36 weeks

I am 36 weeks which means we are going to have a fourth member to our family in 2-3 weeks! CRAZY! I can't believe how big my belly looks in this picture. Marc says it looks like there is a watermelon inside. :)

Here is my 37 week picture with Eli.

My appointment last Friday went well and I feel much better after Marc and I had a long conversation with Dr. H about her recommendations with Hailey being breech. Only 3% of all babies are still breech by term (37 weeks) so I am certainly in the minority at this point. My doctor is a great communicator who is very experienced with external cephalic versions and made me feel much better about it all. We talked through each scenario with her and all of the options and risks. ACOG is the professional OB/GYN medical organization that makes recommendations for health care issues for women and I found this as a summary of their position statement on external versions:

"The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) states that all women with breech fetuses who have completed 36 weeks of gestation should be offered an attempt at version given there are no contraindications."

The risks are lower for both mom and baby with a version compared to c-section so to me it is worth a shot even though the success rate is only about 60%. There are some things that make it more likely to be successful and fortunately Hailey and I both make good candidates for a version as long as there is still enough fluid inside when they decide to turn her (which they will check with an ultrasound that day). 

I read through countless studies and articles last week, prayed a lot through the options, and in the end, feel comfortable with our decision. We will probably set a date for the external version at my appointment this week to be done sometime between 38 and 39 weeks. If it is successful, then I will be induced that day (there is more risk if you go home after a version versus just staying in the hospital where the baby can be monitored until delivery); if it is unsuccessful, then I will have a c-section that day. Dr. H said that the last three moms she had scheduled versions for presented to the hospital the day of the procedure and their babies had already turned on their own to the head down position. I am still hoping and praying I have a smart girl who figures out which way the exit is. :)

I found this video online that shows an external version being done on a mom. If you can't tell from the video, this one was successful and mom looked pretty comfortable through it all.

I hope this info helps anyone else out there dealing with a similar situation!

And, just for fun, here are a few pictures of Eli tonight after his bath when we tried on his suit for my sister's upcoming wedding. It fits well now but I am afraid it will be too small in 2 months so we will probably get the next size up. Doesn't he look handsome??? He kept trying to pull the tag off his sleeve. :)

Girls' Weekend

Marc was out of town over the weekend to do his last weekend moonlighting gig before the baby comes. My mom and sister came in town to help me get ready for Hailey's arrival. We finished washing her clothes, hung drapes, ran last minute errands, and packed both of our bags for the hospital. We also found some precious bows and outfits that were too hard to pass up. :) We found Eli and Hailey's outfits for Stacey and Brandon's wedding that they are going to look so sweet in.

Stacey was putting Eli's shoes on in this picture below. He gets really excited to put shoes on because he knows it means we are either going outside or going for a ride in the car! He was sporting his Razorback jersey for their big game against Alabama.

This is Eli riding in the cart at the mall. We took my mom's car to the mall and I forgot to bring his stroller! I think he liked riding in this race car even better. :)

After we left the mall we went and ate pizza. It was delicious!

After dinner, we came home and put Eli to bed and watched The Last Song. It was a great weekend, but Eli and I both missed Marc lots and are glad to have him back tonight. :) Thanks mom and Stacey for all your help! We are feeling more ready now with only a few weeks to go.

Sweet Treat

Today was my MA's (medical assistant) birthday at work so I wanted to make something sweet for her birthday. I decided on a recipe I got from Pampered Chef a few years ago: Tuxedo Brownie Cups. They are really good and look even prettier on a plate. Everyone loved them!

First, make a basic brownie mix according to the directions for cake-like brownies.

Then, after you take them out of the oven you punch in the centers with a small tart shaper. If any of you have ever done any pampered chef you know that all their recipes call for multiple objects that can be purchased through them. It is a great business strategy! I am sure you can work your way around most of it but I do happen to have their tart shaper and it works perfect on these. :)

While those are cooling, I slice the strawberries. Here is another tool they have... the egg slicer.

After that I mix together the filling and pipe it into the center of the brownies once they are cool. I garnish with one slice of strawberries and drizzle a little chocolate. Aren't they pretty! These would be great for a wedding or baby shower.

