told us he was a boy, I was completely shocked, which was quickly followed by giddiness, and then overwhelming excitement. I was in love with the fact that we were going to have a little boy, and immediately couldn't imagine him being anything else. (Of course, I know I would have felt the same way if it was a girl...you love what God gives you.). From that point on, it has just been getting through each week, and trying not to get overly anxious. I didn't realize, though, at this point how incredibly excited I would be. I can see how God has worked on me to get me prepared to be a mother. Josh and I have been overwhelmed lately by how blessed we feel by God, from the timing of everything to having such a healthy pregnancy. I just feel pure excitement and contentment right now about the upcoming birth and starting this new phase in our life. Of course, that is also accompanied by anxiousness, a little worry, and just tiredness of being pregnant! Friday was my last day at work, and I was just giddy at dinner by the feeling of that being the first day of the next phase in our life. It's so hard to get out strong feelings in writing, so forgive me if this sounds cheesy or boring...I just don't want to forget this feeling! Tomorrow morning is my 39 week appointment. I'm VERY anxious to find out if I changed at all. Hopefully I will not be posting a "0..." blog next weekend, and he'll already be here. In the meantime, I'm trying to enjoy our last days of life before baby. Please keep us in your prayers this week! I will definitely keep you posted and let you know if anything happens!

Sunday, April 02, 2006

2...

The biggest thing to report this week is that the nursery is finished! After 3 months of hard work, the room is officially ready for our son! He had better appreciate this. Ha! I tried to take pictures of every angle for those of you who won't see it in person. I have not been able to sit still all week, which has been good because we have been able to get a lot done, but I am definitely wearing myself out every night. Josh is always up for my energy spurts, though, because he loves a clean, organized house. Now I can finally say we are ready for him to be here. His car seat is even in the car! All we are doing now is WAITING, for how long, only God knows! I hope God wants us to meet him this week...I don't know how much longer I can wait to find out what he looks like, what his little personality is, etc! This is also my last week of teaching. I was going to work up until the day, but have now decided to take the last week before he is supposed to come off to relax. I will miss my kiddos at school, but will definitely enjoy that time (if I get it). Here are the pics:





Sunday, March 26, 2006

3...

Wow! 3 seems like such a small number!! I can't believe (and I can) that there are only 3 weeks left until my due date. I thought I'd never get to this point, but now that it's here, time is moving VVVVEEERRRRYYYY SSSLLLOOOOWWWWLLLLYYYYY! When I think back on this past week, two words come to mind...tired and long. I really can't believe I updated my blog last only a week ago. Teaching is getting very hard, and sleeping is even harder. But, I can't complain too much, because I'm one week closer to getting to meet James! The week ended on a very high note, because I had my big church shower today. I had so much fun opening all of the wonderful gifts for baby James, and I was completely overwhelmed with people's kindness! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and such a great church family. Now, Josh and I have a LOT of work to do before he gets here. Our house looks like a baby disaster area right now! Other fun things from this weekend...Josh's mom was able to fly in from Atlanta to visit for the weekend and go to my shower, which meant a lot to me. Also, Michael and Jilinda came for the shower, but poor Jilinda got either a stomach virus or food poisoning and was sick the entire time she was here=(! Josh's uncle also stopped by for a quick visit on his way through town, so this was definitely a fun, family-filled weekend! I will post pictures on here tomorrow, but for now, I'm heading straight to bed!








Saturday, March 18, 2006

4...

Spring Break is now officially over! I thoroughly enjoyed my week off, especially knowing this will be my last week completely off for a long, long time. I did a good mix of working around the house, relaxing, and having a good time with friends and family. One day I decided to do nothing at all but lay on the couch in my pj's and get caught up on dvr'd shows. When am I ever going to get to do that again?? It was wonderful! My swelling has almost completely gone away, which I can attribute to staying off of my feet all week. Josh and I got a lot of little things done for the baby, such as washing the little clothes and blankets we've gotten so far, doing more organizing in the nursery, and shopping for him. We enjoyed shopping in the little town with the cute baby shops I talked about last week, but since most of it is way too overpriced, we just enjoyed looking! We almost bought a video camera but decided to keep researching to find exactly what we are looking for. We don't have too much longer on that one, though, since we want to video Day 1 of James' life! I need to just buy it, since I've had two dreams now that it was the end of the day that he was born, and I forgot to take pics and videotape anything. I ordered some cute baskets for keeping diapers, ointment, etc., in, and got so excited putting all of the tiny diapers in them! It's the little things that make it seem so real. The week ended with putting up curtains my mom made in our living room, Josh painting a piece of furniture, fixing the garage door that has broken twice in the past 6 months, and lots of yard work. I guess you can call this nesting! Here's a picture of the curtains and a current picture of my progress.
 
 
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Sunday, March 12, 2006

5...

Week 34 was a fun, but hard week. The fun part was having my work shower on Tuesday after school. I had so much fun opening all of the gifts that James is going to be using soon! We got a lot of good stuff and have had fun setting it all up this weekend. This week was hard because I'm a lot more uncomfortable all of a sudden, and I started swelling. I don't know if it was the 7 hour car drive that started it, but it has gotten worse every day since. I can barely fit into my shoes now. Now I'm looking at pictures of myself at the wedding (just one week ago) thinking I looked good! I guess what gets me through it is knowing that I am just one week closer to getting to see my baby...and getting back to my normal self. I am dreaming of getting to sleep on my stomach, not having to go to the bathroom all of the time, getting to give Josh an up close hug, laying comfortably on the couch, looking like myself again, and a lot of other things...the list is too long! I have to say though, that despite all of the hard stuff, this has been one of the most exciting times in my life, and it's all worth it! This weekend started my Spring Break. Josh is taking tomorrow off so we can tackle the nursery and do other organizing/cleaning we need to do. We might even take a little trip to a town 30 minutes away that has a couple of really cute baby shops. Hopefully I will be reporting next week how much I got done this week! =)

Monday, March 06, 2006

6...

