Well...

I got nothin.  Baby Wyatt is still all cozied up inside my belly with no obvious plans to say goodbye to his little uterine hut and say hello to the world outside yet.  I go back to the doctor on Monday for another check-up, so please pray that our little baby will decide to kick this labor thing into gear before then!  We have 4 days until the due date (7/13) and my doctor said if he's still like this on Monday she won't even be able to induce labor yet.  (Not that I want to be induced anyway, but it makes me a little nervous that even THAT may not an option!) 

In the meantime, it looks like Sam and I will be enjoying ONE MORE baby-free weekend after all.  Unless, of course, Wyatt decides to surprise us both and join the party.  Which would be A-okay with me!!

And now, I'm off to pray/walk continuously/bounce on my exercise ball/eat spicy foods/talk to the baby/and try whatever other crazy things I can to help move this labor along!  (With a few exceptions...castor oil and weird herbal supplements are definitely not an option.  Yet.)

38 weeks and counting...

So here I am at 38 weeks and 3 days and the little guy is making no apparent plans to come out any time soon.  At my appointment on Tuesday my doctor said he was still pretty high & I was not dilated yet, so I guess we'll just keep watching & waiting for now!  In the meantime, I am getting a little bit anxious that he's going to be overdue, which is causing more anxiety as I think about all the "what ifs".  I would appreciate any and all prayers that baby Wyatt comes out safe & healthy whenever he is ready, and that both of us get through the labor & delivery process safely and with no major complications!  I'm sure this gets a little easier after the first baby, but right now I really have no idea what's normal, what's not, etc. and I'm driving myself a little nuts! Here's a belly shot from last night though--I'm actually wearing normal clothes AND some makeup in this picture!  AMAZING!!

Sam and I are nearing the end of the "nesting" phase.  We've just about finished all of our projects around the house & will be putting the finishing touches on the nursery this weekend.  (I'll post pictures of that as soon as everything is in place.)  A couple nights ago, we were putting away more gifts from the sweet shower that Sam's church in Lawton gave us, and Sam decided that he needed to practice changing diapers.  Who am I to argue this??  They say practice makes perfect, and I'm ALL FOR him changing diapers whenever possible!  So, he goes into Wyatt's nursery, gets the teddy bear his parents got for Wyatt out of the crib & a couple newborn diapers, and settles back on the couch for some practice.  The proof is in the picture, people:

At least one of us is going to be trained & ready for some professional diapering here before long! 

We're looking forward to a long holiday weekend this weekend & the opportunity to spend it together with just the 2 of us for one of the last times before we become a family of 3.  We have a few last minute errands to run, but I'm hoping we'll be able to sneak in some time at the pool with friends, a 4th of July cookout & celebration, and perhaps a viewing of Eclipse!  (And who am I kidding, I'm sure I'll go back over the house at least once this weekend with the Swiffer...)

One thing that I have NOT been able to decide on (if there are any guys reading this, feel free to go ahead and continue on your business now) is the breast pump situation.  With the help of several gift cards, a 20% off coupon to Babies R Us, and some very generous family members, I was able to purchase the Medela Pump In Style Advanced.  I haven't opened it yet though, and since I bought it, I've been wondering if I should opt for the hands-free (and more expensive) Medela Freestyle Pump instead.  I've heard lots of great things about the Pump In Style Advanced, but since it's not hands-free, I'm wondering if any of you readers have had any experience or know anyone who has used the Freestyle model?  I'm just trying to decide if it's worth the extra money or not, and I probably need to make a decision here pretty quick! Let me know if you have an opinion on this "oh-so-important" topic and I may be exchanging out the pump I got for the hands-free version sometime in the next few days.  Or maybe I won't.  Who knows?

Have a safe & Happy 4th of July!!

A little of this, a little of that...

Whew--the past few weeks have been FLYING by!  It seems like time is speeding up the closer and closer we get to Wyatt's arrival...I can't seem to keep up with anything.  And I think throughout the course of my pregnancy I've developed a moderate to severe case of ADD, because I cannot stay focused on completing one thing before I get distracted by something else.  Which is fitting because this post is going to be a compilation of the very random thoughts/questions floating around in my head this morning...

