Countdown: ONE/7

Okay okay okay. I said I was going to update last week and I totally didn't. And I do apologize. I just wasn't in the updating kind of mood I suppose.

I left off with that I was 38 weeks. I had my 38 week appointment last Wednesday I believe. I went to the doc and after doing the exam he said I was 1 centimeter dilated and 80% effaced. He also said that the baby was head down (yay) and that he could feel the head. BUT, during that appt, my blood pressure was up so he scheduled me for the first appt on my 39 week day (which was today) and sent me off to labor and delivery to have my blood pressure and the baby monitored. Jackson was doing great and proved to be a very happy baby. And, of course, my blood pressure went back down to normal. Go figure. So, 45 minutes, two tubes of pee, and two tubes of blood later I was sent home. It was kind of funny though because I knew Justin had a meeting, and I told him if I texted to just ignore it until after the meeting but if I called to answer, and of course I called to tell him what was going on which made him think maybe that was the day. Anyway, afterward I got my school schedule for the fall, which isn't too bad and is way earlier than we got it last summer so I was very pleased with that. Then my friend Julie and I were off to target where I picked up a shelf to go in our back room which I was excited about, and a fan for the baby's room to circulate the air. Here's my 38 week pics:


My thursdays and fridays are getting mixed up but one of those days my sister and my mom came over and we went to a couple stores. I picked up some curtains for the baby's room which we've been needing to do. My mom used the pattern on the bed set to make valences to hang. Here are pics of those with the new curtains:

On Friday night while Justin was working I decided to try some more natural induction tricks. After my very spicy cheesesteak (with hots AND jalapenos) I went to the store to pick up a big container of fresh pineapple. To much dismay, it didn't work, but it did flush my system out VERY well. I was very tempted to try some castor oil, but I've yet to get that desperate. I've been following a thread online about women attempting castor oil and 400 some odd posts later, not too many have actually given birth after taking it. So I don't really think it's that effective.
I did however start with a pretty bad headache and some nausea Friday so I spent the rest of the night laying down.

At some point during the week, we also had our friend Krysta stop by. She was out shopping one day and found a diaper pail similar to the one we wanted so she bought it for us. The boys (Jiff and Carlin) LOVED having new company. Carlin still thinks he's a lap dog and made himself comfortable climbing all over her.

On Saturday, Justin and I ran errands all day. Our closet door in the hallway is one of those fold open doors and it came off of it's swivel thing (not really a hinge) so we bought some hinges in an attempt to attach it to the closet frame. Unfortunately when we tried to dril the screws in we found that the frame is metal so our project was put on hold. We also bought a plank of wood to put a shelf in the closet that I just installed a new rod in. This actually worked out very well and now I have even more storage space in the baby's room. And we finally put up the Lennox Noah's Arc clock that Justin's parents got us for Jackson's room. We originally had a cross there that his parents bought us, but, lucky us, there are a lot of screws and nails up around the room so we were able to find another place for it by the door. Saturday night Justin and I drove down to Savage, MD to the Ramshead there for a great (and of course spicy) dinner. I've been drooling for one of their burritos and their crab dip so I was in heaven. we had a great meal and then headed off to Catonsville for a small get together that Justin's work friend Damon was having. It was a pretty good night out for us and i was exhausted on the way home.

On Sunday Justin was up early to work the Federal Hill Festival. I had all intentions of going to church but woke up with a HORRIBLE headache. I ended up sleeping in until almost eleven and the headache still wasn't gone. I wanted to go see my grandma who was just getting out of the hospital and I was supposed to have lunch with a friend, so I took the tylenol and ventured out. My friend Sarah and I met in fed hill for lunch and walked around the festival for a bit and then I headed off to my grandmother's house. She went to the hospital on Father's Day for a possible stroke. They said at some point she had a mild heart attack and, after a week in the hospital, she was finally able to come home. She was still pretty upset about being in the hospital (apparantly the nurses weren't as good as she had the last time) and she was even more upset that her feet were so swollen and that my dad, aunt, and uncle moved her bed to the first floor since she wasn't able to move around a lot. But, she was doing a lot better than when she went in obviously, and she was starting to feel better too.

