The Final Month

Campbell's due date is one month from today! I can't believe his arrival is getting so close. I was reading one of my baby apps this morning and it said "soon you'll be a mother. Enjoy the moments, even the painful ones--your body is working hard to get your baby into the world." It made me pause and think about everything I've been through the last almost nine months. Pregnancy is hard work but I've honestly enjoyed it so very much.

I think back to where I was a year ago and I wanted this so badly. All I could think about was being pregnant and having a baby. It consumed my thoughts. I feel really lucky and blessed that our road to baby didn't end up being a very long one. I read stories on peoples infertility struggles and it never fails to make me cry because I can't imagine how hard it must be to go through that. When you decide you're ready for a baby, you're ready for a baby. When we started trying and it didn't work the first time, I was devastated. I cried and cried. Then it didn't work the second time and I was like "I knew it, I'm not fertile." The desire for a baby is enough to make even the most patient woman go a little crazy. When those two pink lines finally appeared on a pregnancy test, I couldn't stop crying. Happy tears this time. The only thing I ever wanted for my life was happening---and I was elated.

I remember being at the mall one day. I was just starting to get a little baby bump that was slightly noticeable to not just me. I caught a glimpse of myself in a store window and I thought to myself "I've never been this happy before." For as long as I can remember, all I've ever wanted was to be a wife and mother. These last months have been amazing to me. It's definitely true that I haven't had the easiest pregnancy. I'm tired, my back hurts, heartburn is horrible, nausea was miserable and I've pretty much been sick this whole entire time. Through all of that though, I'm still one of those women who "loves being pregnant." I have all I've ever wanted right now so I just can't bring myself to complain about the woe's of pregnancy. I feel so very blessed to be able to experience this!

Now this journey is about to come to an end. It's been an amazing one and I think I'll really miss it. But I can't wait to meet my little boy. I wanted him so badly. I prayed for him constantly. I can't imagine what it will be like to see him and hold him and kiss him for the first time. I cry just thinking about it! I love him so much already and I know my heart will multiply a million times when I finally get to meet my sweet, precious Campbell.



Grace Turns Two

Yesterday this sweet little munchkin turned two years old!!

We celebrated Gracie's birthday with an outdoor party in the backyard. It was a nice day so the girls got to play outside for the longest time and they had so much fun running around, sniffing grass and tackling one another!

We also picked up some special birthday treats to celebrate the occasion! I don't know about your dog but mine never seem to like treats like this. You know, the cute expensive ones. We gave one to each of the girls and they spit them out onto the floor without giving them so much as a lick. A few hours later I noticed that they had finally been eaten but they never devour these kinds of treats.

Of course once we were done playing outside I had to bring the girls in and take a photo of Grace in her birthday hat. Ivy and Madison have one too and I guess we're going to make it a tradition every year and get pictures of them in their birthday hats!

And then Grace was like "Okay I've cooperated long enough, please just take this stupid hat off of me. I can't take it anymore!!!"
Happy 2nd Birthday Gracie Grace!! We love you!!

35 Weeks

Thirty five weeks today. Wow! How did I get here? Campbell's arrival is so close and I may or may not have cried about it yesterday. It was a happy cry mixed with a nervous cry. My life as I know it is about to completely change and it's a little scary. But it's definitely more exciting than it is scary. My curiosity is starting to get the best of me---when will he arrive?! Will he be a March baby or an April baby? It's like a tiny bit of torture!!! Here's is this weeks update.

Size of Baby: Around 5.5 pounds and between 19-22 inches long, about the size of a large cantaloupe.

How I'm Feeling: I'm fine. I'm not great----I'm not miserable. My back literally feels broken sometimes and I lay on a heating pad every chance I get. I still have horrible heartburn and I get sick every single day. I'm definitely slowing down but I still have moments where I feel just like my old self.

Cravings/Appetite: I have been so thirsty lately. I still try to be careful about what I eat but even bland food gives me heartburn these days. As of today I've decided no more caffeine free diet cokes for me. They've been added to the (super long) dangerous list.

Clothes: My pregnancy jeans are starting to get uncomfortable. They dig into my stomach where the band meets the actual jean and after wearing them all day it kind of hurts. I have one pair of maternity jeans that I've not really worn this whole time because they were a size bigger than the others and I didn't like how baggy they were on my legs. Now they're quickly becoming my go-to's because they have a little more room in them than the others. Those along with my Hue leggings are still my favorite pants to wear. I can't wait to wear dresses. It will be so much more comfortable.

Movement: Campbell is still moving a lot even though I know the little guy has to be as squished as can be. I spend a lot of my evening watching him move all throughout my belly. It's so wild and so neat!!

Changes in Me: I had my doctors appointment yesterday. When she measured my belly I measured small---31 weeks. At my previous appointment 3 weeks ago (I had to miss last weeks appointment) a nursing student measured me and I heard her say I measured in at 29 weeks. It should have been 32. I didn't think anything about it because to be honest, I just assumed she did it wrong. Since I'm measuring 4 weeks behind the doctor wants me to have an ultrasound next week to check and make sure everything looks okay. I'm not too terribly worried about it since we checked in on Campbell just 3 weeks ago and everything looked great. It definitely caught me off guard to be told I'm measuring small though because I've always measured exactly on track. What's funny is while Scott and I were in the waiting room, I told him that I felt like I wasn't as big as I thought I should be at this point. He brushed it off and reassured me that I look plenty big. Thanks babe.

