Baby news

First off, I really miss Joel. He's been working out of town on weekdays for the past few months now. He usually leaves Monday morning (sometimes Tuesday if we're lucky) and comes back late Friday night. It's been so hard on both of us. We both miss each other a lot and both have additional struggles. He has to be away from Dominic as well, so I know that is tough. Dom's at the age where he really misses Joel and doesn't understand when he has to leave. He tells Joel "no work Daddy, stay home". I know it breaks Joel's heart. And for me it's hard to be here alone so much taking care of Dom and things on my own while i'm due in just four weeks. I do think this time apart has made our relationship even stronger, but we still hope to never have to go through this again! The GOOD news is that when Joel returns this weekend he will be working locally again...which is AWESOME, and he'll get a full week off (paid thank the Lord) after Rowen is born. So we have a lot to be thankful for. Here's a pic of Dom and Joel asleep on the floor. They have a special relationship. I love to watch the two of them together...it makes me love them even more.


I've come to realize that I am a very impatient person when it comes to projects. Once I have an idea in my head, or once I have decided to do something, I want it done right away! When Rowen's furniture arrived I wanted it put together right away. Joel was coming in town the very next day, but I couldn't wait for him. I put it together myself (well, Dominic "helped) and it only took me from 1pm-9pm!!! (that includes several breaks to give Dom attention and food once in a while) I am pretty impressed with myself though, because it was very complicated. There was SO much "pre-assembly" to do before the actual assembly began. But I was so glad to have it finished. (I was so sore the next day from getting up and down off the floor I could hardly walk) I had already painted the room and put up curtains, and all of the bedding and things were in the closet. Once I got all of that together I realized the walls were extremely plain and needed something. I had a picture in my head of exactly what I wanted and could not find it anywhere. It was very frustrating. I decided to attempt shadow boxes and see if I could achieve the look I was going for. I wanted to use browns and greens mostly, and I wanted it to look like a "baby room" at the same time..not too grown up.

I found some coupons, went shopping, found GREAT sales, then came home and made three shadow boxes during Dom's nap. I was so excited to get everything on the walls, I went to get the keys to our storage shed (which has all of our tools locked inside...hammer, nails, etc) and found out that Joel had them in his pocket....out of town! Joel felt really bad and knew I was disappointed...he talked me into buying another hammer and some nails : ) Here's a picture of the finished room. It's so small, it's hard to get a picture from the doorway that shows the whole room.

Here are my shadow boxes. I have to say I am pretty pleased with the outcome. It's not much but it adds a lot to the room.

I'm proud of the deals I got on this shelf and the items on top. I really wanted a memory book for the baby. It makes it easy to write down all of the things that you forget in time. If I had a blank book i'd forget to record certain things, but this has a place for everything...all you do is fill in the answers. Before finding this book the cheapest I'd found was like $15.99...I found this at Ross for $2.99 and it happened to be the right color.

Here's a picture of me in my current state - literally about to pop...

...which brings me to more news - I am dialated to almost 3cm! I've been having contractions for days, but not very close together. Then last night I had contractions ALL night long. I know what to expect this time and I was sure I had to be dialated after a night like that. This morning I was already scheduled for a Dr.'s apt. I'm 36 weeks so she wouldn't normally check me this early but I told her about the contractions. I could have the baby at any time now. She's hoping i'll go another week or two because that would be better, so i'm supposed to be taking it as easy as possible. (which is not easy with an active 2 year old and my hubby out of town) I was dialated with Dom for a week before I had him, so I have a feeling it will be similar this time. Either way, doesn't look like i'll make it to my due date : )

I have so much to be thankful for. I am so, so, SO excited about Mom, Kimmy, and Court coming to stay with me. (only one thing missing Kel, REALLY wish you could be here!!!!) They were amazing when they stayed with me after Dom's birth. I got so spoiled....they watched Dom at night, cooked, cleaned, shopped, etc. On top of all of that it's just really great to see them and spend time together, talking and playing games and enjoying the new addition to the family.

It's hard being so far away everyone : (

Now that Courtney is a blogger, I think I have 5 or 6 followers..yay : ) I have to say, I haven't really told anyone about my blog except for family. I know i'm not very good at keeping it updated or making the posts super interesting...but i'll continue to blog JUST for you Kel : ) I miss you. Love you all!