Sunday night when I came home from my parents, my headache was back. I had already taken tylenol twice that day and didn't want to take more. Since I was also feeling sick, I decided to check my blood pressure and of course it was high. I checked it every half hour for two hours and it didn't go down until the last reading which was right before bed. I told Justin I'd check it in the morning and if it was high again, we'd call the doc. Monday morning I woke up with a headache again and my blood pressure was high. I checked it every half hour for two hours again and it stayed elevated so finally we called the doc. I told him about my pressure, the nausea, and the headache and he told me to head over to L&D and that he would more than likely induce me. So Justin and I got everything together, loaded up the car, even took the trash out and headed off to the hospital. When we got there and got all hooked up to monitors my blood pressure dropped back to normal. They did a few consecutive readings (and took more pee and more blood) and because my pressure was fine while I was there and there was no protein in my urine, they wrote me a prescription for the headaches and nausea and sent us home again. So if you're keeping count, that makes THREE visits to labor and delivery for blood pressure and THREE times being sent home, still pregnant of course. We spent the rest of the day at the gym to try to speed things up, I got my toenails painted blue to entice him to come take a look, Justin cut the grass and then my sister in law came over to help me put the closet door back on (she has drill bits and we don't, ha ha). Despite the start of the day, it ended up being productive. I kind of have a feeling that Jackson knows there's things I wanted to and still want to get done before he gets here (like the hall closet, putting the shelves up in his room, laundry, weeding the garden, etc.) and he's holding out until they're all done because every day that I expect him to come and he doesn't we end up marking something else off of our to do list.

Anyhow, on to today.

TODAY, June 30th, marks 39 weeks for us and the last official chance for Jackson to have a June birthday. And if for some reason he was born at 11:59 tonight (which nothing is impossible I suppose) I would laugh so hard I'd pee myself. But I think that's not in our future. In fact, for us today marks a new countdown: our 1 week countdown until Jackson's due date. So were starting at seven and working our way down with high hopes that we only make it to six, ha ha. Today at my appointment my doctor said that I'm 2 centimeters dilated, 90% effaced, and at a -1 to 0 station (the scale is -3 to +3). What I need to be at for birth to be imminent is 10 centimeters, 100% effaced, and +3 station. So, where I am in the pregnancy, I'm right on and progressing well. But well is not quick enough. I'm becomming extremely anxious to meet our little guy and I'd really like him to come sooner than later. My doctor did strip my membranes today, which I looked up and learned that stripping the membranes is done during a vaginal exam when the doctor inserts his finger all the way into the cervix and pushes the amniotic sac away from uterine wall and the cervix. This is supposed to influence the body to release hormones to help the cervix ripen and thin out and sometimes contract, and it can only be done if you're dilated some already. While it caused a little cramping afterward for me, I haven't had any really contractions from it. I actually just started about a half hour ago with a few braxton hicks contractions, but they don't really mean much and are never really consistent with me. The only real contractions I've had came last Wednesday after my appointment. They were pretty strong but they weren't close enough together and they were gone completely by bedtime. Since then, we've been trying everything to get this kiddo out: sex, spicy food, walking, pineapple, accupressure, vacuuming TWICE in two days ha ha. We'd like him to be here within the next day or two so we can make it to the annual fourth of July party that my family attends because there's a lot of people who would like to meet him there. Unfortunately I don't see it happening. Unless something goes on tonight, I think he's going to wait a little closer to his due date before he comes. That would make him punctual like daddy, which is okay. But we are PRAYING that he is not like mommy.... late to everything! We shall see.

Anyhow, I spent the day with my sister shopping for bed risers for my grandma, which made her extremely happy. I bought square ones but the legs to her bed are round and didn't fit. So I told her I'd go out and get new ones. I don't think she thought I'd be back with them today, so when I showed up and we put them under the bed and she saw how she wouldn't have to bend over to make the bed or struggle to get in it since it was so low, she had a huge smile which was worth the headache and nausea I suffered through while out shopping for them. Unfortunately, because I was gone all day I didn't take any pictures for my 39 weeks, but I will be sure to do that in the next few days. Here's to hoping I won't have to take 40 week pictures, ha ha.

