Whoa. I slept like a rock last night. (yes, it was wonderful!) I've gotten so used to waking up multiple times a night to change positions or use the bathroom that I've forgotten what that's like. :) Definitely have to be thankful for a good night's sleep when you can get one!
Hmm. I wonder if the hour and a half swim in the pool last night could have contributed to that?
Furthermore, baby girl has given my rib cage a break. :) She was so active when I woke up this morning, and I was so captivated with watching my belly moving in every which way, that it was hard to get out of bed!
There was something that I had wanted to post about, and for the life of me I can't remember it now. Doesn't that figure? Maybe it'll come to me. (haha, don't hold your breath on that one!)
Oh! Did I mention that Ryan and I will be taking a beach trip next weekend?? Ever since I was little, my family has gone to the beach every. single. year. Usually to Virginia Beach, but I've been to many others as well. Then last year, Ryan and I were in Cabo! In any event, about a month ago I really started yearning for the beach. I'm not sure why, but I just started envisioning walking along a sandy beach at sunrise, with the water lapping at my feet. Pure heaven! There's just something amazing about the beach. (it's also pretty much the only place where I WANT to get up to see the sunrise!!)
So, Ryan gave me the go-ahead to see what prices were like, and we figured we could just make it a weekend trip. By that time, most places were already booked up for quite a while, and I was having a hard time finding any hotel that had openings for a Saturday night. But! They had openings for Sunday nights. :) We'll basically be down there for 2 days, and 1 night, with Monday off.
Also? Be sure to at least look at a hotel's direct website before making reservations with a bargain website like Travelocity or the like. For the heck of it, I checked out the website for the hotel we'll be staying at, and found out that I could save close to $80 if I booked directly through the hotel. ("net direct rate"--no refunds, though! So be sure about your dates before you book!) So, basically, we'll be staying at an awesome hotel for a mere $40 more than the Econo Lodge!! Ha!
So, we'll have one last hoorah before baby girl gets here. :) Then I pretty much have to stay put, since doctors advise pregnant women not to travel anywhere after 34 weeks.
I am officially 33 weeks today!! :) The weeks just keep on comin'. Which means, if baby girl makes her debut on her due date, we have a mere 49 days left. Does that sound incredibly soon to anyone else?!
It sounded pretty soon to me, also, until last night! With my growing belly, I've felt big, of course, but had so far never been in any pain. Baby girl has been kind to me, and I've really enjoyed the last couple of weeks, especially. She's gotten so big in there (roughly 4 1/2 lbs by now, according to my newsletter!) and she squirms around close to constantly. :) Watching my belly move is the greatest thing ever. It's awesome.
Until last night.
She's always been pretty high up, as girls often are, but aside from a kick or two to the ribs, her position hasn't been uncomfortable. Last night, however, was unbelievable. It started while I was She wasn't kicking my ribs, but it was more like she was stretching out her legs, pushing against my rib cage... and keeping them there. It was excruciating! I seriously thought she might pop one or two out of place! "I hate to tell you this, but you're only going to get more uncomfortable the bigger she gets," Ryan informed me. Gee, thanks. :)
Thankfully, though, I'm back to feeling great this morning! :) I know she'll be here only too soon, so I'm trying not to wish the time away! It's going fast enough as it is. :)
Well, after work, Em and I will be going swimming again, and I can't wait! The weather is hot and muggy today, (it was already 80 at 7 AM) so it'll feel especially good to take a swim. :) You don't realize how heavy you are when you're submerged in water!
Good morning! Well, I certainly have lots of happy news to report this morning. :) Where to start?
First off, I just wanted to share a tremendous answer to prayer. On Friday afternoon, Ryan was made aware that he is being promoted!!! He will now be managing the entire Northern Virginia area!! It's effective immediately, and will involve a lot of hard work, but I can't even tell you what an amazing answer to prayer this is. Especially in this area, (very high cost of living) it's a little scary to go from two incomes down to one, but we really felt that it was what we needed to do. This promotion really won't kick in, financially speaking, until December, but we can definitely make it till then, and it's just a huge weight lifted, especially off of Ryan's shoulders.
