maddie grace goes swimming

We took Maddie swimming for the first time last weekend at my parents' house.

We suited up in our polka dots

And slathered on the sunscreen

At first, she didn't love it...

But she did her best to appease her parents.

She looked way too cool in her summer shades,

and had the best time swimming with her dad.

Check out their synchronized swimming!

 

swimming = success

Motherhood Monday

Some days, motherhood is like this:

Other days, motherhood is like this:

And sometimes, on a Monday, motherhood is like this:

You realize on your way to work that you forgot to grab the car seat carrier you need when you pick up your baby. So after work, you swing by your house, drop off your bags, grab a granola bar, and take off to pick up said baby. You pull into the daycare parking lot and realize you didn't grab the car seat. UGHHH. You turn back toward home. You arrive again at daycare 20 minutes later with car seat in hand. When you walk into the infant room, your baby's teacher tells you that your little one had a major diaper blowout, requiring a total outfit change... 

about 10 minutes ago. 

#silentlysnickering #sorrynotsorry

The Sun is Shining

The smoke has lifted. The fog has cleared. We're emerging from the rubble. And by rubble, I mean our house. Our house looks like it was hit by a tornado. A Babies R Us tornado.


We are finally emerging from the haze of the newborn days. 


We survived the first twelve weeks with Miss Maddie Grace. And let me tell you, it was not easy. It was harder than I ever imagined, in ways I never imagined. Labor and recovery was brutal, sleep deprivation was exhausting, and the worry-wart in me had a heyday wasting hours of precious time googling all sorts of ridiculous things at all hours of the night. Our marriage relationship was challenged, the state of our house was at times disastrous, our sanity was often in question. And the emotions, oh the emotions and the cries. Happy cries, tired cries, painful cries, the I-don't-even-know-why-I'm-crying cries. And I'm talking about me here, not Maddie. Of course she did her fair share of crying too. Some afternoons we just cried it out together, neither of us knowing why we were crying. I blamed hormones, she blamed gas.


But, somehow, whilst our lives we're turned upside down, we learned, we grew, and we loved. We have been so blessed to welcome this little girl into our family. She is so special, so beautiful, so unique. And at times so confusing (what does that high-pitched-semi-whiny-followed-by-a-whimper cry mean? is that different from the high-pitched-semi-whiny-followed-by-a-grunt cry?). We are all learning more and more about each other every day and making precious memories (that we will hopefully look back on fondly? perhaps some we even laugh about?).


I'm back at work now, and Maddie has started daycare. We've ventured out of the house on errands and made several short road trips (even a couple overnighters!). On my last day of maternity leave, I not only baked brownies but also went jogging! Because those cancel out, right? Anyway, point being, we're like real people again. Who do things other than wear sweatpants, bounce around the room praying the baby will eventually fall asleep, then blankly stare at each other on the couch once she does and we have zero energy left to even speak. Well, just kidding about the sweatpants, I will forever wear yoga pants every day I can.


A blogging hiatus was absolutely necessary for me in the first weeks. Most days, I could barely find the time to shower or scarf down lunch with one hand while whisper-yelling in a sing-song voice from across the room, "I'm right here baby, Mommy's coming right back!" And when she finally fell asleep? Well I couldn't move, because she only wanted to sleep on me. And being unable to do anything because she was sleeping, was 100x better than being unable to do anything because she was screaming. But now that things are (sort of/maybe) settling down, I'm ready to get in the groove again. I need to write things down before the memories disappear right along with the size 1 diapers.


I'll start out with Maddie's birth story today, and have plans for Advice/Lessons Learned post, a Newborn Must-Haves post, and a Returning to Work post. Fortunately, I did write down a very long and detailed novel about Maddie's birth shortly after we went home from the hospital. I'll spare you all the unnecessary TMI in this lengthy play-by-play version. [If you plan to read the whole thing, you better go pop some popcorn and settle in for the long haul] 


Monday, April 28 (40 weeks, 6 days pregnant)


3:00pm:  I feel my first contraction. At least I think I do, but how could I really know? I take a shower and quietly time the contractions for a couple hours before I tell Tom.


