The Agonizing Last Week...I'm almost there.

A lot of people have emailed and asked me to send them a picture of my big ol' belly. I am 39 weeks...only 1 week to go! As much as I want this child out every single day, I am trying to remember that this pregnancy has been a true miracle for us and I should be taking in every last minute of it. Who knows when I'll be pregnant again! And seriously, forgetting about the last few weeks of irritability, so so swollen feet, ankles, fingers, excruciatingly painful tendinitis in both wrists, heart palpitations that just about make me pass out, peeing every hour on the hour, crying at Pedigree commercials and all that fun stuff, this pregnancy really hasn't been too much trouble at all!

It will be just under 3 years when he is born from the time we tried to conceive him, so I have said it before and I'll say it again --this pregnancy and baby are the answer to a lot of prayers from this mommy and daddy to-be.

So hopefully the next post you get from me will be of Ralph and I holding our little boy.

I've Been Baby Showered

So as everyone knows, Ralph and I don't have any family here in Roanoke. Actually, we have very few friends either, except the ones we've made through work. But one of those friends (Rhonda) was so excited when I told her that we were pregnant way back in September that she told me she was throwing me a shower. And she did! We invited all the ladies from Ralph's work at the TV station plus a few others. I had an absolute blast. The thought of having everyone pamper me that day as well as celebrate this baby that Ralph and I have been waiting so long for was surreal. Here are a few shots from my awesome baby shower! Thank you Rhonda!

Eating cake and yummy finger foods in the kitchen:


The diaper "cake":


Chatty Cathy:


The generous gift pile:


The group (in the 2nd pic you can see our 3D ultrasound DVD we had playing in the background):




The diaper "teddy bear" gift"


Me having my tummy measured (it was one of the guessing games):


Happy mama opening presents (that's Rhonda to my right!)

Nobody cares what I want!!

So my last post was called "I want Spring." I even wrote a line in there about the fact that I was sick of it being so cold and not even having any snow to enjoy. Weeeelllllll..... someone WAS paying attention about the snow thing. But apparently they also don't care that I want..no I NEED Spring! We don't get much snow here in the South, but Saturday night it started falling, and didn't stop until Monday morning. Here is what we got:




That's a picture of our backyard through our back window (Hey I'm not going out there if I don't have to!) All in all, we probably got about 4 or 5 inches, which for a city that hadn't seen ANY snow all winter long, it was a big deal. What makes me laugh though is that they close down all the schools and busnesses (even my Lamaze class tonight got cancelled!) and people are stocking up at the grocery stores like it's the end of the world. The peeps back in Salt Lake City would be laughing there heads off if they could see the pandemonium and breaking news stories. As for me, my commute from the upstairs to the downstairs was extra treachorous this morning. Maybe I'll say I need to take a "snow day."

I want Spring.

So this morning I went outside to get some fresh air-- and enjoy the fact that it is 60+ degrees at 10am today. I was happily enjoying the warmth and playing ball with Sadie for a few minutes. Then I noticed this:



It is the cutest little Daffodil emerging from the garden! It gave me hope that despite the fact that the forcast for tomorrow and Saturday is a high of 38, Sping IS right around the corner! I am sick of wearing a down jacket to go to the grocery store. I'm sick of 20 degree days with NO snow to at least help you enjoy the beauty of winter. I am sick of dry winter skin and sore throats. I can't wait for those warm, non-humid Spring days EVERY day. Must be the San Diego girl in me that longs for those 75 degree days every day of the year!

Va-Va-Valentine's Day

This year was a fun Valentiine's Day for Ralph and me because we knew it'd be our last with just the 2 of us. We tried to be as romantic as possible--- okay no we didn't-- we decided to do a deep cleaning of our house together! I started on dusting and then sweeping (our entire house is hardwood) and Ralph started on the kitchen. After about 3 hours of this, there was a knock at the door, and it was the flower delivery man. Here is what he brought:



This was the cutest gift ever from Ralph. The big bouquet was from him, and the card said "I love you very much! Love, your husband Ralph." Then i opened the card on one of the small roses. It said "I love you very much! Love, your son Cameron." Then the third card from that rose said "I love you very much! Love, your first born, Sadie." I started crying! The small roses totally caught me off guard, i had no idea who they were going to be from when I first saw them! Ralph outdid himself again, and i loved it.

Then after all the cleaning was done, we headed off to our dinner reservation. As big as my belly is now, I can't eat very much these days without getting too full, but I did get to enjoy about half of my delicious steak and potatoes! Here we are at dinner at Frankie Rowlands.

After that we came home and played games together (wouldn't YOU like to know what kind of games?!!!) Anyway it was another great Valentine's Day. And we have a clean house.

The Nursery is finally finished!

It feels like Ralph and I have been working on the baby's nursery for months, but really it has only been since the beginning of the year. We successfully (I hope) transformed what was once "the blue guest room" into the blessed room. Here is the before pic, the "working phase" pic and of course a few of the finsihed product. Now all we need is the baby, but hopefully he's stays in there to cook for another 10 weeks or so.

My Son.

Last night Ralph and I went to have a 3D ultrasound of our boy. Although the picture is still a little fuzzy, it's still better than those black and white 2D ultrasounds where you can't really see facial features. Ralph thinks he looks like me, but I still can't tell. All I know is, seeing him was the neatest feeling in the world. And watching him move around and kick while feeling it at the same time was unreal. I can't believe this little person inside of me will be out in less than 3 months! Cameron, I can't wait to meet you, sweetheart!