Week 34...A Great Time With Family In Fort Smith

I love my in-laws!  Not everyone in the world can say that, but I definitely can. I don't even think about them like "in-laws", they are family...our family. And they've totally adopted my sister and my mother into the family, which is great since mom and sis are about the only family I have left in contact existence.  We had a family shower this weekend, thrown by cousins Jennifer and Sarah, which was a lot of fun!  We had it at Uncle Garry's house in Fort Smith, AR.  We played games, cooked out burgers, and played with kiddos.  What more can an expectant mother ask for?  The weather was great and the family getting together was even better.  Although my sister made it, my mom sat this one out, as she has been very busy "showering" with us the last couple of weekends.  Her foot is still trying to heal (a year later) and too much activity makes it painful on her.  Grandma and Grandpa Cathcart were very much missed too, but we're keeping Grandpa in our prayers that he will make a speedy recovery and have his strength back to get some good play time with with Rylie once she is born.  We love you Grandma and Grandpa!

Awesome Diaper Cake...Thank you Brenda!

What a cool cake.  I just cant get enough of those pink circles!  

Cousin Jennifer....You rock girl! Thank you for an awesome shower!!

Ray, Trey, and Uncle Garry. Thank you Ray for taking pictures. You've got skills!

Mikayla, you are growing up so fast, you are a beautiful little lady!

Pops and Nana....

Cousin Sarah...you rock too sweetie!...Thank you for an awesome shower and yummy cake! (it's all about the sweets right now)  Trey, you are gorgeous!

It also happened to be Sarah's birthday this week, so we snuck in a surprise birthday celebration for Sarah too.   

After the shower, the boys all went to the baseball game in Springdale, which topped off their day...a baby shower in the morning and a baseball game at night, what every man looks forward to on a Saturday!!

Week 33...Baby Shower's and Sleepless Nights

We had another wonderful baby shower this weekend in Springdale, Arkansas. The ladies that Brian's mom goes to church with threw it for us. It was awesome!!  We recieved so much personalized Rylie stuff, it was so beautiful.  Thank you ladies for an amazing day!

The cutest baby swimsuit ever!!!....

Brian sporting a super cool baby bow!...

Brian and I with our amazing mothers!

Brian holding Faith, one of the cute little girls at the shower.  LOVE the bow!

Thank you ladies...what a great time we all had!

Sleep is getting harder to come by. I'm not sure if i'm just not using my pregnancy pillow correctly or if I'm just beyond it's help, whatever the case, it's not helping me find the "right position" to sleep.  I move from our wonderfully comfy king size bed, to our queen size guest bed, to our couch, then I just walk around the house staring at things.  I've not tried the recliner yet, but that is next on my list. Will keep you posted on this challenge.  It's hard to believe that I can be so exhausted, yet not be able to fall asleep. Between the shortness of breath and just the overall uncomfortableness of it all, I dont know how preggo's maintain their sanity.  This is all preparing me for being up all night with the baby, I'm sure!

Week 32...My First Baby Shower

My sister Tracie, along with two of my friends, Kristy and Beth, threw me my first baby shower on Saturday.  It was wonderful! 

Kristy, me, Tracie, and Beth...

Tracie pretending to be the Asian nail lady, painting my nails before the shower.... I cant reach my feet and the toes needed touching up...

We had the shower at my sisters house next door, so it was easy to go back and forth and show everyone Rylie's nursery. It was a beautiful day filled with gifts of love and everything baby! Even Brian and a few of the husbands made it back from their afternoon at the "sports bar" before it was all over. Baby Daddy appearances are always good at baby showers!  I just love the dress I found for the shower, it's got light and dark pink and brown dots all over it. I cant believe I found a dress to match Rylie's dot's and nursery theme.  Too cool! 

The cake was awesome!  My favorite, lemon and white cake, decorated with Rylie's circles! Too cool!!

Brians mom and my mom... The proud grandma's to be...

Thank you all ladies, it was an amazing day!

Week 31...More Spring Projects

I love the outdoors, and I'm hoping to pass that along to Rylie as my mother passed that along to me.  When I was young it used to confuse me how my mother could look at a tree changing colors in the fall and get SO moved and excited about it. She would gasp at the beauty of a multi colored tree. At the time I would think "come one mom, it's just a tree".  As I've grown older, however, my love of the outdoors and all of God's creatures has grown by leaps and bounds. I, too, get so excited when the tree's change in the fall and will point out all the prettier ones to anyone who's riding in the car with me. It's a beautiful thing, the changing seasons.

So to get ready for this years time in the great outdoors of our backyard, we had a few projects to complete.  Since we had to have some plumbing redone earlier this year, we still had the dirt filled trench going down our yard to the fence line. With the help of my sister and her boyfriend, we covered that with sod.  AND, the men were able to pull out the old 1950's clothes line that has been in the yard ever since the house was built. Ah, the nostalgia of it.....and good riddance to it!

The before look of dirt and mud following trenching.

And the after. Gotta love sod!

Digging up the old laundry line poles...

And me, trimming the bushes. The only thing I was allowed to do that day besides take pictures.

Here I am that night cooking dinner. Brian thinks its cute that I sit in a chair at the stove. If he only knew how bad my feet hurt after standing in one place for only minutes at at time!  That high bistro table chair comes in very handy!

Week 30...I Love Spring!

Spring has sprung and I love it!  Here is my week 30 picture.  I'm getting bigger everyday it seems, and I love it because that means Rylie is cooking up great.  Only 10 weeks (or a little less if I'm lucky) at this point. It's going by fast.

What is one of my favorite things of spring? Besides being able to plant in my flower beds, watch my grass turn from a depressing brown to a beautiful green, and spending more time outdoors, it's the perks you get from Blue Bell Ice Cream!  They only produce Southern Blackberry Cobbler ice cream in the spring and summer. Shame on them for taking it away during the fall and winter!  Lucky for THEM, the timing was right this year to meet my ice cream needs during this last trimester of pregnancy. Yummy!