1 Week!!!!

Ok, so I'm a horrible blogger!  I think of stuff to post all the time, but never do, sorry!  I could blame it on trying to get things ready for the new baby, but the truth is that things have been kind of slow around here.  Today is my last day of "work" though I have only worked a handful of hours since Christmas anyway so I feel like I have been off for a while.  I am trying really hard to finish everything before she gets here.  So when is she coming?????  I would like to know as well!  I have been the same at the last two dr. appts, 1 cm and no change.  My Dr. said she is still really high in me and I need to be walking.  I have been walking with my mother in law all week trying to get the baby to move down, I can't tell from the outside that it is working, she is still hurting my ribs pretty bad, but hopefully she's making her way down!  My Dr. told me to be prepared to go long if I didn't want to be induced, so we are prepared that it may be longer than 1 week til she gets here.

My whole family is anxiously awaiting the phone call that lets them know to head this way!  Every time I call or text someone that is what they think it is about, but no baby yet!  Joey has been working ever so diligently to get the baby's room ready.  He has been up til late every night working hard.  He amazes me.  He works two jobs and is going to school where he is about to start an internship and he has to deal with a very pregnant wife and a house under construction, and you know what....he never complains about any of it.  He is wonderful and I am so thankful for him every day.  Here are some pictures of the room and the progress that has been made.  The room should actually be complete by tomorrow which means we will be able to move her things in there and hopefully have the rest of the house cleaned and ready for my family and to bring our little one home!

 

 

Showered

Last week Joey and I were super blessed when our church family had a shower for us.  Joey's family made it really really special with lots of details.  We had so much fun at the shower, Mandy (Joey's sister) had a fun game where she asked Joey questions about the baby and then asked me and tried to see if we got the answers the same, it was hilarious! Then I opened presents, and it felt like I was opening them forever, we were so blessed!  When I got home and Joey looked out over the sea of pink, he said, "I'm worried...what if it's a boy!"

 The black squiggles on the left are a wisdom tree.  People wrote out wisdom or blessings for raising children.  We got some funny ones such as, don't play with her too rough after she eats, she will throw up on you!  (I think that was for Joey!)

                                   There was all kinds of food and the punch was wonderful!!!

 This cake was amazing!  Someone from Mandy's work made it and I took the rest of it home, it didn't stay around long!

 Me and my extra mom!  She made me the baby corsage I am wearing, it has baby socks, ribbons and even some little blingly things that are the same thing I used on some of my wedding decorations!

         This is me giving my little thank you speech, for some reason I got nervous!

                   Look my belly is about to knock over Sister Verdie!!!

Like I said, we were super blessed!  I have baby stuff EVERYWHERE as Joey is working diligently to get the baby's room ready.  I am having to pack some of it up though because I have to have the extra room ready for my family for when they come!  So much to do and the hardest part is I have no idea how much time I have!  I could still have 4 weeks, or I could go into labor tomorrow!

On Your Mark...

Joey and I went to the Dr. this week, we will start going every week until our little bundle arrives!  This Dr. appt brought so much peace to me this week.  We were able to talk specifics about the labor and delivery of this baby and I know that my Dr. and I are on the same page and she is going to help me to have the experience that I desire.  I'll explain all that more some other time.  She also checked me and I am 1 cm dilated!!!  so I"m 10% there as I look at it!  That doesn't really mean much at this point, I could stay at 1 for weeks, but it does means that things are headed in that direction and it won't be too long until a baby is in our arms! 

When she came in she asked me if I felt like I couldn't get any bigger, I told her, "I feel like I HAVE to if she is going to grow anymore, then I better too, cause we are running out of room!"  She said when I get to 39 weeks she would induce me if I want and I told her I absolutely do not want to be induced except for a medical emergency.  She said she is fine with that as long as I understand that it could mean that I go over my due date.  I told her I was fine with that and she said she is fine with that as well.  She said she thought the baby would be on the smaller side anyway so that was fine.  That was a huge relief for me because I was feeling like the baby was huge already!  I guess since this is my first pregnancy I have no idea what is normal, but I can feel her on my bladder and in my ribs and on my sides at the same time so I figured she must be huge!  I had worked up in my head that i was having a 9 1/2 lb baby by the time this over!   But hopefully that is not the case!  Somewhere around 7 would be very nice! 

This was a big week for me also because I had two baby showers.  One from my friends at work and one from the church family.  This little girl is spoiled already!  I have LOTS of pictures of both to show you, however, we have no internet as I am writing this.  We had an ice storm the last few days and have had power outages and the internet has been down.  I just wanted to write something while I had a few minutes that I could post when it came back on.  So come back soon!

One Month!!!!

