Getting ready

I feel so comforted to know that our nursery is now ready for Charlotte.



This is our 4n1 crib/changing table that later converts into a toddler bed/headboard and bedside table. It also includes a trundle drawer and a hamper! The plaque over top reads "I am a Child of God." The 3D flowers are a purchase from our local baby store "Tip Toes," made by a local artisan. The quilt was given to us by a friend, handmade by her sister-in-law. Since we took the picture, we've also hung a cute flower/butterfly mobile.

Here is my cozy corner where I will rock/feed/read stories to the baby. The lampshade was our inspiration for the theme of the nursery. We found the valence at Babies R' Us, which had the perfect matching embroidery. There's still plenty of room on the walls to hang her first baby photos and maybe a few pregnancy shots if my photo session goes well.



I enter my 35th week on Tuesday. Let the countdown begin!

Before the sun rose

our Christmas shopping was done. Gotta love Black Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm relaxing on the couch right now, prepping to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade while Brian makes some french toast. Today we'll celebrate at my in-laws where food and family are usually in abundance. I'm looking forward to second helpings on the sweet potato casserole.
I hope all of you have a wonderful day and find much to give thanks for. I know I feel very thankful this year - I have a nice home, Brian and I have secure jobs, we're healthy and we are blessed to have a baby on the way. I really can't ask for more!

Knitting in the bible

This was the first reading at mass on November 16th. Who would've known knitting was so prayerful?

Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31

When one finds a worthy wife,
her value is far beyond pearls.
Her husband, entrusting his heart to her,
has an unfailing prize.
She brings him good, and not evil,
all the days of her life.
She obtains wool and flax
and works with loving hands.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her fingers ply the spindle.
She reaches out her hands to the poor,
and extends her arms to the needy.
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting;
the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her a reward for her labors,
and let her works praise her at the city gates.

Showered with love

I was given a baby shower by my in-laws this last Sunday. The hostess was the wonderful Jessie Hessler, one of Brian's high school friends. Her house is perfectly fit for a party. Jessie, my MIL Patty, SIL Jacqueline, and soon to be SIL Julie took great care in every small detail and it really showed.

Stationary favors for everyone.



Beautiful flowers at each table.



We had a delicious lunch of chicken salad on croissants with fruit and muffins. Everything was plated ahead of time, so all we had to do was sit and eat! It was so good, I eyed the extra plates across from me and thought about wolfing them down too.



The dessert spread was pretty darn delicious too!



We played a baby game where everyone had to guess between me and my two sisters as well as Brian and his two brothers. It was hard enough to tell girls from boys, much less who was who. I didn't even know who I was. (I'm none of these, but guess which one is Brian.)



I received so many nice gifts, including hand knit items, hand stitched burp cloths, a quilt, our pack 'n play, and our crib/changing table combo with mattress. The girlie outfits were all so cute that I found myself wishing they came in my size. The best part was that guests gave me books instead of cards, with a personal message written inside the cover. I read a few of them when I got home that night (while Brian built the crib). Some were so touching I was brought to tears, others had me laughing just at the thought of them (I'll post more on that later).

So, thank you to all who came and all who planned! I can't imagine a nicer way to celebrate the upcoming birth! Charlotte is going to be well- loved.

And last but not least, a belly photo..

Black Friday

I hope you are all getting your lists ready for my favorite (shopping) day of the year! If you're thinking, "We don't have the sales ads yet." No worries! Check out this website. Brian and I have already scoped out all the deals on flat screen t.v.'s. Target is also selling the video camera we want at a rock bottom price, if anyone feels like waiting in line at 6 am to buy us a Christmas gift :)

My supportive husband

Tonight I was at my first baby shower, given by my co-workers. I had a lot of fun and received so many nice things, thanks girls! So, one of the questions they asked me is if Brian has been really nice to me. Is he massaging my feet at night? I scoffed and said 'no.' But I forgot to tell them the half of it. The other night I asked him if he would please draw me a bath. Oh he did, a nice bath with bubbles and everything. He "drew" it on the scribble pad on his iPhone. He never even had to get off the couch.

Backwards

Mother Nature seemed to get things backwards this year. Maggie and I enjoyed a nice long walk this morning as we watched the crisp leaves drop on to new fallen snow. It was fun to watch her run through leaf piles and snow piles, simultaneously. I don't know about you east-siders, but we got 5" in lake-effect snow yesterday. Although I'm already listening to Christmas music, I wasn't quite ready for the snow.

The ultimate baby bump photo

I have been thinking about (and putting off) scheduling a photo session for our pregnancy. Brian and I kept talking about calling our wedding photographer to see if she would schedule something. I guess in the interest of time and money, we procrastinated. However, while working one of my weekend shifts in Grand Haven, a patient offered me a free portrait session for my pregnancy. He currently does senior portraits and now wants to branch into maternity photos. I checked out his website as soon as I got home. The photos are very artistic, but also a bit revealing, so I'll have to do my best to put my modesty aside for the photo session. I guess getting pregnant in the first place is a very natural thing, so I should try to be comfortable and go with it. Our photo session is scheduled for mid-December, so hopefully Charlotte stays in place until after that.

