Happy Birthday Grams!

Friday was my Grandma's birthday.. She would have been 87.

I wish she was here to see me become and mom, and to hold my little boy..

I miss her a lot and want her to know, wherever she may be that I love her and think of her all the time.

Happy Birthday Mom & Aunt Clonda!

Thursday was my mom and Aunt Clonda's birthday.. So I just wanted to give them a shout out on the blog!

Soo.. Happy Birthday again, ladies! We love you!!

Doc Appointment

I went the doctor Thursday... and the end is in sight! Only about a week away actually! She checked me today, and found out that I am only about half a cm dilated right now. She said she wanted to go ahead and schedule my delivery. She looked at the calendar and said that any time the week of the March 8th would be good. I told her that in a perfect world, I would like to be off all next week, and then be induced on the 8th. She said that was great plan.. so that's exactly what we are doing. However, I will actually be going to the hospital on the 7th to start the induction process, and he will most likely be born on the 8th. I'm so excited about this.. I love knowing that he will be here on a certain day. The anticipation and waiting around for a labor pain, doesn't sound fun. I'm a total planner.. so this works out great for me.

Next week, I will be getting all my last minute junk together.. cleaning up around the house.. and just relaxing and enjoying my final days of quietness. I'm pumped!

On another note. I have officially been granted the night shift at work. I'm 100% thrilled about this. I love that I will be spending my days with Cash, and not putting him into daycare. I will be working 4:30pm - 1 am. I will drop Cash off at Diego's work.. they will have some good quality "man" time before bed. Then when I get home at 1:30, I will feed him and go to bed. I'm thinking I will probably wake up when Diego wakes up to feed Cash again and see Diego off to work.. then back to bed for a few more hours.. and be up for the day. That's my plan at least. I'm sure Cash will say otherwise. I will be sad that I won't have as much time to spend with Diego, but we will have Friday nights, all day Saturday and most of Sunday to be together. We'll be fine! Plus, I'm super happy to get my Saturday nights/Sunday mornings back!

Sneak Peek

Allison uploaded a few pictures from our photo shoot on Saturday. Here is just a little taste. I know that I am super critical of myself, but honestly.. I don't think I look like this when I see myself in the mirror! My face is just huge! Puffy is not even the word anymore. Geez!

It was so bright outside, Diego and I had a hard time keeping our eyes from squinting.

I wasn't sunny, just bright. Of course, we had to do the cheesy heart around the belly button!

Allison did a great job! The pictures are great,

we just wish we looked better!

One thing I hate is the fact that you can see my full panel maternity pants through my shirt!

Marley..

...smile for the camera, dang it!

Marley is a crazy cat. She is super sweet.. and loving.. almost to the point of annoyance. Basically, us sitting on the couch.. grabbing a blanket is her invitation to jump up in our faces and knead us to death. However.. we are the only ones this happens to. If you were to come to our house, you would not see Marley. You have to be there for a very long time before she would feel comfortable enough to come out. Our favorite thing about Marley is that she talks to us. She pretty much only says no.. but, we make a conversation out of it anyway. We also talk to each other through Marley...

Me: Marley. Why is Diego dancing around the living room like a weirdo?

Diego: Marley. Why is Crystal in such a crappy mood?

Me: Marley. Tell him because I'm 8 months pregnant and he's blocking the TV.

Delaney's Baptism

Here are some pictures from Delaney's Baptism.

Diego and Delaney,

Delaney was not her Padrino's biggest fan that night

Precious!

Jackson, little stinker (literately! haha) was ready to go!

Delaney with her parents, and godparents

Last Look at Cash

The last image of Cash in the womb. He looks quit scary. Terrible picture.

Week 35

I'm tired of taking weekly pictures, I will take my next and last picture at the hospital before Cash arrives. So yeah, my body hurts, I'm tired and work sucks.. but, I don't want to complain about that..

This week I want to talk about fun things, and things that I like!

This Saturday, my dear friend Allison.. who is a budding photographer is going to take pictures of me! She mentioned on Facebook that she was doing some work for Austin Monthly.. and I jokingly asked if she photographed babies. She said she would love to take pictures of Cash and wondered if I had thought of doing a maternity session. Of course, I had thought about it.. but, wasn't willing to pay several hundred dollars for pictures of myself. Since she was offering though, I thought heck yeah! Let's do it. So we are going to take some downtown and some in a park. I'm really excited to work with Allison, and see how the pictures turn out! I'll share the results whenever she gets them to me.

