Last Month Diary

Journal to Baby Boy as we await his arrival. 

February 7: After feeling a lot of pressure over the weekend I went to see my doctor. Doctor says I can't attend Auntie Shaena's wedding in Las Vegas on February 22. He said you are measuring too big and I will probably have you before March 6. Too many emotions to share. I'll just say I'm thankful for the support everyone is giving us.

Saturday, February 8: Daddy and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. Hard to believe we've been married a year and we already have a blessing like you on the way.

February 9: Mommy wanted to relax all day, but couldn't! There was a family birthday party and we needed to look at car seats for your drive home from the hospital. Mommy did sleep on the drive to Lubbock. Dad said it was weird because he "missed his friend" who keeps him company on the road.

February 13: Went to the doctor with our doula, Danielle. Doctor visit went well. He says I'm a little dilated which means you're getting ready to make your appearance!

Saturday, February 15: Mommy is very excited about your arrival. She has a lot to do to prepare, but she's not worried. She knows you'll come when you and God are ready.

February 16: Mommy and Dad were surrounded by the love of family and friends at your baby shower at the local Lion's Club. It was quite a crowd and you go lots of clothes and diapers! We thought we'd get a car seat, but we didn't. That's the #1 thing we need before your arrival. You'll soon realize Mommy is a safety freak.

February 17: I think you'll come on a Monday. Every Monday I feel a little more pressure as you try and make you way out. Dad surprised me after work so we could go shopping for a car seat. When we were shopping I called my friend Sarah G in San Antonio for advice. Instead of advice, Sarah just bought us our car seat on the spot! So it's thanks to Sarah, her husband Paul and your soon-to-be friend Vinny that you will be safe and sound following your entry into the world!

February 18: Mommy and Dad finished packing their hospital bags. The car seat and stroller are put together and we are ready for you to arrive! Mommy even had the energy to vacuum, cook dinner and do laundry. Can we say nesting!!

February 19: There is a lot of pollen in the air this week. Mommy is very congested and wakes up every hour to blow her nose. Soon, I'll be waking up every hour to check on you!

February 20: Went to the doctor. You aren't ready to come out yet! I got to see you on the ultrasound (well, the back of your head). The doctor wanted to make sure you were head down. Boy oh boy! You were head down and you have a big head! When I told Grandpa Kellar that he said you probably got that big head from him.

February 21: These allergies really got to me today at work. I left work early because I couldn't focus on doing my job. Went home to rest all afternoon. Saw your cousin Carlos play basketball. He's really good! My doula is officially "on-call" for me which means she'll be checking up on us to be sure we feel healthy and happy.

Saturday, February 22: We could have been in Las Vegas today! I'm spending all day on Facebook and Instagram looking for pictures of Auntie Shaena's wedding. I forgot Las Vegas is 2 hours behind us. So I stayed up late trying to catch a glimpse of the bride. She looked beautiful! This week has probably been the most difficult week of my pregnancy. My body aches, my mind is distracted, my emotions are all over the place. I honestly couldn't imagine traveling 12 hours to be in a busy day of wedding activities. I can hardly imagine getting off the couch right now! These hormones aren't helping with the disappointment of missing my best friends wedding either :( I'm trying to get to the bottom of this ice cream tub, hoping there's a morsel of happiness down there.

February 23: Daddy and I spent the day together. I slept in while he checked the cows and the land (he's watering wheat and plowing fertilizer into the ground). We went to church at noon in the next town and ate at Chili's for lunch. That spinach and artichoke dip never tasted so good! YUM! This afternoon we just watched movies and organized the house a little. Daddy's toboggan started falling apart, but Mommy was able to sew it together for him! Can't wait until I can sew something for you!

