Our good friend and awesome photographer, Scott Penny, came over this weekend to take some maternity photos for us.  And ummm….did he do an awesome job or what?

We decided to use Grayson’s nursery as one of the backgrounds.  Not even because it’s the nursery, but just because we love how well it turned out.  I love, love, love my little guy’s room.  Pictures of the completed nursery to come soon.  I promise.

BTW…there are so many good ones I will have to do a second post with more of my favorites.  I just didn’t want to overwhelm you with a plethora of awesomeness.

Since we are geeks, especially Derek, I thought it would only be proper to add a bit of geekery to one of the photos.  Yup, that’s a wireless mouse on my bump.

And of course we had to have some puppy lovin’ in there somewhere.

Here we are in the backyard.  We did our best to make it look nice for this one shot.  We have done very little this summer to keep it purdy.  With me pregnant, Derek in grad school, and it being a zillion degrees outside we didn’t have yard beautification at the top of our list.  Don’t get me wrong we kept the yard up….just didn’t do much more than that.

BABY SHOES!

If you live near the Memphis area and love Scott’s work as much as we do and you want him to make you look as lovely as we look hop on over to his website and check out more of his work.

7/22/10 :: day 259

Yesterday, I went to the OB for my weekly exam.  Good and stinky news.  I certainly wouldn’t call it bad news.  I think my body is just one of those that was made to carry a baby.  This little stinker doesn’t want to come out.  I’m STILL not dilated and only 20% effaced. I mean my doctor is so confident that I will make it to my due date that he okayed me to go hang out at the lake all day even though I am full term.  I mean this lake is 2.5 hours away so he is not too concerned about me being too far away from the hospital otherwise he would have said no to me leaving town.

I like to say it is good news because there is nothing wrong with me.  The baby’s heart rate is perfect, my blood pressure is still low, I am not really gaining any weight anymore, and my body is holding strong…for the most part.  I say stinky news because it’s August…in the south…and I’m pregnant.  And this baby ain’t coming out any time soon.  I still have 3 full weeks left to my due date and my doc said that if I don’t dilate by next week we will be scheduling a induction date a few days after my due date.  So I may have this kid in 3.5 weeks instead.  BOO!

(10:12am)  My stomach has been in pain all morning.  It seems that every time I go to visit the doctor for my weekly check-up (which has been twice now) I seem to move to a new level of pain the next day.  And that pain level continues throughout the next week.

This morning when I woke up I woke to soreness and extreme heaviness in my tummy.  It was also a bit hard to breathe…so that sucked.  I put on some lotion and had to lay down on the bed after because it wore me out that much. Pathetic!

7/25/10 :: day 262

I finally, finally, finally had another dream about the baby.  This is only my second dream that he has made an appearance in.  I’m actually kind of happy about that, because I don’t want to get an image of him stuck in my head that may scare me or get my hopes up about what he may look or be like.  I want him to enter this world with no expectations by me.

On another note, my legs have been getting more muscle cramps…especially at night.  I flex my foot the wrong way and…OMG…the biggest charlie horse EVER!

My hips are constantly hurting these days.  Every time I stand or sit or lay down I feel them ache.  On occasion, I will feel an extreme pressure on my lower back while standing.  The feeling is as if I am carrying something really heavy and the weight of the item is being burdened just above my tailbone.  Now more often than not, when I stand up, whether I’m walking or not, I feel the weight of this little guy in my lower abdomen.  It is seriously heavy!  I think I may be carrying the 1st 30 pound baby.  I really do.  The extreme weight of this little boy really does a number on my already achy hips.

Just about every night now I wake up with something numb.  One day, I woke up and my middle finger on my left hand was numb.  What’s up with that?  Now every time I wake to pee, which is about 3-4 times a night, a different body part has gone numb.  Oh…I forgot, I drool.  I am like a leaky faucet.  No really.  I drool so much that EVERY time I wake I have to flip my pillow over, and wipe the stream of drool running down my cheek.  It’s getting pretty nasty.  Which reminds me I need to change my pillow case today.

