frolicking...

here's a peek into a typical afternoon in the life of ethan and his big ole pregnant mommy... we skip around the backyard, frolicking in the bright sunshine and smiling as the leaves crunch under our feet... then we fall to the ground laughing as we tickle one another silly...


ok, so that's a bit of an exaggeration. :) i think if i skipped around the backyard, my maternity jeans would fall down! we did enjoy some time in the backyard yesterday afternoon, though. i have been wanting to get some belly pictures with ethan, and yesterday was a beautiful day... but we attempted these a little too close to his naptime. brian captured a couple of good ones, but ethan was much more interested in running around the backyard than posing with me! we may try again for some belly pictures, but i don't know if we'll have a chance before caroline's birth. here's the best one we got...



hopefully we'll be sharing pictures of caroline soon!
here's my 38 (and a half) week picture... 9 days to go!

expiration date

for once, i can't wait for our gallon of milk to expire!!

showered with love!

i was blessed with a wonderful baby shower for caroline this past weekend. kristie, along with her mom, tammy, mama d, and other sweet ladies from our church hosted a "flower shower"! you can see the adorable decorations below. we played a few games-- my favorite was the one where everybody got a piece of string and tried to guess how big around i was! i must say that i know i'm big, but some people were waaaaaaaaay off!! :) caroline received several cute outfits and toys... it's so fun to see girly things in our house!! (not that i don't love the 300 balls that have infested our home as of late....) ethan, however, is not so thrilled with the thought of dolls invading his space. i tried to get a picture of him playing with a pink bunny and a doll called "my friend emily" (how could i not register for that one??)... you can see his reaction in the video at the end of this post...

translates "almost time mom" for you slow ones. :)

aren't these the cutest signs??

this fruit bouquet almost looks too good to eat!

and so does my flower cake! but not TOO good to eat :)

the "how big is mama's belly" game... she was way off!
(thank goodness!)

this beautiful red blanket handmade by auntie kristie
has a matching hat and booties...with little bows!

a vintage boyd's bear from carrie- perfect for caroline's room!

natalie was such a big helper!!

one of the several adorable RED outfits from nana

thank you for a wonderful shower, auntie kristie!

ok, here's the video of ethan and the dolls...

update from the doctor...

well, the weekly check from the doctor was actually worth something today! for the last 3 weeks, i've been at about the same point... but alas, today..... we have progress! caroline's sweet little head has dropped, so things are looking good. ethan never dropped below a -1 station throughout my whole labor, so my doctor and i were both happy to see that caroline will most likely NOT be following in her brother's footsteps (or headsteps??). i haven't dilated any further, but my doctor said that at this point, he'd rather see her head drop than me dilate further... so that was good to hear! i am hoping to go into labor on my own sometime between now and the 14th (my due date), but if i don't, i am scheduled to be induced at 5 am on november 14. the doctor that i'm most familiar with (and who delivered ethan) is off call from the 16th thru the thanksgiving holidays, so if i wanted him to induce me, it had to be the 14th or 15th... a month ago i would have said that i'd rather give myself a week past my due date before inducing, but at this point, i am so ready to have this baby!! so the 14th it is. or earlier. i'm such a scheduler (ask my husband about my finals in college) that i am enjoying knowing that on the 15th, i will be holding sweet caroline. (sing away, neil diamond!)

i appreciate your continued prayers as caroline's birthday draws near. we'll keep you posted!

caroline's nursery

ta da! caroline's nursery is complete! well, it's missing the baby, but it sure is ready to greet that little girl. for those of you who have been asking to see pictures, here ya go. i know a couple of you (kristi and carrie) want to see details, so i've included close-ups of all the little touches that i've done to make her nursery exactly what i wanted.... if you could care less about details, then just browse away... but surely you're used to me and my details by now. :) the best part about her nursery is that i was able to use several things that i already owned (brian especially loved this), AND there are several precious family heirlooms that i can continue to pass down to my daughter. as our previous guest room/office, the walls were already painted, the curtains were hung, and the daybed was already finished (besides the ugly knobs that brian painted for me!). so no big grunt work involved... just little vintage girly touches. :) i feel like it's something she can grow into and love... i hope so, anyway!

i'll start with a little video tour...



this is the view from her bedroom door. it's a pretty small room and a pretty awkwardly big day bed, so this was really the only place to put the bed. but i think it turned out ok. above the bed is a set of hanging picture frames that i actually used to decorate the whole room around... the larger frames have scriptures in them that have to do with the meaning of caroline's name. 1 peter 1:3-4 for caroline ("beautiful woman") and 2 thessalonians 1:11-12 for grace ("grace of God"). i am pretty excited about her boppy cover... i saw this toile/chenille cover in parents magazine, and of course i couldn't find it anywhere to buy... well, on one of my ritualistic ebay shopping/browsing evenings, i saw a brand new one for sale! that was one of my most victorious ebay wins yet. :) the sunbonnet sue quilt was made by my great-grandmother. i grew up snuggling with a similar one that had pink sashings instead of yellow.







i found this antiqued beadboard shelf at hobby lobby for 80% off because the bottom shelf was missing. a basket of toys fits perfectly under there, and you would never know there was supposed to be a shelf there! i had fun filling this bargain shelf... the blanket over the top was made for me by my grandma when i was born. the books are from my grandparents' house, including old mcguffy readers. the little doll was mine when i was younger, as well as the "vintage" 1984 mary engelbreit tin box. :) above the shelf is a collage of old baby pictures from our families... well, right now, it's just my mom's side. i'm still gathering pictures from everybody else (hint, hint!!). to the left of the shelf is a doll cradle that my grandpap made for me when i was little. ethan already loves going thru the books in the cradle...i hope caroline will, too!







here's her sweet cradle. oh i can't wait to watch her sleep in there! ethan already points to it and says "bay" (for baby). a good friend of my mom's is loaning us this cradle since ethan is not quite yet in a big boy bed. the best part is that we get to give it back when we're finished with it (one less thing in the garage!). my mom's beautiful wall hanging is the main decoration on this wall. that will be a family treasure for generations to come, i'm sure.





i love this wall...above her name sign is a wooden shelf that brian stained. the frame on the left is the product of a project from my mops meeting this past week... it's decoupaged with the nursery rhyme fabric my mom is using to make caroline's quilt. a couple of ethan's stuffed animals and a doll from an antique store completed the cozy look that i wanted. finishing this shelf was the last project for her room, so i'm especially happy with it! (don't you especially love the happy couples in the picture frames? ha! those will be replaced with sweet caroline's pictures, of course!!)




so there ya go! it was just as exciting to decorate a nursery the second time around... praise God for our little girl. we are so unbelievably blessed. hope you enjoyed the tour.