Tuxedo Brownie Cups

1 box brownie mix (plus ingredients to make "cake-like" brownies)

2 squares (1 oz. each) of white baking chocolate

2 Tbs. milk

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup cool whip

1 pint of strawberries sliced vertically (can use egg slicer)

melted semi-sweet baking chocolate

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease mini-muffin pan with cooking spray with flour. Prepare brownie mix according to directions for cake-like brownies. Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 14 min. or until edges are set. Do not over bake. Remove pan to cooling rack. Immediately press in center of brownies with mini tart shaper. Cool in pan for 15 min. Loosen edges and gently remove. Cool completely Repeat with remaining batter.

Microwave white chocolate and milk in dish for 1 min. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly. In mixing bowl combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Gradually mix in white chocolate until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Fill topping in icing/decorator bag. Pipe mixture into cooled brownie cups. Arrange a strawberry slice on top of each brownie. Drizzle with melted chocolate. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

These are the flowers I put together last night for her birthday. I spent $16 buying the individual groups of flowers at our local grocery and then put them all together in a bouquet with a vase I already had. I thought they turned out really pretty. Who knows, maybe I will open up a bakery and flower shop some day. :)

I can't believe tomorrow is Thursday. This week is flying by! My mom and sister are coming this weekend to help me get the nursery more together. I was hoping our furniture would be here by now but it is supposed to leave the factory on Thursday and arrive sometime early next week. I am anxious to finally see her room come together and to get all her clothes organized and put away in her dresser. :) With less than a month to go we are getting so close!

Wedding Showers

This past weekend we loaded up and headed to Arkansas to attend a few wedding showers for my sister's upcoming wedding in December. We made it to Rogers just in time on Friday night for the first shower which was a fish fry party. I love catfish and hush puppies! Stacey and Brandon opened so many great gifts and it was fun to see my sister so excited and full of smiles. I remember feeling a little overwhelmed at our big showers with all the presents there were to open. However, I am so thankful to this day for all the nice things we received because after five years they are still filling our home and are just as useful as the day we got them!

On Saturday, we had a ladies shower that we went to while the boys stayed home to watch the Hogs play (and Eli took a long nap!). It was a really nice shower as well and the food was delicious. I wrote down gifts for Stacey at this shower, and I am pretty sure she was opening presents for well over an hour. :) Brandon and Stacey's house is going to be filled with such nice things!

The table looked beautiful! My mom's sweet friends always throw the best showers.

The beautiful bride-to-be

Soon we will have another girl to add to this picture (well she is kind of already in it!). :)

These are all the ladies in my family that were at the shower. It was lots of fun to see everyone.

My family "showered" us with gifts for Hailey this weekend as well. I received some precious sleepers and dresses from my aunts and grandmother that I can't wait to see her wear, and I think Stacey bought Hailey an entire wardrobe for the first 6 months of her life (and Eli got lots of cute things as well!). :) When I add those things to the things my mom has already gotten, I think we are all set for a little while. It is SO great to have family that love and support us. We appreciate everyone so much. Thank you all!

I am 35 weeks tomorrow. You know you are getting close once your OB appointments start coming every week! This pregnancy has FLOWN by. I really can't believe how close we are. Eli was born at 39 weeks which is when we are anticipating delivering Hailey as well. It sounds as though Hailey's delivery will be scheduled since she is still breech which will be nice so we can make arrangements for Eli that day. There is something really fun about waiting on labor as well though and I am glad I was able to experience that with Eli.

Would you pray for us in the coming weeks as we decide what to do with Hailey's delivery? There is still a chance that she will turn on her own which would be the best situation possible. However, I also know that she may not turn so we are trying to be prepared if that is the case, and we will have to decide if we want my doctor to try the external version to turn her. The wonderful thing is we have LOTS of very smart people around us who care about us and are able to give us their advice about what would be best for both me and Hailey. Even better is that I know in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28) and that brings me great comfort. :)

I hope you had a great start to your week!

