Doctor's appointment

I went yesterday for my first of the weekly doctor's appointments. Everything looks and sounds good! I was 36 weeks on Monday and the doctor said I was measuring at 37 or 38 weeks. She also checked me and said I'm dilated to "3 and then some." Very interesting since I haven't felt any contractions! So of course the doctor said, "oh, well you may have this baby early!" But I am definitely not getting my hopes up; with Amelia I was dilated to 5 for two weeks and she still came a week late! I'm counting on the 19th and if he comes before that, it'll be a great surprise. Anyway, things are still going well. I'm definitely feeling more tired now and I'm having a much harder time sleeping (my back's been hurting some too), but that just comes with the territory, I think. We'll keep you posted...not long now!

My long week

This week Bryan is gone the whole week (Sun.-Thurs. morning in Philadelphia for a work thing, then Thurs. afternoon -Sun. afternoon in Arkansas for fun). Yikes. It is really hard having enough energy--with 3 weeks left until baby comes--to keep up with Amelia, especially at her age and stage! She is great, don't get me wrong, but it can be very trying to deal with her when my back is hurting and I am so sleepy I can barely stay awake! Fortunately we have a few little outings scheduled this week to break things up a bit, but please say a little prayer for me that I'll make it through this week without going nuts! :-) Thanks!

Baby's room

Here are some pictures of the baby's room. The majority of the bedding was made by Abby (a million thank yous!). I helped on the quilt (hanging on the wall), made the bedskirt, basket liners, and valance for the window. I just have to finish the sheets (they'll match the basket liners), and then when we decide what baby's name will be, we'll put it in wooden letters on the wall above the crib. Overall I'm really happy with how it turned out!

What? A new post????

Ok, so I know I haven't written anything in about a month! I'm sorry, readers! We had my family here for Christmas; my sister was here until the 5th of January and we were really busy the whole time. Then I was really sick until about two days ago (coughing a lot and such), so it's been rough! Anyway, we had a great Christmas and hope all of you did, too.

I actually didn't take a whole lot of pictures during Christmas...too much was going on! My sister Abby is a great seamstress and she sewed up a storm while she was here. She made the baby's crib bedding, Amelia's flower girl dress for our friend's wedding, and bustled the friend's wedding dress. They all turned out great! I still have a couple things to finish for the baby's room before I post pictures, so stay tuned for that. However, I do have pictures of Amelia's new room, which Abby and I did most of. It is indeed VERY pink but Amelia loves it and I think it turned out really cute. See pictures below!

On the baby front, things are going well. He is still moving quite a bit and growing well! I have my next appointment on the 29th and then I'll go every week following. I think from this point on they'll check my progress to see how things are coming along. I don't anticipate delivering before my scheduled c-section (Feb. 19th) since it's scheduled at 39 weeks, but who knows? I'm not counting on going early! We still haven't decided on a name, so we'll have to do that soon. It's hard to believe we only have four weeks left. Time has really flown with this one!

One last note: Amelia has discovered the knock-knock joke. Her jokes go something like this:

(Amelia) "Knock knock."

(Mom) "Who's there?"

(Amelia) "Rice."

(Mom) "Rice who?"

(Amelia--long pause as she looks around the room)..."Table!"

Then she will repeat the joke with "Orange....zipper!" or some such randomness. Three year-olds do have some crazy sense of humor! So, hopefully now that I'm on the mend I'll be better about keeping this up-to-date. I'll have lots of pictures to share in the coming weeks, for sure.

Baby Jobe's birthday...

...will be Tuesday, February 19, unless he decides to come earlier! I just scheduled my C-section this morning. They'll start the surgery at 8:30, so shortly thereafter we'll have our little boy! Several people have asked if we've decided on a name yet, and the answer is....sort of. We have a name we both like, but there are still a couple others that could be contenders. We probably won't decide for sure until he's born, and unfortunately for everyone else, you won't find out until then anyway (we like to keep it a secret!). Everything with baby is going well. I heard his strong, steady heartbeat this morning and so far I'm still feeling pretty good other than some occasional lower back pain. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers! These last 9 weeks are going to fly!

Christmas Pictures

We just took our annual Christmas card picture, and came out with several really good ones. I wanted to get my big belly in the picture so little baby Jobe could be recognized! We didn't end up going with either one of these but I thought they were worth posting. :-)

This one cracks me up because we were telling Amelia to kiss the baby, and it ended up looking like Bryan and I were squashing her in between our tummies!

Happy Jobes!

Holiday Tag

Welcome to the Holiday edition of getting to know your friends.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Definitely wrapping paper; I usually get several different prints so I can wrap each family member's gifts in his/her own paper. This makes it much easier to find everyone's gifts.
2. Real tree or artificial? We have two artificial ones, although I really like the smell of a real one.
3. When do you put up the tree? Never, ever until after Thanksgiving. This year we put it up the day after.
4. When do you take the tree down? Usually the first week in January.
5. Do you like eggnog? Oh yes...the light kind.
6. What about Fruitcake? Not really, but I like Billie Haske's fruitcake cookies!
7. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmmm...I'm not sure. I guess that means I liked everything!
8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, a Willow Tree Angel one. I really like it!
9. Hardest person to buy for? My dad and Bryan's parents.
10. Easiest person to buy for? My sister
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Well this one wasn't really the worst, but it was funny: One year when Cabbage Patch Kids were all the rage, I really wanted one. We went to see the mall Santa and when it was my turn, he asked me if I wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid. For some reason, it embarrassed (maybe annoyed?) me that he knew what I wanted, so I said, "no, I just want a big doll." So I got a big doll, and was duly disappointed. Moral of the story: if Santa guesses right, go with it.
12. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail them.
13. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story, although I love most all Christmas movies.
14. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually not until after Thanksgiving, and I get stressed out about it. But...this year I am already all done! Hooray!
15. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Hmmm...probably, although I can't remember for sure.
16. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? sausage cheese balls, gumdrop cookies
17. Clear lights or colored on the tree? clear lights on the "pretty" tree upstairs, multicolored ones on the "family" tree downstairs
18. Favorite Christmas song? too hard to pick! I am fond of Michael Buble's Christmas CD, Manheim Steamroller's CDs, and, of course, the Smith Family Singers Christmas CDs. Oh yeah.
19. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? Usually we travel either on Christmas or Thanksgiving. This year we stayed for T'giving and we're staying for Christmas, but my family is coming up for Christmas.
20. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? yes
21. Angel on the tree top or a star? Upstairs, lots of bows and stuff; downstairs, a star
22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.
23. What is the one present you want most this year? This year, nothing in particular is sticking out to me.
24. Most annoying thing about this time of year? How early places start putting out Christmas stuff...before Halloween. Seriously, people.
25. What I love most about Christmas? It's cheesy, but the Christmas spirit everyone has, and just the festive atmosphere about it all