Snow Day Photos!

The following post is a reason NOT to let a scrapbooking camera wielding Momma have a snow day with her kids...

It started off as a peaceful day...

Jackson and I finally got the tree trimmed...

JT watched Jackson and I bake three dozen oatmeal and honey cookies

...and then things got just a little crazy...

...but it was totally worth it!!!

Snow Day...

How many times have I just WISHED for a day that I didn't have to go to work and stay home snuggling with my boys and what happens when I actually get one??? I go STIR CRAZY! A giant dump of snow 14 inches deep came through over the last two days just in time for the wind to kick up and drift it up five feet in my driveway...it definitely makes me glad that Courtney convinced me to buy the BIG snowblower when we were shopping for one last year - sure it may not be paid off yet but I am now reasonably convinced that I will be able to leave my driveway (whenever that may be).

At 4:20PM we have dug out the driveway, completed The Firm "High Def Sculpt" workout, scrapped two pages, drank a pot of coffee, trimmed the tree, baked three dozen cookies, harvested two full crops of blueberries in farmville, made a casserole for dinner and I'm getting ready to sweep, mop and vacuum the floors and groom the cat. Jackson has been my big helper and has watched about four hours worth of PBS kids (which was not all bad - he did come in when I was taking cookies out of the oven and told me the difference between a hard "G" sound and a soft "G" sound...thanks Electric Company...)

I'm thinking about setting up a photo session in front of the tree later - hmmm...wonder if he would be up for that...he does have a new haircut...and the baby has been good...and mommy is bored...pictures will be forthcoming no matter what...

**update** Just found out that Southeast Polk has already cancelled school for tomorrow - jeez one more day of this and my entire house will be SPOTLESS

SO much going on!

It feels like life has been SO insane lately - I guess that is partly because it actually has been! Work has been going well - if they ever decide to pay me (!!!) It has taken this long from being back to work to start getting regular paychecks again which has caused quite a bit of heartburn on my part - Luckily I have a lot of business that should place rather quickly so the tightness in my budget should loosen up soon (PTL!!!) See we have worn out the baby too!

The only way to describe my boys at this point is Fat and Happy. JT got baptized on the 15th, Jackson turned FIVE years old on the 22nd, 2 Thanksgiving celebrations on the 26th and we have a Preschool program to go to tonight and the Church Christmas play on Sunday. Somewhere in all of that we have managed to put up the tree but haven't gotten it decorated yet and I am in the process of rearranging my room and closet. No wonder I'm exhausted. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

In case I don't get much blogging done between here and there, Merry Christmas to all of you! Thank you for the blessing of your friendship!

I'm so Thankful (2009 edition)

In no particular order I am incredibly grateful for:

An amazing family and friends that I couldn't have handpicked better if I tried. ~~ TWO healthy, happy, intelligent, cuddly boys ~~ A God that watches over me and brings me through dark times ~~ Learning the very definition of unconditional love ~~A cozy, warm roof over our heads ~~ Employment in a time where jobs are scarce ~~ The opportunities that lie ahead of me in 2010 ~~ Getting to meet some lovely ladies in Texas who proved to be more of an inspiration in person than they are online ~~ Ann Taylor ~~ Did I mention my parents? They get two spots ~~ The 50 pounds that I left in 2009 ~~ my blackberry ~~ The ladies in my small group for teaching me how to love and pray ~~ having my Mac hard drive covered under warranty and replaced for free! ~~ Adventure Life Preschool for helping Jackson learn and grow ~~ Dr Roose and the staff at Mercy Medical Center ~~ Burt's Bees Lip balm ~~ Did I mention my amazing friends? They get two spots too...

...and for having so many blessings that I wouldn't even know how to count them all!

Back to Work

Back to work - and back to blogging - isn't that funny how that works out. Seriously though, I wanted to spend the six weeks I had off totally and completely drinking my children in. Yeah - it still sounds weird to me to say childREN instead of just child but may oh my how I have been blessed by these two little miracles in my life. It was SO hard to leave them to go back full time but money needs to be made lol. We are nearing the end of our second week and have fallen into a new routine...not as fun as the "sleep in and watch cartoons" routine of my leave but its working for us either way.

There is nothing more satisfying than waking up in the morning and having JT on one side of me and Jackson curled up at my back. It makes for cramped sleeping quarters but it is a true reminder of God's blessings in my life. Know what the best part is? Seeing the two of them together. Jackson just LOVES his baby brother...and is so protective of him. It's something that I pray the two of them never ever lose. Last night, Jackson conned his way into getting to sleep over at Nana and Papa's house and he wanted me to put JT in bed with him so they could snuggle before I went home with him. They just layed there in each other's arms and cuddled while Jackson listened to his audio book before bedtime and JT stared adoringly at his big brother. It brought tears to my eyes to see that between them.

My mom is keeping the boys during the day (speaking of blessings) and it works out amazing. Jackson goes to preschool in the afternoon and my brother comes over and sits with JT so mom doesn't have to take him out when she goes to take Jack to school. My kids are surrounded by the love of their entire family all day long. No center could ever compare to that(!!!) Watching Jackson learn and grow in school is just tremendous. He loves to go and see his friends and I can see a definite difference in his maturity levels and his intelligence levels too. He's even voluntarily participating in the Christmas musical at church as well!

I couldn't be a prouder momma (can you tell?) But they make it so easy on me that it is hard not to be. *sigh* I'm going home to hug on them some. Until next week...

Happy Halloween

...from the Stuart Ghouls...

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Three and a half weeks

What a blog slacker I have become...I do have a good (and very cute) excuse though.  JT is a good baby but man, I forgot about how intense it is to be a child's sole source of food and comfort.  It seems like he has grown SO fast - at his two week appointment, he had gained TWO whole pounds from where he was when we left the hospital.  Craziness.  I really don't want to go back to work.  It's been so nice to get to spend time with him and Jackson getting to be a family together every day.  I never thought that I would be one that would want to stay at home with the kids but I am loving every second of it right now - maybe its just different now that there are two...maybe its just a change within me.  Whatever it is, I just wasn't prepared for how much my heart would expand to incorporate two little boy's love.  I wasn't prepared to go on preschool field trips with the other SAHMs and love being there.  I wasn't prepared for any of this - but God prepared my heart in advance and He will provide for me and these little men.  I am so incredibly blessed - really truly blessed.

Joseph's Birth Story

Looking back on the blog posts I was able to do yesterday it amazes me how fast everything went after the last post I was able to squeak out.  

After my water was broken the contractions started coming fast and regular I held out as long as I could before getting the epidural when the contractions started going one on top of the other.  At about 12:30 the anesthesiologist came in and started the process.  They had to try THREE times to get it installed - by the end of the second poke, I was ready to tell them that I would be fine - lets forget about the epidural altogether!  The doctor was great though and having my father there to help me breathe through the pokes and all of a sudden the biting pain became just some abdominal pressure and I could relax a little.  My mom and Josie arrived right after 12:30 right after the epi kicked in and the waiting game began.

A little bit after that though, my blood pressure started dropping (it bottomed out at 78 over 42 !!) and when my bp would go down Joseph's heart rate would go down as well.  We rolled over, we changed positions and it still didn't do any good.  Finally the nurse had an idea to go ahead and check Joe's progress and voila - the second I got on my back and a semi upright position he pushed down, totally effaced and his heart rate stabilized.  It was time to push!   The quote of the day goes to my mother who said that he brightened up because he "finally saw daylight!"  All of a sudden, the room filled with nurses preparing things, draping tables, opening trays, warming up the lamps...and my heart was completely filled with love and joy for the baby that was coming soon.  Josie read some of the posts that were left for me from all of my online sisters on HYWWP during the melee.  

35 minutes of pushing later, Joseph Todd arrived in the world at 7lb 14 oz, 20 1/2 inches long and every bit of beautiful.  I could not be happier, after everything that I have gone through over the past 40 weeks, I feel like I could burst with happiness that he is finally here and healthy and just beautiful.  I can't believe that he is so little!  I had geared myself up to have an 8.5 - 9 pound baby and here he is just so teeny and beautiful.  

The internet here is super slow so if you would like to see pictures, there are some on my facebook profile as well as on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/aremid129/StarredPhotos

Thank you so much to my friends and family for all of the prayers and support.  I truly could not have done this without you.  We are so incredibly blessed and we love you all!  