February 24: You're still not here! No pressure this morning either. So much for my Monday theory. The wonderful people I work with threw me a baby shower for you today. I work with a lot of grandparents so they know what worked in the past and what works now! You got your first rosary (it's from Međugorje!) , Sophie the giraffe (for teething), and a nubba wub, among many other fabulous items.  I wonder if you'll be a pacifier baby. Mommy would suck her thumb when she was a little girl but she needed braces later because of that! You aren't sucking your thumb in the sonograms so maybe you'll save us some money by avoiding braces. The Bishop blessed Mommy, thanking God for new life (that's you!) and praying for a successful delivery (whenever you decide that is...).

February 24 (evening): Wow! Today was a very hormonal day. You'll learn what hormones are when you are a teenager - until then, don't worry about it! Just be thankful the mommy and daddy have such great family and friends. They also are very good at communicating to each other. Mommy was feeling sad so she texted Daddy and he helped her relax. Then your Tia Mayra called Mommy and took her mind off the emotions. Mommy also talked to Aunt Shaena and Sarah and they both helped Mommy feel better. It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes a Sisterhood to console a mother-to-be. Thanks be to God for my girls (and husband).

February 25:  Met with Danielle the Doula today. She says you'll probably be here NEXT Friday. that's the day after your due date. So much for Doctor thinking you'll be early. As long as you a healthy, mommy will be happy! I had steak and pasta for dinner and you LOVED it. I guess you're a true Texas boy who loves his beef! 

February 26: An uneventful day today. You are still in there! I watched a movie called 'The Business of Being Born' it was an eye-opener to the natural birth process. Mommy is hoping for a natural birth, to keep the drugs out of your system. This documentary helped with my self-confidence about the whole situation.

February 27: Mommy was up at 5 a.m. today and couldn't get back to sleep. I had a doctor's appointment today. Doctor says I'm 50% effaced and at a -3 station. I've felt my hip bones moving around so I thought there was some change. I'm surprised it's -3 stationed. Doctor wants to see how much you weigh next week. He thinks you'll be a big baby and we'll need to do a c-section. I don't want a c-section. Your daddy was 10lbs and he wasn't delivered via c-section. If you're big that just means there's more of you to love!

February 28: A lot of people thought you'd be joining us today, but you had other plans. People are calling and texting asking where you are. I tell them you are just too comfortable right now. I went grocery shopping today to prepare some frozen meals while we're home recovering from birth. The shopping tired me out so I'll make the meals tomorrow.

Saturday, March 1: Mommy was motivated to stay home and get stuff done today. She made 8 crock pot meals from the Six Sister's Stuff blog. These should keep us full for a few weeks following your birthday. 

March 2: It snowed today! After a lazy day around the house mommy and daddy were looking forward to getting out of the house. But around 10 in the morning it started to ice and then snow! We stayed home and did some projects around the house. You decided not to come today which is good because that would have been a slippery ride to the hospital!

March 3: Mommy was so tired and hungry today! I think my face was swollen too. I tried eating spicy food because that is known to help labor start. I had black eyed peas and white rice with lots of Tabasco sauce. Oh and spinach. Then I had a dream I had triplets! Are you hiding something from me??

March 4: Mommy is nervous about tomorrow's doctor appointment. How big are you? Why don't you want to come see us yet? We want to do what is right so we'll get you here as safe as possible. But feel free to get things started on your own. See that bag of fluid? Just pop it!


March 5: Doctor says you are only 7lbs right now. There is a 20% margin of error but I'm not worried. I am concerned that your head measurement was OOR (Out Of Range) which means you have a BIG head! Big head means big brain, so you're going to be smart! We got a 3D photo of you. You are so cute! We think you look like daddy, but you might have mommy's upper lip. 

March 6: Today is your due date! and you're not here.

March 9: Today is Aunt Jessica's birthday and Daylights Savings Day. You want to be a spring baby, not a winter baby. You want those long sunny days so you stuck around until the clocks changed. Actually you're still in there! Are you trying to be a summer baby?!

