Maternity Pictures - 36 weeks

The pictures are here! Like I said before, we had a photo shoot with Zach last week. They turned out great and I am excited to share them with you. There's a lot, but trust me, I narrowed it down as much as I could for you. :)

ENJOY!

In our living room

In the nursery

Our front porch

Our yard

In the field by a church up the road

My husband is hot.

At Corner Market in Conyers.

This one might be my favorite.

I really like this one too. Love that we are out of focus but laughing. :)

My husband is silly. Unless you know him well, you probably wouldn't think that.

What are your favorites? We have to pick some to frame.

If you want to see more of Zach's work or to contact him about booking a shoot, go here.

Now for the Baby Update:

At my appointment last Friday I was 1-2cm and 50% effaced. I have an ultrasound tomorrow (Thursday) to check the size of the baby - I'll be at 37 weeks, 4 days. If it is looking big we will talk about inducing so that it doesn't get so big that it increases the possibility of a c-section. I would really like to NOT have surgery. I'll see the doctor after the ultrasound so we'll see if I've progressed anymore since last week and what the options are for getting Baby Moon here. :) The contractions have definitely stepped it up a notch in the past few days so I'm getting excited.

That's all for now! Leave me a comment and tell me which pictures you like best! And go give Zach some comment love too!

Zippity Do Da

I was looking through some pictures last night and came across the album from our beach trip last year. I had forgotten about a lot of the pictures, and this first one in particular made me literally laugh out loud. That's me and Sarah - I think I was using her sunglasses as a mirror so I could fix my hair. Zach took this without us knowing it and now I'm glad he did. Compare it to the next picture of us about a month ago. Yeah. See the humor? :)



Zach came and took pictures of the belly and of Justin and I last night and I CANNOT WAIT to see them and share them with y'all. We had a really good time, and I didn't even really freak out in front of the camera. :) I didn't realize how tired I would be when we were done - but I had been standing for A LONG time and wasn't even thinking about it. I'm paying for it today, but that's just fine with me because I will have PICTURES! Yay! I'll share them just as soon as he gets them to me. If you want to encourage him to hurry it up go here.

Now for the all important baby update...

Let me interject here that I'm sorry for those of you that are still coming here because you want to see what crafty thing I've been up to and could care less about this baby that has taken over my blog (and my life). I promise I will be back to crafting eventually, but I also promise that you will forever be hearing about Baby Moon. That's just the way it is. So thanks for sticking with me!

Anyway - I went to the doctor last Friday for the first of my every-week-til-the-baby-comes visits. They did my Group B Strep test and I'll know the results of that THIS Friday. They also went ahead and checked me since I had been having some contractions and since I was already going to be undressed. Surprisingly I was at 1cm with a little effacement - nothing too exciting, but I was very glad to know that my body was at least getting ready. :) We also talked about the pelvic bones thing and basically Dr. Duhart said she didn't notice me being extremely small, but that since the baby was measuring big at 28 weeks that she would check me again this week and then either this week or next week I'll have an ultrasound to get an idea of how big the baby is and we'll go from there. I weighed 155lbs, which is what I THOUGHT I weighed the last visit, but the nurse said I weighed 154 last time, so I guess I gained a pound. But I swear she told me 155 the week before. :P The baby is supposedly gaining an ounce a day and I swear I think I can feel that happening. Also, I'm very curious about whether or not it is possible to feel and see the baby breathing - because there will be these very steady movements (not bumps or pokes, just the rising and falling of some part of the baby) that we can see and feel and they last for a long time. And it looks like breathing. It's kinda weird, but I can't figure out what else it would be. Anyone else experience that?

That's all.

P.S. I have a funny story (involving boobies) about my trip to the dermatologist today that I will share with you tomorrow so check back then.

