Holy Smokes...I'm Still Alive

So yes, I'm still alive...well at least I think I am. It's been awhile since my last post but in my defense a lot has happened. Well only one thing has happened...I had a baby. That in itself is enough to turn one person's world upside down. As much as you prepare it is an event in your life that no amount of preparation will be enough. I'm so thankful that I had the support of my wonderful husband, my family and my amazing friends. I think I managed to hit every emotion possible these past 5 weeks. I have been so happy that I cried and I have cried and well...I couldn't tell you even why. I have been so tired that I couldn't even sleep and I have also drank enough redbull to keep me going for days. On a side note, I highly recommend the redbull to any new mothers and fathers out there. Even my husband drinks it and this is the same man who won't touch a soda. I think when you hit the wall of tired, everyone will get desperate enough to go over to the dark side of caffeine. Hey, I happen to love the stuff and if I could get them to sponsor me for the duration of my child's life...well, I would be happen to promote their drink in anyway they wanted. Legal crack I like to call it, thank the lord that Costco sells it in bulk! Thank you Costco! My brain is still all over the place so this post really doesn't have a complete direction. I do know in the past 5 weeks I have seen and heard so many things that I have wanted to post about and now that I have a few moments here and there...I plan to dazzle you with all that life seems to be throwing at me now. I promise to not post only about my diva daughter...yes, she has already started to show us her personality...god help us but I'll be home for another 2 months so until I go back to work she might just be the subject of several posts. I do promise to get out of my house and venture out to see what the rest of the world is doing just so I can have other things to talk about. I will not become a cave person and lose perspective on life...at least I will try. I mean why leave the house...I have a great TV, Internet, a blackberry and redbull...what else is really out there? Just kidding...I do need a tan, some much needed exercise and I'm pretty sure I need to make sure my debit card still works. I even think I still have the same gas in my car from 5 weeks ago...not sure if that's good or bad! So stand by and see what happens...life has changed for me and that is putting it kindly. I now belong to a new elite group of ladies that like to call themselves..."Mom"...I still can't believe you don't have to fill out an application or pass a test to get this new title. Lord, all I ask is that you give me guidance to make the best decision and the courage to tell my daughter one day, "No way Colton, you go back in your room and change that outfit...this is not Halloween!" Ha, I laugh now but yes, I will be one of those mothers and if for some reason I forget how to be I will just send her to her buelo and buelas house...he'll be sure to straighten her out!

Baby Update

Today I had my 36 week checkup and here are the highlights:

• Baby is head down...I've known this for awhile because she has been using the top of my ribs as an ottoman...let me tell you...it feels so good.
• Baby looks good...even though some of the pictures I saw I couldn't even see any features...Brian had to remind me that the ultrasound we had was not going to show the details. Whatever...I preferred the cute profile shots over the front view, alien baby shots.
• I'm over the cut off by 4 points on higher amniotic fluid. I've been assured that I have nothing to worry about I'll get another ultrasound next week. I have a good history of failing these damn baby test by just a few points. Go me...I'm trying to keep my clean record going for as long as possible.
• Baby weighs at 6 pounds but I was told they estimate high so she's probably under 6 pounds. Thank you lord for not giving me a 10 pound baby right now.
• The more unexpected news was that I found out that I'm 2 cm dilated and thinning. Which I quickly responded..."Oh that's great...what does that mean?" I'm so up on all the pregnancy lingo...I was just testing the Dr. to see if she knew what it meant. She did...imagine that...her being a Dr. and all. She would like to see me get through another week and a half...ummm does it sound like she has little faith that I will make it to my scheduled C-section...maybe but hey at this point what can you do. I'll make it to the 8th because that is what is in my blackberry and so you know that means it's set in stone. HA!
• We did find out that Colton might need to join the circus because it turns out she's what we like to call (in the words of Phoebe Buffey) bendy. Apparently my child has the ability to grab her feet and pull them up to her head...hmmm...interesting talent...for now.
• My weight gain is still good and my blood pressure is good...not going to lie, so ready to get rid of the weight. I don't think I have enjoyed any moment of being this size.

My next appointment is Friday the 28th so lets hope everything goes well. Oh and this would be the time that I welcome any funny stories about pregnancy. I know some people don't like to hear them but I actually enjoy all the strange stories people want to tell me.