This past week was a very fun and eventful week! Josh and I were able to take off work and leave Thursday morning for the wedding. We had such a wonderful time, and I couldn't have been happier for my brother. Everything was beautiful, heartfelt, and just the perfect weekend that epitomizes my brother. Jilinda, his now wife, truly was one of the most beautiful brides I had ever seen. I am so excited that she is my sister-in-law now! They are resting and relaxing now in St. Lucia, which is where Josh and I went on our honeymoon, too. Here a few pictures of the wedding.


Getting into a spaghetti-strapped dress 8 months pregnant was not my favorite part of the weekend, but I felt honored to be a part of it.


I was worried about the long drive, being so far along, but it actually went very smoothly. I got out of the car and walked around every two hours and came out just fine, with only a little extra swelling in the legs and feet. I guess that's to be expected, though! Not much else to report. I just can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by and that I only have 6 weeks left!

Friday, February 24, 2006

8/7...

7 weeks to go! I know I just did 9 last week, but I was almost a week off on my countdown, so I decided to combine 8 and 7. I'm feeling pretty good at this point. The hardest thing for me right now is that my back constantly aches. I still feel really fortunate, though, to be sleeping through most of the night and not have any heartburn, which most women have at this point. Josh and I finally went and registered for baby gifts this past weekend! I haven't allowed myself to look that much before now, because everytime I would, I would get WAY too anxious for James to be here (even when I was just barely pregnant), so we both just got SOOOO excited going up and down the baby aisles and thinking that we're just about to get to use all of this! I posted a current picture of myself (after work today). If you notice the red spots on my face, I have gotten hives for some unknown reason all over my cheeks. I've had them for over a week, and thankfully they're finally starting to go away. Anyways, several people at work have commented on how my belly has just popped out all of a sudden. Looking at the picture of me two weeks ago, I think they're right!



This coming Thursday and Friday, my whole family is traveling to Oklahoma for my brother's wedding!! We are all so excited to have his fiance join our family! I couldn't have picked a more perfect match for my big brother, who I love and admire so much. I also am very excited about seeing all of my extended family there from all over the country. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travel.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

9...

I'm in the single digits...the homestretch! All of a sudden, it seems like it's a downhill slide until week 40! I constantly look at my calendar at work and look at every week to see how fast it will go. I feel so at peace right now with where I am in the pregnancy. I feel like I can't wait to meet him, but it'll be here before I know it, so I have just enough time to take in life as I have known it for the past 3 1/2 years. I'm trying to enjoy teaching, knowing that I'm not going to do it again for a long time. I'm enjoying every second I can with just Josh time. I'm enjoying waking up late on Saturday mornings. I have a quick funny story that Josh loves to tell people. We woke up at our usual time of 9:00 several Saturday mornings ago, and Josh got right up to my belly and started talking to James. He started responding by moving some, so Josh said (trying out his dad voice), "Now James, this is called a Saturday morning. Saturday mornings are for sleeping late. Your mommy and daddy have REALLY enjoying doing this the past few years, so we expect you to let us continue to do this. If you agree, kick once." And literally right on que, he kicked one hard kick! It really was hysterical, and of course Josh bragged afterwards about how obedient our baby already was. Don't worry... I do realize that this will most likely not be the case! Anyways, this week Josh and I started our birthing classes that will last 6 weeks. It was so much fun to go, mainly for the fact that it has made it feel even more real. Next week we get to go on a tour of the labor and delivery floor. I'm so anxious to see it all! Not much else changed this week, except that his movements have seemed to get stronger and more forceful. Sunday night, I felt a noticable difference that hasn't changed, so he must have had a little growth spurt. Sorry to bore you with all of these details, but I'm writing all of this mainly for myself to go back and read, as I'm sure I'll soon forget!

Friday, February 10, 2006

10...

The countdown has begun! 10 more weeks till my sweet baby James is here!! I have been waiting for this week for a long time, because it just seems like it's just around the corner for people when week 30 comes. Things have really changed since week 30 started. I really thought to myself a couple of weeks ago, "I could do this forever! I don't know why people complain so much!", but just as soon as I thought that, the pain started. My body's not happy with this baby taking over! The good thing about the 30's, though, is that there is an end in sight. I'm trying to focus on my brother's upcoming wedding to keep my mind off of it! I just started my every two week appointments, which is exciting, too! The baby is head down now (he's been breach for a long time) and is constantly keeping me company with kicks to the rib and painful/ticklish kicks on my side. I never mind, though, because it's always reassuring. Here's a current picture of me.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

4 Things

This is going around...

Four Things
Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Babysitter
2. Hastings
3. Youth intern
4. Teacher

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Napoleon Dynamite
2. Sound of Music
3. A Beautiful Mind
4. Office Space

Four books you would read over and over:
1. The Bible
2. Charlotte's Web
3. Love You Forever (makes me cry every time)
4. The Polar Express


Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. 24
4. The Apprentice

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Europe
2. Colorado
3. St. Lucia
4. L.A.

Four web sites I visit daily:
1. My blog
2. Other blogs
3. Pregnancy Websites
4. Gmail/Hotmail

Four of my favorite foods:
1. fajitas
2. queso
3. chocolate chip cookies
4. PF Changs Mongolian Beef

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Europe
2. In April at the hospital just after James' arrival
3. The beach
4. At a fancy restaurant, not pregnant, so I could have anything I wanted w/o worry