Baby Shower Numero Uno…

 

Sunday, June 27th I was treated to the most wonderful baby shower hosted by several lovely ladies at the home of my very best friend.  I know she worked extremely hard to get her house ready, it was adorable and I can’t thank her enough!  M.E. racked up on the cute clothes!  I was so overwhelmed by the generosity of the gifts.  I didn’t take any pictures, so I have to thank my aunt and cousin for being master photographers and capturing the day!

First the door – how stinkin’ cute was this???  It is diapers tied around a metal ring with our initial in the middle – super cute!

Next the table, these girls know me too well.  Black and white damask with pink accents???  Yes please.  I tried to force myself to find a colored dress to wear to the shower – but just couldn’t pull myself away from my traditional black and white!

 

Now for what you really want to see – the gifts…

Lots of cute dresses, some monogrammed diaper bags, and precious handmade blankets

Play outfits and some Christmas jammies…

 

Soft blankets, swaddle blankets and paci clips…

One of our most treasured items…my precious cousin painted these for M.E’s room.  They look so good and match her room perfectly!!!!  They will hang above the crib, we look forward to having these in her room for a long time!

This is a baby Huggums.  When I was an infant, I had a baby Huggums, the only Madame Alexander doll I was technically supposed to play with, and I wanted M.E. to have one too.  I hope she loves her Huggums as much as I loved mine.

Other things I didn’t get a picture of were some books, which I love!  I can’t wait to read to this little one.  A diaper genie – for all those stinky diapers, lots of little socks and onesies, and an exersaucer (which I hear you can’t live without!).

We are so blessed to have such generous friends and family.  We had such a good time going back through the gifts and putting them in M.E.’s room. 

Blessings,

Candice

Nursery Photos

 

So excited to finally be able to post photos from our actual nursery!  First we have the cross that Elliott’s mom gave us that we put M.E.’s door

Then her actual room…

Again the fabrics were from Javis Davis.  We have to give a huge thank you, thank you to GranSandy and Papa for the bedding and chair! 

Here’s an up close picture of the crib and mobile…

One of our favorite things in the room is this tummy time mat from our sweet friend Lillian.  It was the first gift we got with her name on it and we can wait to play with her on it! Sorry uncles and house guests, we weren’t planning on changing the extra bathroom, keeping it a regular extra bathroom, UNTIL Elliott spotted this shower curtain at Pottery Barn Kids and we had to have it.  The bathroom has to be one of my favorite spots in the house, and not too girly.

And lastly, our going home from the hospital outfit. A sweet, sweet gown with pink detailing along with the must have booties and coordinating blanket.  She’ll be super cute leaving the hospital in this number.We were so blessed to have such a wonderful Baby Shower in Haleyville this weekend.  I’m still a little overwhelmed at all of the precious clothes we received.  I know this, M.E. will be well dressed! 

 

Blessings,

Candice

Holy Big Baby!

 

Elliott and I had our weekly Doctor’s appointment yesterday and it was a whirlwind day!  It started first thing in the morning with an ultrasound (I was going to upload the scanned pictures, BUT this here mommy-to-be started feeling lightheaded and sick, so the ultrasound was cut short so I could sit up and gather my wits about me).  The ultrasound tech was able to get all of the measurements she needed to before I almost fell out – yea for Juicy Juice 4oz boxes and peanut butter crackers!!! 

Next we moved to have a Non-Stress Test.  This is where they strap a heart monitor to and contraction meter to my tummy to measure the baby’s heart rate and movement, and if I’m having any contractions.  She did not want to cooperate at first, running from the heart monitor every time the nurse would get it placed.  She wasn’t moving very much, so the nurse brought me a Diet Pepsi and WOWSERS!  She must have thought, okay if you want me to move – here I go.  It was so funny, those monitors were bouncing all over the place.  I’ll remember Diet Pepsi next time!!!  We will have a Non-Stress Test every week from now until she is born.

After the NST, we had to stop by the Nutritionist’s Office so she could read the results of this lovely thing…

AND…not so good, my glucose numbers have started creeping up again, so she increased my insulin dosages again for a morning and afternoon dose.

Then we were off to see the Doctor.  By this time we had found out the Miss Priss weighed 4lbs and 14oz!!!  According to our weekly update, a typical pregnancy at this point the baby should weigh somewhere around 3 3/4 lbs, so she just a smidge bigger than she supposed to be.  When we met with the doctor she said that everything was looking great, my fluid levels were good, but she was still concerned about getting my glucose numbers under control.  When she measured my stomach, I’m actually measuring at 34 weeks instead of 32 weeks – in other words, be prepared to deliver early.  Because of that news, I had to come back to work and cancel my free reservations here…

Apparently six hours in the car when you are 36 weeks pregnant is not the best idea!  Oh well, there’s always next year at Point Clear!

