It's Friday! Yay!

So it's Friday again already!! This means there are lots of things to be excited about...

First, exactly ONE WEEK FROM RIGHT NOW, we'll be away from here on our mini-vacation, relaxing!! I can't wait!!!!!

Secondly, tomorrow my friends are putting on a Baby Shower for our little princess, which I'm very thankful for, and excited about!

And lastly, I had a Dr. appointment today, and was able to hear my baby girl's heartbeat.

All of those things make this a lovely day! :-)

Ok, so let me break it down now. I had my Dr. appointment today (seems so weird to be going every week). Dr. Zuckerman is still not back. They say he is doing well, but is still in recovery from the surgery. They still can't give a definite date of when he'll be back...so until then, we'll continue to play it by ear, in regards to scheduling my appointments and stuff. Anyway, I saw Dr. Odum again today. Because she is covering for all of Zuckerman's patients, and only comes in like once a week, there's always a MILLION of us in the waiting room, waiting to be seen by her. Poor thing. She must be exhausted. About ten other preggos went in before me, so I did have to wait quite a while. Once I finally did see her though, it was a VERY nice appointment. I had gained NO WEIGHT! Woohoo! She said that that was totally fine, and that I'll probably just maintain about my same weight now until the end (maybe a pound or two more). Everything looked great; my weight gain is right on track (28 lbs total), blood pressure was normal, everything measured normal, baby's heartbeat was nice and strong. Dr. Odum's exact words to me were, "you don't really get more perfect than you are right now!" :-) So sweet of her! I felt like giving her a gigantic hug for being so kind to me! Ha! Anyway, it's totally a blessing to know that everything is going as well, and is as perfect, as I feel! We'll wait for Tuesday morning (ultrasound) to find out about how much Aliyah's weighing. Can't wait til then!

On to other things... I'm so excited that tomorrow I'll be celebrating the almost-arrival of our Little One with all of my friends (minus a certain few that I wish could be here too! you know who you are!).

Oh, and I totally forgot to mention - it's also a great day because I went and had my eyebrows waxed! Any day that I go to get that done, usually ends up being a favorite day! :) Not only do I come out feeling like a woman again, but I always have the best of time there. My little Asian lady named "Roxy" (so not her real name!!!) has been waxing me for about a year and a half now. She always TOTALLY makes my day! She calls me "Lady." :-) Anyway, today she talked my ears off about how cute I looked, how small my belly was, how by the shape of my belly - she definitely thinks it's a boy, not a girl, and how I need to remember to always come get waxed, no matter how busy or crazy my life gets with baby at home. HA! Love her!

Here are some pics...

This is the very cute invite I got on Wednesday. It was all wrapped up, and came in this pretty little frame....

I've also been meaning to post a picture of this. We had it made at our county fair a couple weeks ago... :-) So cute!

Lists, Lists, and More Lists....

Ok, so Sunday morning I had a little wake-up call, that came in the form of some intense (yet, not painful) "practice" contractions (Maybe braxtons? They seemed a little too intense to be just that though - so who knows).

Anyway, they woke me up at like 5 am, and I couldn't fall back asleep for a good hour or so.

One, because I was counting/timing them (since, for the first time ever, I could actually feel them come and go).

Two, because I totally started freaking out and getting a nervous tummy that if she came already, we wouldn't be able to go away for Labor Day weekend (which - is like NUMBER ONE PRIORITY in my life right now, ha! I have been DREAMING of vacation!).

Three, I started to go over in my head everything that we don't have yet, that we really do need (ideally, before her arrival).

And four, I was imagining us having to suddenly leave to go to the hospital, only to realize that I would be leaving behind a COMPLETELY dumpy and messy apartment! Agh! It was too much for my mind to bare. I wanted to get up immediately to start tidying - but I was too nervous that tidying or cleaning would actually put me into real labor. LOL. Crazy thoughts to have all at once, and totally useless ones, for the most part! :)

After about an hour or so, I was finally able to somewhat relax my mind, and I finally fell back asleep (only to be woken up like 5 minutes later by my REAL wake-up call, that came in the form of my alarm clock, at about 6:15am). It was time to get up and get ready for church. (We have to be at church at 8 am on Sunday mornings for worship practice.)

ANYWAY - so I got up, and instead of jumping straight into the shower like usual, I dashed over to the kitchen, grabbed a note pad and pen, and starting making all sorts of crazy to-do and to-buy lists. I finally stopped quick, to go get ready, and then continued my list-making and brainstorming in the car, on our way there. I made every kind of list I could think of. Things the baby needs IMMEDIATELY. Things that can wait about a week or so, til after she's born. Things we have already. Things I myself will need IMMEDIATELY. Lists of things we need, in their order of importance, ha! Things I want to have done before she's here. Ways I can make sure my house is tidy 24/7 in preparation for a sudden arrival. Etc, etc, etc... And when I was pretty sure that I had thought of everything there is to think of, I re-wrote them all over again. Ridiculous.

So here I am now, two days later, and I have a bunch of lists floating around the house (only making staying tidy, a much harder job!) :)

I feel much more calm now. We're only really lacking a few of the essentials, we're praying daily that her arrival won't be til AFTER our much-needed vacation time, and I realized that leaving a messy house behind to go to the hospital, should be the least of my concerns (although, I won't lie - it would still bother me if that happened!).

