Ready or not... here she comes!

Things have been pretty quiet around here lately since all of our beautiful disasters weekend before last.

This past weekend, Mama & Daddy came to visit for what was their last until Lucy comes. We got to show off all of our (okay, okay... Chris's) hard work in Lucy's bathroom & went for a boat ride over at Chris's parents' house.

Chris skiied for his first time in 2 years, as last year, the boat was broken & we didn't get out much, if at all. He did great! I always love seeing him water ski, because his muscles look super sexy! ;) Oh, too much information? Ooops...

The boat ride was HOT -- the weather in Georgia has been incredible lately! We have had highs in the 100's with heat indexes in the 100-teens!! We were all sweating from head to toe - yuck! Mama & Daddy picked some ginormous figs off of Cindy & Smiley's fig tree & plan to make Strawberry Fig Preserves - yummy! :)

The latest news, however, is that last week when we went to the doctor, Lucy had turned sideways & Dr. Slocumb told us that if she had not turned back by our appointment this week, we would need to make the decision of whether to induce labor or have a c-section for the next week after. Well, since that appointment, Lucy has not turned. In fact, she's turned even more breech (which he says he'd rather her be breech than transverse) and has already engaged herself butt-first! Our sweet little girl must have her daddy's sense of direction -- ;)

I've also become even more uncomfortable since last week. Having to carry her sideways is hard & extremely awkward for sitting, standing, walking, bending over, etc. When he gave us the option of next Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, I skipped no beat in choosing Monday -- I cannot wait any longer to meet our little Lucy!

We go in on Friday, July 15 @ 9:00 for Pre-Op. preparations. And then on Monday, July 18, 2011 around noon, our sweet little Lucy Pearl Giles will be here and our family of two will be more fulfilled as a family of three! :)

Come out, come out, wherever you are! :)

Miss Lucy,

I will be 37 weeks pregnant with you tomorrow. That is full-term meaning you could safely come anytime! You're sweet little self has turned yourself sideways (sometime about a week ago), and you have settled in with your head all the way on my left side, your bottom all the way on my right side and your feet are point up towards my ribs! I'm not terribly uncomfortable, in fact I almost feel more relief because you're not pushing straight out like you were, and you're not cramped feeling. However, this is not the ideal position for you to be in when you could go into labor any day. Yesterday, the doctor said it was not bad, but pretty uncommon that a baby would turn out of position (you have been head down & in position for a long time until now), and finds it very unlikely that you're going to turn back. Although you still could, if you don't by next Tuesday, your Daddy & I have to make a decision of whether to get you here the next week by scheduled C-Section or by trying to manually turn you & induce labor. After much deliberation, we've pretty much decided that if you were meant to come through the birth canal, you would. So if you're not turned we're not going to force you that way, we'll bring you into this world via C-Section... :) Am I excited about major surgery? Of course not. But, we want to do what's safest for you and for me. We're still going to do some discussion with the doctor next week, but for now that is what we're leaning towards.

Dr. Slocumb strongly advises that we not wait and go into labor naturally if you don't turn, because your cord could come first & that could be dangerous. It was strange hearing him say though that you would most definitely be coming at 39 weeks. Your Daddy & I have just been so sure that you were going to be "fashionably late" and show up as an August baby.

It is weird to think that in two weeks you will more than likely be in my arms. In two weeks, we will get to meet you! In two weeks, you're sweet little self is going to be laying in your crib. In two weeks my dreams will have come true. In two weeks, my life as I know it, will be complete.

I smile to think about this is just the first of many decisions you're ever going to make (whether to turn or not), where your Daddy & I are supportive of whatever you decide to do. :)

Love,

Your Mama

Every dark cloud has a silver lining... :)

This past weekend was jam-packed full of holiday fun for the Fourth of July. It started with a few beautiful disasters, though.

