Busy week

You know those plastic rubber gloves? And how funny they look when you blow them up? Yeah, that's what my feet looked like today when I got home from work. I have had them elevated pretty much since I got home to hopefully have them return to something similar to feet.

Lots has happened since my last post. I had my first baby shower and it was very nice. We got so many nice things and are very blessed to have so many people want to come and celebrate Ava with us. I've finished thank you notes and now I have to finish sorting through all of the items and getting her little clothes all washed and everything put in her place. We got so many things but I thought these were adorable!!

On Monday I celebrated my 25th birthday! It was a good day. It was a relatively low key day but nice none the less. My parents cooked dinner for us over the weekend and we celebrated there. Here is a picture of me before blowing out my candles (please excuse how tired I look).

And yes, my cake was as good as it looks - my mom rocks!

On my actual birthday, I had lunch with friends and then Zach took me out to dinner that night to Olive Garden which was yum-o! I came home after that and crashed shortly after as I was pretty tired. These are the pretty flowers Zach got me for my birthday.

I didn't feel well on Tuesday and would expect to have a few more of those days as we get closer to the end. I went to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon. There wasn't much to report afterward. He wasn't really concerned with my swelling because my blood pressure is great. That's one blessing! At this point we really don't know a whole lot. He said he thinks that with me we will just play it by ear and make decisions as we go depending on how I am doing. I will probably have another ultrasound in either 2 or 3 weeks to check out Ava's approximate size. I hope it's sooner rather than later. I will go to the doctor every week now so hopefully we'll at least get weekly updates and we'll know a little better where we stand.

I'm not too concerned with how she gets here, I just pray for a safe and healthy delivery that results in a healthly little girl. I can't wait for her to get here and to see what and who she looks like. Also, if there is any truth to the old wives tale that bad heartburn indicates the baby a lot of hair, then her head should be covered in hair!!

I'm so looking forward to this three day weekend. I hope to get some great R&R in as well as organizing the nursery. I hope everyone has a great weekend and...

GO HOGS GO!!!!!

Insomnia and Lists

It seems lately that somewhere around 3:45 is my "time" to wake up. I know they say these periods of sleeplessness are to get me ready for nightly feedings, but where is the preparation for the daddies?! Most nights this week I've been awake for a couple of hours and when I do finally fall back asleep it's just about time to get up and head to work. So, of course, this gives me lots of time to have things running through my head.

I usually spend the first little bit of time in prayer. It's quiet and the perfect time, so if you are needing any prayers, let me know and I will gladly include you. Then I start thinking about things that I need to do, and of course, I start making mental lists. This isn't always productive because when I wake up I usually can't remember something on my list and we're back at square one. I have a list of lists (yes, seriously) for all of the things I need to do before Little Miss gets here.

Anyway, one list I've been trying to work on is a contact list to notify people when Ava decides to make her appearance. We've decided the best way to let everyone know is to have Zach send out a text message from my phone. I'm not always sure who is reading this, so if you want to get this message when she arrives, leave a comment or send me an email. You could very well already be on the list, but if not, I will get you there! He will probably also send another one later on letting you know where we'll be in the hospital, so if you would only like one of the messages, and not the other, let me know that as well.

And with that, I'm back to trying to get back to sleep!

No central theme...

It seems like the weeks when we don't have updates from doctor's appointments, there really isn't much to write about. Does anyone come here for a reason other than to find out about Ava? :)

My guess is in on the baby pool. Thanks for all the guesses - and if you haven't guessed yet, there's still time!

Ava's Baby Pool

It's hard to believe August is almost over! A week from Saturday is a big day - the start of RAZORBACK FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely love watching the Hogs play football! I love going to the games, watching the pre-game show, and cheering on the Hogs! It was such an awesome experience when I was at U of A to hear the crowd erupt in applause when we finally formed the A. I imagine that I won't be attending many (if any) games this season, so I will be catching the ones that I can on TV! The first game of the season is generally very hot, although if the temperatures stay like they have been, I might venture out to it. We have tickets and if I end up not going, Zach will take a friend with him. I'm anxious to see what Coach Petrino does this year. It's a new era for Razorback football - and I can't wait!

Yes, this has been a totally random post. It's been a fairly quiet week. We're enjoying these while we can. Miss Ava is scheduled to arrive 6 weeks from today. We'll see if she's impatient, punctual, or late! And with that, good night!

Let the games begin!

Okay, be getting your guesses ready for the pool to guess Ava's arrival information.

Ava's Baby Game

Click above to enter. (If you tried previously, and it didn't work, it should be working now.) Don't be shy - put your guesses in. I'll probably wait to put mine in until after we get some guesses going - don't want to give away my mother's intuition - ha!

So, our doctor's appointment went well yesterday. He said he's really pleased with how we are progressing and everything seems to be right on track. He said Ava is really not all that big for where we are - she's a little above average but he thought we'd be just fine. He did mention that as of right now, he plans on letting me labor naturally and only doing a C-section if my body can't handle her size. He doesn't see that happening as of now, so that's an answered prayer! He did give us an estimate of when we might expect her. Again, I don't want to give away too much vital information - that takes away the fun of guessing! It's getting closer and we are getting excited!

I have to end this post with a funny story. I was giving a report to my family about our appointment yesterday and my sister (keep in mind she's only 16) mentioned that she was glad I was going to hopefully have Ava naturally because she wanted to hold her. We weren't sure what she was talking about so my mom asked her what she meant. She said that she had heard us say that if I had a c-section I had to be careful and might be able to pick up the baby, and she took that to mean that NO ONE could hold her! It was quite funny and I'll have to be sure and remind her of this story years down the road when she has a baby. She is probably in store for a lot of surprises as she sees us going through this.

Anyway, that's what is going on here. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

MIA..

I've been a bad blogger the past couple of weeks. There just hasn't been a whole lot going on. Zach is back at work now so he's adjusting to working again. This week is filled with lots of meetings and getting ready. Monday the kiddos roll in and he starts another year of fun.

We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow so hopefully we'll find out some more info about the arrival of Ava. I'm feeling pretty good for the most part - with the temps cooling down some I don't feel quite as exhausted and worn out as I was feeling. We're doing things here and there to prepare for our little girl. We've got the nursery painted, the crib put together, and we've purchased a few things for her. My first shower is a week from Sunday so once that rolls around we will be able to sort through everything and start getting it all situated. We were blessed by some friends of ours who generously are allowing us to use some of their baby items, so those are ready and waiting! (Thanks again, Sally!) Once we start getting stuff organized, I'll post some pictures of the nursery.



I'm definitely getting excited to meet this little lady! We've been to our birthing class (kind of a joke, really) and are getting ready as best we can. I don't think you can ever be fully ready for something like this! It's hard on someone like me who likes to plan things out because I can't plan on when this will or will not happen. Okay, enough rambling. I'm going to close this post with a picture! Emily and Jon came over last week to see the nursery and Jon snapped a cute picture of Emily and me in front of the crib so you can get a tiny sneak peek of the nursery!