Love,

Kris, Joseph and Jackson

Joseph's Birthday - Update 2 9:15 AM

Things are going great the East Tower.  I got to watch the sun rise over a foggy morning in Des Moines, had a little nap and did some scrap website surfing with Kathy the Awesome Nurse.  I found out that my favorite OB out of the practice is the on call today - I was really hoping that she would be the one who would deliver me (!!!) AND Kathy the Awesome Nurse has the same camera I do so she took some cute pictures of me and Dr. Roose and posed for me to take pics too.  Always helps to have scrappers on hand during the important days!  Is it strange to be having fun at a labor induction?  Water broken - here we go.

Dr. Roose and I

Kathy The Awesome Scrapping Nurse and Ashley the equally awesome non scrapping nurse

Joseph's Birthday - Update 1 6:50 AM

I'm here!  It's been an early morning already but not too bad.  So much for the idea that I would get some good sleep before coming in super early.  I laid down at about 9:30 - gave up trying to sleep at about 11:00 and decided to take a shower to try to relax.  I'm not sure but I think I finally went to "sleep" at about 1:00 AM only to get up again at 4:45 to have another shower and head in to Mercy.  I got here at about 10 min to six and have spent the past hour getting checked in, getting to know Kathy "the awesome nurse" and got my IV started.  (YAY FUN).  So far so good.

It's kind of nice to have a few moments of alone time this morning to pray and meditate on Joseph's birth without any chatter or distractions but my laptop and itunes.  Just sitting here listening to John Mayer and the sound of Joe's heartbeat on the monitor.  

Here comes Kathy the Awesome Nurse too hook up the pitocin and antibiotics.  It's show time!

edited to add:  Kathy the Awesome Nurse was looking at my blog when she came in - turns out that she is a Stampin Up rep.  There is a fall catalog in my future!!!  See - today is the day that was destined to be JT's birthday!

All in His timing...

It's been pretty public knowledge that I have been miserable the last few weeks waiting for Joseph to arrive. Well today I got confirmation that God is in the timing of JT's arrival...

Joseph's middle name (Todd) is after my friend, Mary Todd who lived with Jackson and I after he was born, worked with me... Truly my best friend...Mary  passed away 3 years ago due to a congenital heart condition on - get this - September 14th - the day I'm going to be induced!   Somehow I had written down in my planner that her date was the 17th of September...but that was the date of the funeral service.  Her mom reminded me today about that when she read about my induction date on Facebook and we spent some of time talking about how Mary was smiling down on us and giving us this baby to always remind us of His providence to our lives.  The circle of life will be completed in 30 hours, 37 minutes...not that I'm counting...but if you want to there is a link below lol.

So even though waiting until the 14th wasn't in MY timing it definitely was in HIS! WOW!  GOD IS GOOD ALL.THE.TIME!

Countdown to Induction

The Light At the End of a Very Long Tunnel

After three nights of sleeping only in two hour segments and alternating between my bed, Jack's bed and the couch I was feeling pretty beat up - I got to my appointment this morning ON TIME (!) and spent some time in the waiting room just praying that the doctor would listen to the misery in my voice and do something to help me out. Well - God answers prayers! The doctor took one look at me and got on the phone with Labor and Delivery to see if they could get me in tomorrow. The elective spots were all taken up (darn) but I am scheduled for induction Monday morning at 6AM. In the meantime, I will keep walking and seeing if I can get him out on his own...Come on JT - lets do this thing!
Jackson started preschool on Tuesday as well! I can't believe my little man is in Pre-K already. Next year he is Kindergarten bound! Wow! He is such a blessing and checks in on Joseph every morning. To celebrate his big brother status, we gave his room a bit of an overhaul. He has wanted to paint it blue for some time so on Labor Day we headed to Lowe's and Target and got everything we needed for a brand new room! Here are some highlights from his first day and his new bedroom!

I can't believe that the next update here I will be the mom of TWO boys! Wow.

BTW - painting stripes is a lot harder than it looks on Trading Spaces!!!

A little "Green" breakfast before preschool Key Lime Yogurt, Honeydew Melon and milk in a Green Cup

SO stylin'

Outside of the preschool!  