34+ weeks

34 weeks, 155lbs

Well I'm under 40 days til Baby Moon's due date. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I am so ready to meet this baby and also to have my body back. And I don't even mean my pre-pregnancy body, I just mean a body that doesn't have a mind of it's own that I semi-recognize both physically and emotionally. I feel like I have been a completely different person for the past 8 1/2 months. Anyone else understand what I mean? It's like all these hormones have screwed with my head so much that I can barely even find myself in there somewhere. My creativity is GONE and I'm just praying that is a side-effect (ha!) of growing a human and all the hormones because I miss it and I miss being able to form cohesive logical thoughts. I also miss being able to get out of the bathtub by myself. :) But enough ranting.

I went to the doctor last Friday and now I have met everyone that could possibly deliver the baby. My blood pressure was actually very average the last two appointments. I don't know if that's good though - hopefully it's not just getting higher and higher. I asked if it was normal for my ribs to make popping noises and feel like they are breaking and apparently it is. Joy joy. :) I also asked about the likelihood of a C-Section for me and if there is anyway to tell ahead of time if it is a big possibility. My mom and a couple of her sisters had the thing where your pelvic bones aren't wide enough for the baby to get though and they had to have C-Sections because of it. I'm just interested in knowing if there's any chance of knowing that before-hand so I don't get stuck dilated to 4 cm for 20 hours and then told I have to have a Section. I'm gonna see Dr. Duhart next week (she does most of the C-Sections) so she can look at me and we can talk about it. I AM NOT scheduling a C-Section. Let me just be clear about that before I start getting all kinds of ugly emails about it.I finished work with Bella and William this week and it is bittersweet. I had a wonderful year with them and I hate that they were cheated out of my usual energetic self for the past few months. But we had fun and I am soooooo blessed to have been their nanny. And I'll still see them all the time. :)

I spent the last week getting my house clean because I always feel like I can't start on fun projects until the dishes are put away and the bed is made. This week I hope to finish the nursery. I just painted the new closet doors and now I need to buy fabric and sew the curtains, paint the table and chairs that were mine and Doug's growing up, re-cover the cushions for the glider-rocker (and figure out where I'm putting it), find artwork for the walls, and hang the shelving in the closet. Not too much, but I'm ready to have it all done.

That's all I've got for now peeps. I promise it won't be so long between posts now that I'm a stay at home mommy. :)

My new favorite thing.

These Steakhouse Cheddar subs are my new favorite things. Sarah saw them on sale last week and bought us a couple for lunch and I fell in love. I am usually not a fan of "packaged" meals, but the bread, meat, cheese, and sauces come packaged separately so you build your own sandwich the way you want. The Steakhouse Sauce is basically Arby's sauce - and we know how I love me some Arby's sauce! Also, it comes with a microwaveable tray so you can heat it without it getting all soggy and gross.

You should try some.

And also this:


That's all.

What's your favorite thing right now?

Bellies

Wow. What a crazy past few weeks! Good crazy, but crazy nonetheless. The whole month of April was spent with family and friends and it was wonderful. My college friend Katy flew in from Texas and spent a week with me (she's pregnant too - due two weeks after me) and somehow we managed to let the week go by without taking a single picture.:( But a couple weeks before she came here we stopped over in Dallas for a night and managed to snap a pic of our two growing familes. :) Justin, me and Baby Moon, Katy and Jubilee, and Tommy

I've been sick for the past 20ish days with a cold/allergies/sinus crap. My doctor put me on a Z Pack promising that it would do the trick and it did not. I go back this Friday and hopefully we'll find something that will work. I'm pretty tired of not being able to breathe, and between the stuffy nose and a child sitting on my lungs it's been pretty rough.

Thursday nights are always spent with the May's and this last Thursday was no exception even though it was the day before Sarah's due date. I realized late that afternoon that we did not have a single picture of our pregnant bellies so I called Sarah and told her she couldn't go into labor until we took a couple. Who knows if we'll ever be pregnant at the same time again?! This was important stuff! She obliged and Zach took a few of us after dinner. We are terrible at having our pictures taken!! Zach kept telling us to do stuff and we would both just stand there or just start laughing. Believe it or not, I get pretty camera shy. But it was fun and we got a couple of good ones for the baby books. :) Now Sarah says that we get to take some again the day before MY due date so her belly will be back to normal and mine will be about to pop. I don't think that's very fair, but I love her so we'll see.We have about 15 more pictures like this one where we are supposed to be doing something specific but all we can do is laugh.

