To Do Lists....

So....is it bad that it kinda just HIT me yesterday, that I have a little more than 2 weeks before I have a kid??? I mean, I don't have a single clean piece of clothing clean for him, don't have a bag packed for the hospital, and definitely don't have the carseat in the car! I would say that Eric and I have our work cut out for us these next few days!

Last night I decided to get all the tags off the clothes and socks, burp cloths, blankets, wash cloths, towels.......the list goes on! Cindy came over to help me with that, and then we separated the clothes into piles all over the floor to wash them. I only made it through 2 loads last night, and then I was exhausted. We're looking at about 3 more loads to get things in order!

Then this weekend, Eric and I are truly going to pack our bag and have it ready, although, I don't think Gavin has any plans to make an early debut. I went to the dr this Monday, and I am still not dilated at all. But Ive still been getting worn out by all the contractions every evening, and sometimes throughout the day. Im trying to stay positive, and use my energy when I have it, but Im definitely getting to the point where it's harder to be productive, and harder to sit at my desk every day all day. Megan and I have stressed that the ONE PLACE we don't wanna go into labor is at work, with all men here! Although several of them are working on their "baby plans" for us if it were to happen. It's pretty amusing to hear all of them talk about and fuss about the "two pregnant girls" at work! They've offered up "Opeco daycare" and even the "Opeco surgery center." It's an effort to get us to stay at work instead of going on maternity leave, but Ive got news for them... "SEE YA IN 6 WEEKS!"

Just 'Monkeying Around!"

I hope Gavin loves monkeys as much as we do! This past weekend, Gwyn Day and Denise Jordan threw me the cutest shower ever! They took the monkey theme and ran with it, and turned the whole shower into a blue and brown candy buffet! Gwyn's daughter Monica made the cookies, and did an amazing job. There was so much attention to detail in the cookies, along with everything else...you just have to see pics!

The pretty front table
White chocolate covered pretzels

Cupcakes with "Gavin" cookies

Whoppers, M&Ms, animal crackers, and chocolate monkey suckers

MONKEY COOKIES!

Chocolate dipped frozen MINI bananas - Probably the cutest things I have ever seen!

And they were really yummy

Party favors for the guests with "It's a Boy" Hershey Kisses

Kitchen table with fondue, monkey puppet and more pretzels

They know I love Root Beer AND it's Caffeine Free, so they stocked up for the party!

Opening gifts

Love this monkey hat, Gavin will be photographed in this and NOTHING else!

Courtney Carrier and her niece Kamber eating a banana

Megan, Steph, Elizabeth, and me...love these girls!

Erin and her son Cash, with Reagan and I

Denise and Gwyn serving their "Grand Finale" Root Beer Floats

These were probably the cutest root beer floats EVER!

My two amazing hostesses!

It's been so fun being pregnant with these two! Only 4 more weeks for Megan, 3 for me, and 1 for Elizabeth! Then we have to wait for some of their friends to be born next year!

Thanks to everyone who has shown Eric and I so much love throughout this pregnancy! Both showers were amazing, and we're getting so excited for these next few weeks to fly by so we can meet this little guy!

Shower for Kyler and Megan

Lately, our lives have revolved around babies...at work with Meg, drs thru the week, and even baby showers over the weekends! But they are so fun, and a good reason to see all our friends. This weekend was Megan's shower for Kyler Ann Puryear. Meg is all about the sweets, so we tried to keep that theme for the shower!

Pickles and Ice Cream cookies

We had cake AND an ice cream sundae buffet!

Diaper cake

Pretty Meg & Kyler

Hostess Pic: Kassie, Kim, Megan, Elizabeth, and Stephanie

Baby Addy and Gabby

We got a great group pic of all the girls! I love any reason to see all of them!

Our typical prego pic (even though i hate that word)

Me: 36 weeks

Meg: 34 weeks

Elizabeth: 38 weeks

I also think it's crazy how different Elizabeth and I look. Liam has definitely dropped, and Gavin is still up so high! Crazy

But then we forgot that there are some new pregnant friends to add to the pic!! So excited for Tori and Leslie

Tori: 16 weeks (? approx)

Leslie: 9 weeks (? maybe)

Im totally guessing here, but I can't be that far off!

Megan and Patty making sundaes

Kyler got so much cute stuff, and tons of bows and girly things! I think all of us were dying to buy for a girl since all our friends seem to have is boys! Gabby and Megan will have to hang out if they want girl time, b/c these boys are gonna rule the roost! So happy for Megan and Davis, and Im so ready for at least ONE of these babies to get here so we can love on him/her or him! ;)

Never a Dull Moment

Yesterday morning, there was something just not right. I didn't feel very good, I kept getting nauseous, and then the entire morning at work, my stomach was so hard and contracting. By the afternoon, Megan, my Mom and Amy had all convinced me to start timing them, and at least call my dr. The nurse said that if I had more than 4 an hour, then I needed to go home and lay down, drink water, and then see if they went away. Well, I did that, and of course they didn't stop. So even though they weren't insanely painful, they still suggested I go to the hospital b/c the contractions were still making my body and uterus work so hard, and needed to be stopped.

