Babies, Baby Shower, Visits and Birthdays!

• I had my 33 week appointment today. We go back at 35, then start our 1 week appointments at week 36. My blood pressure was low (110/54) no protein was found (my kidneys/liver are working perfectly) and I hadn't gained any more weight despite the swelling! Praise God!
• A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Emelyn's Uncle Chris!! Aunt Valerie will be 22 tomorrow too... and Uncle Andrew will be 19 on Friday!
• Today was Valerie and Andrew's first day of classes at KSU. Andrew's a freshman this year and is "cool" about classes/college - not nearly as nervous/scared as I remember being! He has a lot of friends already there, and some of his good friends are in the same fraternity so I'm sure that helps - not to mention that Valerie is right down the road. :)
• Today was Jake's first day of work in their new office building. The guys all moved their furniture on Friday. Jake joked that he felt like it was his first day of Kindergarten. :)
• Our dear friends, Brad and Kira, stayed with us this weekend and it was such a joy to spend time with them and their daughter, Evelynn. Such fun!
• Our church hosted a baby shower for us this weekend as well. We received many many beautiful gifts and clothing. Still can't beleive that we'll be using all of these things soon!
• Emelyn is moving more and more it seems these days - so much for her supposedly "moving less" in the 3rd Trimester - the movement is just much STRONGER this trimester but not any less. We can definately tell when it's a foot, head or bottom poking through by the shape poking through my belly. So funny!
• Without going into too many details, please pray for my sister, Dana, who is 17 weeks along. She has been having contractions on a regular basis for a few weeks and is receiving weekly shots of progesteron to prevent pre-term labor. They had a "scare" last night and had to go to the emergency room for a few hours to slow things down. She's home resting now and is unsure of what will happen from here since this is the second week in a row she's had to go in to the hospital to stop the contractions and receive IV fluids. We're all anxious to meet our new neice/nephew but would prefer to wait until AFTER Christmas. She is on bedrest until her appointment tomorrow. Please pray for Dana, Joe and their 2 year old Joe Jr.
• I have 3 weeks of work left.
• Jake's brother is coming to visit this weekend! We can't wait to see him and are hoping for good weather. I know Jake has all kinds of things he wants to do with his brother and is anxiously waiting for him to be here.
• Hope you all have a great week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I would just like to wish my lovely wife a Happy Birthday!!! Today she is celebrating her 24th birthday so if you see her or talk to her please wish her the same.

Surprise Baby Shower!

Yesterday my office had a surprise baby shower for Jake and I - all I can say is that I am simply overwhelemed by their generosity and kindness. I truly am blessed to have been able to work for such an amazing company the last two years. I think all companies need to sit down with our Executive Director to learn about how to encourage, motivate and inspire employees and their relationships among co-workers. Our office truly feels like one big family - a family I will be missing very much when Miss Emelyn arrives! They gave us a swing, boppy and 5 of the cutest little outfits we've seen along with a really cute jacket that are all 3 month.

Also, Jake and I had our first childbirth class last night. It was really really good. It was taught by a certified doula and she was super encouraging and informative. We learned a lot of things. One of the most valuable things we walked away with was the reminder that our bodies were created to give birth, and that with the right information, tools, listening to your body, and learning how to relax, birth is not meant to be the screaming scene we see on tv. We practiced a handful of relaxation tools to help us find what works best for us and will continue to work on these over the next 6 weeks of classes. We're definately looking forward to going back!

On another exciting note (I think,) I told you about my appointment on Tuesday and how there was some concern due to my swelling. Long story short, I have actually lost 3-4 pounds since my appointment in 2 short days! After talking with my mom on Tuesday in great length about what my Doctor said she had some great advice. (On a side note, my mom had preeclampsia as well as toxemia with my oldest sister, Melissa.) She said she drank at least 1 gallon of water/day with Melissa, stayed off of her feet as much as possible, yet still tried to exercise as much as possible between keeping her feet up. I've been trying to prop my feet up and drink as much water as possible, and this must be helping. I stopped by the pharmacy on my way home from work today to check my blood pressure - 124/70 - so everything seems good there. Thank you for your prayers!!!

Little of this and that...

