Snow!

Just one day until Conner's due date and I just thought I would document on here that it did, in fact, snow in Austin, TX! The sun is out and flurries are about. For a bit there, it was snowing hard enough to look like fog as I was driving home from lunch with Cody. It was so pretty!

C'mon out, Conner! I want you to experience this!

Pregnancy progress

Seriously ready to meet this baby, but he seems to be even more serious about staying in! He is still so active! I was sure earlier on in my pregnancy that he would be early because of his size. Well, the doctor did an estimate of how big he was at about 37 weeks and said that he was between 5 1/2 and 6 pounds. WHAT? I'm HUGE! So that's when I decided that he wasn't going to be early. He's never coming out. He's too comfy. He doesn't have to do anything but have fun rolling around, kicking, punching, spinning and tickling me!

Here I am, at 39 weeks, 3 days pregnant and I just had my 40 week check up. I've been dilated at about 1 cm for almost 4 weeks now and apparently my cervix is super soft. The softness is a good thing. The doc said she could hardly tell it was there. This softening is incredibly helpful for when the contractions start up. She says that once Conner's head starts to descend that it will help with the dilation. That was definitely reassuring!

Right now, all I can say is, "Come out, come out, come OUT!"

Many Thanks

Wow, what a trip this year has been so far! I have a ton to be thankful for and YOU are just one person that has made a contribution to my life, so thank you.

I have a 97% complete bedroom for Conner. I owe that 97% to Candace and Christina who thoughtfully came up with the idea that instead of throwing a baby shower for me in Dallas (originally scheduled for 2 weeks before my due date), that they would come to my house and prep Conner's room so that Cody and I could focus on other aspects of getting our house "assembled". I couldn't have asked for a nicer gesture!

The ladies put two coats of paint on the walls, hung up the curtain and moved the furniture in. They also made the crib bed and loaded up the changing table with it's necessities. I also got the hook up with some needed baby items. I can't forget that they also prepared some yummy foods for us to thaw and cook when we are too tired to make dinner after Conner is here. They rock!

Other peeps stopped by, too! It was really neat to see them and accept their help with the baby's laundry, hanging pictures and sterilizing bottles!

Cody and I are so very lucky. Thank you all!

Promised Pics: Castle View makeover

These are before/after pictures of our master bedroom and the front flower bed. I wish I had taken pics of them after they were staged because it looked so nice!

Promised Pics: Aerosmith Concert

Beautiful day in the DFW for an outdoor concert. We got great lawn seats in the shade with a view and easy access to the path that went to beer and bathrooms!

Steven Tyler did not fall off this stage!

My beautiful friends. I'm so so so glad they invited me to join them!

Hard to resist singing along to the songs (or chatting through the unfamiliar ones that were never released)!

I just thought this was a fun picture to take of the ladies and the stage.

Pictures

I need to post them. I promise I will.

What's going on 'round here?

Visiting with Grace and Daniel was such a relaxing trip and a great wind-down for what was going on at the time and what was about to happen.



The night before we left (Wednesday), we found out that the house we were purchasing in just over a week didn't get a high enough appraisal and that scared us because we thought the sellers wouldn't sell for less. What were we going to do? Where were we going to live? How were we going to work things out since we were going to be out of state for the next 5 days? What about the baby?? How were we going to come up with all this extra money that we would now have to apply to the house that we weren't planning for? We worked on answering these questions for the next 4 hours on empty stomachs and with tear filled eyes. Our new home was suddenly out of our grasp unless we figured something out quickly. We finally decided to head home so we could eat and finish packing for the trip. It would work out, we were sure of it.



The next morning, we woke up at 6am, about 30 minutes AFTER we were supposed to be at the airport, finding a parking spot. We were up and out the door in 15 minutes and at the airport by 6:45. We barely missed the check-in time for our flight so we had to book another one. It ended up working out for us though. I called Grace to let her know about our flight "situation" and it meant that she was able to meet us at the airport with Daniel! Hooray! It was seriously good to see them! If you haven't been to visit those guys, DO IT!



Friday morning I missed a call from my mom. This is a huge deal to me because she rarely calls for any reason. At first I was upset that I missed her call, then upon hearing her message tell me that she was in Austin, I was even more upset. She also rarely comes to visit since she doesn't like to travel outside of her comfort zone. When I called her back, I apologized that I was out of town and that she should give me notice that she's coming so I can plan to be there. Unfortunately, she didn't have good news with this call. She informed my that my step-dad's dad passed away the previous morning. All kinds of guilt swelled up in me because I hadn't called him or stopped by to visit even though he and Grammie live just off Mopac and Bee Caves. She said there wasn't going to be a funeral or anything just yet, so I wasn't missing anything "important". I still wish that I had been there, though.

Grace, if you're reading this, sorry we didn't tell you about this while we were there. We didn't want to make the trip about all the crap that just unloaded on us! I hope you understand ;)

Ok, so we get back on Tuesday and all goes well the next day with the closing of our house on Castle View. I'm gonna miss that place but luckily it's only 4 minutes away and we'll get to easily show it to Conner! The purchase of our new house didn't happen when it was scheduled so Cody was called out of town and I got the priviledge of packing a ton of the remaining stuff and begin moving it to the new house that we are renting until we close. Fortunately, a family friend was able to help out some until the guys of Chi Phi and other heavy lifters were able to come out on Sunday when Cody got back. We are so thankful for their time and energy. We also owe them beer! It took until that Wednesday to get completely moved out of the old house (which we rented from the new owner so we could move) and now we get to focus on unpacking while Cody is in town! He has been called out several times, but that is the nature of his job in the spring and fall. Pregnant or not, it's not easy or fun when he's away.

Now, fun baby news! I just had my 34 week check up with the doc and my uterus is measuring at 34 cm. He's staying on track for his estimated due date of Dec. 5th. The other night, I was experiencing a strong Braxton Hicks contraction (a practice contraction) and I could see Conner's outline on my belly! I could practically hold him! That was so freakin' cool. He's still so little! This is my favorite part of the pregnancy!

Right now, that's news that is fit to print and all that I can remember at this point. ;)