Riley's nursery ROCKS!

Since I haven't had a baby yet, I thought I would share pictures of my son's rockin' nursery. I had so much fun planning and decorating this little part of our house. It's now the only completely decorated and finished room in the house and I love to go in and sit in the glider and relax. The calm before the storm...

Before the transformation....a plain, white, and empty room (and a picture of the "before" light fixture).


Kevin working hard at cutting in on the ceiling. (I only painted at floor level.)

Kevin nails in the trim. (And a good shot of the blue ceiling!)


The completed room!!




Here's a good pic of his bedding. I designed it and my super-talented mom made it all. I LOVE how it turned out. Can't wait to see it with spit-up all over it. (Also, note the AMAZING baby blanket that Jimmy's mom made for us from a swatch of our bedding fabric. It is PERFECT!)


A not-so-good shot of the awesome valance that my mom also made. Panels are courtesy of Target. :-)


Various detail shots:


His wall shelves (ignore the generic babies!)


I finally found the perfect lamp for the table last week! It turned out to be one the trickiest things to find.



Another shot of the blue ceiling--completed. (and Kevin's skills with the new ceiling fan--he rules at home repair!)


Riley's new furry friends from Brandi and Virginia.



My Projects! Pregnancy apparently brings on craftiness! I made this bulletin board, painted the letters and painted and decorated a once very boring (and plain wood) trashcan. (pretty sure these new skills will disappear with delivery.)

The bulletin board (for tracking feedings!)


His wall letters. They took a lot of time, but I'm probably most proud of these!


And the trashcan (A similar one sold online for $50. Are you kidding me? Mine was $7.)

Still no news to report except that contractions are a way of life right now, but they seem to be getting stronger...
Sprinkle labor dust my way!

One year down!!

This is totally not Riley-related, but this is, after all, the Miller Spot....

I came across this today and couldn't remember if I ever even passed it on to anyone! This is the feature that the Knot.com did on our wedding. It is on the site as one of Oklahoma's featured weddings...so cool! Anyway, in honor of our anniversary (which was about a week and two days ago), I thought I would post the link! Check it out if you haven't. I love to look at how slim my face appears and how I actually have a waist!

Little did we know where we'd be a year from then....
http://tinyurl.com/2wec2r

P.S. I love my husband!!! I'm seriously the luckiest girl in the world.

Full Term!!!

I can hardly believe it, but I'm officially full-term! Riley is free to make his entrance whenever he feels ready. Today would normally be our weekly doctor visit, but she had a surgery which pushed our appointment to Wednesday. So excited to see what might be going on.

Last Monday I was 1cm dilated and 50% effaced, which is a little bit of progress. Contractions are coming all the time right now, but nothing consistent yet. The longest consistent run we had was last week at 10 minutes apart for about 3 hours. They eventually went away though... Anyway you look at it, this little guy will be here within the month and Kevin and I are so excited to meet him! Here's another belly pic for your enjoyment. Taken today, at exactly 37 weeks. Riley is much lower than he once was--can you tell the difference?

Riley on film...take 2!

Saturday was our second 3D/4D ultrasound and once again it was so amazing to see our little boy moving around on the big screen. We've confirmed for the second time that he does NOT approve of being probed--he avoided being seen at all costs! That's okay though, it was still fun to see the glimpses that we could and to watch him move around and feel him at the same time was awesome!

Things we know about Riley from the ultrasound:
He likes to wiggle and move--ALOT.
He likes to snuggle against me.
He has hair!!! We were able to see this!
He is chubby! Double chins and very full cheeks confirm...
He sucks on his fingers. He was going at it while we were watching him.

Here are a few of my favorites from Saturday and a short video so you can see him move around!


Here's chubby cheeks and hands and arms! His right hand is in his mouth and the left is up on his forehead.



A pretty good front shot, though his nose looks squished because of his positioning. Love his little lips!


Open mouth shot!