Also, this coming Sunday.. we are going to tour the hospital. We never got around to taking any classes.. so that stinks, but at least we will know our way around the hospital. We met the Labor and Delivery staff already, from our experience last week, but I'm looking forward to taking the tour.

Last but not least, Diego and I have started watching How I Met Your Mother. Great show! The first few episodes.. I was like.. ehh. It's good, but I don't know if I will be able to stick with it. Now, I love it.. and I'm glad I started watching it. I've finished season one and I'm 8 episodes into season two. I know in real time it's already season 5 and he still hasn't met their mother! I hope that doesn't get annoying. Plus, I like Ted with Robin! (I'm sure that relationship is over and done with by now)

Doc Appointment and Then Some

So I went to my appointment yesterday. We got there.. and started the ultrasound. Cash was all over the place as usual. I blame his dad for that. I had guessed that he was head down already because the movement I felt seemed as though his foot was in my rib area. Well, I was wrong. He is breech. Which isn't a problem for now. She showed us pictures of his face.. and we both think he has my nose.. and possibly just looks like me. We could be wrong on that of course. The ultrasound pictures she printed for us are not good. It's a far away picture of his face.. pretty much all you can make out are eye sockets and a nose. It was so awesome though to see his mouth open and close, his fingers move.. and his heart beating. She also showed us his diaphragm opening and closing, and let us know that he was practicing his breathing. That was also cool to see!

Next part. Seeing Dr. Grimes. Diego and I go in to the room.. she takes my blood pressure. Dr. Grimes comes in. My bp is 150/90.. she tells me there is still no protein in my urine, but that she wants to send me to Labor and Delivery for monitoring. I wasn't really worried until she mentioned that I could possibly be having a c-section within the next 24 hours. C-section because he is breech, so being induced wasn't an option. Diego and I drove across the street to the hospital.

Once we get to L&D, they have me put the gown on and get comfortable. I get hooked up to the blood pressure monitor, and a monitor on my belly for Cash's heartbeat. The nurse asks a million questions. I had the hardest time focusing. I get blood taken. Cash won't be still... they keep having to readjust the monitor to his new position. After about 2 hours, or maybe an hour I'm not sure.. they say I'm fine to go home. My blood pressure has gone back to normal. I have to do ANOTHER stinkin' 24 hour urine! Shoot me now! On the bright side though, my weekend has started so I don't have to take the jug to work.. so it's not as much of a hassle. I turn the jug in today around 4 and have some more tests done. It's a waiting game from here on out I guess. I'm thinking she will be putting me on bed rest for sure.

Robeez

I'll start off by saying that I am not a huge fan of these shoes. Some of them are cute, but for some reason I never thought about buying any for Cash. However, I signed up for eMOM rewards at USA baby. They advertise on the radio all of the time. The commercial says that you get a $25 gift card when you sign up, so I thought sure.. I'll sign up. Turns out the free gift is not a $25 gift card.. just a $25 gift. The current gift they are giving out are these shoes. I thought, well that's not a $25 gift.. but, I'll take it. I went to the store yesterday to pick out a pair. I went to the register to check out.. handed them all the info they needed. Oh and they make sure you don't sign up under every email you have. They take down tons of info. I thought maybe I could cheat the system.. but, no. Anyway, the guy handed me the reciept and it says $27.99! I was like what the hell! These shoes are expensive!! I do recall my mom saying that my friend Kimberly had mentioned to her that they were pricy.. I guess I wasn't thinking pricy as in $30. Maybe I'm just getting cheap in my old age :)

This is the pair that I picked out.. Aliens.

I know these shoes are good for their feet, and help them learn to walk.. so, I got them in the 6-12 month size. I'm guessing that's when he will be learning to stand and probably walk. Just now, when I was looking for a picture of the shoes to post, I found them at Gap. Orginially $30, on sale for $15. Oh and I realized, I registered for some similar ones at Buy Buy Baby.. but, I guess they are the generic brand. They look more like real shoes... they are Tommy Tickle brand.. $14.99.

I'm ok with the Tommy Tickle's..

I might have to go get a pair of these too.

Week 34

Less than 40 days to go. 38 to be exact.