4 of my dearest friends threw me another baby shower a week and a half ago, but I haven't had time to upload those pictures onto my computer yet.  (Excuses, excuses, I know...)  It was a lovely shower and I had such a great time--thank you again Marie, Amber, Jeanna, & Katy!!! :)  I'll try to post some pictures from that fun day soon...

Yesterday marked 37 weeks of pregnant bliss (ha!), which I celebrated with my now weekly trip to the OB.  My doctor told me that Wyatt is "still way up there" and "not engaged at all yet", which was a little bit discouraging to me.  She encouraged me to keep walking to try and get the little guy to move on down into the birth canal.  Sam and I have been TRYING to walk more the past couple of weeks to get things moving, but 3 minutes outside in this heat & humidity and I feel like I've just run a marathon!! (not that I would REALLY know what that felt like, but I can imagine...)  Any tips from you mommies out there on getting this party started??  Here's a belly shot from 37 weeks that I took at midnight last night, which is why I look SO fabulous!

And here's a funny picture I took a couple nights ago...

Why yes, yes that IS a box of Wheat Thins stored neatly in the fridge next to my Gatorade. WHAT?! I don't hardly even remember eating the Wheat Thins, and definitely not storing them in the refrigerator. Oh pregnancy brain, you never cease to amaze me. (And entertain all those around me...)

Sam and I decided it was probably time to go ahead and install the carseat into my car, given the fact that there's really no telling when this little guy will decide to grace us with his presence.  Poor Sam spent a good amount of time in the sweltering heat of June in Oklahoma trying to get this sucker installed properly, and it's STILL crooked in the backseat.  We will be consulting a certified carseat technician in the very near future to make sure we're good to go...

And now my final questions for the morning are for those of you who have had babies already OR for those of you who haven't and would just like to impart some of your own thoughts:

1) Would you recommend keeping the baby in your room with you at night or sending them to the nursery in between feedings so you can get some rest?

2) Is there anything (other than the obvious stuff) you would recommend taking to the hospital?  (Packing the hospital bag is on my "to do" list for this week, along with finishing up the thank you notes, getting last minute stuff that we still need, exchanging duplicate gifts, putting the finishing touches on the nursery, getting a mani/pedi, & deep cleaning my entire house--haha)

Oh, and by the way, in case you're wondering why your comment isn't showing up immediately, I now have to go in and publish each comment individually.  For some reason, my blog has gotten inundated with some VERY inappropriate SPAM comments/websites from China & Japan (don't ask why...I have no idea how this happened).  SO, don't worry if your comment doesn't show up immediately--I'll publish it as soon as I see it! 

Have a great day!! :)

You know you're VERY pregnant when...

• You (sadly) get out of breath while simply using the Chi to flat iron your hair in the mornings...

• You don’t even wait to get home to open up the Maalox you just bought and chug directly from the bottle in the parking lot of Walgreens…

• You are scared to wash any of your jeans again because you know that if they shrink AT ALL, you will most likely be bottomless…

• Your co-workers are complaining about how cold the office is, but you still have your giant box fan blowing full force directly on you…

• You have to sit in the (air conditioned) car for a few moments and mentally motivate yourself before getting up the courage to waddle up the hill to your office…

• You opt for flip-flops to go on a walk just so you don’t have to figure out how in the world to bend over long enough to tie your tennis shoes…

• You have to stand up for a few minutes after you eat just so your lungs have enough room to actually get a decent breath of air…

• You go through an entire roll of toilet paper just about every day, due to VERY frequent trips to the bathroom…

• You start getting less anxious about the actual delivery and more anxious that the baby may not come out until AFTER his due date…

In other news, I had the most wonderful church baby shower this past weekend! Nine of the sweetest ladies in the world helped to make my shower so very special, and I was overwhelmed with all of the thoughtful & generous people who stopped by and showered us with gifts. I have another shower this coming weekend that some of my oldest & dearest friends are throwing me, and I am so excited about it as well! What a blessing it is to have such wonderful friends & family to show us so much love at such an exciting time in our lives!! We are truly, truly blessed. Here are a few pictures highlighting my church shower:

My lovely hostesses who were SO wonderful...

