---THIS POST WAS ACTUALLY DONE IN NOVEMBER 2011---
I can't believe I've let 2 months go by without posting anything. I guess I got so wrapped up in prepping/nesting every free moment I had that I always let the "update blog" on my to-do list fall through the cracks. My apologies. Due to this fact, this may be the longest post I ever do. I plan to cover all the exciting happenings over the last two months to the best of my memory (which we all know is not the greatest), hence why I need a blog to begin with to serve as my memory bank for this time in my life.
The Showers
Friends/Family Shower:
This marvelous shower was at 2:00pm on Saturday, October 8th in the wine room at Trezo Mare. I won't go in to too much detail about the decor because I think the pictures below say it all. It was, of course, beyond my expectations and I was in awe at all the work that went into it. I am so grateful for all 10 of my friends as well as both of our moms for making that day so special for me and Micah. I loved that everyone brought a book with a message inside instead of a card. Renee gave me such a precious gift of a quilt that my great grandmother made and had the whole room in tears with the poem that she wrote to Micah in honor of my mom. In true Renee form she was so thoughtful and selfless. I love how she's always included my mom in the big moments of my life (Christmas', graduations, weddings, etc.) Megan and I are so lucky to have her. Mike came towards the end to say thank you and help load the car. When he walked in to the shower I had a "Is this really my life?" moment. Am I really pregnant with Mike's baby and at my shower with all my closest friends/family at the same place where we had our wedding reception just months prior? I guess there are still times that I can't believe how my life with Mike has turned out after 7+ years of ups and downs. I never thought all my dreams would literally come true.
Cousin on the way:
At my shower I announced the wonderful news that my baby sister is expecting her first baby on May 2nd, 2012! She is now 16 weeks along and they are finding out the sex on 12/12. I can hardly wait to introduce Micah to her new cousin. I love love love that they will only be 5 and a half months apart in age. My parents are super excited about having two grandkids from each daughter in such a short amount of time. My how life has changed for them in the last year and a half. Both of their daughters have gotten married and pregnant! Plus my dad is on the verge of retirement. Yea!
Work shower:
Our admin Cheryl and Heather Watts were so nice to organize a work shower for us! Mike came too so it was fun to have him involved in the excitement. I'm very lucky to have work at such a great place with great people the last seven years! Good ole HRB has seen me through a lot thus far in my life.
Side effects of the third trimester
My doctor's appointments have continued to go great! My feet have continued to swell with no mercy. I have this new habit of breathing heavily and my laugh has changed towards the end of my pregnancy. It's a deeper, more robust sound. I actually like it. I feel it expresses my deep happiness at this point in my life. Ha! I can tell Mike doesn't know how to feel about it. For his sake I hope my original laugh returns, along with my normal sized feet. The itchy rash has stayed away as well! Fingers crossed it's gone for good.
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| Yes. Those are my feet. Lovely. |
A couple of my favorite recent photos
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| Mike, me and Dad at Tyiler's wedding. |
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| Leslie's wedding shower and bachelorette party in St. Louis |
After months of designing, ordering and creating... the nursery is finally done! It turned out even better than what I had envisioned! Thanks to Dad, Renee and Marsha for making it become reality. Mike and Megan helped with the three whale canvases that we re-created from a lady's artwork I found from Paris on www.etsy.com. At less than half the price those puppies were made with love & they turned out even better than the ones we copied. Thank goodness for the creative folks in my life. What would I do without them?
Preparation
We've spent the last few weeks nesting our aces off! From washing all Micah's clothes in Dreft to putting everything together to creating a new baby budget, we seem to have everything covered!
I have recently decided to go part-time at work after maternity leave in order to attend grad school to pursue a degree in couples counseling!! I'm super excited about it but all I can focus on is Micah coming right now. I am trying to be smart about buying her clothes. I can see where it is addicting to buy girls clothes but it's hard to justify when they wear them for such a short amount of time. So I bought a bunch of clothes all the way up to 2T of Sophie McCarty's. We hit the Baby Gap jackpot! I've also made a few visits to the Mom-2-Mom sales. You can find some great consignment deals nowadays and the clothes look brand new. It's kinda fun to bargain shop!
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| The inside of my car after our buy all trip to Babies R Us. See Megan back there? |
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| Mike putting every last thing together. |
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| The end result! |
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| Organizing clothes we bought from the McCartys. |
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| All these girl clothes make me so excited to meet the little booger! |
Capturing the belly
Renee was kind enough to fulfill my request of taking a few shots of Mike and I with my belly before Micah arrives. I just didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on the typical belly pictures. I'd rather save the money and spend them on the newborn, 6 month, and year package that I bought for Micah pictures once she's here. I have it all set-up and outfits/props are picked out.
We used my new nice camera that the rents bought us as wedding gift and I was able to edit them on Picassa.com. We took about 50+ but only a handful turned out to be decent. I just don't look my best (I'm growing out my hair, etc), Mike hates taking pictures and we aren't professionals so we are lucky to get a few that we like enough to print. Mike was a good sport and we had some laughs with some of the poses that I came up with for us.
Last few weeks of belly pics
Waiting..... tick tock
Today is the 17th of November and I'm on eggs shells waiting for this little lady to make her entrance. She is doing her best at teaching me patience. I'm so ready to finally hold her in my arms and become a mom! I know I still have a week left to go before my due date but I really thought that she would be an early bird just like my sister and I were for my mom. Our 39 week appointment is today and we could discuss the possibility of inducing since I was progressing nicely week to week. My appointment isn't until 4pm so I made arrangements to meet my parents and Mike for lunch to eat up some wait time. Tomorrow is officially my last day at work until I return on February 20th, 2012. I've wrapped everything up that I possibly can and now waiting is all I have left to do. Every morning that I wake up with no new feeling I say to myself "Here we go again." Another day of walking around in my big ole fake Uggs boots at work because they are literally the ONLY shoes that fit me (which I wore to the Willis wedding last Friday-yes...true story). Another day of feeling like a bowling ball is being tossed onto my uterus each time I stand up. Another day of not looking into my girl's eyes. I just can't wait to finally know what my daughter's face looks like.
UPDATE: My blood pressure is a little elevated so they are inducing me early tomorrow morning! Ahhhhh!
By this time tomorrow we will have met our daughter. Mike and I are SO EXCITED!!! We're ready for you Micah! Come see Mommy and Daddy safely.
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| The last belly picture |
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| Our last supper before parenthood at Stroud's. |
