37 weeks and...WE ARE HAVING A BABY THIS WEEK!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!! We are so excited and so nervous!!! I wasn't supposed to have my weekly appt until Thursday but Chad is off today so I called Dr. H's office this morning to see if we could get in today and we were lucky!! Our appt was at 2pm but didn't see her until 3:15pm because she had to deliver a baby. So, we do the normal urine test and then Julie (the nurse) takes my weight and blood pressure. My BP is high at 140/90 but she says that the doc will probably want to take it again after she checks my cervix. We finally get to see Dr. H and I am dilated to 3cm and I am 80% effaced. At this point she isn't talking about inducing or anything of the such...she just tells me to let Julie check my BP again...so Julie checks my blood pressure and again it's high. So Dr. H says, "So, how to do feel about having a baby later this week?" WOW!! That just smacked us in the face! OF COURSE WE ARE READY!!! BRING IT ON!! TODAY IF THAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!!! ha! So she leaves us to call Labor and Delivery and comes back minutes later and says, "How about 7:30am Thursday morning?" WOW!!! We are still in shock and really cannot believe that we will have our precious Graham by this weekend. We are at home and our minds are just racing and we honestly just don't know what to do with ourselves. We are so excited and so nervous and so scatterbrained. But I'm glad that we were able to schedule it. SO.....that's the update!! I will do my best to try to stay in touch with everyone the best that I can but you just never know how hectic it will be. You guys can always call us and we will get in touch with you as soon as we can!

36 Weeks

I had my 36 week checkup this morning and I am 1.5 centimeters dilated and 60% effaced so that means that our baby boy is getting ready to bless us with his presence! YAY!!! There's really no telling how long it will take...could be this week, could be next. It's just a waiting game right now. I'm not having any contractions yet either. I thought I was going to be excited about being dilated but now I am in a state of panic. I THOUGHT I HAD MORE TIME! I'm at work right now trying to get some things finalized but my head is in a million different places. I still don't have his nursery completely organized but oh well. I'm just going to have to chill out and do what I can. Thank God Chad is home now because he's so awesome! He mopped and steamed all of the tile, hardwoods and carpets on Sunday. Our floors certainly needed it! We still haven't purchased a bigger vehicle yet either. Hopefully that will happen in the next day or so. We are going to Parker Cadillac this evening to look at a Toyota Seqouia that we just LOVE! We saw it at the dealership yesterday but they were closed so we couldn't talk to anyone. It has LOWWW miles and is a great price. We just need to drive it and look at it really well. They are also going to provide a carfax report too. Well, I better get back to work...I have so much to do! Love you all!

35 Weeks & a SURPRISE BABY SHOWER!!!

My Gosh...when people have said "growing by the second", I really never thought they meant it LITERALLY. But yep, they did. That's me...that's Graham. Growing by the second. It has all certainly been a blessing but this being uncomfortable mess is TOUGH...I know, I know...just wait until labor. Well, I'm ready! Let's go into labor! Let's have this little boy...well, let's wait 2 more weeks...THEN LET'S GO INTO LABOR! ha!

Graham is doing great...but Momma on the other hand is TIRED. A good night's rest certainly is few and far between but I guess it's just preparing me for motherhood.

Chad gets home on Friday and boy, ARE WE EXCITED!!! It will certainly be nice to be waited on hand and foot! hee hee!

Last Friday at work, we had a retirement person scheduled to come to our office at 10am to talk about our 401(K) options. First of all, I am super tired, super swollen and SUPER miserable. I look at my watch and realize that it's 2 minutes after 10am and no retirement person...I'm getting very antsy and very impatient cause if someone is coming to speak to us, they better be on time or at least calling us to let us know why they are late. In the door walks Lucy that used to work at DRS as one of our Grants Coordinator who had a baby boy 9 months ago and is a stay at home mom now, and she has her son Andrew in tow. My first thought was, "YAY!!! There's Lucy and Andrew! I have been dying to see them but CRAP, that retirement person is supposed to be here any minute now." And then they walk in my office and Lucy says, "I'm here to talk retirement to you guys." Boy, am I confused cause I thought Lucy was staying at home...I had no idea that she was working for CitiStreet as a retirement specialist. And then Morgan, who took Lucy's place, says "Surprise!!!" Now I am REALLY confused!! Someone else then shouts out that Kelsey, another one of previous Grants Coordinators who also had a baby a year ago and decided to stay at home, is on her way. It was at that point that the bells in my head went off!! My office planned a surprise baby shower for me!! I couldn't believe it!! I can't believe they pulled it off without me knowing anything! But these days, I pretty much stay in La La Land in my office and am pretty much oblivious to what is going on around me. It's definitely what they call "Preggo Brain." I just can't believe that they did that for me. It meant so much and I seriously wanted to cry cause it was just the sweetest thing. I am so blessed to have a job that I love, a boss that I adore and look up to as a father figure and a staff that is truly amazing and we all get along so well! And to top it off, Lucy and Kelsey were there too with both of their babies!! It couldn't have been any better!!! Thank you so much guys!!

DRS Staff as it is now: Lindsey, Morgan, Me, Lauren and ButchW/ Kelsey and Anna and Lucy and Andrew

34 Weeks Pregnant!!!

6 more weeks to go!!! YAY!!! I went to the doctor today and everything is good. My blood pressure is good and my weight is good. Graham is still growing like he should. It was a pretty boring visit. I asked Dr. H why the joint in my hands hurt so bad and why it hurts to walk bare foot and she just said it's cause of the swelling. Told me not to be worried about it. It's just a part of being 8 1/2 months pregnant. I go back on August 25th and then after that appt., I will see her every week.

Chad came home from Dallas this past weekend! YAY!! I was soooo happy to see him!! But we had a BUSY weekend!!

Friday morning, I had Jury Duty Orientation and I was hoping that I would be able to get out of it but no such luck. There's a number that I have to call every Tuesday starting September 2nd to find out if I have jury duty on Wednesday (I'm a Wednesday juror). My jury duty begins September 1 and lasts til Dec. 31, 2008. In that time frame, I have to serve 10 times. ugh. What a pain in the butt. But when I go into labor and have Graham, all I have to do is call Baliff Richard and tell him and he said he will take care of me. I made sure to make nice with one of the baliff's. :) Jennifer & Trent's wedding was this past weekend as well so I had to be in Hot Springs Friday afternoon at 4pm for rehearsal. After rehearsal, we all went to dinner at Back Porch Grill that is located inside the Sunbay Resorts. I had the filet and it was FABULOUS!!! Oh man, I wish I could have ordered another one. Chad didn't get to go to rehearsal or dinner with me cause they were driving back from Dallas and then they had to go to their garage to load their trucks to get ready to leave Sunday morning at 1pm. But I left Hot Springs after the dinner and got home at 8pm...and Chad pulled up right behind me! :)

Saturday morning I had to pick up my bridesmaid dress from Bridal Cottage after having it altered 4 times...this time it FINALLY fit perfect! YAY!!! I still felt like a huge tent though. Chad and I ate lunch at El Porton and then we came back home and I got ready for the wedding. I had to be in Hot Springs around 3pm so Kari (another bridesmaid) could fix my hair! She did an awesome job!!! The wedding began at 7pm and was absolutely GORGEOUS! The ceremony was very sweet and very emotional. I am so happy for Jennifer and Trent...when I get pictures, I'll be sure to post them. Chad and I left the reception pretty early cause we were both POOPED! We got home around 11pm and crashed shortly after.

Sunday morning, we had brunch at Cracker Barrel and then I had to take Chad to the AT&T garage for the guys to leave. :( It's always hard watching him leave but thank goodness it's only 2 weeks this time. I plan to keep myself SUPER busy and hope that time will fly by fast!

That's all of the updates that I have for now!! Be sure to leave me some comments so I will know our friends and family are stopping by! :) Love you all!

33 Weeks

Yep...here it is...Lil ole Stepper with a big ole belly. I can't believe I am already a week into my 8th month. It's going by so fast and to be honest with you, I'm sad but also very excited. Sad that before long I won't feel him moving inside of me anymore. It's just a feeling that is truly remarkable. Very excited though to have him here with us to love more than anything in this world. The love that I feel for him already is just absolutely amazing. I cannot wait to see Chad holding Graham. Chad is going to be the best father and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life. He's THE BEST MAN I have EVER known and I thank God everyday for giving me someone who will always be there for me and who will always love me and our son with all of his heart and soul.