Fit for a princess

Brian put the finishing touches on Charlotte's closet yesterday. I think it is an excellent use of space and she'll grow into it nicely. This venture started last year when he glued up new paneling to cover the cracking plaster. Over the months, he's painted and installed the trim. Just yesterday we purchased the rods and shelving units at Meijer.
I went to church and came back to find that Brian had done a beautiful job installing everything to my (fairly anal) specifics. Now we have more than enough room to stock her outfits (with hand-me-downs ranging up to 24 months), blankets, towels, diapers, sheets, and receiving blankets. There are even hooks to hold her little purses and bags!

This week's spinning

I've been spinning some pencil roving for a Christmas project. I love the muted pastel tones in this colorway. I have close to 200 yards done. I can't wait to see how the final project turns out.

Christmas groove

I'm excited to say that the holidays feel as though they're officially starting. This past weekend we went to Beneath the Wreath, the fundraiser for Grand Rapids Junior League. We've made it a tradition to pick up our year's supply of green tea and Cherry Republic salsa. Today, I get to shop for ornaments to decorate a Christmas tree that will be auctioned off for my local chapter of the Holland Junior Welfare League. I also get to go dollar store shopping to buy gifts for a Christmas party that the league puts on for the Ottawa Area Center, a school for the learning disabled. All that on top of my Christmas knitting- I would say I'm officially in the groove. Today I saw the Radio City Rockettes on the local news and begged Brian to get us tickets. The only thing I'm lacking now is the Christmas music - that can be easily fixed. Bring out the Sinatra!

Another weekend gone by in a flash. The childbirth education class made for a long Saturday. We would get an hour lecture on each topic, then learn all the same information over again in a 15 minute video. Luckily, I brought along my knitting. It was a bit overwhelming watching the video of ladies doing the natural childbirth...not the pushing part, but just the laboring part. It's hard to know how it will go for me and whether I'll end up with just IV meds or choose the epidural. Being medically curious, I think I'd like to try and labor for a while so that I can experience as much as possible, but I'm not afraid to use the epidural if I really start to get worn out. I don't have any expectations, I think it's better not to.
I am excited for Brian to be my coach. He was a great support yesterday and it was a lot of fun to practice the breathing exercises together. We practiced a "slow dancing" relaxation where you just take slow deep breaths and move your hips from side to side while leaning on your husband. It's supposed to allow the baby to slowly shift down in the pelvis. I plan to bring some Michael Buble along to play in the hospital room. I don't think I'll break in to any West Coast Swing, but the swaying was nice. This week is 32 weeks - only 5 more weeks until Charlotte is considered full term. I am very impatient!

Maybe tomorrow

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day, one can only hope. Today was a day where I woke up feeling a bit pessimistic. You see, my boss is off this week with his wife and their newborn. I have worked without him in the past, but it always makes for more office drama when I don't have him to help put out the fires.
Today it just seemed that there was one complicated patient after another with no time to catch a breather. Even my lunch break was taken with a meeting... By about 3 pm I had taken to staring at the wall in between patients and drinking my bottled water to stifle the tears.
Hopefully it's just the moods of pregnancy, and maybe those of you who have been had the pregnant hormones before can tell me it will all be better soon. But I see her on my couch now, after just working through two piles of charts I brought home, and I think to myself, this kind of sucks. I need to sit with my knitting for a while and try to get into a zen place.

Voting is fun!

BB and I just got back from voting. Our polling location was a bit hectic and it seemed many people were first time voters - although they looked to be in their 70s. It was fun, nonetheless, to exercise our democratic rights. We're really hoping that our proposal 4 gets voted down so we can lift the prohibition of wine/beer sales on Sundays in Ottawa Co. Right now, none of the local restaurants are open on Sundays as its not worth it to them with limited alcohol sales.
After voting, we enjoyed a delicious diner breakfast at Jackie's Place. Hashbrowns, toast, bacon and eggs over-medium. There's no better way to get your day off to a greasy start! Now I need to go walk the dog and burn some of that off.
Have fun voting!!

We've had a great weekend so far. I worked this morning, painted our kitchen door (finally fixing up the pet-sitting damage), and am washing all of the many great hand-me-downs we've received for Charlotte. (I love to just sort through all of the clothes over and over, impatient for the day she's here.)
But the highlight of our weekend - meeting our new nephew Matthew! We took a day trip out to the east side of Michigan yesterday. Matthew is a delight - an "angel baby" as the Baby Whisperer would say. We took turns cuddling him and flashed pictures until he cried as if to say "Enough already!" Jacqueline and Jeff are completely laid back new parents - I hope I can be that relaxed with a newborn.