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...

oh... and last night...

Ray and I made these Blueberry muffins (without the yogurt blueberry sauce). AMAZING!

i have emerged... sort of...

So, yeah... it has been a LONG time since I last posted... LONG TIME!!! I have about 4-5 posts that I have started that need pictures and was having trouble, oh a month or so ago when I was trying to download them from the camera (so there might be a few that show up soon before this one since they post in the order I created them (if I remember correctly). Ray is supposed to help me, I keep saying "i need to do that"... but alas, hasn't happened. So here is a post sans pics.

I have been up to...
1. Naming our baby girl Claribel Elaine. We love the name and are SO excited. After all the inward debate as far as telling the name, we decided to tell and honestly have only had positive feedback... so if you don't like it... go ahead and keep it to yourself :) haha... Elaine is my mother's name, btw...
2. Sewing up a storm- Crib skirt, crib bumber, burp cloths, a little "taggie" type lap blanket, embroidering a few clothing items and a few blankets... next up is my baby book cover, that I want to have done for the shower next week- I am using the bedding fabric so people can see what I have chosen.
3. Registering
4. Aqua moms water aerobics class which I still totall love- Can't wait until our neighborhood public pool opens up and is warm enough to go there as well.
5. Figuring out childcare- We have found a wonderful lady that is going to come to our house!
6. Taking CPR (including infant) and first aid class with St. Jo's
7. We are signed up for childbirth class this Saturday, gonna be a long day...
8. Ordering goodies for Claribel's room- Rug, Best chair (rocking chair- amazing), crib
9. Ray has been busy building her a changing table/ bookshelf- It turned out so nice and I can't wait until it is painted. Dad is going to paint it as well as a table in our Living room that has needed some dark wine-red paint and possibly another piece for Claribel's room from Monie's dad's house.
10. Washing, ironing, sorting, hanging, folding beautiful baby clothes. There is SO much for little girls and for all of you local folks- Once upon a child is amazing!
11. Learning about cloth diapering, spending some time in the little boutique in town that sells cloth diapers. My sister Allison was in town and went with Ray and I when we went to register there and it was pretty funny- I guess I hadn't mentioned to her that we were going to cloth diaper...
12. Working full time
13. Trying to do all of this and still get in bed around 9 pm. I seriously crash out about that time.

we go together...

Tilly, my parent's yorkie came to visit us during their spring break (they went to help Rebs and Tucker-T with their ongoing home remodel). It was a long week with those two, especially for Ray working from home. Tilly is a barker and likes to make herself known to all she "thinks" she sees outside... It is so funny to see those two together- they are quite an odd duo and love each other mucho. Attached are some pics of the mornings, what I experienced while putting on makeup in the room next to Fran's crate. She normally would not like Tilly to enter her "den", but since Tilly just laid in there and didn't come lick her or anything it was okay. Very funny...

flowers just because...

i'm his baby mama

Ray has been so good about bringing flowers lately... these are from a bit ago, right when we found out we were having a girl...

to tell, or not to tell...

Ray and I have had much discussion on baby names and whether or not to tell the baby name we have picked out before the baby is born. People just have strong opinions about these things like baby names and do we really want to know? We just aren't sure... Maybe the difference would be to say "our baby's name is ---" instead of "these are names we like/ are thinking". When I tell people that we aren't going to tell the name, many say "that is a good idea, someone will always say, Oh you can't name them that, i knew a girl in 2nd grade with that name and she was so mean" or something like that... So what to do... We have not totally nailed down a name yet, but are pretty strong on one, just not sure of the middle and last name combo.

My sister Allison was surprised we are thinking of not telling the name and said "I don't care if you name her Sassy just so long as I am Auntie Allison"...

So, my question is this- What do you think? Did you tell your baby name and wish you hadn't because of the feedback? Or, was it fine- once the name was set people just said wonderful things about the name you had chosen"

it's a...

girl!!! We are so excited and can't wait for Ray to be outnumbered... :) I know he will be a great dad to a little girl... just like my dad is.

UTI...

So, I have had a pretty terrible lingering cough for the past month and a half... along with that some congestion, sneezing, etc... About 2 weeks ago my back started hurting pretty bad just at my rib cage on the left side. I talked to different people and they said it was possible to injure your ribs with bad coughing- however, all that I read said that there was really nothing that could be done and you just had to give it time to heal. So, I didn't really rush out to see the doctor, especially since no xray's with the pregnancy (which is the only way they can really diagnose a rib injury).

Yesterday morning I was putting on my socks and coughed and heard/ felt a pop/ crack sound. Then I was keeling over with the worst pain EVER! Thankfully Ray had not left for the gym yet so we went to the St. Joe's express clinic to see what they said. The doctor had me give a urine sample, which i thought was kind of wierd... Then the nurse came back and said "He is diagnosing you with a urinary tract infection", like she herself thought it was a bogus copout. It really upset me because, hello!, something POPPED! I could tell she felt bad and I asked her if she thought he would have at least done an xray if I wasn't pregnant and she said "probably so".

So, that is fun... hopefully things will get better... It is really painful to laugh, cough, sneeze, etc... All those things that I am still doing a lot of with the lingering cough and congestion...

Bridge Lesson

Each year in May, my dad, his cousins and now the son-in-laws (God bless 'em) get to partake in what they call Petty-Co Sports Extravaganza. Back when my dad was in High School, his dad and his dad's brothers and their sons started getting together each year for this men-family reunion/ sports competition. Over the years it has changed a bit as far as the "sports" they play, and now they have 3 events. Bridge (always been part of the weekend), washers, and either dominos or golf. The intensity of the weekend has also changed since only one of the original brothers is alive and he does not attend anymore. So, it is not stressful like it used to be when my dad would first go (my Papa and his brothers weren't known to be the kindest, gentlest of souls, especially during competition). They also pass around trophies for the winner in each event and "The Best of the Best" and "The Worst of the Best", that they take home for the year, add their name to it and bring it back the next year.

