The letters were hung in the nursery with care...

We spent the majority of this past weekend getting the nursery ready to go. I'm waiting for my bedding to come in to post pics of the entire nursery, but here's a sneak peek with the letters up on the wall! The bedding is supposed to 2-day ship by the end of the month, which is Saturday, so it should be here early next week at the lastest.

Cute Alert!!!

So my bedding has not yet come in, but this is the next best thing! Our good friends Ben, Carmen, and Allie Ross just gave us these wall letters to go above Grace's crib, which match her bedding. Are these not the cutest things you've ever seen? I can't wait to get them up on the wall! We provided fabric swatches of Grace's bedding (see in a much earlier post), and the lady that made these actually hand paints them to match anything. They are basically an EXACT replica of the fabric, so much so that it looks like she just stretched the fabric over the letters.

Many thanks to the Ross family!!!

33 Week Appointment Update and Picture

So I won't technically be 33 weeks until tomorrow, but you get my update today because I have time! We had an appointment today, and Dr. Cheree said that I'm the perfect patient (in terms of stats)! Good blood work, blood pressure, weight gain, etc. She also said I'm excused from walking the lakes because it's getting too hot! We'll see about that; I try to go early while it's still cool, but it's been getting tough lately. Not because it's hot, but because I need a bathroom break before I can make it two miles! So maybe a condensed route that stays closer to the house is in order. Below is a picture of me this afternoon. Wow, where did that belly come from?!?! I can tell she's packing on the pounds these days, because I'm growing outward at a much faster rate than ever!
At our last ultrasound, Grace was head up, feet down, and completely not prepared to make an entrance to this world. While we don't want her to come early either, we WOULD like for her to make her way into a head down position sooner rather than later. Today I asked Dr. Cheree to make an educated guess, and she thinks she might have turned. The sharp blows to my ribs at night suggest to me that might be feet, so I'm hoping she's right!

I'm happy to have Blake home for a full week, and hopefully by next weekend we'll have pictures posted of the nursery for you. The only thing we're missing is the bedding, and my grandfather is refinishing a rocker/glider for us, so that won't be in the pictures either. The lady who is making our bedding lost her mother unexpectedly, so all of her orders have been pushed back a few weeks.

I think my next update will probably be in two weeks, when I'll post pics of the two baby showers I'm having. Time to go have dinner with our friend Carmen and her baby Allie (Grace's future friend). Mmmm, barbequed shrimp pizza!

Back up 4 weeks to Minden Baby Shower

Back up a month to June 5th, and this was my first baby shower! My camera wasn't working, so my mom took all of the pictures, and we weren't very talented at transferring the pictures from Longview to Baton Rouge. Now, almost a month later, I'm ready to share them with you!

My sweet aunts threw me a baby shower during the Annual Wren Family Reunion in Minden, Louisiana. All the girls had a great time while the boys rode four-wheelers, shot guns, and did other manly things!
Below is Mama Gay (my dad's mom), me (and Gracie), Mimi (my mom's mom), and my mom! There probably aren't too many times when all "5" of us will ever be together again, so this was a very special time for us. Check out my awesome diaper cake and the "stroller" cake that Aunt Kathy's sister made for the shower. It was adorable, and delicious!

Below is me with my hostesses, Jill, Aunt Ellen, (me), Aunt Kathy, and Aunt Liz. I learned the ropes of child care from these women, as my Aunt Kathy had twin girls, Morgan and McKenzie, when I was 10, and I most certainly thought they were my little children! Aunt Liz had Samantha soon after, and we had a blast keeping her while my aunt and uncle went on vacation.

This picture cracks me up! It is the Boppy newborn lounger, which my sister Lauren gave to me, but in the picture it looks like there's a real baby sitting in it!

These are the above referenced Morgan and McKenzie, of whom I have very fond childhood memories. From the day they were born, my sister Lauren and I decided they were our children, and every time we were with them, they never left our sight! It's been a lot of fun watching them grow up, and they were candlelighters in my wedding (almost 5 years ago)! They gave me our favorite movie growing up, The Land Before Time, so that Gracie can watch it too!

After the shower was over, some of the boys decided to come check out the loot, and more likely get some of the delicious cake! Seated below are Blake, cousin Ben, PawPaw (my mom's dad), Uncle Jim, my brother Justin (Gracie's god father), my Dad "Pops", and Granddaddy (my dad's dad). My mom's side of the family drove in for the shower from Tyler, TX, and Shreveport.

All in all, it was a great shower, Gracie got lots of good stuff (pack 'n' play, swing, infant seat, lounger, LOTS of clothes, bathtime gear), and the list goes on and on! Thanks to everyone who made it such a special day for all of us!

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July weekend! Blake got the Arkansas portion of his project wrapped up and came home on Wednesday night. On Friday afternoon, we headed up to Lake Bruin to spend the holiday with Blake's family. Everyone had a great time! Below is a picture of Blake and me, and I'm pretty sure it adds about 10 pounds to me (of course Blake is looking as thin as ever, so I don't know if my theory hold up well). Saturday, July 3 marked the start of my eighth month. Just 2 left!
Aunt Erin did what she does best, and what she'll have to teach her God-child to do, fishing! That's Mr. John hanging out with Erin on the swing.

Here's Blake, cousin Brandon, and Uncle Ryan hanging out on the pier on Sunday afternoon. Next year Blake won't look quite so relaxed when he has a 10 months old crawling around! He got a little taste of the demands of fatherhood when all of Brandon's kids wanted boat rides all morning while he was off golfing, so Blake got to fill in (he didn't complain about driving the boat around all morning). Of course, Blake and Uncle Ryan have already started making plans for camps and boats and piers of our own! Stay tuned for more details (but not anytime soon)...it's only money, right?

It was a great weekend, and I enjoyed every minute that I got to spend with Blake and the rest of the family. Yesterday afternoon I dropped Blake off at his office for Round 3 of his levee inspections, where he'll be for the next 10 days. I packed a little surprise in his suitcase that he found last night once they arrived. One of the sweet Daddy Loves Me bibs will hang out with Blake to remind him that his little girl loves him and can't wait to hear his voice again in 10 days! On that note, as the tears of joy and excitement start to sting my eyes, I'm going to sign off!

Stay tuned for more updates as the count-down until D-day arrives!

31 Weeks Down, 9 To Go!

Yesterday we went to see Dr. Cheree for our 31 week appointment, and Gracie is doing great! However, the nurse made us nervous with her comments. She said that Baby Grace was constantly shoving the Doppler machine off the appropriate location to get her heartbeat, and that she is likely to be a very fiesty little girl. She even said the name Grace may not be appropriate because she is so strong willed! Now obviously, this was a joke, but I think I'm going to start playing meditation music to calm her down!

Blake got to come home on Wednesday night and will be here until Monday, and he is having a ball seeing how much more active and pronounced her movements have gotten. She really doesn't stop moving very often, and every now and then my stomach looks like it's doing the wave or the worm, whichever you prefer!

We're headed out to Lake Bruin for a nice, relaxing weekend, and *perhaps* I'll post some pictures from our weekend when we get back. Depends on what I'm looking like in my maternity lake-wear!

We've gotten all of our furniture for the nursery, but it's pretty much all haphazardly stored in there, so once we get some organization to it I'll post pictures of that as well.

That's all for now; everyone have a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend!