Evy's First Baby Shower

It's hard for me to put to words the overwhelming feelings I have about how loved we are. I had a baby shower in Farmersville this weekend that included ladies who I've grown up knowing from church. The shower was wonderful and we got so many gifts for Evy! It was such a special time and we are so grateful to all of you who have been such an important part of our lives...and will be important to Evy as well.

The food was great and I loved my rice krispie treat cake Debbie made!

The hostesses with mom and I...thank you ladies for your hard work!

Me and Mom (Evy's Mema)

Me with Chad's Aunt Jane and Mom (Evy's NayNay)

Me with my cousin-in-law Cathy, her daughter Shelby, and My Aunt Sharon My wonderful girlfriends...Kelly, Me, Debbie and Elisabeth

All the gifts we received are so important and special to us. A few that were a surprise and mean so much to us are these...

Evy's bedding that my mom made

The swimsuit I wore as an infant...we hope Evy can wear it as well

Chad's mom gave us a few sweaters and hats that Chad wore when he was a baby...I really hope Evy will be able to wear them too.

The gifts...

The car seat was given to us by a family friend and comes with a stroller as well. We have also been given three bags full of clothes from another family friend and are extremely grateful to the Schilhab and Jones families!

I will post more pictures later because there are many! Like I said earlier...we are so blessed by everyone's thoughtfulness and generosity. Evy will not go without anything!

Shower Preparations

My first shower is this weekend and is my hometown shower. I wanted to do something special for the guests and decided to make turtle candy. It is such an easy recipe. First you lay down what I call window pane pretzels. Then top with rolos candies. Place them in the oven for 4-5 minutes and press a pecan in the center once the rolo is melted. Then let them cool (I put them in the refrigerator because the heat in the house was keeping them from hardening). They came out great and I love the packaging I chose. I made little "Thank You" tags with our theme verse for this pregnancy experience.

Dr. Visit

We met with our doctor today for a checkup. So he measures my belly and makes the statement that Evy is "measuring right on target...even measuring generously". What does that mean?!?!?! It means she might be a little bigger than average. He is going to give us a sonogram in two weeks to determine what her size is and to see that everything looks good. We are excited to see her and hope she is definitely a girl...we don't need a surprise at this point! We also have to begin counting Evy's movements every day. She has to make 10 movements within 2 hours. I don't think she'll have a problem with this because she is pretty active! We appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we get closer and closer to Evy's arrival. I pray and hope my labor and delivery goes just a great as the pregnancy has gone.

32 Weeks

Today I am 8 months pregnant! It blows my mind how fast this pregnancy has progressed. I was looking over the last 12 weeks at pictures of my belly and am amazed how much it has grown! I cannot imagine getting bigger, but know I will over the next 8 weeks. One major change I have noticed is how out of breath I am these days. Sometimes just talking causes me to be short of breath. I am still having pain in my pelvis and hips, but have heard this is normal as the round ligaments are stretching to prepare for Evy's delivery. Evy should weigh between 4 and 4 1/2 pounds and is 16 inches long. Evy continues to mature her lungs. Her skeleton is completely formed and her fingernails and toenails are formed as well. I have gained another 1/2 inch around my belly, which has me measuring 42 1/2 inches around.

I haven't had many cravings during this pregnancy until now (other than the occasional Dove chocolate). About 2 to 3 times a week I have to have these...

Sonic Mozzarella Sticks

Fortunately I eat pretty healthy throughout the rest of the week so I don't feel guilty at all about fulfilling my cravings. I want to send a big thanks to my mom who came this past weekend and helped me get some things under control so I am not as overwhelmed. She cleaned and organized our garage, we cleaned the nursery and worked in Evy's closet to organize it. Mom also reorganized our kitchen and Evy now has her own cabinet. I feel so much better now and am ready to begin organizing and washing Evy's clothes. Thanks mom! We go to the doctor for our bi-monthly checkup tomorrow and next week we begin our childbirth classes at the hospital. Also, we have our first baby shower this weekend in Farmersville. I'm so excited!

31 Weeks

Not much has happened this last week. Evy, of course, is continuing to grow. She should weigh between 3 1/2 and 4 pounds and is approximately 15 1/2 inches long. From now until her birth she will double her weight. I am carrying her low, which continues to cause a lot of pain in my pelvis and hips. I am measuring 42 inches this week. It is crazy how much my belly grows each week. It's also crazy how much we already love this little girl! Although I still need time to complete preparations for her arrival, we are anxious to meet Evy.

