Avery update, Swap packages, and I've been tagged!

It seems the things to blog about just keep adding up!!

We went to the doctor on Friday for our 33 week check-up. I was measuring a little small, but the doctor wasn't too concerned... it just means we get another ultrasound at 36 weeks :) I also talked to her about my maternity leave- since I had to pick fixed dates due to the nature of my job, I am not working from November 1 to January 1. This could be problematic if Avery decided to come 2 weeks late :) My wonderful doctor said that she's willing to induce anytime after 39 weeks which means that if Avery hasn't come by November 3, we'll be inducing that week! YAY! For those of you who know my love of scheduling, it's nice to be able to put it on my calendar...


In other news, I received my swap package from Elizabeth today! Through my friend Allison's blog, I was paired up with Elizabeth with the task to mail 3 of our favorite things to each other! It was so exciting to get this box in the mail! When I opened the box, this is what slid out:

Such a cute bag, eh?
And here is what was inside: 2 PRECIOUS onsies for Avery, Burt's Bee's lip gloss, a Yankee Candle (Pumpkin Pie- a perfect present for the first day of fall) and a wonderful cookbook with easy recipies!
This is how excited I was: Thanks, Elizabeth! I loved it!! :)
Elizabeth also tagged me on her blog! So here are my 7 weird facts:
1. I have several odd recurring dreams. Mostly, I often dream that I am losing my teeth. This is not usually the focus of the dream, just one aspect of it. The teeth don't just fall out... they crack into several pieces first- then fall out. When I wake up, I'm usually surprised to find that all my teeth are still present and accounted for.... I fully expect there to be gaps. I only know one other person who dreams about this: Whitney (who confessed it when tagged on her blog) :) This may stem from #3 (see below) or the fact that I crumbled my two front teeth in 6th grade when I face-planted while rollerblading.

2. I compulsively organize collections. For example, my CD's are organized alphabetically, then oldest -> newest within a single artist or collection. Also, they must all be facing with the picture oriented in the correct direction. No sideways or upside-down CD's here! Oddly enough, I organize my movies by genre, not alphabetically... but sequels always go together. In chronological order.

3. I am obsessed with clean teeth. Maybe this is where my recurring dream stems from. I brush my teeth generally twice before I even leave the house in the morning (once upon waking, and once after eating). My biggest complaint when we spend late evenings hanging out and snacking with our friends Kenny and Anna? That my teeth feel "fuzzy" and I desperately want to brush them. I love the dentist. :)

4. I hate the word "moist". It sounds just like what it means. It makes me cringe. Just say damp. Or wet. Or anything else that means the EXACT same thing. I also despise poor grammar (thanks, dad)- especially when people misuse "good" versus "well". I don't think anyone uses these words correctly.

5. When my brother was born, I was upset. I wanted a sister, not a rotten, stinky boy (I was 4 years, 1 month, and 28 days old). As a result, I would dress him in dresses, call him "Michelle", and teach him all things "girly"- especially ballet. He generally complied (except when I would ask him to do a jete, he insisted on flying around like an airplane) and eventually would voluntarily appear in a 5-layer slip that I wore under my "fancy" dresses- usually when we had company over for dinner. My dad put an end to this when my brother decided to start referring to himself as "Michelle". Sorry, dad... and Graham. Love you, bubby! :)

6. I am a planner and a scheduler- and this often backfires badly. I have the complete and total inability to "go with the flow" on a Saturday. I need a plan. Even if the plan is to do nothing, I need a plan. It stresses me out when my laid-back husband doesn't need a plan. Ever. That's 7 years of stress, people. However, this characteristic got me (and some of my friends) through college and graduate school. It makes me dependable. If someone didn't know what was going on, they could come to me and photocopy my planner :) Life just works better when you know what to expect.

7. I have an odd but super-fantastic memory (outside of pregnancy). I remember things that a lot of people don't. Funny moments with friends, what someone wore last Tuesday.... I remember them. It has proven embarassing when I say "Hey! Remember when...." and then noone else remembers. Maybe I'm just sentimental... a mental packrat. I don't like throwing away memories :) To help you all, I'll share my purposeful memorization strategy: If I need to remember something, I associate it with something I know I'm going to do. For example, if I need to remember to do some laundry, I think to myself several times, "When William calls to say he's on his way home from work, it will remind me to put a load of clothes in the washer." And voila! It works! I don't know if it really works for anyone else...


And that's it! I know I'm odd. I've known it my whole life... but here's who I want to tag:
Allison, Kelly, Dad, Rebecca, Sara, and the Pandukus!