Baby Purchases: I finally settled on Campbell's coming home outfit---sort of. I now have two precious little outfits for him. One for his first day in the hospital and one for coming home. I'll probably just decide while I'm there which one he'll wear for which day.

Favorite Moment This Week: Getting a lot accomplished on my to-do list. It makes me feel a lot better and more relaxed about his arrival.

Looking Forward To: My ultrasound next week. I'm sure everything will be just fine but I'll be a little bit on edge until then. Also, I didn't think I'd get to see the little nugget on an ultrasound again and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited about the opportunity to see him.

a frisbee & a changing pad

This toy right here.....

This is the most popular toy in our house. We love frisbee. We love it too much. We're relentless about asking Momma and Daddy to throw it. If it didn't have Razorbacks all over it I would be soooo tempted to throw it away. Because it gets on my nerves. But they love it so I tolerate it.

Nursery sneak peek! All of the puppies love laying on Campbell's changing pad. They hop up there all the time to hang out or take naps. I don't know if they like the height of the dresser or the softness of the changing pad cover but Ivy, Grace and Madison are all obsessed with it.

I checked off something on my to-do list today! It was a big one and I feel really good about it. Now it's time for me to grab my heating pad and get in bed. I'm tired and my back is achy. Story of my life these days folks!!

Before The Baby Comes

While I feel like I still have many weeks to go before Campbell is born, I'm trying to get everything I want completely done within the next week. I always imagined I would just wait until the last minute (I guess we could technically consider 34 1/2 weeks semi-last minute) to get everything done. However, when I was doing all of his laundry last week it wore me out! I partly blame having to climb up and down the stairs from the laundry room to his room but I just wasn't anticipating how long it would take and how tiring it would be. That's when I decided that I'm getting too far along and don't have as much energy as I usually do to be productive and I better get everything done asap before it gets worse.

If something happened and Campbell arrived tomorrow, technically I'd be prepared but not like I want to be. There's still quite a bit for me to do before I'll feel completely ready so I'm trying to take care of everything this week....and it's so exhausting! I ran around town for about 2 hours today and it wore. me. out. I had to come home and lay on my sofa with a heating pad on my back and fight the urge to take a nap. It's so crazy to me how doing something so simple can be so challenging these days. If you're pregnant I highly suggest taking care of everything you can right away and not waiting until the end like I have. I just thought it would be so fun to spend the last few weeks nesting and getting everything ready....and it is fun....but it's too much to take on towards the end and it's harder than you'd think it would be.
I have a long list of things I would like to accomplish before Campbell arrives. Some things have nothing to do with his arrival. For example, I would love to get my flowers planted on my back porch before he gets here. I enjoy them so much and I have no idea if that's something I'll be able to do with him here. Of course getting that done is completely out of my hands until the weather warms up. Then there's things that are a necessity like getting Campbell's bag ready and figuring out what hats, blankets and outfits I need to pack for him to have in the hospital. I also need to figure out what I need to take to the hospital for myself. Finally, there's things that would be nice to have done but unless his arrival ends up being a scheduled one, there's really not a great way to prepare for it. For example, I want my house completely clean with no dirty clothes in my laundry baskets. I want my pantry and refrigerator stocked. I want mine and Scott's cars spotlessly clean inside and out. I want Ivy and Madison to have a bath and smell good before they meet Campbell (this is quite possibly something I'll do once I'm in labor but before I go to the hospital, not kidding. Or maybe I'll just have my Mom do that for me). I'd like to have clean sheets. I don't know why, I just do.
I'm in desperate need of a haircut. There's still a few necessity items I need for right away and Campbell has like, 5 outfits and it's annoying me because the stores just aren't producing any clothes that I want to purchase.
I'm pretty positive everything that I want to accomplish will get done before he arrives and I'm also pretty positive that even if I don't get them done, I'll survive. It would just be nice to be able to check off everything on my list so I can feel good about it.
It would be super convenient to know what day he's going to show up......in more ways than one. 

ice

Hello all!! Enjoying the ice? I accidentally got stuck in this winter weather at my parents house in Little Rock and just got home later today. Scott had his "dadchelor" party in Hot Springs over the weekend and while he did that, I decided to hang with my parents. Scott dropped me off in Little Rock in route to Hot Springs. I texted him on Saturday and told him we probably needed to get on the road pretty early on Sunday so we could beat the bad weather that was awaiting us at home. When Scott got to my parents house the weather had already started looking pretty bad so we decided to just stay in Little Rock and tackle the drive the next day. We were so surprised to wake up to snow and ice in Little Rock because (unless I somehow missed it) we didn't know they were going to get hit with it too!

We were all stuck inside my parents house all day yesterday and we totally didn't expect it. Scott and I finally managed to make it out and home today without any troubles. Although getting off my parents street was the most challenging part. They have to take a super steep hill to get out of their neighborhood and it's seriously impossible to get up during these snow/ice storms. We got a great deal of entertainment watching people attempt it all day yesterday and today. One poor guy got stuck and a tow truck had to come help him out. Scott quite literally floored it up the hill. It sounded like we were going 90 MPH even though the speedometer only said 15. Third time was the charm for us and we were able to get up and over. It was scary! I'm glad we're home now. My weekend in Little Rock ended up being a lot longer than I had planned but I really didn't have anything else to do so it was kind of fun being snowed in with my family!