 

Jackson with his class

A little ice cream after pickup.

Could this be my last appointment?

I actually got to my appointment EARLY today and still had to wait until 20 minutes after my appointment started to get in to see the OB. I was willing to wait though -I got to see my favorite doctor out of the practice today!

I'm at 3 centimeters now - and 50% thinned. PROGRESS! She said all of the walking I have been doing has been helping. She ruptured my membranes to get things stirred up a little and told me to keep walking especially if I start getting regular contractions.

I was supposed to have been able to schedule an induction date but - since next week has Labor Day, and a bunch of people wanting to schedule their induction for 9/9/09 or 9/11 it is totally full. So I have to wait and see if I am still pregnant next week before I can schedule a time. Let's just hope this membrane thing works! This turkey is COOKED!

Labor and Delivery - Part 3

Joseph is being a little bugger again today! It all started yesterday with a whole lot of pressure whoa momma. The nesting was in full force - the house is CLEAN -the car is CLEAN - groceries are stocked...then at about 9:00 last night I started - um - cleaning myself out. So I had about an hour devoted to the bathroom and finally got to sleep around midnight.

I woke up at 2:30 AM with AWFUL contractions. I started timing them and they got to about 5 minutes apart, went down and took a shower, came back up and they stepped up to 3-4 minutes apart and lasting 30-50 seconds even after sucking down two 32 oz jugs of water so I called the on call OB at around 4:30 and she told me to come in. So I called my mom - woke up Jackson and packed a bag for him and headed in. This time I got to skip the triage unit and went straight to a delivery room. Where they showed my contractions spiking - and Joe's heartrate would jump along with them. The problem was - no dilation...the first nurse checked and said that I was still too posterior and she couldn't reach with her little fingers. I was able to get up and walk around which was lovely and contractions were still coming regularly (and painfully I might add).

They had a nursing change at 7:00 AM so we did another exam - and she said that, despite the painful contractions, I was still only at 2 centimeters and - for some reason - they have my due date down as the 16th not the 12th so I was only 37.5 weeks according to their charts even though I was 38 on Saturday and wouldn't do anything but send me home and hope I dilate on my own. The worst is that the nurses kept reiterating that I wasn't supposed to go in unless the contractions were getting more and more intense (um - HELLO - they were - that's why I came in!!!) I was crying at that point knowing there was nothing I could do about the pain but that Joe was just being stubborn.

Mom took us home and Jackson wanted to stay with me instead of going home with Nana. Stopping to say that he was a complete angel the entire time at the hospital, he played quietly with his toys and rubbed my back - even wished on a star before we left the house that he would see his baby brother today. I am so incredibly blessed to have such a sweet little boy. He didn't even complain that I woke him up at 5:00 AM. By the time we got home it was nearly 9:00 and I was exhausted emotionally and physically so Jack and I laid down and napped for a couple of hours.

I'm sitting here now drinking some Red Raspberry tea - had some lunch and Jack and I are going to spend the rest of the day walking to all the parks in town and trying to get Joe to move himself down. I'm still having contractions...this stinks. I know he will come on his own time but man, he's giving us a run for our money at this point. Ugh. Prayers that he either starts cooperating or at least calms down enough to let me rest and go about my day would be nice.

Thanks for all of the well wishes. It feels so good to know that Joe's arrival is being prayed over by so many people. Let's just hope he comes soon and lets us love on him for real. Thank you friends!

The latest in the weekly checkup saga...

Wish I had better news...but I want a total do-over on today's rainy gross day!

Had a dr appt this morning at 8:30 - left the house at 7:45, took J to mom's realized the car was out of gas, stopped for quick fill up, on the road again - got stopped by a friggin freight train at the crossing in town - then got stuck behind a guy going 45mph on the Interstate ;swearing . Arrived at my appt 12 min late and the nurse gave me the stink eye and told me we needed to get going right away at which point I started tearing up and apologizing...gotta love the preg hormones...had my exam, I'm still only at 2 cm and "thick" and my Strep B test came back positive so I'll have to be on IV antibiotics during delivery to make sure it doesn't pass to Joseph during birth (Strep B is harmless - like strep throat to you or me but could cause complications for little dude's immune system). So - I went home to lay down for a couple of hours...I don't have any appointments until 3 and I need to not think about how frustrating this is trying to keep him IN for 8 weeks only to have him not want to come OUT when the time is actually right...