I can't begin to tell you how weird it was to have our bellies touching. I mean, the inside of your bellybutton never touches anything, much less the inside of your best friend's bellybutton. Very strange.
40 weeks and 30 1/2 weeks, respectively. I hope I look that good the day before I have this kid.I am ready to have this baby. 62 days feels like FOREVER, especially after I spent the weekend at the hospital with Sarah and Zach and their precious new baby, Connor. I'm ready to hold Baby Moon. And breathe again. :)

I have decided that week 30 was NOT my favorite week of pregnancy. Baby Moon found my ribcage and used them for monkey bars pretty much 24/7 with the occasional break to jump on my bladder. It is a strange feeling to have just peed and then 2 minutes later to feel like you better run to the bathroom to go again only to sit there for 5 minutes waiting to squeeze out 4 drops. I'm not crazy about that. I do love that I can "play" with the baby though. I can move it around and it will push back. Also, sometimes if it hurts me bad I fuss at it and push in kinda firmly and it lets me know that it doesn't approve of my discipline. :) Justin doesn't like it when I do that and thinks it's great when I get kicked 10 times as hard afterwards.

In other pregnancy news, I passed my glucose test the first time (Praise the Lord!!!) so I definitely don't have gestational diabetes. However, apparently I am not immune to the Rubella virus (it's the R in the MMR vaccine that you get as babies and then in high school - aka German Measles) so that's kinda weird since about the only women that aren't immune were born outside of the US. They said it doesn't mean anything for the baby, just that I have to have a new injection of the vaccine right after I deliver so that the next time I'm pregnant there is no chance I can get it and pass it to the baby (which can only happen in the first trimester). Good thing the virus has been eradicated in the US for quite sometime. Sheesh. And, I now weigh 150 lbs.. I cannot even comment on that.This is my bellybutton and Jorge, the scar just above it. Teenagers, this is why you don't get your bellybutton pierced. I got mine done in the fall of '02, took it out a month later, and I STILL got a scar from it when my belly grew. Now, can you imagine what a tattoo on your abdomen will look like when you are big and pregnant? Not cute!! Seriously - think twice - err, 100 times before you do it. You can't really tell in the picture, but it is about an inch long vertically and it's super shiny on the inside like a really bad stretch mark. Before my belly grew you could barely even tell there was a tiny scar there. So unless you want a scar big enough to name, don't do it.

Last one, I promise. Micah (Zach and Sarah's 1st born) stayed with us while they were at the hospital Friday, all night, and Saturday morning. We have very few pictures of me and him together, and I like this one because we were just chillin' watching some "Nemo." Micah loves me, but he usually spends most of his time playing with his "Ju-Jus" (Justin). But Friday he was in a "Neh-Nee" mood and snuggled with me for the whole movie. He's pretty much the cutest kid ever and we love spending time with him.

Yo Diggity

*I have no idea how the whole first half of this text became a link. Sorry. But if you want to see and HUGE version of Justin on the ladder, just click it. :)*

So it's been a while. But that's because there has been lots going on around here. There was a trip to Louisiana via airplane (that was delayed 3.5 hours), a road trip to Houston, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, and then a roadtrip back to GA. I had a baby shower in Leesville (lots of fun - pictures soon) and now my parents are here in GA for this whole week because I have a shower here on Saturday. YAY! We've been working on the house and yard all week (well, Mom and I have been keeping kiddos and Dad has been working on the house). It's looking great and I'm so very very happy. I finally decided on crib bedding and a paint color so we will hopefully finish painting the nursery tomorrow and I can share pictures of that. :) I told you there was a lot going on.

