38 Weeks

I will admit that I am getting quite anxious to have our little girl. After working all weekend and waking up Monday barely able to use my hands from all of the swelling I have been even more anxious. Today we went to the doctor and apparently my anxiety is getting the best of me. For the first time my blood pressure was elevated. The doctor didn't seem too concerned it being a one time thing and my swelling wasn't terrible today. But he was just as ready to put me on maternity leave as I was. I am scheduled to work tomorrow and Friday and then my leave starts. I had been hesitant to go on my leave before having Isabella. I had wanted my entire 12 weeks to be with her. However, I noticed with my stress and anxiety today that I need some time to relax before she comes. I am very much looking forward to the time off. Everything is ready even the bags packed and by the door. But it will be nice to veg out a little before mommy hood starts. So lets hope and pray for the next 2 work days to be very chill.
Other news from the appointment I am 70% effaced with no dilating yet. And we go back again next week for more. Now that I know my leave is starting this weekend I wish it were starting tonight...lol. Just trying to relax tonight before going to work in the morning.

Week 37

Today we went to the OBGYN for our 37 week checkup. They did the Group B Strep test and checked me for the first time. My cervix is softening but no dilating yet. Miss Izzie's head is down in position which I feel all the time now. The great thing is that now she is full term so she can come whenever and be safe. It seems as though she's enjoying it in there for right now. We have everything and then some to bring baby girl home. I just want to do one last big clean of the house and we will be ready.

This weekend was Easter and I got to celebrate with Willis and our family. Momma came up and took some really great maternity pics of Willis & I at our house. Here are some of my favorites.

The Car seat

A few weeks ago Willis' parents gave us the travel system we had registered for. We were so excited. This was one of the few items we picked out before knowing the gender of the baby. The whole stroller/car seat situation left me feeling very overwhelmed. Have you seen the selection at Buy Buy Baby?!? It's enough to invoke panic on any new mom who knew nothing about travel systems. So how did we choose? Well we like very classic styles and we loved this one that is simply black and silver. It looked great and would go great for boy or girl. I know so different than anything else I have done with this pregnancy. All of the clothes and decor are very much girly but the staples i.e. travel system, pack and play and high chair are fairly neutral. We got the Chicco Keyfit 30. I love it! I have pushed the stroller around the house many times now and it is super easy to fold up. The car seat is so easy to put in and out of the base as well as the stroller. So this morning, the start of April Willis went outside and installed the car seat in the V-Dub. I think he had been dreading do this part, but it didn't take him long at all. Great job hubby! The black and silver combo looks awesome in my car. Miss Abby stood by watching Willis this morning and had to hop in the car as soon as he was finished to check out the new seat. I think it gets her seal of approval :-)

We also have a pack and play that matches that my parents gave us. I will post pics of that later. Willis has become a pro at the assembly and take down :-) My parents also gave us their video recorder. They had only used it once and so it was great getting that from them so we didn't have to buy one. I played around with it the other night filming Abby (who loves the camera I must add) and it was easy to work. So that's another thing checked off my to do list. Today I just finished Izzie's last load of laundry and now I'm going to finish packing her hospital bag. All we will have left to do is finish packing our bag and we will be set! Less than 27 days! But I have a feeling it won't be that long before baby Izzie comes out to meet us all.

Shower #3 and 36 weeks!

Today we had the 3rd and final baby shower for Izzie. My coworkers threw me a wonderful shower. I was not working today so I went up at lunch time to the breakroom and found it all Pink and girly. Boy did Izzie load up again. I couldn't upload my pics from the shower but here is a pic of all her gifts. She got some super cute clothes:-), lots of diapers, bath things, gift cards etc. I work with such a loving group of people. I do believe miss Izzie is all set now! Today also marks 36 weeks! I have been filled with a mixture of emotions. Part of me is excited and wishing she were here already. But another part of me knows that I don't have much longer with my baby girl in my tummy and I'm trying to cherish every moment of it. I will admit that my mood has been a big issue with me lately. Every one says they understand that I'm not myself right now and they just look the other way. But I am normally so positive and upbeat that I have not enjoyed being so...well "crabby" lately. My temper has been short and when I'm not highly ticked off about the smallest thing I'm tearing up and crying. This part of pregnancy I will be glad to get past. I have been consciously trying to notice before I snap over things and I think that this week is going a lot better than the last 2 did. I just keep reminding myself that I am only one person and can only do soo much right now and I need to just enjoy where I am in my life. It's crazy to believe that my little girl could be born at any moment and be perfectly fine outside the womb. Wow! Willis and I are going to childbirth class at the hospital on Saturday. It will be a very long day but I am looking forward to it and I will know another mommy that will be there :-) This weekend we plan to get our hospital bags packed and ready to go just in case. I'm to the point now of just waiting and I feel like there is so much to do but I can't put my finger on it. So I'm just going to relax and know that we are prepared and she will be here when she is ready.
Here is a pic that my hubby took today of me sitting in the rocker in the nursery. I'm so excited that within a month I will be rocking my little girl there!!!

