photo {39 weeks}

here i am, at 39 weeks. about to bust. this will be my last belly shot. now if only coleman would decide to join us...soon, hopefully.

photos {ikea}

On Friday, Sherry & I made a trip up to the new IKEA store in Charlotte. It was really awesome! I could spend so much money in there, but it was overwhelming this first time, so I just bought a few small things. I can't wait to go back when we have more time and I have a whole lot more energy. We were there a few hours and still didn't see the whole place. The huge IKEA bag almost covers my belly :)

We ate lunch and the cafeteria and tried the famous Swedish meatballs (when in Rome...) - they were quite tasty (as was the dessert we had).

photos {cooper & traveler}

cooper & and my dad's dog, traveler - they enjoying play fighting with each other. rio wasn't nearly as excited about traveler's presence.

photos {spencer's basketball game}

just a couple of shots from spencer's basketball game yesterday. he's had a rough season. he's been sick 3 times and missed 3 games.

365 {week 8}

Here are some shots from the past week...

laundry day

matt trying to prove to spencer he can draw
$40 worth of batteries for baby stuff

the dogs eating

spencer's student treasure book

spencer with the flu :(

a few saint patrick's day decorations

{week 39}

Wow...week 39. There were days I thought I'd never make it this far, but here we are... Only 6 days away from my due date.

I had my weekly appointment today. I forgot to ask the doctor how big he thought Coleman was. There really isn't much new to report, which is what I expected. The good news is that he has dropped some and the doctor was able to easily tell how he was positioned. My cervix is still closed, but I'm 50% effaced. So...patience. I gained even more weight :( but the doctor says it's the fluid/swelling. He recommended just drinking as much water as I can and taking warm baths frequently (which I was going to do tonight until this silly thunderboomer started). And of course, he recommended walking and sex to speed things along. Some shopping today hopefully qualified for walking.

random {etch a sketch}

photos {coleman's nursery}

I finally got around to taking pictures of Coleman's nursery. You can see them all here.

LOM {Pledge & Clipboard}

As part of the LOM class, we have to sign this 'Scrapstrong' pledge :)

In our class kit, we were sent a plain clipboard. We could alter it if we chose. I've been hanging onto this "organization" themed paper forever and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use it. The round lined die cuts just happened to fit perfectly in the circles of the patterned paper (and I hand wrote quotes on both of them).

365 {week 7}

Here are some pictures from the week...

This is a sampling of the super cute carousel that my sister, Michelle, made for Coleman's first year. It's AWESOME and I can't wait to start using it.

I went grocery shopping Thursday and realized the milk's expiration date is my due date!
The dairy aisle of Bi-Lo...

Colton James at 5 days old. S0 sweet (sorry it's not better quality - took it on my phone)

Spencer working on his Valentine's

Heart pizza from Papa John's - thought it was pretty cool

My cousin Kim made us these awesome blankets and crib pads. It really meant a lot that she did this for us and we needed it all badly!

Spencer & Cooper playing tug-o-war

Don't Forget the Lyrics - the three of us like to DVR this show and watch it together. Lots of fun.

LOM {getting started}

I posted a while ago about signing up for the Library of Memories class, taught by Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Well, it officially started yesterday and I'm so excited about this opportunity! If you don't know what I'm talking about and don't care, just skip any posts that start with "LOM" :)

I spent a long time last night listening to an audio message from Stacy and watching the Lesson One slideshow. Then I took a nice, relaxing bath where I read through the lesson one handout. We have two weeks to tackle lesson one - which is basically to pare down, print and sort photos into Storage Binders. It's also a continuation of our pre-class assignment that involves organizing digital photos into what she calls "Highlight Folders". Luckily, my recent digital photos (2006-current) are pretty much set up like this already and I'm just spending a little time paring them down (aka - delete the junk you won't scrap).

Since today is my last day of work, I'm looking forward to having some time to devote to the beginning of class. Obviously, it'll be much tougher once the baby arrives! Basically, I just wanted to share that things had started and I hope to have updates to post soon!

