39 weeks!

We are officially one week from Emmet's due date! Chad and I are definitely hoping to meet our sweet boy in the next day or two! We are so excited to see him and hold him for the first time!! Chad explained our waiting perfectly, "Every night we go to bed thinking it's Christmas Eve, and every morning we wake up and Santa didn't come." At every visit they give us a good report, though- last Friday I was 60-70% effaced and almost 2 cm dilated. It's a good start, but not an exact indicator of when labor will begin. But hopefully this will be the last blog post before the millions of baby pictures start coming :)

We got to spend our Memorial Day on the lake at the camp where I worked for 9 years! It no longer is a camp, but she rents out the rooms so people can enjoy the beautiful view and lakeside property (http://captainsquartersccl.com/). My parents and Allison went down and stayed a night - but Chad and I just drove down for the afternoon! It was so nice and peaceful to be on the lake and with good company. But it was extra special for me to get to show Chad (and Emmet!) the place that is so near and dear to my heart. As Allison said yesterday, "being out there makes my heart happy!"

The Imminent Emmet

We are still waiting on our little guy to arrive, but he seems to be pretty comfy in there :) I bet he thinks he is so funny for tricking us all into thinking he was on his way! Being "on alert" is getting a little exhausting. Chad and I are trying to take everyone's advice and RELAX and enjoy the last few days (or weeks, Lord help me) of just the two of us. So today we had a picnic lunch at a local park and we found a nice secluded area to enjoy nature and each other's company! It was wonderful!

Also, we snapped a quick picture at Lauren's birthday dinner in the middle of the tornado, hail, and thunderstorms that rained down on Dallas this week. Emmet and Baby Boy Garrity will just be a few months apart! Yay Cousins!!!

Full Term and Counting Down!

We made it to full term! I was allowed off of bed-rest on Monday and have gone back to work for now. Our boy is still growing and Mommy feels bigger every day! E is probably in the mid 6 pound range - and judging by his head on my pelvis and his feet in my ribs - he is running out of room in there! Our official due date is still three weeks away, but with our preterm labor scare, he could be here very soon!

Now we wait.

We feel as ready as can be and all my lists have been pretty much taken care of. We are trying to not get too excited, but I think that's a lost cause :) He could trick us all and not come for weeks, and the idea of that is driving me insane! But we want him to come out fully baked, so he will come when he comes. For now, we will sit on pins and needles diagnosing each Braxton Hicks contraction, awaiting those first signs of labor!

And our wonderful co-workers rescheduled the shower they had to cancel due to my bed-rest for this past Monday. We had a yummy breakfast shower and Emmet got more sweet gifts! Chad and I are so lucky to work with people who are so excited and supportive of us!

Book Page Canvases!

Our nursery is getting close to finished - just a few things to buy and some artwork to hang on the walls! But I wanted to show you a fun project Aunt T, Auntie Em and I made for Emmet's room!

First, we tore out pages of our favorite old storybooks:

And arranged them overlapping on 5 different canvases:

Then, we covered them with mod podge:

Once they were dry we cut letters out of card stock and mod podged those on:

And Chad hung them! Tada!

(The lighting in the nursery is a little tricky - so the colors look a little off here, sorry! I am still learning with my new camera!)

I am so excited with how it turned out, plus we had so much fun making a project for Baby E! And they are extra special since they were made with love by Mommy and his Aunties :)

Happy Mother's Day and Not-a-Mother Day!

Well, this has been a most interesting week! Monday marked week 35 for me and baby E, Tuesday I was more hormonal than usual and started have sharp, shooting pain in my lower back, Wednesday I had lower abdominal cramping and Thursday I was put on bed-rest. Apparently my body is trying to go in to preterm labor, complete with 1 cm dilated and softened cervix and it is way too early for that! Chad and I thought the symptoms I was having were normal for the end of pregnancy, but he suggested I call our midwife just in case. And he was right! She said if I had written it off and not called I would have probably had a premature baby. I must lay flat until we reach full term (37 weeks) on May 16th so Emmet's lungs have time to fully develop. After that I can get off the couch and return to work, although she predicts I will probably go in to labor shortly thereafter! So we are using the next week and a half to finish our preparations - we thought we had 5 weeks! It drives me nuts, of course, that I can't help with ANY of the shopping and nursery set-up, but everyone has so kindly offered so much assistance! We are very grateful for our family and friends! I can already tell you that I am going to be stir crazy, so get ready for some serious blogging :) But the best news of all - we will get to meet our little man in a few short weeks!! I can't wait to see his sweet face!!

While I am trying hard NOT to be a mother this Mother's Day, I am blessed to know some phenomenal Mommas - and I hope you all feel celebrated this Sunday! And, of course, a special thanks to my Mom, who is already helping me out while I'm on bed-rest! I love you!

Mom, Allison and Me, November 24, 1987

Ft. Worth

Here are some pictures from our Saturday in Ft. Worth a few weeks ago. We went to the Botanic Gardens for some maternity pics, the Historic Stockyards for some cowboy gear and the Mellow Mushroom for some pizza! We had a marvelous time!

(I was being kicked :)

Birthday Boy Chad got new cowboy boots and a hat!