life before maggie claire...

Happy Monday Everyone!

So I got the call at 5:25 this morning that the labor & delivery unit was full, and they didn't have enough beds to induce me today, which I'm totally fine with! :) They are going to call me again tomorrow, and if they are still full, I have an appointment on Wednesday w/ my doctor to see if I have progressed anymore & we'll go from there.

I'm thinking she is holding out to share a birthday with my brother, Jacoby, tomorrow! {10-5-10} Or maybe she wants to have the cool birthday of 10-10-10 which is on Sunday! It's all in God's perfect timing, and I don't mind wait until this weekend either! :)

Here is my 39 week belly shot!

Last night, I decided to make some treats for my hospital guests & the nurses for when I have Maggie Claire this week! I made the famous pretzel surprise and bagged them up really cute with these adorable tags that I won from the pretty paperie! :) You should go check out Natalie's blog and her etsy shop! She is super talented with graphic design, and I loved how my tags turned out!

This is Mike & I on Wednesday at groundswell united, our mid week youth service! We are representing the "blue tribe" which is 7th & 8th grade. Mike looks real thrilled to take a picture with me... lol. Oh, speaking of my cutie husband, I cut his hair last night, and he is looking mighty fine today! :) I told him that he needed a "daddy haircut" so he will be looking sharp for when maggie claire arrives.... hehe.

This past week has been super fun, but a little busy with everything going on in ministry!!

Last weekend, was the middle school allnighter! {Crazy! I went and stayed until midnight!} Since Mike is the Middle School minister/director, he was busy getting everything ready. On Wednesday was our midweek service and this weekend was the last weekend of Nitro, our middle school service on the weekends. Needless to say, this was a very bust week for ministry! Now it's behind us and we can relax and enjoy our baby girl coming soon! :)

Here are some crazy pictures with me & my friends on Wednesday after groundswell. These girls are some of my best friends, and they just love talking to maggie claire in my belly! They can't wait for her arrival either!

{from right to left in the 1st picture: Sarah, Brittany, April, and me}

oh yes... one last thing! I am so in love with this fall weather that we are getting in Charleston today! This makes me excited about staying pregnant for a little while longer... {well, not too much longer... a week max!} I'm finally not sweating as soon as I wake up in the morning! lol. I'll be rocking the maternity jeans today with a light jacket! :)

Since it is Monday, I'm going to go ahead and link up to carissa's miscellany monday.

Enjoy your Monday everyone!

pregnancy updates & belly pictures

1st of all, happy first day of October! :)

October is a special month for our family, because of all the birthday celebrations and is about to be even more special with our new bundle of joy joining us this month!

Here is my 37 & 38 week belly shots! I can't believe how huge I look! At my 38 week appointment my total weight gain is 35 pounds! That is so crazy to me! The best thing is that hopefully after a few months of having the baby girl, I will lose it all! :) lol. I am going to breastfeed, which also helps with getting rid of all that baby weight too!

I can't really complain overall about my pregnancy, but once I hit week 36, it really has been miserable being pregnant! It is hard to sleep, hard to get up out of bed, hard to move, hard to bend over... etc. The worst things that have happened to me during pregnancy is getting carpal tunnel in my hands, and swelling in my feet. I've heard that once the baby comes out, both of those things almost go away immediately, so I am looking forward to seeing my skinny feet again, and my fingers not being numb all day! I can finally finish writing all of my thank you notes! :)

Tomorrow, Saturday, I will be 39 weeks! I will of course take another picture, and a bittersweet moment is that my 39 week picture will be my last picture! :)

hip hip horray!!!

At my doctor appointment today, my doctor informed me that I was ready to go into labor at anytime! My cervix is ready to go, and has progressed! He also told me that he was willing to induce me into labor next week if Maggie Claire hasn't come on her own before then! That means in a few days, I will be holding my sweet baby girl! My blood pressure was up a little bit, and my doctor said that it was most likely from being on my feet so much, and he wasn't too worried, but since today was my last day of work, it should help some if I take it easy! :)

I'm just super excited about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! She is finally going to arrive! I got really nervous today for the first time about having Maggie Claire, but of course, I just want everything to be perfect, and for Maggie Claire to be healthy when she arrives!