I had an ultrasound and my glucose test this morning. I managed to not throw up the lemony limey sickly sweetness that is the glucose you have to drink. Yuck. Pictures to come of Baby Moon but I have to scan them first. I had only gained 3 lbs in 3 weeks and that was with a very full bladder so I was happy. :)

Mom and Dad were here for Easter and it was a wonderful day. Church was fantastic and it was beautiful outside. We took a couple of pictures so enjoy those and maybe a few other randoms thrown in there for fun.

In our front yard - Baby Moon is definitely growing!

This was an accidental picture - but it's sweet.

Mom and Dad

My handsome handyman - working on the gutters and also fixing the crap job that the wildlife people did in sealing up the house. $600 down the drain.

We had this pretty little tree in the front year but since we didn't live here last spring we had no idea what it was. When we returned from our 10 day trip to LA/TX it had bloomed and it is a pink dogwood. Very pretty.

William is sitting up by himself now. He's so proud and cute. That's his "little old man" grin.

There's lots more to tell about the trips and the baby, but I'll wait until I have picture to go with it.

You are not naked.

Read THIS.

And then come back and share your thoughts.

First Kiss

My first kiss was in kindergarten.  Well, if by first kiss we mean the first time I was kissed by a boy not related to me.  His name was Harvey Logan.  It was recess and I needed to go potty so I went back into my classroom to take care of that business.  When I walked in the room it was dark but someone was coming out of the bathroom.  It was Harvey.  He walked right up to me and kissed me dead on the lips.  I nearly died.  Seriously - I'm not even sure what I did but I know that I was mortified.  He wasn't the gross kid or anything, but at the age of 5 1/2 I really had no interest in kissing boys (believe it or not).  He found me recently on Facebook and the first thing he said was, "so do you remember when you kissed me in Mrs. Ford's room?"  and I very quickly and firmly reminded him that THAT was most certainly not how it went down.  So there's that.

My first "real" kiss was at Jaimi Rodger's house at our 8th grade graduation party.  There were lots of people there (and by lots I mean maybe 20) but 4 of us decided to play spin the bottle.  Well as luck would have it there were no bottles to be found, so we spun an empty coke can.  Yeah.  First I kissed Martin Driscoll and I thought his tongue was fat.  Then I kissed Justin "Bubba" Randolph and he tasted like 7Up and Spearmint gum. 

My first real kiss not playing a game was shortly after that with Chris O'Brien.  We went 4 wheeler riding and then kissed in the moonlight by the lake.  Trust me - it sounds MUCH more romantic than it was. :)  I like him for about 2 days and then it was over.  Ah, young summer love. :P

I would continue that pattern of liking a boy, kissing him, and then 2 days later realizing maybe he wasn't so great for the next 5 or so years - which amounts to about 45 boys.  Throw in a very serious 3 year relationship in those 5 years (that ended my freshman year of college) and I'll let you do the math as to how many kissed boys were running around Louisiana College.  Sheesh.  What was I thinking?

Then I met Justin and that was it.  He's the last boy I'll ever kiss.  And I LOVE it that way.

So...

I think I want my kid to call me Mum like they do in England.

At least that way when there's a hundred kids at the park all yelling MOOOOOM! mine will stand out a little.  

And if it could have a British accent that would rock my world.

That's all. Carry on.

Giveaway Winner!

Miss Isabella drew a winner for me today and it was...

JORI-O who said, "Thanks for stopping by and giving me the head's up about your contest! Okay, one of the best presents we got was an Exergen temporal scan thermometer. I LOVE IT! The cheapest place I've found it is Wal-Mart--it's about thirty bucks and worth every penny."

Thanks for the tip!  I probably would never have added a temporal scan thermometer on my own, but it's on the registry now!

Go say congratulations to Jori!

Bump Watch 22 Weeks

Click HERE for the GIVEAWAY! You could win!!