Previously, we had been thinking that the next step up for Ryan would require relocating. I had mixed feelings about this, (we'd be further away from both sides of our family, which would be especially hard with a new baby) but the one positive note to moving would've been that we'd be in an area with lower cost of living. Meaning we'd have a better chance at buying a home, for one thing. Obviously, though, we're supposed to be in this area a little longer! :)
We were down visiting with Ryan's family over the weekend, which was really great. :) I know I haven't mentioned it here, but Ryan's grandparents sold their house up in northeastern PA, and just moved down to VA, really close to Ryan's parents, this weekend. Given the health issues that Grandpa S. has had relatively recently, it'll be a lot better for them to be close to family. I'm also really excited about it, because they're so close by now! (relatively speaking, of course... 2 hours is a lot better than 6!)
My Mom's birthday was yesterday, but we weren't able to celebrate it with her because she was many states away at a family reunion. So, we had to settle for birthday wishes over the phone. She and my Dad will be back in VA soon, so we'll be able to celebrate her birthday properly! :)
In any event, I just wanted to wish my Mom a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I honestly was given the most incredible Mom on earth, and I'm very, very blessed to have her. She is absolutely one of the main reasons I am who I am today.
Mom & I :)
Well, I hope you all had a nice weekend, and I hope it's a great Monday for you all! :)
Happy Friday! Hard to believe another week has already gone by, isn't it? Work has been busy, and eventful, (mainly with the new phone system, and my coworker being taken to the hospital via ambulance yesterday morning) so I'm very happy we've made it to the weekend. :)
I had my monthly doctor's appointment yesterday, which went very well. I was measuring right on target, and baby girl's heartbeat sounds great, so all is well. From now on, though, I start seeing my doctor every two weeks rather than once a month! Then a month from now I'll start going every week. This has gone by SO FAST!
After my appointment, I met up with Em at the pool! It was the first time I'd been swimming this summer, so I got to use my new bathing suit, and see if swimming would indeed help with the swelling in my ankles and feet. Let me tell you, it felt FANTASTIC to be weightless. :) I noticed that the soreness in my ankles and feet went away, and they were, in fact, less swollen when we got out of the pool. Not to mention, it felt really good to get some exercise without any impact. I think I'll need to go swimming very often until this baby gets here! :)
I didn't mention it on here, but we ordered our glider and ottoman for the nursery on Monday, and it was delivered yesterday. :) The greatest part about that, though, is this....
1) We used our $40 Target gift card from the baby shower, 2) We used our $73 Visa gift card from the baby shower, 3) Target was having a 15% off baby sale, and 4) Target sent me a $5 off coupon code in my e-mail.... ....which means.... We spent a grand total of $40.46 (including shipping) of our own money for our glider and ottoman!!!
Ryan had to work late last night, so I took it out of the box piece by piece, (since the whole box weighed 50 pounds) and put it together myself. :) Don't be impressed, though; it was really simple!
Can you guess which room is my favorite room in the house now??
Hope you all have a wonderful day, and a great weekend!!
I love being pregnant. Honest and truly, I do enjoy it. The whole process is an absolute miracle, and I've noticed that every little thing she does inside of me makes me realize just how real she is. There's nothing like it, nor will there be until she's actually here. :)
That being said, you really have to keep a sense of humor during pregnancy. It's not always pretty, and at times it's hard to remember that at one point in time you were a capable, fully functioning human being.
For instance? My short term memory sucks. I can literally think of something like, "Oh, I should go check our bank account online." By the time I've clicked on Internet Explorer, and go to type in the web address, I've already forgotten what I got online to do. I am so not joking. This kind of thing happens all the time, with anything and everything.
And why is it that I am at the very peak of clumsiness at the exact same time when bending over to pick up the things I've dropped is practically mission impossible? Just a not-so-funny coincidence, I suppose.
Ironically, at the time when I should be getting the MOST sleep, while sleep is still a possibility without a newborn to tend to, my body has decided that it can't ever be comfortable. I'm lucky if I find a comfortable position for an entire hour before having to shift to yet another position. This goes on and on for the remainder of the night.
My ankles and feet are swollen, I get out of breath quickly thanks to my diminishing lung capacity, I'm breaking out in places I never have before thanks to raging hormones, I get heartburn and acid reflux, (things I never experienced pre-pregnancy) I can eat only a miniscule amount of food since my stomach is squished, only to be hungry again an hour later, I can no longer paint my toenails, (what toenails?) my waistline is larger than I ever thought possible, it takes forever and a day to shave... oh, the list goes on and on.
But then she gets the hiccups. And as my belly "pops" with each hiccup, the smile on my face gets bigger, and my pregnancy woes fade more and more. Feeling her move about and squirm around to get comfortable, or seeing my belly push out as she stretches out her legs, fills me with total and complete joy. Pregnancy is only for a season, but the love I already have for this little girl is forever.
