Nursery Pics!

We finally got Alice's palace ready. We think. Here are some pics!

Think this chickie has enough duds?

The letters that I made. My attempt at being crafty.

The rocking chair that belonged to my Momo, the original Miss Alice.

Her little tushie station.

Curtains made by Mimi. Blackout curtains for those mid-day naps...and boy do they work, it gets mad dark in there!

Snug as a Bug

Well the little one must be comfy and cozy in her little nest because it seems as if she's not vacating it anytime soon! I'm not officially due until this Thursday, the 30th, so she's not late or anything...yet. But I just have a feeling this little gal is going to take her sweet time. At a risk of providing way too much info, the doctor said last week that I was 70% effaced but not dilated. I had to google to find out what the heck that means but I read that most first time mommies will efface before dilating. So...back to the doctor this Wednesday to see if we've made any progress! Uncle Heyburn was really hoping to share his birthday with little Alice, but today is his birthday so it's not looking too promising. Sorry, Uncle Heybs! We can still shoot for a shared birthday with Uncle Mike or Mimi since both are the first week in October. Guess we will see!

Actually, it's been kind of a blessing that Alice hasn't arrived yet. Week before last, my grandmommy fell while we were having lunch and broke her hip. After being in the hospital for a week, she has now moved to a rehab facility so she can get back up and at 'em soon. My mom has been in Louisville with her ever since she fell, so she asked Alice for a few extra days to let the chaos subside a little. Guess Alice is just listening to her Mimi and trying to make things a little easier on everyone!

But we're ready whenever she does decide to join us! Her room is ready, car seat is installed, our bags are packed, etc. So now we just wait.....

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The good: A couple of weekends ago some of my best gals hosted a fabulous shower for me and little Alice. It was absolutely perfect. It was girly and sweet and fun and wonderful...I'm so lucky to have such amazing friends. I was totally overwhelmed with all the goodies we got for the little one. It was out of control. We got tons of practical gifts and fun gifts. My favorite was a little gift from my mom and sister, it was a little newborn stocking hat with a little blue flower applique on it. After Alice outgrows the little hat, we're supposed to remove the applique and save it to be her "something blue" on her wedding day. It is the sweetest thing I've seen in a long time! Made me all misty-eyed. We got too many other fabulous things to list, but thanks to the generosity of our family and friends, we are well on our way to having everything we need for the little one! But more importantly, I had such a good time spending a lovely afternoon with all my favorite ladies. I am so lucky! Enjoy some pics from the shower below.

Look how cute!

Christi Hayne's fabulous cake bites! Yum!

Her little clothesline with monogrammed onesies and bibs and goodies! So cute!

Miss Anna Claire and Miss Molly had a big time!

Crazy!

Me and the lovely hostesses: Kristen, Katie, Amy, Julie and Lindsey.

The Bad and The Ugly: In other, not so fun news, I lost my job last week. I was a victim of the state government "budget-balancing" layoffs. I, maybe foolishly so, believed that my job was secure at least until I had the baby and returned from maternity leave. Silly me. Needless to say, this news took us by surprise and caused some major stress in the Williams household. Fretting about health insurance, money, etc. is not really how I planned to spend the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy. But I'm not going to let this rain on my parade. Staying stressed isn't good for me and it certainly isn't good for the little lady so I'm trying to stay upbeat and concentrate on all the good things we have coming our way. Alice is what matters most to us now and no silly job (or lack of that silly job) will take away from our excitement about her. So there.

On the bright side, I'm kind of enjoying my newly found free time! I've tagged along with Joey on his work day trips, worked on things for Alice's nursery, cooked, napped, caught up on my DVR, etc. It's been kinda fun! The whole housewife thing is kinda lovely. Maybe I'll even have time to update this blog more than once a month!

This week begins our weekly doctor appointments. I'll update soon on Alice's progress!

Alice's First Shower

This past weekend we had a lovely shower hosted by Joey’s mom, Colleen and his niece, Sydney. It was a shower for the ladies in Joey’s family and it was really great to see everyone. Everyone was so generous and showered us with lots of goodies for little Alice. We got TONS of adorable clothes, things to last us until next summer even! Can’t wait to see her in some of her new little sundresses and rompers next summer…I’m hoping she’ll be good and chunky by then and can show off her sweet meat! We got some of the cutest bibs with all kinds of cute little sayings on them, bath time goodies, blankets, an awesome swing, a really cool mobile, the oh-so-handy dandy Baby Bjorn sling carrier thing. Which Joey has decided is perfect device for being able to hold the baby AND play cornhole and drink a beer during tailgate season. Yeah our priorities are right in line. We got her baby book so we can start filling that out, which I am promising myself to keep up with as she gets older. We’ll see. We got an adorable little wooden table and chairs for her, too, from Joey’s mom. It matches her room perfectly and will be a perfect little table for playing or snacking when she gets a little bigger. I forgot to get any good posed pictures with Joey’s fam, but the few that I did get are below. I had a great time and am blessed to have such loving in-laws. Now onto organizing all of Alice’s new gear.

Joey’s cousin’s precious little man, Tevin, was digging Alice’s new table and chairs.

Some of the gals enjoying their goodie bags

Sydney picked out this onesie all on her own..it says “new in town”. How cute!

