How we spent our due date...

Well of course Essie and I spent the majority of the day just hanging out. When Travis got home we cooked dinner...I made some pasta and this yummy Paula Deen bread. It was really good but it calls for Italian seasoning mix and for some reason that makes me want to gag. So next time I'll use some other seasoning in it I think.
Then we went on our walk around the neighborhood hoping to bring on another night of contractions. Maggie and Tucker LOVE going on walks so they were super pumped! It was so beautiful outside...not hot and muggy at all... that we decided to hang on the back porch for awhile when we got home. I had bought Travis some of those little poppers and confetti thingies since we are most likely going to miss the fireworks on the fourth! So Travis popped a few of those and Tucker was soooo all about it! He jumped and tried to catch the confetti...Maggie on the other hand is terrified of fireworks and hid behind me the whole time. Now we are about to settle in and watch "Slumdog Millionaire" before we call it a night. What an exciting life we lead! Ha!

40 Weeks (the due date)

Well it's here...my due date. I had always imagined I would be holding Essie in my arms at this point but we all know that things don't always work our way, right? So we are 40 weeks today...starting tomorrow I will be "past due". My lil "pumpkin" weighs anywhere between 7-8 pounds (but realistically can be more of course!) I am hoping and praying for the between 7-8 pounds, ha!

I feel like I have a pumpkin in there...the pressure is getting a lot worse. We had a pretty eventful evening last night. We went for a walk and once we got home I was in quite a bit of pain. I had contractions off and on for several hours and was very uncomfortable! Most of the contractions were between 4-7 minutes apart but then I would go as much as 20-30 minutes without one! So I'm still here waiting...I just hope those contractions did some good and are helping me get dilated before my appointment on Thursday! Here are a few pics of Essie on her due date...warm and comfy in mommy's belly...

1 day to go & a NEW POLL

Well it's time to close the poll... So we're pretty much down to right on time (week 40) which really should be titled (past due) and really late (week 41-42)! And well I guess she could possibly still come on her due date (yeah, right!) but noone voted for that one! Ha! So on to a new poll...What color hair do you think she will have? Or do you think she'll have none at all? I know it's a pretty boring poll but I'm just so tired of waiting and I just can't wait to see her little face. And to make matters worse I think her daddy is even MORE excited than I am. While he was home on his lunch break we watched an episode of "A Baby Story" on TLC (a horribly bad idea I know). We watched in fear of the delivery and then in relief when the baby arrives...I bawl everytime! (FYI I'm going to be a baket case when I see her I'm sure). I guess it had a little effect on him in that he grabbed my tummy and gave me strict instructions to "start some contractions" by the time he gets home! He's so ready to meet his little girl! So onto the the new poll...start voting!

Walk Hard...

No this is not about the movie "Walk Hard" (which by the way we watched yesterday and laughed hysterically at!) But at what my goal for the day was...to walk, walk, walk. So as soon as the mall opened this morning we headed over to walk. First let me say that I am NOT a fan of the mall. I hate having to maneuver through it...I wish every store had an exterior entrance...I hate having to fight a huge crowd to get to one little store. There are those people with the kiosks who harrass you into letting them rub some stuff on you or exfoliate your hands (what's up with that?). And beyond that the smells of the mall are waaaay to much to handle pregnant...between the horrible cologne smell that escapes Abercrombie to all the funks of Bath & Body to the Chinese place in the food court it just sends me over the edge. Ugh.

Anyway, I have completely avoided the mall for the most part during this pregnancy (with the exception of Target which has it's own entrance/parking lot). But it's like 100 degrees here and walking outside is not an option. So gritting my teeth we endured the mall.

So what do you get when you mix a hormonal pregnant lady who is dangerously close to her due date, an eager father to be who is happy to appease said pregnant lady, and a mall of stores said pregnant lady has not been to in say 9 months???

Yeah...you guessed it. Some money being spent.

We first stopped in a shoe store that carries Toms...I have been dying for some red Toms...they've been backordered online for awhile so we've been trying to catch them at this store (or Travis has been trying to catch them at least). I squealed with delight to see 4 pairs of red Toms hanging on the shelf...all size 7. I need an 8. Dang!

Leaving frustrated and disappointed I spy Children's Place across the way. Desperate to lighten my mood we pop in only to look at the clearance. I was delighted to find two cute pairs of shorts on clearance (and they were running an additional 25% off!) So I only spent $9 on these two shorts...love it


Off we go...out of Children's Place & pass by the food court. Prepared to hold my breath & get past it quickly. Travis mentions pretzle dogs...cut to me and Travis sitting in the food court sharing a pretzle dog...so yummy but regretted it quickly after once we started really walking.

As we're leaving the food court we spy Houndstooth which is running a special on short sleeve tees for $10! Daddy can really use some new tees so we leave with two new Razorback tees!

Continue walking but spy Baby Gap...hmmm. Didn't I hear they were having a heck of a sale??? Decide to check it out. Daddy finds a super cute silver glittery sweater for miss E and I spy some uber cute jeans...maybe these will lure her out of the womb...both on clearance so not too bad, right???
Now we MUST walk. We make it all the way to end of the mall, through Dillards, and are making our way back to the other end. I'm hurting, sweating, and regretting the pretzel dog majorly by this point. Surely this will bring on contractions right?

Yeah not so much. We even made a few laps around Old Navy after leaving the mall and so far nothing...I'm pretty sure little Essie just will not come on her own. So we continue to wait...and as I am waiting I have been passing the time reading this book...I've heard wonderful stories about babies sleeping 11 hours through the night because of this book. I am fully committing to this book and am going to try out the scheduling it lays out...letcha know how it goes!!!

summer nights...

This week Travis and I have accomplished an unbelievable task....we cooked dinner at home SIX nights! The only night we ate out was on Chick Fila's buy one get one night & we both ate for $7.00!!! We've not cooked at home that much this entire pregnancy! Seriously! We grilled last night and made some oreo balls to take to a friend who recently lost a loved one. Even though it was rediculously warm outside we enjoyed the summer night as much as possible especially since there won't be too many of those left before we are a family of three (well five I guess!).
Yes we need to mow...it just so darn hot outside! Maybe tomorrow! The dogs loved us being outside with them! Well Tucker did...Maggie only made a quick appearance before disappearing back inside to enjoy the a/c!Maggie is really wanting daddy to drop one of those burgers...really, really, really!

I posted the recipe for Oreo Balls on my recipe blog if you are interested...trust me they are serious yumminess!

The Master Bedroom...a day late

Okay I'm a little late with this one...reason being that our bedroom was not clean enough to document until today. We've spent the WHOLE day cleaning our patooties off-getting ready for Essie Claire-and hoping some heavy cleaning may induce labor! So here is our bedroom-

The view from the door...our bed that will hopefully be replaced with a KING verrrry soon! Oh how we want a KING. Yes we are crazy to have a white quilt on the bed but I LOVE the white and brown combo! And yes with two dogs-it gets washed every few days it seems!

Maggie's bed...yes she sleeps here most of the time. Tucker sleeps with us.

The left side of the room....not much here! The door there goes into our bathroom.

The right side of the room...Travis' dresser.
The view from the bed...my dresser & our little armoire which houses our tv.

Questions...

As we draw closer to our due date, Travis and I can't help but wonder who this little girl will be. We don't know a whole lot about her at this point...We know that she likes when I rub my belly, she's a squirmer & gives all the nurses a difficult time, she's quiet during the day and wild at night, she loves sticking her feet in my ribs, she gets the hiccups at least once a day, and from our 4D ultrasound has her daddy's nose. But we still wonder...

Will she be calm and laid back like Travis? Or anxious and high strung like me? (lord please be like daddy!)

What color hair will she have? Or will she be bald? Will her hair be straight or curly?

Will Maggie & Tucker love her? Will she love them?

Will she be a good sleeper or be fussy?

We are just so ready to meet her and get to know her better. I think the hardest part of last few weeks has been the waiting!

No more ponytails!

