Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Goodies!

We were so blessed by people over Christmas! You won't believe how many wonderful things we brought back from Ohio with us. And these pictures are only of the things that aren't still in the garage!

First and foremost, here is the reason we drove a U-Haul back from Ohio in the first place...this was my grandmother's piano. I LOVE it and I have been waiting many, many years to have a home in which to put it. Little One will learn to play on this piano and I can tell stories about sitting on the bench beside my grandmother as a child. I love this piano and all of the memories that go with it. Getting it was more than worth the U-Haul trip and I love my husband for understanding that.


Another family heirloom! This blanket was made for my dad by my great-grandmother! I actually have wonderful memories of my great-grandmother. She did not leave for heaven until I was in high school and she was a wonderful woman! She taught me to play Old Maid and I have great memories of her and being in her home. Look at this book! This was actually given to Little One as a Christmas present from one of the sets of grandparents that already love him or her so much!Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Tom even wrote a note to Little One in the book! I LOVE it! How sweet is that?Grandma Sheri also bought this bib for ME. It is my first non-Aggie college gear item! THANK YOU! I have been waiting anxiously for something to counteract the phenomenon that has taken over our house!This is my second favorite bib! It is from my grandmother who apparently knows that Jory and I are tax geeks. Sad, but true! We both loved this bib and probably shouldn't tell people that! And back to the Aggie stuff! But isn't this PRECIOUS! Look how little this cap is! Are babies really that small?!? It does stretch and isn't it just so adorable? Our friends Terri and John sent us this (along with a book I've been wanting!) for Christmas. It would be sweet anyway, but it's even more so because Terri is a Red Raider and John is a Longhorn. Now we love John and Terri and their beautiful one-year-old Dean, but we haven't bought any burnt orange items for them. It takes very special people to cross school lines like they have.Jory bought this. We went to Babies R Us to look at changing tables and he saw this. It says My 1st Thanksgiving and is the size that Little One should be next November. So, we already have an outfit to take to Ohio next year! Isn't that just cute?

And FINALLY, my favorite gift - well, part of it. This is a baby cookbook that I got that goes with my Williams Sonoma Baby Food maker that Sheri bought me! I wanted it oh so badly and I really, really did not expect to receive it! It is still in the garage, but I will take a picture of it very soon.


Little One's Room

This is the quilt Jory bought a LONG time ago. It is now in the CRIB that my friend Sheri GAVE us!

Here's the crib! It is very nice and it matches the bed that will stay in Little One's room. I didn't take a picture of the bed because it has stuff ALL OVER it! We ordered a changing table and just moved a dresser into the room, so maybe we can finally organize all the wonderful things we have! I'm so proud of Jory for being able to put this crib back together ALL BY HIMSELF with no directions! WOW.



Here is the mobile that Jory bought over a YEAR ago! I swear we are not having an Aggie Room. Once we get our bedding and wall hangings maybe it won't look as over the top as it does right now. The mobile plays the war hymn real slow so it's comforting. It is quite nice.Here's the yellow room with the little wall hanging we were given when we first found out we were pregnant. It is precious. We definitely have some wall space to fill up, though!




Here's a dresser my dad made. It's been in our room as a night stand, but the wood matched the crib and bed so well that we moved it.




I grabbed this OLD wagon from my Dad and Sheri's basement. And then...I put some blankets in it! We have a LOT of blankets and I thought this made a cute storage place...Finally, this is a Willow Tree statue I was given for my birthday. It's called Cherish and the placard says 'Awaiting a Miracle'. As I am! Feeling this child now is so amazing! I can feel Little One's hands and feet and knowing that he or she is growing inside of me is beyond any feeling I know how to convey. This is in the living room, not Little One's room, but isn't it wonderful? My brother and his wife GAVE us this swing! It is a really, really nice swing and we are thrilled. They bought it with their last baby and I'm not sure it's been used much at all. It plays classical music and has nature sounds!We did get quite a few other things for Little One's room over Christmas, but they are still in the garage! We got home, unloaded the U-Haul and left most of it where it lay! We will start making some more progress after New Year's and I'll update with pictures. I should get the bedding, curtains, etc. in the next couple of weeks and that will make a huge difference. I am anxious to see the room come together!

Shower!

