Nesting...it is the real deal!

If y'all can't tell I am getting a bit crazy in my last minute nesting!! I am ecstatic that my house is in great order. Over Thanksgiving my Dad and Michael and poor Blair got sooo much done. The nursery was completed accept for a few sewing projects Momma has in mind. We now have a wooden gate across our driveway instead of chain length! Michael and Daddy were covered in mud from ripping old tired azaleas out of the front flower beds where they put in new boxwood's, flowers and cedar mulch. We also got new outdoor fixtures installed, up lighting in the shrubs and brick sidewalk pavers instead of the old pavers that were there. So nesting around the house is done and seems that I am determined to get my online journal caught up! Too bad I am not taking the same energy and applying it toward my exams for school.

Now while the guys were outside getting the yard in order...Momma and I were getting the Christmas decorations up. Sorry Singh I know it drives you crazy that I put my tree up so early and leave it until Epiphany...but I love it. Usually I am ready to go for this task, but this year pregnancy zapped my creativity and Momma had to take the lead. Aunt Mimi we really could have used your help! (And on a side note Elizabeth usually likes to leave all the decorating at Thanksgiving up to the rest of us...but Aunt Mimi you would be impressed to know that Elizabeth set the table this year and did the centerpieces and it looked beautiful...now we know she can do it!) Back to the Christmas decorations...we are all decorated and the tree is up and I have been playing Christmas music since last Wednesday! I have also done all of my Christmas shopping accept for two gifts and all but three are wrapped! Anyway I wanted you all to know that the nesting thing happens and you may not even realize it until afterward when you are amazed at the bursts of energy that come and go. And now for some Christmas pictures...

Anne and Jimmy's Wedding (Week 36)

So here are the bride and groom themselves well into the reception. It was an absolutely perfect weekend. Anne looked GORGEOUS! She was perfectly classic and of course Jimmy was as handsome as could be. The rehearsal dinner was sooo much fun and Mr and Mrs Hlavecek were perfect hosts. My only regrets from the whole weekend are that I was as big as a house and that I could not bare to hit the dance floor dealing with severe cramping. Everyone else was having a fabulous time.

Ang hit the dance floor with the proud FOB, and Aunt Anne and Mrs Cook did not leave the dance floor all night. The weather was perfect as was the company and I think that Anne and Jimmy were thrilled.

I assure you this picture was taken this way at the brides insistance and not my own! It was one of many very pregnant looking pictures taken that day.

And here below we have a picture of Michael and I. I will say I have been very lucky not to have too much swelling, but it really kicked up a notch the weekend of Annes wedding which was unfortunate. You can see my plump face below.

It was excellent timing that I am posting about the wedding today, as Anne just emailed me a link to her photographers blog. The pictures are beautiful anf you can see how amazing the happy couple looked. www.ariellelanghorne.com/blog/

Last two Labor and Delivery Classes

Just in case anyone wondered...we passed Labor and Delivery Classes! Our final test was to change a diaper, and since I have done it before I let Michael change his very first diaper, and I caught it on camera! Below you can see pictures from class the week before where Michael got to where the empathy belly. He took a deep breath in and as soon as he exhaled Mary Jane wrapped him up tight...so as just to give him a bit of the pressure we feel when we try to breath. But don't think that he became all empathetic after wearing the 35 lb suit...no not my husband he said it wasn't that bad! But in his defense he didn't have to wear it 24 hours a day and deal with the wear and tear it puts you through...not to mention that 35 lbs to me is not the same as 35 lbs to him.

38 weeks and 4 days

I am posting our final ultrasound shot, not because I think you need to see it but because it is such an unbelievable blur! You would think that as the baby has become such a snug fit inside my uterus it would be easy to see him or her...but no! Baby G was shying away. Anyway I had an ultrasound to see how big the baby is and right now the baby is an estimated 6 lbs. 13 oz. And at this point a baby puts on about 1/2 lb. a week, so we should expect the baby to be almost 8 lbs.

After the ultrasound I went up stairs for another weigh in and urine check...all seemed fine, until we got to the blood pressure. The nurse took it once and then acted as if she had been so busy talking that she had to do it again...but I could see the wide eyes on her face and knew there was more to the story. Then she took it again and asked if it had been high before. I said no, and she said she would give me some time and come back and take it again. So at that point I put my homework that I had been reading over down...figuring it was not helping and sat there and practiced some of those fabulous breathing excercises that Mary Jane taught us in birthing class. It is very hard to try to calm yourself down when you are realizing that there is a pretty good chance you could be sent directly accross the street to the hospital. I mean I know in my head I am going to have a baby...but I really don't have any clue how to embrace everything that is about to happen...so as I have all along I am taking it one step at a time. Luckily for me (and wouldn't Mary Jane be glad to know) the blood pressure taken post breathing excercises was ok.

Next came the exam, and I have dialated a little bit more since my last appointment, but I am still shy of 2 full cm, and I am still only 50 % effaced. She said she could feel the bag of fluids sitting right there and that the baby is either at 0 or -1 I think. So I have dropped a little bit, but you cannot tell by looking at me. Dr Connor also asked how I felt about being induced. And I said I have no idea. I had not stopped to think about it because everything about my pregnancy had been so matter of fact I just assumed I would go into labor on my own. She said I was very soft and a good candidate for induction, so I am tentatively scheduled to be induced on the 15th of December if I do not go into labor on my own first.

Sweet little lambs!

Sorry I can only upload so many pictures to a blog post so I ahd to come back and show off my precious lamb pictures that Mary made....I am totally obsessed with them!!

Nursery: The Finally!

I know this whole nursery thing was quite a process...but I have to tell you it is absolutely PERFECT!! PERFECT in EVERY way! So to everyone that helped make this the perfect room...thank you so much! A special shout out to my Mom, who has made the bedding, and the pillows, and covered the rocking chair, and made the curtain tie backs, and made the curtain for the transom....the woman has been busy! Also must say thank you to the Daddy to be who still feels to this day that the baby would be just as happy with a "Sesame Street play pen" for all of his painstaking hours of painting all the walls and furniture, hanging the chandelier and some other stuff. Thanks to Mrs Godwin for helping paint, and to my Dad for installing the dimmer on the chandelier and hanging my most adorable shelf that Michael drew the line at! And please note the adorable picture of the little Lambs! Are they not the cutest things you have ever ever seen??? Mary made those for us and I just about died when I saw them...could they be any cuter??? Now to everyone else who has helped us to get prepared for Baby G, thank you all for everything...I swear my thank you notes are on the way...school is almost out! Michael and I are so blessed to have so many wonderful family members anf friends supporting us as we get ready to welcome baby Godwin into the world and we know that Baby Godwin will get to know you all and feel your love and support too! So thank you for everything that you have done to be a part of this very very special time.

Don't drink from the water cooler...

37 weeks and 4 days.............29 weeks and 5 days...............19 weeks and 1 day. This is where Baby Center puts each of us when this picture was taken last week. Tracey has been after me to take a group shot and of course I wait until I am enormous to cave in! Do you like the sassy hand on the hip? I look so much cuter that way! Oh well, we can see I am over trying to look cute these days. Just being seen is a big step for me.

Anyway for those of you that do not know, that is Tracey Allen Williford in the orange ( I wonder if anyone made pumpkin references to her that day?), and the cute skinny pregnant Mama is Carolyn Dwyer. We all work in the same office, so there is a warning on the watercooler these days! Seriously someone actually put a warning on the cooler...