March 10: I didn't go to work today because I was so tired from the weekend. I spent the weekend cleaning the house and getting ready for your arrival. I thought if I'd keep on my feet today and work out more you might make an appearance. You didn't. and now my ankles are swollen.

March 11: Whew! I was so tired this morning! I drove an hour to work, parked my car and fell asleep in my car seat for about 20 minutes! I was snoring and everything! You are wearing me out kiddo! We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to check on things. I'm pretty sure there will be no change. But you will be here in 2 days! I can't wait to meet you and I pray everything goes well during your delivery!

March 12: As expected, no change in my progress this morning at the doctor. I keep telling everyone you are already a mama's boy because you don't want to leave my womb! We'll head in to the hospital this evening and spend the night. By morning my water will break and you'll be on your way!

To be Continued...

Book Baby Shower

Of course there is no where I'd rather be on my birthday, than my home town Dallas Texas. So I was fortunate this year to have a baby shower the weekend of my birthday. It was hosted by my 5th grade teacher who is now my mom's new BFF. She just renovated her house, you'll catch glimpses in the photos. She really opened it up, it looks great!

It was a 'Book' themed shower. All guests were asked to bring a gift and a book. I wasn't expecting the menu to be book themed as well! Too cute!

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs - served along side meatballs!

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss with Green Deviled eggs
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish with goldfish crackers and home made crackers

The Book of Virtues with bumble bee cupcakes
featuring virtues such as "Bee Honest", "Bee Friendly" etc.

The Hungry Little Caterpillar next to the veggie tray. 

Oh, the Places You'll Go with sugar cookies shaped like feet!

And I could not get enough of the cheese and crackers.
Maybe that means the baby will love this book!

I registered at Buy Buy Baby. I love that they offer a free wrapping station. Some guests did wrap their presents there. That is a diaper cake back there! yay!

A Texas onesie from my mom with a baseball hat.
My hubby wears baseball hats all the time and my mom swears she's going to buy a matching Texas shirt too.
She's loving this grandmother thing.

This beautiful piece of art was created by our family friend.
It is a collage featuring our last names and stamps from areas significant to our family.
Such a great personal piece!
I need to tap into my creative side when it comes to gift giving!

Baby's first tie!

The largest gift award goes to my two best friends (and bridesmaids)
This 3-in-1 walker Ally and Shaena.
Shaena swore she only bought off the registry, but she didn't on this one!
It is a black car that looks like a bat-mobile, Hubs loves it.
I said it'll be great for when it's wine night and I don't want to chase the baby around. 

Good Night Moon book and stuffed bunny from little sister Theresa/MOH

Baby got lots of stripes!

I had a lot of fun. Didn't get emotional at all! No tears from this hormonal mama!

The highlight of the event was the new BumGenius cloth diapers.
I registered for the One-Size diapers so guests were figuring out how the snaps and folds worked.
After looking at them when I got home I'll need a crash course also!

All recorded by my mom in the baby book we received at Christmas!

My younger sister, Jessica, (she's 3 years younger than me) and my mom.

Jessica was the photographer throughout the afternoon and did a great job! 

I think I'm standing on my tiptoes since Jessica is like 5 inches taller than me. No fair!

A pleasant surprise was seeing my friend from college who is also pregnant!

I missed out on a belly bump with my Sister in Law, but Danielle was the next best girl!

Baby Girl Baby Shower

Wow! The baby shower this weekend was a HUGE success. How can I tell it was a success? I'm exhausted!!

Here are a few photos of the décor - inspired by Pinterest...

Pink Rice Krispie Treats! DIY

Fabric Wreath as mentioned in previous blog post

Mommy Chair and backdrop

Mommy mum

Table Scape - lanterns and ceiling décor less than $20. (Hobby Lobby)

Frames and glass apothecary jars - FREE! (From previous wedding inventory)

Thank You area featuring rice krispies and sonogram of baby girl

Everyone who came in to the party commented on how pretty it was. And those who knew knew it was pinterest inspired.

