Showered with blessings!

Tomorrow I start my 35 week of pregnancy and month 9 is looming larger and larger (similar to my "to-do" list).  It may actually be more accurate to compare my to-do list to my belly - which seems to have really grown in the last few days.  We did get all our closets organized this weekend though - so that's a big item I can finally cross off!

In the midst of all this growing, I have had a few very sweet moments with family and friends and have literally been showered with blessings of love, advice, service and some of the cutest baby gifts ever!

Last Saturday Eric and I drove to Dallas for a shower with some of my closest friends from ACU.  It was such a fun afternoon, made even sweeter by the fact that my mom and mother-in-law were able to be there. It was so neat to look around the room and realize I've known these ladies for over 10 years.  We've all grown up, but I still admire and love each of them as much as I did in college.

This weekend some of my sweet friends from Grace in College Station threw Owen and me a shower. Again it was such a blessing to be able to sit and visit with these ladies, enjoy really yummy cake and hear advice from the mother's in the group.

Some fun memories from the past two weeks:

• My father-in-law and Eric painting baby Owen's nursery
• My mother-in-law surprising me with a bag full of Eric's much loved baby toys, it will be so neat to pass these on to Owen
• Hugging my ACU friend Rachel who is due 1 week after me - our belly's touched, which was funny and sweet at the same time
• Enjoying a yummy Italian dinner with some of the ACU girls - I'm really going to miss our girl time!
• My belly jumping around during meetings all week, distracting me and other members of my team.
  
• My friend Megan totally cleaning up dinner at MY house, after I invited them over for dinner.  It was such a blessing and my feet and back really appreciated her!
• One of my BF Summer driving all the way from Lubbock to help host my shower (that's true friendship!) 
• Summer comparing Owen to a brisket :)  (It's hard to explain)
• Chatting with Libby on speaker phone - it almost felt like we were all together again
  

So even though the to-do list is growing, my feet are swelling and I seem to sleep less every night, these blessing make it all worth it.  I'm so thankful for my wonderful friends and family and can't wait for Owen to get to meet each of them!

For those of you out of town, here are a few pics of Owen from last week :)

Here are a few pics from the Dallas shower.  My mom and mother-in-law and then some of the girls before our fantastic dinner!

 

The countdown has begun!

I know I still have over 8 weeks left, but it feels like Owen will be coming any minute and I still have so much left to do!  Unfortunately my to-do list is growing and not shrinking.  This may be because in the past few weeks I've entered into the "nesting" phase and keep finding things in my house I want to organize, change or fix before he gets here :)

Here are just a few of the things I still have left to do:

Paint Owen's room
Make his bedding (my friend Brie is helping with this and I'm so thankfull!!)
Organize his closet (and every other closet in the house - they're terrible)
Schedule the hospital walk-through
Finalize our birth plan and pack my bag (will be complicated since we're going natural)
Read about a million breastfeeding and infant how-to books

All of this while trying to get things squared away at work. I admit that's what's worrying me the most - how am I going to be the best mom, wife and manager I can be.  I'm just not sure there's enough of me to go around. I have been getting good advice from my friends who have already had children. I'm definitely open to suggestions, so if you have any, send them my way.

I do have a few fun events to look forward to - a shower in Dallas next weekend with my ACU girls and one in College Station with some friends from church.  My in-laws are also coming into town next week to see Eric and I, attend the shower and help around the house. I'm so thankfull that I have such wonderful friends and family!

Here are few recent pictures of me in my 32nd week of pregnancy (we were having camera issues, so they're a little fuzzy). I was also really tired this night - can you tell?

The black is very slimming, don't you think :)