To end the post, we must congratulate another couple on their new edition. My brother's friend Lenny and his fiance Jess gave birth to a gorgeous little girl on the 27th. They named her Isabella Christina and she was born just one day before her due date. We have yet to meet her, but we hope she and Jackson will have a great time playing together at future game nights at my brother's house! So congrats to Jess and Lenny and we hope everyone else has a great and exciting week. Pray for some baby news soon :)

Countdown: 2

38 weeks = just two weeks/14 days left!!!!!!!!! Come on baby Jackson!

Update tomorrow after my 38 week appointment.

Countdown: 3

It is officially week 37!! Which means I am officially FULL TERM :) yay!!! But actually we're already 4 days into week 37 and just 3 days away from week 38!

I left off the last post on Sunday which was mine and Justin's one year wedding anniversary. We had plans to attend a cookout at his aunts house, and what a cookout that was. It was actually not a cookout at all, but a suprise baby shower for me from his side of the family. There were also a few of our friends there. It was definitely a nice suprise and beautiful day for it. When I got there everyone was waiting on the porch for me and then we were ushered inside for sandwiches and gifts. I got, again, a lot of great things and even a few great homemade gifts. Among the gifts was a diaper cake my mom made, a lennox noah's arc clock from justin's parents for the nursery, a really soft and gorgeous handmade blanket from justin's aunt barbara (the shower was at her house), a very nifty handmade carrier that straps the baby on a couple different ways from Justin's Aunt Sharon and cousins, and so much more. Krysta, the bartender at Ramshead who put together the shower there was also at this shower. She put together a few baskets of things and each basket had a poem for that talked about the things in that basket and correlated to a certain age group. It was a lot of fun to open and it included a lot of great things. Another gift we got was a gorgeous cradle. Justin's grandmother gave this cradle to Justin's cousin Stacey for her son Owen. She decided that she wanted the cradle passed down to all of her great grandchildren so Stacey had a a plaque put on it that is engraved "The Great-Grandchildren of Ruth & Bill Waicker" and another plaque with Owen's name and birthday on it. I'm very excited to use this cradle in our room with Jackson for the first few months and then to pass it down to the next Waicker baby that comes along.

Because it was also our one year anniversary, Justin's mom brought the top tier to our wedding cake which has been in her freezer for a year! (We actually ate half the day after our wedding so it was half of the top tier). We were shocked to see how well the cake held up and suprisingly, the cake didn't taste that bad either. So, I guess the lesson here is that everyone should order their wedding cakes from sugarbakers! The raspberry amaretto is my favorite.

That night we went home and we were so exhausted we attempted to go to bed as early as possible. Unfortunately I had a horrible time sleeping which was a bummer since I had practicum in the morning. Practicum was quite interesting on Monday actually. We had a lot going on and ended the day with a patient who just didn't seem mentally right! I wish I could share the details, but I can't. I can say though, it made for one heck of an experience.

Tuesday was my official 37 week day! I was supposed to have practicum but my preceptor was on call and didn't get called in, so I slept in. I didn't do much during the day, but I did work the Plain White T's show that night at Ramshead. On Wednesday I worked a 92Q talent search at Ramshead which ended up being a talent search for a bunch of kids, so really, I didn't do much. But on Wednesday my headaches started. While I was at work, I started getting a headache and got hot, but tylenol seemed to take care of it. I had practicum on Thursday, which lasted four hours longer than I expected because I felt bad leaving a patient who planned a vaginal birth but had to have a last minute c-section. While at practicum, I started getting a headache again and felt hot again. My preceptor said we'd take my blood pressure but I never got around to it.
On Friday I went to a info/lunch with my mom and Justin's aunt and driving home from dropping my mom off the headache started again and this time it was really bad. I was driving through the tunnel next to a tanker that smelled like gas, so that just made it worse. By the time I got home the headache was really bad and I was really hot and my face was beet red. So I took my blood pressure and it seemed to be approaching 130/100, which is really high for me. So I called my doctor and he told me to go to Labor and Delivery to be monitored. Of course when I got there, my blood pressure had calmed a little to 132/86. They had me lay down and drink water and about 45 minutes later, my blood pressure was back down to 98/68 so they let me go home. It was kind of funny because not knowing what to expect we threw all of our stuff (suitcase, diaper bag, etc.) in the car before we went. But it was also kind of sucky because I felt so stupid going home like I made a big deal out of nothing. The midwife (who actually had the patient I was with the day before) told me to watch my salt, so no more crab dip for me. Unfortunately though, despite trying to stay away from salt, my headache and the hot flashes have come back today.

