Sweet Encouragement Women's Mini-Conference

A couple of weekends ago, our church had a fun women's mini-conference!  We had two sessions, one on Friday night and one on Saturday morning.  Since I am on the SIS leadership team, I helped coordinate the decorations.  We had a chocolate fountain on Friday night and had a brunch on Saturday.  

 

My awesome sister got to be on the worship team for the weekend!  They led us in some great worship time.  Our speaker was from Wabash and she was hilarious.

 

I got to spend the weekend at a table with these lovely ladies!  It was so nice to get to know some new people in our church and they were a big encouragement to me!

36/37 Weeks!

 

 

 

Last Sunday, I was 37 weeks pregnant!  Picasa was not working well on my computer last week so I missed my 36 weeks post.  Oh well!  I'll just update for the last two weeks now!:)

 

How Far Along: 37 Weeks

Size of baby: She weighs about 6 1/3 pounds and is about 19 inches long, about the size of a swiss chard...whatever that is!:)

Gender: It's a GIRL!!!

Maternity Clothes: I'm wearing mostly maternity clothes with a FEW regular things still mixed in.  I am SOOOO excited to be done with work this week so that I can stop wearing the same 4 pairs of dress pants on a rotating basis!:)

Weight gain: 48 pounds

Belly Button: It is still in...barely! I'm beginning to think it might stay that way!

Movement: Yes!!! She moves often throughout the day. Any time she moves you can see it on my belly!  She is especially starting to move lower down in my pelvis.  It is somewhat uncomfortable sometimes!  I especially notice it when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  She just seems to be burrowed down low...which is good!:)

Sleep: I had a couple of bad nights of sleep earlier this week, but I seem to be getting back to "normal."  I have taken a nap yesterday and today after school.  My kiddos are just wearing me out by the end of the day with all of their spring break excitement!  (And I might have been silly enough to plan to make paper mache globes this week...I really underestimated how much energy that takes, even though I've done it several times before!)

Symptoms: I'm still having quite a bit of swelling.  I am really debating about whether to have my wedding rings cut off or not!

Cravings: Nothing in particular this week!

Best Moment This Week: Going to the doctor on Tuesday and finding out that I am 25% effaced and 1cm dilated!  I still have a ways to go, but I am excited that I've made a little bit of progress!

Baby Shower at Work

A couple of weeks ago, my very sweet co-workers had a baby shower for me and another co-worker!  Mandy is expecting triplets!  We both got pregnant with the help of Dr. Culver at Midwest Fertility so it was a very fun celebration!

 

 

 

Most of our co-workers were there!  It was nice to get together for such a fun occasion! 

 

 

 

The social committee requested that people buy books for me and diapers for Mandy.  We got so many fun books for Alexis!  I especially liked the ones that had stories behind them.  So many people told me stories of reading certain books to their kids over and over again...I can't wait to do that with my baby girl!

 

I am so blessed to work with people that I also call my friends.  Tomorrow is my last day of work before my maternity leave...I am sad to leave them, but so excited for what's coming next!:)

One Last Getaway

We finally had a free weekend so we decided to have one last getaway before we are parents! We had talked about spending the weekend in Indianapolis or Chicago, but we never really got excited about either. Finally, on Tuesday we decided to go to Shipshewana! We wanted to just relax and spend some time together and Bryan had never been to Shipshewana before! We drove up on Saturday morning, spent the day exploring shops, and visiting the Menno-Hof Museum. We checked into The Van Buren hotel around 3:30 and I took a wonderful nap. Then we headed to the Essenhaus for supper. It was okay food, not great. We took dessert back to the hotel and then went swimming! I was a little self conscious, but I am so glad I went! It was awesome to feel weightless for a little while.:) We slept in this morning and headed home to relax for the rest of our Sunday. I am so thankful for a short, but sweet time away with my husband! I didn't take a single picture with my camera so I only have these two pictures from Bry's phone to document the trip!

This is what I often look like at the end of the day!  It feels so good to have my belly out in the air!:)

We stopped at a cheese factory and tried lots of yummy cheese!

35 Weeks!

 

Last Sunday, I was 35 weeks pregnant with our miracle girl!

 

How Far Along: 35 Weeks

Size of baby: She weighs about 5 1/4 pounds and is over 18 inches long, about the size of a honeydew melon!

Gender: It's a GIRL!!!

Maternity Clothes: I'm wearing mostly maternity clothes with a FEW regular things still mixed in.  Our weather has decided to turn to spring/summer very early and the temperature was 80 degrees today!!!  This is causing mama a little wardrobe stress!  Ha!

