Pack Your Bags

Ok moms, I need your help. I'm 4 weeks and 4 days away from my due date and I need to know what to pack in my hospital bag.

1. What do I need for myself?
2. What do I need for Sadie?
3. Anything special I should have for Josh?

Ready. Set. Go.

35 Weeks

How can my stomach get any bigger???? This picture doesn't even do it justice.

I can't believe I am 35 weeks today. Only 5 weeks to go although I'm hoping for more like 4. Wishful thinking, I know!

Right now I'm just feeling really big, probably because I am. The swelling is about the same but it's not worse. The carpal tunnel is worse but I knew that would happen. The worst problem now is the pain and pressure down low. I walk like a penguin.

She still moves a lot but she also has her lazy days. At the doctor this week she made some big movements and impressed the doctor. She's already showing off. This could be a bad sign.

I've been eating a LOT of cereal lately. That's unusual for me. Cereal is not my food of choice but now I can't get enough of it. I especially like it with a banana. Yum. Other than that I'm not really eating out of the ordinary. I've craved fried pickles but I've always loved those so it's no surprise there. I'm still attempting a lower sodium diet but it's hard.

Oh the nausea has returned. Isn't that fun?? It's every morning and some at night.

On a fun note, as you know, we've had a blast with all of Sadie's showers and gifts. We have two more to go before she gets here and I'm so excited! We are very thankful!

Oh yeah, in other big news, her bedding is basically finished. Praise the Lord!! I will share pictures soon.

Well I guess that's enough updating for now. Have a great Saturday.

Baby Luke

Baby Luke Bunch (Sadie's boyfriend) was born Wednesday, March 9th at 10:45 am (I think). He weighed 8 pounds and 13 ounces. He had to spend the afternoon and evening in the NICU but now he is out and in a regular nursery.

I love this picture, other than the fact it looks like the nurse is choking him. He just looks so cute "sitting up".

Yesterday after work Josh and I went to the hospital to see the little guy. He is so sweet and looks so much like his big brother Ben. Luke's hair isn't red like Ben's and there isn't as much but who knows if that will change. I told him that I must really love him to be willing to get my picture taken with him. Luckily he's cute enough for the both of us.

He just slept and made the sweetest noises and facial expressions. I loved every minute of it. It was surreal being there because the next time we're there it will be me having a baby. YIKES. Now that's crazy.

And just for fun this is me holding Ben, Luke's big brother, in March of 2008. I'm a lot thinner and I have braces. Ha.

Hostess Gifts

When it came time to decide on gifts for my hostesses I had NO CLUE what to do. I thought I had great hostesses gifts for my wedding (monogrammed umbrellas....at the time they weren't popular yet) so I had a lot to live up to. I asked around and a lot of people suggested some good things. So here's what I came up with.

I painted sacks for the showers with an "S" for Sadie. :) In case you didn't know what it was for. And since her bedding is houndstooth I decided to use it in the wrapping. For my first shower I gave those hostesses two things.

Personalized stationary and enclosure cards that my friend Niki made.

I think they turned out so cute!

They also got a box of homemade turtles (thanks, mom!) with Sadie's monogram. They looked much cuter in person.

For my church shower I also painted sacks but I did white instead of green to change it up a bit.

They also got two things.

Scentsy room sprays. My friend Megan sells it so if you need anything check her out. She also JUST HAD SWEET ELI YESTERDAY so you should check out her blog. I'm so happy he is here. I've been waiting for him to get here for a long time. He's precious. Anyway, back to the hostess gifts...the room sprays smelled so good. Megan let me check out all of her scents and I chose 4, Spicy Grapefruit, Prima Cotton, Black Raspberry Vanilla (or something like that) and Coconut Lemongrass. I love them all.

They also got a box of turtles.

Thanks again to everyone for the wonderful showers!! I hope you liked your gifts. :)

Sadie's Church Shower

Sunday after church, before Sadie's shower, I was so thankful to be able to meet one of my favorite friends for lunch. Laurie was in town so we met up at Pei Wei. I just love Laurie. She's one of a kind. Believe me, she is. She is one of the funniest friends I have but she's also so loyal and consistent. It made my day to be able to see her for a little while. I can't WAIT for her to meet Sadie. In fact, when I called her the night I got the "yes" test she said, " I want a framed picture of me holding Baby Bazyk in one arm and Baby Stamps in the other arm." She's definitely excited about the new babies especially since they are girls!

After lunch with Laurie I went back to the church to get ready for Sadie's church shower. Everything was so nice and yummy.

Yes I wore this pink sweater to my last shower and after looking at pictures I'm not sure. I would have been better in all black. I think it makes my face look bigger. Ha. Just kidding. My face just is big.

I made Josh come to the shower with me so he could help. Plus since he is on staff at our church I knew a lot of the people buying us gifts wanted to celebrate with him as well. Here he is watching all the ladies work and talk. He did get his very own gift so I think that helped the situation. It is actually Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson. I'm so glad he got that book. I've heard it is great!

The hostesses

Pam, Shannon, Me&Sadie, Teresa, Linda, and Martha (who teaches me how to sew)

Hard at work.

Shannon did a great job with the fruit. And you can't see the strawberries but they were HUGE and ripe and delicious.

Martha made her punch because I requested it. It is soooooooooo good.

Here is a shot of some of the guests early on. I wasn't able to take more pictures as other people arrived because I was busy opening presents.

Here's another shot of some of our friends. I am so thankful for everyone who came to the shower to celebrate Sadie. It was a lot of fun. Josh and I were blown away by the generosity of everyone. Everything we received was so practical. We got LOTS of diapers, night gowns, receiving blankets, onesies, etc. We got our high chair, bumbo, bath tub, gift cards, cash and so many other great things. We are beyond blessed. Here are some pictures of what she got. One of these gifts is from the last shower but the rest are from this shower. And just so you know this is my parent's dining room. And yes, that is Sadie's crib next to the dining room table. They are great to let me junk up their home.

You can't see it here but the dining room table has other gifts on it as well. They are everywhere.

See? I told you we were blessed. Thank you again and again to everyone!

I couldn't end this post without showing you one of my favorite gifts from my shower. As mentioned before my sewing teacher Martha helped hostess. To be honest I was really excited to see what she got for Sadie because I knew it would be something she made. I know how great she is and knew anything she made would be wonderful. Wonderful indeed.

A pink smocked dress. Oh my.

I love it and can't wait for her to wear it. Sadie has gotten some of the sweetest dresses and I'm so excited.

Let's Party

Today I headed to Conway for my favorite red head's 3rd birthday party.

Ben's mommy did a great job on his party. My pictures are awful but I wanted you to see the cuteness.

This kids had their own table with birthday hats. I love that Lila's has a bow on it.

Here's the birthday boy with the amazing cake his Pippi made for him. She always makes the best cakes and they are delicious too.

And how cute are the cupcakes that went along with the cake?!?

Jenny made all kinds of other decorations so be sure and check out their blog for more pictures.

Before the children left they each got a party favor. So cute.

I've been to all of Ben's parties so far and I hope to keep going to them. He's such a sweet boy. He's so smart and funny and I just love him. He's going to be getting a little brother in a few days and I know I will love him just as much.

Things To Do

Well, folks, I've got 6 weeks and 3 days until my due date and I have lots to do. In fact I'm starting to get a bit overwhelmed. I'm even taking a day off from work soon to try and get a few things accomplished.

1. Finish taxes: obviously this is important. I have no idea what kind of refund we'll get but whatever it is it's to help while I'm on maternity leave so I need to know soon. I wish they were already finished.

2. Finish Sadie's Bedding: oh dear! This bedding is about to do me in. I knew minky would be tough to sew with, especially the "pattern" I'm using but it has frustrated me beyond belief. It moves and stretches so much it's ridiculous. The next child is getting fluffy bumpers and no minky.

3. Finish wedding photo album: yes we've been married 2 and a half years and yes I still haven't picked out all my pictures for the album. Don't judge. I'm almost finished picking them out and I need it all ready to go before S gets here.

4. Make a liner for Sadie's Easter basket. I'd really like to have this finished before she gets here since I'm hopeful it will be before Easter. At this point who knows if I will have the time or energy.

5. Thank you notes: yikes! I'm sooooo thankful and blessed for the wonderful things peope are doing for us and I want so badly to quickly write a thank you note. Unfortunately carpal tunnel doesn't make it easy. I'm working on them though.

6. Pack apartment: that's right we're moving...about a week after S's due date. How's that for timing?! During the packing process I'd really like to simplify and get things ready for a yard sale. Less stuff and more money sounds like a good deal to me.

7. Clean apartment. The problem with moving is you really have to clean and make perfect. I'm too pregnant to clean and make perfect so this should be interesting. I hope when it comes time to scrub the bathrooms and floors it doesn't put me in labor.

8. Read. I have got to start reading baby books so I will have some clue as what I'm doing. I know a lot of it you make up as you go along but I'd still like to feel like I'm somewhat. prepared.

9. Wash and orgsnize Sadie's clothes, etc. Since we might be living out of boxes for a couple of weeks I'd at least like to have her things ready to go.

10. Meal plan. I'd really like to have some idea of what Josh and I will eat the first few weeks so we don't blow our budget on fast food and eating out.

Well I guess that will do it for now. I'm sure there are things I left off but at least with this list I can look back and see what I actually accomplished.