This morning we had a Dr. appointment - the first of our "2 week" check ups. It wasn't quite as "fun" as the others since I seem to have a few symptoms that will need to be watched. My blood pressure and protein levels are right on target BUT I gained a lot of weight in the last 3 weeks (water retension) and my hands/legs/face look and feel like sponges. While this could just be because of the weather here, we'll be watching my blood pressure and protein closely since the weight gain from water retention is usually followed by preeclampsia. (Not Good.)

Dr. Birch said there's nothing we can do to prevent preeclampsia if it happens - diet and exercise don't cause/prevent it. It's hard to know things are out of your control! We obviously don't want to be on bedrest, have a C-section or induce early which is what commonly happens with preeclampsia. We want Emelyn to develop in the womb and to come naturally when she's ready. We also know that God is in control which is the best place for the control to be!

31 weeks, 1 day

Also, I'm not sure if I wrote about this before, but I failed my first glucose test (normal is 140 and mine was at 145 the day I was tested.) SO, I had to go back for a 4 hour long test where I had to fast 12 hours then drink sugar, then they tested my blood sugar levels for the next 4 hours to see if it went too high. It definately didn't go too high, but it was actually on the low end and/or below normal with each blood draw. So I definatley don't have gestational diabetes but on the other hand, I have low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and have to make sure to eat every few hours to keep from shaking. It has been hard to eat this often - especially since it's so hot out - I don't even feel like eating sometimes, and when I do eat, I have heartburn really bad. :(

On a more fun note, we received our car seat and stroller yesterday! Jake couldn't wait to put it together and assembed it when we got home late last night. Also, while Jake was in New Orleans last week I made the curtains for Emeyn's room. Nothing extragent or professional obviously, but we think they're cute. :)

We'd appreciate your prayers for mine and Emelyn's health - August 25th we'll know if anything has developed. Hope you have a good week!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Today marks our FOURTH wedding anniversary!!! Each year we take time to look back over the year to see where God has brought us and each year we are overwhelmed with thanksgiving for all God has done. This year is no different. Thank you, Father, for blessing our marriage over these 4 years, and thank you for such a wonderful husband! I couldn't ask for a more perfect match who seeks the Lord as a man, husband and now a dad. Jacob, I am so thankful for your spiritual leadership, wisdom, guidance, love, provision, encouragement and even your never ending ability to make me laugh (just for the record, I STILL hate it when you tickle me!!!)

Surprise Visit!

Alisha and I had a surprise visit from my dad Thursday night. My mom has been looking for a new vehicle and I helped them find one down here that was exactly what she wanted. I really didn't think they would drive 600 miles one way just to buy a vehicle. Low and behold, my dad called me Thursday afternoon to tell me he's on his way to Fayetteville. Unfortunately my mom couldn't come because it's a busy time of the year for her. It was a very short visit, but still very nice to see my dad. He picked up the new Tahoe Friday morning, we ate lunch at Colton's, and then he headed back to Kansas. WOW, what a long trip. We really enjoyed seeing you dad and can't wait to see you and mom next time!!

Decorating Time...

So I mentioned a few days ago that we were working on a "creative" piece of art. Jake cut the board, sanded it, painted it etc... and then I opened the box, rolled out the saying only to find it was missing the "a" in "and!" We looked everywhere and couldn't find it.

Knowing it would be nearly impossible for us to match the cream color and font of the rest of the saying, we decided to paint the "a" in a bright pink. (In the picture you can't tell it's pink, but trust me, it's pink!) Now I just need Jake to attach some pink ribbon to the back so that we can hang it on the wall. First decoration is almost complete!
We can't seem to find a dresser that we really like, so we've decided to use my desk I had growing up for a changing table. It's the perfect size and has just enough drawers to hold the few things we'll want near the changing pad. The closet is HUGE so having a dresser really isn't nessecary at this point. Now I just need to start deciding where to put everything.
On to our next project... curtains/bed skirt/bumper pad. We have yet to find something we really like so I'm just going to make them. (Wish me luck!) I keep thinking it surely can't be that hard (I imagine I have a huge surprise awaiting me!) Here are the 4 fabrics I've narrowed it down to. When Jake got home this afternoon he immediately decided he liked the pink/dragonfly/ladybug fabric best so I'll likely use it the most.

Jake will be out of town this week for business so I'll probably attempt this sewing project while he's gone. Once again, this is plan A, if it doesn't work out, we'll just have to go to a plan B.