34 weeks

I am sorry I have not blogged in a while. When I get home from work at night...I am exhausted! There have been some changes at work. I am now in the clinic in the afternoons instead of in the hospital. It is nice being in one location, but learning a new skill (the office computers) on little sleep, has been challenging! Plus, I have been working hard around the house making sure we have everything put together, put away, washed, etc. I guess this is what they call the "nesting" phase. The nursery is almost done! I am in love with it!! It is exactly what I wanted. Once the final touches are done this week, I will post some pictures.

So here we are at 34 weeks! Time is flying by. I can't believe in a few short weeks, our baby girl will be here! I haven't been feeling so well lately. I am totally swollen all over which makes it more difficult to...well, do anything!! Matt went last weekend and bought me new tennis shoes for work since I cannot fit into anything except flip flops. I usually wear a 6.5 and these are an 7.5W!! Yes, a wide!! It is quite comical! I went to the doctor this week and my blood pressure was up. There was no protein in my urine so I do not have preeclampsia, but she is concerned I am headed in that direction. So she drew some extra labs this week and made me get off my feet. I took Friday off to rest, which was nice. My body, myself, and the baby needed that! She wants me to come back again this week for another check. I met Dr. McIntyre this week. So now, I have officially met all the partners.

This week Baby E is the size of a honeydew melon and can recognize and react to simple songs. She is probably reacting to my voice by plugging her ears! In fact, babies can recognize frequently sung tunes after birth and probably find them soothing. Less cute news: She now urinates about one pint per day. Good thing we have a ton of diapers. Also, her fingernails are almost full grown. She is just getting ready for our first mother/daughter manicure! Oh, I felt her have the hiccups for the first time. That was so funny once I realized what it was! Matt has been able to see her move a lot more lately too. He is kind of grossed out by the weird movements and doesn't know how I sleep with something moving inside of me!

Despite the swelling and still terrible reflux, this is still such an amazing experience and journey. I wouldn't trade it for anything. What a blessing to be able to be pregnant and feel my baby's every move. I will certainly miss that in a few weeks. Right now, I get to take her everywhere with me and it makes me sad to think I will go back to work and she won't be with me! I know there is nothing like having your first child. Every aspect is brand new. Every symptom, every movement, every gift you receive to prepare for the baby! I am loving the preparation and can't wait to meet my daughter.

Look at that swollen face! I look like a blow fish.

Nicole's Tea Party Baby Shower

Janice, Laura, and I threw Nicole a tea party baby shower in preparation for Declan. It was a nice lunch with an intimate group of girls. Nicole is having her second boy, so it was fun to do something girly for her! She didn't want a shower since it is her second and another boy, but Laura and I pushed her a little...and Janice hit the ball out of the park! I think she is glad she decided to do it!

A tea room is obvisouly a bit girly, so we had to work a little magic to make it work with our boy theme. Laura made beautiful flower arrangements with blue hydrangeas and white roses. I put my new sewing skills to the test with making my first blanket which we draped over the favor table. Janice has been taking sewing lessons with Nicole and me, so she made a precious bib with the same fabric as the blanket. Since Nicole, Janice and I have been learning together, we knew Nicole would love the gifts...including their imperfections!

We passed around a book for everyone to write a little note to Declan. The book is "The Night You Were Born." I remember the first time I read it...actually, I gave it to another friend named Nicole. It brought tears to my eyes then, imagine now!

For favors, we gave out Peterbrooke chocolate covered popcorn!! My favorite (was also our wedding favor). The stickers on the front say "Ready to POP!". It was a nice afternoon. Nicole is scheduled for her C-section on September 1. We can't wait to meet Declan.

Baby Shower #3

My girlfriends threw a beautiful shower for me and Baby E! It was held at Sara McKee's beautiful new home in Mandarin. Every detail was perfect and it was so nice to see everyone. It has been a while since we have all been together. We had a nice brunch with chicken salad, fruit, pastries, muffins, and pasta salad. For dessert, we had wonderful pink cupcakes from Cinotti's Bakery. And the favors were cookies in the shape of onesies, also from Cinotti's! Let's just say I had several cookies!

We received so many nice gifts. One of the outfits is too adorable! It has an ice cream cone on the front and leopard frill on the bottom. And, it has a matching hairbow which we got baby Ryan to model. I am sure his daddy won't be happy when he sees that picture.

My mom gave me a baby bracelet that was mine when I was a baby. She has saved it all these years and was waiting to give it to me when I had a little girl! She was very excited to give it to us and I was very surprised and happy to receive it. This is one lucky little girl receiving all this jewelry already!





Cute invite and yummy food!

Pink cupcakes and cute toppers

Cute ice cream cone outfit!

Bottles!



Baby Manual. The note reads "Matt, this helps. Paul"!!



Cute Gator Girl blanket! And it is so soft.

The girls...and Jami, but she is taking the picture.

Can't forget...Ryan modeling the hairbow!

Baby Shower #2

The Everetts had a sweet baby shower for me up in Monroe. Matt's aunts from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Augusta, GA all came into town for the shower. It was so great to see them all. Matt's kindergarten teach, Miss Sally, was even there. She is a BIG GATOR fan, so she and I get along just fine! She gave us several cute baby GATOR items!

I had sent the fabric for the nursery bedding up to Monroe to have a seamstress there make the bedding. Laurel was able to use some of the extra fabric to decorate for the shower. It was neat to see my colors/fabric around. They were also able to use the kissing balls from our wedding as centerpieces! I loved seeing them again. Now, Matt's mom is going to turn them into mini kissing balls to hang in the nursery!

We received several special gifts. Matt's Aunt Debbie gave us 2 handmade teddy bears. She made one out of a shirt that belonged to Matt's grandfather and the other out of a dress that belonged to his grandmother! We were both really touched. His grandparents were/are very special to him. Then, Matt's family gave us a baby bracelet that was first his niece Maegan's, then his niece Mollie's. Now it is being passed on to Baby E!  And no Everett would be complete without a baseball glove...and Baby E now has a pink and purple one! I know she will love tossing the ball around with her daddy!

Favors

The Mattox Sisters: Brenda, Linda, Sandy, Sue, Ann

First John Deer outfit!

Matt was playing golf and stopped in. He got a good laugh out of the GATOR gifts!

Handmade teddy bears

The Entertainment: Mollie Kiss!

Carson turns 1!!

I can't believe a year has flown by. We went to Monroe to celebrate Carson's first birthday! He had a really cute Pancakes and Pajamas party. All the kids were in PJ's and had quite the pancake feast. They could top their pancakes with sprinkles, icing, and syrup!  A dentist's dream come true. The kids played in a bouncy house and then we watched a really sweet video of Carson's birth and first year. He really liked his cake and it was so cute to watch him dig in.

Mollie's 3rd birthday was 2 weeks earlier. We couldn't make it up for her birthday party, but she had a "No more monkeys jumping on the bed" party at a bouncy house place! Laurel comes up with some really cute themes.

Pancake Buffet!

Mollie loved her some sprinkles!!



This feels kinda funny!



Now I am getting the hang of this!

Oh yeah, it's good!

This says it all!