Casting Crown's Christmas Concert

So, my sister, Stefanie, and my brother-in-law, Greg, were nice enough to purchase tickets for Giff & I to the Casting Crown's Christmas Concert! It's tonight at the Berry Center in Cypress and I think it's the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season! Stef, Greg, my Mom, Giff & I will all be going and we are definitely looking forward to it! Thanks again Stef and Greg for the tickets!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving yesterday! I know I enjoyed the time with my family. And, after all of the feasting yesterday with both families, the whole gang went to see the movie Four Christmases, and it was really cute! I love Reese Witherspoon! Go see it! =)

I need to vent.....

Is it really necessary to tell a 6 month pregnant woman that her butt is getting bigger? I mean come on! I am already self conscience enough about my ever changing pregnant body....do we really need to add to it, much less point out the obvious? This person is supposed to be my friend AND she has had a baby before! So, she knows what it's like! I am seriously on the verge of tears. I wish I was not so sensitive, but I just can't help it. 3 more months- and I can start getting my old body back.

Dear Lord,

I need your strength today. Strength to rise above the occasion and see the positive. I am having a baby, and I know I am blessed. Help me to remember my expanding body is making room for my baby to grow big and strong. Help me embrace these changes. Help me to let go of things I cannot change and I have no control over. Help me to forgive. Thank you for your unconditional love and mercy. In Jesus name, Amen.

Okay....I'm feeling a little better.

My Baby Prep "Bucket List"

I saw this on the Graco blog this morning and thought "what a great idea!"

1. Find a new place to live that actually has room for baby.

2. Buy baby bedding at Pottery Barn.

3. Get glider/rocker re-upholstered- My sis was babysitting this past Saturday for a family that was having a garage sale and they were selling a glider/rocker that they no longer use. So, Stef called me to see if I wanted it. For $75, I'll take it! It's in great condition, but the fabric is white and that scares me with a new baby. So, I'm going to get it re-upholstered in brown fabric to match Christian's bedding.

4. Keep paying on the baby furniture and pay it off in January.

5. Pick up baby furniture.

6. Take birthing classes- my classes start at the very beginning of January. Can't wait!

7. Buy accessories for baby's room- lamp, wall mounted letters, model cars, wall art, etc...

8. Find a pediatrician.

9. Take maternity pictures.

10. Plan a weekend get-away with hubby for some relaxation.

11. Prepare our dog, Hitch, for the arrival of baby. (I'm still not quite sure how we are going to accomplish this?!)

12. Move.

13. Prepare nursery ASAP so it's ready when Christian decides to make his entrance!

14. Organize our new place and hopefully feel somewhat settled in before baby.

Whew! That's a lot, but it's do-able! I will probably keep adding to this list as things come up that I haven't thought of yet. 3 1/2 months to go! Time is flying!

Since I mentioned the baby bedding in my list above, I thought I would share a picture of what it looks like...

I just love it! Simple, classic, clean and modern. The furniture we picked out is dark like in this picture, so I think Christian's room will turn out so cute!

Let the decorating begin!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it! The excitement, the cheer, the decorations, the music, the smells, the food, the cooler weather (hopefully), the shopping and just the overall joy this time of year brings. I think with all that has been going on this past year, everyone needs a little hope and good cheer. I know I do! Things are tough and not looking to turn around anytime soon, so I welcome this season with open arms! I can't wait to start decorating my own place and filling it with the warmth of the holidays! =)

Contractions + Hospital + Bed Rest = No Bueno!!

Here's the story....

I started feeling tightness and pain in my lower abdomen and back about 2 weeks ago. I thought this was the stretching of my uterus to accommodate my growing baby, but as this pain continued and started getting worse, I realized that I was actually having contractions. Yikes! A 21 weeks, this is definitely NOT a good thing. My mom suggested that I call the midwives to get their advice. I called late last Thursday and they immediately called me back early Friday morning. The nurse told me I needed to get to the office as soon as possible. So, instead of heading to work, I headed straight to the medical center.

Once I got there, one of the midwives, Diane, checked my cervix to see if it was dilating. Luckily, I was not dilating, but the midwife thought my cervix seemed short, which could mean I was going into pre-term labor. The next step was an ultrasound to measure more accurately the length of my cervix. Baby Christian (we finally decided on his name!) was very active, once again, during the ultrasound. This made me breathe a sigh of relief. At least the baby was doing well! The tech measured my cervix and said it was not shortened. Yay! One hurdle crossed! But, the tech said she could see that my uterus was contracting and of course, I knew that because I could feel it.