I think something is broken in me.  I haven’t gotten that crazy nesting instinct yet.  I mean, there are things that I am making sure gets done before the baby gets here, but I just always thought the “nesting” would be like a flood of crazy that washed over me, and with only 2.5 weeks left to go I don’t think I have enough time to truly nest.  Derek’s nesting has kicked in so where is mine?

7/26/10 :: day 263

I’m just going to say it, well type it, I’m scared.  I have 2 weeks and 3 days left before my due date, and as much as I would like to meet my little guy I feel like there is not enough time left to complete all the things that need to be done.  We’ve had a major minor set back in the completion of the nursery.  One of the shelves over the changing table wobbled right out of the wall.  Now we have to patch the hole and move the shelf.  Boo.
As I cried into Derek’s arms last night I unleashed on him my mounting fears.  The poor guy just probably wanted to zonk out, but listened and comforted his sobbing wife for a solid 15-30 minutes.  I’m afraid while preparing the last couple of weeks I will forget to take the time to spend with my belly.  I don’t want to get so wrapped up in preprations that I miss out on my last weeks of carrying my 1st child.  I have more than enjoyed being pregnant, and want to savor every minute of this pregnancy.

In my sobbing last night I also reveled in the possibility that “what if something is wrong with our child?”  I will still love him just as much, but I don’t think anyone wants to see their child suffer.  I think all of this panic came along due to the craziness of yesterday.  The front passenger side window of one of our vehicles got broke out by a rock, and the windshield got chipped when Derek was mowing the lawn, and a blade threw a large rock right at the car.

I still need to buy nursing bras, tops, pads, and cream.  I need to sanitize my pump, and wash some bottles.  The pack-n-play is already set up in our bedroom, right next to my side of the bed of course.  Derek wants the dogs to get use to it in the room.  I don’t think they even notice that it’s there.  Well, except for the fact that we had to relocate Wrigley’s bed to the other side of the room.  I really don’t think she minds, because now she gets to sleep by daddy and her big brother all night long, and she is madly in love with both.

This little guy is getting uber cramped in my belly.  He hasn’t dropped yet, so he has been kicking my ribs.  At least he hasn’t been too bad about making it hard to breathe.  There are times when he moves that I wouldn’t say that it “hurts”, but the feeling isn’t pleasant.

Today I woke up and my entire body was sore.  With only 4 days left of work I just couldn’t make it in.  It was painful to lay in bed; I have no clue how I would sit in a work chair for 8 hours, so I stayed home.  That means only 3 days left of work…wow!  I’m not going back to work.  I’m quitting.  Three more days and I will be a stay-at-home mom.  How in the world did I get so lucky?

(8:44pm) Derek and I went to Target tonight to purchase a few things I still needed for my hospital bag, and some breastfeeding supplies I was lacking.  As we started walking into my favorite red and white store my belly started aching.  On and off during our Target excursion I was having sharp pains.  The pains are a bit more intense than BH contractions I’ve had in the past.  These are a sharp pain that are just below my belly button and all the way across my stomach. (both sides)  They are still hurting me on occasion now that I’m at home.  I don’t think they are anything to get excited over, because I can still talk though them.  Unless something changes I’m going to chalk these up to being a bit stronger versions of my normal Braxton Hicks contractions.

7/27/10 :: day 264

Cue tears.  Just last week I had a perfect “non-stretch marked” baby bump, and now with 2 weeks left I am developing stretch marks on my beautiful bump.  I know that most women get stretch marks, but with just two weeks to go?  Are you kidding me?!  I have some on my thighs from this pregnancy, but my belly has always been spared.  Why now?  Why on the one thing about my pregnancy that has remained untainted from the hideous skin tears?  I’ve done my best to keep my weight in check during these past 9 months, not to mention my mom didn’t get stretch marks even after 3 kids…so why am I getting them?  I know there is not much you can do about it I just think it’s hitting me hard, because I thought I was coming out of this with somewhat the same stomach as I went in with.   But now with only 2 stinkin’ weeks left I am left defeated.  Call me vein, call me selfish, just don’t call me late for dinner…I kid, I kid…I am just bummed. I know that once I see that precious little face no stretch mark in the world will ever bother me again.

