a great weekend!

We started the weekend with our neighborhood garage sale.  Too bad we were the only ones on our street who participated. Other parts of the neighborhood looked really busy. We did get rid of a few things though, and a little extra money is always appreciated. My parents and brother came to visit and arrived saturday afternoon. It is always so wonderful to see them.  We went to a German restaurant for dinner and I had some good schnitzel and this fantastic bread that is like those big soft pretzels. Yum! Sunday was my baby shower at church. It was really nice and Owen got lots of new clothes, a diaper bag, a play mat, some art to hang above his crib, and some adorable personalized goodies. 

When I went to the doctor last week, she said that Owen has already dropped. According to my pregnancy books, when that happens the baby usually arrives in 2-4 weeks. If that's right, we may be seeing our little guy a week or two early.  I'll be going to the doctor every week now. I'm still feeling good overall. I get a little uncomfortable at night and have some heartburn when I get hungry. I still feel pretty much normal at work and then crash when I get home. Marcus has been so helpful around the house.  This weekend he's going to the Arkansas/Alabama game and I'm planning to work on organizing the nursery and cooking some freezeable meals. There's still alot to do before Owen arrives!

lots of excitement

I realized that I am WAY behind in updating and have lots to catch up on.

Today is Marcus's 30th Birthday!!!  He is such an amazing husband and I just can't brag on him enough.  I am sooo lucky to have him.  Last year at this time we were on the beach in Mexico. Now we are getting ready for our sweet baby. It's amazing how much things can change in a year, but we are so happy with where we are now.  I got him a new camera for his birthday and we are going out for a nice dinner on Friday night.

  I am 31 weeks pregnant now and still feeling pretty good. Some days I still feel pretty normal and other days I do feel tired and like I am slowing down.  It's defintely getting harder to chase kids at work and sometimes I have to ask for help in picking up kids or other heavy things.  According to "What to Expect", Owen now weighs 3 1/2 pounds, which is pretty cool. We've been going to childbirth class each week this month and I have really enjoyed it. Thursday is our last class.  I went to Just Between Friends, a huge baby and kids consignment sale, and got some great clothes for Owen and me and a few other things too. Owen already has ALOT of clothes.  I'm having more fun shopping for a boy than I though I would.  We had a hard time finding bedding that we liked that wasn't too "themey" or ridiculously expensive.  Yesterday, my wonderful friend Colleen found some great bedding on Craigslist (in North Carolina) and is sending it to me.  I am SOOO excited. It is just perfect. It's  from Pottery Barn and is blue and green with some elephants ( but not too many!)  I feel like he is going to be here so soon!

On a not so fun note, 3 weeks ago we were in a car accident.  We were headed to church and were rear ended while we were sitting at a stoplight by a lady who didn't slow down at all until after she hit us.  Marcus's car was totaled, but we are fine. I called my doctor the next day so that I could go into her office just to get checked out and was advised to go to hosptial- to the Labor and Delivery floor. I was really upset about having to go to the hospital. It made me feel like something really could be wrong, even though he was still moving normally and I really felt ok.  They monitored Owen's heartrate for awhile, did bloodwork, and an ultrasound and thankfully he was just fine.   

This past weekend, we had a small flood in our house.  I don't totally understand how it works but some drain on our air conditioner was clogged and stinky water was coming up through the floor into our hallway.  It's dry now, but we still have huge, loud fans blowing to dry out the pad under the carpet. Yuck.  Hopefully, this week and weekend will be drama-free!

27 weeks- I look so tired here...it was after a busy day at work.

29 weeks

30 weeks

Marcus's car.  : (

The nasty water he vacuumed out of the carpet.  It filled the tub halfway up. Yuck!!!

Mr. Fix-it-just a few days before the big 3-0

25 Weeks!

Time is flying by. Baby Owen is moving more and more every day and he is the size of an eggplant this week.  Marcus has felt him move several times now. My mom was able to feel him too when my family visited for the 4th of July. He is the most active at night. One night last week, I was lying in bed with the remote control on my stomach and it was really moving.  I am wearing all maternity pants now and can wear some regular shirts, but not many.  Luckily, my one of my friends gave me a huge bag of maternity shirts the other day.   Here are my 2 most recent pictures.

23 weeks

25 weeks

Kansas City

Marcus and I took a few days off work last week and went to Kansas City. It will probably be our last vacation for a long time!  Neither of us had ever been there, but we were looking for somewhere that was an easy drive from here and the St. Louis Cardinals (Marcus's favorite team) happened to be playing there last week so it was a pretty easy decision.  We stayed for four nights and went to the baseball game, the zoo, the best outlet mall I've ever been to, and to a really cool museum.  We also ate at lots of good restaurants.  My favorite was a steak place called J. Gilberts. It was a splurge, but sooo delicious.

                                     

The first two pictures were taken at the Arabia Steamboat museum by a huge steamboat wheel. (I guess it's called the wheel-not sure!) Basically, these guys dug up a huge steamboat that sank in the 1850's and was buried under a field after the river changed course.  It was carrying merchandise for stores out west and people's personal belongings.  It was really interesting. There were lots of old clothes, dishes, tools, and even jars of food. It might sound nerdy, but we both really enjoyed it.

Kansas City had a great zoo. We walked around for probably 4-5 hours and didn't even see everything.  Marcus fed the goats and they were hoping for more.

Ready for the Cardinals game

The Royals have a fantastic stadium. I loved all the fountains in the outfield.

more pregnancy pictures

I'll be 23 weeks pregnant this week. Here are pictures from weeks 19-21. Last week, we went on a little vacation (which I'll post about soon) and most of those pictures were just of my face/shoulders, so we'll have to skip week 22.  I'm still feeling great except for some occasional heartburn. I'm reading several pregnancy books and feel pretty lucky, because I'm not having alot of the bad symptoms they mention (yet). I love feeling him move and am so ready for Marcus to be able to feel him too. Hopefully, he'll be able to in a few weeks. We've started buying some baby clothes (I LOVE the Carter's outlet!!) and researching baby gear.  We still haven't decided on bedding, but other than that I feel pretty prepared for how far along I am. 

19 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

It's a BOY!!!

We found out the friday before Memorial Day that we are having a boy! Everything looked great on the ultrasound. They showed us so many cool little details. We could even see him opening his mouth.We are so excited and now I feel like I can really start planning.  We went to a great neighborhood garage sale yesterday and found some cute clothes.  My favorite find was a little pair of Ralph Lauren khakis that are just like Marcus's.  We got 9 items for $7.   Our nursery furniture has come in, baby is signed up for daycare, and I have signed up for childbirth class in August. We're still trying to decide on bedding and nursey decor.

Some of our good friends had a baby boy on friday and we got to go meet him last night.  He was so sweet and tiny. Two more girls in our class at church are expecting too and are due just a couple of months after me. It's exciting to think that these babies will be friends with our baby. 

Work is going well too. Starting this week, I'll be seeing kids in the clinic full time. I have enjoyed traveling to daycares, but as it gets hotter and I get bigger I think being in the clinic will be alot better for me. 

17 weeks

18 weeks

Growing...

This is at almost 14 weeks. Don't you love the pillow in the middle of the floor. I cropped the picture earlier, but it didn't save and I didn't feel like messing with it again!

Sixteen weeks-this was taken this past friday night. I think it makes me look a little bigger than I am because of the angle and the way I'm holding back my sweater. I also like the plant growing out of my head. Ha.At least we took a picture this week. Right?

We've had such a nice weekend. It seems like we've done alot of baby stuff over the past few days. Friday after work I went to visit a daycare near our house that we are considering for the baby.  I was kind of sad about going, but I had a really good experience . All the babies were happy and clean, the baby teacher was super nice, and it would be so convenient for us.That night, we went to a catfish restaurant that's pretty far out in the country. It reminded me of being in Arkansas and was really yummy.  After that we went to Babys R Us and looked around. It was the first time I've been in there since I've been pregnant.  It's hard to know what you actually need when there is soooo such to choose from.  Baby stuff is expensive!  Yesterday we stopped by Motherhood in the mall and I bought a few things. I bought most of the clothes I'll need at a consignment sale, but I needed some more pants/capris for work.  Things are getting tight and I'm wearing the belly band nearly every day. Last night I went to a lingerie shower for a friend at work and Marcus went out with some friends.  We went to church and I had a nice 2-hour nap this afternoon and tonight we have community groups with our class from church.