Week 35

We're at a milestone week... 35 weeks and 35 days to go!! And before we get to all the excitement that's been going on around here, we'll start with competition time :)  Time to guess the baby weight!  So everyone is on a level playing field, my birth weight was 10 lbs 2 oz and Andy's was 9lbs 1oz (he thinks).  I asked my OB the best predictor of baby weight and she said genetics... Dad also says that the height of your uterus can be a predictor and mine has measured almost exactly what you would expect each week.  There's going to a prize for the winner so leave a comment with your guess!  And in case we have a tie, leave your guess for Harper's birthday :)  Not sure what the prize will be yet so don't get too excited... probably a Starbucks giftcard that I'll send ya after I recover from the newborn fog :) Andy and I have already placed our guesses... he says 8lbs 4 oz. and I guess 8lbs 12 oz.  We both believe in the power of positive thinking and think anything under 10 lbs would be fabulous ;)  Apparently I was built like a little linebacker when I was born because they broke my collarbone on the way out... fingers crossed Harper does not suffer the same birth injury :(

We have been crazy busy the past few days and it's been awesome!  All went well with the house closing on Friday and Andy was able to move a ton of stuff over by himself that day.  I got my kitchen all unpacked that evening which was so nice.  The next morning Davo, Cam and Christie came and we basically got almost all of the rest of our house moved over by noon.  Andy's parents came later and helped him move over the shed stuff and get the old house all cleaned up for us :)  We were SO appreciative of everyone's help!!  I left the moving party in the afternoon to head to Granddad's for our first baby shower!  It was cohosted by Mary, Sherriann and Isabel and it was so wonderful!! It was a joint shower for my cousin Liz and I and we also got some exciting news that cousin Jenny is expecting baby numero dos in December! It's going to be a fun Christmas with all these sweet little babies to love on :)  The food at their shower was so delicious - they put so much effort into so many tiny little details!  My favorite detail was a bunch of dresses they had displayed throughout the house that my Grandmom had saved from when Aunt Pat and Mary were little girls.  They had some hanging and some displayed on little forms and also had lots of pictures of the girls actually wearing their dresses.  It was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen!  It doesn't quite seem complete without Grandmom there - I know she would be so excited to have three more great-grandbabies but being in her house with all the dresses she had saved helped make it seem extra special :)  We were spoiled with so many wonderful gifts at this shower - Harper is one loved little girl!  I do have to share one of the funniest, though - Christie (and Cam) got her a pretty sweet pacifier...

Stole this picture off of pinterest... poor little baby ;)

I came back to Lexington Saturday night and Olivia joined... she slept on an air mattress in Harper's room :)  We got a few more things done around the house Sunday morning after church before it was time to head back to Etown for our second shower.  This was hosted by my Aunt Carol and some great family friends - Becky and Rosemary Wiseman.  I was totally overwhelmed by all the cute decor they had going on! Alexis, Becky's niece, is the most crafty person ever and had made so many precious details for the party! They also had this awesome fruit display that looked like a baby in a carriage... I had never seen anything like it but it was pretty awesome!!  It was so nice to visit with so many family friends and we were spoiled again by so many wonderful gifts.  One of the most special was a dress that Rosemary had made for Harper!  It is beautiful beyond belief and it something I know will be passed down in our family for generations.  Rosemary is so, so talented and said the dress took her between 40-50 hours to make.  The details in it are absolutely unreal and I cannot wait until Harper is big enough to wear it!  We are so thankful and appreciative of everyone who was celebrating with us, from near and far!  I don't think Harper could be a more loved little girl :) :)

I have had a ton of fun unpacking her gifts and trying to get her room sorted out a bit.  Andy and I put together the crib on Monday.  It was not nearly as hard as we were expecting but we did run into a little hiccup when we misplaced some bolts ;) After the bolts were found, the project continued on smoothly and it looks great in her room! I'll take some more pictures after Mom has finished some of her little projects and the room is looking more complete.  I went ahead and washed all of Harper's clothes, towels, etc.  I was so worried that all the bright colors would bleed on each other and all her brand new clothes would be ruined so I did three small loads... they were sorted into whites, light pinks, and dark pinks. lol.  She does have a handful of blue things with all her UK and Colts gear but those were definitely not getting mixed in with her sweet little pink things :)  I am kind of stumped as how to organize her clothes.  She has a wide variety of sizes so I'm wondering if I should go ahead and hang everything up until three months and keep the bigger sizes in the drawers?  I need Olivia to come organize her closet for me (I'm embarrassed to admit Olivia organized my closet for me again this weekend... and told me it would be the last time she did it for me if I didn't keep it neater ;)).

We are loving being in our new house so far! I went to college with a girl down the street and her and her husband came by with some treats the other night which was so sweet :)  They're having us over to cookout one night next week which will be fine! Last night Andy was having some lawnmower difficulties and he moved it up to the garage to work on it... when he came into the house, our next door neighbor had pulled out his giant riding lawnmower and was mowing for him!  It kind of cracked us up as apparently a man's lawn is like a woman's purse but we were very appreciative nonetheless :)  We have been working hard every evening trying to get things settled and I can definitely tell that I get a lot more swollen after being up all day long.  I wore my dreaded compression stockings today and they were SO uncomfortable... my belly is not fitting in those things well at all anymore!  I told Andy that sometimes I catch a glimpse of my profile and don't recognize myself! ha!

Phew - sorry for such a long post... we've had so much going on around here :)  Here's our weekly update!!

That bump is getting seriously large!!

How far along: 35

Total Weight Gain: 26

Stretchmarks:  Nope... but my skin is looking kind of translucent?? :(

Sleep: awesome... seriously, I'm waiting for pregnancy insomnia to hit but I am so exhausted at night that they only time I wake up is to use the bathroom or when Andy tells me to stop sleeping on my back

Best Moment This Week: our wonderful showers and moving into our new house!!

Movement: all the time! but it's so different now... a lot of stretching and not really fast movements

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: some braxton hicks occasionally 

Belly Button: innie :)

What I Miss: being a helpful addition around the house and carrying heavy stuff

What I am Looking Forward to:  getting more organized in the new casa

Milestones: 35 weeks and 35 days to go!

Andy just said the funniest thing that needed to be added... he's looking around the kitchen and says "I'd put this stuff away but I just don't know where it goes... I don't know where the pots go... I don't know where these cleaning supplies go... I don't know what food we have, I just know my meals have been getting made for me... I don't know how the laundry machine works and I'm wondering if that's something I ever need to learn"... hahahaha... I'll be honest, I do occasionally attempt to not learn certain tasks so that I don't have to help with them :) :)