Happy Father's Day!

2 Posts in 1 day is pretty good! I gave a shout out to my mom on mother's day, so I can't go without giving my dad and husband shout outs for Father's Day!!!!

To my dad:
You truly are the definition of what unconditional love is! Daniel and I have some major shoes to fill when it comes to parenting! I have learned so much from you over the last 28 years and cannot thank you enough for all that you have done for us and all of the life lessons you have taught me! Thank you for always putting Jami and I first and having to sacrifice your own needs to meet our needs and wants!! I love you and cant wait for Critter to meet his or her Poppy!!






To my Dear Husband:
Our baby is going to be so blessed to have you as their daddy! I can not wait to see what this little Critter has in store for us! You have already shown how great of a daddy you are going to be....moonlighting so that our little Critter can have the best of everything and he or she is not even here yet! And You are already a such a good daddy to our "furry babies" that I cant even imagine what you will be like with Critter. Thank you for all that you do for Critter and I and I can't wait to share in this whole experience with you! I know that you are going to be such a rock for me! I cant wait for July 24th! I love you so much and I am so glad that you are my "baby's daddy"!!!

Holy Moly....

ONLY 36 MORE DAYS TO GO (hopefully not too many more than that)!!!!!! I truly cannot believe it! I cant believe how fast these last 8 months have gone-it is unbelievable!

I know that I said that I was going to post nursery pics last week!! OOPS...been a slacker. I will definitely take some this weekend and post (just for you KTVPP!)

We have our first baby shower tonight and two next weekend! We are so blessed that we have some many people who want to do showers for us! I cannot wait!
The shower tonight is being thrown by Daniel's work people. It is a diaper, bib, and book shower! They have asked everyone instead of bringing a card that they bring Critter a book so we can build him/her a library. I thought it was a great idea. And considering that at the present time we have 1 diaper at our house I think that the diaper idea is great too!!! We have sorta of been holding off with buying some of the necessities until after our showers! So hopefully after tonight it will look like we really are going to have a baby in our house!!

Critter update: I went to the Doctor on Tuesday and everything looked fine. The HB was in the 150's and the baby's head is down...getting ready for its arrival! Here is what Critter is up to at week 35:

Now more than 5 pounds, your baby might be more than 18 inches long and seriously competing for space with every other organ scrunched into your torso. Your abdomen may be stretched so large that you're starting to worry your baby is too big, but nature usually does a good job of matching up babies and moms. In any case it's hard to accurately assess a baby's weight at this point because as your baby grows, your amniotic fluid level rises and the placenta grows too.

You may notice that your baby's behavior is becoming increasingly structured, with definite sleep-and-wake cycles. His periods of increased movement may last as long as 20 minutes.

The air sacs of your baby's lungs are becoming lined with surfactant, a chemical substance that keeps lungs expanded after each breath. This will help your baby breathe on his own outside the uterus.

Critter moves A LOT! I am pretty sure that both of those feet are at my ribs and he/she just stretches and pushes those little things way up into my ribs! I dont mind though...if that is the most discomfort that I have felt in 8 months I will take it!! I think that I am going to kind of miss feeling Critter move! I forget who was saying this, but I think it is true - when you are pregnant you get to have and feel everything to yourself and then when you have the baby you have to share it with everyone else!! I am totally not going to be one of those mothers that wont let anyone hold my baby....but I can kind of see where they are coming from!

I hate to leave you with out any pictures, but I dont have any to post right now! Promise I will take pictures of the nursery and of our shower tonight and post them on Monday!
Have a great weekend!
Linds

It's coming along....

We got our nursery furniture yesterday and I LOVE IT! The room already looks great and we still have a bit to do!!! I will take some pictures tonight and post them tomrrow! I am really excited about it!!! I think that Critter will love it. We read him/her a story in the room last night! Stay tuned!!!

I am back!!

OMG...it has been a long time since I posted something on here! Sorry about that folks...been a little busy with a graduating sister, a best friend getting married, vacay, and planning for the baby!

Well...I can't believe it but I am in month 8 of my pregnancy and everything has luckily been smooth sailing! I have about 52 days left according to my "Lilly Pie Ticker"! I can not wait for this baby to get here! Had a Dr. appt this morning and everything looked good-measuring right on track and the heartbeat was 145 this time. Right in the middle range...this baby is not giving us any clues-although I think that "Critter" was asleep!!

I still cant believe that I am having a baby. I had one of those "Oh S#@T" moments on the beach when we were on vacation. As Daniel and I were sitting there enjoying the sun and the sand and relaxing by the crashing waves it hit me that this was the last time we would be at the beach sans kids and that our "relaxing" vacations are OVER!!! I cant wait to have a little one on the beach...but OMG it is going to be so much work!! But I know well worth it!


Anyways- We are having our baby furniture delivered on Tuesday and my bedding should be ready by the end of this week-first part of next week! I think that when the nursery is done it will really begin to feel real because right now it is still an empty room! I will put some pictures up when it is all ready! I cant wait for it to be done!

Like I said we have been very busy this month: My little sister graduated from Brevard on May 16th. She was chosen as one of the commencemnet speakers- we could not have been prouder! It was so surreal seeing her up there giving this speech...because in my mind she still a little girl!!! Here are some pictures of her on Graduation day!











Then the next weekend we headed to the beach for one of my oldest and dearest friends, Kristy's, wedding and our vacation! We had such a great time (I needed a vacation from my vacation) but it was great! The wedding was perfect and Kristy looked beautiful and it was a great party! Here are some pictures from the weekend!!!













We got to enjoy the week after the wedding at the beach with the Smith's and then went to the lake for the weekend! It was a lot of fun...but I am glad to be home...now time to start nesting!!!

New Running shoes....

...in my belly! Critter is apparently the size of a pair of running shoes this week.Holy Moly!It is hard to believe that something that big is inside of my body! Here is what Critter is up to this week:
After being sealed shut for many months, your baby's eyes will begin to open and close this week. Even if you could peek at the color of his peepers now though, they might not stay that color, as baby's eyes can change up until he's 6 months to 1 year old (especially if your little guy is born with baby blues).

He's also probably banging around like mad in there -- except when he's sleeping. Yep, your baby is snoozing on a regular schedule, but in very short spurts (only about 20 to 30 minutes at a time). Right now he weighs roughly 2 to 2-1/2 pounds and measures between 10 to 14 inches from crown to rump.

The belly is definitely growing (promise to post a new belly picture soon-we took some last night after eating sushi and that was just not a good idea. All of that sodium made me look twice as big as I think I really am). From everything I have read the baby is about to really start growing so bring it on! If I can just hold off from the swelling for about 2 more weeks that would be great. I am in a wedding in 2 weeks and if it looks like I still have ankles that would be ideal!!

With this Sunday being mother's day...I have a whole new out look on what this day means. I have always appreciated my mom, but now I have a whole new appreciation! Critter is not even here yet and he or she has already significantly changed my life. I have always wanted to be a mom and feel so blessed that God has given us this little miracle! I will be so excited to celebrate Mother's Day next year, not because it is an excuse to get gifts, but because it means that I am lucky enough to be a mother to our little boy or girl...and that is gift enough!

So to all the mother's-to-be, mother's, and grandmothers....HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! You are appreciated more than you will ever know! I love you!














Linds

Happy Birthday!

To my little sister! I can't believe that you are 23 years old today! I feel sooooo old! I hope you have a wonderful day and can't wait to celebrate...too bad I wont be able to do that with an alcoholic beverage! We are so proud of the person that you have become and all of your achievements! You are beautiful on the inside and out and I can not wait to see what God has in store for you! Critter is going to be so lucky to have such a great Aunt J! I love you and I am so glad that you are my sister!
Love-Linds

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Party in the U.S.A...

...or in my belly! Well I guess one of the negatives of being almost 30 weeks pregnant is that some nights you just cant sleep... cant get comfortable, too hot, too cold, have to use the bathroom, and the list goes on. Well last night was one of those nights. I was awake from about 1:45-4:15 ish, and while I was awake "Critter" was having a party in my belly. I guess most nights I cant feel all the squirming around because I am in such a deep sleep, but not last night. It felt like there were about 5 babies in my stomach and they were all having a dance off! It was so crazy that I felt the need to wake my sweet, sleeping husband and make him feel the dance party in my belly! It is just the craziest feeling and I want him to be able to share in it....I think that it is one of the things that I will most definitely miss about being pregnant. Besides the ever growing belly I swear I still sometimes forget that I am pregnant, but then I feel that little movement and I am reminded that there is a little person in there! It is truly a miracle and it is something I hope that all women get to experience because I have to say that there is nothing like it! So with that said this day is dragging on...my eye lids are so heavy! It is worth missing some sleep to feel that little guy or girl moving around in there!


I have once again been really bad about blogging lately! We have had so much going on. Two weekends ago I went to one of my best friends bachelorette party at the Lake. We had a great time, unfortunatley it rained all day on Saturday and Saturday night but that didnt stop us from our fun! On Saturday night we went to dinner at Calhoun Corners and then went to all the bars in Clemson. Talk about feeling old... I have to say that I am pretty sure that I was the only pregnant person everywhere we went! I held my own and was the designated driver and wasnt even the first one to bed on Friday or Saturday nights! I did sleep all afternoon on Sunday when we got home! Some of the girls that were there I have know for 18 years (OMG)! It is so funny to see how the conversation turned from boys and other insignificent topics to recipes, breastfeeding and nonstop talk about kids, relationships and love! It is so great to still be able to have these times to share with these girls! We have been through a lot toghether and I cant wait to see what else this life has in store for us!
This past weekend we had a yard sale! I HATE YARD SALES and think that the concept is pretty funny. People coming to buy the crap that I dont want anymore. I wanted to say to some of the people, "Now do you really need this? It is just junk." It was a pretty good success...got rid of a bunch of stuff and made a little money! Then I spent most of Saturday afternoon napping again! I was exhuasted! On Sunday we had an extremely productive day...church, lunch, chores, hosted open house, and then ran 1 million errands! One of our big accomplishments was purchasing some baby gates-no not for the baby, but for the dogs! We have decided to block our dogs off in our kitchen and breakfast rooms instead of letting them have free reign of the house. Now in my opinion they just got upgraded. Before they spent all their time during the day in a kennel, now we are leaving them in the kitchen all day. It is a little bit of an adjustment at night when we are lounging, watching tv. They have cried and I have cried, because they are used to coming in the den and cuddling with me and watching TV. For now we are just letting them stay in the kitchen so they can get used to being in there when the baby comes. I think that they are starting to like it. I am going to apologize in advance to anyone who comes to our house to eat. I am trying to vacuum/mop everyday in there, but if there is dog hair in your food it wont kill you!!!!
Also on Sunday we purchased a "Shark" floor steam cleaner! WE ARE OBSESSED! Even Daniel loves it! He did the whole house between Sunday and Monday! It is his newly assigned weekly chore.
That about sums up our weekend!

This month is going to be CRAZY...my sister's b-day, dad's b-day, mother's day, sister's graduation (where she is one of the commencement speakers), grandmothers b-day, Kristy's wedding, and vacation!! Shooooo... I hope I have a lot to blog about, but more importatnly lots of pics to post!

Happy Early Cinco-De-Mayo! Everyone enjoy a Margarita for me!!!

P.S.-How could I forget that at my dr. appt in April I had my glucose test-PASSED- and I also got a 3D ultrasound by default because this little baby is stubborn and we couldnt get a profile picture. Here are some of the ones of the face. I think in the top 2 "Critter" looks like Daniel and my dad swears that the bottom 2 have a "Perry" nose. At any rate...I think it is just adorable and cant wait to meet Critter!!