A Visit from the Pandukus, Honeydew, and Pregnancy Pics!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! We've been busy getting the house/nursery ready and having our friends visit! Kenny and Anna and their 4 boys came to visit us last weekend so they could look for places to live. We didn't get any pictures of their 2 youngest boys... they were already in bed :)
Anna, Carson, and I hanging out in the living room

Caleb and Kenny

So the fruit of the month: honeydew! I am officially 33 weeks pregnant tomorrow (Friday). I noticed the ticker at the top of the blog is actually a day behind. I think it's because this year was leap year, so I've been pregnant a day longer than it thinks I have been :) This week is really the first week that I've felt uncomfortable. I'm still sleeping okay, but it's getting harder to move around... and tie my shoes! Also, Avery is finally big enough to differentiate between her back, bottom and legs by poking her from the outside.. it's a fun guessing game! The pictures below were taken last Sunday, at 32 weeks and 2 days. Sorry for the sweats... it was a lazy Sunday evening at home and I remembered I told my friend Kassie I would update the blog with new pictures of myself.... :)

Football, Squash, and Sod

It's been such a busy week! We completed our weekend project this past weekend: painting the kitchen! I'll have to get some pictures of it to post... it's so pretty! :)

So, our friend Andy is now a football coach at one of the area high schools! We're really looking forward to getting to go to games this fall... One of the things his team and other area high schools got to do was play a game in the Colts' stadium, which happens to be brand new this season. We decided to take advantage of getting to go into the stadium and sit in the front row on the 50-yard line! Lucas Oil Stadium is pretty much the coolest sports venue I've ever been inside.

Here is the view from our seat:

Me, William, and Kelly enjoying the view:

Us in the end zone!

A closer view :)

This place is huge!!!

So I also said I'd keep you guys updated on the veggie of the month... now Avery is the size of a squash! Sometimes it's hard to believe that she's 15 or 16 inches long and just crammed inside my belly... but once she gets to moving around, she feels bigger than that! Just an update: we finally got insurance coverage (YAY!) and I'm going to the doctor next Tuesday, the 2nd. You guys can stop worrying now :)
The morning after we moved in, I was downstairs in the kitchen eating some yogurt before I left for work, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw people in our front yard! This caught me off guard until I realized they were putting in our sod, bushes and trees!! Here is a picture of their beautiful work! We hope to add some flowers and we got an American flag and pole at a garage sale this weekend to complete the look :)

Making a House a Home

Hello! We have had a very busy 6 days since we moved into the house! My parents were nice enough to drive up from Nashville for about 24 hours to help us move stuff from the storage unit to our house and help us get ready to paint. Their hands were much appreciated :)

We weren't sure how well our 2 cats were going to adapt to moving and tripling their domain. At first, they were very hesitant, and Cosmo reacted by burrowing himself under the comforter of our bed (and this has become his new favorite sleepy-spot). I had to lift up the corner and get a picture of him!
We spent most of the weekend getting the living room in order. It's nice to have a single room that is done (for the most part) and we can sit around in it to procrastinate and NOT do anything else in the house! We painted the walls in the living room a lovely light blue color called "Reading Room". It looks kind of purply in the picture, but it's really pretty in person:



Relaxing? Right? However, if you turn around, you can't help but be stressed out by this chaos:

That is the kitchen, complete with half-unpacked boxes, painters tape around all the borders, and messiness! Oh well, at least we got that table put together so no one else has to experience whacking their head on the light fixture (it REALLY hurts)!

It's official...

Well, we are official homeowners! After signing our names 4,732 times, they handed over the keys! And now the moving weekend begins... We'll be without internet until Monday evening, so maybe we'll have some pictures to post then....

Eggplant?

thenestbaby.com has really funny comparisons for you to get an idea of how big your unborn baby is... food! Avery has already been a poppyseed, appleseed, sweet pea, blueberry, raspberry, olive, prune, lime, plum, peach, lemon, orange, avocado, onion, sweet potato, mango, cantaloupe, banana, and papaya! *whew!* And now, we have a little eggplant :) I'll try to post which food she is for the month from now on. I find it funny, but I guess it's a little easier to visualize the size of a common food rather than trying to imagine how big something 13.6 to 14.8 inches and 1.5 to 2.2 pounds is.

On the housing front, we got word that our loan is out of underwriting so now it's just a matter of them calling us to schedule our closing this week! hooray!

The never-ending process...

Yes, that is our life crammed into a storage unit- not into a house. Here's the story: On Sunday (a week and a half ago) my dad came up from Nashville to help us load our stuff into a moving truck since we were planning on closing on Monday or Tuesday. Both of those days went by, as did Wednesday and most of Thursday with many phone calls. Long story short, we learned that the mortgage company knew absolutely nothing about my job and once they started learning about it, they had problems with it. But, since they had already pre-approved us for the loan, we had to come up with a compromise. Anyway, we're looking at being able to submit our stuff to underwriting on Friday and closing on either Friday afternoon or Monday. *Whew*! It's been a really long week :) We just keep reminding ourselves that God has perfect timing and this is all going to work out in the end, despite the bumps and bruises we may get along the way! It's a miracle I've been able to make it through it all with only a minor meltdown (that was pregnancy-hormone induced, I'm sure!). Our family and friends have been fantastically supportive through it all... thanks so much, you guys! :)