What?!?!?!  How is it possible that my due date is one month from today?!  Where did the time go?  When I was in the early weeks of pregnancy and quite sick I didn't think this time would ever get here, and yet it is so fast approaching.  Now of course February 8 is just an estimate, she could come earlier or later, but still we are looking at around a month!  I switch between nervousness and excitement!  What I have prayed for so long is finally happening and yet now that it is here I don't know what to do!  It's kind of like right before I got married.  I wanted to be married for so long and it was days before my wedding when I began to freak out a little, I realized I had never been a wife and was scared that I wouldn't know what to do and that I might be a bad wife.  I have no idea how to be a mom, this is all new to me and sometimes I am scared I might not be good at it! But then I remember something, I am not alone.  Of course I have Joey and we are in this together, but more important than that, the Lord is with us.  Just as He led me through His Word to know what a godly wife looks like, He will lead us both into how to be godly parents as we seek Him first.  It is nice to know we don't have to look to this world or to other people (though we do have several godly parents that we gleam from their years of experience of raising children)  but we just lift our eyes up and seek God's way of doing things. 

In other news, I have begun to waddle!!!  Yep, I'm a waddling pregnant lady!  Not all the time, but when I get up from sitting or out of the bed, I waddle!  Things have begun to get a little, shall we say...crowded? tight? uncomfortable?  here at the end.  I have really tried hard not complain about pains and other issues.  It was really hard for me to deal with when we were trying to get pregnant and I would encounter a pregnant lady who only complained about how hard it was and how much she was hurting.  In the beginning when I would get sick I would try my best to thank God in the midst of throwing up, because being sick was a result of the baby growing inside of me that I had prayed so long for.  As she grows, there is less room for things that have always had plenty of room inside of me, like my lungs, or my stomach, or my bladder!  But soon and very soon, she will no longer be inside of me, but in our arms and we will be able to hold her and love her and cuddle her.  I know in a lot of ways I am going to miss this time of being pregnant and her inside of me.  It's still so neat to me that she is IN me and that I can feel her moving around and kicking, punching, twirling, jumping, I don't really know what she is doing in there, I just know she is active! 

So are we ready for her? well you take a look and tell me.....

This is her room!  Yep, one month to go and no walls or floor!  She really doesn't need a room right now, she will be with us in our room at night for quite some time.  But I didn't want to be under construction with a newborn so Joey is working very hard to get all this ready before she gets here.  But where did we put all the stuff we have been getting for her, well in the living room, which looks like this: 

We are in what Joey calls "chunk mode" we are chunking out a bunch of our stuff.  Throwing some away and giving away plenty as well.  We are trying to simplify our life because we simply have too much stuff.  I have really been trying to limit the amount of baby "stuff" we get too, but it's hard to know what you really need until she is here.  But I am daily chipping away at this chaotic mess and we are getting organized and I am getting EXCITED!!!

Ok I promise pictures are to come soon of me and my belly, which really aren't two different things, though my belly quite large!  I am having some baby showers and I will be sure someone will take some pictures, it's just hard to take pictures of yourself! 

I'm Not the Best Blogger...

So I am not that great at blogging, as you can tell!  It's been weeks since my last post and I said I was going to start a series on mine and Joey's relationship.  I still plan to do that, but just not today!  Sooooo much has been going on.  I thought I would have a vacation when I had a few days off of work, but this has been a very eventful "vacation" for sure! Some of Joey's cousins are in town and have been moving and we have been helping them, though I am really not all that helpful at this point in my pregnancy.  My family was supposed to come into town last week, but things got crazy with them and they didn't end up making it. My sister went through a tornado on Christmas day and had lots to deal with as a result of that and we were busy here with a funeral for one of the pastors at church.  And of course then there was all of the family gatherings for Christmas and the New Year and this weekend 2 of Joey's cousins have birthday parties so the activities are not stopping!

On a productive note, Joey has finished the storage room he was building on our back porch, which means we have just over a month to get the baby's room ready.  It's going to be a very tight squeeze, but I think we can do it!  Joey went into full on "nesting" mode last night when we got home and decided it was time to move everything out of the room so he would be able to start, so now everything is in my living room!  Which stresses me out just a bit, but I'm trying to handle the total disorganization as best I can.

I alternate between being excited and being totally freaked out that the baby is coming.  In so many ways it still doesn't seem real to me that I am even pregnant, though my body is VERY aware that it is sharing with two what is usually only occupied by one!  There is so much I want to do before she gets here and so much I feel like i need to do to prepare, but I know she is coming ready or not!  In the end everything will fall into place.  I'm treasuring these last few weeks I have with just me and Joey and at the same time anxiously anticipating the growth of our family. 

Sorry to those of you who have requested pictures, I just forget to take pictures all the time!  I'll try to do better!

