Baby Shower

Warning:  This post has nothing to do with our Christmas... that will have to come later because I have been meaning to post some pictures from my first baby shower for awhile now, but I just now got them off my sister's camera!

It was a WONDERFUL time with LOTS of friends! It was put on by some of my mom's best friends!  Damon and I feel truly truly blessed... it is hard to believe that we got so much stuff... and yet there is so much still needed!! AH! WHO KNEW?!  Some key items that we received this time around... a diaper genie, pack n play, toddler car seat, diaper bag, video monitor system, and MUCH MUCH more!!

Below are some pictures of the fun times! :)

The lovely hostesses (minus Ann) and me!

The diaper bag of all diaper bags!  And yes, you should be VERY jealous!! :)

The car seat!! :)  YEAH!

Me with all the gifts! :)

Friends since 3rd grade!! My life wouldn't be the same without her!! Love you, Sarah! :)

My small group!  I have been with some of these girls since they were 5 years old!! I can't believe that they are now old enough to baby-sit my little girl! AH!

My sisters and mom... Erica (Landon's fiancee), mom, me, Abby, Jordan, and Kathrine ("adopted" sister)! :)

My beautiful mom and me!  Isn't she just GORGEOUS?!

My sisters!  Love them! :)

One of my very best friends, Magen, and her little girl, Audrey!! So excited that she will be adding a baby boy to the mix in May!! I don't know what I would do without her sweet friendship over the last several years! (not one of the best pictures of me, but definitely cute of the two of them!)

There are about 25 more photos that I could add, but it might be a little overkill! :)  Again, thanks to EVERYONE who helped and sent gifts... it was so special!

We had a check up last week and baby girl is still looking great!  He said that she is about 4lbs and 10ozs already... and her feet are 2.5in....with 8 weeks left to go, she could be a big baby girl... probably close to 9lbs or so... LORD, PLEASE LET ME GO EARLY!! Hah!  My momma was able to go with me to the last ultrasound, which was so fun, except for Collins decide to get shy on us and didn't want to show her face, feet or anything... She was just all curled up and my normally very active child, didn't want to move!  The doc did say that she had chubby little cheeks and lots of hair!! :)  I can't wait to see it when she enters this world!!  After the pre-labor earlier, we are hoping hat she stays put for at least 3 more weeks (hopefully a little longer)!

I mean, after a shower like that, how can you not feel truly blessed?!  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!! I will post more on that later!!  Love to you all!

Hospital Visit #2

Why I should think that anything medical in my life should come easy is beyond me... I mean, nothing ever has been easy in this department. Pregnancy seems to be going this way lately too.  I mean, really? Two hospital visits in less than a month! You've gotta be kidding me!

I really hadn't felt good all week... Could feel myself contracting, but not too bad and not that often, so I just blew it off.  Then as the week progressed, I started feeling sicker and sicker... I was catching a cold (of course), so I was trying to take it as easy as I could with Christmas parties coming up on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evening!  I took extra naps, even left work early to try to rest before the parties.  I just couldn't get comfortable.  I kept waking Damon up because I was tossing and turning so much at night... I know that this is to be somewhat expected being 7 months pregnant, but I mean, I wasn't sleeping more than about 45 minutes at a time! Which was just adding to my stress.  So, Thursday night, I left Damon's company Christmas party early because I didn't feel good and definitely wasn't in the mood to smell any food.  I went home and got in bed by myself.  Damon came home really late (about 1:00am) and I woke up... and tried and tried to go back to sleep, but just couldn't.  Finally, I went downstairs (so Damon could get some rest) and fell asleep...still waking up every hour or so.