So here I am in all my bellied up glory.

When will JT arrive?

Register your guesses by following the link below!  There are prizes for the person who gets closest to his arrival date AND weight!  Thanks for playing!

Baby Update

I'm going to post the last trimester appointments here so I have them for the baby book - hope you all don't mind.

We had our ultrasound and weekly checkup today - Joseph is doing great - he's down low in my pelvis and I'm dialated to 2cm! The doctor thinks that my contractions and recent "other unpleasantries" are due to a prostaglandin release - good news for progression of labor since that is what starts opening things up for him to come through.

I got an ultrasound today too he is a big boy! Measuring out to be about 6 pounds 12 ounces! Couldn't get any really clear pictures since he's so big but its enough that he's healthy and growing! If I go to term they are anticipating an 8.5 - 9 pound baby!!! WOW!!! Jackson was only 8 lb even. So I'm going for a walk tonight and hoping to get him loosened up some more so I keep seeing progress. Only 3 weeks max to go! Come on baby boy lets do this thing!

Next appointment is next Thursday at 8:30 am!

State Fair Weekend!!!

I celebrated the release of myself from my sofa by going to the fair!!!  Friday afternoon was a hot day - so my dad insisted that I be pushed around in a wheelchair **eye roll** but I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.  But at least we got the traditional picture of Jackson and Papa by the Hy-Vee sign.  4 years running baby!  The highlight of the fair this year!  WINNING an Honorable Mention for my Iowa State Fair themed scrapbook page!  I was so excited to have a ribbon for my work!  WOOT!

That night my bestest friendest from high school, Heather, came to stay with us!  She made the most ADORABLE diaper cake that was waiting for me when we got home!  I'm so blessed to have such amazing friends!!! I just wish she didn't live all the way up where the buffalo roam so we could see each other more often!

We stayed in our jammies for way too long on Saturday then went out and had a yummy lunch at Fazoli's and got stuff for a girlie night of dying hair and giggling.  2SB forever! Then we got up way too early on Sunday and headed to the fair again this time with her husband, daughter and MIL- despite having to dodge giant bananas flying off the back of a pickup - we made it and I (sans wheelchair) tried to walk this baby out of me!  It didn't work but it did tucker us out into an early night!  Back to work today - let's just hope that Joseph decides to come out SOOOON!  Here some other fair photos - coming soon to a layout near you!

Me and my ribbon!

 

GROUP HUG - Heather Jack and Laina!

Jack and me in the ag garden

Jack and the giant pumpkin

FINALLY 36 weeks! **long update**

This is officially my LAST week of modified activity/bed rest and not a second too soon!! Although the whole concept of staying at home/working from home sounds delicious its also VERY boring.  I have done a lot of scrapping though - watched two full seasons of "Weeds" on Netflix - all of Joseph's little clothes are clean, hung up, and his room is organized and I am completely caught up on all message boards/blogs/facebook/pogo.  Sheesh.

In between all of that - my brother got married August 1st at the Blank Park Zoo.  It was a lovely ceremony and everything went so smoothly - besides - check out my little bubba in his monkey suit!

Ashley and I showing off our bridesmaids gowns and beautiful bouquets.The happy couple sharing their first dance.

The other bright spot was the lovely baby shower that my sweet friends Autumn and Terri threw for me at the church.  We got diapers and wipes and essentials galore and some cute little outfits as well!  I used the gift cards I have gotten along the way to order my diaper bag and a changing table organizer too!  He is going to be one well dressed little baby!  Thank you SO much girls for this blessing for our new addition.  We love you so much!

Sporting the belly by the gift table.  See how seriously BLESSED we are???

Terri's super yummy cake with the real sugar frosting that we have been drooling over for MONTHS!

and...a few of my recent pages that I think turned out lovely...thanks to the ladies at HYWWP for the tremendous online crops that were such an inspiration!

And the winner is!!!

The winner of my little section of our Happy Blog Hop is...

Chelsea L

Check out her blog Scrapbooking to Stay Sane to see some of her beautiful work.  I had a BLAST reading everyone's responses and hope everyone will stay in touch!  