(6:40pm) My sorority sister Ashley just gave birth to her little girl Harper today.  Ashley originally was just a week ahead of me in her due date, but got bumped up to this Friday…guess it should have been earlier than that.  And my other friend Whitney that was due on August 1st gave birth yesterday to little Miss Mary Collins.  Hearing of these two girls giving birth that are timed right there with me gets me excited to meet my little guy.  However, I don’t think I’m going to be quite as lucky as they were.  Grayson is holding strong.  I don’t expect to meet his little squishy face for another 2 week SOLID.

My friends Amy, Beth, and Meredith asked if they could throw me, or shall I say Grayson, a baby shower.  How could I refuse?  With the help of Amy and Beth’s mom, Carolyn, and my mom Becky a couples baby shower was held in our honor. Yep, that’s right my amazing hubby attended a baby shower with me.

Here are our dear friends Allie and Scott.  Scott being the sweetie that he is has agreed to take a few maternity photos for me.  Thanks bud!

Here are two more of our close friends Allie and Josh.  Yep, there’s two Allies.  Both super duper sweet and adorable.  Don’t ya think?

A few more party-goers and the soon to be Aunt Toof.  (don’t worry Toof is just a nickname)

Here I am with two other preggos.

Since it was a couple’s shower I had my better half there to help unwrap.  I just wish I could get him to help write thank you notes.

Is this what my child is going to look like?  Oh dear!

The loot.  Thank you to everyone who came and shared this special night with us.  We love you all.

This week marks the end of an era in my life.  Well, for a few years any way.  I currently work full-time at an awesome non-profit that is known all over the world for it’s work, but counting today I only have 3 days left at this wonderful establishment.  Originally, when I found out I was knocked up I thought that there was no choice in the matter.  I thought that I would pop this kid out and 3 months later I’d be back sitting in my cubicle….you know, just minus the belly.

About 1/2 way through my pregnancy, my husband surprised me and brought up the topic of me quitting and becoming a stay-at-home mom.  I was all, “wow…I can stay home and raise my baby!  Wait, do I want to quit?”  From there we started discussing all the pros and cons of going back to work, and also for staying at home.

I went back and forth for months.  I would have a bad day at work and come home ranting about how I was certain I wanted to quit, and the next I would go to a meeting that would spark my passion about my work and I came home talking about how I  wanted to stay a working woman.  I’m not going to deny it…it was one of the hardest decisions of my life.  Really.

In the end, I didn’t have any references on a good place/person to watch my child.  No joke, every single on of my friends and co-workers that had a child within the past few years has had a friend or family member watch their child if they went back to work.  I have neither.  All my family members already have jobs or just don’t live in town.

The cost of gas and the time spent driving to and from the daycare, and the cost of a good trustworthy daycare would almost defeat the point of me going back to work.  At some point I would just be making money to spend it all on daycare and gas.  What’s the point in that?

Staying at home, I think, will also provide time and energy for me to keep the house in working order.  Right now just working without a child I tend to lack in the keeping the house spic-n-span area.  With a full-time job AND a newborn….pah-lease!  My house would turn into a giant black hole of nasty.

And the best reason for me to stay home, the kicker, I would get to raise my child.  I would have the opportunity to witness 1st hand all of my child’s milestones.  Not many people now get to say that, and I am so thankful that I will have that opportunity.

I know being a stay-at-home mom isn’t for everyone, but for our family I think it’s the right decision.  At least for now.  Yes, we will be doing a bit more budgeting, but it’s so going to be worth it.  Has anyone else made this decision or at least thinking about it?  How did it go?  Was it worth it?

7/15/10 :: day 252

Yesterday I went to the doc’s for my 1st weekly exam, and didn’t leave as excited as I entered.  Even though I am not technically “full-term” I was hoping for some good news in the cervix area.  But alas….I am still carrying this little bean high and am zero centimeters dilated. I guess I should be happy that I haven’t had any problems during my pregnancy, and that my baby is happy as a clam living inside of me, but I just really want to meet him.  These last few weeks, because I can almost reach out and taste my due date, have been unbearable.  And the next 3.5 I imagine will be worse.  I think another part of me has mentally checked out of work already, and it’s torture having to sit in a cubicle all day when there are soooo many other things I need to be doing in preparation of Mr. Bean.

Last night and this morning haven’t been any better.  I awoke at 2:30am having to pee and couldn’t fall back asleep till 5:30am.  My alarm goes off at 5:50am.  JOY!

7/19/10 :: day 256

I’ve been sleeping better these days.  Well, about as well as you can sleep 9 months pregnant.

I am being blessed with some nasty gas pain or contractions this morning.  I am thinking it’s a little of both.  Oh joy!

(2:19pm)  I wouldn’t call my BH intense, but I would say that they are quite uncomfortable.  I make certain to drink plenty of water.  And thank goodness for that it has helped keep me regular.  I do not even want to think about being pregnant & backed up…if you catch my drift.  When the BH contractions come on I do my best to get up and take a stroll around the parking lot or walk to a co-worker’s desk, but that doesn’t always do away with them.  WAIT!!!  I just remembered only BH contractions go away with walking and water.  Am I in early labor????  Oh geez!  I guess I will find out on Wednesday. I’m not even going to begin to get excited about that though, because I’m sure he will tell me that nothing has changed and we are still on track for August 12th.  BOO!

7/20/10 :: day 257

(1:03pm) My stomach has the hiccups so hard core right now I kind of feel like I have the hiccups too.  Maybe he caught the hiccups I had at lunch?!?

Well we are at that point.  We are putting the final touches on Grayson’s nursery.  We originally were going to have a twin bed in the nursery since our house has only two bedrooms.  Derek and I thought that we could still use the nursery as guest room if need be, but it was decided that storage was more important than having a guest bed.  With the bed removed, we had a large space that needed to be filled.

Once we decided on storage over sleep space, I knew exactly what type of storage I wanted.  Big white wooden cube shelving.  The owner of The Modern Baby Company recently posted pics of the nursery she designed for her daughter.  I drew tons inspiration from her design.

The hunt for white wooden cube shelving commenced.  Here is what I was looking for…

(photo credit belongs to The Modern Baby Company)

However, Memphis ain’t got no freakin’ IKEA, and all the other stores I tried just didn’t have what I was looking for.   Since Ikea doesn’t ship many of their items I would have to DRIVE to the nearst Ikea to purchase this bad boy.  6 hours to Atlanta sounded like too much work and waaay too much gas money for one bookshelf.

So after many long weeks of searching I decided that maybe i needed to give up on that dream and find another piece of furniture that would both provide storage and match the MOD style of Grayson’s room.

Enter the chest of drawers from Target.

I am now thrilled that we decided to go with this piece of furniture, because I now have so much extra storage space that I am only able to fill up 1/2 of this bad boy.  Room to grow…that’s always nice.

So, this past Saturday was spent building the dresser…

…and hanging curtains.

As a gift, my mother-in-law offered to make curtains for the nursery.  So, off to the fabric store we went.  Unfortunately, they just didn’t have what we were looking for, so off to Target we went!

Target had just what we were looking for.  Doesn’t it always?  If I could marry Target I would.  We would make beautiful children together.  Mind out of the gutter Jennifer.

Where was I?

Curtains.  We found just the curtains we were looking for at Target and the rods at Bed Bath & Beyond.  So, another project that was going on Saturday was Derek hanging curtain rods and my sweet, sweet mother-in-law parked in front of the sewing machine.

We are getting close to D-day people.  Three weeks left!  Gotta get on the ball.  I hope to be totally finished with the nursery withing the next week.  Just a few picture frames left to hang on the wall.  I’m working on the art right now in Photoshop.

Keep tuned for more status updates.