Christmas Stocking

I have been looking at different Christmas stocking for several months now trying to decide what new "family" stockings we wanted to get that could grow with our growing family! I originally wanted Pottery Barn stockings because they had one with a firetruck on it for Gregg but they have discontinued that one. :( I had looked on E-Bay a bit for the stocking but wasn't completely sold on purchasing it.

My Mom was at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago and found stockings there for me to make and so I have tackled the task! I am starting with Cade's and plan to have it done by Christmas and then will work on mine and Gregg's stockings for next year.

Cade's new stocking

Gregg's stocking (My FAVORITE and the reason that we bought these stockings!)

I have ordered this kit for me (I am going to modify it a little to make it have a tag for the name and look more like the boys stockings)

I cut the big front piece for Cade's stocking out this weekend and then separated all the sequins and beads but had to wait to get new needles and other supplies before getting started. I went to Michael's yesterday and started the stocking last night! It is VERY tedious and time consuming but I am so excited that we will have really special stockings to hang every Christmas!

There are sequins up top on the blue part and then the window pane is started

I have big plans to work on this more over the weekend! I know that I need to really get A LOT done over these next 9 weeks before Cade makes his arrival since my world will completely change after that!!!

Pool Party

Last Saturday we got together with my girlfriends from Junior High for a pool party! We all got met up around 2pm and spent the rest of the day outside enjoying the sun and water. It was my first time to get into a pool this summer and I was so excited about feeling weightless and being able to float! (I wasn't too excited about putting on a maternity swimsuit however!)

A lovely self portrait before the party (29 weeks 5 days)

We decided for everyone to bring their favorite dip for us to snack on and that we would order something for dinner later in the evening. We had a yummy pesto hummus dip, spinach dip, fruit and fruit dip, chocolate brownies, and every one's favorite Pizza By The Scoop plus lots of cold drinks to keep everyone happy! I have to admit that I have SERIOUSLY been craving a cold beer here lately. I think it is the crazy hot weather that we have had recently that has just made a beer sound really good. So, while Gregg and I were out shopping the night before we scoped out the non-alcoholic beer section and bought a 6 pack of non-alcoholic Coors! Surprisingly enough they were really good and totally hit the spot!

Courtney and I enjoying our "beer"

(She is 15 weeks pregnant)

We ended up going to have dinner at the "Feedstore" in Southlake (Really GREAT BBQ if you are looking in that area!) After dinner we went back to the house, sat around the fire pit talking and made Smores!

We had such a fun time relaxing and hanging out with great friends! I love these girls and guys and feel so incredibly blessed to have each of them in my life!

PS- Sorry for being a slacker with the picture taking!

3D Sono

We went to El Centro College yesterday afternoon to let the Sonography students practice doing an ultrasound on me! I place a lot of these students when they come to Parkland for their clinical rotations and have been invited to come check their facility out. This school has an AMAZING set-up and great equipment! We enjoyed this sono so much because the school instructor was teaching during the entire thing and it was great to hear them explain every little thing that they were looking at along the way. Cade wasn't very cooperative at all and had his arms up in front of his face throughout the entire thing. We got a couple of pictures and videos that show him off a little.

This first picture shows the best shot of the face that we could get. You can see his forehead at the top of the screen and his eye and cheek on the left of the screen and then his crossed arms covering the rest of his face.

Little feet!

It was fun to get a glimpse of our little guy yesterday (even though he wasn't very cooperative)! We are so blessed by this pregnancy and cannot wait to meet Cade in 10 short weeks!

28 week Pregnancy Update

I am several days late on this since I was actually 28 weeks on Monday but here it is!

I'm 28 weeks pregnant!!!

Again, I just left the pertinent questions that have new answers to read!

Total Weight Gain/ Lost: I went back to the doctor yesterday and was up 17 pounds. (I was at 14 pounds when I was there 4 weeks ago so hopefully I can keep gaining slowly the rest of this pregnancy.)

Sleep: Not really so great anymore! I do believe that my body is getting me adjusted to being up with the baby. I wake up to use the restroom probably 3-4 times each night and then wake up several other times because I am just not comfortable! I also have been staying up later because as tired as I am all day long I am just not tired when it comes time to actually lay down and sleep so therefor waking up in the morning has become more difficult also.

Best Moment this Week: Well, the moment hasn't happened yet but the scheduling of the moment has. I scheduled our 3D sono this week and we go for it next Wednesday! We are getting to go to one of the schools that sends Parkland Sonography students for clinical rotations and they have great equipment and said they would LOVE to practice on me!!! We haven't had a sono since 18 weeks so I am very excited about getting to see our little boy again!

Movement: All the time and I LOVE it!!! I like to call him my little jumping jelly bean because he is constantly doing some sort of acrobatic movements in my belly (especially at night about 30 minutes or so after I lie down)!

Food Cravings: I have craved onion rings quite a bit recently but I don't actually want the rings I want those thin onion straws instead! I am still craving fruit, popcicles, and any kind of frozen fruit drink. (I had a fantastic strawberry pineapple fruit mixer from the cafe at Medical City on Sunday!!!) I don't necessarily crave them but I eat a lot of waffles in the evening for dinner. They taste good and are easy for me to make when Gregg is working!