5:00pm:  I'm 95% sure I'm having real contractions, and cautiously, excitedly tell Tom. We are giddy... tentatively. The days have been dragging on painfully since passing our due date, and we don't want to get our hopes up too high. We have pretty much accepted the fact that we will probably have to wait until our scheduled induction on Friday, May 2.


7:00pm:  Tom decides to go for a bike ride. I sit quietly in Maddie's room, listening to soothing music, thinking to myself, "wow, this labor thing is going to be a breeze - these contractions are but a minor annoyance, la de da de da"


7:30pm:  My mom calls. I know she has to work the next day and I don't want to get her excited just yet. I'm still 5% sure this is a fluke. I ramble on about our plans to visit the Arboretum the next day, hoping I'm totally playing it cool.


8:00pm:  Based on our calculations from timing my contractions and everything we learned in our labor and delivery class, we figure I'll probably be pushing this baby out at about 1:00am. Piece of cake, only 5 more hours to go!


11:00pm:  Yikes, ok so maybe this labor thing is no joke. The contractions are getting stronger and longer. I find a cool app on my phone to track them, which is fun. "Fun." As much "fun" as you can have while wincing in pain every 7 minutes.


Tuesday, April 29:


1:00am: OH MY GOD. Am I dying? The contractions are super painful, but still averaging about 6-7 minutes in between, sometimes longer.  We learned the 5-1-1 rule in our labor and delivery class. Don't go to the hospital until your contractions are 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, for one full hour. I call the hospital anyway. The nurse says to keep on waiting it out. She suggests I should "take some Tylenol, drink a glass of water, and sit in a warm bath." IS THIS A JOKE? I'm 100% sure this woman has never been in labor. [Later find out, she has two kids] I cry in frustration.


2:00am:  After following the nurse's advice, I am still painfully in labor. But I think, what the heck, why don't I lie down for a bit? Surely I can fall asleep while I'm writhing in pain.


2:20am:  Yeah that was a fail. Tom falls asleep, but I find that lying down makes the contractions hurt worse. So I put on my tennis shoes to go for a walk. Because that sounds like a very reasonable, responsible thing to do, venturing out into the neighborhood, alone, in the dead of night, while in labor. I make it to the end of the street before I realize this is a terrible idea.


4:30am:  I've been walking in figure eights around the dining room table and the kitchen island for two hours.  The contractions are still only 6-7 minutes apart. What the heck!? I am officially very tired at this point. Moving around makes the contractions less painful, but I am too exhausted to keep walking. I decide to sit in the recliner for a bit, save some energy. I watch the morning news, eat a granola bar, moan and cry a bit.


6:30am:  Tom comes running down the stairs in a panic. "I fell asleep!" Don't worry, you haven't missed anything exciting down here. I detail my past few hours to him, and tell him I want to disregard the 5-1-1 rule and hit the road to the hospital. So, naturally, he decides to cook up some breakfast first. Mmmm, love the smell of eggs while I'm doubled over the kitchen counter trying to breathe through my contractions.


7:00am:  Tom is packing things up and I call my mom. I tell her about my night and get her thoughts on heading to the hospital. She agrees that I should go up there. If they send me home, they send me
home.


7:15am:  We hop in the car, and no sooner than we hit I-35, the contractions quicken to every 4 minutes. I am suddenly very very happy! Practically elated! With every awful contraction, I cheer! I even tell Tom not to drop me off at the front door, I want to walk in from the parking lot.


7:30am:  We arrive at the hospital. Labor & Delivery is packed. So packed, in fact, that they don't have a single room open. Eight rooms full, eight babies born on Monday, April 28th. Seriously, what are the odds? They set up a temporary spot for us in the nursery. There aren't any babies in there since the babies generally room-in with their mothers. I disrobe and the nurses ask me 500 questions before Dr. Chapman (not our usual doctor, but equally as nice and wonderful) comes in and checks me. Yep, 5cm dilated and 100% effaced. She asks me if I plan to have an epidural, and I say yes, oh yes. I am caught off guard when she tells me she'll have the anesthesiologist come in as soon as they move us to our real room, which is supposed to be in the next 30 minutes. I can't believe it's already time to get an epidural! The night sure did drag on forever, but things start moving too quickly! Suddenly I'm hooked up to IVs and monitors, there's fluids and beepings and needles galore. Our doctor, Dr. Fernandez, stops by to say hello. He comments to Tom about how I'm doing so great for being 5cm dilated. I start to get a big head, thinking I have some sort of super-human pain tolerance and I'm going to be the Queen of Delivery. Ha. Oh you silly little first time mother, you don't even know.