This will be Ray's fourth year to go and partake in this Petty tradition. He has been happy for Tucker (Rebecca's husband) to join him the past 2 years, so he wasn't the "Rookie" anymore. Bridge is definitely the most challenging event for Rookies, so Ray decided this year he needs to practice. Last night we had our first Bridge lesson with D, dad, Ray and I and it was pretty fun. I enjoy card games, but I can definitely see how complicated this game is, and we have only scratched the surface. Hopefully our weekly practice will help Ray shy away from the "Worst of the Best" trophy in the competition this year.

Purse for Iga

Sunday was our Polish neighbor's 3rd birthday. It has been fun getting to know them over the past few months as they have only been in the US since September. Iga is 3 and just about the cutest thing EVER... I went to Joann's and got the cutest fabric and ribbon to make her a little purse for her birthday. She loves the color yellow and I was so happy with how it turned out... made me excited to have a little girl (which was great, because I have mostly been hoping for a little boy, mostly because my fam growing up was all girls, except my dad). I guess I didn't get a picture that shows the inside, but it is hot pink with light pink polka-dots. The strap is green and white polka grograin ribbon and the yellow satin ribbon.

ONE week from tomorrow

Boy or girl, boy or girl, I don't know, we will find out!
I can't believe it is almost here! I can't wait to find out whether Ray or I will be outnumbered... we are definitely opting for the surprise at 20 weeks and not the surprise at 40 week option for this one!

Valentine's Day

We decided about two weeks ago to grill out steaks at home for Valentine's Day. We have discovered that buying fillets and ribeyes from Readfield's (the local meat market) and using the Weber charcoal grill makes better steaks than the fanciest of steakhouses that we have been to. PERFECT! It is just hard to pay that much when they aren't as good as we make them at home! I also found this recipe for White Chocolate Raspberry Bread Pudding that I was going to make. But, it made a 9x13 which would take us forever to finish (and well, we shouldn't finish it). So, I called Don and Monie (basically our god parent's if we had some) and they joined us for Valentine's Day dinner. We had such a nice time and the steaks, crash hot potatoes and corn on the cob was wonderful... and do yourself a favor and make that bread pudding- amazing! For the leftovers I have not bothered with the white chocolate sauce and I think it is just as good without it. I also used fresh raspberries, because HEB didn't have any frozen ones- delish! Crash hot potatoes are now our go-to potato with steak- they are so good... actually I have always loved any Pioneer Woman recipe I have tried.

It was so nice to stay in on such a crowded restaurant day, I think we will make this a tradition. Ray and I will partake in our other yearly Valentine's poem tradition tonight. This was an idea from our pre-marital counselors... we write poems reflecting on the past year each year at Valentine's and it is so fun to look back (i have them in a red valentines scrapbook that I put together). Neither one of us are steller writers or poets by any means, but they are still fun (and pretty cheesy trying to rhyme). It is neat because we have one from every valentine's day we have been together since our first V-Day was after we were already engaged and in pre-marital counseling). It is a fun tradition that we hope to carry on with our kids once they are older...

Aqua Moms

I just started taking Aqua Moms water aerobics at The Therapy Center with a hospital in town. I really like it and highly suggest it to any preggo ladies out there that have it in their town. Right now it isn't too challenging, but just a nice very moderate cardio workout. It feels really great to be in the pool and the company of other women in the same place in life is fun. It is also a wonderful change from Gold's. Something different and I know it is going to just feel better and better the further along I get. I am so glad my boss' wife told me about it!

Double Birthday

Ray was very excited because we received a letter from the doctor in the mail following our most recent appointment that moved our due date up! It was set at July 24th, but the letter said July 15th, Ray's birthday (so, Karen, we might make it to the 17th for your birthday after all). We thought that was pretty fun! I just hope that sticks and we really are that far and don't have to wait until August, esp if the baby is late, which I know is common for a first baby.
We shall see... so excited...

Ray's Desk

Pictured above is the front view. Ray came up with this design and he did such a great job with the design and execution! the box beam at the bottom hides computer cords and there are panels on each end that open to deal with cords.

Below is the Side View. He used pieces of sheet metal and distressed (rusted) them with bleach in different designs, then bolted them in place in a mosaic style. The inside panels are painted a deep brown color that pics up the dark rust color.

In the (fairly) newly painted office. The color looks quite a bit more pink in the picture than in real life (so much better than the old mustard yellow!). It looks so Nice! Of course in the back are both his electronic and acoustic drum kit, all of his favorite things. Ray finally got some sound-off pads for Christmas for his acoustic set so he can play without disturbing the neighborhood.

baby dodo...

Yeah, I got it bad. I really just started noticing it today- thinking it was just because I am all congested and sickly, but I think it is the baby.

1. Asked a co-worker about a detail and he said "well shouldn't you just see about the city standards and apply that to you detail", well yeah! that is what I should do and what I did to get the detail info in the first place... duh... He just started laughing and I said "my head is foggy and I hope it is the congestion and not something that will last another 6 months or so"... more laughing
2. Leaving the office to eat lunch with Ray, I noticed a new rug at the front door of the office and commented "Oh, good, we finally got a rug"! Office Mgr laughed and said "a few weeks ago". No Way!
3. At the sandwich shop I was getting a straw for my drink and threw away the straw in the trash bucket and was left with the wrapper instead...

Ray is happy about it all (says he likes me like this)... He said that it makes him feel more normal when he does crazy stuff and forgets stuff... not comforting...