Speaking of today, my wonderful sister in law offered to come over to help me clean. While she scrubbed the bathroom, kitchen and dog room and vaccumed the whole house, I worked hard on cleaning out the closets in the nursery and trying to get everything in place, and I'll tell you, my lower back is not letting me get away with working so hard! Around 5:30, our friends Jared and Kris brought over their youngest Joey. He's about a year old and so adorable. We offered to watch him for the night while they went to their daughter's dance recital. Joey absolutely loved Justin and he even loved the boys. And even better, the boys seemed quite okay with him as well. After dinner and helping me give Joey a bath, Justin went off to work and I attempted to put Joey to bed. Unfortunately though, he was MUCH more interested in the TV, but it was very cute watching him sitting up watching tv but nodding off every now and again because he was so tired. Speaking of being tired, he's currently sleeping with his butt in the air in the "frog" position. Definitely very cute. Oh, and speaking of Jared and Kris, Kris was at the shower on Sunday too and she made us a very nice anniversary gift (she framed our wedding invite in a shadow box with flowers) and she made us a baby shower gift too (one of our sonogram pictures and one of our maternity pictures framed with a poem). They were both very nice and definitely worth mentioning.

Tomorrow is Father's Day so we'll be celebrating Justin's first Father-to-be day! We'll start with church and then hopefully end up visiting both of our dads as well. He doesn't know it yet, and I doubt he'll read the blog tonight, so in the morning he'll be opening his gifts. The first is a shirt that has the superman symbol, but instead of the S, it has Dad written in it. I also got him a blue t-shirt that says "Like son" and I got the matching 3-6 month t-shirt for Jackson that says "Like father". I can't wait until he opens them because I know he'll love them. Since our first anniversary was technically the "paper" anniversary, I ordered a calendar online for him. It's a desk calendar and each month has a picture next to it that corresponds to that month during our first year of marriage. October has a picture of us dressed as ceasar and cleopatra from last Halloween, November has our first sonogram picture of Jackson, and February has a picture of our 20 week sonogram when we found out that we would be having a boy!!!! Each month also has a lyric from our wedding song or some other words like "It's a boy". It definitely turned out to be a very simple but nice gift.

Anyhow, I wish I had a doctor's visit to update about but the doctor said he didn't need to see me this week. But I do have one during week 38 and hopefully I'll have something exciting to update about, maybe a couple centimeters or so. That would be great!!! Wish us luck.

37 weeks, 2 days in hospital scrubs.

Baby Shower number 3:

The gorgeous cradle!

One of the many games. Guess the baby food...yikes!

A drinking game for the younger crowd: who can suck down a bottle the fastest. Winner: Stacey.

A drinking game for the older younger crowd: who can suck down a sippy cup the fastest. Winner: Aunt Sharon.

Our wedding cake, one year later.

Justin and I on our 1 year wedding anniversary.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads and Happy Sunday to everyone else :)

Mini Update

Just 20 days left until my due date. Can't wait to meet this little wiggle worm <3

(real update tomorrow or friday)

Countdown 4

Wow, just four weeks left. But currently Jackson is reminding me that I still have four long weeks to go as he shoves his foot under my rib.