Of course the next morning, it was Friday, so all the clinics here are closed... So I called the health line to talk to the OBGYN on call.  He said that he thought I should come in to labor and delivery and get checked out, even though he thought everything was fine.  So my sweet mom came with me and we got all checked in and hooked up to the monitors.  The nurse said "we will watch you for about 45 minutes to an hour and then hopefully send you home.  Well, she came back in about a half hour later and said, "well, you're not going anywhere... you are contracting every 3-6 minutes and we have to get these stopped".  ARGH! So they gave me three rounds of shots and a pill that are supposed to stop labor.  After the first shot, I started to get really sick to my stomach so I asked for some nausea medication.  She gave me Zofran.  And we found out that I am DEFINITELY allergic to it!  Instead of making me feel better, I definitely felt worse.  I started to get the worst heart burn (de ja vu from my hospital stay in MN) and then started to throw up. Of course it didn't help that the shots they gave me make your heart race!  I felt out of control... and my contractions then started to come every 2 minutes... Not the effect they were looking for!  Finally, I was able to lay down and just sleep.  Probably the best hour of sleep I had had all week!!  After a couple hours of observing me, the nurse came back in and said that my contractions had stopped and that I could go home when I was ready!  Well, I was ready to get home and sleep!  So we left about 4 o'clock with instructions to rest and lay down most of the weekend... just take it easy! (That didn't quite go with the plans we had... mind you, we still hadn't done any Christmas shopping and we were scheduled to go to my sister's graduation and take family pictures!) 

We ended up going to the graduation.  I am still contracting some, but not nearly as much as I was, so that is good!  And my sweet hubby is doing all the Christmas shopping!  I just gave him a list and off he went in the crowds!  Isn't he the sweetest?

I am feeling better, but now I think I have had a reaction to the medication they gave me... I have little ulcers all over the back of my throat... Probably from throwing up medicine.  And my nose is really stuffed... so I could just have strep or something... WHO KNOWS?!  I will make an appointment for tomorrow to get checked out because I am just ready to feel really good again!!!  Please pray for me and my spirits... I am just pretty down right now.  I love being pregnant and feeling my little girl move around, but I really just want some of my energy back... at least enough that I can enjoy all the fun that comes with the holidays, Christmas, my favorite time of the year!!

Here is a picture of me for Damon's Christmas party...at 31 weeks! :)  Enjoy!!

Nursery!

Well, here is the BIG reveal of the nursery! It is pretty much finished... with the exception of a side table, lamp, and rug!

Before I start posting the pictures... I must take a minute to brag on my hubby and dad. Damon did a great job painting the walls!! And he had to listen to me as I ran a million ideas by him in trying to decide what to do! Damon also painted the dresser the white color (the crib was already that color, thank goodness)! And my precious dad took a lot of time distressing the crib and dresser (and letters) and staining them for the antiqued look! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE how it turned out and know that it is so special to have these items MADE by people I love! I am thanking God that I have such wonderful men in my life to help assist with all my crazy projects!! :)  If you don't have any wonderful men like these, I would gladly loan you mine, at times, to help out!  They really are the best! :)

Speaking of made, my sweet grandma made baby bedding-- but not the one you see. Unfortunately, when we got it home, it didn't fit! :( I fell on the ground and started bawling (mind you, we had just driven in 12 hours from MN and after being in the hospital, it was the one thing I couldn't wait to do!!). I could have fixed it and made it work, but on top of it not fitting right, I decided I just didn't like the fabrics all together enough to invest more money in it... I know, shocker... I picked out something I didn't like the first time around! Now if any of you family members who read this say anything about this bedding situation to Grandma, consider yourself dead! I am still trying to figure out when, how and if to break the news to her!  So thanks to my sweet mom, my sister, and selling some clothes from our closet, we were able to but the new bedding you see!!

Without further ado, here is our baby wonderland! :)

First up, a close up of the furniture my dad and hubby worked on.  I love the little details that my dad added to make it extra special!  See the GLC-- well, that stands for "Grandpa Loves Collins"-- such a sweet touch that about makes me cry!!!

View of the crib as you walk in the nursery...

Do you LOVE the bedding as much as I do?! :)  I wanted something that just went with my house-- not a room you walked into that felt like a totally different place!!!

Close up of the wreaths I did as the focal point in the room... so easy! (AND VERY INEXPENSIVE)  The whole project was less that $20 and I had my dad paint the letters to make the furniture!  I LOVE the way they turned out!

Corner of the room with the tree! I have now added a couple red birds to the tree as well, which bring in the red ribbon!  Keep with the "woodsie" theme!

The windows and chair!  I already had the frame, which went PERFECTLY!  And the lanterns are one of my favorite parts of the nursery! :)  (Though they were not as easy to hang as I thought they would be... probably because I am a sick perfectionist!)

