Showered with Love

My wonderful co-workers at school threw Colton and I this amazing shower on May 2! They really went way out! Here's the proud grandma "Bunny", mom and dad! Colton received some tiny "Converse" shoes. They are precious!

Our art teacher made this fabulous sign.
Each table had a suitcase filled with baby essentials and a sweet note from Colton.
The seats reserved for Mom, Dad and Bunny.
Me and the lovely hostesses with the mostest! Nancy, Jennifer, Tammy and Jenny. (Not pictured - Susan, Laura, Barbara and Karen)

Yummy "cupcake" cake! Laura decorated it with scrapbook stickers - so clever!


Colton is one blessed little boy!

Updated Nursery Photos...

Shelf over the changing table.
Shelves over the twin bed.
Aren't his little hats so cute? I know - I'm a sap - but they're just so little!
Shelf and mobile over bed.

We're about 95% complete. Just missing the map and a few pictures to put over the crib and adjacent wall. My wonderful dad, brother and hubby spent Father's Day yesterday putting up the chair rail, shelves and curtain rod. Thanks Dad, Zach and Jack! Sorry I didn't get a picture of my favorite guys in action!

Apples and Oranges

I wanted to jot down a couple of things about this pregnancy that I want to remember. Each week I received two e-mails (from babycenter.com and american pregnancy association) telling me how Colton was growing inside of me and what new miraculous thing he could do. Growing eyelashes, sucking his thumb, brain development...etc. It's so amazing! I read Psalm 139 this morning and just thought how blessed I am to be carrying this little boy inside of me. And to think God knows him even better than I do is just too cool for words.

Psalm 139 (NLT)
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.

4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.

5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.

9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.

11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—

12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God. They cannot be numbered!

18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!

19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers!

20 They blaspheme you; your enemies misuse your name.

21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?

22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Each e-mail would also compare the size of Colton or my womb to a random object - usually a fruit. I thought this was pretty funny and compiled a list of all the fruit stages we've been compared to throughout this pregnancy...

My uterus:

Weeks 1-8 - Pear sized (about normal)

Weeks 8-13 - Grapefruit/Softball

Weeks 18 - Cantaloupe

Week 25 - Soccer Ball

Week 40 - Watermelon/5 lb. Sack of Sugar (Yikes!)

Our bouncing baby boy:

Week 3 - Pin Head (0.006 inches long)

Week 5 - BB Pellet (1/2 inch)

Week 6 - Pinto Bean

Week 7 - Medium Green Olive

Week 8 - Plum

Week 9 - Large Lime

Week 11 - Peach

Week 12 - Adult Fist

Week 13 - Softball

Week 15 - Hand Spread Open Wide

Week 19 - Banana

Week 21 - Small Doll

Week 25 - (2 lbs) No more fruit comparisons from this point on...

Week 30 - (4 lbs)

Week 35 - (6 1/2 lbs)

Week 38 - (7 1/2 lbs) We hope this is where he stays :)

So there you have it... Isn't it amazing that our little "peanut" was once the size of a pin head and in just 38 weeks has grown into a 7 1/2 lb baby!

Happy June!

Here I am at 35 weeks. And I'm standing in the nursery!!! My wonderful mom did most of the painting. I pretty much rolled for 10 minutes then rested for 10 minutes. I was a very slow helper. There will be a chair rail where the white stripe is eventually. We just couldn't resist putting all the furniture in, even knowing we'd have to move it to put up the chair rail. I've already started putting away his little clothes in the drawers. It is so fun! We still have a few more things to do (there's a map, travel posters and shelves to go on the walls), but it is definitely getting there.
This is the bedding that my super-talented Aunt Cindy made. The photo doesn't do it justice. I will take more photos when we hang the curtain, so you can see it all together.
I had this globe/lamp when I was a little girl. It's so fun to be able to use it in the nursery.
Here's the bedskirt and sheet.

I cannot believe it's already June... We are at T - 27 days and counting until Colton's arrival. Yes, we have chosen a name (we've actually had it for a while - I just haven't blogged about it yet.) I guess we decided it around the first of April. We both liked the name, so we started calling him by name to try it out and it just fit! We are keeping the middle name a surprise until his actual birthday. I had a dr's appointment today and everything looked good. The dr. thinks he's right on schedule (size wize, etc.) Jack thinks Colton will make his debut on June 28. I'm thinking July 7. Anyone else want to make a prediction???

Headlines around the House...

Did you know 7-11 now carries Pina Colada slurpees??? This has been a major craving of mine since I found out about them... Yum!
These are a few pictures from our latest "Girls' Weekend". This time we traveled to Abilene, TX to stay at Rebekah's beautiful casa. I did better at getting a few people pictures, but unfortunately didn't get any of us all together... Here's Stephanie and the happiest boy in the world, Lincoln! Jordan and Rebekah...

Me and the gifts... Thank you girls for such a sweet shower and all the wonderful presents! We had such a fun time of shopping, talking, eating, talking and playing with all the kiddos. It's such a blessing to walk through the stages of life with these friends. You all have encouraged me more than you'll ever know. Seeing all of you become mothers has been so special, too. I'm so glad I have you to call on when this little boy finally makes his appearance. By the way, I went to the dr. today and am in the middle of my 35th week. According to the doc. everything looks good. I am getting more and more excited especially now that school's out and I can focus on "nesting". In other news, our unborn baby boy has taken over our entire house (literally)! We have moved everything out of the nursery in order to get ready to paint. The nursery was kind of our catch all room, so now the "stuff " needs a new home. I'll post some "after" pictures soon.

While I was away enjoying my fun girls' weekend... my handy hubby put together the baby's crib. It was such a sweet surprise to come home to. He also put together the changing table/dresser. I can't wait to put it in the nursery and see it all put together!

All who labor and are heavy laden...

We sang this song at church a couple of Sundays ago and I couldn't help but smile. These lyrics have never been so real. I feel very heavy laden and in just 3 short months will be in labor, but thankfully Jesus has promised to give us rest! I hope I didn't take that too out of context, but with pregnancy on the brain all the time these days, some things just strike you as funny!

I'm finally getting around to recapping February and March...Maybe one of these days I'll be caught up to real time!

1) Valentines' - My great co-worker Jennifer and I made cupcakes and served "red" drinks for the teachers. My sweet friend Jenilee had her baby girl Jazmin Elizabeth 3 weeks early on Valentine's Day. Later that evening, Jack and I had a candlelit dinner in the living room next to our fireplace. Funny moment: Jack nearly burning the house down and setting the smoke alarm off just before we sat down to dinner :) Life with Jack is always an adventure! 2/14 Javi, Jazmin and me

Valentine's Treats for our teachers at school. We made cupcakes and served "red" drinks.

Our lovely candlelit dinner (notice the smoke has cleared...smile).

2) We went to Vail, Co over Spring Break with 4 other couples. While it was so hard not to be hitting the slopes, it was still a great trip. Thankfully, I had a friend who was also pregnant to hang out with. We went shopping, rested and got a great prenatal massage. 3/10 - 3/15

1. Lisa and I - the two preggers on the trip. 2. The whole gang. 3. Beautiful view from the top of the mountain. I got to ride the gondola to the top on the last day.

3) Had two awesome Girls Weekends in a row. One trip to Canton and one trip to Amarillo to surprise our dear friend Jordan with a baby shower. 2/3 and 2/17

Our Canton weekend - Only picture I got was of the great breakfast that Stephanie prepared...

Amarillo weekend for Jordan's baby shower. Such fun!!

4) Dress Like a Storybook Character Day at school - We are Thing 1, 2 and 2.5 from The Cat in the Hat... 3/9

5) Fly Lady came to Dallas for a booksigning 3/31. She has this website that helps you cut clutter and clean your house 15 minutes at a time. You can check it out at www.flylady.net

We didn't stay to get her autograph because there was a huge line, but it was cool to see her in person.

6) Celebrating our niece's 16th birthday and getting to hold her sweet 4 month old brother Wilkin.

Sweet Brittany

Too cute!

So that's the recap. Fun times, great memories and lots to be grateful for!

Visions of Blue...

Before

After (about 5 1/2 months)

Our little miracle!
His leg is over his head, so cute!

I suppose when life gets busy, blogging is the first thing to go. I'll have to post later about what we've been up to over the past 2 months, but the most important thing that happened (on 2/18/07) is that we found out we are having a little boy!

We are so thrilled and just can't wait to meet this little man! I've been feeling really good these past few months...just getting bigger and bigger. I just read in my pregnancy book that I should start growing 1/2 inch per week in my stomach until the due date (which is now moved up to July 2). That's a little scary because I already feel ginormous. It's so worth it though to be carrying around this little miracle!

We are so thankful for this blessing and just feel overwhelmed to know that God has already formed this little guy and knows him so well! He is truly fearfully and wonderfully made!

I'll post more soon and I'll try not to go 2 months in between postings :)

Tagged...

I've been tagged. Here are the instructions -

1) Grab the book closest to you
2) Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence
3) Post the text of the following 3 sentences
4) Name the author and book title
5) Tag three people to do the same

I usally have about 3 books going at a time (1 fiction, 1 self-help and 1 devotional) I thought the fiction would be the most interesting...

"Yeah, right," he said.
"I'm not kidding, Jake. I have three friends from high school who are dead.

Terri Blackstock - Trial By Fire (Newpointe 911) series

I tag Jenni, Steph, & Rebekah

Quick Update

This is the day we found out we were expecting Baby Conley!
We had played a rousing game of Scrabble that evening!
My 29th Birthday celebration - Jenny & Kelly
The sweetest girls - Kelly & Jenni
Trying to show my stomach - It's definitely pooching out, now.

Hi Blogfriends -

Just a quick update...

1. Jack & I are expecting a little one on July 5, 2007! (Just in case you were wondering about the new baby countdown on my blog) We are so excited and feel extremely blessed to be experiencing this little miracle. I've been to the doctor 3 times and this last checkup the heart was beating around 136 beats per minute. There are so many "old wives tales" about figuring out the sex of your baby and one of them is regarding the heartbeat. They say if it's under 140 bpm then you are having a boy and if it's over 140 you could be having a girl...??? Anyone ever tried the wedding ring on string thing? I think you're supposed to tie your husband's wedding band to a string and then put it over your tummy. If it swings in a circle - it's a boy; if it swings from side to side it's a girl... We're going to find out at the next appointment on Feb. 9! I think I've felt the baby move a few times. They say you can start to feel the baby around weeks 16-20. (I just started Week 16). It feels a little like butterflies or "gas bubbles" to be perfectly honest :)



2. I switched over to Blogger - Beta! If you haven't done it yet, I highly recommend it! You can design your page so much easier -without writing html code. At first, I thought "Beta" meant the old style of VCR's and wondered why in the world I would want to switch to that. Yeah, I'm a little behind on the blogger-speak.



3. I found the greatest shampoo. My hair has always been the one thing I'm HM on. I spend way too much money on getting it done, special shampoos, straighteners...etc. My roommates can testify to this fact. But, I was reading some magazine and ran across Matrix "Sleek look". It really works well. I always have trouble finding something that smooths the frizz without being too oily. This smells really clean and is light enough that to use daily.



4. "24" is back! We watched the season premiere last night and it was great! I could have really done without Jack Bauer biting the guy on the neck, though! Gross! Do you ever wonder if they have to approve those episodes with the real government? Some of the plots seems very possible and you wonder if it gives people ideas or causes racial tensions for people from the Middle East.



5. I turned the big 29 on January 6 and so many special people helped me celebrate big time! The celebration started on Friday afternoon when my friend/coworker Jennifer took me to lunch at Corner Bakery and then to see Charlotte's Web. So cute! That night we continued the birthday fun with an outing to Ft. Worth to eat at Joe T. Garcias with our friends Don & Tianay. We had a fun time, but I can't say that the food was that great. With only 2 options on thier menu, you would think they would be outstanding! Saturday, my sweet husband brought me breakfast and flowers in bed. (Kolaches & OJ - can't beat that!) That afternoon, I met my mom for lunch at our favorite place - La Madeline's and then she took me for a pedicure! (Talk about feeling like a princess!) That evening, my dear friends Kelly & Jenni came over to "scrapbook" and eat dinner. Jenni made hot ham & cheese sandwichs, artichoke dip and fruit salad. Delicious! Kelly made a choc. chip cinnamon cake with "Dos Amigos" ice cream! Yum-Yum! Thanks everyone for making it such a memorable birthday! I like 29 so much already, I think I'll just stay in this year forever!