Monroe Marie

Last weekend was great!  I'm so glad that Jason and I were able to throw a baby shower for our dear friends, Budd and Rea Smith (and so lucky to have had the help of Brooke & Daniel and Aubree & Nick).  We can't wait to meet baby Monroe Marie!  June 14th cannot come soon enough.  It has been so wonderful to be able to experience all things pregnancy with Rea.  We have compared ideas, frustrations, fears, awesome registry items, nursery plans, and enjoyed prenatal yoga.  I can't imagine not having someone like Rea to share all of these new experiences with me.  Below are a few pics from the fun evening!  I forgot to take any shots of my gift to her, but it had a theme:

• Something you want - monogrammed blankie
• Something you need - nasal aspirator (aka snot sucker)
• Something to wear - onesie stickers
• Something to read - The Velveteen Rabbit (my childhood favorite)

The Parents-to-Be

Me, Rea, and Brooke
It doesn't look possible that they are both due 4 weeks before I am!

Now I'm gearing up for another big week!  Tomorrow, Jason and I have CPR class, and Friday I will be getting a much needed pedicure.  Then Saturday, Jason and I will be heading to Little Rock for a baby shower being thrown by some of Jason's mom's friends.  Sunday, we will be having another shower in Fayetteville.  And Monday, I'm heading to Joplin for a 3D ultrasound to get some pictures and measurements of this "chubby" baby.  I can't wait to see all of our family and friends - and baby, of course!  It will be crazy, but so much fun! 

Projects, Cars, and Dr. Visits

It's been a busy couple of weeks!  I've spent lots of time getting ready for Rea's shower and can't wait for Saturday!  


I've also been working on a few projects of my own.  I've been very torn about what to put on the top shelf above the dresser in the nursery and I think I have a couple of ideas.  I bought the cutest print from Etsy!  Ours will be pink and the heart will the be in the right place.

I've also been working on a homemade project.  It started with me spilling the Mod Podge all over the table (apparently pregnant = clumsy), but luckily recovered the project.  Here is a little hint as to what it is.  Take what you will :)

As I mentioned in my last post, we bought a new car!  Thanks to my dad for buying the TrailBlazer so we were able to get this 2012 Honda CRV.  We compared LOTS of options before deciding on the CRV, and I'm so glad we chose it!  I'm already in love with the Bluetooth (how have I lived without it?!?!?) and the sunroof is growing on me, too.  Plus, it has a backup camera which is great for those of us who are a little vertically challenged and have a hard time seeing out of our vehicles.  And it doesn't hurt that we've been averaging nearly 30 mpg and our insurance is cheaper!  Love this car!!!

Dr. Update: I had an appointment with Dr. Collins yesterday.  I was supposed to have my glucose test to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes, but the lab tech had the flu, so I will have to go back for that.  Kind of a bummer because I made sure to eat no sugar all morning and definitely had a headache by the afternoon!  Other than that though, everything went well.  I only gained 6 lbs this month (whew) and my blood pressure is back down to normal.  Dr. Collins did say I have a "chubby baby" when she did measurements so hopefully that doesn't turn out to be the case!  A little bit scary for me, but she didn't seem concerned. I'm far enough along now that I will start going to see her every 2-3 weeks instead of every 4, so I guess we're in the home stretch.  It doesn't really feel that way since I can't see how I'm possibly going to get much bigger even though I know I haven't even seen the the big growth phases yet, yikes!

26 Weeks

And we have bedding!  The nursery is basically complete.  I couldn't be happier with the finished product from Little Charlie May.  Look her up on etsy.com or Facebook!  She made the beautiful blanket, crib skirt, two crib sheets, and matching pillow.

In other not-exactly-baby news, we bought a new ride this weekend!  It won't be in for a week or so, but here's a sneak peak.

It's hard to believe this is the last week of my second trimester!  I'm definitely ready for our little girl to be here.  For now, we are enjoying watching and feeling her kick and roll around.  She tends to hang out on the right side, so my stomach always looks lopsided.  The next couple of months will be very busy for us.  This month we have two baby showers (three if you include the one I'm throwing for Rea- can't wait!), a CPR class, a First Aid class, and a class on how to use our awesome Sony camera.  Hopefully, they'll teach us how to take some great pictures of our lady - and our puppies, of course!

New Goodies

Not a lot of new an exciting news on the baby front these days other than it's getting increasingly uncomfortable to sleep and do other things!  This has been a pretty exciting week, though.  


I got everything ordered for Rea's shower gift.  I wish I could post pics, but I don't want her to see it before the 21st!


After all my talking about learning to sew, my sweet mom bought me the sewing machine I wanted as an early shower gift!  Last night, Jason and I went to JoAnn to pick up a few essentials so I could give it a shot.  Keep in mind that my total time spent using a sewing machine in the past 27 years is approximately 15 minutes.  It took me awhile just to figure out what all of the parts were even though this is supposed to be an easy machine to use.  Turns out it is once I studied those little pictures!  It has an auto threader and is totally computerized.  All I have to do is push a button and it starts stitching whatever pretty stitch I select.  It even does auto button holes in several different shapes and came with 8 different feet.  When you pick a stitch, it even tells you which foot to use.  I'm still not totally sure what all that means, but hope to know soon.  I took it for a spin in an attempt to make a burp cloth.  It was much easier than I thought and turned out better than I expected, but even still, I'll spare you the pictures.  I can only get better though (I hope!).  I'm sure I'll be making adorable dresses in no time! Sorry, the picture is a little dark...

Brother CS-600i

I've been back and forth about a million times about whether to put a ceiling fan in the nursery.  The light fixture, although very plain, really grew on me after we got done painting, so I considered just getting a table fan and trying to find somewhere to put it.  It is recommended that you have some kind of fan to move air and lower the risk of SIDS.  After lots of searching, we finally found a fan we like, and Jason's electrician friend came and installed it today.  I love it.  It makes the room so much more comfortable.  I was a little nervous because we only had one light switch and I didn't want to have to pull fan cords all the time, but Jeff told us about a remote that can be installed inside the fan itself that would allow us to control both the light and fan without having to wire another switch.  With the push of a button we can select from 3 fan speeds and can dim or brighten the light.  Pretty cool!

I'm really looking forward to my next post, so stay tuned!  Our crib bedding should be here tomorrow, and I know it's going to be gorgeous.  It will be the last big thing that we need for the room.  I can't wait to see it!