Close up of the chair... Damon insisted that we get a really comfortable one... and I am so glad that he did!  I already LOVE sitting in it and can't wait until I am going to sit there with my little girl!

Now, a brown round rug in the middle of the room, a side table complete with lamp and picture frame, probably a standing lamp in the corner, maybe a couple frames for the walls... and a flat screen tv across from the chair so I can watch it while feeding!! :)  I know, I know... so not necessary, but heck, why not spoil myself, right?! :)

So for all of you who have been asking... there you have it! Hope you LOVE it!!  I think that I could do this forever... think through ideas, design rooms... AHH... Heaven!

Here is the most recent belly shot... 29 weeks! Had another appointment this week... gaid 1/2 a pound over the last 3 weeks, which the doc said was perfect and that my weight and belly size are EXACTLY where they need to be! :)  Collins keeps moving and growing just like she should as well!! 

Thanksgiving and The Following Days

Normally Thanksgiving can be described as a time of thanks, a good time with family and friends, cold weather, turkey, green bean bundles, mashed potatoes, and by far one of my favorite times of the year. This year, however, there was none of that for me. This Thanksgiving goes down as one of the worst I have ever had. This Thanksgiving could be described as, cold, IV fluids, hospital stay, throw up, and DEFINITELY no turkey, potatoes or green beans... A 12 hour drive to check myself into the hospital for 2 days. BLAH!

So what happened you ask? The stomach flu... just a little stomach bug... Damon, my sister and I drove all day Tuesday to arrive in Sioux Falls, SD at about 9:00pm. I didn't feel great all day, but I thought that was just the result of being about 7 months pregnant and traveling 12 hours in the car. And food never settles quite right in the car (plus, it is all crap food). Went to bed that night feeling fine, but glad to be in a bed and get some good sleep! Woke up the next morning to ice storms! I love the cold when I am up north! We then got on the road to go visit my grandparents (about a 30 minute drive). Got there, still felt great! We arrived and gave everyone big hugs and then my grandparents told us we had 3 options for food 1)McDonald's 2) Burger King or 3) Hardees... BIG SPENDERS! :) Hehe! So, we went to Hardees (for those of you southerners, Hardees is MUCH better up north!). Damon and I had about another half hour drive to Jackson, MN where we were going to be staying for the remainder of the holiday with my aunt and uncle. We hung out with them the rest of the day and my other aunt and her boyfriend, along with my cousin arrived later and we all went to dinner! Steak tips and twice baked potatoes! YUM! :) We laughed and laughed the whole time! So, the next morning was Thanksgiving. I woke up and didn't feel great, but I thought, I will just take a shower and get ready (we had family pictures) and I will be fine. We got a call that my uncle was sick with the flu so pictures were cancelled. I was excited because that meant that I could take my time getting ready since I wasn't feeling great, but I started to feel worse and worse. At about 11:00, everyone left to go to Thanksgiving lunch, but I told Damon that I needed to stay behind and sleep a little longer. That's when it hit! I started throwing up. After the first time, I knew that it would be easiest if I just went into the hospital to nip it in the bud, get some fluids and nausea meds and enjoy the rest of the time we had with family! Little did I know... Got to the ER, got all the meds, started to feel better, got ready to be discharged (even had the IV taken out). Then, as we were signing the papers, I started to feel HORRIBLE again! I told them that I wanted to wait for a little bit so I didn't have to come back in later. In a half hours time, I got sick again. They decided to admit me overnight. Got my upstairs and hooked me up to fetal monitors. (They wanted to check on Collins since I was getting dehydrated.) When they did this, the nurse said to me, "Did you know that you are contracting every 2 minutes?!". I said... "umm.. no". I just thought that was my stomach cramping from being sick! They weren't really worried because you can contract when you are dehydrated, but everyone was relieved that they didn't send me home! Slept the entire night (well, as much as you can with nurses coming in every hour) and was ready to go home the next morning. Ate something, felt good... and then about 2 hours later, got the most horrible heartburn I have EVER had (it felt like my food didn't go past my chest and my throat was on FIRE)! And I got sick again... so they wanted to try again at lunch before discharging me. Same thing happened... Finally, I put it together and told them about the heartburn. They gave me some meds, but they take 24 hours to kick in, so I had to stay the next night as well. Saturday morning, woke up, felt good and was discharged at about noon. (I didn't eat anything because I just wanted to get out of there). We got right on the road to head back to Little Rock-- drive 6 hours to Kansas City, checked into the hotel and finally I ate something (noodles and baked potatoe)... and kept it down! Then promptly, I asked for a piece of chocolate cake! :) Finished the drive on Sunday... and returned to work on Monday.

