Waiting...

"Absolutely no change". That's what the doctor told us yesterday. Needless to say, we were pretty down when we left the office, and we were both kind of sad during our Friday date day (Jonathan and I always spend the afternoon together after my doctor's appointments). I just have a hard time thinking about being this uncomfortable and getting even more pregnant for any further amount of time. But last night I had a wonderful prayer time that really made me feel better about the whole "waiting game". I woke up to go to the bathroom (my 3rd trip of the evening @ 3:30) and was so thirsty that I sat downstairs and drank 3 full glasses of water (which caused me to get up even more than usual for the rest of the night). While I was sitting downstairs I started praying about my restless, anxious attitude. It was during this time that I was reminded of how wonderful it is that this baby is still in me! I have had just about the best, by the book pregnancy I could ask for. The baby is not premature, both baby and I are as healthy as two people could be, and I am not even past my due date yet! I know that my body is preparing for labor, and that Grace will come when it is her time. My mom is still coming on Monday, so now we will have some time to hang out and relax together before the baby comes, and Jonathan and I have been able to spend some more quality time together before we are a family of 3. So now I am really ready to enjoy the time that I have left being pregnant. I have always been an advocate of delayed gratification... I can truly say that having Grace with us will have to be one of the most gratifying events of my life. I just need to be a bit more patient until it is time for her to join us.

38 weeks 3 days

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OK... are you ready for something a little more exciting :)
We put the finishing touches on Grace's room this week! I know that I already posted some pictures, but I had requests from some of Grace's Aunts to post some of the finished product. It looks a lot less sterile that it did the day after the furniture arrived. I am so excited to have her in it so soon :)

This is what you see to the left when you walk in...

The rocker, books, toys...

changing station, and more toys!

This is what you see to the right... Her crib...

shelf with pictures, stuffed animals, two dresses from her two grandmothers...

and her closet (finally organized)!

And I leave you with this picture.
Her bag is packed and ready to go to the hospital.

Baby Bows!

To me there is nothing cuter than a little girl with a bow in her hair. My mom sent me some super cute baby bows with my mother's day card. I looked at the way they were constructed and figured that I would try to make some more. Last Saturday, my friend Susanna came over with brought lunch and we made a ton of little bitty bows. I have been trying to finish them up little by little this week, and I think they are almost done. Hopefully Grace will have a little hair so I can use them! Even if she doesn't at first, I am sure she will eventually :)

Maggie was voted bow "model" of the family. Poor dog... she kept on shaking her head and shaking the bow out of her hair. It took me about 5 tries to get a picture... and I HAD to take a picture!



This is by far the "girliest" Maggie has ever looked.

Progress

37 weeks 2 days


Well, we went to the doctor today, and we are still steadily progressing towards the big "labor day" event! I am now 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced, so we are making pretty steady progress. My belly is 37cm (which to me sounds enormous, but is supposedly normal), and the doctor said the baby is probably about 6 pounds. So it looks like we will enjoy a few more days or weeks on our own before Grace comes.

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A lot of folks have asked me if I plan to work after the baby comes... and the answer to that question would be a yes (that is if we want to continue to pay our mortgage:) But I have a great working situation. Since so much of my job is basically drafting on the computer, I am going to do a lot of it from home. Right now the plan is for me to work at the office every day until lunch and then work from home in the afternoon. Jonathan has signed up for all afternoon classes, so he will be able to watch after Grace until I get home, and then we will switch off. My bosses have been super understanding and supportive of my becoming a mom, and I am so grateful for this working situation. I just hope that I am able to work and take care of a baby :) Once again, I suppose trial and error will be the name of the game, and I will have my maternity leave to try and get on some resemblance of a schedule.

So this week was a big week at work for me because I started a trial period of working from home! It has worked out really really well so far (that is... with no baby to take care of), and I think that the folks at work are happy with the way things are going also. I also feel so much better than I have been feeling physically because I am able to lay down for a little while when I get home at lunch. Well I guess we will see how things work out. Hopefully they will continue to go well!

We're Packing Our Bags!

Well, I am now half way through week 36, and according to the doctor Grace is head down and I am already starting to dilate. She also said that I probably would not make it past my due date. So Jonathan and I bought the last of the baby things we wanted on Friday afternoon, and we are getting our bags packed and ready for the hospital. I know you can't ever really know about these things, but it seems like Grace may be making her grand entrance pretty soon!

Now for a quick story...
It is funny how I notice people noticing me now that I am so super big. I guess I am usually not so noticeable. I told Jonathan today that I think if I saw someone who was as hugely pregnant as me out in public I would probably have to stare a bit too. I think I would really feel sorry for the poor woman and tell her to go home and put her feet up. OK... so usually when people talk to me they just ask when I am due, what I am having, you know... the same old typical things people say because they feel like they should say something and there is something very obvious to talk about sticking out from under my shirt. But today I had something said to me that made me feel pretty good oddly enough. I was walking into a restaurant and there was an old lady sitting in the vestibule by herself. As I was opening the door she stopped me and told me that I must be getting close to having that baby because I had "done already dropped". I laughed and told her yeah, we were getting close and only had a couple of weeks to go. So I went into the restaurant and sat down not feeling a bit insecure because I obviously look as if I could go into labor at any moment but feeling great because the thought of having this baby soon makes me so happy!