Today, I think I will compile all my lists into one or two, less ridiculous ones. Then maybe I can go from there, and feel a little bit better about being prepared and organized; while also not completely making myself out to be some crazy list-lady!

That's all for now... :)

Oh and a little side note: Today is my parents 30th Anniversary! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Love you both dearly!!

Little Tracker

Just wanted to say that I'm so thankful for the little pregnancy tracker on my blog! It reminds me where I'm at in this whole process, since I can never seem to remember exactly how far along I am, or exactly how much time is left! BUT - my little pumpkin tracker is always there, and always accurate! :) (Although, I hope little pumpkin tracker doesn't stay accurate forever; as I'm hoping to see our pumpkin sooner, rather than later!)

33 1/2 Weeks

SO - after far too many weeks, I finally got in to my Dr.'s office yesterday! Poor Dr. Zuckerman is still out on leave. :( Apparently he had surgery on Tuesday. Hopefully that means that whatever it was that he had or has, was able to be treated or "fixed" with the surgery. They said that they're hoping he'll be back by next week. If not then, the week after.

They had a lady-doctor fill in for him. Her name was Dr. Odom. She was very kind, so that made for a nice experience! Just had the usual things done, and everything looked great. I already go every week from here on out. I'll have an ultrasound in the next week or so, and then it's really the very last stretch!!

Weeks are FLYING by, and soon she'll be here!!! As excited as we both are to welcome her into our family and home, we are definitely taking advantage of and enjoying our last moments of it just being "the two of us." We are staying home together, A LOT. Relaxing, A LOT. Cuddling, A LOT. Sleeping in, A LOT. Simply just enjoying each other! We have SO thoroughly enjoyed our almost-four-years of marriage, and it just being "us." We talk about how it definitely will be a shocker to have this little one here to stay - but we can't wait! :) We thank the Lord each day for giving us each other, and for giving us this little one to add to our little circle of love! We are so thankful for the bestest of years that we've had, and the best that are yet to come!!! :)

Tiny Little Slippers

My good friend Amy (from childhood/high school), was SO SWEET and sent us a little package for the baby. She sent a few little gowns and these ADORABLE little slippers! They're so cute and cozy. I'm sure she'll only get to wear them a handful of times (if that) because they're so adorably tiny, but they certainly will be a very special keepsake! It was such a sweet surprise to receive that stuff. Thanks Ames! Love you! :)

Sharing Already!!!!

SO, this morning my friend Janet dropped her 4 month old (Jonathan) off with me. She had some things to get done this morning, so I agreed to watch him while she was out. Let me just say first of all, that he seriously is the easiest baby in the world! He is SO content, SO happy, SO relaxed. I prayed the whole time he was over that our little one would be the same way! How amazingly wonderful and easy would that be?! :) Of course, I'll take her and love her just the same, even if she isn't quite like that (and more like her daddy, hmm, hmm. Ha!!) :) ANYWAY, so today we got out Aliyah's play mat, and some of her toys to share with Jonathan. I was so proud that she was already sharing! Ha! Sounds cheezy (since really, she didn't have much say in the matter!!! LOL!), I know...but it felt so good to be able to share her things, even before she is here! We always try to put others before ourselves, and we definitely intend on teaching her the same! So today was her first lesson on SHARING AND GIVING! :) Ha! (It's ok if you're all laughing at me - it's all making perfect sense in my head) :) We're already on a good track in my eyes! :)

On another note...I still haven't been to the Dr. For the last couple of weeks, my appointments have kept getting re-scheduled for later dates, due to some kind of illness (or maybe personal problem?) that my Dr. has been facing. ANYWAY, they called today again (I was supposed to go in this afternoon) to tell me that my Dr. is taking a temporary leave of absence. SO SAD! Ugh! They're trying to get in a replacement OB for the mean time, to take over all his patients. They did say, however, that if I did not want to wait it out a few more days, that I was more than welcome to find a new provider. For now, that is totally out of the question. I'm in no rush to get to the Dr. I feel great, and am confident the baby feels just as great. SO, I told the receptionist I'd wait it out until next week to see if they were able to find someone yet (that, or to see if my Dr. is back yet). I'll call Monday to see what the deal is.

Suppose that's all for now. Can't wait for weekend and for Beto to be off of work!!! :):)

Summer Fun!

This past weekend our friend Dan came down to visit from New York. He came because all the guys got tickets to go see the Real Madrid vs DC United game yesterday afternoon.

Saturday, we took him down to DC to hang out for a while and see some monuments (after stocking the Madrid team at their hotel for about 4 hours, ha!!) It was an overall very fun day though! We had a great time with friends, just hanging out.

Tomorrow I have a Dr. Appointment - so I'll update later on this week, if there's more to tell :)

OH - and there will be more pictures coming soon. Our camera's battery died half way through the day, so I have to get a lot of pictures off of the Strickland's camera. Until then, here's some to share...

31 Weeks

These were taken last weekend in DC. We went down on Saturday afternoon to grill at Jason and Kristin's, and decided to take a walk to Eastern Market.

Beto and Sofi - chunky little muffin!

We found a cute little baby boutique and therefore stopped in to shop a bit!