Since deciding that the guest bathroom needed a makeover to officially be Lucy's bathroom, Chris painted it "Go Bananas" yellow and I bought a new shower curtain and accessories. We were able to get new flooring for a steal and was going to have his friend, Gerald, help him lay it down. Well, Friday evening, Gerald came to help and when the guys went to move the toilet, it snapped the water line in the wall & water went everywhere! Chris immediately flew through the living room, clearing the jump into his truck to get the water key, and was out by the road turning off the water in an instant! He's so fast! I waddled as fast as I could to get all of our beach towels and started laying them down as soon as I could trying to cover as much surface area of the bathroom floor as possible. Poor Gerald had no options other than to stand there and get soaked! He did have the smart idea of drilling holes into the wooden floor so the water could try to drain to the bottom of the house to try to avoid getting it to spread under the carpet. The water did leak some into Lucy's closet, but not much. They fixed the leak, repaired the pipe, replaced the sheetrock, but not without us having to leave the water off for over 12 hours. Wait, what?!? Having the water turned off for 12 hours means no flushing toilets -- and I'm 9 months pregnant. Seriously. It was hard, but we made it through those long 12 hours and were so relieved the next morning when Chris was able to turn it back on. We left fans blowing on the area for about 48 hours and eventually everything dried up. So although it was a disaster having a flooded bathroom and no water for over 12 hours, the beautiful part is having absolutely no damage to the floor in the bathroom, Lucy's closet, or the carpet surrounding the bathroom area. Whew!

The water line busting wasn't the only beautiful disaster that happened Friday. Friday afternoon (of course at 5:00 p.m.), I was chewing some bubble gum and watching t.v. and all of a sudden felt something hard in my mouth. I tried to bite through it thinking it was food or something but it wouldn't bite through, so I spit it out. Oh my gosh -- it was part of my tooth! Not only did this have to happen on a Friday afternoon just in time for all dentist offices to close, it had to happen on a holiday weekend when no dentists were going to be open Monday, either! Thankfully, it didn't hurt, just felt funny having a hole in the back of my mouth. Chris & I were definitely in a state of depression Friday night not knowing yet what the damage was to the bathroom floors and now thinking we were going to have to pay for a dental crown on top of that, in addition to the hospital bill for having Lucy in a couple of weeks. They say when it rains it pours and well, in our case, it flooded! Thankfully, the dentist was able to see me first thing Tuesday morning and determined it was only a filling that had come out... not my tooth! And the most beautiful part of this disaster is that he offered to fix it at NO CHARGE! Woo-hoo!

We usually spend the Fourth of July at Lake Junaluska in North Carolina with my family from New York and Mississippi and of course, Newnan. And while we had planned on doing the same this year, when it came down to it, being 36 1/2 weeks pregnant and traveling over 4 hours just didn't make sense. So, we stayed here in Milledgeville. We kicked off the weekend on Saturday with dinner over at Cindy & Smiley's (spaghetti). It was us, Kacie, Wesley, & the girls, MaMa, Grant, Megan, & of course, Cindy & Smiley! After dinner, we all drove over to where we were going to set up to watch the Milledgeville fireworks. We parked at the Georgia Power office building out on 441 to watch the fireworks that were being shot off from behind the mall. People were lined up like crazy up and down 441. You could technically see the fireworks from virtually anywhere you sat, and they were good, however NOTHING compares to laying right underneath them at Lake Junaluska. We will definitely be back up there next year! That's a promise! We had to wait a while because we wanted to get a good park, but meanwhile it was very muggy hot aand humid and this mama was not very comfortable in the bed of a truck, so Chris & I ended up leaving early from the fireworks. This ended up working out better because we missed the crowded traffic and we still got to see the fireworks as we were driving home! :)