The macaroons were sneaked in from Amarillo. The mommy-to-be's husband visited her favorite French bakery in Amarillo, put them in a gift bag and made up a story about how she should give the bag to me as soon as she arrived at the party. Little did she know...it was all for her!

Cake and cupcakes from Market Street Supermarkets. Delicious!!

Mommy to Be!

Guests playing "What's in my purse" winner had over 200 points.

Her big ticket items were diaper (50 points), social security card (50 points) and pay stub.

It helped she had a big purse!

Mommy with her newborn niece, Evelyn.

Snacks! Featuring some wedding gifts of mine...

silver appetizer tray, wooden cutting board and silver cake stand.

That was fun! Finally using my wedding presents!

Mommy reading the diaper messages her guests wrote. Her favorite author won a prize! 

 

"Don't come any closer!" "Gonna need a towel!!"

 

And the winner was....

 

"Woah! She's dropping bricks!"

 

 

Such a fun party to host with my sister-in-laws:



I have GOT to learn how to dress during this pregnancy. My goodness!

I was running around decorating all day I didn't realize I looked like this until the end of the party when this photo was taken. Ayayay

High Heels!

DIY Baby Shower Wreath

We are throwing a baby shower for my Sister In Law this weekend. She is having a girl. With her girl and our boy the family will have 9 boys and 9 girls. That's 18 grandchildren on his side. Our boy will be the FIRST grandbaby on my side. This will be the first family baby shower I've been asked to help as a hostess. I am very excited! We hosted a Dr. Seuss shower for my friend in Dallas which was a blast! So I am very excited about this one. This will be the 2nd girl for this SIL so she has a lot of the clothes and supplies left over. But like most families, this family rarely says "no" to a party.

One SIL is making the food, the other is in charge of games and mommy mum and I am the décor girl.  Of course, I turned to my trusty Pinterest for pinsperation!  I ran across this pin and fell in love!


Hobby Lobby has these bows for $2.99 each. There are about 20 bows, at $3 each...that's $60! For a wreath! Of course the guest of honor would take home the bows as a gift, but I just couldn't wrap my head around $60 in bows. I'm obviously not a girl mom yet.

However, I've had this Styrofoam wreath for a couple of years.

I stapled fall leaves to it last year for our fall décor. I needed some inspiration for this baby shower.

Over at the blog Infarranty Creative I found this wreath tutorial with the exact same wreath form I have:

 

Beckie wraps the form in single strand yarn, which takes about 3 hours. After that much time invested I would be sure to pick a color that would work for ALL seasons.

That color would be RED. Red works for Christmas, baby girl, baby boy, Fall (red, orange, brown, etc), Valentines Day, 4th of July....

Probably not St. Patricks Day, but I think I'd go with Red on this.

I could always cover it up with something else and keep the yarn underneath.

* a great idea from Beckie: use straight pins to pin the flowers/décor on to the wreath. You can see for my Fall wreath I used staples (turns out they weren't long enough and the leaves fell off easily) Thanks Brilliant Beckie!

 

 

Over at Mine For the Making, Kara skips the purchase of a wreath form and creates her own form out of cardboard!

(a much lighter alternative!)

 

I love this fabric idea. When I saw these wreaths I thought they were pieces of ribbon, but Kara measured and tore pieces of left over fabric. Brilliant and a cost saving idea! Ribbon is expensive!

 



 

Emily at 52 Mantels, a blog I subscribe to, had this perfect pink baby shower wreath! I think this is VERY do-able for our upcoming shower.

She didn't use a foam wreath, but I think I could "make it work".

 

In all the researching for the baby girl wreath I couldn't help but look at some baby boy wreaths. As expected, they are pretty plain and boring. I did find one I liked. I usually DISLIKE burlap but this one is kinda cute for a boy..

We have until March to decide, but this one does scream spring to me!


High Heels!