It's Beginning

First of all, I will start by thanking everyone for coming to the family baby shower last Sunday. It was soooo much fun. We played the dirty diaper game and baby food game. The video we got of it is hilarious and once I get it downloaded, I will post it. I have some pics though! Barb really got to laughing at the look of the dirty diaper. Some candy bars are pretty true to the real thing except the smell.

 What made the games the funnest was having the men there and seeing there facial expressions!!!

Out of the baby food we sampled....never feed your child "chicken in chicken gravy"!!! It is NASTY and smells horrible. Sweet potatoes/corn and applesauce are alright. 

I was sooo happy that my best friend, Jenna was able to make it!!! She made it a lot of fun!!! The family absolutely loves her!!! She fits in sooo well. The men couldn't believe she knew deer lingo. She can have a conversation with anyone!!! She got me 3 jars of Reese's peanut butter...lol...I had completely forgot about being drawn to it at her shop lol.

The cake my mom had made was awesome!!! It was a cookie cake and absolutely adorable. The booties are keepsakes!!

We loved everything we got. We received a lot of blankets/quilts. Matt's aunt made the one below. It is cross-stitched!!! It is beautiful!

My grandma and aunt also had some blankets made for us!

 We also got our stroller/travel system which was a pain installing in the car but we love it! We also got a musical jumper that speaks english and spanish. It was a pain putting together too. As Matt says, he can't wait to here the same songs and words played over and over...lol....

A lady I work with made Andi a little hat and mittens! JuJu is checking them out!

Jenna made a really cute tutu so I dressed the womb bear to show off the look! Christie and Cassie got us the blanket in the background as well as the cross on the wall and a Boppy!

Now onto what is happening in the womb.

Prelabor pains have begun! I am having cramps and lower back pain which are two of the symptoms. By the end of this week I will be 37 weeks and the baby will be considered full-term which I could have her anytime. My belly has really grown over the past couple of days, I think it is because I have dropped some. 

The other night a deer ran out in front of me on 44 and I barely missed it. That is when the pains started. I thought it was from tensing up but apparently not. My cervix has started thinning. This weekend I will begin packing our bags since I will have time. I am working a 7 day stretch right now, and it is exhausting! I am closing 6 of those days. All-in-all, I will have worked 56 hours this week. I am really starting to worry about going into labor at work since I am there all the time. I am also starting to think I am an idiot deciding to work right up to the last minute. Hopefully all the standing and walking I do will make labor and delivery easier! My hands have started swelling pretty bad, especially my left. I can only wear my wedding band now. I don't know what is up with my body lol. My right ankle and left hand swells.

Last but not least, I bought 2 X-Mas outfits with matching tights during our discount days. They were hard to choose. As I have asked before, why are we having a girl? I wouldn't probably spend a lot of money on a boy!

Baby Shower and a Buck

Some of my coworkers had a surprise shower for me at our manager's house! It was soooo fun and cute!!! I got some really great stuff!!! One thing they did was decorate onezies that turned out adorable and then they signed a message to Andi in a nursery rhyme book! Some pics of the onezies are below:

 The Estee' Lauder manager is hosting a foreign exchange student from China and though she spelled the name different, she wrote it in Chinese which is neat.

  I received some other great items as well and I love the colors!!

 I love the womb bear and so does JuJu. She keeps getting it out of the bouncer and dragging it up on our bed.

A big thank you to everyone that made that night very special!! I wish I would of brought my camera to the party:-(

Something I couldn't resist at Target, in case we have a very cold winter:

It is sooo adorable and soft!!! Why are we having a girl???? As Matt puts it, I spend money on less practical things for the baby.
As of lately, we have finished all of our classes. Yesterday was the last breastfeeding class. I am soooo glad that Mercy provides those classes because I feel very prepared and more knowledgeable about how to do things. I found out that Matt is a great swaddler, a lot better than me! We toured labor and delivery and it kind of scared me lol. I realized this baby has to come out in 5 weeks.....I am ready for her to be here and I pray my labor and delivery goes as smoothly as this pregnancy has. I have started packing my bag. Now it is just a waiting game.

Nothing really new has happened other than my right foot is starting to swell more than before. It was just swelling half way down like in the pic but now my whole foot is swelling. It is weird how only my right foot/ankle swells.

I don't know what it is with the right side of my body. I have been using Icy Hot on the lower right side of my back and hip and it has worked great numbing my sciatic nerve pain. I think I will use it in labor as well. The only bad thing about it is I smell like pepto-bismol. I can't sit for very long because of my sciatic nerve, so I am constantly having to do something. I also think since I am on my feet all day, I am just used to it. Lately I have been cleaning a lot. I guess it is part of my nesting.

Matt has had a pretty good month. He loves to hunt, especially bow hunt because it is more challenging. I am going to toot his horn for him. He was in a bow shooting tournament in September. Out of 400 participants, he placed 9th!!! He is really good at what he does, and he practices on the decoys all over our yard and makes bets with me if he hits them from certain distances, usually 50-60yrds. Anyway, he had been wanting to add another nice buck to the wall and he got his wish!

 He had to search for it the next day since it got too dark but you can tell how excited he was when he found it!!! He got a doe earlier and he plans to get another one during rifle season. One thing I know is that if we ever have hard times, he will definitely be a great provider!!!

One last pic to show. At night Sam and JuJu have a big jealousy fight as to who gets to sit with dad. Usually JuJu wins because she is his favorite, but here recently she has been sticking to me and Sam has won his attention. We love our dogs...lol!

As Barbara says, " If our kids are anything like our dogs, we are in trouble."