Anything make you queasy or sick?: I am only getting sick about every 10-14 days now! I don't know what triggers me to actually get sick but ever so often something just gets to me.

Have you started to show yet? Yes! And I am finally pregnant enough looking that strangers have asked me about the baby and when I was due!

Leakage: Nope

Labor Signs: I am having occasional braxton hicks contractions and did have to make a trip to L&D triage a couple of weeks ago because I was having real contractions and did not feel normal at all. Other than that one day I have had no labor signs and am making sure to drink lots of water and get plenty of rest so that I can avoid that. (I have several pregnant nurse friends right now that are all on bedrest at 24 weeks for the rest of their pregnancy!)

Belly button In or Out: It is in for now but it's looking like it might pop out at some point!

Happy or Moody most of the time?: I would say that I am happy but emotional! I cry all the time and for no reason at all. My favorite time to cry is when I get in the car. I have no clue what triggers it but I will start crying for no apparent reason! (I cried 5 times yesterday alone! Twice at the Physical Therapists, twice at the OB's office and when sitting in the nursery last night. Just emotional!)

Milestones: I have made it into the 3rd trimester!!! I cannot believe how fast this has all passed and that we will bring a baby home in just 11 1/2 weeks!

Weekly Wisdom: My Mom sent the following quote to me last week when I was frustrated with myself for a mistake that I made. I found the quote to be enlightening and think that we should all keep this in mind when fussing about our own and others mistakes. "Look back in forgiveness, forward in hope, down in compassion, and up with gratitude." -Zig Ziglar

Weekend Wrap Up

On Saturday our department at work had a "Summer Get Together" at one of our Manager's house and pool! I honestly was dreading going because it is so darn hot outside but was in charge of all the planning going into the party so was "forced" to attend. We went a few minutes early to help get everything set up and Gregg got assigned to grill duty immediately! We grilled burgers, hot dogs and hot links all throughout the day as more people came and went and had all kinds of yummy snacks inside the house for everyone to enjoy! The day turned out to be really enjoyable and not near as uncomfortably hot as I was expecting! It was plenty hot out but there was a huge pecan tree in the back yard that provided so much shade and there was a decent breeze that blew on and off all day which made everything tolerable! I spent the day running back and forth between the grill and inside where the food was, sitting in my lawn chair talking and relaxing with everyone else. I did put my legs in the pool for a little while but decided not to bust out the maternity swim suite and scare all the kiddies!!!

Trying to stay cool

Ava and Ellie swimming in the "little girls only" pool

just lounging

feeding the fish

Ellie and Ava in their tent (these 2 little ones became best friends on Saturday!)

Going fishing

Will with his fish

Mathew with his fish

headed out for a ride on the paddle boat

the little girls were SOOO excited that they got to go on the paddle boat

Ava and Ellie after going on their boat ride

Overall, the party was a huge success and I really did enjoy spending time with everyone outside of the hospital and getting to meet the families of all my work friends. We are already making plans for next years get together and hope to do it in June before it is stifling outside!

*View picture below with caution! It is bloody!*

On our way home from the party Saturday afternoon my Mom called me and said that my 97 year old great aunt, Cleacy, had fallen at her nursing home and was being taken to the ER at Medical City. We happened to be right at the exit for the hospital and so we stopped there to check on her. My Uncle was already at the ER waiting for her and so he and I went back once she arrived to see her and then Gregg came back a few minutes later to help us understand everything we were being told. Poor thing was all banged up! She had a pretty severe cut to her head (picture below) which ended up requiring 9 stitches and also big tears on both of her arms and her left knee. She was still in the c-collar when we first got into her room because they were waiting to take her to get a CT scan and have lots of x-rays done. Cleacy didn't remember what had happened and the people from the home were fuzzy on the details so the hospital wanted to rule everything out. Her blood pressure was also crazy high, which is not normal for her and so we were all concerned that she could have a brain bleed. All her scans were finally cleared and the x-rays didn't show any broken bones (praise God) so they gave her something to bring her blood pressure down and admitted her to a tele unit for observation over night. Once she was admitted, Gregg and I went home for the night and let my uncle get her settled into the room.

Cleacy's head before they stitched her up

On Sunday we went back up to the hospital and spent the day with Cleacy and Rod waiting on discharge orders for Cleacy. She was feeling so much better, was talking to us and back to being her self. She never complained of any pain and every time we asked her if she was hurting she would say "I know I look pretty rough but I really feel pretty good." I can't imagine how she wasn't in any pain and kept telling her that she is so much tougher than I am because I would have been crying like a baby if I had split my head the way that she did! Cleacy was finally discharged around 5pm and we took her back to the nursing home where she ate a really good dinner and then was ready to go to bed. The weekend was long and hard for us all but I was so glad that we were able to spend the time with Cleacy and be there to help my uncle with everything he does for her. Family is precious and Gregg and I are both so blessed to have wonderful families!

And here is Cleacy today!