Weight gain: about 43 pounds...starting to retain a lot of fluid!  I'm kinda thankful that our scale has been without batteries for the past week or so!

Belly Button: It is still in...barely! I'm beginning to think it might stay that way!

Movement: Yes!!! She moves often throughout the day. Her movements are starting to become more deliberate and slower...like she's stretching herself out!  The other day we were walking through Target and it seemed like she did the splits in my belly!  It felt like she had both legs stretched out stiff...it made me catch my breath for a minute.

Sleep: I've been sleeping okay! My hips get sore, but getting up to go to the bathroom helps to stretch them out.  By 5 or 6am, I am pretty much ready to not be laying down any more!

Symptoms: Lots and lots of swelling this week!  My feet, ankles, and legs are the size of my calves by the end of the day!  Thankfully, they don't get too sore until the end of the day. 

Cravings: Nothing in particular this week!

Best Moment This Week: My sweet, sweet co-workers had a fun baby shower for me at school!  Pictures to come!:)

This is what happens...

...when it is 80 degrees in the middle of March and you are 9 months pregnant!:)

Caleb's 16th Birthday Party

Last Sunday, our very own Caleb Dean-O turned 16 years old!  For his studly sixteenth birthday party, we got together at the Fast Track indoor go-karting place in Fort Wayne!  It was very fun!  The guys had the time of their lives racing around that track like little kids!:)  Here are just a few pictures from our fun evening!

Counting his candles to be sure there were 16!

The handsome birthday boy

My silly husband getting ready to race

Jana, Mom, and Grandma watching the action from the side of the track

Here comes Bry!

Caleb and Dad racing around the corner

There goes Kate!

Baby Shower #2

Last Saturday, my sweet in-laws had another fun baby shower for Alexis and me!  

It was so cute!  We had a brunch at Central Christian and had all kinds of yummy food!  Linda made breakfast casserole and coffee cake, Rachel made smokey links, and Tara brought a fruit tray.  Rachel had a co-worker make these delicious cake pops and she also made delicious punch with raspberry sherbet and 7-Up!  

Rachel, Tara, me, and Linda

Erin, Carlee, Mandy, Rhonda, Danielle, and Kendra

Jerrica, Marcella, Nicole, and Karen

Vicki, Whitney, and Tara

The Campbell girls came, too...Mom, Lily, Kate, and Michele

Aunt Connie, Tabby, Stacy, and Gwen

We played the game where each person had to guess how big my belly was!  Erin was a little off...but it made a cute bow!:)

We got so many great gifts!  We've had the best time putting everything away and getting her room organized.  I am so thankful for a wonderful family of in-laws and many wonderful friends!:)

34 Weeks!

On Sunday, I was 34 weeks pregnant with Miss ACH!

 How Far Along: 34 Weeks

Size of baby: She weighs 4 3/4 pounds and is about 18 inches long, about the size of a cantaloupe!

Gender: It's a GIRL!!!

Maternity Clothes: I'm wearing mostly maternity clothes with a FEW regular things still mixed in.

Weight gain: about 43 pounds...starting to retain a lot of fluid!

Belly Button: It is still in...barely! I'm beginning to think it might stay that way!

Movement: Yes!!! She moves often throughout the day. Her movements are starting to become more deliberate and slower...like she's stretching herself out!

Sleep: I've been sleeping okay! My hips get sore, but getting up to go to the bathroom helps to stretch them out.  I am starting to be more tired.  I think I need to try to get to bed a little earlier...this tiredness is nothing like the first trimester, though!

Symptoms: Shortness of breath, racing heart, snoring, acid reflux, and quite a bit of swelling!  Overall, though, I still feel good!  Every bit of discomfort is worth it for our sweet girl!

Cravings: Cookies and cream ice cream! 

Best Moment This Week: Having another baby shower!  Rachel, Tara, and Linda threw a very nice shower for me.  Pics and details to come!

Shower Decor

The decorations for the shower were so cute!  I loved the owl theme...it matched her nursery perfectly!:)

Kate made these awesome tissue paper balls!  Michele made one of them look like a little owl...so cute!

Table decor

I loved this banner!  It had pictures of me as a baby and Bryan as a baby and said, "Whooooo will Alexis look like?"  The consensus was that we're hoping she looks like me as a baby!  Ha!:)  I will try to get a better picture of this and stick on here later!

The delicious food!  We had breakfast casserole, biscuits and gravy roll ups, coffee cake, blueberry cake, and fruit...so yummy!

The underneath side of the owl...so cute!

 

We got sooooo many wonderful gifts from our friends and family.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude!