Showered.

Cory and I have been extremely blessed through several showers of love, gifts, and encouragement. We still find ourselves in awe of the outpouring of gratitude that has come our way through this pregnancy. Here are some pictures from all the events.

We were first give a shower by these fabulous ladies!
Beka, Christina, Christina and Lindsey.


Here are some pics from that shower.






Our lovely niece and assistant Mady helped us open some gifts for her very first cousin Lincoln!

Next, several friends from work and church threw me a shower. It was wonderful!!! The shower was at the end of the snow/ice storm week where work was canceled so several people were unable to make it! In fact, it was snowing on mom and I as we drove to the shower! Due to several co-workers unable to make it, part two of this shower! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.

Here are me and mom before the shower.

Me with the wonderful hostesses -- Caroline, Jessica and Hannah

Lincoln's very own "lovie" with his name on it!

And last week the elementary school where my office is threw me a wonderful shower!! The other two schools that I serve as a school psychology specialist were also invited! Needless to say, I have been very well taken care of! Here is just a snapshot of me. I forgot to get someone to use my camera and take pictures of opening gifts! Ooopps.

As you can see through all the pictures, we have been blessed beyond words! We could not be anymore grateful for all of the love that has been poured out to us over the anticipation and celebration of the birth of Lincoln. He is already so loved!!

Full Term Baby on Board. 37 weeks.

Beware. Full term baby on board!

Yes, I hit the 37 week mark on Sunday! Very crazy! I have definitely started to feel like I am in the waddling stage! I have had some pain on and off but do not think I have had any "real" contractions at this point. I saw Dr. P today and she said I had progressed from a 2 to a 2.5! Ha! I'll admit though, in the last week I have tried to rest more to slow down the process a little bit because I want him to be as healthy and well-developed as possible. However, once February 1st hits then I have decided I will be taking more walks on the treadmill and seeing what we can do to facilitate this process. Dr. P told me today that after my appointment next Wednesday she would to talk about inducing me the next week -- so around the 10th or 12th (a couple of days before my due date). I am not sure what I think about being induced before my due date but praying that when the time comes I will have clarity on what the right decision will be. Or, that I will just go into labor on my own before an induction is needed, but you never know.

At this point, we feel pretty prepared. We have finished the nursery, the car seat is installed, and our bags pretty much packed as much as you can. We are just hoping its not on Lincoln's agenda to come Thursday-Saturday during the snow storm! I am, however, grateful for the potential of a snow day on Friday so that I can take a day to rest. I also can't wait to post about the nursery and hope to do that on Friday as well. We are, of course, very proud of how it has turned out!

Well, that is the latest going on on our world! Hope all of you in the way of the snow storm stay warm and safe.

Wheww...what a day!

Wow. What a day we had! I'm sitting here watching the Razorback game on TV in my pj's and decided to reflect back on this day....

It started this morning with our 36 week appointment. I have been having lots of aching and pain in my lower stomach so I was hoping that Dr. P would tell me I had made some progress. However, I wasn't quite expecting what she had to say to us. She said I am 2 cm dialted, 60% effaced and Lincoln is head down and "very low." I was just hoping for one of those things to be happening but never expected ALL of them to be happening so soon! She said "This means this is likely one of your last weekends to get the last minute things done -- you need to pack your hospital bag and install your car seat!" Cory said my eyes about bugged out of my head. YIKES!! Her estimate is that he looks to weigh about 7.5 pounds at this time and that I have more like one to two weeks left. I thought I still had three more weeks EASY or more but it looks like I better get myself in gear. Luckily we are about 90% ready and can conquer the last 10% this weekend. I go back Wednesday morning for my next appointment.

After that Cory and I went to visit a daycare or "learning center" that we are considering for child care. We were able to meet the owner and take a tour. Child care has definitely been one of the hardest parts of this process. I find myself not even knowing what questions to ask. Just lost. I really liked what I saw at this facility and it will definitely be one of our top considerations for August.

