I'm getting married in 10 days and...

My grandparents from Pennsylvania are going to be here!!!!

I can't tell you how happy that makes me, it's going to be the best wedding ever. I thought that with such short notice they wouldn't be able to make it. I really wanted them here but knew it was a longshot. But now they're coming!

July 31st is my wedding day AND my grandpa's birthday. He said he couldn't ask for a better birthday present, they're just so excited.

Happy dance!

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.