Love this one because of how well you can see his hand. This is open-palm out, pretty much saying, "leave me alone!"


Here's his goodbye shot with a great look at the bones in his left arm and a side view of his round little face. Count the chins with me....


And the video clip:

Make your wager on Riley's arrival!

Happy Tuesday, America!

I'm getting over a yuck-tastic cold with some Internet therapy. Ahhhh...sweet relief. Anyhow, I created an online baby pool so everyone can make guesses on Riley's arrival. You can enter the day you think he'll arrive, the time, the weight, etc. Fun, fun, fun! Swing by the site if you get a minute!

(p.s. it's free!)

Here's the link to the Baby Pool (it's also above on a fun, floating banner...)

Riley hearts t-shirts!

We've been putting together Riley's nursery lately (pics to come...) and in sorting out his mounds and mounds of clothes, I realized just how many cute t-shirts this kid has already! It's so fun. Considering how much his dad loves (and lives in) t-shirts, and how much I love t-shirts, it only makes sense that Riley would have little choice in the matter. (Is it wrong to be jealous of an unborn baby's wardrobe??)

Oh well, here's a small sampling of our little man's t-shirt collection:

I'll save the rest for another day. I love clever baby clothes! In the meantime, down with bears, baseballs, and racecars!!

Pregnancy, Schmegnancy!!

Argh! Even I'm getting tired of hearing myself complain... I can't think of many body parts that aren't aching, but I'm sure it's probably down to my eyelashes and maybe my ears. Between the pains of my growing abdomen and the heartburn, shortness of breath, and lack of sleep, I don't know how Kevin handles my groaning.

Did I mention that we're 31 1/2 weeks along? Even as much as I'm tiring of pregnancy, I still can't believe how close it is! And we're so lucky that everything is going so smoothly and we have a very strong, alert little boy coming our way in less than 2 months. We have a lot to be grateful for!

So, instead of focusing on the negative (which can be easy to do when you've gained 34 pounds), I now present....

The top 10 things I miss about not being pregnant:

10. Non-maternity jeans and high-heeled shoes.

9. Eight (or more) hours of continuous sleep.

8. Foot rubs as a luxury and not a necessity (Kevin hates giving them either way).

7. The ability to control my emotions....kind of.

6. Being able to sit through a movie without taking a potty break.

5. Shopping for more than an hour straight without needing an oxygen tank.

4. Sleeping without 10 pillows in order to minimize heartburn and dizziness.

3. Zippers.

2. Not worrying about the future every minute of my life.

1. Miller Lite, with lime.

And now, in an even bigger effort to look on the bright side...

The top 10 things I LOVE about being pregnant:

10. Maternity clothes are the most comfortable items EVER.

9. Shopping for baby clothes rocks my world.

8. Getting to know my husband as a father-to-be.

7. The second trimester is three months of heaven.

6. It only lasts 9 (ahem, 10) months.

5. No one balks when I eat extra cake, ice cream, cookies, or steak.

4. First trimester sleep is intoxicating.

3. Ultrasounds--especially the 3D kind!!!

2. Feeling Riley move always makes me feel happy and secure.

1. The end result makes it all worthwhile.

Okay, maybe this isn't so bad after all.... It's only 8 more weeks, right???

The third trimester begins!

I can't believe we're on the home stretch! I'm at 28 weeks--only 12 to go! GULP! Is that even possible? It's crazy how strong Riley's kicks and punches are. I'm just trying to imagine how much stronger they'll be in another month! He is my little Tae Kwon Do master. Kevin and I are starting the series of education classes tonight. First up: The Birth of Your Baby, Week 1. We have to bring pillows to this class, which means it's already my favorite.

Here are pics of the ever expanding belly. These are from week 27. I actually think I'm gaining most of my baby weight in my face, but I suppose Riley's probably getting some too. The covered belly shot is from my 30th birthday last week (YAY to thirties!). I got some really cool baby gear as presents. Something I never thought I would be so happy to receive...