It seems like it has been forever to get to this point and now in just four (or 3 1/2) weeks our little guy will be here and home with us! The nursery's finished, our suitcase is packed his clothes are laid out. The changing table is set, he has toys galore, and he even has a potty. The car seat is in the car, the strollers in the living room, and the pack and play, bouncer, and swing are all put together with batteries already in them. But it's still so unreal that pretty soon, despite all the new things in the house and all the fuss, a baby will be joining our home... forever! I feel him move and roll and kick everyday. I hear his heartbeat at every doctor's appt (and sometimes at home when I'm worried he hasn't moved enough) and yet still, it all seems so unreal. I'm actually typing this while I'm sitting in his room looking around at his crib and armoir, his name above the crib, his new animal pictures, the boppy pillow under my feet, and I know that no matter how I think things will be, I cannot fathom what it will really be like to meet him at last!

I think I left off the last post talking about the baby showers. I finally have most of the stuff put away and ready to go for Jax. This past week wasn't too crazy exciting for us. Justin and I did both work the Beastie Boys show on Tuesday which was quite interesting, and then we hung out for a bit after so Justin could have a few drinks with some guys from security and some of the bartenders. We made it home at, oh, 3am maybe knowing very well we had a 10:30 doctor's appointment. I was up and ready to go, but I could tell Justin definitely felt like crap after the night before, but of course I still dragged him to the doctor's with me anyway. I knew this would be the appointment where the doctor would check me for the first time to see if I've dilated any. And he did check me, but no dilation for me yet. He did say that I'm 50% effaced or thinned out which is good. He also said that the baby is head down (YAY!!!!) and that he probably ways approximately 6-7 lbs right now (YIKES). And then, out of nowhere, he tells me he doesn't need to see me for another two weeks. I was pretty shocked considering this week was supposed to be the start of my weekly visits and quite frankly I was disappointed, but who's to argue with the fact that everything has gone well, I'm right on target, and he doesn't anticipate anything going wrong from this point on. I'm still kind of bummed out though because I was kind of excited to get weekly updates as to when the doc thinks he might arrive. So we went about the rest of our day and that was that.

Thursday was a pretty low key day for us. I had lunch with some friends from high school and then ran errands all day. Friday was another practicum day for me at the hospital and man was it a lot busier than I've been subjected to so far. At one point we had patients in 7 out of 9 rooms and 7 patients in the three room triage and the waiting room combined. Jen and I had two patients to take care of and at some point it seemed like they might deliver very close together. I went to help at triage stripping beds and putting patients on the monitors. Then Jen came in and said our patient was about to deliver. And sure enough, with one push, she had her fourth baby. It was very fast, a little chaotic even, but it was the first girl I got to see delivered and she was probably one of the cutest baby girls I've ever seen. Then, while Jen was taking care of that patient she sent me off to our other patient to be the "nurse" while she was getting her epidural. Thankfully the charge nurse was in there with me, so while she did all the catching up on the charting, I stayed with the patient. After her epidural, we took our first patient over to the mother/baby unit and then I headed off. I had already stayed an hour later than I had planned and I had to work, but I really would have liked to stay until 7 when Jen got off and gotten to see two deliveries in one day (and my first delivery from someone from another culture). Anyhow, I got home quickly, changed for work and relaxed on the couch for a bit, only to get a call about not working. While I know I should have work, I definitely welcomed the night off because I was exhasted.

Yesterday was a day of parties for us. Justin and I had originally planned to go to our friend Mike Maiste's karaoke party and then we found out that friends of the family were having a dual graduation party. So Justin and I decided to split the forces to have one of us at each place. Justin went to Mike's and apparantly had a great time, and I went to the Oberlanders and also had a great time. I can't speak to much for Justin's party, but the Oberlanders had tons of delicious food, volleyball, cornhole, horse shoes, a fire pit, an open pool (which I bought a new belly bathing suit for but it was a little to chilly for me), lots and lots of drinks, and karaoke (by my Uncle Bert). I think it's safe to say it was a good time had by all. The oldest, Rocky, graduated from UMBC this past winter and his younger sister Sara graduated from Bel Air high school a week or two ago. The night ended with a poker game (which I lost my money to my own brother) and I was home and in bed by, oh, maybe 2:30am. It was a good weekend so far.