That's my random little post for today... we have an entirely new phone system that was installed yesterday afternoon, which I need to learn about. Given it's more "2007" and less 1980's like our previous phones, this is gonna take some concentration. ;-) Hope you all have a wonderful day!
... and I'm not really talking about the weather! Well, it's sunny at least, but wow is it hot! The heat index is going to be over 100 today, just like yesterday. Summer is definitely here. :)
As you all seemed to notice yesterday, the shower was amazing. I feel completely and immensely blessed to have so many people here who care about me, and my baby girl who will be here so soon. I've never worked for a company where so many people actually create genuine friendships with each other. It's always been the kind of thing where you can get along with each other at work, but you probably wouldn't ever get together outside of work. Does that make sense?
Ryan and I had a very nice evening. :) He didn't have to work very late, so we had dinner, and then took a 40 minutes walk outside. It was really hot yesterday, but it had cooled down slightly by then. We found out that there are a lot of really pretty trails nearby, and now I know where I'll be walking our baby girl around in her stroller. :) A lot of the trails are wooded.. there are bridges that go over streams.. who knew? Plus, we're really close to a popular bike trail, which is great, too.
Well, I've got a really busy day ahead of me, but I hope you all have a great day! :)
Good morning, and happy Monday! :) Wow, it was a GREAT weekend! If I could have 10 more exactly like that one, that'd be wonderful... a perfect mix of fun and relaxation. It was great! :)
We had our "date night" on Saturday, which was much-needed, and just wonderful. We went out to Olive Garden for dinner, (I got the shrimp & asparagus risotto--yum!) and then out to the movies to see Ocean's Thirteen. Gooood movie, though a little slower than the first two.
Yesterday was Ryan's first Father's Day. :) I got him a father-to-be card at Target, (who knew they made such things?!) along with a fantastic brown leather storage ottoman to go with "his" chair in the living room. :) They had it on clearance!!
Okay, so I'm sure you want to know how the shower went on Friday. :) Oh. my. goodness. I was seriously blown away by how generous everyone was! Apparently what they did was collect monetary gifts from those who wanted to contribute, then they took it to Babies R Us and bought us things from our registries. :) A few others brought their own gifts, too. They had these BEAUTIFUL cupcakes made especially for the party from a baker, some other delicious goodies, and yummy punch. I brought my camera and took a couple pictures; then one of my coworkers offered to take pictures of the event. :) So.. I have lots! Enjoy! :)
The chairs for Krissy & I. :) They even got us corsages!
The main table :)
Krissy & I. :) Dear goodness, I'm huge!
Some of my coworkers :)
THE BEAUTIFUL CUPCAKES!
Krissy & I opening our first gifts~
Opening the 30-piece Ultimate Care set :)
Opening OUR CAR SEAT!!
Just opened OUR STROLLER!!
Krissy opening an adorable knit sweater our coworker made!
Oh my gosh, we got so much stuff...
More gift opening...
Us with our final gifts :)
All of our gifts at home! They took up the entire table!
Our stroller after Ryan put it together! :)
Needless to say, we are AMAZED by how generous everyone was. I think the shock kept me from crying, but I was seriously overwhelmed! This company has been nothing short of wonderful to me, and I am so, so thankful. I've already written and dispersed all my thank you cards this morning!! (I wrote one for everyone here, since I wasn't sure who contributed and who didn't.)
Lastly, here's the pic of us at Krissy's shower last weekend! She was 32 1/2 weeks, and I was 30 1/2 weeks. :)
Well, that's all I've got. Hope you all had a great weekend!! :)
**EDIT** - CONGRATULATIONS TO DAYANA & MIKE ON THEIR PREGNANCY!!!
Oh-so many things to be happy and thankful for today. :) For one, it's FRIDAY! I can't even tell you how excited I am about the prospect of being able to sleep in tomorrow. Oh yeah. Sleep, how I miss thee.
Secondly, our company is throwing Krissy and I a joint baby shower today!!! It's called "Cake & Champagne," and will be held at 12:30. I am SO excited!! I don't think any other company I've ever worked for would do something like this. This has seriously been the best job I've ever had, and easily the best company I've ever worked for. :) I feel blessed. I'll definitely have some pictures!! :)
When it dawned on me that we only have 9 weekends left till baby girl is here, (if she comes on her due date) I decided it'd be a great idea for us to have a much-needed DATE NIGHT tomorrow night. :) We've been so busy lately, and I think it'd be really good for us to just get out, have some dinner, and go see a movie. My brother got me an Olive Garden gift card for my birthday, so we're thinking about going there, but I have NO idea what movie we'll see afterwards. Anyone have any good movie suggestions?! I don't even really know what's playing right now. :)
Well, hope you all have a great Friday, and a wonderful weekend!!
