37 weeks 4 days

I had another growth scan today & Elliot is in the 35th percentile. Right now she weighs 5 lbs 14 oz. If she holds out until the induction, she should probably be around 6 lbs 8 oz which I think is pretty average. Although I'm only dilated to a 2, I am 70 percent effaced. My doctor made it sound like she wouldn't be surprised if she comes early. Maybe because I went from 50 % to 70% in a week? I don't know. But I know of several people who have been dilated to a 2 & stay that way for weeks, so who knows.

Plug

I just wanted to give a quick plug to my friend Crystal. She makes the cutest things! She made me the most precious dress ever for Elliot (above). She recently opened her Etsy store. Right now she only has 5 dresses posted, but they are all adorable & until August 15th, they're on sale for only $15. You can't beat that! Her stuff is totally professional looking, so check it out & pass along to anyone with little girls!

I guess the "check it out" link isn't working. Here is her website: http://frivolousnecessity.etsy.com

Baby Shower #2

I'm so lucky to have made such good friends during my 2 years in Houston. Today I was given a baby shower by my close friends from church. They did such a great job. I received so many wonderful gifts. Elliot is truly spoiled already!

I love clotheslines because you always get to keep the clothes!

Jenny made this awesome diaper cake. The bottom layer is a really comfy blanket!

The food was delicious. My favorite food is Mexican, so why not have it at my shower, right?

Here's one of the games we played. I guessed it would take at least 15 pieces of toilet paper to go around me, but it ended up being only 9 & I'm ok with that. We also played a celebrity baby game. Lauren made a slide show of celebrity baby pictures with only the last name written. We had to name the baby & the parents. Even though I wasn't eligible to win the prize, I have to say I smoked the competition! Maybe I shouldn't brag about that.

Due Date

I just got a call from my doctor's office saying my induction is scheduled for August 19th at 5pm, so Elliot should be here on the 20th! Wow, it's official. Now I just have to wait. I am glad I know when it's going to happen (unless she comes early). That way the guy who gives the epidurals will be informed ahead of time that he'll be needed (haha). Plus, I don't really like surprises where I don't know what's going on. It makes me feel like I'm driving in rush hour traffic in a strange city...not fun!

36 weeks 5 days

Another appointment has passed. This was the quickest one yet...in & out in 30 minutes. She felt around down there for what seemed like forever! She was having a hard time because the baby is SO LOW & I guess pushing down on everything. But she's in a great position. I'm only 50% effaced & there's pretty much no dilation going on. I did find out that my doctor is going on vacation a week before my due date. Great, my worst fear! So they're going to check her schedule to see if we can get induced a week early. I wouldn't mind knowing exactly when everything is going down, for planning purposes. I'm not holding my breath though because they apparently told all the other patients the same thing & she's probably booked up. So if that doesn't happen, then I'll just keep my fingers crossed that Elliot decides to stay put until my due date.

Bumps

This weekend Lane's parents, Alan & Brenda & his sister Alys came into town. We got to spend the day with them which was so nice. We drove them all around Houston & showed them some huge mansions that were fun to look at. Later we ate at Lane's favorite Indian restaurant, Shiva. His sister Alys is pregnant with her first, so of course we had to get a picture. She is having a boy & is 25 weeks. It's fun to have so many family members pregnant around the same time. It will make holiday get togethers a blast.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Tonight we went to the circus! But before we got there, I stubbed my toe on some metal thing that was sticking out of the concrete. It ended up slicing my toe pretty bad & since we didn't have any band aids, we had to wrap a napkin around it until we made it inside. So our first stop was the EMT station. I realize this is a very unflattering picture of me, seeing as I look enormous, but I had to document it.

As for the circus...it was pretty good. Lane & I haven't been since we were kids. It was just as we suspected. A few good acts, lots of cheesy songs & jokes for the kids. Good thing we ate before we went because everything was outrageously overpriced! It made a sporting event look cheap. The cotton candy was $12, snow cones were $15 & lemonade was $9! Are you serious??!! When Elliot is old enough to appreciate it, we already decided to have a talk with her before hand about how she won't get to buy anything. Actually, I said we should let her get only 1 thing, but Lane said nothing. We'll see how that goes.

The tigers were cool, but my favorite was the elephants. They were so cute!

Another cool act were the motorcycles inside of the cage. They got up to 7 in there. You couldn't pay me enough to take that job. I don't know how someone didn't get hurt. So I highly recommend taking your kids to the circus. They will love it.

34 1/2 Weeks

No news at my appointment today. Things will start to pick up next time. Here are some stats about my pregnancy so far:
-I've gained 22 lbs & counting
-My hair & nails have not grown like I hear they're supposed to
-Luckily I haven't seen any varicose veins
-I've had no strange cravings & eat about the same as I usually do
-I have that line below my belly button, except I also have one above my belly button as well & it's off centered
-My belly button is still an "innie"
-I don't have to pee all the time like most women
-I end up sleeping on the couch about 4 nights out of the week
-Acid reflux has started the past couple of weeks & is the worst
I have to say I've had a pretty easy time so far. Nothing out of the ordinary & that's ok with me.

Girls Weekend

This weekend Amy & Regina surprised me by coming down to Houston to hang out before Elliot arrives. Of course I found out about this a few days before & was so excited! I had a couple of things planned out that we could do, however we didn't really follow through. I don't think they were too excited about going to see some Moon Landing Celebration or 50s Dance Party. They make fun of me because I'll go to anything, even if I have no interest in it, just to have something to do. What can I say? So instead, when they arrived, we went antiquing (sp?) for a while. We saw some great pieces, but I was hoping they would be a bit cheaper, like $20 instead of $500. No luck.

Later we went to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, Escalantes, where I ate entirely too much food & paid for it the next day. That night we rented "New in Town" which was horrible.

The next day we headed down to Galveston to get some sun. We had a great time & were all pleased that we came back itchy & pink. Mission accomplished. We did make a note that next time we're buying those beach chairs that sit low to the ground & you put in the water. That would have made us last a lot longer out in the heat.

That night we ate Mexican again, even though I swore I wouldn't the remainder of my pregnancy.

And of course we had to make a stop at The Chocolate Bar. Our hair is a bit watered down at this point because we had to make a run for it from the car. But we weren't going to let anything get in our way. We ended our night by watching our all time favorite "The Notebook". Just as good as the first time!

Thanks girls for coming down! I had so much fun & can't wait for you to come back in about a month!!

Congratulations Lane!

Lane finally got his score back from his 1st board test for medical school. He passed with flying colors! In fact he did better than he thought. He got in the 90th percentile which is HUGE! I was so relieved when we found out. Now he can relax. And because he did so well, when it's time for him to apply for residencies, he should be able to get into anywhere & anything he wants. Way to go Lane!

Elliot's Room

I'm glad to FINALLY say Elliot's room is finished. This was a constant work in progress. I made a few simple things for her room that turned into difficult projects, but that's now behind me. Of course I felt the need to paint her room. Lane did a great job with that. I added the polka dots. You can see I didn't stray far from my favorite colors: brown, yellow & green. Here are the curtains I previously talked about. I love them! I am going to have to take them up though. I somehow got the measurements wrong & they are super long! For now, I tucked them under. The only thing I may add is a rug. I can't fit much more than that in there!

Taken from the doorway.

Here's the right side of her room. The changing table all ready to go. Yes that's my ginormous diaper bag. I didn't intend to get one that large, but it happened to be the cheapest & cutest.

The left side of her room. Thanks Amy for the crib!

Here's one of my little projects. This was actually the easy one. On the E there are brown polka dots & little green flowers.

Here's my last project. This one was a stinker. The painting part was fine, but when it came time to drill holes for the glass knobs & hanging it, I wanted to pull my hair out.

32 weeks 4 days

Another baby doc appointment today. Last time they were a bit concerned that I was measuring too small. Today I measured 28 cm, so I have gotten bigger since last time. But I'm still measuring about a week & 2 days behind. The tech said everything looks good & I'll probably have a small baby, which is fine by me! I made her double check & Elliot is still a girl. I'm paranoid I know. She did a 3-D sonogram. She told me to reschedule to have it again next time I come so we can get some more pictures. Of course Elliot was a little squirmy & would not move her hand from her face. And they said she was too close to my uterus to get any more good shots. So we'll keep our fingers crossed for next time.

4th of July

We had a pretty busy 4th this year. It started bright & early with a breakfast at church. I have to say I wasn't that impressed with the food, so we went to Whataburger afterwards. After running some errands, we laid out by the pool. I pretty much looked like a beached whale all sprawled out on my raft, but it felt sooooo good! Lane cooked up some juicy hamburgers & we capped them off with root beer floats. Our big entertainment for the evening was the Clay Walker concert. I love him & he played all of his good songs!

Sweating it out in the sun.

I love the buildings behind us.

Mr. Clay Walker himself!

These were the best fireworks I've ever seen! They were right on top of us! Supposedly it was the largest land based fireworks display in the nation. Crazy.

Maternity Pictures

Last time we were in Dallas, we decided to get maternity pictures taken by Missy. I'm so glad we did because I think they turned out really well! I'm a very critical person when it comes to my pictures, which is why in the past 2 years I have put up 0 pictures of us in the house. But when I got these back, I had a lot to choose from & I've already enlarged some of them & put them in frames! (not like me at all) Now I can't wait til Elliot is actually here & we can have Missy take our family pictures! I've uploaded my favorites.

If you live in the DFW area & are looking for someone to take pictures, call Missy! Or even if you live in Houston & want to make a trip out of it, it would be worth it.

Random

Yesterday I went to Walmart to look for some type of storage system since our new apartment is lacking in that area. I had no luck, but didn't want to leave empty handed. I had driven so far & I particularly HATE this Walmart. So I grabbed 2 kingsize candy bars (they were having a deal) & a Rice Krispie treat (I couldn't resist). When the cashier rang me up, she goes, "Are you going to eat all of those?!" I quickly responded without hesitation, "Yep!" It's sad that I have no shame. I wasn't even offended, even though I probably should have been.