Ashley's Baby Shower

This past weekend I threw a baby shower for my bestie Ashley and her baby boy on the way Connor. Ashley is due May 28, exactly a month after me. I am so excited our little ones will be the same age. So much fun!! We had the shower at her apartment in Concord and had baby blue everywhere. Here is pic of Ashley next to her cake table. The cake looks like a present and was made by my amazing Momma.

The two Mommies!

TJ, Ashley, Me & Willis before the shower

Connor got some great gifts at the shower!
The countdown is on!

Shower #2

Shower #2 was held at my house over a week ago now...and yes I'm sorry I'm just now getting around to posting about it. This shower was so much fun. We had it at my house so every one could see Izzie's nursery and it was so much more comfortable. I do believe that by the time the shower was underway we had used every seat in my house. It was so much fun to see every one. Here are some pics.

Me & Momma & Izzie

Me with Izzie's grandmothers
Some pictures of the guests
Some of the other guests

Us playing a game were every one had to guess my belly measurement (not my favorite)Then opening presentsIzzie got some super cute things!
Me & Ashley comparing belly's

I'm due April 28 and she is May 28

So happy my Clover girls came :-)
We had so much fun and were blessed with so many wonderful things for Izzie. Her nursery was spotless and now she has received so much that I need to clean her room already! This week I am 34 weeks. Gosh it's quickly aproaching. I am throwing Ashley a shower this coming weekend so I am pretty busy with that. But once that's over I am going to wash Izzie's blankets and clothes and pack our hospital bags. It's hard to believe that my official due date is 6 weeks away but she could safely be here in just 3 weeks...wow!

Upscale Wee Sale

Everyone at work has talked about the Upscale Wee Sale for months now. Until I became pregnant I really had no interest in it. But now I am all for it. A couple of times a year this lady Kim puts together the Wee Sale in Rock Hill. It is a HUGE baby consignment sale. It is held in all old Steve & Berry's store at the Mall and has an array of items. So when we found out it was coming again in March we decided we had to go check it out. Our dear friends Ashely & TJ came down from Concord to check it out. Willis and I already have the major stuff for Isabella so we just went to see if they had some small things we might like. But Ashley is just getting started on her nursery and they have some big ticket items so we crossed our fingers that we would come across some good finds. They had everything from highchairs, strollers, carseats, gliders, tons of toys, clothes, swings, books etc. No luck for Ashley with the furniture but she & TJ did get some goodies for their little Connor.
Willis & I weren't really looking for toys or furniture so at first we thought it may have been a busted trip. However we did find some cute dresses for our Izzie Ruth. We found a precious Ralph Lauren Polo dress very cheap and two other cute summer dresses. Then we came across the book section. I plan for us to read to Izzie every night when she is little and hopefully she will love to read as much as I do. I was so impressed to find sooo many books and so cheap. I found tons of Dr. Sues books for only like a dollar each. Also found some Curious George books of a pack of 3 for $2. I think we ended up with about 15 books. Her book shelves are filling up nicely. I was so happy for those finds because I know it can get expensive buying brand new books for babies. We also came across some CD's with both classical music and childrens songs on them. Willis was super happy with that find because we have been searching in itunes for music to put on her ipod and now we have tons of music at a fraction of the cost. We got one classical music cd, one cd with childrens songs on them that she can sing along with when she gets older and a pack of 4 baby Einstein cd's (which were only like $6 for the 4). What a great deal!

One thing we didn't get but I looked at a ton was the baby carriers. They were selling Baby Bjorn carriers for $10-15, and if you have looked at those that is a steal. However I was too indecisive and couldn't decide on one. It was a fun experience and can't wait to go back next time after we have Izzie and know what size clothes she will be wearing because that is the place to find some awesome deals on clothes. Found the cutest Burberry top for a 3 month old but it was long sleeved, and yes real Burberry. It was hard to pass that up. Maybe next time ;-)

Other updates. Had a great day at work yesterday and actually wasn't too exhausted at the end of the day. I did manage to sleep until 10:30 this morning but I am feeling great! I'm doing some cleaning today getting ready for Shower #2 that will be held here at my house tomorrow. So excited to have my family and close friends over. It will be so much fun!

Shower #1

Izzie's first shower was given in my hometown from my family. My Aunt Tammy and Momma put it together and it was so cute. The theme was Pink & Green and I loved it. They did a great job with the decor and the food :-) My Mamaw Linda, Me, Momma & Aunt Tammy
Love these M&M's they had Izzie's name on them! My fav!!

Pink Gerber daisy's were all along the tables
Here is a pic of Momma and the cake she made for Izzie. She did such an awesome job! And yes it tasted as great as it looked!
The cake on the table. Loving the Pink & Green. As one of Willis' coworkers said "it's the official girl colors."

We ate some great food and played some games. And my favorite was one where everyone had to decorate a bib for Izzie. I must say some of them turned out super cute! I'm not sure if I will use them on her or just keep them as momentos. Either way they were precious.

And what's a shower without presents!

Izzie got some great toys, some necessities, lots of cute clothes and what every little girl needs...some bows!!!

It was a busy busy weekend. I was off work for 5 days but it sure did not feel like it. Momma and Daddy came back to Clover with me to help unload Izzie's things. I must say with all of the extra help it didn't take as long as I thought. Her room sure is filling up fast. I thought it would take a while to fill up all the drawers in her dresser and chest and we are quickly running out of space. We are so thankful for everyone's gifts. Izzie sure is loved by many and we couldn't be more blessed.

Isabella's Nursery

I finally have pictures of Isabella's Nursery! I must say that it IS my favorite room in the whole house. The plans we had for the nursery originally included white furniture with hot pink and green accents. Then we found this furniture and fell in love with it so all of the nursery plans changed. I am so pleased with how it all came together. We wanted her room to be girly but not too frilly and I think we accomplished that. We have ordered curtains and should have them up within the next 2 weeks but I couldn't wait until then to post pictures. So here is a pic of her room from the door.I absolutely loved this four post crib when we saw it. I just screams little girl. It is cherry wood and does convert to a toddler bed, day bed and full size bed...yay! The bedding was one of the most difficult choices to make. Since we chose the dark cherry furniture we decided to go with lighter bedding. There are different shade of pink with a sage green and different patterns of damask and medallion. There are a few elephants on the bumper and blanket but it's not too overwhelming or themy(I know that's not really a word.) One of my favorite parts of her room are the pom poms I made to go above the crib. I just love how they turned out :-)

Each post has a crystal knob and that carries over to the other furniture. Also I managed to find a curtain rod that has the exact same crystal finial on the end...too perfect.

This is her changing table/dresser. The ledge on the top comes off whenever we aren't wanting to use it as a changing table any more. The mirror I sent Willis to pick up from Ikea and after seeing it with the furniture I don't think we could have found a better mirror even if one came with the furniture. I love how the curves of the mirror match the top of the dresser.

This one of Willis' favorite parts of the room...Izzie's reading corner. Instead of a traditional bookcase we got these cute individual shelves from Ikea to add a touch of green to the room. I couldn't pass up on the bean bag. I know she won't sit in it for a while but it was too cute and matched perfectly!

Here is her chest. The picture frame above is empty right now. We are planning on that being a place where we put a family picture. We are going to start with one of our maternity photos...soon to come.

Instead of doing the common thing and putting her name on the wall I found the awesome block letters at Hobby Lobby. A little pink spray paint and we have her initials.

All of the family after a busy day of organizing the nursery. Even miss Abby is loving the new room. Willis and I keep going in there just to look around. Can't wait to have Isabella with us! Only 11 more weeks!!!

Project Nursery Weekend

This past weekend is what I refer to as Project Nursery. We had everything for Izzie's room purchase we just needed to put some things in the right place. Momma came up on Saturday and cleaned the carpet in our whole house (love that steam cleaner). And while she was doing that I got crafty. Here are some pics of what we did that day.

This is a simple lamp from my favorite place Target. Just a simple cream colored shade.

I took apart the valance that came with her bedding because we bought different curtains and glued some of the fabric onto the shade so it will compliment the bedding. The finished product!
While searching for nursery ideas I came across tons of pictures on the internet and fell in love with these cute Pom Poms. I knew that I had to use them somewhere in the nursery I just wasn't sure where they would go. Once we got the furniture together we change out mind as to the lay out of the room and I had the Perfect place for them! They are so cute and fairly easy to make.

First you need some tissue paper, floral wire and some ribbon.

Remove the tissue paper and begin to fold it with an accordion fold.Once you have folded all the sheets tie the floral wire around the middle. You can cut the edges to either be round or pointed depending on the look you want. I went with round. Fan out the paper and begin to pull each piece of paper up towards the middle. I used hot glue to put two together to give it more of a full look. Then I used the ribbon to hang them. I love them they are so cute and girly!
Then it was time to get to work in the nursery. Here are some pics of Willis and Momma working very hard. They moved the furniture where I wanted it.

Here is Willis working hard to hang the Pom Poms exactly where I wanted them :-)After getting the crib in place Momma worked on the bedding.

One of Willis favorites projects in the room is Izzie's reading corner. Here he is hanging her bookshelves from Ikea.

Isabella's room is so sweet for such a little princess. Thanks to Willis and Momma for being patient and working so hard to get it finished. Now all we are waiting on is our little Izzie! Stay tuned for the finished pics...