And we wait..

Well I am now 37 weeks along, and starting to remember how uncomfortable 37 weeks can feel! Owen is doing great, and at my last appointment we found out that I am dilated to 3 centimeters and his head is low.  What that means for his arrival, we will see, but the doctor said she would be surprised if I made it to my due date!  I don't know why, but something about her saying that did something to me because it suddenly hit me and I thought "Oh my goodness, we are about to have another baby!!"

Since then I have had a range of emotions flowing through me like excitement, nervousness, stress, and sadness.  I am so excited to meet this little guy and I love him so much already, but there is a part of me that is sad that my time with only Mady is ending.  These last two years have been the most wonderful, most challenging, difficult, and best years of my life.  She made me a mommy and I am a different, but better, person than I was before she was born.  This chapter in our life is coming to an end and I feel a type of mourning over that, but I also know that we have a new, exciting, and fun time ahead, and I can't wait!  I remember feeling a bit like this before Mady was born and knowing that the chapter of just Nick and I was closing as well.  With that being said, we have really been enjoying these days as a family of three.  Nick had several days off about a week ago so we spent that time just hanging out with each other.  We took Mady to the zoo and she had a blast!  She is still talking about it.

We always have to take a picture here with the little elephant

She is still talking about the lion that climbed down the stairs

She was brave enough this time to feed the birds.  That is, until that feisty blue bird tried to land on her stick!

Nothing better than ending a trip to the zoo with some ice cream

I'd say she had a good time

Mady is ready to meet Owen and she is talking about him a lot, including at school.  I met a mom of one of the girl's in her class at the store the other day and we were talking about how the girls talk about each other at home.  She said "Yeah, Sophia talks about Mady and Owen (that's his name, right)?". That made me laugh and made me so happy that she is so excited about him.  Here are a few of the things she says right now about Owen:

Owen's coming

Mady is going to hold Owen when he gets here

Mady going to change Owen's diaper

Owen so cute

Owen's room is so pretty

Mady is going to share mommy and daddy with Owen

Owen moving?

We've also finished decorating Owen's room and after my shower last weekend, I think, for the most part, that we are ready!  My life group girls threw me a surprise baby shower last month and it was so fun.  I had no idea, and thought we were just meeting for brunch at La Madeleine but turns out it was a little party just for me!  Love them!

Then my best friend, Mindy, threw me a shower last weekend and it was awesome!  I love this girl so much and am so thankful to have someone like her in my life.  So grateful to everyone who came to celebrate our little guy.

Loved these party favors!

It was a brunch so we had awesome breakfast foods and a Nothing Bundt Cake!

My little helper

Now we are just finishing a few things on our to-do list.  Unfortunately, Mady got sick yesterday and I took her to the doctor today and she has the flu.  It's not the Type A flu that is the worse strain but the Type B flu which is less severe.  She's been in good spirits besides coughing, and a runny nose and sneezing.  She had a fever for a couple of hours which is the main reason I decided to take her to the doctor.  We're just praying she gets over this quickly and that neither of us gets it too.  We wouldn't want anyone sick with the flu when Owen gets here!

Christmas Part 2

This year we celebrated Christmas right up to the New Year with my family.  My parents, as well as my aunt, uncle and cousin from Mexico came up to see us and spend the New Year with us.  We all had so much fun seeing them, especially since it had been a couple of years.  Mady loved them and was quite the charmer!  She does not meet a stranger and she really enjoyed having all her family here during these holidays.  I think she was pretty tired after everyone left which would explain her three hour nap the day everyone left!

My cousin Berny, her new best friend

More presents!

On New Year's Eve we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  We had not been there in quite a while, and it was yummy!  I got the S'mores cheesecake for dessert and I had to restrain myself from eating the whole piece, it was so delicious!

Aren't they cute?

Mady had so much fun this Christmas, and I had so much fun watching her have fun!  We took advantage of my parents being here to help us put up our Christmas stuff.  It was a huge help and would have been a lot harder had it been just us, considering I'm eight months pregnant and Nick had back surgery just a month ago.  But it was a bit sad putting it up because we had such a sweet time celebrating this year.  But on we go!  Now we're in 2014, Owen's year!  3 weeks, five days and counting...

Christmas Part 1

Nick was working this year for Christmas, and being 35 weeks pregnant, we decided to stay here for Christmas and our family came up to see us.  We spent Christmas with just the three of us.  On Christmas Eve we went to our church service, which was awesome.  If you are looking around for a church home, definitely check out 121 Community Church in Grapevine.  We love it!  For dinner we decided to keep it easy and ordered a pizza, haha.  We spent the night reading "The Christmas Story" and we each got to open one present.  I have an amazing husband, who for my Christmas gift, turned my blog into books.  I love them, and the fact that I will have these to cherish for so many years.  These almost serve as baby books because they capture everything that is going on in their lives.

Christmas morning Santa visited and Mady got exactly what she asked for.  Presents and a car.  Of course she got the VW Beetle, since that's what I use to drive!  She was a little scared of the car at first when it started moving but she warmed up to it pretty quickly.   Now, if she can only figure out the whole steering part.  Nick didn't have to be at work until 10, so we had a great morning at home.  Then we met him at his office for lunch, and had a nice dinner at home, complete with a birthday cake for Jesus!

The next day was Christmas with Nick's side of the family.  His mom came up and spent a couple of days with us, and we had a lot of his family over for dinner one night.  Great times, and great memories were made!

The first gift of Christmas!

Santa came!

Coming down the stairs, Christmas morning

I think she likes it

Cruising down the driveway with Mickey

Happy Birthday Jesus

Loves her Frozen doll and dress from Aunt Ellyn

She had a blast with her Uncle John

And we are not done celebrating yet!  My parents are coming up today, as well as my aunt, uncle, and cousin from Mexico.  We are going to do our Christmas with them and spend New Year's together.  Love how the holidays bring everyone together.  When they leave, I will be 36 weeks, which means 4 weeks to due date!!

8 Months!

 Well somehow I am now eight months pregnant, and I feel it.  Sometime in the last week or so it's become hard to move!  Playing, picking up, and running after Mady has been like an Olympic event that leaves me exhausted by the end of the day.  The last couple of days I've taken a short nap while she naps, and if you know me, I don't take naps.

Heartburn came back with a vengeance but Prevacid has really helped and I feel much better now.  In spite of that, the most important thing is that Owen is doing great.  At my 32 week appointment we had another sonogram that showed his kidneys are still dilated.  They did show slight improvement, and it is a very mild case, so no need to be very concerned.  We'll have another sonogram at 36 weeks and go from there.

We spent the past month celebrating the Christmas season.  Mady really enjoyed it this year, and it was so much fun watching her just soak it all in and have fun with everything that goes along with Christmas.

Our first attempt at making a gingerbread house.  Ir cracked so we had to get another one :(

Delivering gifts to the neighbors

Cinderella Christmas at the Artisan Children's Theatre

Her first movie "Frozen", and she did great!

Of course we had to get the big tub of popcorn :)

Very successful trip with Santa

Loved the Christmas lights this year

Made Christmas crafts

Second attempt at a gingerbread house

You ate the snowman!

Looking good!

Finished product