Baby Shower!

We had our baby shower last Saturday, it was awesome. I'll admit that we were both pretty stressed out about it, but it was great. We weren't stressed because we had any doubts that the hostesses (Lauren and Hayley) would do anything less than spectacular, we were just nervous about all of the people! After I called everyone for rsvps we realized that most of the people we invited were going to be there. Like, 40-50 people. At my mom's house. That's a lot. So, naturally we both laid in bed the night before wondering what could go wrong with all of those people in one place.

Nothing went wrong. It was beautiful.

We got there a little early so Chris could set up his redneck golf game. He spent all of Friday afternoon making it, and I'll admit that I was pretty impressed with the final product. I didn't get a picture of it. Honestly, I didn't get pictures of much. After everyone had left, I said "oh crap! I didn't take pictures of anyone!" Here's a few I took before the guests arrived:

The table with the sweets! (there was also a table with fruits and vegetables but this one is far more interesting, I think you know why)

The proud papa and big brother.



My sister, Rachel.

My other sister Melissa and my mom. (Miss, why did you make that face?)

Lauren's husband, Travis. He made the sliders. They were delicious.

Lauren scrubbing some dishes. Thanks, Lauren!

A few people showed up at 2. We had that awkward 30 minutes where we kind of sat around and tried not to look at each other while we came up with some lame small talk. After more people arrived, everyone began to mingle and I felt a lot better. I wish I could have spent time with every person who came, but it was really hard! I finally just sat down and let people come to me. I mean, it was my party. Oh, Chris' too.

It was great to see everyone. I had some friends there that I hadn't seen in over a year! It was so awesome that they came. Chris' mom's side of the family was there, I don't get to see them often so that was really nice.

We only played one game, and we both really liked it! Lauren put it together. She would ask Chris a question (like "How many younger siblings do you want Emily to have?") and he would write it on a board without showing me. I'd guess his answer and then he'd show it to everyone. If I got it wrong, I had to stick a piece of gum in my mouth. I was doing pretty good until about halfway through, haha. I think we both ended up getting 4/8 right. Not too shabby. It was fun, a more personalized game than most shower games and I think everyone else enjoyed it.

After that, we opened the gifts. SO MANY PINK BAGS. Haha, I didn't know where to start! That was the only stressful part of the day. I felt a little weird opening them while everyone watched. I know everyone wants to see the cute baby clothes, but I still felt uncomfortable. I was sweating like crazy and kept asking my mom to turn the AC down. Chris galliantly sat next to me the entire time, folding bags and throwing away tissue paper. We received some super cute stuff! I'm almost done with thank you notes, which is kind of a big deal for me. I generally wait until the following year to get around to things like that. It hasn't even been a week and I'm almost done! Go me!

After the gifts everyone filed out pretty quick. My friend Laine showed up late so she stayed behind and I actually got to spend some one on one time with her and her man Jeremiah, so it actually worked out that she was running a little late. I didn't feel like I ignored her like everyone else there. We sat around on the couch, cleaned up, and headed home.

Baby shower = Success.

Thank you SO MUCH, Hayley and Lauren! You guys are awesome!

28 weeks!

The countdown continues. 12 weeks left. That's 3 months. 3 months! I have a feeling she's going to wait until October, but we're so close now!

We spent our last week with Audrey and I had to drop her off at her aunt's house yesterday morning. We have been talking to her a lot about going back to Arkansas and trying our best to explain why she can't stay with us. It breaks my heart when she gets so upset about leaving. I know she loves her daddy, and I know she would miss her mom if she couldn't see her either. It's just so hard to see someone her age have to deal with all of this stress. I just wanted her to know that we're not sending her away, it's just time to go back! We finally got her to understand and told her that when she is older, she can decide where she wants to stay.
Yesterday morning she finally sounded happy about going home. I talked to her about her mom and her brothers and she told me that she missed her brothers (even though they're not big enough to play with yet, which is very frustrating for a 4 year old). I cried when I pulled out of the driveway. I couldn't help it. That little girl drives me crazy but I really do love her and I hate to see her go.

It was so quiet at home last night. Chris and I didn't know what to do with ourselves. Our evenings had felt so short the past month. Get home, playtime, clean up, make dinner, attempt to eat dinner, bathtime, get in our pjs, read a book, read another book, read another 3 books, and pass out. Last night we just sat on the couch trying to figure out what to do with all the time we had.

It won't be quiet for much longer. 12 more weeks and I'll be wondering why I ever complained about it!

My baby shower is tomorrow. I am SO EXCITED. I get to see all kinds of friends and family that I haven't seen in months or years! Hooray!

Thanks mom!

