calm as a cucumber

When I think about labor and contractions, I don't freak out. I actually feel really calm about it all. Is this normal? Should I be freaking out? When I know something big is going to happen in my life, I immediately start praying for wisdom, strength, guidance and a peace about the situation. I'm sure most of you do the same thing. I continue to pray over these things and about these things during the situation I am in the midst of- whether I'm washing the dishes, feeding the dogs, going to the bathroom ( yes I did just reveal that information). Pray without ceasing. Such a powerful thing anyone can do.

But really, I have this sense of calmness over me. Will all of that change once I am experiencing labor and contractions? Be honest, now. :)

You+Me= Baby Bristol

d-day

My birthday is on the actual " D-Day" from World War II. But this is not what this post is about.

I'm talking about d-day for Bristol. My mind is constantly thinking " will this be the day my water breaks and I go into labor?" Everytime I get up and go to the bathroom at night I think... " did my water break"? ORRRRR.... when she is moving a lot in my stomach ( especially really low in my belly) I often think " are you trying to come out?"

You're mind really starts spinning when you have a baby inside of you and it's about that time for him or her to come out.

I'll be 36 weeks on Monday and I go to the Dr. on Thursday. I haven't been feeling well the past week. Nauseous, tired..... just icky. I feel better when I'm laying down and not doing a darn thing. But in all reality, I'm tired of being at home and not doing something. Ah!

I know I know... my life is about to change. No sleep, no sleep, no sleep. :)

My prediction is that she is coming in about 2 weeks.

We shall see.

it's the final countdown

Tomorrow will mark exactly 1 month till my due date. This seems so crazy to think about. I feel like I just got pregnant. 9 months really does go by fast. I also started my weekly Dr. appointments. I'm already 1 1/2 centimeters dialated and 70% efaced. My Dr. could also feel Bristol's head. CRAZY! I know that you can dialate either really fast or REALLY slow... so we will see where I'm at next week. Monday I will be 36 weeks and I still have the feeling that I will go into labor before my due date. We shall see.

I wanted to share some recent pictures with you. I haven't used my nice canon dslr in so long because, well I don't care it around with me, that's what a cell phone is for right? Well, here are some pictures that I have taken over the last week or 2.

How cute are these little sparkly keds? I bought these for $8.75 at dillards, they were orignally $25.00, can we say steal, I mean deal? :)

Another clearance item from dillards. My family LOVES under armour ( they have the most comfortable tennis shoes, by the way). So of course I had to snatch this up when I saw it was on clearance. It's a skirt with built in shorts, just my style. She'll go golfing with daddy in it on Saturday's and come with mommy to the backyard and hit off her pink tee-ball set. She'll have no choice.

Hey! It's me! I'm looking a little rough, but I just had to share this picture with you all. See my pups? Yeah they are attached to my hip. Nakona ( white dog ) is always sitting on my chest, belly, lap or laying on me. She has been very clingy lately, I think she knows something is about to happen. I actually started to cry on the phone today with my dad about my pups. Sounds cheesy, I know. But you guys, these are my babies. I'm just worried they will go through this huge shock of not being the center of attention anymore and that I can't devote enough time to them. I know this sound silly, but I'm serious, Rocky and Nakona are my sweet babies who keep my company whenever I need it. I'm just going to pray that all things go well once we bring Bristol home.

Here is our jogging stroller. Isn't it lovely? It's the city mini and it's absolutely delicious. The ride is soooooooo incredibly smooth. I'm so excited to use it. Wanna know a secret? I totally push it around the house all the time. I even put Nakona in it. :) It's parked by the front door, just waiting to be taken out for it's first real ride. We will need to buy the carseat adapter for it and then we can strap little Bristol and go for a spin!



Well, that's all for now. My Dr. put me on a strict diet for the next few days. She thinks I might have a stomach bug which is making me feel nauseous, have random hot flashes and well having the "runs". So I'm going to go see what I can come up with for dinner.

Bye!

ready for lift off

My child is head down and ready for lift off.

Is that too graphic for my blog? Sorry, but I'm the no holds bar type of gal, so to me, that isn't too graphic. But yeah, she is head down and I think she is ready to come out. I'm having a lot of pressure in my lower stomach and feeling VERY uncomfortable all over my body. I'm not sleeping, what is sleep anyway? My beach ball, I mean baby bump definitely gets in the way so I find it very hard to get comfy, even with pillows in between every nook and cranny. Comes with the territory right?

We went to the Dr. yesterday and my Dr. thinks that Bristol will be around 6lbs at birth. How much should I actually believe of that? My mom was very tiny when she was full term with me and I was 8lbs. I guess we shall see.... taking bets now.... how much do you think she will weigh? I'm going with around 7lbs, Brandon agreed with the Dr. and was thinking around 6lbs.

I'm also needing to find a pediatrician in the Sugar Land area. I posted it on facebook and got a lot of feedback from people. Some people said the same Dr. which was nice to see, but I guess I really need to do some SERIOUS research. I already had bad luck with my first OB and I changed 10 weeks into my pregnancy. So I'm hoping I find the right pedi for Bristol and her first time parentals.

I'll be 35 weeks on Monday and I think I feel about 40 weeks pregnant. I really have a feeling Bri will be coming early. Not like I have past experiences to help me out with this one, but I just have this thought that she will be here before we know it. My Dr. told me that the majority of first time moms actually go about a week after their due date. Oh lord, I am begging you to let this baby come before my due date. Did I mention that I am due the first day of school? And by that I mean, Brandon is a teacher and his first day of teaching is August 22 - my DUE DATE. I really want him to spend some time with this baby girl before he has to go back to work. It's all in the Lord's timing, I know I know. I trust his calendar more than my own :)

Speaking of Brandon, I just love him. Tomorrow we will be celebrating 6 years of being together. We talked on the phone for the first time June 5, 2005, started dating July 16, 2005 and now look at us, almost married 3 years and a baby on the way. God is so good. But enough about that, I am going to dedicate a whole post to him tomorrow.

I am almost done with Bristol's room. There are still a few things that need to be done like finding a cute rug, cute curtains, my friend finishing up the paintings for above her crib, securing the changing pad to the dresser and.... well I'm sure there are a few more things that need to be done. But we are definitely in the home stretch! My mother-in-law and Brandon's grandma came over last night for me to boss them around, I mean help me with things :) They were a lot of help. We got a lot organized, which is a big sigh of relief. A couple weeks ago, my mom came over and DEEP cleaned and I mean DEEEEEP cleaned all the bathrooms in our house. We also got our master bedroom fixed up. It told myself that our bedroom was going to be the last room in the house to get decorated. So my mom helped me stage it and then that weekend we painted, well my dad and Brandon painted our room. I really feel like we are living in a new house which our room fixed up. Next on our list is to take out all the carpet in the house and replace it with hardwood floors. So a big shout out to my wonderful mom, awesome mother-in-law and precious grandma-in-law :) I love you girls, thank you for helping me when I need it the most!


well, that's all for now. we are heading to dinner... I'm coming back with another post tonight, fill with pictures from my mom.

i know i know, you'll be waiting by your computer for that post

bristol's room - work in progress

pin me up scotty

Pintrest. You into it? Have you looked at the website? Well, I knew nothing about it till a couple weeks ago. It's actually rather interesting to see what goes on the website. I thumbed through some pictures and thought I would share what caught my eye. This is very random and I think I like it that way. So here goes.....

So many times in life, we find ourselves judging other people for what they look like, think, say or do. I am so guilty of this, on a daily basis. When I came across this saying, it really hit home. Passing judgement makes me no better than the next person, nor does admitting it, but think about what this saying is saying. So many people fight different battles every single day of their life. Some might share those battles with you, some may not, but by no means do I need to judge them for their battles, when I fight my own battle everyday.

Um, all I have to say about this picture is.... I WISH I COULD DO MY HAIR LIKE THAT EVERYDAY. I'm such a bad "curler" if you will, and when I see hair like this, I want to rip it off the girls head and glue it on mine. I really need some hair help. Any advice on how to make the big waves?

One word .... AMEN.

Don't you LOVE this picture? I totally want to do something like this for Bristol when she turns 1. Love love love this. Now where can I find that pink chair? Hmm... I might need to start looking now.

Love C.S. Lewis. Need I say more?

How genius is this rustic window? Make it into a large collage picture frame? YES PLEASE! I want this oh so badly -- for my guest room.

I love fall and this picture reminds me of Wisconsin, where I was born and lived for several years. The falls are probably the prettiest season in Wisconsin. I love the oranges, reds, yellows, browns... I love it all!

So that was my first "pinterest" post. This was actually fun. Looking at different things and thinking " oooo I like this! Gotta have that! ewww... sick!"

I suggest you hop on over to pinterest.com and CHECK IT OUT!

pack your bags and let's go!

I really thought that when I got pregnant I would be blogging every step of the way. Ugh, was I wrong. I'm actually a little dissapointed in myself for not documenting every step but let's get real, I was working a full time job, I'm a full time student, full time pregnant, full time wife..... need I say more? I guess if I really wanted to, I would of blogged more - oh well.

I will be 33 weeks on Monday and I can't believe it. I will say this over and over again.... I remember when I first found out I was pregnant, I was an impressive 4 weeks along and thought- I know the next 9 months are going to go by so slow. I am not a patient person so I was already doubting my level of patience. But I'm sure the rest of you moms out there will agree, the past 8 months have flown by. In fact, I can't even remember what my stomach looked like before I was pregnant. I'm not going to lie, I miss not remembering what I looked like before I was pregnant. Oh sure, I can look at pictures but shoot, that doesn't do anything for me. Do I sound vain? I'm sure I do. Take it how you will. I just think I am ready to not be pregnant anymore and have my baby girl with me in my arms, not in utero.

So now that I am in the home stretch, I have been thinking about packing my hospital bag for myself and Bristol. She really can come at anytime and my BIGGEST fear is that I will not have one bag packed and ready for her debut because he came earlier than expected. I asked Brandon's cousins wife to fill me in on what I should bring in my personal bag and here is what she told me.

Pajamas. 2 pairs to be exact. You see, I still wear my t-shirt and shorts for pajama's and quite frankly, probably always will. But Lorelle ( Brandon's cousin's wife) made a good point. Bring a pair or 2 of pj's that you can wear after you give birth. It will give you a sense of "home" and just the comfyness you might be needing. So I'm thinking, since I don't wear "real" pj's, I will be going to Wal-Mart of Target and buying some that I don't mind getting, well, a little damaged, if you will. Do you have any recommendations on what kind I should get?

Boppy. I have this exact one, isn't it cute? Lorelle suggested that I bring my boppy since I will be attempting to breast feed Bristol. I think it's a great idea, especially since all of this momma thing will be new and so will breast feeding. Hey, I want both Bristol and I to be comfy and the boppy will do just that.

Makeup! Can't leave home without it! Growing up, I was an athlete and I never wore makeup to practices or games. Well, once I got to college and starting playing college softball, I never left the dorms without it. I played softball and if you think of the stereotypical softball player, what comes to mind? ( I'll just leave it at that). So with that said, I always wore makeup. So, you better believe that at the hospital I will have my make up and ready to go .... gotta be picture ready of course, duh.

Sandals. Aren't these cute? I'm the biggest fan of Reef sandals. Actually, I still wear my black pair that I got when I was a senior in high school. They are so darn comfy. Lorelle suggested a pair of sandals for easy access when walking around the hospital post birth. I'm a total fan of that idea, especially since they are so easy to slip on. I actually kind of want this pair, haha.

Pillows from home. I actually thought of this one. I think, for me, I want to bring my own pillow. It will give me a sense of home and plus I know it will be comfortable. I'm sure I will need all the comfort I can get or "bring".

Not pictured - more bathroom needs like toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, etc.

Now that is just my short list..... do you have any suggestions, ideas, or advice on what I should add to my bag? I really want to make sure I pack everything I need and maybe some things I don't need :)

My next post will be all about Bristol's Bag for the hospital.

Happy 4th of July to everyone!