When I was in Ohio my mom threw me my first baby shower! It was the neatest thing. I'd never been to anything like it. She had it at a scrap booking store. My first gift was this scrapbook:

Isn't it precious? Then everyone at the shower drew a theme for a baby scrapbook page. One person did 'Welcome to the World', one did 'Welcome Home', etc. So now I have a scrapbook filled with the cutest pages made with love by my friends. All I have to do is add Little One's pictures! Here are some of the pages:



My cousin made this one for Little One's First Bath Picture. I thought it was so cute!

My five-year-old niece made this page - it's my favorite! It's got her name right in the middle of it!


This is my niece, by the way. Isn't she precious? I love her! I miss all of my nieces and nephews so much! That's her one-year-old sister in the background. Also precious! Addy has red hair and blue eyes - WOW - stunning!

So, back to the shower. I thought the scrapbook idea was really cool and very beneficial to me since I have never done a scrapbook - now I have one ready-made! But the best part was getting to see all of my Ohio friends. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with them, but it was still wonderful! Below is a picture of Bobbie Jo and Sheri. I met them 17 years ago at a summer job and I love them both dearly! Sheri has three little ones and since she is done having them, she gave me her crib! How wonderful is that? It is so nice and it matches the bed that we already had in Little One's room! We're thrilled. Bobbie Jo and Sheri are standing next to a Christmas tree decorated with baby toys that I got to take home with me! How great is that???




This is the cake we had. It was yummy and so pretty. The picture matched the shower invitation and the bakery added 'A Little Piece of Heaven is on its Way...'




I got lots of wonderful gifts like this diaper bag from my two sisters-in-law. I love it! I had tried to find a pretty diaper bag that could be neutral and I hadn't found it yet. This was perfect. My cousin also got a tan Eddie Bauer diaper bag for Jory to carry. He loved it!



All in all, it was a wonderful time! I really, really enjoyed it.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Update

Oh my! I have so much to post and so many pictures and I have no idea when we will get to downloading those. We are only in town two days before we head to the Lake for New Years! But I will start an update today and supplement as I can.

First of all, Christmas was wonderful! We had an outstanding time in Ohio and thoroughly enjoyed every minute! There's no way I'll remember everything, but I will put in what I can.

Traveling to Ohio was a bit of a stressor for me. I became very glad when I realized that I will not have to fly for eight more months. Little One was happy about that, as well. The stress I feel with air travel goes straight to Little One and, on top of that, Little One still doesn't like take offs and landings. Hopefully the baby will be a better traveler once it's born! We had a woman behind us on one of the flights with a small baby that was not happy. I said "Listen! That's what we'll be dealing with when we go to Denver in August!" The poor people flying with us. I feel as if we should do a public service announcement and warn them against a trip to Denver that weekend.

Traveling FROM Ohio was fine. Believe it or not, I was comfortable in the U-Haul and I didn't mind the long drive at all. I am actually pushing to drive to Ohio for Thanksgiving next year. Jory's not sold, though. He does admit that maybe a car trip would be better than a U-Haul trip, but he still has his doubts. He was much more uncomfortable than I was on the drive back! Of course, I had a pregnancy pillow behind my back and he was holding on with both hands to a U-Haul steering wheel in unbelievable winds (and fog and rain and on lightless highways)...

Little One was very, very active in Ohio. Before we went, the baby had crawled up under my ribs and stayed there for six full days. It was horrible! Horrible, horrible, horrible. You do not know. (Well, some of you might, but most of you don't). Anyway, on the first night in Ohio, Little One woke up at 5am and spent two hours moving down and out of my ribs - Thank God! I was so comfortable after that! My comfort level right now depends entirely on Little One's positions and movement. I guess getting out from the confines of my ribs gave Little One plenty of room to move around, because the activity was constant for the rest of the week - fine with me! Now I believe the baby is vertical and very, very long. I guess we'll see in two months (WOW!)

By the way, people are split 50/50 on Little One's gender. And it seems that everyone related to me believes Little One is a boy. Everyone who is friends with me believes we've got a girl. The only person that does not have any idea whether we've got a girl or a boy is Little One's Daddy! Jory is completely unsure and won't even hazard a guess!

This post is already getting quite long and I haven't even started on what we did in Ohio (and all the goodies we got!!!!!). I will add more tomorrow and will very soon get some pictures on here.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Pictures

My husband took these wonderful pictures in Washington, D.C.


Okay, I took this one, but it was his idea. Can you tell we both work at accounting firms?

We bought this for Little One's room while we were at the National Cathedral where we saw a wonderful Christmas concert.














Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Washington, D.C.

What a wonderful mini-vacation we just had! We spent two days sight seeing in DC and the weather was perfect! And there were no tourists and Congress had been sent home (again), so there were no lines, no traffic, no reservations needed at restaurants. It was just perfect! AND we got to stay at Jory's aunt and uncle's. We hadn't seen them in about a year and we won't see them again for a while. Since they aren't headed to Texas for the holidays this year, we were so blessed to be able to visit them. It was absolutely wonderful!

We have pictures to post, but this week will be a whirlwind, so I'm not sure when they'll get on here. I will tell you that I am suddenly huge. Seriously, I look way past seven months pregnant. Monday, for the first time, a stranger asked me when I was due. Since then, two other strangers have recognized that I'm very pregnant. That's not bad, though, I got offered someone's seat on the Metro and I got Priority Access to board an airplane.

I definitely feel like I'm way past seven months pregnant, as well. I am starting to be uncomfortable which I didn't think was going to happen for another 4 weeks (I've had these arbitrary time tables in my head and it throws me off when my body doesn't follow them). My back hurts, crossing my legs takes effort and walking takes an amount of concentration that I can't describe - or completely understand.

Little One is doing well, though. Definitely active, which is wonderful. I think I stressed the baby out yesterday, though. There have been two times during pregnancy that I have felt real stress and both times, Little One has gotten crazy with the full body assault on my stomach and the constant moving. It goes on for quite a while and I feel horrible about it. I didn't even realize that I had gotten stressed yesterday until after the fact (when I noticed Little One was going crazy and not letting up). After we returned our rental car in DC (and were an hour from Jory's relatives), we realized that our flight (which had been on time just two hours earlier) had been cancelled. There were no other flights to Texas that day. After waiting for thirty minutes, we were put on another flight (one which was supposed to have left four hours earlier, but was severely delayed), but were told we had to get to the gate NOW. So, Jory is pulling my 7-month pregnant body through the airport as we are dashing to make this flight. We did make it to Dallas where we were changing planes to come to Tyler. In Dallas, our one hour layover turned into a three hour one and we eventually made it home at 11pm. It was really fine, but I must have gotten upset about it, because the baby sure seemed upset about it all. Incidentally, all of the delays were due to weather in Dallas where is was below freezing and sleeting. We left Washington DC where we had strolled in 60 degree weather to arrive in Tyler amid snow!

We leave Friday night to head to Fort Worth and we fly out of DFW Saturday to go to Ohio - YAY! I am way too excited! I get to see my nieces and nephews and all of my family and I am having a wonderful baby shower where I get to see all of my Ohio friends that I never have enough time to visit with. We'll be gone for a little over a week.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Wonderful Things

It snowed last night! I only think that's wonderful because I live in Texas instead of Ohio. I recognize that. I also recognize that 'snowed' is a relative term.

My sister-in-law sent me two BIG boxes of maternity clothes to borrow!!!!! And there are so many cute things in there! She always looked so nice when she was pregnant and she's letting me share in that! Happy Day!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Weird Things

My husband wants an Odyssey. Many of you know that this is not a new desire, but it has certainly gained some fervor this week. My gosh, there are year-end incentives ON TOP of a bad market for automakers, do you know the deals you could get now? You could practically take the thing for FREE! Not to mention, you know, that a pack and play is probably not going to fit in the trunk of the Camry if you have a stroller in there, too. And don't you think we'll drive a lot more once we have the baby? I mean, trips to Fort Worth will probably increase and an Odyssey would be so much more comfortable and we'd have room for all the STUFF! Lord Help Me. I am going to be driving a mini-van before my 33rd birthday.

Speaking of my 33rd birthday. This is VERY weird, if you know me. My birthday is in ten days. I realized this today because today is Erica's birthday and I made a mental note to get a hold of her and it reminded me that my birthday must be coming up. In the past, I have treated my birthday like a national holiday with a countdown that begins weeks (okay, really, months) in advance. Everyone is very well aware of my birthday coming up. This year, I haven't mentioned it - I haven't even thought about it. I guess I'm growing up. In one year, I've gone from a single woman who thinks her birthday is really important to a married woman who is concerned only about her coming child, her husband and the potential of driving a mini-van in public.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Movement

Yesterday, for the first time, I could SEE the baby move! It happened during a meeting and it was crazy! My stomach was jumping around and there was a ripple going across it. WILD! Last night, it happened some so that Jory could see it, but it was a much smaller movement. He's not really sure what to think about watching my stomach move. It's amazing and fascinating, but definitely something neither of us has seen before!