{38 weeks}

2 more weeks...14 days...

actually I'm late posting this week so I'm actually down to about 12 days, assuming he's not late...and he probably will be (read on...)

I think we're beyond the point of posting generic updates from websites. My baby is bigger than their estimates and the weekly doctor appointments are much more informative than the 5 weekly emails I get.

So, I had my weekly appointment yesterday - met another new doctor for me (he was fine). Unfortunately, my weight gain jumped up, which he contributed to swelling. He seemed pleased that this is my last week of work and told me to be mindful of how long I sit and stand at a time to try and reduce the swelling.

He could not get a presenting body part, so he ordered an ultrasound to ensure the baby was head down and not breach. Luckily, he's in position, but just hasn't dropped very much. Though I was a little worried (for no reason), it was nice to get the extra ultrasound. The technician did 3D for us and we got some very cool pictures (see previous post). It was reassuring to know that everything looks OK in there. The doctor just said we have to be patient. Apparently there are no signs that Coleman is eager to join us quite yet!

When he does decide to join us, he will probably be a chunker. The doctor's initial exam had him guessing the baby was around 7 1/2 lbs. The ultrasound machine calculated 7lbs 9 oz. All pretty close, but with 2+ more weeks of growing to go...looks like he could easily break the 8 pound mark!

photos {ultrasound}

Yesterday, we got an unexpected ultrasound (to make sure the baby is head down - and he is). The lady was sweet enough to do some 3D for us. I have a ton of pictures, but here are a few favorites that I scanned. The first two are 2D and then the rest are 3D (that's pretty obvious though).

According to the ultrasound lady, Laura, this is hair - now we know why my heartburn's so bad :)

This is proof that he's definitely a boy.

our first look at sweet baby coleman!

He looks a little disgruntled here, dontcha think?

Here he looks like he may have gotten a taste of something sour.
Look - he's already tired of me taking his picture!

digi layout {sights of our home}

i found this template online tonight. it's actually 5x7 for a christmas card, but i immediately thought it'd be a cute way to capture decorations from the holidays. the photos are from 2006. if i print it at 11" tall, i can add a strip of patterned paper to make it fit into an 8.5x11 page protector (which is the size of my christmas album). it's not my favorite, but i still think it's OK.

photos {colton james}

Welcome Colton James (our neighbor's newborn son).
He was born yesterday at about 5:45 p.m. He weighed 8lbs 1 oz and was 19 3/4" long.
He has beautiful dark blue eyes and his hair looks like it could have some red in it.
I apologize that these aren't the best pictures, but I promise there will be plenty more to come.

365 {week 6}

This was the first week that I have to confess I was pretty slack about taking photos so I had to use some "fillers". But it worked out fine - they still all make sense for this week.

the pack n play that is assembled and stocked - ready for baby

getting the taxes done...

BIG trip to Babies R Us

Collage of photos from watching Super Bowl

Left photo is from basketball game last week. Right photo is what I take daily (prenatals, dha and zantac)

{37 weeks}

We made it --- officially FULL TERM!!!
3 more weeks...only 21 more days to go (at least I hope it's not any longer).

Baby Coleman: He's probably around 7 pounds and 20", but we don't really know for sure of course! At this point he's just growing so there isn't much to report...

Baby's Mama has been super busy. I've worked on getting the hospital bag packed and diaper bags stocked. I've done huge shopping trips at both Target and Babies R Us to get the remainder of what we need. Lots of laundry, organizing the nursery. Baby's Daddy put together the Pack-n-Play. I had my weekly appointment yesterday. No signs that this baby wants to join our world anytime soon, so we're just waiting. I have had a few contractions in the past week or so, but they are sporadic and short-lived. Next week's appointment is on Wednesday morning.

365 {week 5}

some shots from this past week...

sometimes one computer just isn't enough!

thank you notes

cooper enjoying his belly rub

another doctor's appointment...