First Baby Shower

We had our first baby shower this weekend hosted by three friends from our couple's group, and it was WONDERFUL! My friends are awesome, generous, creative, thoughtful...I just can't come up with enough adjectives to describe all they did for us and how perfect it all was. I always have this fear when parties are held in my honor that nobody will come. I felt the same way when I had my wedding showers, but people did come and I was very flattered. Thanks to my three hostesses (and good friends), Stephanie, Shannon and Carrie, and to all my friends who came and blessed Micah with so many nice things. And thanks to Carrie and my mom, I have pictures to share! Enjoy!

Me with my hostesses, Stephanie, Shannon and Carrie.
They did an excellent job!

Table setting, which includes some of my favorites like
Edible Arrangements and Stephanie's spinach dip and cupcakes.

Group shot

Party favors

Our loot...we are blessed!

Closeup of all Micah's goodies

I forgot to take off my bedroom shoes for this picture.
I look like such a housewife.

Nursery Tour

Stephanie painted our nursery Friday and put the finishing touches on Monday. She worked really hard to get it finished before my parents came over for Father's Day, and we really appreciated that! I think she did an awesome job. Our neighbor, Karen, made the letters on the wall (the pictures don't do them justice ;-). We get more compliments about these letters, K - great job! I hope that Micah will let me keep his room this way until he's at least 4. By then he'll probably want a "big boy" room, so I'm relishing this opportunity to create a room for him of my own choosing. Enjoy the tour!

Jellyfish Season

If I had a camera with me and took pictures like the rest of you do, then I'd have one posted here of Jamie opening his father-to-be card this morning. He's so ready for Micah to come out and play! I am, too, as I can't seem to get comfortable sleeping now and sometimes wake up with really bad leg cramps and a husband whispering, "Can you settle down please?" We go back to the doctor this Friday to see how everyone's doing.

We are wrapping up a wonderful weekend at the river house. Yesterday a few friends came down for the day. We started out with a boat ride and a swim in Bath Creek. As we were swimming around, I noticed that the water had started to sting. Then I shouted several wirty dords as I made a beeline for the boat. Turns out I had been unknowingly swimming with a jelly fish, but thankfully only my arms got stung and thankfully everybody else was okay. Since we didn't have any meat tenderizer on the boat (a common cure for jelly fish stings), our friends suggested that ammonia via urine was my only option for relief. After we all laughed about this, Jamie peed on my arms and they felt a lot better. When we got back to the river house, I called my doctor to make sure that Micah wasn't in danger (he wasn't) and then we carried on with a wonderful day of lounging in our blow-up pool (an excellent buy!) and fishing. Only much later did I realize I had forgotten to wash my arms off...

Also, as Jamie is reading this over my shoulder, he's begging me to "tell them about my fishes." He caught some fish yesterday - a flounder and a trout - that we'll eat with my parents one night this week. We love fresh fish in the summer time!

I have Issues

The first is that my right foot and ankle are swollen, but my left looks completely normal. The right has gotten so big that I can't fit into my sandals anymore. I know that edema is a normal part of pregnancy, especially in the summer, but it seems odd that only one side is swelling. I read up online to see if I could do anything to alleviate this discomfort (along with swelling, my right foot also aches and falls asleep sometimes), and the advice I found was: sleep on your left side (check), don't cross legs while sitting (oops), prop up feet while working (oops again), don't eat junk food (oops a third time). On a positive note, I don't have any stretch marks yet :-D

My second issue is really retarded. Prior to getting married, Jamie and I discussed our desire for me to be a sahm (stay at home mom) once the babies came along. Well, that's our plan when Micah arrives - aside from a few hours I'll work each week from home - but as I'm finishing out my last few months at Covenant, I'm noticing that I'm losing some of my responsibilities, I don't feel as important anymore, I'm not invited to as many meetings, etc. Logically, I understand. After all, as Jamie put it, "They're cutting you back because you asked them to." But I also don't feel as valued or needed anymore, and that's a hard pill to swallow. I know once Micah is here, those feelings will go away. I'll have a new purpose then, and truly I'm so thankful to be able to stay home with him. But doggoneit, right now I want to go to those meetings! I laugh just reading that because I HATE meetings.