Whoa, it's THURSDAY already. Another busy day, thus why I'm just now posting. It's a good busy, but busy nevertheless. :)
Ryan gave me the OK to order a lamp for the nursery yesterday! During the day, it's my favorite place in the whole house, because it's so light-filled. :) However, there currently is no lighting in there whatsoever, so I figured a floor lamp would get the job done. I saw a lamp I liked when my Mom and I browsed through the Pottery Barn Kids store, just for the heck of it. Of course, the price tag was extremely unreasonable, (I think it was $129!) but I was hoping to find something similar. And I did. :)
Target, $44.99, with free shipping! Not only waaaay less than PBK, but also half the cost of the one JCPenney has, too. The shade is a pink gingham, which I think will be a cute accent, and will coordinate well with the bedskirt and the tulips on the bedding. It also has a 3-way switch, which was a must. Last thing I need is a super-bright light on during middle-of-the-night feedings. :) It had GREAT reviews on Target.com, and I'll let you know how it turns out once it's here!
Well, that's ALL the purchasing for the room I'll be doing for quite a while. I have so many ideas for the nursery, but alas, the medical bills are the bigger priority at the moment. :)
You know, I can only imagine what it will be like when this little girl is DOUBLE the weight she is now! (she's roughly 3 1/2 lbs at the moment) Last night, she had flipped around, and was no longer head-down. She was kicking waaay down in my lower belly rather than up by my ribs. Today, she was squirming around and pushing towards the front of my belly so much that it actually kinda... hurt. :) She's getting big!!
One thing I never knew before I got pregnant was that my belly would look different depending on where the baby is located and how they're positioned in the uterus. I just figured they conform to the space that's available in there, and it always looks the same, but no. For instance, I can wake up in the morning with a much flatter-looking belly because she's mostly in the back, but then when she moves to the front, and is pushing out on my stomach, it looks enormous!! Maybe I should've known that, but.. I didn't. It's very neat, though. :)
Well, enough of my ramblings. Hope you all are having a great week!
Good morning, and happy Wednesday! Well, it's already been a fun-filled morning. One of our agents planned a surprise breakfast/toast for our owner/president, mainly as a congratulations of sorts on the merger. Only a handful of people knew it was taking place, (I only found out about it yesterday!) so everyone was ushered into the conference room wondering what on earth was going on. It all turned out great, though. :)
As of yesterday, everyone here at work knows I won't be returning to work after baby girl is born. It went over pretty well, and everyone is really excited for me that I'll be able to stay home, but sad that I'll be leaving. They're throwing me and Krissy a joint baby shower on Friday, which I'm so psyched about! Should be a lot of fun. :)
Well, Ryan went back to work yesterday, and was actually able to make it the whole day without getting too uncomfortable. He's driving the Explorer this week, though, since it's a lot easier for him to get in and out of than the Civic while he's recovering. The only thing I'm really having to do out of the ordinary for him is tie his shoes. :) He's not allowed to bend over for a few weeks!
In other news, I found a set of prints for the nursery, which will match the "spring tulip" theme. :) I'm planning on using white frames with possibly light sage green mats.
I'm 31 weeks pregnant today. On the one hand, I can't believe 31 weeks have flown by so fast!! On the other hand, I can hardly remember when I wasn't pregnant. :) There are time when I'm uncomfortable, but I still feel pretty darn good for being so far along! :) I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that she'll be here so soon! 9 weeks sounds like a lot, in a way, but it's really not. At all. I can't wait to hold her. I can't wait to see her face. I can't wait to tell her how much I love her.
Good morning, and happy Monday! First off, thank you to all of you who prayed that Ryan's surgery would go well, and for quick healing. His surgery on Friday morning went off without a hitch, and he seems to be feeling better with each day. He's obviously not working today, but he thinks he may be able to go into the office tomorrow. We'll see... that may be a little optimistic! His body needs to heal, and that comes first, you know?
When we took off his bandages on Saturday, we were amazed by the fact that... he has a belly button! See, his hernia pushing on his belly button prevented him from ever having an innie belly button. It wasn't really an outie, either.. it was just flat. He doesn't think he even had an innie as a kid. So, I've never known my husband to ever have an actual belly button. Yet, lo and behold, there it is! The surgery was able to correct it completely, and his stitches are right on the very edge of his belly button, so they'll never be noticeable.
So, my hubby has a belly button for the first time in his life while I'm losing mine! Oh, the irony.
I attended a baby shower for my coworker Krissy on Sunday afternoon, which was much fun. :) She's due with a boy (to be named Braden) 2 weeks before me, and it's really hilarious how differently we're carrying! She's got the cute basketball tummy, and is carrying ALL out in front, so her belly looks a lot bigger than mine. I, on the other hand, am not sticking out in front very much, but I'm carrying more all-over. I'm also carrying a lot higher. In any event, the baby shower was oh-so fun!
Well, I haven't gotten any more pictures back from Lauren yet. However, she accidentally left one of her memory cards at our house, so I picked a few to show you all. :) Like the others I posted, they haven't been edited yet, but at least you can get an idea of what they look like!
Hope you enjoyed them! I'm honestly really happy with how they look so far. :) Have a great day!
Okay, first things first... the placenta previa is no longer an issue!!! :) It moved up and out of the way, which is exactly what we all were hoping for. Baby girl's a whopping 3 lbs, 1 oz. and was in head down position! Of course, she still has enough room in there to move around and change position, so that doesn't mean all that much right now. Still neat to know nonetheless.
She was active yet again, (which even the doctor mentioned! We're going to have our hands full!) and is MUCH bigger than last time. :) They couldn't get a very good profile shot, because she was facing my back, but we did get a few pictures. I cannot wait to meet this little girl!
Lauren came over to do pictures last night, and we had SO MUCH FUN! We started out with pictures of just me until Ryan got home a little later, then we did couple shots. :) Even Ryan enjoyed himself, and he typically HATES having his picture taken! So, imagine how delighted I was when I got into work this morning, and already have three pictures from Lauren! :)
Only the one with the blocks was edited... the other two haven't been touched yet, but I couldn't wait to show you guys a few of them! :)
She took a TON of pictures, and I will definitely post them as I get them! :) I'm so, so happy we'll have these pictures to look back on... and to share with baby girl later down the road. :)
Well, today is my "Friday" because I'll have tomorrow off to tend to Ryan. He has his hernia surgery at 8:30 AM. If you would, please pray that the surgery will go smoothly, and that he'll recover quickly and without problems. We'll BOTH be glad to have this fixed, because he's been awfully uncomfortable (and sometimes in serious pain) lately because of it.
I hope you all have a great remainder of the week, and a fantastic weekend! :)
Well, today is bound to be a great day! To start it off right, the weather is amazing, and slightly cooler than it has been, which is very nice. :) Secondly, we've got our final ULTRASOUND today at 2:30, and I absolutely cannot wait! I'm just so excited to see her again, and see how much she has grown in the past 12 weeks. :) 2:30 can't get here fast enough!
Our last ultrasound was supposed to be our final ultrasound, but if you recall, they found that I have partial placenta previa. So, today's ultrasound will show if it has resolved itself or not. Worst case scenario is that it hasn't, and I'd need to have a c-section delivery and could possibly have preterm labor. Best case scenario is that it's completely resolved, and everything's perfect! Obviously, we're praying for the latter. :) So, although being able to see my baby girl again is why I'm so excited about this ultrasound, that's the real reason for it in the first place.
After the ultrasound, my friend Lauren will be meeting me at our house to take those maternity pictures! We were able to reschedule it, and today's going to work out really well! I'm not sure when I'll have the pictures, but of course I plan on posting them.
Well, my hubby made it home last night safe and sound. It is SO good to have him home! :) Okay, I'll admit it was kinda nice to have the whole bed to myself for a couple nights since I require more space than I used to. More importantly, it was awesome to have all of the PILLOWS! Okay, and sure, he did hog all the covers last night, but oh my gosh, I missed him so much. It's funny to imagine now that I survived so many years before marrying him, because when he's home, strange noises don't bother me because, hey, he's there to protect me. Then he leaves and all of the strange noises have me startled, and thinking, "what was that?!"
Yes, I realize how ridiculous that is. I can't help it!
Anyway, everything's better when he's around. That's really all there is to it. :)
Good morning, and happy Monday all! I hope you all had a very nice weekend. :)
To be honest, our weekend wasn't the greatest. It got off to a good start--Ryan and I both ran errands on Saturday, and I got the few baby items I needed for pictures on Sunday. Then it all kinda went downhill.