(still looks a little like a mummy with her bandages but is doing much better overall)

Closet Make-Over

The closet in the nursery is extremely small and not really all the great. The closet sits over our stair case and so about 18 inches of it are lost to the stairs. It also only has 1 hanging bar which didn't hold much at all. We have been debating different ways to make this closet better for several months now but I have been hesitant to do anything because I didn't want to invest a lot of money into it. We finally found a solution at Home Depot that was easy enough sounding and relatively inexpensive and so we re-did Cade's closet last Friday (and by we I mean Gregg did the work while I supervised from the chair and took pictures!)

First thing to do was to tear all the current closet fixtures out in order to install the 2 side bar things that the new shelves would be installed on. Gregg was a man on a mission with his crow bar and pulled out the old stuff pretty quickly! (Please excuse my sweaty husband! He had been outside cutting the shelving and rods to fit this closet and it is WAY hot here!!!)

Gregg the demo man!

2 new shelves with hanging rods

we decided to put a couple of hanging baskets on the bottom shelf

And here is our little man's finished closet! I am loving it and cannot believe how much more space we have already! (I had to hang up a lot of clothes for the pictures to get the full effect!) Between his dresser and this new closet I think we will be doing all right on storage space.

24 Week Pregnancy Update

I have officially reached the exciting and dreadful 24 week mark in my pregnancy!!! I say exciting and dreadful because 24 weeks marks viability of the baby in the medical world. It is exciting to know that I have made it this far in the pregnancy but dreadful to me because even though we say that medically a baby can survive outside of the womb at 24 weeks, I know everything about what that baby looks like at this point and what kind of a journey a 24 weeker takes in the NNICU if delivered and it isn't a journey that I want for our family. I have been relatively calm throughout this pregnancy so far and have trusted God to be in control and known everything was in his hands. These next 6 weeks will be my nervous, panic weeks! (I want to deliver at 40 weeks but am comfortable delivering anytime after 30 weeks.) I still trust God in this pregnancy and know that everything is in his hands but also know that Gregg and I would be responsible for making some of the decisions right now if I was to go into labor. We have had several discussions about this and we are both on the same page about the decisions we would make. I have had a completely normal pregnancy to this point and have no reason to think about complications now but because of my work background, I know and have seen too much and am a nervous nelly right now!

Anyways, back to the pregnancy update...

I'm 24 weeks pregnant!!!

(I love these pictures that are cool looks inside at the devolopment of a baby during each stage)

I have taken a couple of the questions out this week that have answers that haven't changed from previous posts (gender prediction, maternity clothes, and have you told family and friends) and just left the ones that have answers that have changed.

Total Weight Gain/ Loss: I have hit the 10 pound mark for weight gain and managed to have gained a little over 5 pounds in the last month. (My appetite increase will be discussed later!)

Sleep: good sometimes and not so good others. I wake up 3-4 times each night to go to the restroom and sometimes have a hard time going back to sleep after I have woken up. I know that if I drank less in the evening I wouldn't have to wake up so many times but I am SOOO thirsty all of the time and have to have a glass of water with me at all times! Plus, I figure that I am getting good practice at waking up to go feed so I might as well just keep it up now.

Best Moment this Week: Getting all the furniture moved into Cade's room and set up last weekend! I love going into the room each day now and looking around and thinking about Cade. It seems so surreal that we will be bringing a baby home in just a few months to sleep in that bed!

Movement: Yes and Gregg was able to feel Cade kick and move for the first time the morning of July 8!

Food Cravings: Still mainly just fruit and water... my current fruit of choice for the last couple of weeks has been watermelon. I have had occasional cravings for onion rings but am picky and only want the onion straw type of ones instead of the big onion rings. My appetite has dramatically increased over the last couple of weeks and I feel like I am hungry most all of the time! Hopefully Mr. Cade is using up all the extra nutrients I have been consuming and is packing on the weight and growing, growing, growing!

Anything make you queasy or sick?: Not anything in particular anymore. I still get sick 1 or 2 times a week

Have you started to show yet?: See for yourself!

Leakage: No, No, and No!!! And as I said during my 20 week post, we are not having this issue till at least 34 weeks and preferably 39 weeks!

Labor Signs: No- see previous answer! (I have noticed that I have had a few braxton hicks contractions over the past week or so)

Belly button In or Out: In

Wedding Rings On or Off: On

Happy or Moody most of the time: I would still say happy most of the time! This last week has been a little more emotional for me because one of my closest friends from work moved to Taiwan with her husband for a year. I am very excited for the two of them but very sad for our office and saying goodbye at 23 1/2 weeks pregnant wasn't the easiest thing to do!

Milestones: On Friday night (July 16) we were laying in bed watching a movie and Cade was really moving and kicking. I lifted my shirt up over my belly so that Gregg could get a good feel and we were able to see him kicking from the outside!!! It was so amazing to see my belly popping up as he kicked all around in there! We were even able to take a quick video of the movement to send to our families.

Weekly Wisdom: In tribute to my friend Ginny and her new adventures in Taiwan, I leave you with this quote she posted on her facebook page before leaving: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails, explore, dream, discover." -Mark Twain