Shower at work - 09.11.09

Some of the sweet nurses that I work with threw me very fun baby shower! Here are some of the pictures:
I'm ready to party!! (Here I'm 34, almost 35 weeks)
I was very excited that my mom was able to come! She enjoyed talking "nursing" and "sewing" with all of my sweet, creative friends at work.
I love this towel my friend, Jessica, made for Charlie! The concept is I hang it around my neck while Charlie is in the bathtub so I'm not soaking wet (in case he likes to splash and have fun in the tub) and then I just pick him up and wrap him up in this big towel when it's time to get him out. Cute and creative, huh?
I guess he will be a pumpkin for Halloween this year!!
Tiffany, Jessica and my another nurse, Amy Hixson threw my shower. Thanks girls!! It was so much fun!! This was a "Charlie sandwich picture." (Tiffany, her daugther Rylee, me, Jessica, and her daugther Madelyn)

Labor Day Weekend: Sept 3rd-6th

Sorry for the delay in posts, we've been busy with Carson starting his new job and I've been studying for my boards... oh yeah and finishing up Charlie's nursery too!! :) By the way, everything is going well here. Praise Jesus for all the answered prayers!!

Here are some pics from our fun weekend in Kerrville visiting Carson's family and some of our friends. Carson's brother, Andrew was still on crutches too that weekend so we got a picture of the two crippled family members together. It was humerous to go to restaurants together and see all of the people staring at us!! I don't have a boot anymore, but Andrew lost his blue cast and now has a black boot.
We got to spend a lot of time with our sweet friends, Nathan and Ashley Henry too. Carson and I are God parents to their son, Blake, so we spent the majority of our time playing with him cause he's so stinkin' cute! He was pretty infatuated with my crutches... which I've learned all kids love them!!
Everyone was giving Carson and Nathan a hard time about how crazy they were togeter when they were younger... saying that Blake and Charlie were going to be little trouble makers like their fathers!! Apparently Carson and Nathan were punks to Carson's younger brothers, shot arrows up in the air to see how long it would take for them to come back down, and pretty much shot EVERY living thing they could... I guess some things never change. As you can guess, the emergency room knew Carson and Nathan very well. :) Here's Blake sitting on his future best friend/trouble maker/partner-in-crime, Charlie...
Ashley and I enjoyed catching up and relaxing, so she left Nathan and Carson in charge of feeding Blake, but they wouldn't leave the couch because some football game was on that they couldn't miss. I thought this was hilarious...
Carson got in a few dove hunts that weekend (opening season). This was before Carson, Nathan, and Justus attempted to shoot some birds... but it started raining right after they left so they came back quickly. (That's a cookie in Carson's hand... even though it looks like a cigarette)
It was such a fun weekend with family and friends! We got to spend some time with our other friends (Jeffrey, Allison, Danielle, Jason & David) too! Sorry no pics, but it was great to catch up and show them my big belly :) I forgot to get a picture of my belly with Landon's belly... maybe the next pregnancy!!

Marshall shower

Mom, me and Mom A (Carson's grandmother)

The prego chicks at the shower! :)

(The picture above was taken after the shower, I'm almost 33 weeks there... I think the picture makes me look bigger that I actually am... but I'm still getting bigger!!!!!!). We had our first shower in Marshall, Saturday August 29th. It was hosted by 11 sweet ladies from Cental Baptist (my parents' church, the same one I grew up attending). Charlie got tons of cute and useful stuff!! We unpacked it all when we returned to Fort Worth which made us so excited to think about seeing him in all of the cute little outfits and swaddled up in the warm blankets! The blog is acting crazy and I can't put the pictures in the order that I want to so sorry for the chaos of this post, but here are some pics from the shower:

My sweet friend, Ashley, drove in from Jonesboro, Louisiana just for the shower. She was one of my dear friends from TCU! She made me feel welcome as soon as I transferred from UT and she was such a strong prayer partner while we were there. I loved seeing her and catching up! She also wrote down all of the gifts for me while I opened them... thanks girl!! And you fed my love language too... QUALITY TIME. :) Love you!

Here's all of my family from my mom's side. My sister-in-law, Laura, and her daugher, Ava. My Aunt Terry, my mom, Aunt Shela, Cara (my cousin's wife) and her daughter, Madeline. I felt very loved to have everyone there!!
Me with the hostesses (minus 2). All of these ladies have been a wonderful support and love for my parents and our family too. We are blessed to have such a great church family in Marshall too!
Cute little outfit that I can't wait to put on Charlie!!
My mom found these precious little rain boots for Charlie... at a garage sale! Funny thing is they are one of my favorite presents because they look just like the ones Papa (my dad) wears every night when he goes out to feed the dogs. She thought that Charlie needed some boots like his Papa Jess to help him feed the dogs! As you can tell, I think I'm saying "cute" here. :) Loved the shower and all of the cute stuff for Charlie! Thanks everyone.

Baby Charlie 4D Pics

We went today for our regular OB check up and sonogram. We were very lucky to not only have a regular sonogram, but the guy gave us some free 4D pics!! Here are few for everyone to enjoy. I'll write more later, but he looks very healthy and we could even see him swallowing the amniotic fluid. The last picture is with his hand in front of his face! ("no more pictures please") He already weighs 4 pounds and is right on schedule. Carson and I were both so excited to see him today!! We already love our little Charlie so much!! Look at those cute cheeks...

30 weeks pregnant was a good week!!

We have lots of things to praise the Lord about from last week:
1.) Carson got a job!!!!
2.) I graduated with my Masters in Nursing!!!!
3.) Charlie is growing well!!!!