Without getting into details, it was a very drama-filled weekend. Lots of complete misunderstandings. Lots of very hurt feelings. I feel trapped in the middle. I cried a lot this weekend. Not fun.
After church on Sunday, we looked around and waited for my friend, who was set to take the maternity pictures, and her husband. We didn't see them. I had missed a call from her, so I called her back, but it went straight to voicemail. I also tried another number I had for them, but it rang and rang and went to voicemail. After waiting for a while, I figured they possibly extended their vacation (they were set to get back the night before) and we decided to go get a quick lunch nearby and see if they called sometime soon. They didn't. :( So we went home.
I found out this morning through e-mail that they had gone to Sunday school, then headed off for lunch. She said she left a voicemail, but I didn't have one. Ah well! We're going to reschedule for sometime this week....
Ryan finished packing, then headed out around 3:30 for his business trip. He's got a conference to attend today and tomorrow, and will be getting home LATE tomorrow night. I miss him. I don't mind so much having the house to myself, (I watched three consecutive episodes of 'Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?'--something I'd NEVER be able to do if Ryan has control of the remote!) but especially when it comes time to head to bed, I really hate being by myself. I'm especially needy now, I think, and I'd much rather have my hubby home than be able to watch 'Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?' freely.
The weather looks beautiful today, from what I can tell. :) Even though it causes my ankles and feet to swell, I love the warm weather! I took a couple walks through town on my lunch breaks last week, and snagged a great find at one of my favorite stores here in town. You know that sign we have our doorway that says "Always Kiss Me Goodnight"? Well, I found a super cute one that is brown with ivory/gold lettering that says "Good Night ~ Sleep Tight ~ Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite." Even though I wanted it, I passed on it the first time I saw it, but told Ryan about it that night. He thought it sounded really cute, too, (I mean, who wasn't told that at bedtime growing up?? :)) so I went back the next day and got it. So very cute!
Well, it's looking like it's going to be a pretty busy day today. I will also have lots of things I can do to occupy my time in the evenings while Ryan is gone. I'm thinkin' lots of long walks and organizing! And relaxing, of course. I still need to go through the bags and bags of girl clothing my coworker gave me, to see what we're keeping and what we're giving away.
Happy Friday! :) So very thankful it's Friday already...
As not fun as it was, Ryan and I had to make our final trek over to the old apartment last night, for three reasons. One, Ryan needed to hang the new mini-blinds in our old bedroom, (which Kylie, our first dog, had destroyed) so they wouldn't charge us for that. Two, our old dining room table needed to be removed, and it was too heavy for me to get myself on Monday. Lastly, we had to drop off all of our keys and things to the business office, as yesterday was the last day of the month. Good news is that we are now done with that. Forever.
I haven't really been able to relax for more than, oh, about 20 minutes, all week. Actually, I haven't done all that much relaxing since we moved into the new place, despite really wanting to. I'm hoping that tonight and tomorrow will be at least a little more relaxing, because my big, pregnant body is tired. :) This has kinda shown me just how sluggish I'd feel if I had an extra 20 pounds on me permanently. Ugh! No thanks. (Fun thing is.. I'm only going to get bigger in the next 10 weeks!)
The best part, though, is feeling her move all the time. Gone are the days when I'd feel a kick here, or a poke there. Oh, no, my whole belly moves as she changes position, and wiggles around in there. I'm completely convinced that she's enjoying herself in there. :) She's a very active little girl! It's still absolutely amazing to me, and I could easily entertain myself by just watching my belly for goodness knows how long. I love her. Very very much.
Ryan, unfortunately, has to leave on Sunday afternoon for a business conference two or so hours away. He won't get back till late Tuesday evening. :-( Meanwhile, on Sunday afternoon after church, I'll be getting maternity pictures taken. :) I am really looking forward to that! My friend Lauren is taking them, and she and I have been looking at pictures other women have taken for inspiration. Here are a few we both liked...
Target, $44.99, with free shipping! Not only waaaay less than PBK, but also half the cost of the one JCPenney has, too. The shade is a pink gingham, which I think will be a cute accent, and will coordinate well with the bedskirt and the tulips on the bedding. It also has a 3-way switch, which was a must. Last thing I need is a super-bright light on during middle-of-the-night feedings. :) It had GREAT reviews on Target.com, and I'll let you know how it turns out once it's here!