Tonight we're hosting a baby shower for our friends, Brandon and Carrie, and their baby, Stokes. This shower really is a double blessing: we get to spend time with good friends, and the occasion prompted Jamie to clean some areas of the house that normally get ignored...Tomorrow, Stephanie is coming over to paint the nursery (and hopefully take some pictures...she's a much better photographer than I am). I'll be hanging out with her 1-year-old, Aaron, practicing up for next summer...

Blink and You'll Miss Us!

Weekends zoom by...but then again, weeks do, too. I can't believe I'm already 28 weeks pregnant (picture coming)! We spent the weekend at the beach with my parents. It was awesome! We broke in the new skiff, and Jamie and my stepdad had a great time fishing on Sunday. I spent a lot of time with my mom - walking on the beach, swimming, beating Micah to death in the waves, etc. And much to the dismay of my health nut husband, I went to Dairy Queen and got my one brownie batter blizzard for the summer. It was decadent!

After I made my nursing cover, I had grand intentions of making lots of other things (see previous post). But when? I know that's a question I'll be asking even more when Micah comes, but it's true now since I married a man who doesn't sit still. Now we've become a couple who doesn't sit still. This week, for example, we're going to my mom's house for dinner tonight to eat the fish Jamie and Larry caught, tomorrow night we're going to dinner for Jamie's mom's birthday, Wednesday we're cleaning and mowing the grass, Thursday we're having our couple's group over for a baby shower for Micah's friend, Stokes, and Friday we get the nursery painted and then head to the river for the weekend. Whew! We have a lot of fun, but I hope this baby can keep up!

Blessed Freebies!

I hit the jackpot last week! Two of my co-workers offered up their gently used baby items for me to have...free! We're getting a car seat for Jamie's car, a jumparoo, an exersaucer and a swing! Like most first-time moms, I picked out all this new stuff for my baby. Then I got over it. He has plenty of new things, but I'm so thankful for these used items in particular. You never really know if a baby will like a swing or a jumparoo, so why buy that stuff new only to risk it never getting used? My mom also stumbled upon a half-off baby sale at Belk's this weekend. Thanks to her and my friend, Suzanne, Micah is already well outfitted for the next year. What a blessing!

I had my gestational diabetes test on Friday. I chose the orange drink and didn't think it was all that bad. Maybe that's because I'm used to drinking syrupy sweet tea. The lab tech said she would call me today or tomorrow if I failed. So no news from her is good news. If I do fail, then I'll go back for a 3-hour test to either confirm or reverse my failure. In other OB news, the baby is still doing well and already appears to be head down. This is a great time in my pregnancy; the sickness is long gone, my energy level has perked up, and I'm rounding out but still not so big that I feel like a beached whale. The only new symptom I'm noticing is my sensitivity to heat, which doesn't make for a very pleasant summer ahead. We're going to the beach this weekend and my only request is to find a tide pool to sit in for the afternoon.

I'm back into sewing hardcore. Next on my agenda: sewing machine cover and passy clips. I hear those clips are hard to find, so I was super excited to find this tutorial online.

Update: I passed my diabetes test! I couldn't stand the "no news is good news" approach, so I finally called this afternoon and they gave me the results. Praise!

Bosom Buddy

I work hard all day. I like knowing there's going to be a break. Most days I just sit and wait for the break. - Kevin, The Office

I had a break yesterday, so I got to work on my nursing cover. Things were moving along wonderfully until I got ready to thread the boning (this is the part that bows out at the top and allows me to see the baby better while I'm nursing.). Then I almost lost my religion (ok, not really...). I ended up un-stitching, re-stitching, running out of thread, running to Wal-Mart for new thread and accidentally buying the super thick stuff that was like sewing with shoe string. Ugh! But I finally finished around 9pm and am mostly happy with the outcome. As my fellow sewing friend Shannon says, "Don't look too closely at those seams!" I'm a perfectionist and hate flaws, but I just have to get over that. (Click here for a nursing cover tutorial.)

My nursing cover in all its glory!

If it weren't for the darn boning, I'd take orders,
but I just can't put myself through this again.