We are getting down to the wire here.. it could really be any day now. I'm hoping he stays in there for another 2 weeks at least. My hope is that he comes the first week of March. The 1st, 2nd or 3rd really. My sister in law, Stephanie and her fiance James, will be coming to Austin from DC on the 5th for their wedding. I'd like for them to meet little Cash before they have to head back home. Then again, it might be easier for me to do everything we have to do, bridal shower, rehearsal, and wedding if he stays put. Otherwise, things might be hectic! or I might just be stuck in the hospital and miss everything. I'm REALLY hoping that does not happen. I'll be ticked. Nothing I can do though, I'm running on Cash's clock these days.

Anyway, I have another doc appointment today.. get to see my boy again! I'm really excited. His movement has changed a lot. It's not just kicks, it's more of a squirm.. sorta snake like or something. It's hard to describe.

I started getting my hospital bag together. I'm not sure what exactly to pack. I just have some things that I won't need between now and then so far. Next, I'll be packing up Cash's bag.

I feel bad saying this, because I waited so long to experience pregnancy.. but, I'm over it. I'm really ready for the next step already! Oh well..... like I said, any day now.

I

Work Shower

My work put together a little luncheon/shower for me today at work. It was sweet of them to do that for me. The main girl that was in charge of putting it together got into a serious car wreck and was unable to make it.. So, I think some things were put together last minute. Regardless, I appreciated the food and the gifts.

My desk when I got to work this morning

Goodness gracious, 8 months pregnant does not look good on me!

Work peeps

Week 33

Last week was week 33.. nothing really happened other than getting Cash's room finalized. I'm super uncomfortable and breathing is become more of a chore. Diego likes to make fun of me. He says I sound like an old fat man aka Tony Soprano. I appreciate his support. I also had some seriously sharp pains in my right hip area. I could not walk with out holding onto something. I probably slept wrong.

Lost started this week.. yay! It's been a super long wait, and as always.. I'm more confused than ever. So much to keep up with! It better all come together clearly at the end! If not, I will be disappointed!

Oh, and I finished accruing all of my maternity leave and spent Friday hanging out and relaxing by myself. It was so nice to have a 2 day weekend, 2 days to sleep in. I won't be taking that for granted anymore!

Quite the Wardrobe

My son has a ton of clothes. One of my favorite things to do these days is shop for him. I love finding awesome deals. My favorite store is The Children's Place. We have gotten a ton of really cute items for $2-$5. Mostly all winter stuff, they were having an "all things winter must go" sale. We will most definitely be heading over there at the end of summer, stocking up on shorts and t-shirts for the next summer! Other than The Children's Place, I like to shop at Old Navy and Target. By the way, I need an Old Navy to be built closer to 35!

Boy has a ton of clothes! and a variety of diapers and wipes :)

Every boy has to have socks, hats and shoes!

The Nursery - Pretty Much Finished

Well, I got Cash's room cleaned up and organized. Everything is pretty much in it's final spot. I may get a new plant/tree for the room.. the one we have in there now is not doing it for me. Also, after he is born and we get his professional newborn pictures taken, they will be hung up. Other than that. Here's the room!

Sorry for the bright light shining through..

moved the paintings and hung the valance

Hung shelves.. and added a few other things I got for my shower

Hung the picture frames, add the changing pad and humidifier

This wall is pretty bare right now, eventually his new born pictures will be hung here.

Until then, we'll have the cork board my mom made hanging up!

Baby Shower

I had so much fun at my shower Saturday. It was really nice to see everyone that I don't get to see all the time. I wish I could have been in 10 places at once, spending equal time with everyone... but, I did the best I could. I was wiped out by the end of the day.

We got a ton of stuff.. I am so thankful for my friends and families, they are super good to us! My car was loaded down and Cash's room is now a disaster area. I'll get everything situated soon and take pictures of the finished product. I would have liked to have more pictures with people, but I didn't get any of those! I had someone manning my camera so, I got what I got..

Diaper cake by my mom and aunt clonda

Diaper cake by Brandy

Love this monkey!

Cake by The Sweet Stuff in Kyle

Presents!

Gosh, my face sure looks weird.. like a football or something

Super creative photo album made my aunts neighbor, Rita.

She's a Stampin' Up host!

No shower is complete with out games!

Disaster Area!

The Nursery at Gram's

For the record, I have no idea what Cash will call my mom. Probably, Gram.. Grammy.. Gran.. I don't know. It will most likely be whatever sticks once he gets here.

Anyhow, my mom and Aunt Clonda turned their extra bedroom into an Under the Sea nursery for Cash. What a lucky kid! They are going to have him spoiled rotten! Here are some pictures I took of the room on Saturday.

Pictures they painted

Sebastian from the Little Mermaid.. this was mine as a kid