34 Week Update and Shower Pictures

On Tuesday, I had my 34 week check-up. Everything is going great and Blair is continuing to grow (and move a lot!). We go back to see Dr. Schmidt in two weeks, then we'll see her once a week until Blair arrives. At our 36 appointment, we'll do another ultrasound to see how much our baby is weighing and what our options may be as far as a birthing plan.

On Friday, Travis and I went to Babies'R'Us and purchased Blair's glider (a big THANK YOU to the Wright family!!!), the pack'n'play, and B's diaper bag. This weekend, Travis and I are finishing the bathroom and working on Blair's room. We have most of her laundry done and wall decor hung. It is all really starting to come together and we are getting VERY excited!

As promised, here are some pictures from the Couple's shower last weekend. Thank you again to our very generous hosts and all of friends and family for attending!

Travis and I

Jenn and I

Me and all of the Ladies!

Travis and all of the Guys! Love that little onesie!

All of the great stuff from Casey and Jordan!

Allyson and I

Travis and I with a car seat from the hostesses!

Measuring our combined waists with TP :)

Craig, Zoey, Allyson and I

Kristen, Courtney, Jenn and Allyson

Adorable diaper wreath from Allyson

The cutest favors... fortune cookies!

The sign-in table

The food table with the cutest decor!

30 Week Update

This week I am at 30 weeks, which means that I've got 10 (or hopefully less!) weeks to go! Today I had another doctor appointment to check and see how everything is going. Blair's heart rate sounds great and she continues to be a very active little girl. At my next appointment (in two weeks), we'll get to have an ultrasound to check and see how our little girl is growing. Here are my latest 'stats':

• Total weight gain (since becoming pregnant): 18 pounds
• Waist: 37.5 inches
• Pregnancy cravings: nothing unusual... I eat cereal pretty frequently, I have now become dependent upon a morning glass of chocolate milk - which I lovingly call my "coffee," and pastries (croissants and blueberry muffins to be specific), which sound good on a daily basis.
• Other "fun" symptoms / side effects: I get dehydrated very easily, despite my constant intake of water - which leads to painful charlie horses in the middle of the night (no fun). I have also noticed that I have to move and walk around a lot more frequently, otherwise my whole midsection (pelvis) is very stiff and uncomfortable. This is especially noticeable while I am at work. Heartburn is a daily occurrence and has become the norm. I still eat pretty frequently (5 - 6 times a day) as to avoid nausea.
• Below is an updated belly picture...
  

I recently talked to my employer about my maternity leave... well, it's not really called maternity leave, but short term disability. Lovely. Anyways, my plan is to be home for about 6 weeks, then when I go back to work, I'll decrease my hours to 30 hours per week. This will enable me to get off around 2pm everyday and have time to spend with Blair and Travis (since Trav gets off work at 3pm). I think that this is a great way to balance working, motherhood, and being a wife. Luckily my boss was very understanding (and grateful I was still going to work 5 days a week) and gracious to afford me the reduced schedule. :)

Ok, so it's been over a week since Craig and Ligia's shower and I have pictures to post! Yay! Such a fun shower and so happy for the soon-to-be parents! FYI - the pictures are a little blurry because I took them off of Facebook!

Hope you are having a great week!

Craig and Ligia's Shower!

This past weekend we co-hosted Craig and Ligia's baby shower at our house. We shopped, cleaned, and prepped the house (and food) on Friday. Saturday morning Travis and I got up and began getting everthing ready. Conner helped me prepare the food, while Mom got the decor all ready. Our theme was animals, to match Baby Zoey's room. Mom made an adorable cake and cupcakes, and Conner and I made the rest of the food; chicken salad on croissants, ham & cheese sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit salad, shrimp cocktail, mixed veggies with dip, and bagel chips and chive cream cheese dip. YUM.

Our close family and friends came to help us celebrate the impending arrival of Craig and Ligia's daughter Zoey. We are so lucky to have such amazing people come from all over to attend the shower. Allyson and Richard even drove in from San Antonio! A big thank you to everyone that came to the shower (and those that couldn't stay for the shower, but dropped off gifts!)!!!

Ligia has felt Zoey drop, so we think she'll be here soon, despite her due date being February 9th! Tomorrow Ligia goes back to the doctor, so we are hoping to get an update on how Zoey is doing!

Tomorrow, Travis is off work and he is taking me to lunch! Yay! Then we have our last childbirth class tomorrow night...

I will post picture from the shower in the next days (Mom and Ligia borrowed my camera for the pictures). :)

Weekend Update

This cold and (somewhat) dreary Sunday finds Travis and I snuggled up on the couch, watching the Texans game. Yesterday we helped Loren and Shaun host a Couples Wedding shower for Shaun's brother Shelby, and his fiance Marianne. The house is now super clean and everything went really well! The "Shoe Game" (played at mine and Travis' shower) was a big hit. Loren was a great host and did a wonderful job! :)

So did I mention that I am loving this clean house? Because I am!

I guess I should rewind and give a 'last weekend' update. Last weekend we were in East Texas visiting family. We got to watch Kelly do her "Cherokee Charmer" thing at the Jacksonville High School football game, which was so much fun and neat to watch. It was also the 70th Anniversary of the Tomato Bowl, so it was an extra special night to be there. Uncle Windol and Aunt Sharon were so hospitable and let us stay at their lake house while in town. We had a great time seeing the family and we are looking forward to seeing them again for Thanksgiving.

We also went to Tyler to visit Granny, Grandad and Aunt Lori. It was so nice to visit as we don't get to see them near often enough! Aunt Lori got Blair some adorable baby gifts, including bibs, blankets and the smallest, cutest white shoes I have ever seen. We enjoyed having lunch and catching up with them! Blair will be so lucky to not only have her grandparents, but great-grandparents as well. I know that they Tyler Wrights are looking forward to meeting our little girl.

Ok, back to this week. Blair has been quite the active little mango. The flutters have been replaced with stronger kicks. She seems to like to move around and kick at night while I am laying on my back (and trying to sleep!). She also seems to be a little shy when there is an audience, as I keep grabbing Travis' hand so he can feel any movement or kicks, and of course, she stops moving. This past Wednesday night, he did get to feel a nice hard kick. It was really exciting! I know as she continues to grow, that he will feel more.

Speaking of active, Travis and I had dinners with our close friends, the Ashmans and Lyssys on Wednesday night and the Jetts on Friday night. We haven't seen any of them in ages, so it was so nice to catch up and visit. Matt and Megan's son, Caleb is getting so big. He will be 3 in March (right around when Blair should be here!) and we got a kick out of watching him try calamari (and liking it!) and eating a plateful of croutons. He was really too cute and so well behaved during dinner! :)

This Wednesday will mark two years since Travis' grandmother, Gaga, passed. We went out to Houston National Cemetery this morning to take her flowers. While sitting in the grass, holding Travis' hand, Blair gave me a nice strong kick... just one, I think to let us know that she knew we were visiting her Gaga. I am sad that Gaga will miss the chance to meet Blair and to share in all of the joys that her great-grandchildren will bring, but we will make sure to tell Blair and all of our children about their Gaga and what a special and incredibly strong woman she was. We all miss Gaga very much, but she is never far from our minds, especially around the holidays.

As I am hitting the half way mark this week (20 weeks!), it has made me realize the incredible journey we've been through and what is yet to come. I am so thankful for all of the blessings in my life. For my husband, for our health, for our growing, healthy baby girl, our family, our friends, our home. So many wonderful things have happened in the last few years... life continues to get better and I can't believe how lucky I am.