7:45am: Tom calls our parents to let them know we've been admitted to the hospital. He also texts Katie back for me - as we were going up the elevator at the hospital, I got a text message from her that said she had a dream I was going into labor!


8:30am:  They move us to a room and my parents stop by to say hello.


10:00am:  Before long, the anesthesiologist comes in and administers the epidural. It isn't too terrible, other than the fact that he did it twice because the first one didn't work out very well. But hey, better than the contractions! It kicks in pretty quickly and I chill out in the hospital bed for, well, the rest of the day. Our parents, siblings, grandparents, all come in occasionally for visits. It's pretty uneventful. I snooze a little here and there and watch the clock.


3:00pm:  Dr. Fernandez comes in to check me. 10cm dilated! It's time for some "practice" pushes. We do a few, he gives me advice on how to breathe and push, and it doesn't appear that Maddie wants to come out yet. He says we'll wait another 30 minutes.


3:35pm:  I thought you said 30 minutes? It's been 35. I was mentally ready to get this baby out. But physically, I had some challenges. It was time to start pushing again, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. They wanted me to bear down, hold my breath, and push for 10 seconds. My mom and Tom were in the room holding my feet. My mom was my cheerleader, and Tom, well you know Silent Tom. He was my quiet supporter. But I just couldn't seem to hold my breath for a full 10 seconds! The bed was super uncomfortable, and I couldn't feel anything down there, so I wasn't sure if I was even pushing or just bursting blood vessels in my forehead


5:30pm:  I've been pushing for nearly 2 hours. The nurse says she can see the baby's head full of hair. But I just can't seem to push her out. I am in so much pain, so so much pain. And it all seems useless! I'm exhausted from pushing, and not sleeping, and only having had a granola bar in the past 20 hours. And I'm frustrated, really frustrated. Dr. Fernandez has to leave for his son's award ceremony, so Dr. Chapman comes in. She asks us to make a decision: try using forceps or go for a cesarean. In my drugged, delusional state, I opt for the forceps because I'm terrified of surgery. But using forceps requires a pediatrician to be present, and she has just gone home for the day. So we wait on her to come back.


6:00pm:  The pediatrician has arrived, there are seemingly 300 people in the room (maybe just 8), and I am trying my hardest to remain somewhat composed, but on the verge of falling apart. We try the forceps 4 times, which requires 12 more pushes. No avail. Baby is not budging. By this point, I am a crying, blubbering mess. "It hurts so bad," I repeat every 10 seconds. Things started to get really hazy for me at this point. It was just so darn painful.


6:30pm:  Time for the c-section. The new nurses (doctors? techs? who were these people?) start introducing themselves to me, and I am so over it. Seriously, I would have let a janitor delivery the baby by this time. I don't care what your name is, Mr. Doctor! They wheel me into the freezing cold surgery room and start administering drugs. My teeth are chattering, they're all making small talk. They cover me with blankets and invert the bed so that the numbing drugs will move further up my abdomen. Tom comes in and sits beside me. Someone makes jokes about Longhorn doctors delivering an Aggie baby. It's all REALLY hazy for me.


7:30pm:  Everything is ready, they tell me what they are doing behind the blue sheet. Finally, it's time to make the incision. They tell me that they're going to pull the baby out, and it's going to feel like someone is sitting on my stomach. Suddenly, a CRY! She cries immediately.


7:39pm:  Madelyn Grace Cooper makes her debut. She enters the world at 8lbs 11oz, 20 inches long. Tom gets to see her and hold her as soon as they clamp her cord and wipe her down. I am still a hazy mess.