Sorry this is a little late - we have had some "excitement" the last few days - no baby yet but it wasn't for lack of him trying to get out!  Two trips to maternity triage, a shot of terbutaline and a couple of weeks of bed rest (aka working from home) and he should stay put for long enough to get us into the "OK to deliver zone" before he tries another jail break...I hope at least.  On the up shot - that should give me some time to scrap a little before he gets here!  **fingers crossed**

Chelsea - send me your contact information and I'll get your RAK out to you!  Congratulations and thanks for playing!

A little extra Happy for the Hoppers!

As if this hop weren't happy enough!!!  Our brilliant friend Erin has organized an online weekend crop at Have Your Way With Paper  Sign in to our message boards and Find the "Crop the Weekend Away" forum for some amazing, inspiration and scrappy (and non scrappy) challenges.

Don't forget to scroll down and comment on the blog hop post for your chance to win a Pack of Thickers, some GORGEOUS K & Co chipboard flowers, and a mystery embellie!  Thanks to all of our participants and new followers.  Welcome to the Paper Snob universe!

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Spread a Little Happiness - Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to the Happy Blog Hop Sponsored by Have Your Way With Paper!  I hope that everyone is feeling inspired and - well - HAPPY today!  

For this stop, tell me about three embellishments that make your pages happy *and you scrap happy too...*

Mine would have to be: chipboard, layered flowers and felt, and THICKERS!

Post your top three embellies for a chance to win a prize pack with all three of my faves!  

When you are done continue hopping along by visiting the lovely and talented Lisa and let her positive thoughts lift you up too!

Crazy Day

Thursday was a day that can only be called crazy.  I have been fighting some back pain for a few days and, after Wednesday night's small group meeting I was convinced that I should call my OB's office before my next scheduled appointment on Tuesday to make sure everything is OK.  I described everything to the nurse on call and she said that it sounded like I was having back contractions and sent me into the maternity center at Mercy to be monitored.  I was a little dehydrated so they hooked me up to some fluids and monitored the contractions for a few hours - which remained mild and not regular - They did a test called FFN (Fetal FibroNectin) which is supposed to predict pre-term labor in the next couple of weeks.  Ooh BOY is that a fun swab to get done!  It came back negative and all of the exits are still closed up so they sent me back home on "modified bed rest".  Which basically means, "take it easy", no heavy lifting, no prolonged or repetitive activity, but I'm not strictly in bed for the next 8 weeks thank GOD!  So I went home, slept for four hours, drank a ton of water and felt MUCH better.

I did get clearance, as long as I made my brother carry everything and didn't overdo anything, to still go to the David Cook concert at Simon Estes 

Amphitheater that night! 

 It was SUCH a nice night, even a little chilly, and his part of the concert was only a little over an hour. It felt SO nice to just be me for a couple of hours - the last thing that I get to do that is all about me before everything gets more complicated for child care - especially since mom is going to be watching Joseph full time and she will have Jackson half days when he is in preschool.  It makes it hard to ask for a few extra hours in the evening even just Jack - much less with both boys...so the timing was weird but I'm glad I got to go before Troy gets married in a couple of weeks and I become mommy of two.  

I've also determined that I am not built to rest...I'm so used to doing everything on my own that it is SO hard to watch my dad mow my lawn for me and to not be able to lift my son whenever I want to.  I just want this baby to get here so I can get back to being myself again.  I just keep chanting - 8 weeks left - 8 weeks left - just hang in there...

Yes, I haven't updated in ages due to some home Internet issues. (God bless those dear folks at Qwest for completely ignoring my need for service...) It seems like a lot has happened since that but really not much has.

I crossed over into the single digits counting down the weeks left until Baby Joseph arrives! 9 weeks and some change. When last we left the saga I was having to repeat the torture that is the three hour glucose test. I got there as early as I could, got two blood draws into the darn thing and - well - lets just say that Joseph "rejected" the glucose solution and I was sent home without finishing the test. I was PRAYING that the doctor's office wouldn't make me retake it and, since the levels on my first two draws were fine, they said I wouldn't have to and just watch my refined sugar intake.