So, as you can see, pretty much the worst Thanksgiving ever. However, now that I am out of it, I can look back and see what I was thankful for. I am so thankful that I have a husband who loves me so much, was willing to be there with me and even hold my hair back when I was sick! I am so thankful for my family, who was willing to come and sit by my side in the hospital, when I know that is not where they wanted to be. I am so thankful for the doctors and nurses who took great care of me and Collins. And I am SO grateful that God protected both Collins and I. Things could have been much, much worse.

And the great thing was, I already had my high risk ultrasound follow up scheduled for Monday when I got back, so we were able to check on Collins after the whole ordeal! She is growing like a weed! She is about 3lbs, 3ozs right now. Her little feet are about 2 inches long! And she is measuring about 1 week ahead of her expected due date, which means we may get to meet her sooner than we think!! :) YEAH! I can't believe how much this little girl is already changing our lives!

No matter what you are going through, I hope that you can see God's blessings in the midst of your life. Let's remember not to skip over Thanksgiving and go right to Christmas. We have so much to be thankful for!

3 Months and Counting

Today marks exactly 3 months until my sweet little baby girl is due to come into this world! I can't hardly stand my excitement most days! And then other days, I get fearful... fearful, mostly of the unknown. We have been going through the child-birth classes and those have definitely helped me know what I am in for, but I just don't think that you ever know until you get there... and they say every labor and delivery is different! We talked about inducing in the class last week. And they said that this is something that we need to talk about sooner than later-- so that if it comes up later, we don't freak out about it. To be honest, there is a part of it that sounds awesome... knowing the exact date and being able to plan around that date... I am such a planner!!! But the other side of it is, then you are stuck in a hospital bed all day because they legally HAVE to monitor you all the time! No walking the halls, no sitting at home relaxing (all things that help labor progress)... just sitting in the hospital bed...waiting. That doesn't sound as fun to me! (Not that this labor thing is going to be fun, but I might as well try to make it as enjoyable as possible, right?!) And even more so since I would like to try to do it all naturally... I think I would like to be able to walk around and manage the pain different ways. If it is medically necessary, no problemo! INDUCE! :) We shall see... Definitely something to ponder. If any of you moms have any thoughts, feel free to pass them on!

I think little Collins has her daddy's personality right now. Man, is she a kicker and mover!!! I mean, some days, I literally have 2 hours when she is sleeping... just praying that this changes when she graces us with her presence!

I shared with my community group last night that I am just so tired right now. I am physically, emotional, and spiritually drained. There was a sermon on saying "No" a couple weeks back, and boy do I need to take it to heart! I want to do EVERYTHING and the reality is... I just can't. I think to that I have heard so many people use pregnancy as an excuse to not do things... and that drives me crazy... so I don't want to be that person and I flip flop on the other end... where I don't say no to much! Lord, please help me to start saying "no" and help me to realize that people won't think less of me when I do say "no".

The nursery is definitely coming along! I can't wait to get more pictures up when we get back from Thanksgiving. My grandma made the bedding so we will be picking it up while we are there next week!!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT!!! AH! The walls are painted, the decal will be going up tonight, along with the curtains, even though I have to sew some more fabric on the curtains later... The crib is painted and stained... my dad will be finishing the dresser this weekend. And Damon and I are going to find a chair Saturday afternoon! Only things left... wall decorations, twin bed/reading pallet, headboard, and a new lamp and side table, and pillows... I can't wait to see it all come together!! :) I am praying that I get a sewing machine for my birthday in a couple weeks so that I can start doing the pillows on my own!! :) YEAH!

