4,000 words

Often times I wonder how we've ended up with such dear friends who are so amazingly talented and share those talents with us. Today, a friend of ours blessed us by taking some amazing pictures that we will treasure forever. Here's a small selection, so if a picture is worth a thousand words then you're getting a bargain...4,000 words worth of pictures in one post. Thank you so much Matt for capturing these memories for us.

My GQ centerfold

Blissfully Unprepared

Anyone who tells you that they're ready to have a baby is either lying or delusional. At my doctor's appointment on Wednesday she said to make sure the hospital bag is packed and the carseat is installed because she anticipates that I'll deliver earlier than my due date (what I always thought anyways). We've known since April that we were going to have a baby, and even still I asked Dan last night what he would feel if I told him that it was time to go to the hospital and he said that he would probably freak out a little. I appreciate the honesty because I feel the same way. We're a bit crazy and are getting a minor kitchen renovation and new vinyl windows and glass doors, hopefully before the little one arrives, which is contributing to the overall feeling of being unprepared. But, even if everything in our house were perfect, I've seen friends go topsy turvy when they think they know what to expect with a baby and the baby has other plans.

So, we're living in the land of the blissfully unprepared. It's like waiting for Christmas when you don't know when Christmas is going to get here (that's not her name, by the way). In the meantime, while I've been home I have had plenty of time to notice all of the little projects I'd like to get done before she's born so my label maker is getting a workout. I may be blissfully unprepared, but at least I can be organized. I think they call it nesting :-)

A girl after my own heart

We're continually making progress on getting our house baby-ready, and last weekend we got a closet organizer for the nursery and Dan installed it. After he finished putting it in, he called me into the nursery to take a look. Well, be still my heart, when I walked in and saw this arrangement in one of the closet cubes I knew that he is SO ready to be our little girl's daddy.

He might make fun of my shoe fetish, but he's certainly encouraging it in our daughter. Now we just need her little feet so all those awesome shoes can really go on display.

(If you can't read the plaque, it says "I stimulate the economy one shoe store at a time"...so patriotic)

The best laid plans

I'm continually amazed at how much my little girl is really the one in charge around here (I'll be holding on for dear life once she actually arrives). At my most recent doctor's appointment last Tuesday she said that she had some concerns about the swelling and contractions I'd been experiencing, and when I told her I was planning to work until December 4 she said, "No way. I'm tempted to put you out of work as of today, but I can let you go through the end of the week if you have some things you need to wrap up."

Excuse me??? Of course I have some things I need to wrap up...like everything I was planning to do in the next four weeks. After the shock wore off I realized that my only job right now is to make sure I deliver a healthy baby, so if that means going out of work early then that's what it means. Fortunately, my manager was understanding and worked with me to make sure that I got everything taken care of before I left work last night, but the last three days have been a true whirlwind. And, my coworkers threw me a surprise baby shower yesterday before I left. I honestly work with the best people, so while being off work for so long will be relaxing I'm thankful that when the time comes to go back to work I get to go back there.

So, while I had a certain idea of how things would proceed until my maternity leave, my plans changed and now I have the gift of time that I wasn't expecting. I'll be catching up on my scrapbooking, knitting, and cooking, and if anybody has a free day my door is always open and I'd love the company.

Holy Cow...We're Having a Baby!!

Not like it's news at this point, but there is a strange reality that is quickly setting in that our baby is due in 6 1/2 weeks (approximately 46 days if anybody is counting). We took the tour yesterday of the Labor and Delivery unit at Hoag where I'll be delivering and after that Dan and I both looked at each other as if we both suddenly realized that in a month and a half we'll be there welcoming our little girl into the world. We also both held a darling little three month old baby girl at church yesterday, and after we gave her back to her parents there was another realization that we'll be those parents taking our daughter with us when we leave (if anybody sees us leaving without her, please remind us to get her from the nursery).

Suddenly, things are in serious overdrive. We got the closet organizer for the nursery yesterday afternoon, the crib will be here this week, and we're actively planning our minor kitchen renovation because life would be too boring if we just relaxed.

I've had the joy of experiencing some Braxton Hicks contractions over the past week, so my body is actively preparing for what I've heard can be a long day in labor. I have no problem heeding the doctor's advice to put my feet up and stay hydrated. My maternity leave starts in 5 weeks, so while things aren't necessarily winding down yet I'm definitely trying to keep things organized in case plans change and I have to go out early.

It has been quite the journey to this point, and the next 6ish weeks will be no different. Away we go...