Welcome Violet Alaina

Baby Violet has arrived!

Born August 1, 2010 at 8:39 p.m.
Six pounds and fifteen ounces
Twenty and a half inches long

A beautiful, healthy girl!

I can't believe a week has already flown by! I hope to get better about the updates and pictures. I'm still trying to get my feet on the ground. It's been overwhelming and wonderful.

Due Date!

Today is my due date! I made it! Back around 36-37 weeks I was having so much cramping that I never thought I'd make it to my due date. I thought I'd deliver sometime in the 39th week easily. But here I am!

Today I woke up the most uncomfortable I've been yet. My joints hurt, and all of them! Even my fingers hurt to bend them! I feel like I have a pinched nerve in my right leg, in the upper thigh where the inside would meet the pelvic area. I'm wondering if the baby moved again. Quite possibly.

Other than the physical pains that are setting in, I'm doing just fine. Hanging in there. I'm waiting and anxiously wondering when this baby is going to make an arrival.

We got our emergency plumbing issues taken care of yesterday, the house is clean, so we just have to be patient. I'm doing just fine waiting. I've actually been enjoying my time off work and being around home. I've been cleaning periodically, getting a lot of reading done, making sure to rest my body since sleep at night is not happening these days. I'm guessing my hormones are keeping me up, along with my hourly trips to the loo, because I'm certainly not sleeping from lack of tiredness. My body is ready to rid itself of this extra person! I'm so fortunate that I didn't start having problems getting up and moving around or have pain until the last week or two. Up until then, it was all smooth sailing. Lucky me.

The Husband and I went out to a nice dinner tonight at the Thornapple Grill. We thought this could very well be our last dinner out before the baby. I also keep trying to tell the cats that pretty soon a baby is going to be joining them here. I'm not sure they get it. They still seem confused when they jump up in my lap when they can't curl up on my stomach like they used to. Soon enough, my fury friends. Soon enough. Although they may be competing for space with the baby, who is going to be getting tons of snuggle time with mama.

So here I sit. Baby Watch continues. It looks like I just may be getting an August baby after all!

Convertible Car Seat

Yesterday FAO Schwarz had a private sale and one of the featured items was the Britax Boulevard Convertible Car Seat. I was able to snag this car seat for $124.00 plus free shipping! It retails for $309.99!

During this time of year, I realize the stores are clearing out their inventory for the new stock to arrive in August, but purchasing an early 2010 manufactured seat doesn't bother me at that price. I only purchased one, which I'm now kicking myself over, but I wanted to see if it fits in my VW Jetta first. I know it will definitely fit into the Husband's Mercury Mariner. Heck, if it didn't fit in my Jetta, I could have sold it on craigslist and made a profit! Darn it, I wasn't thinking! Hopefully by the time I need a second one, I will come across another sweet deal.

The seat was only available in Castlerock color, which is the color I wanted anyway, so it worked out perfect. A good deal always makes me excited.

I'll report back on the seat and give a review when it arrives and we start to use it. Baby Bargains rates it at an A-.

39 Weeks, 5 Days, 13 Hours....

I really don't know if it's 13-hours, but it's definitely 39 weeks and five days of pregnancy for me. I had a doctor's appointment this morning. I am now at zero station. This baby's head is low. The drop must have just happened too, because I was feeling OK yesterday, but today, not so much. I feel like an 80-year old woman with arthritis. I'm waddling around, moving in complete slow motion. There is so much pressure. Wowie.



The doctor was unable to tell me how dilated or effaced I am, because the baby's head is in the way! She can't even get in there and get around the little bugger! The upside: She thinks my labor will be much shorter. Heck, this baby is practically out! I'm hoping I make it to the hospital in time!

The bad news for today. I found out my doctor is going to be out of town from Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon. That's not all that good for a lady who is about to deliver. Luckily, her back-up is someone I've met with a couple of times, and both the Husband and I liked him. I guess at the point of delivery, does it really matter who catches the baby? It would be nice to have someone there who knows all my history and knows me though. Oh well. I can't dwell on things I cannot control.

