6 More Days...Hopefully No More!

I had another doctor's appointment today. Now I'm up to 2 cm. (again, she said, a "good" 2 cm.) and still 50% effaced. I have another appointment scheduled for next week, hopefully I will not make it to that one! :) However, if I do go to that one, my doctor has gotten me scheduled to be induced on the 31st. She told me the latest I could go would be August 8th and I told her this baby had to come in July! :) She's totally okay with that, so if nothing else, we will have a baby next Thursday! Pray that she comes before that, but not on Saturday. It's our 5 year anniversary, plus my doctor's daughter's birthday party and she promised her daughter she would be there and would not be delivering any babies that day!!

38 weeks and counting...

Yesterday marked 38 weeks in this possibly 40-week journey. Nothing eventful yet. The emails I get from baby-gaga.com and babycenter.com each week that tell about what happens in the baby's development could both be summed up with the words: "There's really nothing new to tell you." :) I went to the doctor today and that was what I heard from her too (basically). I'm still at 1 cm. but 50% effaced. She still plans to see me next week. I'm starting to get anxious in all of this now. I just really want this to be over!! :) However, it would be better if she didn't come this week or this weekend because my friend is getting married Saturday and I'm supposed to be reading some Scripture during the ceremony! I wouldn't want to let her down. :)

Ryan and I have been kicking butt to get everything ready in our house. I'm so proud of all the stuff we've done! Saturday we got our garage cleaned out and organized. Unfortunately, I was the one to discover the "so dead that it was shriveled up and looked almost like a leaf" frog in the garage!! Ewww!! After Ryan went to work on Saturday I got our refrigerator cleaned out (as in, sprayed and wiped out the shelves and drawers). We've moved all of the stuff that was in the house but belonged in the attic up into the attic (okay, I guess WE didn't do that :) I was organizing the garage while he did that!) so now our bedroom and office actually look like rooms again! We installed our car seat last night so it's all ready whenever Karys decides to make her entrance. So I guess I will end by saying, "This is me patting myself on the back." :) Haha!

Church Baby Shower

The day after the baby shower in Dallas was my baby shower at church. It was such a great time! There were a lot of people who showed up, which definitely made me feel special. My college best friend (who is still my best friend :) came from Houston for the weekend and went with me to my Dallas shower and also came to the church shower. It definitely wasn't something she had to do and that was so special to me. I have so many friends at church who worked on the shower and for that, I am so grateful. It is so great when people want to do things for you. This first picture is of me with all of the hostesses. See all of my great friends?? :)We did play a couple of games at the shower. We each had a the name of a TV mom on our backs and had to go around asking "yes" or "no" questions to people to try to figure out whose name we had. There was another game that involved being blindfolded and trying to scoop up cotton balls with a plastic spoon and put the cotton balls into a basket. Too funny! :)

This next picture is of the gifts that we received at the shower. See what I mean about all the love that was shown? We got some adorable new clothes, as well as lots of other fantastic things!

This last picture is of the cake. Isn't it just too cute?I wish I could post a picture of one of my most special gifts but it would take like 4o pictures to show you the awesome-ness of this gift! Several of my friends worked together to make me a scrapbook of Karys's first year of life. I am not good at scrapbooking and this gift was suggested to me by my fantastic friend, Alison. She mentioned several months ago that she and her sister, Charity were thinking about doing this for me, but they didn't know if it was something I would want. When she said that, my response was, "Yes I want that!!" I'm not good at scrapbooking and it's not really something I enjoy because I end up spending several hours on one layout and then I don't want to do any more so I never end up finishing! So this scrapbook is ready for me and I basically just have to add in pictures! It is so beautiful and fantastic and I am eternally grateful to Alison, Charity, Allison, Jaime, Rebecca, Sarah, and Merrisa (I think that's everyone!) for all of their hard work. I love it!!

Dallas Baby Shower

I said a few weeks ago that I would post about the last two baby showers I had and that's what I'm doing. :) My sister was the one who came up with the idea and she worked along with my aunt to plan a great party! My aunt was in charge of the games and being the hilarious person she is, there were several of them and they were really fun!

The first game that we played was a direct result of something I had told my mom one time. I told her I hated that game where people had to guess how big you are with a piece of yarn or whatever. In our family, apparently saying "I hate that" means "I secretly love that" so that was our first game. :) I love my mom and she knows I wouldn't be mad about that...I have a good sense of humor! This first picture is me with the woman who won the game...she had it almost exactly right!

We played another game where jars of baby food were passed around and we had to sniff them and decide what kind of food was in the jar. This picture is of my lovely sister playing this game.One of the games was for me to play. I had to have a blindfold on and guess the items that were placed in my hand. This picture is the cake that my sister got her friend to make for me. Her friend's name is Julie, so if you ever need a cake in the Dallas area, I'd definitely hire her! :)And finally, this last picture is of my mom and her best friend. I just thought it would be nice if the grandmother was in a picture! :) My mom is on the left...people say I look just like her: you be the judge. :)

Things Are Progressing

We're already up to 37 weeks...only 3 more to go! I went to the doctor today (this was my second weekly appointment) and found out a couple of things. First of all, last week I was dilated to the size of a fingertip and she said that my cervix was softening (both good things). This week, my doctor was very excited that I was already at a 1! It's exciting and scary all at the same time. My doctor says she feels confident that Karys will be born on time so that makes me happy. :) I also found out that I am positive for the Group B strep test that was done on me, which means that I will have to be given antibiotics during labor because otherwise Karys will get sick. That was a little disappointing because everything else has been so good so far. I was sad to find out that the results were positive. But I guess there's nothing I can do about it and at least there's a way to keep Karys from getting sick. So there's my latest news update!

Hooray for Garage Sales!

I went out garage sale-ing this morning to scout out things that we hadn't yet received from baby showers that I knew we needed. I just had to post some of the deals I got because I'm just so excited!! :) At the first one I went to I got a Baby Bjorn for only $20!! That was my best deal of the morning. It's in perfect condition...doesn't even look used at all. I also got one of those shopping cart covers, baby monitor, and various toys. I was super-excited to find that these people were selling those sweet little smock dresses (usually you only see them on babies whose parents have lots of money!) for only $5! So I had to get one (only one, even though I really wanted more!) I was also able to score a Boppy cover for $.50!

The second sale I went to was one that a friend of mine was having so she let me score her baby clothes for 1/2 off. (And she's probably going to read this so, Misty, you're the best!! :) She also had this really awesome travel swing that will work with our car seat. It's going to be really great for traveling. I almost didn't get it, but she talked me into it!

The other sale I went to I ended up at on my way to another sale. This lady had the one thing I knew for sure that we didn't have but needed. I got one of those booster seats that straps to a chair and has its own tray. We're going to use that instead of a high chair because it will take up a lot less room (plus it's a lot cheaper!). And it was only $5. :) I am super-thrilled about my finds...I'm sure I'll be doing a lot more garage sale-ing in the coming months and years! Since I won't have a job, I'll need all the bargains I can find!

The Crib is Ready!!

I had to post the picture now that the crib is completely put together. The bedding I ordered from ebay came in on Saturday, so today I got it washed and went to Target and purchased the crib mattress that I had researched online. I hope you can tell from the picture that the crib skirt is red with white polka dots (the crib sheet is the same). Obviously, the bumper pad is red. I also got to hang up my "Karys" sign that I made months ago. :)The other picture is the result of two baby showers in one weekend. My job today has been going through everything. I've currently got a huge load of baby laundry in the washer right now as we speak. I will post more on those later, but it was a great weekend and I definitely felt very loved. :)