Happy Love Day

Chad and I decided several years ago that it wasn't necessary for us to celebrate Valentine's Day every year. What we have been doing is cooking dinner and renting a movie, but no exchange of gifts. However, this year Chad was sweet and surprised me with "Love Happens" and a cute card. I feel bad that I didn't do anything for him, but maybe cooking lunch and a special dessert...Strawberry Shortcake Trifle...will suffice. Last night we were able to meet Chad's parents for dinner. We haven't seen them since the holidays...which is crazy being they only live 30 minutes away. So it was nice to be able to have dinner with them. It was a frustrating trip though. A trip that should have only taken 15 minutes turned into over an hour. We were moving along and then traffic came to a stop and all we could see were red break lights. We were able to exit after a while and drove all around to get back to the highway to find that the entrance ramps back on to the highway were closed. So we finally made it to dinner...only to have to wait another long amount of time for a table. We met Chad's parents at BJ's Brewery, which is one of my favorite restaurants and the food and dessert was well worth all that we went through to get there. (By the way...we found out this morning on the news the highway was closed because a woman in a truck claimed to have a bomb, which led to a police standoff...CRAZY!) Chad's parents gave us these cute, cute outfits for Evy and I've already paired them with Trumpette socks. I can't wait to see Evy in them. Today my parents came over to help us install a set of cabinets in our garage to give us extra storage. I love, love, love our house...I have ever since the first time we saw it. But, our house lacks greatly in storage. So, for Christmas, my parents bought us kitchen cabinets for extra storage. I'm excited to begin moving stuff out of the house into the garage to give us more space for Evy and all her necessities. While the men worked in the garage my mom and I worked in the nursery to get the furniture in place and sort through baby clothes that others have passed on to Evy.

I'm Addicted!

Hi, my name is Stephanie and I am a Trumpette Sockaholic. I can't get enough of these socks! I've been searching different websites for Trumpette socks and came across these on Amazon. Aren't they cute???

I can just see Evy wearing these boot socks every time she visits the farm And, wouldn't these be great for church?

These argyle socks are great for lounging around the house

And I can already picture Evy in these with a cute Spring outfit

I haven't ordered them yet but am very tempted. I am not a fan of wearing socks, but Evy will have the cutest socked feet around!

30 Weeks

I only have 10 more weeks?!?!?!? I know in previous posts I've made comments on how I cannot believe how fast time is moving with this pregnancy. But stating that I have 10 weeks left before Evy's arrival...that's way too overwhelming! I seriously cannot believe I am already at the end of my pregnancy. Where did the time go? We are anxiously awaiting Evy's arrival...but I'm praying she does not come early because we are no where near ready for her to be here. However, we are so excited to meet her, see who she looks like, and watch her blossom into her little personality...which she is already showing. Chad says Evy is very much like her momma right now in that she likes her space and doesn't want anyone coming into her personal space bubble. If I am resting my arms on my belly she is kicking and pushing them off. I've noticed if I press on my belly she kicks the exact spot I'm pressing. Silly girl! Evy is over 15 inches long and weighs approximately 3 pounds. She is much more active than she has been in the past and even has days where she doesn't nap and is in constant motion. Evy can now tell the difference between light and dark and supposedly can follow a light source. I am measuring another 1/2 inch around the belly which puts me at 41 1/2 inches around. I am completely amazed by the changes the body goes through to accommodate a growing baby. Only God can create us that way! I am getting more uncomfortable as the days go by and have a hard time getting up and down from sitting. I think because I am carrying Evy so low it is causing a lot of pain in my pelvis and hips. But...I guess she is worth it!

Celebrating Life

This weekend was busy and very bittersweet. On Saturday morning my mom and I helped host a shower for an old friend's wife...who is due two weeks before me. I volunteered to do decorations and had a lot of fun creating the decor.

I made this picture ribbon that displayed baby pictures of the couple. I think I might make one of Chad and I to display at the hospital.

These candles were so easy to make and everyone seemed to love them!

This banner was the final decoration I made and thought it turned out great. It is something else I think I will have at the hospital when Evy is born.

After the baby shower I went to the funeral of a surrogate grandmother. She was one of my best childhood friend's grandmother and everyone knew her as Big Mama. It was a wonderful funeral with lots of stories and memories about Big Mama. We all laughed and cried throughout. I was pretty exhausted though by the time I got home.

29 Weeks

Evy and I are continuing to grow! I had my 28 week appointment last week and the doctor said everything seems perfect with Evy and I. While he was listening to Evy's heartbeat, she kicked his doppler wand right off my stomach! It was pretty funny and the doctor seemed to get a kick out of it (no pun intended)! Chad thought it was neat because when she kicked you could see her foot actually bump the wand. I had to get the RhoGam shop at my appointment. I hate shots and needles, but am doing better since I have to get blood drawn regularly during the pregnancy. When I was little my parents always tell stories of how it would take 3-4 nurses to hold me down just so the doctor could give me a shot. And I would fight and cry so hard I would have these little hickies around my eyes. Anyway - when the nurse came in to give me my RhoGam shot 2 other nurses (who were in training) walked in and I made the comment that my mom must have called them and told them they would need to hold me down to give me the shot. They loved that! It wasn't too bad though. This morning my belly measured at 41 inches. Evy is now over 14 1/2 inches long and weighs approximately 2 3/4 pounds. She is rapidly growing and gaining weight. Her head is growing due to rapid brain development and her muscles and lungs are continuing to develop. We registered at the hospital this past week and are going to be signing up for some of the classes that are offered. There is so much to do before Evy arrives that it is overwhelming at times. However, we are very anxious to meet her!