Oh I also need to give a huge THANKS and I LOVE YOU to Stacie Morgan Rowley and Alisha Bradshaw...who have truly been my all around, go to girls for all things pregnancy. I would be lost without their knowledge and would be sad without all their funny stories. They have managed to talk me down off a ledge a time or two and have also refrained from telling me my questions are stupid...now those are good friends. I look forward to Tinsley and Colton sharing birthdays only a day apart and maybe even being DZ's together...I'm sure one day this statement will bite me in the butt...I'm thinking their 21st birthdays will be the time I regret making that statement. As long as Colton has great friends like Nora and Tinsley I know one day Colton will have a few partners in crime and will have great friends to take on the world with. Good luck world...you're going to need it!!!

Picture Blog...

Here are tons of pictures of Colton's room. It's almost done, we just have to get the bumper put back on the crib, the Steve Prefontaine quote put on the sports wall, the Texas Longhorn added to her football helmet and the shelf put over the daybed. We should probably get some curtains but that is the least of my worries.

The mural was painted by Brandi Roberts, she did an amazing job. If you could have seen the 2 pictures I gave her to work with you would not believe that this is what came from it. She is beyond talented and absolutely hysterical to boot. We are so thankful that she was able to do this for us because she is 8 months pregnant right now and probably has no business being on her feet. We are so lucky that she was able to squeeze this into her already busy day. Please let me know if you would like her contact information. I need to get more pictures of the other work she has done...she can do it all! So here you go. I wish my camera could capture all the details in the leaves and tree. The shading is awesome! This mural makes the room complete, I can't stop looking at it!

Well only 6 weeks left and we will have a little girl to add to this room. I can't believe we will actually meet our goal of finishing everything by August. Thank you lord for good friends, my family and my husband who worked so hard to make everything perfect. I hope she likes her new room and if she doesn't, I know of a certain little dog who will happily trade her, her little bed in the laundry room for the these plush new digs.

Wordless Wednesday...well kinda!

Laundry Basket, Dresser Drawer or Crib?

Well...I came home from work yesterday to the best thing in the world...this baby won't have to sleep in a laundry basket or a dresser drawer...her crib is here! A special thank you to my Titi Rita and Tio Diego for the one of the greatest baby gifts we could have ever received...a crib. This will definitely be the gift that keeps on giving because it turns into a toddler bed, a day bed and then a full size bed. I know we will get great use out of it and it even passed the "shake the crib" test. So this little girl can shake it as much as she wants...this thing is not going anywhere! I also have to say thank you to my wonderful husband who had this all done before I got home. To be honest he was probably the most excited! Oh, and to boot...the bedding that we finally picked looks great with it too. Now...to get the rest of this room organized. I'm not so stressed anymore, this kid has a place to sleep...check that off the list.


Oh and for added fun...here is a picture of our miniature dachshund, Payton (No, not named after Payton Manning...but named after Walter Payton, Brian's favorite football player "Sweetness"). She thought she was being upgraded to the Penthouse! We haven't quite told her that the new crib and bed are not for her. She'll find out in about 2 months that all the new stuff in the room was not purchased for her enjoyment.

Quick and Easy Ways to Torture or at Least Annoy a Pregnant Lady...