Carson accepted a job at Compass Bank as a "preferred client officer." He will pretty much be doing the same thing as his previous position at Bank of America, managing high net worth clients. It sounds like it will be worth the wait for this job because he'll be doing what he is more passionate about. They asked him when he would like to start so he said the Tuesday after Labor Day.... so he could go fishing with his dad in Colorado and then we could make a trip down to Kerrville to visit his family before Charlie arrives. Until then I'll be working 2-3 days a week, studying for my boards and getting ready for Charlie to arrive!

Friday, August 14th I crutched myself across the stage and finally graduated from UTA! Yippee!!!!!!!!!!! Still doesn't feel real that I actually finished. Maybe after I take my boards I will feel that full sense of relaxation. Here are some pics from graduation and a little fiesta cookout we had Saturday night at our house. It was a great week and weekend of celebration!!
I'm sticking my belly out a little, but it's pretty much that big! Baby Charlie is really growing...WHOA!!!
Just a little snap shot from the Graduation Fiesta at our house. Carson cooked up some yummy food as always!

We went to the OB last week and I measured exactly 30 weeks. That means he's growing well and the Dopplar indicated that his heart rate is good and strong. I have been able to manage my blood sugars very well on my new diet plan. The only reading that was a little high was the morning one. She wanted it to be less than 90, but mine was about 105-110. So she started me on some insulin at nighttime. I was a little upset at first until she reassured me that this was extremely common to give myself a very small amount of insulin at night because there was nothing I could do to prevent it. She simply said my pancreas just can't keep up while I'm asleep and because my numbers are just a smidge too high, we need to keep them down so that Charlie doesn't take them in and put on too much weight! Pretty much after he's born I won't need insulin anymore and my body will go back to normal... which was very reassuring. For now, the little monkey in my tummy is doing well! The one exciting thing about this whole gestation diabetes thing is I get to have extra sonograms!!!!! I'm actually going to have one on Thursday and we can't wait to see his little hands, feet, and sweet face. Don't worry if I get a good picture I'll post it on here!!

Thank you everyone for the millions of prayers that have been lifted up for our little family of three over the past 8 stressful months. We felt them and are extremely happy to report ALL of the good news from last week! Praise Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pregnancy update...

Well, I'm sure you read from my previous post that I officially have gestational diabetes. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, I'll fill you in on how my life has changed. When I first found out, I was fully aware of what gestational diabetes is and what all it entails... so I received the call at work and cried for about an hour. Now I'm over it and have moved on to accept that this only going to be for the next 10-12 weeks until Charlie is born and then I'll be back to normal. This new change is going to be worth it once I see little Charlie's sweet face! I was just bummed out that I now have one more thing to add to the list! Carson and I now joke that with a broken leg, trying to finish up grad school, Carson not having a job and now the diabetes... that HAS TO mean that Charlie is going to be the easiest baby in the world OR the next time we have a baby has GOT to be easier that this pregnancy! Like my parents always say... "this too shall pass."

I've been to the diatician and have my glucometer to check my blood sugars (four times a day), so now its almost a routine. Basically I have to eat a certain amount of carbs, proteins, & fats everyday. And eating very few sugars... which you KNOW is hard for me!! I'm being very strict on the diet though because I don't want Charlie to weigh like 12 pounds!! That would not be fun for me :) Carson is being so sweet and supportive, helping think of creative meals to keep my blood sugars down. I just love him!

Charlie is still extremely active and wild in my belly though, kicking me so much that sometimes it hurts a little. Carson is so cute about kissing my belly everyday and talking to him. He calls him "Squirt" and tells him how much we already love him. We both are extremely excited!

I never posted a picture of the super cool crutch covers I bought, so here's a picture from the internet:I love them! I even ordered some for my brother-in-law, Andrew who just had ankle surgery. Don't worry I ordered him dark green since he's about to go to Baylor at the end of this month!

Speaking of Carson, we have great news!! He has a second round interview on Monday at 12:30pm!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippee!! If you read this before he interviews, please send up lots of prayers. He is very excited about the job and they sound very interested in him too. It seems like a great fit for him. We've been praying very hard about this job too, so we'll keep you posted. Lots of big things this next week: Carson's interview on Monday, I finish up clinicals on Thurday, and then graduate Friday night! I'll be sure to post some pictures of me walking across the stage 30 weeks pregnant on crutches!!!!!!

Ashley's shower (29 weeks pregnant)

My friend Debbie & I hosted a baby girl shower for our sweet friend Ashley at our house on Sunday. Ashley already has a 14month old son and is now expected a little girl in September, so we threw her a shower to get some cute litle girl stuff!! I was expecting to be off my crutches by now, but obviously I wasn't so Carson helped me set up the decorations the night before. :) So not only does he cook, clean, drive me around, basically do everything for me.... he also helps me decorate for baby showers! But working together, Debbie, Jacqueline, Carson & I were able to get everything ready for the shower! It turned out to be a great party.

I had to show off these cute cupcakes that Debbie & I made for the shower! (The white petals are from cut up large marshmellows, then edible sprinkles painted on them, with lemon drops or junior mints in the middle!) Everyone said they were yummy but I couldn't eat any because I now have gestational diabetes. I still had fun making them!

Two of my favorite people: Ashley & Debbie. We've been in the same small group for 4 years and have all grown so close. We're all pregnant too... me: 29 weeks, Ashley: 35 weeks, & Debbie: 16 weeks. Can't wait for all of our babies to play together!