fun mail for audrey jane

i got a package in the mail tonight from my friend natalie for little audrey. it was so fun to open! look at these darling shoes:






I have to admit, i wish i had a pair of each of these in my size, haha. she will be one stylin' little chica. it is very fitting for natalie to give her shoes since nat is queen of style and always wears cute shoes.



and this adorable bottle that matches the bedding in the nursery...

what a fun package! what girl doesn't like new shoes??

thanks natalie! that was so sweet of you.

saying goodbye...

to an old friend



and saying hello to a new one



i discovered this week(was told by a co-worker) that my water bottle was recalled because of the type of plastic it was made of and how this plastic taints the water it contains and is filled with carcinogens and is particularly harmful to a fetus...

thanks to my husband i now have a bpa-free water bottle, but it is going to take some getting used to. i LOVED my nalgene bottle and it makes me think...before i had this nalgene water bottle, i had one that was identical to it and before that i had one that was identical to that one. i drank water out of that bottle every day...for years.

more baby shower pictures

some pictures of the gifts i received for audrey at the shower...





some pictures of friends and family at the shower...

the group shot taken by the hostess



my friend megan who had to leave early and missed the group picture




my friend ashley who lives across the country and couldn't make it but was so thoughtful to send a gift




the beautiful hostess/photographer rachel

baby shower

my sister rachel threw me a baby shower yesterday and everything was so lovely. the food was great, the favors were so cute and the house was so sweetly decorated with pink balloons and streamers. it was so fun to see everyone and celebrate little audrey's upcoming arrival. thank you rachel for all of the work you put into this shower to make it so fun.


aren't these orange bowl salads so fancy? thanks lindsey for making them. don't you love the cupcakes and favors that rachel made? everything was just perfect.



kim brought chocolate covered strawberries. these are not the strawberries kim made, hers were much cuter and had pink drizzle on them...and they were so yummy!

a big thank you to everyone that came or sent a present in the mail. i truly was "showered" with gifts and i had such a delightful time. dave said i was just beaming when i got home.

thanks again rachel. it really meant a lot to me.

a kick to the head...

i laid my head on julie's stomach on friday night and felt a little kick to my cheek...it was WONDERFUL!!

marathon ride

today is the day the marathon takes place here where i live and what is cool about this is that they have the streets blocked off to cars and and they allow cyclists to register to ride the route before the marathon starts. dave loves this ride each year. it is so fun for him to be able to ride as hard and as fast as he wants to and not have to worry about cars or street lights or anyting. it is hard to believe it has been a year since this race last april. i love driving him to this ride, even if it does mean i wake up on a saturday at five, because of the high he is on when his ride is done. i love how much he loves cycling. it makes me miss running and the high that it gave me. it is my goal to start running again after the baby is born and make it routine so i can get back in shape. when i was running, it isn't just that my body was more fit, it was that my mind and heart were both in a better place. i think it is amazing the benefits that exercise brings to your entire being. i remember when i first started to run, i had always been overweight and i had even had trouble running the mile in elementary school. i remember thinking "just a little bit farther today, if i can run two miles today it will be easier to run two miles tomorrow" and i ran so slowly that everyone passed me, but you know what? i was still running after they had started to walk or packed up and gone home...slowly but surely i increased my distance and speed until i felt like i could conquer the world. it really helped me to keep perspective about what a process life is. when we set our sights on something, no matter what it is, we can't expect to achieve it immediately. it is the same with learning a new skill. you can't decide you want to be a pianist, buy a piano and voila, you are a pianist. it takes time, discipline and practice and you learn one note, and then another, and then another and pretty soon you can play a song. i know it is simple but sometimes i forget this truth. that life is a journey and things take time and i am a work in progress. i get frustrated that i am not where i want to be NOW and then i let that frustration slow down or sometimes completely halt my progress.

the tragedy-maker

this cartoon made me laugh...doesn't it look like her husband is ready to take off into the other room? haha

today marks 99 days left until baby girl is born...so happy to be in the double digits now. at my appointment yesterday i was measuring a week ahead so she may be here sooner than expected!

dave bought my favorite ice cream and some sugar cones after seeing my current craving. what a sweetie.

thanks rachel and jj!

rachel and jj came to visit me yesterday and brought me some balloons. it cheered me up so much! thank you!

our sunday adventure

most of you know that i have had quite a bit of swelling in the last week. we went in to see the doctor on wednesday because the swelling had gotten so bad and the doctor put me on a low sodium diet and instructed me to drink plenty of water and elevate my feet as much as possible. they took my blood pressure and it had gone up but it was not abnormally high. we were told that if the swelling becomes work or my blood pressure is 140/90 or above to come right in. i spent the weekend resting and on sunday we went to get my blood checked at the pharmacy and it was higher than the doctor wanted it to be so we went to a clinic to get it checked by a doctor. my pulse was 126 and my blood pressure was 144/94 and they instructed me to go to the ER. When we got to the ER my blood pressure was 159/96 and they took me over and admitted me to the women's center where i stayed for about five hours and they monitored my blood pressure and ran a bunch of tests. as long as i was resting and laying down my blood pressure was normal and the tests they ran came back normal and finally i was sent back home. we are not really sure what will happen next. we have to discuss our options with our doctor at our appointment on wednesday. it was pretty scary and very uncomfortable and we were glad to get to go home and i was glad to sleep in my own bed.

new shoes that i can't wear

earlier this week i started noticing some swelling at night when i took off my socks and was insructed to not wear socks for the rest of my pregnancy so i ordered these crocs online with express delivery so i could have something cute and comfortable to wear to work. well in the two days since i ordered these shoes, the swelling in my legs has spread to my feet and i don't fit into shoes...even my flip flops(that are ten years old and roomy and comfortable usually) leave indentations when i wear them just to walk across the room or out to the car...

i am so disappointed. my new shoes arrived yesterday and while the bottom of the shoes are heaven to the soles of my feet and the length fits, my swollen foot does not fit under the crossing straps without a lot of pain. oh well, i guess i have a cute new pair of shoes i can look forward to wearing late this summer...

one wall done...

this doesn't capture the true color of the wall but i am so excited! dave is upstairs painting the other walls as we "speak" haha, we had to wait until we painted the first wall to see how the color looked before we committed to it. we love it. i can't wait to put our crib together and finish setting up the nursery.

my favorite onesie

i had to purchase this onesie because it made me laugh so hard.