I'll keep you all updated and please keep me in your prayers!!!

maggie claire's {almost} finished nursery

I'm 38 weeks today and I am officially {almost} done with maggie's nursery! It has been pretty much done for about 3 or 4 weeks now, but today I finished hanging everything on the walls. The only thing that is not complete is 2 paintings that are going in her room. I'm starting those this weekend, and they should be finished by the end of the week! I'm super excited about her name canvas going over her crib, let's just say there is going to be pink & white zebra involved! :)

Here is a tour of her room in pictures:

The other painting I'm working on is going to go above the shelf with the black picture frame on it. It's probably going to be a Bible verse or a cute saying... I haven't decided yet.

When I'm in her room, I always get so hot because there is no ceiling fan, and the window in her room is huge! Well, this week I bought a little oscillating fan that is on the bookshelf, and black out curtains that keep the heat out! Those two things have done wonders in the room! :)

This is her closet & hairbow holder, I know, she has way too many hairbows already! hehe :) I can't help myself but keep making hairbows for all of her adorable outfits!

The fuchsia bins are great for storage, and my mom got me some cute flowers to put on them!

Her carseat, bobby pillow and diaper bag all packed by the door ready to go to the hospital!

I am just in love with this carseat, and of course I had to get a pink headrest to go in it for her! Don't you just love the hounds tooth?!?!

I put these little wall decal polka dots above her changing table along with the famous ribbon chandelier that I've been working on! I love how the ribbon chandelier turned out!

Here is an upclose of the chandelier!

Here is a better picture of her hairbow holder and crib. That is the lovely canvas that I haven't painted yet! :)

This little cubby shelf is awesome! My mom got it for me at the consignment sale that we went to last week! It was still in the box and hadn't even been put together! I put her little tutu and ballerina outfit hanging for display! The blocks have her name in them, and that pinkalicious book is just awesome! :)

Oh, and don't worry this girl already has a crazy shoe collection! This isn't even all of them!

Also, she has an outfit for every day of her life for the 1st 2 years it seems like! These are all clothes newborn through 2t. :) I am using the liberty of london bins from target for diaper/clothes/toy storage.

Her changing table all filled up and ready to go!

photos & a beachball :)

At 35 weeks, I got some maternity pictures done by the same girl who did my bridal portraits! She showed me about 11 photos from that day and I just can't wait to see the rest! Here are a few to show you!!!

This week, I was 36 weeks, and on my weekly emails that I get from parents.com said that the baby is the size of a beachball! That is so crazy to me!

Week 36

Baby's Length: 20.25-20.75 in.

Baby's Weight: 6 lbs.

Baby's Size: Beach ball

Pregnancy Tracker: Week 36

My Growing Belly: Month 9

Fetal Development: Month 9

Today(friday) I had my 37 week appointment, still just dilated 1 cm but my effacement moved up to 60%! Tomorrow I'll take my weekly belly shot, because I'm technically not 37 weeks until tomorrow, but my belly was measuring 37 1/2 weeks today! Her heart rate was right at 140 beats per minute, I just love hearing her heartbeat, it's one of my favorite things about my weekly doctor visits! I also got to see a glimpse of Maggie Claire on the ultrasound today, my doc wanted to make sure that MC was head down, and

she is! yay!

So excited to be meeting my baby girl in just a couple of weeks! I only have 22 days to go until my due date, but maybe she'll make her grand entrance before then! My doctor said anytime now she could come! I better get to packing my hospital bag!

preggo & paddleboarding

This weekend was filled with so many fun things! I had my last baby shower on Saturday morning, and it was fabulous! {a lot of pictures coming soon} I really have the best friends in the entire world! :) My super bestie, Stephanie, even surprised me all the way from Florida!

On Saturday evening, I went to a wedding for a friend of mine, Amber, who I work with in the nursery at church. We were just watching the rain clouds get closer and closer during the ceremony, luckily, the rain held off until everyone got inside... then it down poured!

On Sunday after church we met some friends at the beach. Luckily, one of our best friends works at a local surf shop, so he can borrow the stand up paddleboards just about anytime. So... I tried paddle boarding... and I'm 9 months pregnant! It was really fun, I was being very cautious because I didn't want to fall{don't worry I didn't}, but I'll definitley try again some more next summer when I'm not pregnant! If you don't know what paddle boarding is, it is basically a really big surfboard that you stand up on and use a paddle to guide yourself with! I can't wait to show this picture to Maggie Claire when she gets older!

That was my miscellany for the day... head over to Carissa's blog and link up with miscellany monday!

a bunch of miscellany!

1. the perfect weather.... after being pregnant all summer long, I am looking forward to jeans & boots again. Let's bring on the fall weather soon, so I can wear my super cute maternity jeans before MC gets here! Plus, yesterday I bought some new gray suede boots from Ross. If you want to beat everyone from buying all the good boots that you'll want this winter, so now and get yours. I found mine for $14.99. Can't be that! Anyone else with me on wanting some fall weather???