...all done by wonderful husband. Let me set the tone by a statement that he made today during a phone conversation...oh what a handful he has become lately. Let me quickly add that I was trying to get myself some lunch before I went mad...it was almost 2:30 when we talked. My over worked husband is finally done teaching for the year and has 2 weeks off before he starts summer workouts. So in between his much deserved naps he has a "honey-do" list that goes on for miles. Hey, I would do it myself but for some reason he thinks I'm incapable of doing anything at this point in my pregnancy...I think he's just scared I'll end up on bed rest again. We all know how well I did with that the first time...total champ...whatever. Any hoo, I digress...so he calls me (while I'm starving) to announce to me that he could never be a stay at home husband because he is completely bored out of his mind. I'm sorry...I didn't hear you say that you finished everything on that honey-do list nor did I realize playing with a 5 pound dog was just the thing that wore you out. I had a little laugh and told him to put Payton (the 5 pound dog) outside to play with our other 2 dogs...oh he tells me that she has been out there all day with them. Again...no dog...and I still had not heard anything about that list being complete. I'm starting to wonder if the naps were getting to him. I was starting to get annoyed and I still had not eaten lunch. Then he announces to me that the UPS man is at the front door...hot damn...go find out what they have brought us. We'll put that in the "do something productive" category for today. So UPS, my favorite people have delivered the crib bedding I have ordered. I tell Brian to open it up and tell me how it looks. So as I wait he gets it all open and I ask him if he likes it. He says he really likes the pattern...ummm I didn't hear anything about the color. So I ask him if he likes the color and to tell me what it looks like. This is where I went terribly wrong...I just ask a man to describe the color of crib bedding to me. I knew this was a bad idea the second it came out of my mouth...it was to late...he was already attempting all the shades of pink he could possibly come up with. Did I mention I was starving still and to add fuel to the fire I even started asking him if it looked like this color pink...I was totally making crap up at this point but apparently I was quickly losing my mind and had no idea what I was saying. So these are all the shades of pink that he told me it could possibly look like...hot pink, not light pink, dark pink, not quite red, magenta, raspberry (that was a color that I totally made up)...funny how he strongly agreed with that color the most. Oh god help me, I think I just remembered that he's sorta color blind when it comes to different shades. What was I doing to myself? I finally had to tell him that I would just look at it when I got home and assess for myself if I would be making a 3rd purchase for crib bedding. He didn't seem to thrilled that I was not to impressed with his color descriptions...I finally had to tell him..."for the love of god Brian...I'm starving and you are totally making this pregnant woman crazy!!!!" He got the hint real fast that the color quiz we had been having was quickly coming to an end. I told him that I didn't need his help being an indecisive pregnant lady. I had to remind him...hello...I had to make a special trip to look at the shades of window tint for my car because I couldn't make a decision based on his shade description that he was giving me over the phone. That's a whole different story all together. Lets just say the light bulb went off pretty fast that annoying and torturing your pregnant wife might not be the best "fun" activity to do just because you're home bored. So my revenge which I have been plotting for the last couple of hours will be that I have managed to come up with more things to add to that "honey-do" list of his that is so not even close to being done. I'm sure we can work the boredom out of him one way or another and I'm sure I won't be getting anymore calls at work about things that have arrived via UPS!

Can I Hire Someone To Do That?

So this has become my position on everything and anything baby related. Being pregnant has moved me into an whole different arena in life. To put it bluntly...I've mellowed out and really have come to the conclusion that I really don't care to do to much about anything. This is probably not the best approach to take when your 3 months away from having a baby...that's if I make it that long. I really think someone should start a business where women like me who know nothing about "all things baby", can call someone who does know something about "all things baby"! I'm lucky to have some great friends who have helped get me organized which is usually one of my stronger characteristics but as of now...I'm not sure where that one actually went to. Must be on hold somewhere, along with my ability to sleep well and the ability to not have to use the bathroom 50 million times a day. Oh the things they don't tell you about. It's funny, I get these reminder emails every week that say, Congrats you are so many weeks (fill in the blank) pregnant. It's a weekly reminder kinda like a ticking time bomb. It should say...Congrats Chris, you haven't done to much and if you don't get on it, this kid of yours will be sleeping in a laundry basket and will have dish towels for diapers. Everyone keeps talking about this nesting faze, the only nesting faze that is going on is with my friends. I think they are nesting for me. Heck, I can't even find a crib bedding set that I like. Did you know that most of them are so...well...babyish! Image that right, it might actually be for a baby. So the ones that I do like cost way to much money. Hello, it's for a baby which means with time it will get destroyed and I'm not paying that much to watch it disintegrate before my very eyes. Lord, we all know I have no problem dropping some good money on some great items but seriously, this kid will have this bedding for how long again? If you tell me, until she goes to college, I might consider spending a small fortune. Again, can I hire someone to find, decorate, and tell me what kind and how many baby clothes I really need? Surely I can, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to meet this little girl, just not so excited about all the other stuff. Did I mention, I'm still trying to figure out where all this stuff goes? Awwhh as I speak, I just got my reminder email. It just popped up...well there goes another week of not getting much accomplished. I guess I'm going to have to get motivated because I don't think it would look good if my little dog Payton had more bedding and toys that baby girl Smith. Oh, I'm taking any and all application to do any or all of the above listed rants...just call. I laugh but deep down inside I might just be serious!