My mom is awesome, and I just want you to know that.

I already knew it, but she really showcased it this past week. While Audrey was in town, we took time off work as much as we could and relied on family to help us out on the days that we couldn't stay home. She stayed with some family on her mom's side during the day for a week, but we had a hard time getting them to bring her back at the end of the day because they wanted to spend time with her. No harm in that, it's just that we haven't seen her for 6 months and I really want Chris to see her as much as possible. Every hour is a big deal in my opinion.

So last week my mom agreed to watch Audrey during the day. Super. So, Chris will drop her off at your house on his way to work, yes? No, of course not! Mom woke up early every morning in order to get to our house 30 minutes away before I left for work. That way, miss sunshine doesn't have to be woken up at an ungodly hour and can start the day off right. Mom brought her coffee and hung out until the little monster awoke from her slumber.

She got her dressed and fed, sat through Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as many times as necessary, then took her to DS to play with Rachel and Melissa for a while. Audrey LOVES the big girls, she has so much fun with them and I think it makes her feel very important when the big girls play with her and give her attention. Mom took her to the Belterra pool just about every day she had her, which meant that bedtime wasn't very difficult as she was utterly exhausted from swimming for 2-3 hours straight every afternoon.

If that weren't enough, I got a phone call from my mom one morning while she was still in Blanco. She said "don't get mad at me." Uh oh, why? What could it be? It can't be that bad, can it?

She cleaned our house.

Oh! The horror! The outrage! My house is CLEAN?? And I didn't have to do it???

It was awesome. Apparently my dad's mom used to do this when I was younger, and my mom felt like she was telling her that she didn't do a good enough job cleaning. Not the case here. I know for a fact that I'm not doing a good enough job, but I really do try. I'm tired, we have a somewhat messy guest with us this month, and Chris, well, he doesn't really have any excuse not to help. His words, not mine. [Fun fact: He has been more helpful this past week. He even let me take a nap while he cooked dinner and tried his best to keep Audrey quiet.]

One day I came home from work and found out that my mother had not only cleaned our bathroom (bathroom cleaning = worst household chore EVER), but she had managed to cook us dinner while she was at it. How do moms do that? When Emily arrives, do I get magic powers? Please please please tell me I get magic powers. I could really use them.

I told her thank you. I really meant it. I feel like that's not enough, I don't know how else I can let her know how much I appreciate her help. I love you, mom! You're the best.

Welcome to Parenthood

There we were, standing in line at 5 Guys Burgers & Fries, all excited about finally getting to eat lunch. I look up at Audrey, who is being carried by her daddy, and I see a funny look on her face. Is she angry? Is she thinking really hard?

"Audrey, why do you look so concerned?"

Her mouth opens, drool pours out.

"I'm going to throw up."

Before I even know what happened, Chris is standing there like absolutely nothing happened, with a handful of cantaloupe and corndog puke in his hand. In his hand.

"I'll get some napkins."

I get back and realize that almost none of it has touched the ground. I held out my napkins for him to pour it into. I almost lost my breakfast just looking at it. It looked like the inside of a pumpkin. As soon as he dumped it, he put his hand back and caught the next wave. Then he walked to the bathroom, Audrey on one arm, cantaloupe in the other hand.

I've never seen anything like it. Is this normal parental reaction? Is this a dad thing, being able to catch the entire contents of his child's stomach in one hand? Or is this just that Chris is that good?

But I am Le Tired...

Hey there 3rd trimester, I know we just met, but I think things have gotten off to a rocky start. Maybe you forgot our conversation last week? I specifically asked you (very nicely, in fact) to be kind to me. That's all I asked. But you have not been kind to me.

Yes, you are the last step before I get to meet my little girl, and I am glad that you're here. However, you did not have to give me this god awful acid reflux. I've never had it before. I didn't know what it was until a couple of days ago. I just thought everything I ate was bad and my body was rejecting it. It burns, it hurts, and the gas has got to stop. Please make it go away. If not for me, then for Chris. He really doesn't deserve to sleep in a gas chamber.

Well, sometimes he does.

If you can't do that for me, how about easing up on the exhaustion a bit? I'll admit you aren't as hard on me as 1st tri was, but you are a little trickier. 1st tri let me sleep. On my back, on my side, curled up, stretched out, even on my stomach. You aren't that nice. You don't allow me to sleep on my stomach, on my back, or even on my right side. All I get is the left side. And if that weren't enough, you make my back pain excruciating during the night. You even threw in the "wake up twice a night to pee" thing. Real funny.