Finally got my haircut! I've needed to soooo badly but I just HATE getting it done. It takes sooo long and it's sooooo hot. But I bit the bullet and waddled in to get it done today. I chopped most of it off! It's cute...shorter in the back and longer in the front! I had her fix it curly so I didn't have to endure the hair dryer and flat iron! Here are a few (self taken) pics of the new 'do! Oh yeah...excuse the red eyebrows...had them waxed too!

a mountain to climb...

Travis and I are terrible about putting laundry away. We're really good at doing the laundry...keeping it washed. It's the putting it away that we're really bad at! We just let it pile up and up and up and up until we've got piles everywhere. Recently I think we let it pile for several weeks...it was baaad. We had discussed putting it away many times...just never got motivated to do it. Then one morning I had had enough...I threw it all on the bed and started to sort...by the time Travis got home for lunch I had it sorted, folded the towels, and put away our dresser clothes. When he got home he hung up all our hang up clothes...and I am happy to announce that at this moment I have three EMPTY laundry baskets! What a goood feeling! We've got to get our system tweaked before Essie gets here and adds a whole other dimension to our laundry! Ha! Here are a few pics of the before and after!

Nurse's Gifts...

We wanted to get a little something to give to our nurses at the hospital while we are there having Essie. We debated forever about what to get...then we came across this.

How cute is that? Essie brand nail polish! I didn't even know it existed! So we searched all around town to find a place that carries it. Their website listed two local salons but neither actually carry it. We spent a whole day calling all over town. Then we went online to try and find it cheap somewhere (it normally retails for $8 a bottle!). We found a guy on ebay who had a ton of it and was running a great deal so we managed to order it for only $5 a bottle! And we were able to find some in cute "baby-ish" names like "chubby cheeks", "cute as a button", and "funny face"! We got them in the mail today so I went ahead and made up our little gift bags for them! We weren't sure exactly how many to buy so we bought 10 and figured we could use/gift the extras! Better to have more than less right?

But then while at Target tonight we saw this....yes....Target carries it. Geez! But on the bright side they didn't have the cute color names that we wanted and it was $8 a bottle there! Oh well! :)

Essie Update...

Well just back from the doctor's office and there is nothing to report. I'm still not dilated...I am thinning and she's still head down. I had lost another few pounds but the doctor did not mention it so I'm guessing he's not too concerned. Her heartrate was 156 and she gave the nurse a hard time like always in trying to get that heartrate! I think she's just a stubborn lil girl and is waiting for this heatwave to pass before she makes her big debut! The doctor said that we'd discuss our options at our next appointment...he typically does NOT like to induce unless absolutely necessary. In other words he will not recommend induction unless I'm at least a little dilated on my own first since inducing before I'm physically ready often results in a c-section. And I don't want a c-section unless we HAVE to. So I'm praying that she comes on her own so that we're not faced with that difficult decision. I hate to opt for an induction if she's not ready and I'd hate to wait too long til she's too big. He wants us to have a plan by our next appointment (which is Thursday) so we've got some talking to do I guess. He gave us several suggestions to "help get things going" but none sound too appealing right now! :)

39 Weeks

Well...one week left to go! Essie is huge this week...supposedly between 7-8 pounds and around 21 inches long...she weighs as much as this mini watermelon! She's definitely dropped very low...my tummy has changed majorly! Absolutely makes breathing easier...even though she still likes to dig her heels into my ribs occasionally! I have suffered with a rediculous amount of sinus/ear congestion this entire pregnancy and am hoping that as soon as she's delivered that it goes away! Between that and my hip/leg pain at night I'm not sleeping well at all. Last night I laid down around midnight & was still wide awake at 2:00 am. Then I toss back and forth between my left and right side (even though toss is NOT the right word...it takes some major effort to roll over!) Then I never get much sleep at a time...I have to roll over again to the other hip for awhile...so I'm tired right now and will probably be enjoying a nap after lunch! I haven't had much contraction action...a few yesterday but none since. I'm fully expecting to hear that I'm NOT dilated tomorrow at my appointment! But I'll post tomorrow to update after the appointment!

sunday drive

We recently ordered the dogs some harnesses that buckle into the seatbelt thing in the car . We had hoped it would tether them close enough to the seat so that they wouldn't climb all over Essie's carseat. We just got them in yesterday so we thought we'd try 'em out today. Yeah...not the best. Tucker managed to get completely tangled in the carseat base. I know this won't be a problem once her seat is actually in the car but it just wasn't the wonderful fix we'd hoped for! I'm sure we'll figure something out though!