Today, June 14 2009, is mine and Justin's one year anniversary from our actual wedding day. It's a gorgeous day out but we didn't plan anything big. We're heading off to Justin's aunt's house for a cook out and then, as far as I know, that's where our plans end. With all the chaos of the past few weeks, we didn't have time to plan much or get eachother anything that great. I did at the last minute order Justin a "paper" gift (because that's what I heard the gift is supposed to be for your first anniversary) but it probably won't be here until tomorrow. I wish we would have had more time to plan something (like a nice dinner by the water, a weekend away, or even a picnic with just him and I) but that's our busy lifestyle for ya. Maybe next year?

Anyhow, here's some more pictures to add to the bunch. Have a great Sunday. Enjoy the gorgeous weather that June 14th seems to grace us with annually :) And pray for a baby in the next week and a half because we're ready to have this little one with us!

New shelves in the baby's room!

Animal pictures that Justin's mom painted for the baby's room. Justin's dad made the frames.

Belly pics: 36 weeks 2 days!

BabyShower #1 at my brother's house (from the last post)

Countdown 5...Finally

So I haven't updated in a LONNNNNGGG time but it's been for good reasons. We've just been soo soo busy. Since I last updated we had our first infant care class on the 28th. It wasn't really what we expected actually. I was hoping for more of how to change an infant, how to feed an infant, how to hold one, etc. But we mostly watched videos about SIDS and swaddling. I didn't learn too much EXCEPT that you cannot put sunscreen on an infant. We had our second class this past week and we watched more videos about baby proofing the house and learning what each different cry means. We also did infant CPR which Justin and I both knew already but was good to get a refresher. Justin did learn some from this class so it wasn't so bad. He also said he wants to practice swaddling and diaper changing which makes me happy.
I've also started my practicum at St. Joe's. I'm on the labor and delivery unit and I get to follow a nurse around for a total of 84 hours. It's generally 12 hour shifts but because of work I'm going to be doing some 8 hour shifts instead. I've only had three shifts so far but I've done a lot already in those shifts. I've seen a regular vaginal delivery, a vaginal delivery with forceps and twins being delivered vaginally in the OR in case a c-section was necessary. I've also been able to experience triage nursing and I've learned a lot of new and practiced a lot of old skills. And I finally saw a delivery with a midwife which I think was great. It was on a slow day so she was able to stay the entire time she was pushing (the vaginal delivery I saw during OB the doc came in just before the baby was born) and she was just all around amazing. I still have about 50 hours to go but it's pretty awesome so I'm not too worried. I've established that no matter what I'm delivering at St. Joe's. While GBMC is okay to deliver at, I just love L&D at St. Joe's and I know we'll be well taken care of there. And one of the other doctor's has already said that if my doctor is at GBMC that day, she'll deliver me because she does him favors all the time anyway :) so I'm pretty happy about that. I've yet to see a patient deliver without pain meds, but I really hope I do get to experience that before I attempt it on my own.
Aside from my practicum, my online class started on the 26th. It's not really too much work right now, but it is difficult remembering when i have to log on to get my assignments in. We also have 3 papers to do for that class, one of which is due this Friday, so it's a little more time consuming that I originally thought. But I'm gonna go ahead and say that if I had to take this class next semester I'd not be too happy because it would be a lot more time consuming then.
So far, I'm still working too. In fact, my first day of practicum I left at 5 and went home, ate really quickly, and went straight to work for the Legwarmers. It was an extremely long night and by the end of the night I was exhausted. So exhausted that I slept in REALLY late the next day and we missed church yet again. I also worked this past sunday and I plan to work on Tuesday (for the Beastie Boys) and on Friday. I'm on the schedule for next week as well and after that it will be a play it by ear type deal.
As far as the countdown goes, I was officially 35 weeks last Tuesday. This is definitely a triumph because 35 weeks is the point at which they will not try to stop your contractions if you go into labor because the baby will most likely be fine. My 35 week appointment was pretty uneventful but the doctor did inform me that my check ups will now be every week (starting this week) and that he will start checking to see if I'm dilating at each visit. I hear this is kind of uncomfortable, but I'm still kind of excited to see if anything is going on. He should also be able to tell us if the baby is head down and how big he is. So I'm even more excited. And I say us because Justin is taking off of work for this visit so he'll be with me :) Justin has also started leaving his phone at the desk when he goes to the gym at work with the instructions to get him if his phone rings and it's me calling.
More on the baby front, he's definitely running out of room in there. I can feel him poking out everywhere and his movements are so strong now that sometimes it's painful (he's busy shifting around as we speak). The acid reflux is also back with full force. Twice in one week I woke up as I was about to vomit, but I was able to control it. I'm eating probably WAY too many TUMS these days. but I'm not tooo concerned about that. My stretch marks are also stretching more which is disheartening, but I know it's for a good cause. It's just going to be really tough post delivery when they're still there. I'm at the point now where I'm confident in saying I'll probably never wear a bikini again. It's amazing how much this stuff changes you.
In more news, my family's baby shower was this past weekend. It seemed like forever ago that we started planning it and it seemed like it would be forever until it got here but alas June 6th arrived. After rain all week, we were blessed with some sunshine and warmer weather for the big day. We had a great turn out, lots of food, and got some great gifts. We got tons of small things like lotions, bibs, cotton swabs, medicines, toys etc, we got all of our bathroom stuff including a tub seat for baby, a tub side seat for me and justin, AND the potty :), and we even got a few big items like the swing and infant seat and of course the stroller and carseat. Justin's mom and dad made pictures for the nursery (hand painted and the frames hand made) of the animals on his bedding set, and we got a lot more gifts that my mind is just blanking on. It turned out to be a GREAT day overall and we are so thankful and blessed to have everyone there to support us and to help us prepare for this next step in our lives.
On Sunday we finally were able to get to church, and I'm glad we did because we got to see our friends Rob and Sharon have their little guy Lucas Ryan baptized by Pastor Paul. It was amazing how good this baby was and how wide eyed and content he was when Pastor Paul took him around to introduce him to the congregation. We were glad to share this moment with them and we were also glad to see some of our friends that we haven't seen in a while. When we came home, we made a trip to Babies R Us to return a few things that we got doubles of (and I must say this was much easier than people have told me.. we had no problems at all) and then we headed home to relax for a bit. While at home, my brother called and invited us over for dinner that he grilled up and we of course couldn't turn down a good skewer meal :) So when we finally got back, I had to head off to work and Justin was able to relax for the rest of the day. I got to work and when I came in, one of the bartenders Krysta told me to shut my eyes. She led me into the venue and up to the main bar where all of the bartenders were waiting to yell surprise. They all had gotten there early to set up so they could use the hour before doors opened to throw me a surprise shower. I totally was not expecting it (and if you were there you'd know because I turned tomato red) but it definitely put a HUGE smile on my face. They had gotten us gifts (the pack and play, a diaper bag, the baby sling for me, two memory frames, and a onesie that says ' I take my bottles shaken not stirred') and even had a cake and flowers there. Krysta definitely put a lot of effort into it and I'm sooooo thankful for it. It definitely made my day!! The best part is, Justin knew the whole time and didn't slip once. He even made up a story earlier that day about how it was supposed to be bad weather late last night so he wanted me to take his car to work, meanwhile it was sunny out with not a cloud in the sky, but I still fell for it. AND while we were in babies r us, he spotted Krysta there getting the gifts and hid it really well and even had a story planned if I questioned why he jumped in front of me the way he did and why he wouldn't let me look around. ha ha. I was truly impressed.
Today I put the pack and play together and organized some of the baby shower stuff but our house is still a wreck with things everywhere (after I spent two days cleaning last week.. .like literally scrubbing the floors). We again put the pool table on craigslist hoping for a buyer because will all the stuff we have now, we definitely could use the room. Tomorrow I'll be 36 weeks (so just four more to go and just 28 days at that) and I'm definitely keeping up with the countdown.
As far as pictures go, they're at the top but it's late and I have to be up early so I'll organize and label them on Wednesday or Thursday. I'll also add this week's picture and pictures from the baby shower when I do.
I hope everyone has a great week!!

Pictures from the O's and Nat's game at National's Stadium

34 week pictures.

35 week pictures