32 Weeks

So here I am at 32 weeks and counting...we are getting so close and I just can't believe it. I went to Dr. H today for my checkup and Graham is growing like he should be and I'VE LOST WEIGHT!!! YAY!!! She said that's a good thing cause it's showing that my fluid and water retention is going down due to me lowering my sodium intake...I'm so conscience now of how much sodium is in everything. But that doesn't mean the swelling has stopped...oh no sir! With the heat, it's so hard NOT to swell...but if that is the biggest problem that I am dealing with, then I have to say we are all pretty blessed. I just hope that the pregnancy continues to go as smooth as it has been. Graham and I had a busy but also a boring weekend. We definitely missed Daddy all weekend. :(

Friday, I met my friend Jennifer at the mall to do a lil bit of shopping and I found the cutest dress at Forever 21. I cannot wait to wear it this weekend in Dallas...Then Kari met us and we went to St. Vincent's Hospital to see our friend April who had surgery that morning. Bless April's heart, she hasn't had it easy for the past couple of years and her doctor had to remove one of her ovaries as well as a fallopian tube...Saturday we did a lil running around town and went grocery shopping and then realized it was wayyyyyyy too hot and went back home and laid in the air conditioning for the rest of the day/night. It was pretty boring and pretty lonely but I cooked dinner and cleaned up around the house and messed around in Graham's room...I've been living like a slob since Chad's been gone...he's so good at taking care of me and cleaning the house and such. Sunday, I met Mary (Chad's mom) at Ihop and we ate breakfast and then around 4pm I went to Amy & David's house to meet their 3 week old precious lil girl, Caroline!! Amy and I can't wait for Graham to arrive so we can have play dates...well, and MOMMIE DATES! So there was my weekend in a nutshell.
I'm leaving Thursday afternoon for Dallas to see my husband...OH MY GOSH, I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!! I miss him sooooooo much and cannot wait to see him and spend time together. I'm going to come back to Little Rock Monday morning. Hopefully while I am in Dallas, I will be able to go to Kellar to see Whitney, Chris and their newborn Hailey Grace and to also meet up with my friend Fleck and her boyfriend. I will be sure to take lots of pictures!!

Chad came home to see me!!!

31 Weeks Pregnant!!!
The front view

Chad and I at Jennifer & Trent's Wedding Shower

Claudia, Jennifer and Me
3 out of 7 of the hostesses...Kari, Me, Jenn (the Bride) and Brandie
All of the girls!
Stephanie & Jennifer

So, my wonderful husband was able to work it out to where he could come and see me this past weekend. He and 3 other guys that are in school with him rented a car and drove home Friday after class. He got here around 10pm Friday night and I cannot tell you how stinkin excited I was to see him!!! We've never gone more than 3 days without each other. Saturday we got up early and ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel. That's one of Chad's favorite places to go...and then we went to Rave to see Batman: Dark Knight. We wanted to see it at the Imax theater but they were sold out for the entire weekend. So to Rave we went and it was definitely worth it. That was one of the best movies that I have seen in a longggggg time! Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker was incredible and chilling...his best performance I have EVER seen. It's so sad that he has passed. After the movie, we came home and started getting ready for a Couples Wedding Shower that I was hosting for our friends, Jennifer and Trent whose wedding that I am in on August 9th. We had a blast and it turned out great thanks to the help from the other hostesses but we were definitely exhausted and ready to get home to spend as much time together as we could before he left on Sunday. Sunday morning we ate brunch at Ihop with Chad's mom and then went to Wal-Mart to get Chad some things that he needs for Dallas and also went to Barnes & Noble to get books on baby's first year...we are getting close so you can never read enough...although my doctor tells me that I read too much. ha! I'm always asking her about things that I'm reading and she laughs at me and tells me to chill out. Plus, Chad wanted a new daddy book to read...I love how he is so involved with EVERYTHING. He is absolutely THE BEST husband and will definitely be the best daddy. Graham is going to love him so much. After we went to the bookstore, I had to take Chad to the Denny's in Benton so he could meet up with the guys and head back to Dallas. We were so sad that he had to leave because it just felt like we didn't get much time together...it just went by so fast. But hopefully I will see him in a couple of weeks. If he and the guys don't get a rental for the first weekend of August, I am going to go down there to see him...he promised me we could go to Joe's Crabshack...that just about had me sold...but I told him that if he could come home, I would much rather him do that rather than me drive there...Dallas traffic just makes me nervous...I would be totally fine to drive there if I wasn't going to be 32, going on 33 weeks pregnant. Well, anyway...that is the update for the weekend....I have a VERY busy week ahead of me. Tonight I have week 3 of my Childbirth Class. Tomorrow my boss and I are going to Hot Springs so we can scope out some venues for our 2009 Conference. We usually always book the Austin Hotel but I'm ready for a change. We are going to go meet with the Sales Directors of the Embassy and also the Arlington...we are also going to check out Oaklawn because we would like to do some kind of night time activity there at the horse races. I'm going to stay there Tuesday night. Gay Brown with the Arlington offered me a Mineral Bath Room and she's also getting me set up with a bath and massage Wednesday morning! Oh, I can't wait!!! There better not be any ghosts in my room either...I hear stories of the Arlington being haunted. That could quite possibly send me into pre-term labor. I get the heebie geebies just thinking about it. Thursday night, I am going over to Jennifer's house and she's going to play with my hair so we can figure out what we are going to do with it for the wedding. I hate playing with or fixing my hair so I will let her and whoever else is there to have fun! ha! Friday I have my OB appt. I'll let you all know how that goes!!! Hope everyone has a great weekend! I've posted pictures of mine and Chad's weekend together.

Sebastian didn't want daddy to leave either!

Graham's 4D Ultrasound & other various updates

Yesterday my mom and I went to Baby Views so we could check on Graham and get a good look at him and see how he is doing. I couldn't sleep Sunday night because I was so nervous and so worried that Shea (our ultrasound technician) was going to find something that wasn't right. Thankfully, she said that he is PERFECT! What a relief!!! She said that he is weighing 3lbs and 6 oz so far and he's 15 inches long. She said his growth is above average and he's probably going to be over 8 lbs when he arrives...should he arrive ON TIME...no sooner PLEASE! And preferably not late either! She said that it looks like his arrival date is September 18th!!! YAY!!! That is the date that Chad and I are REALLY hoping for since my birthday is June 18th, his is December 18th, our first date was April 18th and we were married on Jan. 18th. Obviously 18 is our lucky number! :D She checked absolutely EVERYTHING...all of the chambers in his heart (which is pumping blood like it should be and all of his chambers are there and his heart rate is usually always between 150 and 160 which is excellent), his brain (which is developing as it should...he's going to be a smart lil boy, I just know it! :D) , his umbilical cord which is long and is getting good flow through it, his bones and head are measuring what it's supposed to as well. All of his organs and his spine are looking good...he has both ears, 10 fingers and 10 toes...and he's a busy busy boy. He's already in place and VERY LOW. But she said that he still has a lot of room to move around and he probably will since he's a mover and a shaker. My fluid is good and my placenta is good...so she said whatever I've been doing, I've been doing well. WHEW...that makes me feel so much better. I'm always so nervous about everything and Chad of course, is always on me like a drill sergeant.

He already has a lot of hair on his lil head (which is measuring good and NOT too big like some babies so she said that should be a good thing for delivery). Mom, Chad and I think that he has my nose and my round face and chubby cheeks...but he's going to be LONGGGG and tall like his daddy. His feet already measure 6cm and his legs measure close to 11 inches. This lil thing is ALLLLLL legs...I was hoping he would get Chad's nice long legs and not my short stubby ones. ha! He kept making a lot of mouth movements and he stuck his tongue out at us at one point. He also blinked too! That was so neat to see! He was so good and so cooperative at the beginning...then after 30 minutes he decided he had enough and shielded his beautiful lil face from us with his hands AND FEET! Yep...he pretty much decided to take a nap with his feet in front of his face. Wish I was that flexible!

In this next one, you can see the slit in his eye where he blinked!




In this one, he is sticking his tongue out...it's the white part that looks like his bottom lips...it's actually his tongue.

Here are his big feet that he was covering his face with...he was having no more pictures!!! ha!

Chad was so sad and disappointed that he wasn't able to be there with us...but they made me a DVD and also a CD with all of the pictures on it. The DVD actually has on it exactly what mom and I were looking at on the screen. Chad left Sunday morning for Dallas. He has training there for 4 weeks and can't come home on the weekends. :( He comes back Friday, August the 8th only to leave again on August 10th for either St. Louis or Kansas City for the last two weeks of his training. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray that Graham stays put and doesn't want to arrive early. It' s been a lil tough so far having him leave since he takes such good care of us and with it being so close to my due date but I have Sebatian, my kitty, to keep me company...Here's a picture of me at 29 weeks that was taken last Monday.

Our dear friends threw Chad and I a baby shower on June 28th and BOY, do we have some AWESOME friends and family! Everyone was so generous and so wonderful! I seriously didn't think that the gifts from Mom and Greg and from Chad's mom, Mary, were EVER going to end! They all REALLY outdid themselves! We appreciate it so much and I know that Graham will LOVE everything that Mimi, Poppi (Mom and Greg), Nana (Mary) and all of our friends got for him .