Busy Saturday!

We have had quite a busy Saturday! We started by going to a local consignment shop in search of some cheap baby shoes...I don't wanna drop a bunch of moola on shoes that never touch the ground! So we found three pairs of CUTE infant shoes for Essie & didn't spend more than a couple bucks on each! We also found two cute lil outfits for next to nothing and these unopened fresh food feeders!


Then off we went to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays...love their salad bar! After that we drove through the park to see the new playground...I think Essie was super excited about the new fort park...it's really cute! Then we stopped by a few flea markets in search of a dresser for her room. We didn't find a dresser but we did find this super dooper cute desk/hutch/chair set for next to nothing! It does need a little TLC...a good scrubbing with a Magic Eraser, some wood filler, and maybe a new paint job eventually. I know she can't use it for awhile (even though she will be super advanced and reading by age 3!) :) But I loved the look of it and we can use it for extra storage right now. It even lights up! Her room looks a lil crowded now but I think it'll be fine for awhile!

hiccups

For some reason Essie gets the hiccups at least once a day now. EVERYDAY. I don't mind them...they make me laugh but she's not really had them much before now. Only a few times that I can recall. But lately...every single night. And she keeps them going for like 30 minutes! She is completely out of room in there and her tosses & turns are very uncomfortable for momma here now. She squirms the most at night...just about the time that i'm ready for bed. It makes my tummy look like an alien is in there or something! Her movements and my contractions are hard to decipher from each other right now because she makes my tummy get super hard and tight as well! So as I type this evening she's hiccuping away in there and digging a heel into my right ribcage. Little Stinker! I ordered the gifts that we are giving our labor/delivery nurses today...I just hope they make it here in time! I can't wait to post what we bought...I'm super excited about it!!! I'm going to hold off until they arrive if I can...


And just because I can't stand a post without pictures...here is one of my boy Tucker and his fav (and disgustingly dirty) toy. I think he's dreaming about his new lil sister who's on her way!

Laundry Room Tour

This Friday at Kelly's Korner is your choice of what you want to show in your home...either a laundry room, bonus room, or play room. I would've normally chosen to show our play/bonus room however it is currently housing all our Christmas decorations since my husband got an itch to build shelves in our attic to organize everything. So it's been filled with all our Christmas stuff for the past oh, say...6 months. But we do have a very cute playroom waiting on lil Essie Claire...once her daddy cleans it out!

But we do have a laundry room so I am proud to show it off! One requirement when we built this house was that I wanted a real laundry room...that would hold all my cleaning supplies and so that I would (cough, cough) put the laundry away from the dryer. Yeah...that's still not happened once but I do have a real laundry room that holds all my cleaning supplies!

The view from the hallway/door. My hubs make the cornice board...I originally bought this fabric only for the laundry room but loved it so much that I used it throughout the house. I love the wall color in here as well...I would go so far as to say it's the "perfect golden color". It's called "wicker rocker" from Sherwin Williams. It's a custom mix off of an old Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger color that was discontinued. We painted 75% of the house this color in fact...LOVE it!

We added a dog wash sink...I HAD to have one of these. We found the sink itself at Home Depot and had our cabinet peeps build a custom base for it. We love this sink...it makes washing the dogs so much easier since you don't have to bend completely over to use it! It also works well to soak clothes in and clean up big messes. Maggie and Tucker however do NOT love this sink!A few decorations...I'm still not quite done with it! I found this vinyl sign online and loved it immediately. I have full intentions of buying a big chunky black frame to hang around it one day. I made these wall letters just for fun...and to take up the large wall in the room. The hubs hung them without my help one day and I've never been quite satisfied about how they were spaced. But you can't blame him for trying!And lastly my sorting bins...I try and be organized even though half the time clothes just end up getting piled on top of the bins rather than sorted in them!Well I hope you enjoyed the tour of our exciting laundry room!