8:00ish?  I see our baby for the first time, and she is nothing like I imagined. I pictured a petite little thing. But she is big. Big and swollen from all the fluids. It doesn't really feel like she is ours, and I don't immediately feel the love and attachment like I hoped I would. I mostly just feel exhausted. I don't know it at the time, but it will take a little while for me to have these feelings for sweet Maddie. But they do come, and when they do, they are fully encompassing. So much love, I feel that my heart will burst from it all. Such an incredible, powerful, life-changing love.


The rest of the hospital stay (until Friday morning) was really a bit of a blur for me. Recovery was brutal. I was on a lot of meds and in a lot of pain. I was definitely not a super-human pain-tolerating all-star. But we had lots of sweet visitors, our doctors and nurses were wonderful, TOM was wonderful. Seriously, the best ever. Since I was so incapacitated, Tom took over on everything - the diapers, the swaddling, the bouncing around the room. The rearranging of pillows, the calls to the nurses, the helping me pull up my pants when I couldn't bend over.  Seeing him this way was so special to me and truly made me appreciate what a wonderful man I married. The perfect husband and father, perfect to us.


It's hard to believe it was nearly three months ago that Madelyn entered the world. It's true what they say, babies really do grow up fast. That puffy, bruised, sleepy baby has blossomed into a cheery, smiling, playing baby. We love watching her grow and soaking up all the snuggles we can. Sweet Maddie Grace, we love you so!

The Nursery

The curtains are hung, and the furniture assembled. The onesies are washed, and the drawers have been filled. Everything is in it's place, ready for Miss Maddie. Here's a look at her pink and green nature-themed nursery:

This is the view from the hallway. Tom installed the round drum light that I LOVE, and it has a dimmer switch, which I also LOVE.  I made the mobile above the changing table using twine, an embroidery hoop, and circular paper cutouts.

When you walk through the doorway, there is a little wall to the left that showcases the precious autographed print that my Dallas coworkers gave us.

We ordered the white crib (with matching changing table) from Amazon. The linens, mobile, and rug are from Pottery Barn Kids. I made the banner above the crib using twine and scrapbook paper - super easy and cheap! We ordered the white tree wall decal from Etsy, and it took us HOURS to put up. The reviews said "quick and easy to install" but apparently these people are not the perfectionists that Tom and I are ;) Or maybe our walls just have too much texture. Regardless, I'm really happy with the way it turned out!!

We ordered the glider from Babies R Us, and the green polka dotted curtains were a Pottery Barn Kids splurge.

Another view of the left side of the room. Toy/book shelf from Target, wooden tree decoration from Hobby Lobby, and that's the closet door. Tom set up the baby monitor up in the corner of the room with a perfect view of her crib. The brown basket sits on a little white table beside the glider, which I'll use to store my breastfeeding supplies.

To the right of the window leans a blanket ladder that Tom and I made in an afternoon using two pieces of wood and some wooden dowels from Home Depot. Again - super easy and cheap!  (I had to find some ways to save after all the PBK linens...)  We received so many cute blankets and I really wanted to show them off. The brown dresser was Tom's childhood dresser.  We were a little hesitant at first about mixing and matching the white and brown furniture, and I considered painting the dresser white. But in the end, I just wasn't that motivated, and it's in good shape anyway. I really like how the mismatched furniture goes together after all.

On top of the dresser sits the Dohmie (white noise maker), brag book photo album I can't wait to fill, precious little shoes I couldn't say no to at Old Navy, and a cute little necklace holder turned headband holder that I found on clearance at Garden Ridge. On the wall, I hung another DIY craft. I used scrap paper from name banner for the background and the white frame (from Goodwill, spray painted) that has been holding my weekly photo chalkboard numbers. The "M" is from Hobby Lobby, spraypainted to match the frame.

And finally, to the right of the dresser sits the Diaper Genie, changing table, and laundry hamper. I switched out the white knobs on the changing table with wooden knobs (97 cents at the Home Depot) that I stained brown to match the dresser. Easy way to tie the two pieces together! I painted the little wooden bird on the wall (using a cutout set from Hobby Lobby) and attached a little knob to hang her bath towel on.

Ta-da! There you have it, Maddie's first room! Our due date is TOMORROW and I am so impatient to bring her home.  I arrived precisely on my due date, but I have a feeling Maddie may take her sweet time (since she already passed April 18th, the date I thought she was going to come!). As ready as I am to meet her, I'm also counting my blessings that she is still happy, healthy, and safe in her cozy little home. Fingers crossed she'll be here soon :)

38 Weeks

38 weeks 3 days, and bursting at the seams.  My once round belly is now lopsided and lumpy, with various body parts protruding, barely squeezing into my maternity shirts. And pants?  I say, who needs 'em!  I've been wearing this stretchy black skirt basically every day for the past 2 weeks.  Highly recommend for the last month of pregnancy!

How far along:  38 weeks 3 days

Size of baby:  A pumpkin, somewhere between 18.9 - 20.9 in, 6.2 to 9.2 lbs (according to the thebump.com).  I was just a tiny thing, born at 6 lbs 7oz on my exact due date.  Fingers crossed little Maddie will inherit some of my genes and won't be a giant.  My money is on April 18th for her arrival, along with my dad.  Tom and my mom both think April 24th, which is my half-birthday, so that's kind of cool.  My grandma thinks April 25th.  Lord please, don't let me still be pregnant by April 25th! ;) Official due date is April 22nd - 11 days and counting!  As long as she isn't born on an odd date, I'll be happy.  I have a serious and unreasonable aversion to odd numbers.  I hope she inherits that too, and picks a nice even date for her big debut.

Total weight gain:  33 pounds, yowzers.

Symptoms:  General discomfort, everywhere.  My ankles/feet swell up occasionally, still having back pain, and baby has dropped down low so there is lots of pressure in my pelvis.  And the stretch marks have arrived.  I really thought I was going to survive my first pregnancy without any, but alas, the skin around my (now outie) belly button can stretch no more.

Cravings:  I've actually had some really strange cravings lately, including but not limited to:  cottage cheese, McDonalds chicken nuggets, and orange soda (yes, like the kind you drank when you were 10, and Kel loved on Nickelodeon).  The cravings are SO random and they come out of nowhere.

Sleep:  At this point, I've accepted that there is no comfortable sleeping position.  The beachball on my stomach is really in the way, and it's difficult to roll over.  I generally wake up a few times during the night - restroom, snack, insomnia, back pain, baby kicks and hiccups... pinterest, reading random blogs, wandering around the house aimlessly.  Last night, I bought a grout scrubbing brush on amazon at 3:45am.  I guess this is nature's way of preparing me for what's to come!  At least I've stopped dreaming about tax returns and excel files, dreaming about baby is much more fun :)

Movement:  Still lots of movement and hiccups!

Gender:  It’s a girl!

Name:  Madelyn Grace 

Style:  Hahaha, "style".  I'm not sure you can call yoga pants and maternity shirts "style".  It's sort of like how my Old Navy maternity yoga pants are from their clothing line called "Active" but all I ever do in them is lounge around.  We'll go with the term "comfortable" for my style, because it sounds better than "lazy" or "nonexistent".

Nursery:  Ready for her!  Pictures to come soon.

Best moment of the week:  My maternity leave started!  Holla!

Whew!  I anticipate this being my last "bumpdate".  We know I'm not very good at blogging regularly.  My last weekly update was at 27 weeks... so... doubtful that I'll post another before she arrives :)  Plus I figure I'll probably just get more whiny over the next couple weeks if she hasn't made her debut, so I'll spare you the complaints!

I officially started my maternity leave this week.  My employer has an awesome policy - 2 weeks pre due date and 12 weeks after birth.  I am so grateful for this time off before baby arrives.  I feel like I have struck the perfect balance of productivity and restfulness this week.  The house has been ready for baby for the past few weeks, but I've been able to take care of a lot of general life things:  brakes checked, dog flea meds refilled, fixed my broken iphone screen, carpets cleaned, grocery shopped, frozen meals made, dropped of my wedding dress to be cleaned/preserved (better late than never right?), etc!  It feels so good not to have those things weighing on my mind, and I anticipate errands like that to be a bit more difficult with an infant in tow.  