______________

Here it is - The Belly at 22 weeks.  Would you believe me if I told you that in the past four days since these pictures were taken it has grown?  Well, it has - enough so that where on Sunday I could breath normally, now I suddenly feel like there's an elephant sitting on my chest.  OK, maybe not an elephant, but a small person at least.  Baby Moon is doing more than just wiggling now - it feels like there's a jungle gym full of monkeys in there!  Justin feels it all the time now and if you watch my stomach you can see it moving.  It's a very strange feeling - especially when it kicks right behind my belly button.  I keep waiting to see my belly button popping in and out when it kicks there. :)  I'm feeling pretty good overall - I have bursts of energy and then I crash but for the most part I'm still feeling kinda tired all the time.  But at least I'm not sick!  The back pain on the lower left side is still hanging around so I'm just dealing with it.  My doctor asked me if I wanted a prescription to help with it, but I don't want to take anything unless I have to - if it gets to where I can't walk I'll ask for something.  Until then I'll settle for lots of long soaks in the tub. :)

I'm getting really excited about my Baby Showers that are coming up in April - it's finally MY

TURN!! Yay!

We still haven't done anything to the nursery but throw the furniture in there, but I did order a fabric swatch for some bedding I think I like so hopefully we can get started on that soon.  Here's the bedding if you want to see.

That's about it on the pregnancy update.  I'll probably think of 20 more things later, but for now

 that's all I've got for ya.

In the mountains of North Carolina, overlooking Lake Glenville

Again, a very windy Lake Glenville

Last weekend was my friend Krista's Bachelorette Weekend (the wedding is in 2 weeks!) so we went up to Someplace, NC (I think it's between Highlands and Cashiers) and stayed at the Beech's lake house.  I wish I could describe how beautiful it is there, but I could never do it justice.  Jeff and Greta are quite possibly the most generous people ever, and on occasion they let us hang out at their place.  It's a huge three story house that could probably sleep 20+ people and it's right on Lake Glenville.  Gorgeous.  

We had a blast playing games and watching Krista open her lingerie and stuff.  I'm pretty sure

 the gifts that Leslie, Bailey, and I got her won't be forgotten anytime soon. :)

The Bachelorette

All the girls at Horacio's - a very yummy and intimate Italian Restaurant in Cashiers, NC.  If you are ever in the area you should totally check it out - but BEWARE of Horacio (the owner).  He just might feel you up if you aren't careful.  Seriously - watch yourself. :)

*EDITED*  This was supposed to be a picture of ALL the girls - but blogger is being weird again (or I'm just an idiot) and I can't make the picture any smaller so it's cutting off some people.  Sorry!

Me, Bailey, and Leslie.  The best part about this picture was watching Leslie try to get the camera set up to take it - at one point she was laying flat on a little table trying to make sure we would be relatively centered.  Good job Les!

GIVEAWAY! Calling all Mommys (and Daddys)

I need your help!  Justin and I are going this weekend to finish up our Baby Registry's and I want to make sure that we don't leave anything out.  We've got all the basics down plus the stuff BabiesRUs and Wal-Mart tells you is a "must." Here's what I need from you - tell me about the stuff you just couldn't live without - especially if it was a random gift or was recommended by someone else and we wouldn't normally register for it.  It can be for baby, or mom, or dad.

If you leave me a comment with a suggestion, you'll be entered into the giveaway.  You can choose your prize from this list:

*Personalized Bib and Burpie Set

*4 custom Potholders (or "hotpad holders")

*Personalized Custom Adult Apron (this is great for guys too!)

If you tell your friends to come and share their can't-live-without baby items, and they tell me you sent them, you'll get a second entry.

If you BLOG this giveaway and the specifics of what I need and come back and tell me, you'll get a third entry.

You have until Saturday, March 14th at 8pm to get your suggestions in so hop to it peeps!!

Don't forget to leave your email address in your comment or make sure there is a way for me to contact you if you win. :)