After the ultrasound, Diane put me on a monitor to watch the patterns of my contractions. At this point, the contractions were coming every few minutes. They were not very painful contractions, but extremely uncomfortable. After 30 minutes or so, Diane said that I was having labor patterned contractions, and I needed to go to the hospital to be under observation. I was not expecting that at all! But, I knew that she knew best. So, the midwives office is actually in the hospital, I just had to make my way to the labor and delivery floor, where another midwife, Dawn was delivering a baby. She would be the one to observe me.

On my way to the labor & delivery floor, I called my husband and my mom to let them know what was going on, and they immediately arranged to come to the hospital to keep me company.

Once at the hospital, I was given an IV and was out back on the monitor. My contractions were still pretty steady for the next few hours. So, the midwife, Dawn, gave me some medicine to stop the contractions. It didn't completely stop the contractions, but it made them much less frequent. Next, Dawn wanted to do another ultrasound to make sure my cervix was not changing. Again, my cervix was fine. At about 6:30 in the evening, Dawn gave me 2 prescriptions of medicine and released me from the hospital. But, she told me I had to go home and be on bed rest for the next few days. She didn't want me lifting, cleaning or walking around. Basically, she wanted me to stay in bed and rest. So, ALL weekend I was a complete bum! Ugh! No fun at all! But, the contractions went away almost completely! I only had a few of them on Saturday and a few on Sunday. I did notice that when I was on my feet like taking a shower and blow drying my hair, that I would start contracting. Once I was back on the couch, they eased up.

Dawn wanted to see me again yesterday (Monday). I was expecting to get the okay to go back to work and back to my normal routine. However, that was not the case at all! Even though the contractions have eased up a lot, Dawn fears that if I go back to work that my contractions will start back up again and I could go into pre-term labor. So, she wants me on bed rest this entire week! Ahh!!! I'm going to go crazy! But, for the sake of baby Christian, I will do what she says. It is WAY too early for him to make his entrance into the world! I can't wait to meet him, but he needs to stay put for at least another 15 weeks.

Giff & I are staying positive and we are praying that everything turns out okay.Here is the newest pic of Christian. He finally cooperated and we got a great profile picture of him! I love him so much already! :)

It's a BOY!!!!!!!!

This past Tuesday, October 14th, I had my anatomy ultrasound at St. Lukes Hospital. Giff and I both took the whole day off of work, so we could enjoy the time together! We got up early and made our way to the medical center. Baby Leu was extremely active during the ultrasound! He was tossing and turning and shaking his head every time the ultrasound machine passed over him! It was super cute! Then at one point, he put his hand to his cheek and it looked like he was waving to us! Such an amazing experience! The technician waited until the very end of the ultrasound to tell us "Oh! It's a boy!" My heart skipped a beat! I looked at Giff and he was grinning ear to ear! Such a proud daddy to be! We spent the rest of our day off going to baby stores, looking at furniture and buying cute little onesies for our little man! We had the best day! Check out what we got:

My favorite- the blue one that says "Small, Dark & Handsome." How precious is that?? Our next task, is coming up with a name. We have it narrowed down to a select few: Christian, Kevin or Brayden. Middle name possibilities are: Taylor, Alexander, Adam (after Giff's Grandpa) and Leeland (after Giff's Dad). My favorites are: Christian Taylor and Brayden Alexander. My hubby just can't seem to make up his mind. It's a big deal naming your first son! :) We hope to have a name picked out within the next week or so, so this baby doesn't have to go by baby anymore- we can call him by his name!

p.s. It has been wonderful watching Giff turn into a giddy, daddy to be......I think knowing that he will have a son in a few months has made him truly happy! I LOVE both of my boys!

Nesting already?

I have the strongest desire to make something for this little one on the way! What? I don't know! But, I see all of these projects these other moms-to-be are creating for their babies, and I want to do the same! I am very creative, but I've never learned the ability to sew. Maybe now is the time to learn! Look at these adorable bibs and onesies I found on etsy:

Now why can't I do something like that? I would LOVE to create some personal items for my newborn. It can't be that hard. Right?

I also came across some all natural, organic, non-toxic, fragrance free, good-for-your-baby laundry detergent on etsy. It's called Clean Rinse.

It costs $9 for one jar, and you get 36 loads out of it. It comes out to $0.25 a load. Not bad. But, still more expensive than my regular detergent. I am really considering purchasing the detergent before the baby arrives. I don't want to put chemicals into my baby's clothing and bedding. I will definitely keep this in mind.