According to the ultrasound from a couple of weeks ago, JT is in the 78th percentile for size so he is still growing just fine even though I have yet to gain any of my 32 pound weight loss back at all. I have a goal of gaining two pounds before my 32 week appointment on the 22nd but I've been battling a nasty sinus infection so I'm not sure that's going to happen...anyway, here is the official 7 month photo - thanks to Terry for taking it for me at the last church crop! Man I really do look as tired as I feel.

AND I miss my hair! It got hacked off (way too short) at the salon last weekend so I am hiding from cameras until some of it grows back...it should be just about perfect in time for the wedding though so that's good!

4th of July weekend was a BLAST Jack and I got to spend some time with some good friends, Josie, Jeremy, Heather, Andrew and Jaci - we had 5 children running around and playing, got to see a great parade and between Thursday and Saturday got to see three of the best fireworks displays in Des Moines. We went to the annual concert at the capital and ran into some friends from Jackson's daycare. It was just a wonderful time! More pics to come when I can log on from my home computer.

I hope everyone's holiday went well! Love to all!

Weekend Update.

Before I get to the weekend's events...

Today - I happened to be in the little town where the bridesmaid dresses were ordered so I decided to stop by to see how "frankenstein" my gown is going to have to be since I ordered it in February... I went in to the dressing room fully expecting to not even be able to zip the darn thing up but it was actually LOOSE on me. They are going to have to take in the bust and maybe let out the sides a couple of inches after the next few weeks but they probably won't even have to add any extra fabric to it. Yay for not having to pay for too many alterations but - um - how big WAS I before I got pregnant??? Sad that I'm actually smaller 7+ months pregnant than before...ugh - anyway - here is awful cell phone pic I took when I was there.

The weekend was VERY busy all around. Saturday night some of the ladies from church landed at my house after a night of bowling and brought over a FIRE PIT!!! I LOVE IT! We all sat around toasting marshmallows and just enjoying one another's company. THANK YOU LYNN!!! I just can't wait to figure out a way to landscape the back yard to accommodate the pit...may have to be a "next spring" kind of project!

It was a good weekend for scrapping up at the church on Saturday - I struggled with my first layout for-EVAH trying to make the papers that I had originally bought for these pictures work...I was about to give up when I pulled out this Bungle Jungle from Sassafras Lass and - voila - brilliance

The second one had been in my brain since I found this paper at Convention at the beginning of the month. The crate paper "lil sprouts" line is perfect for the nursery color scheme. I'm totally ready for him to get here as soon as he's ready to come! 10 weeks left - what torture...  

In the next post - torturous medical procedures and the pregnant women who have to endure them...

Not AGAIN!

Yesterday was my 28 week doctor's appointment and I must say that it was a colossal disappointment!!!!

I had to take my 3rd trimester blood glucose test - yup failed the 1 hour and have to go back next Wednesday to take another torture test (aka the 4 hour GTT).  

Then I got verbally flogged by my doctor for losing another 3 pounds...my mom was with me and attested to the fact that I really am eating as much as my nauseous stomach will allow...so I got shipped off to the ultrasound where Joseph was NOT cooperating, had his back turned to us, so all we could see was spine.  He is still measuring exactly on schedule.  He weighs 3 pounds and his heartbeat and digestive function all look good.  

I was totally bummed and the oppressive heat outside made it really hard to move myself through the last half of my day.  Ugh - where is my fast forward button?  I need it to be September TOMORROW!

Monday Comes Too Soon

Mom and Dad's time share definitely comes in handy when talking about weekend getaways!  This time we took off Friday afternoon and headed to the Wisconsin Dells for a few days. It was wonderful to get away for a couple of days and spend some quality time with the little man...we spent way too much time getting wrinkly in the water park at the hotel - ate some yummy food and found the few missing items from Joseph's wardrobe at the outlet mall.  The highlight though was Jackson's first mini golf game!  Best $6.50 ever spent in the history of his short life.  Check out these photos - it was a gorgeous course and J caught on so quickly to the instruction that papa and I gave him!  

Tomorrow is the last ultrasound before I get to meet my newest little man in person and up close.  Mom is bringing Jackson along...I can't wait!!!  Hello third trimester.  T-11 weeks to go!!!