More bad news for today. Last night the Husband found a leak in our basement. Our sewage pipe is evidently all backed up, and it cracked. Whenever someone would use our half bath, it would leak liquid sewage into our closet where all of my Christmas stuff is stored. I lost a couple of Christmas trees, and some decor, but all in all, at least we found the leak early. It had only been going on for a couple of a days. Really, with how often we use this closet, I'm thankful we didn't find a month's worth of leaking or have the pipe burst on us. How awful would that be? But still, not the stress I needed day(s) before delivery. Someone is looking at it today, and hopefully the problem will be solved very soon!

The baby watch continues.

Flowers 2010

My flowers and gardening aren't going so well this year. I decided to cut back anyway due to the pregnancy, and my cutting back has resulted in pretty much just watering when necessary. The weeds are out of control along with the insects, which have managed to kill so many of my beloved plants. I seem to have got myself a spider problem this summer. How weird is that? They have wiped out many of my plants with their disgusting webs. I have never seen this happen before. Any insight from anyone on it? Something also managed to wipe out every single one of my Sweet Williams as well. It looked like bugs ate through the leaves. The same with my rose bushes. I cut everything back to the ground, and growth is starting to resume, but I'm not sure if any of my Sweet Williams will make it back this year let alone next. The roses seem to be coming back OK, but the leaves still look somewhat damaged. I don't see any bugs on the plants, so I'm baffled. Unfortunately, I just don't have the desire to deal with it this summer. It's been hotter than blazes (seriously, how many 90-degree days did we have in July, and the humidity, my gosh??), and being in my third trimester for the entire summer hasn't helped any either. I just can't get down to ground level for the necessary weeding and attending to the plants like they need. There's always next year!

And to showcase what actually survived...
New this year: Jumping Johnnies (part of the viola family). These guys should come back next spring hopefully. In the background are Impatiens and gladiolus leaves.


Begonias.

Purple Coneflower.


Black Eyed Susans.

Phlox.

Gladiolus.


Roses.


Day Lily (notice the tiny little spider crawling on it? Grr!)


Dusty Millers and Sweet Alyssum.


Sun Coleus.

New this year: Wishbone.

Maternity Pictures

My friend, Christina, from Closer to the Heart Photography took maternity pictures for me at 32-weeks. Here are some of my favorites!

The Nursery

Before pictures when the nursery was our office. I probably shouldn't have waited until we had the room near empty before taking photos, but this is the gist of it.




AFTER:
Looking in from the hallway.



From inside the nursery:





After the baby is born, I have wooden letters from Hobby Lobby to hang above the crib to spell out the baby's name, along with some wall art for either a boy or girl from Babies R Us.


I found ribbon at Joann Fabric that matched the damask fabric in the crib bedding perfectly. It worked great as tiebacks for the sheers.


We were going for a gender neutral nursery since we don't know the sex of the baby. Hopefully I hit the target on that one. I started doing an owl and bird theme with the artwork. Birds are so hot right now. Kinda like Hansel.

Crib: Baby Mod by Million Dollar Baby from walmart.com
Dresser and Night Stand: Canopy from walmart.com
Mirror: Hobby Lobby
Window Sheers: Meijer
Flokati Rug: Overstock.com
Glider and Ottoman: Storkcraft from walmart.com
Paint: Sherwin Williams "Functional Gray"
Crib Bedding: Custom order from etsy seller fingers and toes
Alpha Birdies and Counting Birdies Artwork: From etsy seller Blue Finch Studios
Tree and Bird Decal: From etsy seller Janey Mac Press
Floating Shelves: homedepot.com
Ceiling Fan: Home Depot

Once I knew the furniture and decor I wanted to purchase, I kept my eye on the websites and stores for deals. Almost everything I purchased was on sale. It's a little tougher to score deals on custom orders and etsy purchases, but the rest you can definitely find sales, coupon codes and the like. If you have any questions about my nursery, please let me know!

Baby Shower

The Husband and I were thrown a beautiful baby shower at the Meijer Gardens on June 13. We were joined by our loving and generous family and friends. It was a top notch venue, and the service was wonderful. The hard part was finding a place to put all of the gifts we received! Baby gear takes up so much room!