Joey’s sweet grandmommies

Some of the kiddos helping me with “the big gift”

28 Weeks!

Wow this is really flying by. If I really stop to think about how soon our little sweetie will be here, I get a major case of the panicky sweats. Of course I am beyond excited and can’t wait to see my best little girl, I’m just feeling a smidge overwhelmed by all we still have to do! But it’ll all come together. It always does (well it always comes together for other things like moving and holidays, this I’m not so sure about but I’m just telling myself it will anyway). I’m not really sure when the “nesting” phase officially begins, but I think I’m kinda there. I suddenly feel the need to clean out every closet, cabinet, drawer, etc. Not really sure why I feel like Alice is really going to need the space under my bathroom sink and I simply must throw away old lotions and potions before she gets here, but nonetheless I wanna purge! I cleaned out under the kitchen sink the other day and found 12 flower vases. How is that even possible? So we (yes that means you, too, Joey) are going to try to get some things cleaned out this weekend. Should be interesting.

So Alice has been moving like cra-zay. Always kicking and dancing. We were sitting at a restaurant this weekend and some oldie but goodie disco hit titled “Bad Girls” came on and that seemed to be her jam. The little sis had some rhythm, too. Not sure how I feel about her anthem being a song titled “Bad Girls” but hey at least she has some moves. She has the hiccups all the time, too. At first I had NO idea what was going on in there. I thought I could feel her heart beating and it kinda freaked me out. I consulted my expert, Mr. Google, and came to the conclusion that it was just a case of hiccups. She has them like 4 or 5 times a day at least. At first I worried that they were annoying her, but everything I read says that she shouldn't be bothered by them at all. She’s just a busy little bee!

This website I read has updates each week about how the baby is growing and developing. Here’s what it says this week: (Btw, why do they pick the strangest fruits and veggies for size references…a Chinese cabbage? Really? )

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. 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.

She’s chunking up! Yay! She wants to be just like her mama.

I’m going to try my bestest to update more regularly. Still trying to get the hang of the blogging thing. I have a doctor’s appointment next Friday. Hoping to hear that all is still well with the little one!

Alice's Nest

We finally ordered nursery furniture this weekend! We really love it and think it'll look great in her little room. It was pricey but it's the kind that converts to a big girl bed so we can use it for a long time to come. I even told her Daddy the dresser had good drawer space for later down the road when she needs lots of space for bras and undies. Daddy was not amused. We ended up getting the crib, dresser and a super comfy glider. We made sure to get a stain resistant fabric on the glider for those north and south end explosions that are sure to occur. Here's a pic!



Here's the bedding we ordered for her awhile ago. It's cute and very girly. Next up..paint! Any suggestions?

Moving right along...

Things are going great so far with my little jumping bean. I’m 24 weeks today. Only 16 or so more weeks to go, depending on when little Alice decides to make her debut. It still seems like a long time to wait to see our little lamb, but I know it’ll fly by. She’s growing like crazy from what I read and I can really feel her moving around in there now. She’s a busy little bee and moves around A LOT. She’s a little slow to rise in the morning (aren’t we all), but then really gets cranking when I get to work. We usually have a good morning chat over my yogurt at my desk. Her favorite time seems to be around midnight. If I’m asleep I don’t notice it really, but if I’m awake I always feel her having a little midnight party. I read that the sleeping patterns they have in the womb are usually their sleeping patterns out in the real world. Joey already called dibs on the midnight party session…except I’m not so sure he has the appropriate “party favors” that the little one will be looking for. I’m pretty sure only Mommy will be able to bring the midnight snacks. But we shall see!

We have made some progress on her nursery, but still have a long way to go. Who am I kidding; we have no furniture, haven’t painted and have no clue what to do in there. But hey, we do have some bedding! She may be using that beautiful, colorful bedding inside of a dresser drawer if her parents can’t get their tushies in gear. We are planning to go pick out furniture this weekend. We (well, I) wanted to paint the walls a coral, salmon-ish color, but after painting a little sample it seemed to be a bit much. We tried a green and it looked like someone rubbed guacamole all over the walls (which then of course lead to a Mexican craving). So we don’t really know what to do. Salmon or guacamole? Neither option is really tickling my fancy at this point, so it’s back to the drawing board I guess.

Not sure if yall have noticed but it’s HOT outside. Everyone warned me that I would feel hot all the time once I got to a certain point in my pregnancy and they were right. One day a few weeks ago, m y office was around 80 degrees, the AC was acting up in my car AND at the house. It was like 85 degrees everywhere I went. Looking back now, it makes me laugh but I literally thought I was going to die. It was the day I got my first cankle. Needless to say we got the AC in the car and at the house fixed right away. I totally pulled out the pregnancy card, too. “Um yes hi, I need someone to come fix our air today please, I don’t care what it costs, it’s really hot in our house and I’m pregnant and now I have a cankle and we need help please…like today”. Thank goodness a woman answered the phone at this AC service place; it was fixed within a couple of hours. Score!

But the little lady and I are doing great. Nothing but good news from the doctor, which is always a huge relief. When we had an ultrasound about a month ago, they said she has long legs. Not sure where those come from, but we love it. We just can’t wait to see her! I’m just so ancy to give her a smooch and a squeeze. Sometimes I just get out her tiny clothes and tiny diapers and just parade them around the house. So weird I know but all this miniature stuff of hers is just so stinkin’ cute!

I’ll try to post some pics of little Alice soon!