Since I don’t have a good ultrasound picture to share, here is an artist rendering of what she actually looks like.  From what I feel and how the ultrasound tech described how she is sitting, she is exactly like this picture with her head down and feet curled under my sternum.  Her bottom is on my right side, under my ribs.

In other big news, we found the camera cord!!!  So look for pictures soon of the nursery and bathroom, as well as pictures from our baby showers.

Blessings,

Candice

Read the Directions!

 

I have the distinct pleasure of serving as the Tuscaloosa County Emmaus Cluster Lay Director for this year (you can read more about what Emmaus is here).  Each month I write a meditation for our Cluster Newsletter and felt it appropriate to reprint them here.  I think a lot and pray a lot about what I am going to write.  It usually just comes to me in a “God moment” where I share what’s been on my heart lately.  Here is the latest installment from the May newsletter.

Read the directions – For Christmas my husband received a Flip video camera.  Now we haven’t used it much, but plan on using it a lot once the baby arrives.  It has been several months since it has even been out of the box and needed to be charged.  As I worked on the computer one night, he came by trying to plug it in the USB port; flipping it upside down and sideways, and jiggling it around before I finally said, “Do you think we need to read the directions?”  Sure enough, he came back, slipped it into the slot and the camera began charging. 

The next day, I opened my Upper Room for a daily devotional and the title of the devotion was “Read the Directions” and read very similarly to the episode we had the night before.  Do you think God’s trying to tell me something???  Over the past few months, I’ve read and studied various instruction manuals: what to expect when you’re pregnant, what to expect when the baby gets here, instructions for putting together strollers, car seats, cribs, etc.  But what I should be studying is God’s direction for Christian living, how to be a good parent, how to sustain a strong marriage, and how to cope with trials to come.  No matter what your situation, God has an instruction book there for you…now, go Read the Directions.

Blessings!

Candice

63 days!

Sixty-three days is all that is left until my due date. I get a weekly email from a pregnancy website that tells you how the baby is growing and what you should experience for that particular week, and yesterday when I opened it up the first thing that shot out at me was 63 days to go! Seriously, only 63 days...I didn't believe it and counted it myself. It's true in a little more than two months our baby girl will be here.

Since we have yet to find the camera cord to upload pictures of the nursery, you'll have to settle for pictures from the websites of the company's we've used. First the bed...which we love!  We chose to keep the furniture I had in my extra bedroom, which happens to be the furniture that was in my room growing up.  So we only needed to buy a crib, which we found at Sugarfoots in Northport.

Next for the bedding...several of my friends have used Javis Davis Designs from Fairhope.  After looking and trying to decide if I wanted to custom design my own (which if you know me is not a good idea since I can NOT make a decision), we decided to use Javis Davis too, and could not be more pleased.  Just look how girly and cute this bed is!!!

Once we "find" the camera cord and battery charger I'll post pictures of her actual room.  Can you believe we're about to be parents and can't find the cord to one camera or the battery charger to the other camera, and a third camera is missing!!!  Good thing we've got 63 days to get a new one!!!

Blessings,

Candice

 

So, I caved...

After many, many months of contemplation - I finally decided to start a blog. As we get closer and closer to our due date, I knew that family and friends from out of town would not so much want to read about me and Elliott, but about our sweet precious who is due to arrive in about 9 weeks!

So, all my blogger buddies - send me your tips and tricks, pregnancy brain has kicked in and this pup isn't so much for learning new tricks!

For the first post, since I'm at work (shhh! Don't tell!), I thought I would give a quick update on why I chose the name of the blog. One of my favorite hymns to sing growing up was Wonderful Words of Life. As I thought about what type of blog I wanted to create, I couldn't think of a better title. Words are so precious, and I can't wait to hear our little girl say her first ones. It's a beautiful song that was written more than a hundred years ago. Philip Bliss wrote it in 1874. The words to the hymn are below, if I could figure out how to add a little music player - I would post the music too!

Sing them over again to me,
Wonderful words of life,
Let me more of their beauty see,
Wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty
Teach me faith and duty.

Refrain:
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life;
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.

As long as I'm feeling well, I will post as frequently as I can. Look forward to pictures from the nursery, baby showers and of course those first newborn photos - you may even read about one of our four-legged children or two (or four in our case!).

Blessings!

Candice