That was a much longer update than I was thinking... but there you go!! With Thanksgiving around the corner, I realize that I have so much to be thankful for! Including this healthy baby girl growing inside me! We will be headed up to the cold state of Minnesota to visit my extended family! I can't wait! Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Halloween and Nursery

As I write tonight, I am filled with excitement because work has begun on Collins's nursery!! I am watching while my husband paints away-- a bright sunshine yellow! (It will have stripes, but you will have to wait to see those!) I think that I have been waiting for this day almost as long as I have been waiting to have kids... I LOVE to decorate and dream and see my ideas come to life! And to top it off, I hit 24 weeks last Saturday (I am 25 weeks now)! That means, only about 15 more before we get to meet our baby girl! Below you can see the growing belly! Not a great picture of me... Sorry, I have been sick and you can read it all over my face!!

I had another appointment and again have great news that everything is going just as it should! I feel beyond blessed to be as healthy as I have been and that this baby is growing just as she should! I choose to continue to trust God with Collins and know that He already has a HUGE plan for her life!

Oh, and just in case I haven't said, we FINALLY decided on the middle name.... da-dada-dah! COLLINS REESE WOODWARD! We LOVE it! Well, I do... Damon took a little convincing! :) He hated it at first, so I talked him into it by telling him that he would never want me to use it as a first name, so the least he could do was let me have it as a middle name! Now, it is definitely growing on him and he really is growing to like it! (or so he tells me so!)

Below are some pictures of the "projects" going on around the house. My brother moved out, so the first step was moving everything out of the room upstairs to the guest room downstairs. Below is the result-- and I have to say, I think I like the set-up even better than I did up here!

Next, the room is empty (except for the baby stuff in the middle of the room) and I (yes, I) spackled and filled holes to prep for paint... my hubby did the taping.

My handsome hubby and the paint color! Mind you, there is a bright light shinning on it so it is definitely brighter than it really looks!

We will definitely post more pictures as the work is completed... although, maybe I will make you wait now until it is all DONE!! hehe! Would I be so cruel?!

Halloween was WAY fun around here! We went to a party and won BEST COSTUME! :) Hehe! Hope you enjoy the laugh as much as we did!! Pretty sure I was crying I was laughing so hard at Damon!

And last, but not least... please look at this picture of my dad... Is it not the funniest thing you have EVER seen?! :) I love my dad! HILARIOUS!

Fall and Favorites

Well, it has been a little bit since I have updated. I told you last time that I have been in a "crafty" mood and getting ready for fall... so I thought I would post a couple of pictures of what I have been doing!

My wreath outside with all the fall decor!


My fall painting and some pumpkins! Probably my favorite part of the house right now!


And the table decor... I can't not go all out!! Hehe!


Hope you like it because I LOVE it! :)

As far as baby and pregnancy! I am still loving feeling my little girl move around-- though her most active time is after 10:00pm! At least she isn't too big yet that I can't sleep! I did wake up about 3:00am last night though and she was kicking and kicking and kicking! Daddy woke up too and whispered to her that it was time to sleep... so sweet!! :) I have been feeling pretty good overall, but I have been feeling a little nauseaus in the morning again... not sure what that is about, but oh well! As far as the diabetes, things are going WONDERFUL! I have been able to keep tight control and my lab work last time came back as being almost non-diabetic!! :) 5.9HbA1C for those of you who know numbers! My HbA1C is my average blood sugar level over about a 3 month period. 5.5 is non-diabetic and they like us diabetics to aim for 6.5! So I am below that, which is an answer to prayer!! Yeah!!

A couple weekends ago, I was finally able to register! I wanted to knock that out before the holidays started up so I wasn't crazy! We registered and Babys 'R Us and Sprout (a little store here in LR with the CUTEST clothes EVER!) Below are some of the "favorites" that I have already received for our little girl-- well, my favorites anyway!! :)

I wish they made this hat in my size!!


Is there anything more precious than little girl shoes?!


Special outfit made by one of my bestest friends!! She made two!


My sister gave us this little outfit the day we found out we were having a little girl!


And last, but not least (and there are many other favorites, but I can't post them all), a little lamb jacket that my mom got for her! So sweet!! I can't wait until she is big enough to wear it!!


Well, that's about it for now! Thanks to everyone for your sweet prayers!! They mean the world to us as we prepare for this little girl!