The AWESOME diaper cake that Bailey made...

Ashley (my lovely shower assistant) and the sweet robe she had monogrammed for Wyatt...

The stroller/carseat set that my hostesses got me...

Me with 2 of Wyatt's Great Grandmas (AKA: My Grandmas)...

Me & Wyatt's Grammie (AKA: my mom)

Me & Wyatt's Grandma Ward (AKA: Sam's mom)

And now, I must resume the seemingly endless task (but I'm definitely not complaining) of writing thank you notes!  I do have a question though and would love your thoughts. Shower group gifts. When you get a gift from a whole group of people (anywhere from 5-10+) and there are no specific instructions on the card (ex: “no thank you needed”, or “only send one thank you to…”) do you send a thank you note to EACH individual person in the group or one thank you note to the whole group? I’m not sure what the proper etiquette is in this case, and I certainly don’t want to come across ungrateful, but do you think each person in the shower group expects an individual thank you note, or does one thank you for the group suffice? Let me know what you think...

Can You Smell That?

So I realize it's been 3(ish) weeks since my last post, but who's really surprised by that?  My long list of "to do's" keeps growing longer and longer the closer we get to this baby's arrival, and updating the blog just seems to keep getting pushed further and further down the line.  However, due to the fact that it is blazing hot outside (keeping me from running my errands) and the fact that I'm actually still at work right now (it's a very slow, very quiet Friday afternoon so I'm taking a quick "blog break"), I decided to post a little update:

I'm 34 and 1/2 weeks along right now, Wyatt's due date is in 39 days, it's June 4th, 95 degrees outside, and I. Am. Melting.  I am not kidding you, I am hot ALL the time.  Poor Sam has been bundling up with blankets and extra clothes whenever we go to bed, and I still end up throwing all my covers off onto him in the night.  It's crazy.  But I'm not complaining, because as crazy hot as it is outside, I still prefer this over the catastrophic icy winter we had--hands down.

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with the title of my post.  Here's the deal: I can't smell a thing right now.  And along with that, I can't TASTE anything either.  I am not exaggerating when I say this...I literally cannot smell ANYTHING--good, bad, or ugly.  "Why can't you smell anything?" you may ask.  I'll tell you why. 

Last Thursday (as in 8 days ago) I started coughing.  No big deal, right?  WRONG.  I went to my regular doctor on Friday, was diagnosed with bronchitis and the start of a sinus infection, put on some antibiotics, and sent on my way to the 3 day weekend.  Saturday...no better.  Sunday...worse.  Monday...I think I'm dying.  Okay, not really, but I was MISERABLE.  So Tuesday morning I go in for my regular 34 week appointment with my OB and she says I probably have a nasty virus on top of everything else.  Being the lifesaving angel of a lady that she is, she called out a prescription for some AMAZING cough medicine with codeine (AKA: The Elixir of All Things Good & Holy in this World) and some steroids to get this junk knocked out.  By that evening I felt remarkably better, and other than the nagging cough that will probably linger for several more days, I've been on the up & up since then.  Except for the TINY little fact that I realized on Wednesday morning that I cannot smell or taste anything at all.  It's a very weird sensation...I know what food SHOULD taste like, but all I can feel is temperature and texture.  I should probably be capitalizing on this opportunity to choke down all the healthy foods that I normally detest (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)  Nah.  But I will tell you one thing: my smell & taste better come back QUICK after I'm done with this round of steroids, or I'm going to be one grouchy pregnant girl.  Has anything like this ever happened to anyone else?  Just curious...

Okay, and now I'll leave you with a couple of ultrasound pics from Wyatt's 32 week appointment.  Sam and I opted out of the 3-D Ultrasound experience so that we can be totally surprised when he comes out to meet us in a few short weeks.  The first picture is of his face, and the second is a profile shot with hand on his head.

Isn't he cute??? :)  Haha.  Okay, I must get back to work now.  Have a great weekend!!