On Sunday, Chris & I slept in until 11 o'clock! That's crazy late for us! We hung around here for a bit, and then went to Wal-Mart to buy a few needed items around the house. We ended up buying Bocce Ball, a game we've enjoyed playing on his PlayStation3 Move. We figured it would be a fun yard game to play while we were over at Cindy & Smiley's that afternoon. We had heard everyone was getting there around 3 and so about 2:30 we headed on over. We played a couple games of Bocce with his mom and then went swimming. The pool is heavenly for a woman who is 9 months pregnant! No one else ended up showing up until around 5. The plan was to all go swimming, cook-out hamburgers & hotdogs around 6, go for a boat ride, come back and shoot off yard fireworks... but, Mother Nature had different plans! When everyone else got there it immediately started raining -- hard! Wesley ended up grilling out the hamburgers & hotdogs under an umbrella! After dinner, we decided on just swimming & no boat ride, and we all enjoyed some homemade vanilla ice-cream & cupcakes (made by Kacie & Macie). After it got dark, we all went outside to shoot off fireworks for Macie. They were actually pretty decent to be yard fireworks, and we all had the best time laughing at Sunny, because everytime they would ignite, he would run over to them and knock them over -- sometimes shooting them towards the house or even at us! Yikes!

Monday, Chris had the day off. We spent the majority of the day playing games..Uno, Phase 10, Ratchet & Clank on PS3. Eventually, we got ready & went to the movies to see Bad Teacher with Cameron Diaz. It was pretty funny! We both enjoyed it. One part we did NOT enjoy was the family in front of us who brought two young children with them to a rated R movie. What do some parents think these days??

So our weekend was pretty packed & full of memories. I'm glad we got to experience the Fourth in Milledgeville and that our disasters were somewhat beautiful. :)

A grown woman still needs her Mama! :)

I woke up yesterday morning to a text from my Mama that said "Would you want me to come this afternoon, spend the night, and go home tomorrow morning?" I immediately smiled and replied "You could!" I love when my Mama & Daddy come to visit, and especially when they spend the night. Milledgeville is only about 2 1/2 hours from them, so a do-able day trip, but a more pleasant over-night trip. I was so excited about all the visiting we would get to do, the updates she would get to see to Lucy's abode, and being taken care of for a little bit by someone other than Chris. (Although, he does a fantastic job -- I'm sure he enjoyed the "break," too!)

I immediately started thinking of what I was going to feed her. No time (or energy) to run to the store, don't want to make her pay for a meal out, and we were just going to have left over pork chops (yes, again... but definitely for the last time). So, I popped a ham in the oven, made some pasta salad, and waited for her to arrive.

She came in with a few goodies for me & Lucy and then decided she needed a nap (that's one thing about my sweet Mama, she loves a nap!) and so she rested for a little bit while I watched some television. After she got up, we decided to run to town for a minute to see if we could find a "going-home" outfit we liked any better than the one I already had for Lucy (we didn't find one). We also stopped by Sonic for a happy-hour grape slushie! Yum! We got home around the same time Chris did, and we finished dinner while he installed a peep-hole in the front door. I was so excited that he was doing that -- I hate when I can hear someone walking on the porch and I get all nervous opening the door and it's just the UPS man dropping off a package. I wanted to feel more safe once Lucy got here, so my handy husband said he would install one for me - yay! :) It looks like it was made for our front door - just perfect! He also then pulled up the floor in Lucy's bathroom and got things ready for him & Gerald to lay the new floor down this evening.

We all ate dinner and then Mom got to experience an evening "after dinner" with the Giles family. Chris's parents came over to say hello to Mom on their way to the movies, and we all cozied up & watched several episodes of Family Guy. Mom had never really watched it before, but knew some about it, so we filled her in on some of the character's personalities, and showed her some of the funnier ones. We watched 'Stewie kills Lois Pt. 1,' 'Lois kills Stewie Pt. 2,' and 'Stew-roids.'

After that, Mama went to bed and Chris & I watched Wipe-Out and fell asleep to an episode of American Dad.

