Ava's Room!

This has been another busy weekend! First I'll start with little miss Ava's room. Everyone has been asking to see it so I thought I better get some pictures up already! Now we are still missing a few last minute decor items like pink curtains and some other baby items and wall decor, but you'll get a good picture of how it's coming along. One thing I can say that really bugged me when shopping for little girl bedding. NO ANIMALS! Our only options were flowers or butterflies. I wanted lambs, bunnies, puppies or kitties, but no luck. So we went with this pink and chocolate "Retro" theme.

The Tour Begins...

She already has more clothes than mommy
Burp clothes from Rhonda

Friday night we went to dinner with Grandad & Grandmother Hendrickson, along with Aunt Kristin and her boyfriend Daniel. Afterwards we went back to their house where they spoiled Ava with all kinds of presents! I've attached pictures of the special gift that grandmother Hendrickson hand made for Ava. Thank you Grandmother and Grandad Hendrickson!

Quilt made by Grandmother Hendrickson (note the pink camo)

Ultrasound Pictures on the quilt!
Front Side of Ava's quilt
Ava's Doll Quilt is a mini version of hers :)

Saturday my friend Kelley came over and took my maternity portraits. They turned out so beautiful (minus my swollen face and 8 month pregnant double chin). The colors were gorgeous and she got some fun photos of me, me & Steve together, the dogs and Casper. She's going to help me get a few of them posted this week so you can check out her great work! I can't wait to get a few of them ordered and framed.

Today we ran errands most of the afternoon to get the last few baby items we needed so that we can spend the next few weeks before her arrival relaxing at home. I'm so exhausted!! I have no idea how I'm going to drag my butt into work tomorrow. The good news is I only have a 3 day work week.. woot!

35 Weeks

We had our 35 week appointment today. After waiting in the waiting room for an hour and a half and then waiting in the exam room for another good hour we were finally seen by the doctor. Baby Ava was measuring at 36 weeks, good heartbeat of 140 bpm, and because we had to wait so long they did an ultrasound a week early just for Steve! She is already head down and has the cutest little chubby cheeks! Not that I can really tell all that much but I told Steve she looks like she has my chin. tee hee.

We said that because she is head down she is already a good girl doing what she is supposed to be doing. :) Can't wait to meet our precious little baby in a few weeks!

They also did the group B strep test today so I'm sure we'll get the results of that next week.

Casper's new toys..

This weekend my cousins Courtney & Erin and my good friends Julie & Tiffany threw me a family/friend shower at Courtney's house. We had a great time, great food and yummy cake! I've spent most of today putting things away in Ava's room and washing her clothes. I have a couple of last minute touches to her room and then I'll post pictures later this week. I'm so excited that it's almost finished! Here are a few pictures from the shower (more to come later):

The cake

The how big is she game
Kelley 34 weeks & Courtney 16 weeks

One of the things that we did today was attempt to install her new car seat in Steve's truck. We were worried about his back seat not being large enough. We are going to go to the fire station and have them show us how to install it correctly in both of our vehicles. Afterwards we brought it in and set it on the floor and it wasn't long until Casper took up residence in it. He assumes all of these new things are for him. He has also decided that the stroller given to us by gigi and papa is his bed too.

Casper 's new beds

After the shower I got home just in time to change clothes, pick up Steve and go to our friend Denise's birthday party. It was at a wine bar near our house that is pretty popular. We had dinner there and when everyone left to go the next bar we headed home. I can get away with a bar/restaurant but somehow I think I would look quite ridiculous at a straight up bar at 8 months pregnant! Then this morning we got up and met a few more friends at Maggiano's for our friend Ross' birthday lunch. Needless to say it's been a very busy weekend and it's time to put my feet up. They are swollen to the max today and I think they might explode any minute now.

34 Weeks and counting....

Just got back from my 34 week check up. Looks like my blood pressure was a little high 136/87 the first time and 127/80 the 2nd time. She said I'm not pre-eclamptic but they want to watch my blood pressure for the duration of the pregnancy. I get to go to CVS a few times a week and check it. As long as it's under 140/90 I don't need to worry she says. I kind of had a feeling that she might say my blood pressure was running a little high because I noticed my face and hands were a little swollen all of the sudden and I've been getting slight head aches for the last couple of days. My appointments are weekly now so they'll be able to keep a close eye on me. I'm in the home stretch now! I saw a woman in the waiting room who was pregnant and wearing a cute little dress with cute little sandals. She of course had cute little ankles and feet. I was thoroughly annoyed. grrrr.

The doctor was trying to measure my belly and Ava was moving so much the doc kept saying "stop it you little buggar, stop kicking me" Then she said Ava was arching her back and making my tummy pop up too high and she couldn't get an accurate measurement. She would push down on the baby and the baby would push back. It was so funny! I said I told you she moves a lot!

Just got a call from my cousin Michael. His baby is due in November and they are having a boy! Yay!

33 weeks- First Baby Shower

This was a very busy weekend. My sister in law Stacey was in town and so was my friend Allyson. We also had our first baby shower! My girlfriends threw us a couples shower and we had such a good time. They had fajitas and plenty of beer and wine for the non-preggos. Plenty of water for me which was good because I think I drank about 10 bottles I was so thirsty! My friend Ally made the cake and she did such a great job. It was super cute and tasted yummy. Good job Ally. The girls had some of the cutest decorations too, like this sign that Sara painted. It's now hanging in Ava's room :)

The favors
Mommy & Daddy
The Spread
Games-Stacey, Me and Steve

It was great hanging out with everyone and seeing all of our friends. We also had such a good time with Stacey. This was her first trip to Houston in 17 years! Steve was really sad when she left to go back home. I only have 44 days to go and my feet are killing me. They are now swollen constantly and feel like someone has been beating on them with a hammer. Ally and I went to get a pedicure on Friday and when she saw my feet so started laughing and calling me elephantitus feet to make me laugh. It really does not look like they belong on my body! Monday I couldn't find any shoes to squeeze them in so I had to wear flip flops to work. Oh well what can ya do. At least I didn't wear house shoes!

32 weeks

Well little baby girl is quickly running out of room in my belly and she has at least 3-4 lbs to grow! I'm not sure I can imagine getting much bigger than this. Steve said last night that my tummy is defying gravity right now. haha. Getting out of bed is getting very difficult especially when I'm trying to avoid smashing one of my dogs in the process. I'm now getting up about 4 times a night to go run to the restroom. I hear it gets worse in the next month as she gets bigger.


This weekend we each had bachelor/bachelorette parties to attend for our friends Marcella and Justin. As I've mentioned before they are getting married July 4th weekend and I'm a bridesmaid :) The guys did the usual bachelor party stuff and the girls went out to the Woodlands for a weekend getaway. It wasn't your crazy bar hopping bachelorette party. It was just perfect (especially for the pregnant lady). We spent the day at the pool and then spent the evening at dinner and a couple of lowkey restaurant bars near our hotel. It was a fun girls weekend and Ava's first bachelorette party :)


Now that she is running out of room and her bones are stronger I can feel body parts when she moves around. It's the best feeling. She'll move and I'll feel a knee or a foot roll across my belly. It's so fun and I know I'm going to miss this, but it's getting me really excited to have her here with us. Last night we put a flash light on my tummy and moved it around and she followed the light. I don't know if it was her head, foot or hand that was moving though. It was just so awesome to see her respond to the light!

Only 50 days to go!

31 Weeks

The braxton hicks have begun! Friday night I was reading in the girlfriends guide to pregnancy (one of the 32 baby/breastfeeding/birth/sleep habits/529 plan/infant care books that I am currently reading at one time) about braxton hicks and how I should be feeling them by now. I thought well if I am having them I haven't really been too sure.

Then comes 4:30 in the morning when I'm jolted out of a dead sleep by a very sharp pain and tightening in my lower abdomen. Somehow Steve was able to sleep through my yelping and yelling so I told him about it the next morning. I thought to myself if that pain was any indication of what labor pains feel like I'M SCARED!!!! I want drugs ASAP!! Anyway I of course opened a few of my books and read that the pain was more likely her shifting positions, but the braxton hicks did start later that day.

I'm grocery shopping and pushing my little cart along and all of the sudden my stomach tightens up really tight and it caught me so off guard I yelped in the middle of the aisle. It didn't hurt at all but just surprised me. Then it happened a few more times that day. All very normal and just another interesting part of pregnancy. My feet still look like loaves of bread baking in my shoes and I can now only squeeze them into one pair of flats and one pair of flip flops. sigh....

We had a pretty busy weekend. Friday I met my friend Kelley at the Galleria for lunch and shopping. She brought her precious baby girl Amelia who was just a doll the entire time. I think she has a future shopper on her hands! Saturday night Steve stayed home to watch the game and I caught the new Sex and the City movie with my bunko group. The movie was GREAT! Right when the theme music started playing everyone in the theater started clapping and yelling. Sunday we drove out to clear lake and had lunch with our friends Julie & Tiffany and their husbands and babies. Steve soaked up all the daddy advice from James and Scott and is now terrified about the first 3 months of life with Ava. haha.

Oh yes and it is now safe to announce that two of my cousins are due to have babies 5 months after Ava is born! We are very excited to have a baby boom in the family and I'm happy that Ava will have little playmates just like I did with my cousins.