We have designed Little One's birth announcements - one for a boy and one for a girl.

We are leaving Saturday for Washington, DC. We are excited to see the city decorated for Christmas and we are excited to see Jory's aunt and uncle and cousins. This is a trip that we won, so it was unexpected, but we have been looking very forward to it. After that, we will be home for two days before we go to OHIO for CHRISTMAS! I can NOT wait! Yay, yay, yay!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

7th Month

This is me at 28 weeks. I've gained 21 pounds. The 2nd picture below is from 4 weeks ago. It gives you an idea of how much I've grown, but it's really there to show you the different wall color in the nursery now.



Update: In breaking news, my Rebels will play Uncle Rock's Red Raiders in the Cotton Bowl. Oh, I'm thrilled for Ole Miss - it has been quite a while since we saw a Bowl Game, but I am afraid this could be rather ugly...In bigger news, my Buckeyes take on JC's T-sips in the Fiesta Bowl. Woo Hoo. A game I am excited about, but won't get to see because that is the night of our first Child Birth class. Can you believe that?
In actual news, which I have not reported for a while, the US Automakers will be receiving $15B in government loans to tide them over until March and possibly prevent Chrysler and GM from ceasing to exist. Also, a major credit card company went under and was taken over.





Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Stuff for Little One

Jory made the decision on the Coming Home outfit for Little One. The picture from the website is below, but it is hard to see because it is off-white and it blends into the background. We ordered it yesterday, so when it comes we'll take a good picture of it. It is really nice and will be perfect for a girl or a boy. This is the night light I bought. It's a burgundy star. The flash makes it difficult to tell, but the light yellow background is the new color of Little One's walls. Little One's Daddy spent so much time painting it perfectly! You'll be able to see it better when we take my 28 Week (Yikes!) picture this weekend. Jory said the new paint made it clear that the trim must be painted. Funny, he's not this particular about any other room in the house! He really is working hard to make Little One's room perfect. So, I guess I know what this weekend's project will be!

This is a wall hanging that we got as a gift a while ago, but I never put a picture on here. It says 'You are God's garden Let your roots grow deep and draw nourishment from Him." Isn't it precious? It's been hanging on Little One's wall until Jory took it down to paint and it has looked wonderful. I love it!

How precious is this? It is a cap knitted for Little One. It's yellow and has the cutest matching booties with little knit balls on top. Oh - I love it!


Okay. I bought this. I know, I know. It is definitely for a little girl and Little One may not be a little girl. BUT...it has a Precious Moments on it and little hearts on the feet! I know, I know, I know that had my grandmother been around to see this she would have bought it so fast it would make your head spin. So this is Little One's gift from the grandmother I wish he or she could know. I know that grandmother would have given anything to be around to see Little One.




Here is one of the tan and burgundy throw pillows I bought to go on the bed that will be in Little One's room (along with the crib).




All is well here. We are so excited. Jory gets more excited every day. He started playing with Little One last weekend. He'll push my stomach twice and Little One kicks back once. They do this until he wears Little One out and the poor child has to take a nap.
I never heard anything from the doctor, so I'm not anemic or diabetic - thank God!



Monday, December 1, 2008

Doctor's Appointment

The doctor's appointment went well today. Little One was very active, but the doctor was able to narrow the heartbeat down to between 140 and 150. Little One does NOT like that doppler being put on my stomach.

My blood pressure was UP to 114/62. Of course, I had just had blood drawn and the woman made me really nervous. Then she couldn't find a vein and she poked at me way too much - on both arms. Within 60 seconds of that experience my blood pressure was taken, so I count that as the reason I had a blood pressure high enough to almost be normal.

The doctor said my blood pressure, weight and measurements were perfect and all looked well. I have been feeling great, which is wonderful.

I had blood drawn to test for diabetes and anemia. The doctor said I would hear either today or tomorrow if there was a problem. Otherwise, I wouldn't get a call at all. I didn't hear anything today, so I am going to believe that all was as it should be.

We are starting to get very busy around here - Christmas parties and Christmas traveling. My Pain Management Nurse had to cancel our appointment for tonight because she has the flu. SO, we ended up with a free evening at home. It has been very nice. Tomorrow night I should be able to take pictures of the new stuff for Little One and get those posted.