Baby Shower

Today, I had a SURPRISE baby shower at my work! I had a suspicion that something was coming up because of all the questions people were asking like "What is your favorite flavor of cake?", "What is your favorite food?", "How are you spelling Hailey's name?", etc. The great part was that Marc knew about it and was able to come over for the lunch shower. We had pizza and pasta from Pizza Hut (my favorite!), salad, bread sticks, and cake. It was yummy and I wasn't shy about getting seconds. :)

Our office really goes above and beyond for co-workers for major events like babies and birthdays. I know it isn't easy for people to continually put money into that kind of stuff which makes me even more appreciative of all the wonderful things we received today. It was way more than I could have anticipated!

Even Eli got a present!

I couldn't wait to get home tonight to sort through all of the goodies. It felt like Christmas morning!

I really love these two Carter's gowns. They make night diaper changes so much faster and we didn't have any of these before today. We did have one for Eli when he was a little baby that had an Arkansas Razorback on it and Hailey will be wearing that one as well! Aren't these prints so sweet???

I am loving all of the girl clothes. :) I even got some headbands and socks today that are precious. It will be fun to have a little girl to dress up. I am already on the lookout for a sweet red dress for her to wear to Stacey's wedding. She will be less than two months old so I want it to be comfortable but still pretty and a little bit dressy. Red is the perfect color for a December wedding and then she will also be able to wear it for Christmas. I found this dress today on Baby Gap that I thought would be cute with a cardigan, but I am not crazy about the ruffles on the top so I think I will keep looking.

Well, I keep nodding off typing this post so I think it is time for bed. Eli has his school pictures tomorrow so I have to get up a little early to pick out an outfit and get him all ready. The weekend is just around the corner and I am ready! :)

A Special Visit

My parents came to visit us this past weekend. Their help was SO appreciated! We were finally able to get the old study completely clear of furniture and clutter in preparation for Hailey's furniture to arrive in the next week or two. They also helped us clean the house and catch up on laundry. It was great! Eli enjoyed all the attention and had plenty of energy stored up for them to see.

We went out to eat on Saturday night to celebrate my mom's birthday. Eli was being a little difficult during the meal but I don't think we disrupted too many people's dinner. :) He was much happier when we got back outside and he could roam around to the fountain and the ducks.

Eli was really close to getting a hold of one these ducks! He was faster than we were expecting and the duck was moving a lot slower. Luckily, Marc got him before he grabbed one. :)

I love this picture... my two boys walking hand in hand.

My mom couldn't get her pennies out fast enough for Eli. We provide a regular fund for this fountain. Ha!

What a fun weekend. Thanks mom and dad for all the help.:) We appreciate you!

Baby Room Art Project

I spent a few hours of my Labor Day working on a canvas for Hailey's room. I really enjoy arts and crafts. It is just hard to find the time to do that kind of stuff, and I learned on Monday it is even harder when you have a curious 16 month old who wants to know what you are doing. :)

For Eli's room, I painted canvases that had animals on them that matched his sheets from Baby Gap Home. This time around, there is no theme, so I used the pattern from Hailey's crib skirt and colors from the rest of the bedding that you can see here.

I need to glaze it, but I am going to let it sit for a few days to make sure I don't want to add anything to it. Then, I plan on gluing on the ribbon we are going to hang it from and it will be done. Little by little I am getting there!

Dance Moves

Eli really loves moving to music. He will dance almost anytime he hears music if we act like we don't notice (he is getting shy these days!). Eli like to mimic actions we do so one day Marc showed him some things like how to stomp his feet and how to turn in circles. Now, Eli does both in combination. It is SO cute. I have tried to catch him a few times on video but he would get shy and quit dancing. Today, he just kept spinning away! He must get dizzy the longer he does it.

Dance Moves

(I am having a hard time embedding the video but hopefully this link above will get you there if the video isn't working)

I just can't get enough of my little guy. He is so much fun at this age! My favorite time with him is bedtime. Marc and I usually alternate nights but I love it when it is my turn to put him down. He knows his routine really well and I love seeing him follow it. After his bath each night we put on his PJ's and then tell him to pick out two books (he still doesn't quite understand the "two" part). I go in the kitchen and fill up his cup with some milk and get his toothbrush ready while he crawls in his chair and waits on me to return to read to him. This is what I see when I walk back into his room each night and it is just precious. He looks so big to me sitting in his rocker all by himself.

My heart is full. :)