It was so funny, because during the middle of the night (about 12:30 a.m.) I woke up to the sound of a splash. I immediately thought "Oh, my water's breaking!" but knew that couldn't be right because I didn't feel anything. Then, I thought something must have knocked Delilah's water bowl over outside but knew that couldn't be right because we bring her food and water in at night... About that time, Chris was jumping out of his chair and running into the kitchen to grab paper towel. He had knocked over his glass of lemonade on the table that sits between our two recliners. Lemonade was EVERYWHERE! I swear, that boy can spill something in a minute! I (knock on wood) have not ever spilled anything in this house of major volume. He, on the other hand, has spilt drink after drink, and meal after meal. In fact, just the other day he dumped his entire bowl of freshly cooked pasta with marina sauce all over the kitchen floor. I felt so bad because I couldn't get down to help him clean it, all I could do was laugh! He's so cute... :)

I woke up this morning & my Mama was sitting beside me letting me sleep as she caught up on facebook. We then decided that I didn't need to sit in the house all day and do nothing (I don't have to cook, all of Lucy's stuff is done, no school work, etc.), so we drove over to Macon to show her where the hospital is and then over to Michael's to find Chris some stencil lettering for some signs he wants to make.

We got home about 12:30 from all of that running around and she packed up and went home. I am now in my recliner refusing to move because I drove over to Macon, shopped, and drove back today. That's a lot for me these days. Chris will come home from working out about 5:30 and he & Gerald will install the new flooring & look at mounting Lucy's t.v. in her room.

Chris also plans to play Zombies tonight with his guy friends. I guess Lucy & I will have a girl's night while he has his guy's night ;)

Work, work, work... :)

Today was a "full day" for me -- well, here lately anyways! I woke up early this morning by Chris getting ready for work. Usually I'm able to fall back asleep pretty easily, but today was different. That's okay though, I needed to get started on some projects!

I went to Learning Safari to get started on ordering supplies for the new school year -- yay! I just love the fresh start of a new school year - always have! Unfortunately, I'll be missing the first couple of weeks of this one, but it's okay, I LOVE the reason I'm missing it even more! ;) Mary & I sat down together and thought of things we needed to replenish and then things that we wanted to add. I'm going to try real hard this year to keep things on a needs-only basis!! (I may have had a little trouble with that last year... oops!)

Our school is transferring to the Online Assessment this year -- which I love! I think I'm going to enjoy using a computer and doing everything digitally rather than have so much paperwork to organize manually. I want one of these to help write anecdotals and keep from having to write them and then type them in the computer:

It is going to be added to my teacher "wish list" that I have going in my head... :)

Speaking of school, I need to get busy making copies of my newsletter and send it out to the kids...

After that, I went and ate lunch at MaMa & Pop's again. Today she had roast beef with mashed potatoes, green beans, butter beans, and eggplant casserole. So yummy! I had never had eggplan casserole, and am not one for trying new foods, but she asked me to and I actually didn't think it was all that bad! Tasted sort of like squash.. The girls were sweet as usual. Mollie wasn't as fussy today which was a good thing. She didn't want me to hold her today, though -- she loves her Uncle Chris though! I can't blame her... so do I! :)

I left there and was going to go straight to Wal-Mart. I have to pass by our house on the way and when I did, I saw my honey's truck in the driveway. I, of course, had to turn around and stop to see him! Even though I had just seen him at MaMa & Pop's I had to get in at least one more sweet kiss! I can't ever get enough of that boy! (Lucy, I pray every night that you find a man to love as much as I love your daddy!)

I then left and continued on to Wal-Mart to get Lucy a play-gym for tummy time on the floor. I was pretty ecstatic that it only cost $25 because I was thinking it was going to be more like $40!! Yay for pleasant surprises! I didn't realize that the one I bought also sings... I plopped it down in the seat beside me in the car and the thing just started playing songs and singing -- I smiled and thought about how much Lucy is going to love hearing it sing when she bats at it.

I came home and worked on cleaning her toys. That was the last thing I had to do for her room. We have so many toys that came from other families/children that I wanted them to be free of germs for when she plays with them. So, I took them outside on a beach towel in the sun and sprayed them with Febreze. Hopefully that will do the trick!

Now I am resting for the rest of the afternoon. I don't have to cook dinner tonight -- Chris is having leftover pork chops! :) I love left-over nights!

30 days... and counting!!!