I've also taken several naps this week and I treated myself to a pedicure yesterday.  I went to a little hole-in-the-wall nail salon near my house that had a few good reviews on google.  Upon arrival, they directed me to the candy bar, just like at our wedding, a little table where you can fill a cup with teeth-rotting candy!  A little strange for a nail salon, but instantly, I knew I had picked the right one for me.  It was even fresh candy.  We're talking soft gummy bears and tootsie rolls.  Yum!  I picked out a pedicure package that was advertised at 45 minutes.  Two hours later, I left feeling so refreshed!  I was the only customer there for a while, and my poor girl must have been really bored.  She gave me three different massage scrubs, a masque with hot towels, a hot stone massage, and another lotion massage.  Ahhhhh.  But my favorite part about this spa experience was definitely the eclectic music selection.  Tom will be the first to tell you that I have some random playlists on my phone that I love to pull out on long road trips.  But this sound track was something else. And now for your listening pleasure, here is a sampling of songs I heard while I was there:

• Boyz II Men, I'll Make Love to You
• Celion Dion, My Heart Will Go On
• A religious reggae-sounding song about the Rivers of Babylon
• An instrumental piece that made me feel like I was 5 again, riding a pink horse on the carousel at the mall
• Heart, All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You
• And the theme song to the Disney movie Pocahontas (Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain, can you paint with all the colors of the wind?)

Ok the last thing I'll leave you with today is a doctor's visit update.  We went in yesterday for our weekly checkup.  The belly tape-measure test showed right at 38cm (cm = weeks, still so strange to me how that works!), and her heart rate was thumping along at 130 beats per minute.  Great and great.  Then came the cervix check to see if I had dilated any yet.  Our doctor prefaced by telling us that most first-time mothers have not dilated at this point, and the tip of their cervix feels like the tip of a nose (odd comparison, but sure).  Now, at no point did anyone ever tell me, nor did I ever read anywhere, that a cervix check would hurt.  So let me be the one to tell you, future mothers, that it can be very painful!  I first started to grasp this fact when the doctor told me to "pick a spot on the ceiling, focus on it, and keep breathing".  It was quick, but it was miserable.  Thank goodness he told us that I was 1-2cm dilated, and my cervix has started to point forward rather than down.  I fully understand that you can walk around dilated for weeks, but it was still music to my ears to  hear that there is progress. Also, he touched her head! He.touched.her.head. There is a baby inside of me, and he touched her!  It still seems so surreal.  He said her head is already really low, and when he poked it, her head moved away then came right back down into place (as opposed to squirming away and assuming a different position).  All good news!

When we left, I was in a bit of a panic, thinking I was going to be the biggest wimp ever in labor if I thought the simple cervix check was painful.  Luckily, I stumbled upon this article, where the writer says she thinks the check is worse than childbirth! Whew.  Maybe I won't be a total wuss.  We went ahead and met with the anesthesiologist to sign the epidural paperwork yesterday.  I'm not even going to kid myself and say I will do it all natural.  Pain, be gone!

Alrighty, back to my busy maternity leave schedule, it's just about time for my morning nap ;)  See you all next time with nursery photos!!

Sweet Surprises

How is it already April?  What even happened to March!?

Way back in February, I was lucky enough to be involved in two surprise parties. Once on each side of the surprise - the surpriser and the surprisee.  

First up was a surprise party for my wonderful Dad to celebrate his 50th birthday!  My mom, grandma, and I (along with help from others along the way!) schemed for months to coordinate the plans.  We threw the party at my parents' house so we had to find a way to keep my dad away for the afternoon.  We lucked out and had great weather (for February), so my brother and my grandpa made plans to golf with my dad.  The first surprise of the day was that my Uncle Scott met them on the golf course.  My Uncle Scott from Wisconsin!  We were a little nervous that my dad would think this was suspicious... but luckily, he fell for the "just needed a weekend getaway, heard there was golfing weather in Texas" story line.  Little did he know that his niece Rachel had come along too!  But that was a surprise for later. 

Once we got my dad out of the house, we got to work.  First, we ran errands to pick up last minute groceries and party supplies.  Then we decorated!  We went with an "old guys rule" theme and had lots of adult beverage decorations.  The afternoon flew by, for us and for the guys.  We got the red alert text message that they were finishing up with golf... more than an hour early!  We begged for the guys to stall him, by any means necessary.  Which, as you might guess, four guys on the golf course... resulted in substantial consumption of alcohol at the clubhouse.  But, the stalling worked!

Friends and family began arriving and we assumed our places in the living room and kitchen, prepared to shout SURPRISE!  But of course there had to be one more kink in the plan.  My parents' garage door had stopped working for some reason that day.  My mom warned my dad, and we thought it might actually work in our favor because he'd be forced to come through the front door.  So we all waited, quietly, patiently, for the guys to arrive.  We saw the golf carts pull into the drive.  Then we heard voices as they came in... the side door.  That we forgot to lock!  And being the handyman he is, my dad headed straight to the garage to try and fix the garage door!!  We all did our best to stay quiet and finally, my mom convinced him to come inside and worry about the door later.

"SURPRISE!!!" I loved seeing my dad's face as he took in the scene - friends, family, food, balloons!  Everyone had a great time visiting, eating, drinking, and especially giving my dad a hard time about being so OLD! :)
Surprise party success.

 

 
 The following week, I headed up to Dallas to spend a few days in the office up there.  Busy season was kicking off, and I usually try to make a trip at least once a month to keep in touch with co-workers.  My manager, Lauren, arranged a client lunch while I was in town.  And I had no reason to suspect it was anything to the contrary.  But when we walked into the restaurant, we headed straight to the party room.  It all happened so fast, I still didn't have any suspicions.  Suddenly there was a lot of commotion, and it took me a few seconds to process that this table full of lovely ladies was yelling SURPRISE, for me!  My awesome co-workers and friends had coordinated a surprise baby shower lunch for me, and I was completely caught off guard.  We had a great time at lunch and boy, did they spoil our little sweetie!  A car seat, high chair, sweet little onesies, blankies - just to name a few of their sweet gifts.  And most special of all, an adorable little framed print that they all signed.  So cute, and so perfect in her nursery.  I really wish we had taken a photograph of the whole group, but we forgot.  Luckily I did catch a photo with my friend, Mary!  Don't mind all that wine in the background, it was only a minor tease ;)

So that was February.  Valentines day, taxes, and sweet surprises. 

These pictures are from Valentines day (that pink drink was pretty much straight grenadine and a splash of Sprite, ha. It had me all hopped up on sugar, ready to dance the night away at our neighborhood Valentines Day dance)

Then came March, I think?  Wait where did March go?  Somehow it came and passed very quickly.  In a nutshell, here is how we spent March:

Taxes, newborn care and labor classes, taxes, more trips to Dallas, taxes, doctors appointments, taxes, I got in a minor fender bender, which sent us to Labor & Delivery for monitoring (everyone is ok!), more taxes, and then we ended the month with Tom's 27th birthday! 

If you have to work on a Saturday, you might as well do it outdoors.

Look at that proud papa, learning how to care for his new baby! (I see the resemblence, don't you?)

Our house is being taken over by baby gear.

Bailey loves to lay in her baby's room.  She can't wait!  Or maybe she just likes the rug.

Look at that cutie!!  We were able to squeeze in a quick visit with Tom's older brother and our sweet nephew, Connor.  Such a happy-go-lucky guy at lunch!  (PS - do I look like a natural?? It is difficult to hold a baby on your lap with a big pregnant belly)

Sad car.

Happy 27th birthday, Tom!  Spent some time at the driving range.

And here we are, on April 1st. Today marks 37 weeks 0 days - no foolin'! We have officially made it to "full term". This is also my last week at work - hooray! I'm most excited because it means I don't have to get dressed any more. I do not own pants that fit. And I'm not buying anything else!! Sweats and nightgowns will have to do for the next three weeks. Speaking of which, everybody cross your fingers that she keeps on baking alllll the way until April 22! I would really love to have my two weeks off - nesting, napping, niiiice. I'll also plan to do an end-of-pregnancy update post and a nursery post during that time :)