Have you been plotting against me with my own daughter, 3rd trimester? She seems to enjoy kicking the crap out of my insides during those few and far between moments of actual comfortable sleep. What did you say to her? What can I do to make it stop? If you're in good with her, can you tell her that if she lets up during the night, I'll buy her a car when she turns 16? Maybe not a brand new BMW, but I promise I'll work with her.

I'm afraid I'm freezing my family out at night. You make me hot, 3rd trimester, and not in a good way. I'm already waking up for a million other things at night, now I'm waking up to turn the AC down. Even with it set at 68 and sleeping with a thin blanket, I manage to wake up covered in sweat like I just ran a 1/2 mile. Yes, 1/2 mile. Why didn't I say marathon? Because if I ran a marathon, I wouldn't be covered in sweat, I.... well, I wouldn't finish the marathon. I'd probably get about 1/2 a mile and say screw it, I'm eating a bowl of ice cream.

Here's a good one- how is it that you make me feel either drunk or hungover 75% of the time when I haven't ingested a drop of alcohol since January? I'm lightheaded. I'm dizzy. I run into things (more than normal). I forget things. The other day I ran the dryer for 30 minutes before realizing it was empty. I forget what I'm saying halfway through a sentence. I'm surprised I haven't gotten lost on my way home from work yet.

Lastly, I would like my patience back. Why would you take that from me? You know I didn't have much to begin with.

I know you don't like me. I don't really like you either. That being said, I would still appreciate you hanging around until late September. I really want to meet Emily Jean, but not too soon. You're the only thing keeping her in there until she's ready.

Movie Night

Chris went to Best Buy today and bought Audrey a few movies. I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I am probably 5 times more excited than she is about this. Seriously.

He got my all time most favorite movie in the entire world, Mary Poppins.

He also got my most favorite Disney movie of all time, Robin Hood. I love that fox!

Then he went and got the new Alice in Wonderland. Ah, I'm in heaven.

(are we sure he wasn't picking these out for me?)

THEN he tells me that he got me a surprise while he was out today. I actually got excited for a second. What is it?

Oh. Um. Thanks, babe. I love it.

I'll just stick with the movies.

3rd Trimester!!!

I made it 2/3 of the way. I'm 66.6% finished. She will be here in 13 weeks. Surprisingly, I am not freaking out. Yet.

I'm just so excited! Our baby shower is next weekend, and after that we can finish getting all of our gear together to finish the nursery. Then all I have to do is pack my hospital bag and wait. Everyone keeps telling me that the last couple of months are torture. I'm impatient and I don't enjoy being uncomfortable, so I'm sure they're right!

Emily Jean is growing every day, it's pretty surreal when I think about the fact that I'm growing a tiny little person inside of me. The other night I was drifting of to sleep and actually comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that I felt like my belly wasn't there. Like it was flat again. It completely freaked me out and I had to wake myself up and poke around to make sure she was still in there! So now it's comforting to be uncomfortable. Is that what being a mom is like?

My growth chart says she is the size of an eggplant and weighs a little over 2 pounds. She doesn't feel much like an eggplant. I told my sister that she feels like a 3 pound fish that can occasionally kick and punch me. She feels HUGE. She was kicking me so hard the other day it actually kind of hurt, like tiny little jabs right into my ribs. She's only going to get stronger.

I can see her kicks on the outside now. She was moving around after dinner earlier this week and I had Chris come over to watch. He put his hand down and we were sitting there feeling her kick, then we both went "whoa!" when she unleashed her karate moves on his hand, haha. He also felt her when she had hiccups. Or, at least what I think were hiccups. They felt like lighter kicks, every 1-2 seconds, over and over again for about 2 minutes. It was cute.

I had another appointment earlier this week, and I am very proud to say that I have only gained 21 pounds so far. 27 weeks, 21 pounds, I'm not complaining. There's a chance I may go over the recommended 35 pounds, but not by much (if I stay on track!). I'm good with that. I want a fat baby anyway, I'll deal with losing the weight after she's safely in my arms.

I scheduled my dreaded glucose test for the 12th. I go first thing in the morning and I'm not allowed to eat breakfast. They take some blood, force me to drink a sugary, syrupy drink on an empty stomach, expect me to just hang out for an hour and then take MORE blood to test for gestational diabetes. I know I have to do it, but man I really don't want to. I passed out last time they took blood and I had eaten that day! Chris said he'll go with me for moral support. I'll try to remember to breathe.

Here we are yesterday, modeling a new shirt mom got for me!

Kohl's was having a sale, which means that I now have clothes that fit! It's quite discouraging when you realize that the maternity pants you purchased in your first trimester (that felt HUGE) can no longer be pulled over your third trimester hips. Yeah, those hips that I thought couldn't get any bigger? They did. The butt? You betcha.