34 Weeks

Six weeks to go!!  I think Baby Girl is getting increasingly antsy to make her appearance, and she is getting mad that she doesn't have nearly enough space in my belly to sprawl out the way she once could.  This is evidenced by her deciding she still wants to stretch out, and then I end up with some sort of body part protruding from my belly (usually it is her bum or her foot).  The other night Chris was feeling her bum as she was sticking it out the right side of my belly and noted that it felt like "a hernia". :)  I love my little "hernias", but man do they make me sore!!  Sometimes I will try to push on the body part to get her to pull it back in, but usually that just results in getting some extra kicks from Baby Girl.  She is definitely a feisty one already!

This did come in handy this past weekend, when I got together with my DG girlfriends for a going away dinner for Katie who is moving to Arizona.  The girls wanted to feel Baby Girl kick (which she almost never does on cue), but luckily I was able to poke at her a little bit and most of the girls were able to feel her moving and kicking!  She is moving and kicking a lot these days, but it seems like whenever someone else wants to feel it she stops so I was excited that my friends were able to feel her dancing around!

Also, this past weekend was my first baby shower.  This was hosted by my long-time friend, Nicole, as well as Julia and Gayle - the "little" girl I used to baby-sit for (she is 11 now!) and her mom.  They did an amazing job, and it was great to see everyone that was able to show up!  I felt very loved and lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.  And Baby Girl definitely got spoiled - lots of clothes, toys, blankets, and so much more!!  She is so so lucky to be so loved by so many people already!

Such a cute diaper cake!!

With one of the hosts - Miss Julia

Baby Girl's two great-great aunts

Two of Baby Girl's great-grandmas

Baby Girl's great-grandma and great-aunt

With one of the grandmas-to-be!

Another one of the hosts - my longtime friend, Nicole

My mom and I, aka Baby Girl's Gram

The third host of the day, Gayle - I started baby-sitting her kids when the twins were 1 and they are now about to turn 15!!

The picture below shows my reaction at opening up one of the presents from my mom.

The story behind this is as follows:  When my brother was born, she cross-stitched him a birth sampler which had his name, weight, DOB, as well as some cute little pictures on there.  It took her a couple of years, but she finished my brother's by the time he was 3.  When my sister came along 3 years later, my mom started on her birth sampler but having 2 (and then 3) kids running around it took her a bit longer - and she finished it when my sister was 6.  So being the last born, my mom obviously had her hands full when I was born.  So at one point she told me she was doubling the ages, and would have it done by the time I was 12.  Age 12 came and went, and no birth sampler.  So it kind of became a running joke about finishing my birth sampler because my teen years passed with still no birth sampler.  (To my mom's defense - she said she never hung up the other 2 because mine wasn't completed yet.)  But to my great surprise, when she had a few weeks off of work this spring she was diligently working on my birth sampler and finally got it finished!!  She took all three of them to get framed, and wrapped up mine to give to me at my shower.  I was SO shocked when I opened it up and saw what it was!!!  I let her keep it at her house so she could display the "collection" of birth samplers together (and admire her own handiwork!)  It was such a surprise and I know how much work went into it, which just made it even more special!!  Now if we could just get my brother to finish the "Royals" cross-stitch he started decades ago (he currently has it completed through "Roy"...)

Speaking of the Royals, at -6 weeks old, Baby Girl got to go to her first Royals game to celebrate her daddy's birthday!!  Chris's birthday was on Wednesday and he wanted to go to see the Royals take on the Red Sox.  It was a perfect evening for a baseball game, and even better - the Royals won!!  Happy birthday to my amazing husband!!