So Eric and i drove up to the hospital around 5:30 pm, checked in, and while the nurse was hooking me up monitors, I kept saying "I dont even think we should be here, you're probably just gonna send me right back home." She was kinda laughing at me, and said she'd check anyway. So after I was all hooked up, she checked my cervix and I wasn't dilated. Then she left and said she'd monitor contractions. After about 25 minutes, she came back in and said "Well, you're having contractions about every 5-7 minutes, and that's way more than we want you to be having." The decision was whether to stop the contractions with "brethine" (a shot) or to send me home to drink fluids. But the contractions kept getting stronger and a little longer, so Dr K said he wanted them stopped with drugs. Im sure that several people have had to have a shot like this, that stops your contractions...but it is the craziest feeling! The side effect is that it makes your heart race, and you are so anxious and jittery! I felt like a spaz for about 45 minutes. But it worked! The nurse also informed me that I was severely dehydrated, and I told her that was impossible b/c all I had done all day was DOWN water! But they had to give me an IV of fluids anyway.

Finally around 9 pm, they let us leave. After this Sunday, I'll be 36 weeks, and the nurse said they won't try to stop them again. I still think 36 weeks is too early, but at least I know if I start having them again, to wait until it's the real deal. (If I'll even know the difference). I was told to take it easy this weekend, but Im not restricted in any way. Except that Eric has INSISTED that he does all the grocery shopping from now on, and all the errand running! I hope he knows what he signed up for, b/c Im a spaz about running errands! Every day it seems like I have somewhere to go or something to do! He thinks he's putting a stop to all of this, so I'll play it his way for awhile. After all, he's just trying to protect me and Gavin!

Relaxing weekend HERE WE COME! :)

Recipe Club Success

Last night I hosted my first recipe club get-together. A small group of about 10 of us have been getting together once a month since June of this year. We each make a dish, and then everyone samples them all, drinks some wine (or in my case, water), and we hang out for the evening. The next day we each email our recipes to those that came!

We usually don't do a theme, so that everyone can bring whatever they want. But last month we did tailgating food. The funny thing about that is there were hardly any recipes to be passed around the next day b/c we made easy tailgate food like dips, meatballs, pigs in a blanket, etc. But we had fun, so who cares!

This month we did a Halloween theme, and everyone did an awesome job of bringing themed food, and even some regular food so we all didn't get sick from the desserts! I tried to be very festive with the decorations...

Sommer made mummy dogs, which we decided look a little like they are wearing turbans!

Lyndsie made caramel apples with Heath bar...yummy

Megan Eskridge made a cheese ball with a scary face!

I guess I didn't even take a picture of my pumpkin dip and ginger snaps! But they were deeee-licious! We also had Bruschetta made my Lauren, Chicken Tetrazzini made by Jenny Rodgers and Pumpkin bread made by Shannon Pawley. All the food was so good, and we had a great time hanging out for the evening.

Shannon and Megan

Jenny and Sommer

Lauren, me and Lyndsie

For the next few months, we get to do more themes, like Thanksgiving and Christmas. We're all looking forward to them, and hopefully I get to make it to next month's party!

Recipe for Pumpkin dip:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gradually mix in the pumpkin. Stir in the cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice until smooth and well blended. Chill until serving.

THIS DIP IS AMAZING!

Recipe for Ginger Snaps:

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter - softened

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

4 cups flour

3 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp cinnamon

Always sift dry ingredients! Mix all dry ingredients, and then all wet ingredients, separately. Slowly add the dry ingredients, by sifting.

Roll in 1" balls and then coat in sugar

Bake 350 for 8-10 minutes - Dont Overbake!

Happy Baking!

Baby G's Room...FINALLY!

After several months of Baby G's room coming together SLOWLY, I finally feel like we're far enough along that I can post some pics! But let's start at the beginning...

Eric putting the crib together

Finished product

So then I added the bedding and mobile...

Next comes paint. I only did a tiny bit, so no scolding me please!

Thank you for painting the room!

Accent wall = COMPLETE

Mom (Grandma) came over to help me hang the monkey on the vines

I love this monkey!

Room is almost finished! This is the wall that the crib will stay on, and I just put up his lil saying today! "Our little Ray of Sunshine" (since his middle name is Ray)

Changing table, storage unit, and LOTS of monkeys!

With the curtains and his monkey in the Moses Basket

I love the room so much! Now just waiting on the glider to come in, and then a few more final touches!