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 :)

On the 12th day of Christmas...

3 puppies snuggling, 2 parents napping and a baby kicking me constantly :) That's been our Christmas day so far! Today we've enjoyed pancakes and sausage and lounging around on the couch - we haven't even opened gifts yet :)  We both know that next year will be a totally different story.  

We went to Christmas Eve service last night and enjoyed some great Christmas carols and seeing (and hearing) at least a hundred kids hyped up on pre-Christmas adrenaline and sugar :)  Eric and I had to laugh, our lives are about to change dramatically!

I have to say one of my favorite things is to sit on my couch on a Saturday morning, with a good book, a cup of coffee (decaf for the last several months) and my puppies curled around me. I know that these days will be few and far between after Owen comes, so I'm soaking up every last one I can.

Since this blog is called "3 dogs and a Baby" I thought it fitting to spend a few minutes talking about the 3 pups that have been our "children" thus far. We have two chihuahuas - Sophie and Sebastian - that I brought to the marriage with me.  Eric was skeptical of them at first, but Sophie is now firmly "daddy's dog" and he often admits how much he'll miss her when she's gone. For Valentine's Day in 2008 we got a "big dog" for Eric.  Shady is part german shepherd, part golden retriever and too sweet.  She's still pretty energetic and gets into trouble on a regular basis, but we love her.  I have very fond memories of our german shepherd Heidi and I can't wait for her and Owen to be great friends when he gets older.

So here are a few pics of the pups.  Merry Christmas from the Oslunds!

 

 

Holiday Plans

One of the best things about working for Texas A&M is the holiday break.  I'll be off from Dec. 23rd until January 4th and not have to take any vacation days!  Usually Eric and I spend this time either with my family in Amarillo or his in California, but this year we're going to hang around College Station and relish one of the last times we'll be alone (at least for the next 18 years or so).

We will miss our family, but we're excited about starting our own Christmas traditions and taking a "babymoon" down to Houston the week before New Years.  We've booked a room at the Hotel Icon in downtown Houston and already have tickets to a theater production the first night we arrive.  We're planning on spending an afternoon in Galveston, checking out the local museums and doing some shopping for Owen while we're there.

Luckily we'll be able to see our families in January when they come down for the baby shower, but we're both excited about this first (and last) holiday "on our own."  If you have any holiday traditions you love or ideas on what to do in Houston, we'd love to hear about them. Merry Christmas from the Oslunds!

28 weeks

If I remember correctly this is the name of a zombie/horror flick.  Thankfully I'm not in that bad of shape yet...although a man at work stopped me in the hall and told me about how ugly his wife got when she was she was pregnant - I hope he wasn't making a comparison.

So far my biggest complaints are my ankles swelling.  I've had a little back pain, but nothing bad yet. Most people can't even tell I'm pregnant when I'm sitting down.  When I stand up it's very obvious and I've been getting lots of comments at work.  Most are nice, although some, like the man above, are a little bizarre.

Here is a picture from the past week for those of you who want to see how the baby bump is progressing :)

The Furniture has Arrived

Eric and I picked out our crib, dresser and glider last week while we were in Abilene.  We got a great deal at a cute store called Kid Village.  They were selling the floor models and gave us 20% off the sale price.  That combined with a discount on the glider (very cute, dark brown upholstered) and a free boppy made for a very happy mommy-to-be and a daddy who was very proud of the deal he negotiated.

We couldn't fit the furniture in our car, but luckily my uncle was able to bring it to us this weekend on his way to Houston.  I'm so excited to start getting everything set up and can't wait to start making the bedding.  We'll post more pictures once the nursery is complete, but here's a shot of the crib we picked out.

Getting ready for Labor ?!?!

Tonight Eric and I went to our 5th Bradley Method class.  For those of you who don't know, we are going to attempt to have this baby naturally (no I'm not crazy and yes I know that it's going to hurt).  The Bradley Method is also referred to as "husband coached childbirth," so Eric comes with me to classes every Sunday afternoon. In yesterday's class we had a first-stage labor rehearsal. The mommies laid on their sides in our relaxation pose and tried to relax through a series of 60-second contractions.  The contractions were mimicked by submerging our hand in a bowl of freezing ice water - much more painful than it sounds. 

The 1st contraction we had to relax by ourselves - very difficult . For the 2nd contraction the coach was allowed to tell us how much time we had left, on the 3rd he was allowed to touch and massage us and for the 4th he could add words of encouragement and instructions on relaxing. It was amazing how much easier it was to relax when your husband was able to really help you.

On a side note - Eric got reprimanded by the teacher for making me laugh.  When he was able to speak, he told me to imagine swimming in icy cold water which caused me and the mom and coach next to us to burst out laughing.  Eric thought he was pretty clever, but the teacher was not impressed with our relaxation for that contraction.

Then we got to switch positions :)  Eric couldn't keep his hand in the water the first few contractions, but he could also agree that my "help" really made relaxing easier. I think the whole process made an impression on him.  He commented to me last night about how nervous he was about labor.  He just assumed that it would be similar to what you see in the movies, but realizing that he's going to have to watch me go through pain for hours at a time is going to be really hard for a man who wants to "fix" everything.

My third trimester began today.  We have 13 weeks or so until the "big" day arrives.  And although we're both nervous about what will happen on Owen's birthday, I'm very thankful we have these classes to prepare both Eric and myself and that he's going to be by my side helping me through whatever happens.