Today, I have officially 30 days until my due date -- Lucy, this means you need to start packing your bags! :) We are getting very excited for her arrival, especially now that my sister's baby, Sallie was born this past weekend. She was 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 20 inches long -- such a tiny, precious baby! She looks just like Nathan did, just with blonder hair and it's a little more curly. Nathan was so sweet to his little sister when he first saw her. He immediately wanted to hold her and kiss her and when she would cry, he would say "It's okay, Sallie. It's okay. I'm here!" He is going to be such a caring big brother. I wish I would have had a big brother -- she is so lucky to not only have one, but have a GREAT one!

We ate lunch at MaMa & Pop's house today since they were keeping Macie & Mollie while Kacie worked today. It's always such a nice treat for me to get to go over there for lunch, not onlyh for the good food but because I get to see Chris for just a little bit -- anytime I get to see him, it makes my heart smile! I really have the best husband in the world!! Macie's getting so much more talkative and when you ask her who is in my belly she says "Moosie" -- I guess she can't say her "L's" yet? Mollie's been pretty fussy lately...she's teething pretty heavily. It's so unlike her to be fussy though -- she's usually the happiest baby on the block!

Chris & I had our 35 week appointment today. They did the strep test and asked if we had any questions, and then we were out of there. We'll find out next week if I passed or not. He also said he may start checking me for progression next week, but he may wait until the week after. It really stinks driving 45 minutes over there for such short appointments, but delivering at The Medical Center with this group of doctors is worth it!! They are all so nice and I've really enjoyed my experience with them so far (as much as you can enjoy an OB-GYN, I guess... ha!)

I've just this past week started feeling VERY pregnant. I've enjoyed this pregnancy and feel as though I've had it pretty easy, but my energy levels have dropped tremendously and I'm starting to ache all over from just any little activity. I have started having to sleep in my La-Z-Boy recliner. I sleep much longer stretches and much more soundly. Christopher very sweetly sleeps in here on his recliner with me. He said last night that he plans on doing that every night that I have to, no matter if it's every night until Lucy gets here. He says Lucy is worth all of the sacrifice and knows that I am sacrificing so much so that he's just doing his part! :) Such a sweet husband!

Thank goodness everything is ready for her so I don't have to be worrying about doing that now. Her room is complete. We've had it painted and pretty much arranged the way it's going to be for a long while now. Just recently, we've added a chest of drawers to the closet and a glider in one corner, causing us to have to do a slight rearrangement. Everything is now perfect! Last week, I washed all of her clothes and got out the Newborn & 0-3 month clothes and washed them, as well as her sheets and the sheets and comforter that is going on the bed in there. I then organized them in the closet the way I wanted them, or for now, think they should go. I also made a last minute trip to Babies R Us to get a diaper caddy for the changing table to hold the wipes and extra diapers and such and some extra parts for the breast pump. Unfortunately, the monitor we ordered from this one website was taking forever to come in -- nearly two months! -- so we cancelled the order and are having to get Memaw pick it up for us from Babies R Us and bring it to Milledgeville next time she visits.

After we left the appointment and got back in town, Chris & I headed to Flooring America to pick out some flooring for Lucy's/the guest bathroom. We couldn't decide between two colors and just picked one we thought would work the best. Now that it's in there, I can't make up my mind if I like it or not, so Cindy is coming over to help make the decision. She's so good at decorating.

I made pork chops for dinner -- such a yummy meal! Chris is cooking green beans and corn for sides (our usual). And, now I'm resting for the rest of the evening!

28 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 28 weeks

Size of baby: She is the size of a Chinese Cabbage (about 14.8 inches and 2 1/4 lbs.)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 16 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Still having to wear maternity jeans, and although I can still wear non-maternity tops it is definitely more comfortable to wear maternity tops!

Gender: It's a GIRL! Lucy Pearl Giles

Movement: All the time! :) It can get pretty exhausting sometimes...

Sleep: Sleep is so miserable right now... :( I can't seem to get comfortable and wake up at least 4 times to pee during the night now.

What I miss: Being able to bend over and not have to struggle to stand back up -- haha!

Cravings: Peaches! :)

Symptoms: hearburn/acid reflux still.

Baby Milestones: She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Best Moment this week: Entering the Third Trimester! :) And your daddy has started reading "I love you, Goodnight" to you every night before I go to sleep - so sweet!