Then, on I went to work. My head was spinning with all the things I needed to do to get ready for Lincoln and what things at work I needed to wrap up in order to leave things in good shape. I found myself sitting at my desk wondering where in the world I should start. I managed to make sense of my desk and workload before 3:30 hit.

At 3:30 my school where my office is located threw me a baby shower! My other two schools that I serve were invited as well. It was awesome! We have been extremely blessed with amazing showers and outpouring of love throughout this whole process. (I have a post started that I will finish soon recapping all of our awesome showers!)

Once this awesome event ended, I headed home to meet Cory and head out to dinner with an old friend and a new friend. Tonight we had the awesome priviledge of having dinner with our very good friend Scott and his girlfriend Amy whom we met for the first time. Prior to meeting her, Scott described her as someone that Jill would have loved to hang out with and after meeting her I completely agree. She is a jewel and a great fit for Scott. Scott has told us lots about her and I enjoyed putting a face with a name. We could not be anymore excited for Scott and look forward to seeing what the future holds for him and Amy.

Now, we are home and cheering on the hogs. My brain is tired! This was a big day with lots of fun news, a fun shower and meeting a fun new friend. I have a feeling that more fun days are in our near future as we approach the day of Lincoln's arrival. We could not be anymore happy!! These are exciting days at our home.

Christmas Break 2009

Christmas break was wonderful this year! We were able to see ALL of our immediate family and enjoy several days (11 days to be exact) at "home." We started off the holiday season celebrating Christmas with my brother and his family! We have not seen them since our vacation to Destin in June! So it was a much overdue visit! It was fun to see all of them and see how much the kids have grown and changed. I love these kiddos! Here are a few snapshots from our Christmas with them.

Passing out the presents

Carter checking out his new Pj's

Summer sporting her new necklace

Tilly hanging out with Uncle Cory.
Carter helping Uncle Cory open up his gifts

Papa and Carter playing
These two are quite the pairJuie hanging out with Tilly and Carter

On Christmas eve we headed to the very southern end of the state to spend some time with Cory's twin brother and his family at their house. Mady, our niece, was definitely the life of the party and it was fun to see her open all her fun presents! She is a hoot.

Cody and Jessica's den with all the gifts from Santa.

Mady with her doll carrier

Uncle Cory playing with Mady at her new table and chairs

The clan. Mady LOVES to play with people's hair. Lincoln and his future cousin due to arrive in June
After the Christmas festivities were over, Cory headed home to work a couple of days and I spent the days with my parents in Bryant. It was very nice, this late in the pregnancy, to have a chauffeur, cook, maid and shopping friend (thanks mom!). I knew if I spent my break at home then I would not rest and I really needed to rest after the semeste that I had so...staying in Bryant was a special treat.

We enjoyed New Year's Eve with several of our Bryant friends and had a great time! I even stayed up till midnight but we did head home about 12:08 so I could go to bed. Ha! We ended the break with an AMAZING baby shower which I will post about next!

And this is what we came home too ....

Since this has fallen on Sunday, we have had four straight snow days out of school! I am not complaining TOO much; however, we only have 5 snow days built into the calendar and it looks like we will end up using all five this week! More snow days later on this winter will mean more work days added on in June! :(

On the baby news front, I did get out yesterday to go to my 34 week doctor's appointent. Everything looks perfect thus far! Lincoln's heartbeat was strong and very loud! I didn't think he could get anymore active in there but these last 24 hours he has moved nonstop! So, needless to say, sleep was few and far between last night. I believe he is getting stir crazy from all these snow days. Cory and I finished up our "child preparation" classes and our infant CPR class. So we are starting to feel a little more prepared. I have had some time to work in the nursery this week so I am feeling a little better about that as well. I got back to the doctor two weeks from today to start my once a week visit. We should know more after that appointment about how we are looking as for a due date. Very exciting!

CEC.