her nursery...

Well, we finally have *mostly* everything hung and done in her room, so I thought I would post some pictures- I am so happy with the way everything turned out and know we will enjoy spending a lot of time in her room

Ray and I painted these verses for her room (have to credit the ETSY shop Red Letter Art for the inspiration)

Close up of the inside of the bedding- I had a bear from d and Monie just like the dark brown one only mine was light brown (and I decided to put lotion all over it to make it softer, you know, like our skin... didn't work out quite so well). I ordered the mobile from PB Baby- Mom felt very strongly that Claribel would be missing out if she didn't have one that played music and spun around. I really like it, so grandma and mama are happy :)

This is the outside of the bed to show the fabric on the other side of the bumper- creamy white with mint green polka dots. The bed skirt has baby pink satin ribbon between the fabrics that won't be visible until it is altered as the mattress lowers. It was such a blast picking out fabrics and ribbons at High Fashion Fabric in Houston with Monie (which seems like forever ago). That place is amazing!

This is to the right of the crib- rocker/ glider, another verse (click on the picture to be able to read it), and the changing table/ bookshelf that my talented husband built.
Better view of the changing table. It has the narrow shelves on the sides for books and we can use it leter for toys, books or whatever. Ray did such a nice job, Dad sprayed it with his rig and I am just so happy with the end result!
This the wall opposite the crib, a piece of my grandad and grandmir's furniture. The drawers are perfect because they are pretty small to hold small clothes :) To the left of this is the closet, to the right is the door. The wall to the right of this and to the left of the crib will have a small china cabinet type piece that is so cute that Dad sprayed the same creamy white as the changing table, but it still has some work to be done to have it ready. Above it will be her name in wooden letters that I painted. Right now there is only the C and L and the beginning and end hanging up so I will add a picture once that is done.

So there it is... pretty much all ready for little miss to make her appearance. Now, I am just doing other little things that will be nice to have done, but are not necessities before she is here... 12 more days!

let the countdown begin...

I just had my 37 week appointment and am happy to report that little miss has a deadline :) Dr. B is going to induce July 10th if she has not decided to come yet. She will be out of town the next week, and I am glad because I really want her to deliver the baby, she has been the greatest doctor! I am really glad to have a light flashing at the end of the tunnel. Now, we just need to finish up a few things around the house :) And, sorry Karen, but she will not make it to your birthday on the 17th or Ray's on the 15th.

I wish I didn't know now, what I didn't know then...

This country song has been stuck in my head the past few days... here are some of the things I still wish I didn't have to know...

1. That my feet could swell up so much and look like elephant feet that no shoe on earth (esp. not one that Dillard's carries) can handle.
2. The heaving and ho-ing that would take place to sit up/ roll out of bed for the many bathroom trips each night.
3. How I could be SO ready to have this sweet little girl here, yet also hope for more time to get all those little things done.
4. That I can never wear a shirt more than one day before it is off to the hamper because of dropping something on it while eating/ drinking, etc.
5. That the swelling of said feet in item 1 would bring back pain from an ankle sprain over a year ago!
6. How hard it would be to concentrate on walking normally when I really want to rock back and forth in a waddle while I walk...

Of course I also didn't know how amazing this whole experience would be, having a living growing baby in my tummy, shifting all around :) And, in retrospect, this last 8 months has gone by pretty fast... although it hasn't always felt like it...

hot...

So, last night our AC decided it was tired of being pushed to the limits and quit on us. Ray realized and came and told me around 11 pm. I had noticed it was feeling warm, but had been asleep since 8:30 (yes, that is my bedtime these days). We decided to stay and hope it didn't warm up too much, not wanting to pack a bag and waste good sleeping time to go find an air conditioned room. It wasn't too bad, thankfully and the AC guys are supposed to be coming out today.

I feel bad though since Ray works from home these days, there is no relief for him. He said when he came back from the gym this am Fran-dog came out of her crate really slowly with her tongue hanging out wanting to check and see if it was cooler outside... funny... we have one spoiled dog that LOVES the AC as much as we do!

6 more weeks...

I truly can't believe that I only have 6 more weeks until Claribel's due date! It has gone by really fast, yet slow at the same time. I have much still to accomplish, but at this point, I have a place for her to sleep and feel like she could come and it would be fine. Still on my list are organizing her room... the majority of which can hopefully happen this weekend, painting some wooden letters that spell her name, painting 2 canvases for art for her room (Ray is going to do this), dad is going to spray her changing table amd another piece of furniture for the room, and that should be it.

We decided to go ahead and unpack the rest of the boxes that had not been unpacked from our move a year ago February. Our house was not completely done, so lots of boxes have been in the garage. It felt really good to deal with all of that stuff- repack and organize stuff to use once we have another bedroom/ bathroom, take tons of stuff to Goodwill and get a box together for Half Price Books. Phew... it was quite a chore last weekend, and our house is still a disaster of sorts, but it feels good to have dealt with it.

Ok, it is off to bed for me- I pretty much make it to about 8:30 and am ready to hit the sack. Makes it hard to get much done during the week after work :)

Oh, and Claribel is moving around and growing like CRAZY! It has been really neat the past two weeks to be able to feel her head or bootie (not sure which one :) ) and feel her move really clearly and see my stomach move when she does. What an amazing thing to feel and experience...