On Friday (Jan. 16th) both Tim and I had baby showers at work. My co-worker Teresa and the women that work during Early Voting threw one for me, and Tim's co-workers had a surprise shower for him. Mine was wonderful, with lots of good food and great gifts for Laurel! Most of the offices from the courthouse were able to come, plus most of the election commissioners. Here's a picture of me with my hostesses.

Tim's boss called me about two weeks before his shower to find out if I could come. Unfortunately, it was planned for the same day as mine, so I had to pass, but I promised her that I wouldn't breath a word of it to Tim. Friday morning Tim kept calling me to tell me that there was something suspicious going on at the health department. He had been kicked out of the kitchen, and he knew that something was up because he's usually the one who coordinates parties and lunches at his work. A little while later he told me that he thought they were throwing him a surprise baby shower. I still played dumb and told him to keep me updated. Within an hour he called me back and when I answered the phone he screamed, "You knew!" I admitted that I had known for about a week, which absolutely drove him nuts. He hates not being in on things.

Here's a picture of the beautiful cake they made for him and a picture of him opening his table-full of presents. For some reason, I can't see him ohhing and ahhing over all of his presents the way I did!

And here's a picture of what happens when men are on their own to buy and wrap presents for another man's baby shower!

Friday night we brought everything home and had so much fun reopening all the gifts to show each other what Laurel had received. We are both very lucky to have such caring and generous co-workers!

Today (Sunday, Jan. 11th) was my baby shower at Love Chapel Church. I'm lucky to have a church family that is extremely generous both with their gifts and with the time they put in to host my shower. It was also my shower for Tim's side of the family. It worked well to combine the two because the church fellowship hall is definitely big enough to hold a lot of people. Here's a picture of myself and my mom April (on the left) and Tim's mom Kathy (on the right). Laurel is so lucky to have such great grandmas!

You can see by both the picture above and the one below, we had a great spread of food!

This is one of the two awesome cakes! It worked really well because it is actually made up of lots of cupcakes so no one has to worry about trying to cut the cake. There was one in chocolate and one in white.

While I loved and appreciated all the gifts I received, this gift from Tim's cousin Jake and his fiancee Misty was hilarious! Tim LOVED the TV show "The A Team" when he was little, so this onesie is definitely appropriate! Of course, one day he'll have try to explain this outfit to Laurel.

As time continues to creep by and I get closer and closer to holding my little girl in my arms, I just can't help but get overwhelmed by a hundred conflicting emotions. I feel extremely fortunate that I've had such an enjoyable pregnancy and to be honest, I'll miss being pregnant and being able to take Laurel with me everywhere I go. But at the same time, I can't wait to get to know her face-to-face.

Another thing I'm really looking forward to is seeing Tim with her. As anyone who knows Tim knows, he is going to be an amazing father. I joke about it, but I honestly think he has more maternal instincts than I do (and a lot more practice with babies and toddlers!) I feel very lucky to have a husband who is so prepared to bring home a new baby.

I feel like overall we are ready for her arrival, but as Tim likes to point out (daily), we still have a lot more to do. We don't have a car seat or stroller. We haven't washed her bedding or any of her clothing. I don't have a hospital bag packed (or even a list of what I need to put in one). I need to finish the artwork I'm doing for her nursery. We've got to get a dresser.

While I know that all of these things need to be done, I believe that emotionally we are ready for her! I love knowing that every single day since I found out I was pregnant, Tim and I have prayed for her at least once a day (that's more than 215 prayers). And that's just from us. It's so wonderful to know that she will arrive into a world where so many people will have loved her and thought about her long before she takes her first breath.

I had my 34 week appointment today. During the four weeks between my 28 week and my 32 week checkup, I gained a whopping 10 pounds...oops. That put me up to a total of 30 pounds already (with eight more weeks to go)! I was really starting to get scared that I was going to wind up gaining 50 or more pounds total, and I was already dreading having to take all that weight off later.

Well, when I got on the scale (with LOTS of trepidation) I could not believe me eyes. I had lost half a pound! Which is completely insane given that I went to at least a dozen Christmas and holiday parties, and despite the nurse practitioner's speech, I didn't really pay much attention to what I ate. Luckily my blood sugar has consistently been very low, so I knew I didn't really have to worry about gestational diabetes and the concerns that go along with that.

On a not-so-exciting note, I've got Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. This is apparently a really common ailment for pregnant women because of the increase in blood and fluid volume. The nurse practitioner I saw today said it should go away "when I finish being pregnant." So for now I'm just going to try wearing a wrist brace to sleep in and see if that helps.

Everything else is going well and overall I'm feeling really good and still have quite a bit of energy. I'll see the doctor again for my 36 week appointment on January 21st and then will start going in every week. I'm really excited that I have three baby showers coming up in the next couple weeks, and then we'll hopefully have everything ready and waiting for Laurel's arrival!

My home church is not very large (average attendance of about 70-80), but there are currently lots of babies and babies on the way! We had a baby shower on Sunday for Kara (our previous minister's daughter). She is also expecting a baby girl and is due a couple of weeks after me. Also, our youth minister's wife, Whitney, is expecting a baby boy about two weeks before me! So it has been fun to watch all of our bellies growing as we get nearer and nearer to our due dates in January and February. Although after seeing this picture, I think I get the award for growing the most!

(Kara - EDD 2/28/09; Sarah - EDD 2/16/09; Whitney - EDD 1/30/09)

So this is the one addition to our nursery that I have been really exciting about getting. Right after my birthday, Tim and I went all over the Tri-Cities trying to find the right rocker/glider and ottoman. (After reviewing the recommendations and reviews on Consumer Reports website, of course.) I decided pretty early that I wanted a fully upholestered chair because I hope to use this for more than just rocking an infant. I hope to have my little girl curl up with me on the chair for years to come as we read together.

When we found this style and realized that we could choose any color and material we wanted, I knew this was it. The chair is so comfortable; I'm sure I'll get tons of use out of it (probably some before Laurel even gets here!) It just arrived on December 23rd, so perfect timing for Christmas!

And if you notice on the right side of the chair is my children's rocking chair that I just recently finished painting. I love it and hope Laurel will, too!

For those of you who have seen me recently, you know how much my belly has grown in the past 10 weeks, but for those who haven't, here are some pictures.

Overall, things are going well. It's odd to watch my belly now because as Laurel moves, so does my whole stomach. I can pick out some body parts, too, like knees, feet and elbows. Like I said in the last post, many of my changes in position take some maneuvering, but I can't complain. For the most part, I'm feeling fantastic and getting more and more excited every day waiting to finally see my little girl!