37 weeks

Andrew is now full term! Praise the Lord! I was reading this morning about sleep training and came to a section about changing sleep training for premature babies. I thought...that is one worry that I can check off of my list. At this point, he could come at any moment and he wouldn't be premature! I posted this picture from December 2009 because I remember looking at it and feeling mixed emotions: 1) Wow, we really are pregnant! 2) He's soooo tiny. How is that tadpole ever going to turn into a baby? He did it, though and now he is ready for life outside of the womb!

I had my 37 week check up today. Andrew is progressing very well. I was 1 cm dilated, 70% effaced, and his position was -2. This means that he has started to "drop" or move down to prepare for delivery!

On average, babies at 37 weeks are a little over 6 pounds and somewhere between 19 and 20 inches long. We are not sure of Andrew's exact measurements at this point, but Dr. Myers predicts that he will be about 7 to 7.5 pounds at delivery. Even with an ultrasound such predictions are hard to make, though.

I still feel wonderful. My ankles and feet are beginning to swell slightly, but I have been spending time with my feet up and relaxing. I do feel changes in my body, especially as Andrew moves down. He will sometimes hit a nerve that will shoot pain through or numb my right leg for a moment.

Now that we have had all of our showers for Andrew, I went to Target to get the things that were left on our registry this morning. We have been so blessed with presents from our family and friends that there was not really that much to buy. I stocked up on things that I knew we would go through quickly once he arrived so that I am not asking Joey to run by the store everyday after work. I think we are ready...famous last words, right?

Final Parties for Andrew

Tomorrow, Andrew will be full term! This past weekend, we got together with some of our closest friends to hang out together one last time before school starts and Andrew arrives. The Porters had us all over to their house for some BBQ and a cookie cake in honor of our little man.

I did not do a very good job of getting pictures of everyone. I left several people out, but here are a few shots from the night:

Jeremy, Andy (Andrew's namesake), Jordan, Janna, and Baby Aubrey

Emily and Randi

Joey and Emily

The newleyweds: Jonathan and Courtney Grammer

On Sunday, we had a shower at our church. I am 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant in this picture. Thank you to all of our friends at First Wesleyan Church for a wonderful shower!

We played some fun games. Shannon and Lynne are trying to guess the baby food...that one was squash. I did not realize how disgusting baby food smelled until this shower.

This table did pretty well with the baby food game. Bradley ended up winning!

The next game was to guess the size of my stomach by cutting string to fit around me. Our minister, Scott, took this game very seriously. Here he is trying to determine how long to make his string.

Unfortunately, he was a little off!

Both Joey's family and my family came to the shower. They were confident in all of their game answers and even named their team, "The Winners." Sadly, they did not even place in any of the games. It looks like my mom blames David for this:)

We received wonderful presents. Here are some cute shoes from Joey's Aunt Linda

Joey's cousin, Misty, checks out all of our loot!

My two boys completely finished the nursery this weekend. That is a huge check on the "to-do" list. I will post nursery pictures soon. Here they are reading the directions to mount the video monitor.

I go for my 37 week appointment tomorrow. I am anxious to see Andrew's progress. Also, congratulations to Justin and Christin Brown on the birth of their baby boy today. Jack Edwin Brown was born this afternoon and weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces.

Things that I am looking forward to...

I have loved being pregnant. I really have not had any complications or major complaints. I have had a lot of heartburn, leg cramps, and some of the overall discomfort that comes from being pregnant. However, it's all about perspective. I prayed for this child and wanted desperately to be pregnant, so I will take whatever comes along with it. I have blogged before about friends who cannot conceive. I bet they wouldn't mind a little heartburn or a few leg cramps in order to carry a child. Thinking about pregnancy in this way makes it really hard to grumble or complain.

With that being said, there are several things that I am looking forward to during life AFTER pregnancy. The obvious list would include: holding Andrew, finally seeing what he looks like, gettng to know his personality, etc. If I included all of the things that had to do with the baby, that is all that I would have space to list. Therefore, I am going to list the top ten things that I am looking forward to after being pregnant (in no particular order) that do NOT have to do with Andrew.

1. Sushi--I have missed it soooo much. A lot of people say, "Just one sushi meal won't hurt." They are probaby right, but I have not done it. Sweet Joey has pretty much given it up too during pregnancy because I love it that much. Sushi was not just a food that I liked. It was my absolute FAVORITE food. 2. Sleeping on my back--I don't mind sleeping on my side, but I cannot wait to be on my back again. Ralph will be excited about this, too. He loves to snuggle in the bed, but prefers me on my back so that he can get in the position that he likes. Every night, he takes his paw and pushes on my shoulder to try to get me on my back.

3. Being able to reach my toes--It sure would make it a lot easier to paint my toenails!

4. Putting back on my engagement/wedding rings--I had to take all of my rings off about a month ago. I really do miss wearing them. I also feel judged sometimes in public when I waddle through the store with my huge, pregnant belly and no rings on. I want to tell people that I am married!

5. Hot baths--I LOVE to take baths, but I have to make sure not to get my bath water too hot right now. In the first trimester of pregnancy when this was the most crucial, I took a thermometer with me into the tub to make sure that the water was not too hot.

6. Random people NOT touching my stomach--You would be amazed at how many people think it is okay to touch your stomach. If you are reading this and you have touched my stomach, I am not talking about you because I KNOW you. However, it is really rude to ask a stranger to touch her stomach.

7. Being blonde--I have been a brunette since January 2009. This is when Joey and I began talking about becoming pregnant. I phased out the blonde slowly so that it would not be such a drastic change. I know that several women who color their hair have perfectly healthy pregnancies and babies. For us, we felt more comfortable not putting the chemicals on my hair. People often ask me if I will go back to being a blonde. Without a doubt..YES! I am just itching to get in that salon chair, and it will probably be one of the first things that I do after Andrew arrives.

8. Taking back over "Ralph jobs"--Poor Joey has had to do everything with Ralph as far as the cleaning/changing of the litter. It's not that I truly enjoy these jobs (who would?) but I feel guilty that Joey has to do it.

9. Being able to get out of bed--I get "stuck" a lot of times. Joey finds this hilarious, but it can be really frustrating. He has to give me an extra push or help me get up a lot of times.

10. Seeing Joey with Andrew--I know, I know, I said no baby related stuff. I had to put this one on here, though. Joey is the most handsome person I know, and I can't imagine what it will be like to see him holding our child. Here he is with our nephew, John Marshall. See what I mean? He's even cuter holding a baby!

36 weeks

I have been a bad blogger lately. The truth is that there is simply not that much going on right now. Joey and I are not leaving Tuscaloosa anymore, and I spend most of my days at home relaxing...tough life, right? I have spent a great deal of my break preparing for my maternity leave. I couldn't do the actual physical work involved with setting up a classroom, so my family helped me out with that. Thanks, Meredith, Will, and Aunt Cristy! I am now 36 weeks pregnant and visit Dr. Myers weekly. Andrew got a great report this morning. His heartrate was 154 bpm. Joey and I were thrilled that he is in the correct position. I only gained 0.4 pounds in the last two weeks, so that brings my grand total to about 22 pounds so far. Based on my dilation (0.5 cm), effacement (50%), and Andrew's position (-3), Dr. Myers says that she feels that we are on track to have him close to our due date. However, in the next sentence she mentioned how things can quickly change. We will just have to wait and see! Joey and I finished up our last birthing class tonight. They have been helpful and informative, but we are both excited that we have completed all of them. We signed up for every class that the hospital offered, so it has consumed a great deal of time. Here is my 36 week baby bump:

Weekend in Virginia

Joey and I went to Virginia for a long 4th of July weekend with my parents. My grandmother, uncle, and aunt all live there. Here is my mom with her brother (Uncle Bobby) and mother (Meemaw).

We ate so much in Virginia. After church, we went to the Hotel Roanoke. Meemaw loves dessert!

Joey and I went to watch the fireworks with Uncle Bobby and his wife, Aunt Barb. Happy 4th of July!

Busy Summer

Lately, our lives consist of baby showers, vacations, time with family, and preparing for Andrew. Ralph and Joey work together on all nursery projects. Here are my two boys fixing the cable on the nursery television. Anyone who knows Cade also knows about his love for ninjas! Luckily, he is able to express his love for ninjas through his taekwondo. Joey and I went to one of his belt ceremonies. Way to go, Cade!

Cade and JoJo--Look at that brown belt!

After the belt ceremony, both boys came to spend the night with us. The sprinklers in our front yard are always a hit with Cole! Hopefully, the neighborhood doesn't mind that he runs through them wearing only underwear.

We also played horseshoes. The boys were actually pretty good at this!

Once it got dark and we had to come inside, Ralph was the most entertaining thing in our house. Cole looked through his toys to find the perfect thing. Ralph rarely lets anyone touch his toys without supervision.

Joey and I had another shower for Andrew at my home church in Wetumpka. To follow the theme of his nursery, everything was "under the sea."

The food was so delicious that John Marshall had to feed some of it to his grandmommy!

The people in my church were so generous. Joey and I opened presents for over an hour!

I cannot even begin to list everything that we received. The next several pictures show just some of our wonderful presents.

33 weeks pregnant

Thank you to all of the fabulous women who hosted the shower.

Joey and I decided to take one last vacation together before Andrew arrives. We enjoyed 4 days in Destin.Besides laying out and eating, we played putt-putt two of our nights there. Joey won the first night, and I won the second night.Finally, Cole celebrated his 4th birthday! It is hard to believe that he is getting so big. We love you, Cole!

Susan's Book

My brilliant sister has published her first book. Here is the cover:Check it out at www.publishamerica.net/product90430.html