Valentine's Day and 39 Weeks

Chef's Special for Valentine's Day
Jenn and Abbie Rose's Dessert of the Day (we did share with Mike!)
39 Weeks

For our last Valentine's Day as just us 2, we celebrated at home together just in case Abbie Rose decided to make her appearance. We cooked a scrumptious dinner of papaya salsa orange roughy and sweet potato surprise! It was a delicious caribbean style meal that hit the spot. I'd requested a TCBY ice cream cake for a dessert treat and it was wondrous also. Mike and I love cooking together, he's the chef and I'm his assistant because he's much better at it than me!
Abbie's made it to 39 weeks in my belly! It's been 5 weeks since her little trick of trying to come early. We just can't believe it's been that long, though it does feel like time's crept by and been an eternity since 34 weeks when she gave us a scare.
I had my weekly doctor's appointment last Thursday and the plan is to be induced Wednesday, February 25th if Abbie doesn't come before then. We are praying she will come before then because I, especially, prefer for her to come in her own and God's timing without medication to help her along on her journey. So in 4 days at the most, we'll be holding a precious baby girl in our arms who we've prayed for and anticipated for so long it seems!

38 Weeks and a False Wives Tale

I've made it through my first week of work post bedrest! I was so so sore getting back moving again and am just uncomfortable with Abbie's birth pending any moment now. A co-worker told me about an old wives tale of scrubbing your bath tub to speed up the onset of labor so i gave it a try one night this past week......and no such luck! maybe i didn't scrub hard enough but i got out of breath just squatting in the tub to clean it! Joys of pregnancy! I saw the doctor thursday and she said Abbie Rose is sitting super low! That's good news but yes, we are still waiting! She has a mind of her own! The plan at this point is to induce me on February 25th if Abbie doesn't come on her own before then. The doctor told me though she thinks she will come before then and we so hope she's right! Please pray for us to have patience in this time of such anticipation and excitement and for a safe entrance of little Abbie into this world!

37 Weeks & Day 2 Off Bedrest!!

St Louis Cardinals onesie Mike got this week in the mail for Abbie Rose to wear to her first Cardinals game


Mike enjoying delicious homemade Pizza Margherita & sporting his Tiger pride


37 Week Belly Shot

The doctor had fantastic news, as we were hoping, when I saw her yesterday......no more medicine to stop labor, no more bedrest, and abbie rose is doing wonderful!!! She's a whopping 6 lbs 1 oz, according to the ultrasound, head down and ready to make her debut into this big, bad world to meet us and an anxiously awaiting crowd. So...I spent the rest of the day yesterday reveling in my freedom from the bed and couch running errands to continue preparing for her. I took a long tour of Target and Hobby Lobby, pure treats! I was so worn out by the end of the day but we took advantage of some of our last days of just Mike and I to eat dinner at Logan's.

Today, we started our day with homemade blueberry pancakes, which we got to cook together for the first time in 3 weeks! I got super tired of sitting at the bar with my feet up watching Mike cook all the time. It's one of our favorite things to do together. We took a LONG walk at Shelby Farms, a huge park closeby, to enjoy the nice Spring like weather and in attempts to "walk Abbie out" a little! We have taken many walks there since we moved here and soon we'll be strolling little Abbie Rose around that place with us. Tonight, we made homemade pizza margherita from a recipe from epicurious.com. It was delicious to say the least, and challenging at moments when we didn't have parchment paper to make it on! We managed though and it hit the spot. We nestled in on the couch to REST and watch the Memphis Tigers basketball game and cheer on those Tigers.

Abbie's Nursery and Celebration # ????

Homemade Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Icing made my Jennifer! Delicious!



The Girls from our Discipleship Group at Church (Dana, Jennifer, Tori, and Julie), Abbie's Cake, and the Diaper Cake made by Dana.



Chest of drawers that was in my nursery which Mike painted out in our freezing cold garage!



Diaper changing table and polka dot letters, what projects but so worth it for her! The plaque with the "A" was handmade by a friend of my PT school friend, Rachel.

Friday night Amy and Taylor came over again for another nursery work night! They've been so helpful and we appreciate it so much. Mike made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and sprinkles for Abbie and I, which I'd been majorly craving for a couple days. They gave us all the energy we needed for the 3 hour job of putting the diaper changing table together, decorative knobs on her chest of drawers, liner in the drawers, and of course the moral support I provided for the entire project! By the end of it, the 3 of them could hardly see straight but the changing table was together, in place, and looked fantastic!

Saturday night our Discipleship group from church had a mexican dinner, cake, and fellowship time for us to celebrate Abbie Rose and enjoy hanging out together. I was good and stayed put the majority of the time. Dinner was delicious and the homemade cake was right up our alley...chocolate cake with chocolate mousse icing! Delicious!

Today my one trip upstairs was to fill Abbie's chest of drawers with onesies, blankets, burp clothes, hats, booties, etc and get her room organized while Mike decorated the walls with wooden letters I painted polka dots on this past week while on bedrest, and other sweet decorations. I could sit in her nursery all day! Mike read her a story called "God Gave Us You" that my college friends, Josh and Joni, gave us at our Memphis shower. He even used different voices for the characters until it made his throat start hurting 1/2 way through the book! Sweet moments for him and I with little Abbie Rose as we anticipate her arrival! God has blessed us immensely and we are so thankful.