2. Updated 33 weeks and 34 weeks belly pics... check out my new super cute pink flower headband too! :)

3. car seat change. We went to babies r us to take a few things back the other day only to find out that our car seat is not sold in the store anymore! How annoying is that?!?!? So, look at this cute one that is replacing the other one. We added it to our registry! It is the Graco snugride 35 in Logan print. It has a houndstooth print on it! Plus it still matches our stroller with the green and black! So exciting! :)

4. cutesie pootsie. Two of my friends from church couldn't make it to my baby shower last week and later on gave me these two gifts.

Isn't this little night light adorable?!?!?

oh yes, and this is a hand knitted cupcake for maggie claire! I still can't believe that my friend Tiffany actually made this! She is so talented, and I don't even know why she hasn't opened up an etsy shop yet!! Go give her some lovin on her blog and tell her how she needs to start one!
5. we found a snake. Yesterday after church, we were outside admiring the new fish in my in-laws little tiny pond. Well, then this little friend of ours came out. I just couldn't believe it! My husband decided to catch it with the fishing net. I wouldn't come close. As you can see in the picture, me{in the white skirt} and my mother-in-law stayed far away. Yes, we eventually let him go because it was just a garden snake and won't hurt anyone, but I'm afraid my MIL will never go back and try to take care of her plants again.
6. Today I'm having lunch with my dear friend carissa from lowercase letters. She is the one who host miscellany monday! Link up and share what's so miscellany in your life today!!!

loving every minute of becoming a mom

It's Baby Shower time to celebrate Maggie Claire!

This shower was actually 2 weeks ago, but I've just been a little too exhausted to post pictures and updates!

This was mainly my small group friends, student ministry volunteers, & some girls from the church. We had such a great time, I don't think I have laughed that hard in a very long time!

This is me holding up Maggie's first monogrammed gift! I loved it, and ever since then, I have been getting so many things with her name and initials monogrammed and I love all of it! :)

These are the wonderful ladies who threw the shower for me!

Sara, me, April, & Lauren- Thank you so much girls!!!

Such lovely sweet treats, the cupcakes are from "the cupcake store" where my friend Sarah works, but she couldn't come, so she dropped off some adorable cupcakes!!!! I wanted to taste the green one with pink icing. It was watermelon flavored!!! So good! This is actually the first cupcake from their that I actually like!!

{In case you were wondering, there was no way I ate that whole cupcake, I think all the sugar from the icing would have put me in a sugar coma!!!}

The food table: notice the ragged fabric/ribbon decoration hanging on the front of the table,April made it and I'm going to use it to hang in Maggie's room! It's so cute! I'll have to take a picture of it when it's hung so you can see it!

This party was so fun, and I loved how they served a meal instead of a bunch of finger foods! We had lasagna, salad, and bread!

Me and Bethany, we both had "embellished necklines" on our dresses! We were definitely rockin it! hehe.

These are just a few of my crazy friends, Kelly & Brittany(Sparkle). They are too funny!

me & my pretty momma, I just love her, and all she is doing for me during this pregnancy! I think even if I didn't have any showers, we would still be set on everything she has given to us! I love her!!! {oh yes, and she let me wear her cute jack roger sandals} She is so funny too, she told me the other night that it looks like babies-r-us threw up in my house! Well, that's what happens when I don't have any time to organize all the baby stuff and put it away! hehe. But thanks to her, she is helping me put everything away!

Diaper Bag! If you remember back to this post, I was super excited about the petunia pickle bottom line diaper bag at target! Well, two of my fashionable friends{they have great style and the cutest clothes} gave me the diaper bag! I am in love with it and already have a few things packed in it for the hospital! :)
We played a game where everyone was asked to bring a baby picture of themself and everyone at the shower had to guess who was who as a baby! It was so fun! {Mine is the second one down on the right}
I cannot be more grateful for all my family and friends who have been throwing me showers!!! I have actually already had 3 showers and I still have one more that some of my besties are thowing me on Sept. 11th!!!! I just can't wait, the invites went out this week, and when I saw them I just fell in love! I'll have to post the invites afterwards when I have pictures from the event! I just can't wait!!! :)

Mike and I are getting so excited about becoming parents, we have been going to doctors appointments & getting all of the things we are going to need for her, and everything seems to be falling into place! It is still so crazy to me that she will be here in less than 6 weeks!!!! I already love her so much! :)