4 Years Ago Today...

4 years ago today was a day that my life would change forever.  I met the man I had been waiting, praying and dreaming of for 6 years.  It was a Saturday and I was going to some friend's (Huey and Brandi) house for a Christmas party.  But this wasn't just any Christmas party, the party was set up just to "set up" me and Joey.  I was SOOOO nervous!  I had never dated anyone before and I was completely against the idea of being "set up."  I just didn't think that was the way God would work in my life, I had given Him many many suggestion through the years of things that He could do to bring my spouse into my life, but this is how He chose to work, the one way I didn't think it would happen! 

I spent the day shopping with my brother and then my best friend from work came over and helped me get ready, did I mention I was nervous?!?!?!?!  Only a handful of people at the party knew this set up was happening, I didn't want any pressure!  I walked into the house and there was Joey sitting at the counter.  Huey introduced us, but I could barely look at him!  It certainly wasn't "love at first sight," mainly because it would be several weeks before I really even got a "first sight!" 

We said hi and I sat down next to him as it was time to eat, we didn't say much, just a little chit chat.  At one point I dropped my napkin and he promptly jumped up and got it for me.  As we started eating I realized that I had not chosen a good combination of food and drink, we were eating gumbo and I had a glass of wasail (hot spiced cider stuff!)  When I commented on that, Joey jumped up and said, "want something else to drink? I'll get it, what do you want? coke?"  So he went and got me another drink!

As everyone arrived at the party I quickly realized something, everyone there knew him and wanted to talk to him.  It was crazy because we both pretty much knew everyone there except each other and I am still surprised that our circles hadn't connected earlier.  Apparently he had previously gone to the same church I went to when I moved into town.  And apparently no one had seen him for quite some time because EVERYONE was shocked to see him at a party and EVERYONE wanted to talk to him!  Which meant I got very little interaction with him that night.

At one point there was a group of people looking at pictures from a mission trip they were on and Brandi found me in another room.  She fussed and me and made me go in the room and look at the pictures, I felt like such an idiot just standing there! 

As the evening progressed, we ate, played games and just hung out, but Joey and I really didn't get a chance to talk much.  Time came for me to leave and I didn't even bother to tell him bye because we had not connected at all.  I was leaving when Huey asked me if I wanted him to give Joey my number and I just looked at him confused.  Huey said, well if he asks can I give it to him, and I said sure if he asks (which I was certain he would not!)  As the door closed, I said to myself, "I am NEVER going to do this again!"

I was barely down the street when Brandi called me and told me to come back because I had forgotten something.  When I got there they told me that Huey asked Joey if he wanted my number and he said "oh yeah!"  I was shocked to say the least.

To be continued...... I have decided to write a series of posts on our relationship so keep coming back to see what's next!

It's Been Forever!!!

Sorry to those of you who stalk me on this blog that I haven't updated in a little while.  I wouldn't think anyone actually stalks me, except for a few of you who have admitted to doing so!  Life in a word has been...busy!  I have been working much much more than I usually do and as I wrote last time we were traveling quite a bit during the Thanksgiving holidays.  In addition to all that comes along with the holidays as far as parties and events and stuff, we are actively trying to finish getting the porch closed in so the baby's room can be ready when she gets here and not used to store all manner of hunting gear!

Now when I say we I really mean Joey!  There is not much I can do to help these days!  And that's hard for me because so much of what needs to be done rests on him.  And he is the one with the full schedule, he works full time as a plumber, part time as a youth pastor, is on the praise team at church and right now that requires many nights of practice for the Christmas special, and he also has a hobby that is only allowed during this time of year, so much to do...not to mention dealing with an ever growing, emotional, pregnant wife!  He surely has his hands full!  But I guess my time is coming, because soon there will be much going on with the baby that I will be the one to have to take care of.

I mentioned the Christmas special, did I mention that I am playing Mary?  I apparently came recommended for the part, not because I'm a good actress (I'm not, despite the fact that I am very dramatic I don't do that well with acting so to speak) but because my stomach fits the part!  When I initially agreed to the part it was because Joey was going to play Joseph.  When asked his immediate response was he would grow his beard out to be more realistic (I'm sure it had everything to do with the play and not anything to do with hunting season....) However, at our first practice it was realized that Joey would miss out on the majority of the music portion and he was needed more at the drums than to play Joseph.  So my ever agreeable Brother-in-law agreed to take over Joseph instead of being a Magi.

At our last practice was a donkey that was custom built for the performance and I am supposed to ride it!  It has wheels and I was terrified that I was going to be wheeled around and would fall off!  It just has wheels so it can be easily moved across the stage without me on it!  However, the small platform that I am to sit upon is exactly that...small!  and while for the majority of our marriage Joey has called me "Tiny" there is not much that is tiny about me now!  So I"m a little nervous about sitting on this donkey, but if you have ever met my brother-in-law you know that I have nothing to fear as far as his ability to catch me.  More I fear that for years to come this special will be remembered as the one where the actually pregnant "Mary" fell off the donkey!