A Surprise Shower!

I thought that I was going to a meeting about a project this afternoon. And I was pretty surprised to see that I was not attending a meeting for the Center of Hope, but I was attending a baby shower for Grace! Everybody at work got together and threw us a great surprise shower. What a great way to spend an afternoon at work. Jonathan even came for the festivities! We got so many wonderful gifts. Thank you everybody at Louis and Henry!

Here is the group picture!

Look at this cute cake! It matches Grace's bedding!

Blair even made little bird "confetti."

We got so many great gifts, but the best has to be this baby swing. We set it up tonight and found a spot for it in the living room. I know Grace will spend many many hours enjoying this swing!

My First Mother's Day

I was not really sure if I qualified to celebrate Mother's Day this year since Grace is not here yet. My dear sweet husband had no second thoughts about it. He was all about celebrating my first Mother's Day! He got me this beautiful lamp for Grace's room and one of those automatic shower cleaner things (I'll let you know if it actually works) and he took me out for lunch today. 

We had rainy, windy weather all day today. It was a perfect napping day, and nap we did! I am pretty sure that this mother's day was more restful than any future mother's day I will have. But I am so ready for next year when Grace is actually here with us and able to enjoy the celebration too!

One More Note... Today is May 11th. That means there is only one more month until June 11th. 

A Little Room for a Little Girl

Well, Grace's furniture arrived about 24 hours ago, and I have definitely made myself busy getting her room ready. I still have many many things to do, but her sheets are on her bed and her clean clothes are in her drawers and in the closet! I can't believe that we only have a month till she arrives! I wanted to go ahead and post these pictures so the grandparents and aunts could see what things look like :) I was supposed to have them up last night... but I was a bit more tired than I expected to be after working on the room all day. Speaking of being tired... I was totally not prepared to be so flat out exhausted and uncomfortable during these last few weeks. I am kind of scared to think how tired I will be after the baby is born. I guess I will know in a few more weeks! Anyway, enjoy the pictures of our little room for our little girl!

Her crib fits so nicely in the little "nook" by her closet.


The sheets are on the bed!

I still need to get a lamp and possibly a bigger table, but this is what we have for right now.

We are going to put all of her changing stuff on top of the chest of drawers... maybe next weekend :)

I can't wait to rock Grace in her room.

Here is the picture I made on the wall by her closet!

I thought the flower pots would be a fun way to decorate the little shelves by the closet door.

....I may just get things ready before she comes!

Maybe Next Year

The past three weeks were the Kentucky Derby Festival here in Louisville. Jonathan and I did not participate much. Maybe I am just a party pooper, but everything involved miles of walking, huge crowds, uncomfortable seating situations and way too many porta-pottys for this pregnant woman. I just wasn't up to it. But everything looked like it would have been so much fun and now I kind-of regret my lack of participation. So next year our goal is to take Grace to at least one event. There are three things, one each weekend, that I want to do before we leave Louisville.

The big "kick-off event" is an all day air show down by the river.

Followed by the largest fireworks show in North America, Thunder Over Louisville.

The next weekend there are two baloon races and a baloon glow. I did get to see the first race this year, but just because I was driving to work when all the 50+ balloons were flying overhead.

I think a little kid might enjoy a balloon glow... I think it sounds pretty fun.

And of course the culmination of the festivities is the Derby. The entire town shuts down. Schools are even out Friday for the Oaks! Our good friends Derek and Jennifer are planning to come next year. Hopefully the plans will stick and we will all be able to have this Louisivlle experience together. I will have to see how I feel about bringing Grace. I must admit that I am a little unsure of how to go about caring for an 11-month-old out of the house in a new place for an entire day. I suppose trial and error will teach me a lot.

Either way I am going to keep my eye out for two hats. One adult and one child.

Week 34

I figured that I should hurry up and post what happened in week 34 of my pregnancy since it is almost over. It really was not too eventful. I went to the doctor for my last "routine" check-up. Everything still looks good. Starting next Friday I will go back once a week until the baby comes! Our house is finally starting to come together... slowly but surely. We pretty much have everything where we want it furniture-wise. Now we are just organizing and decorating all of our revamped rooms. Hopefully the baby's furniture will arrive this week. I think that I will feel a lot better once I have her sheets on her bed and her clothes in her drawers. We only have two weeks and two days until Grace will no longer be considered premature!

Here is a picture of me today... 34 weeks 5 days pregnant

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I also did something pretty crafty for Grace this weekend. It has been a REALLY long time since I have tried to do anything semi-creative, and I had a lot of fun! I made some pictures for Grace's room. Her bedding has little birds on it, so I thought these bird collages would look cute with all the pink green and yellow bird decor.