Nursery!

The nursery is ready and waiting!

The crib will eventually have his name on the wall above it, but we're waiting until after he's born to do that part.

I love the chair we got! It's super comfortable and just the right size for me. His bookshelf is overflowing! We have more books stashed in the den, even.

This part of the room is more interesting.
For one, that's not the dresser we'll have forever. It's on loan to us from the company because they messed up our order and our real dresser won't be in until mid April. We're borrowing this one for the time being so we would have a place to put the changing pad.

The pictures above the dresser were made by Trey and me! We took old books and cut a page out of them, then mounted the pictures in frame mats, and attached ribbon on them for hanging. We think they came out super cute! It adds a nice punch of color, and we thought adventure stories fit with the alphabet bedding and was good for a boy's room. Plus, this was much more inexpensive than other wall decor we'd been finding. The Dick Tracy sign is a tin sign we found at an antiques store, and we thought it fit the adventure story theme, so we decided to add it to the wall.

Here's a closer pic that shows which books each picture is from:
And here are the books we got them from:

I love how everything's turned out. We just did what we like and it all came together just fine! I think our adventure story wall is great, too! We'll be able to use those pictures for a while, and it adds a personal touch.

We're very ready for him- whenever he decides to come!

38 Weeks: We're Ready and Counting

We're two weeks away from our due date! At this point, something could happen at any moment, but I'm not holding my breath. At our last doctor's appointment, she said things we're starting to move forward but there was no dilation and his head hasn't moved down yet. We got again tomorrow, so we'll see if there's more progress! The thing is there's no way to know, even today with all of our advanced medical care, so I've spent spring break making sure everything is ready just in case. If he doesn't choose to appear before his due date, then she said we would schedule for induction at 41 weeks which would make the latest day his birthday could be is April 8, 2011. At least I know that we'll either have a baby or he'll be on his way in less than three weeks!

A few updates:

• I feel pretty good on a regular basis. The swelling is off and on and mostly still in my feet or ankles.
• I'm starting to ache more and more. My pelvis is obviously bearing a lot more weight because it just aches most of the time.
• He moves constantly. It's more usual for him to be moving than to be still.
• I'm sleeping pretty good for the most part. Sometimes I just wake up and can't fall back to sleep. It's not usually due to being uncomfortable but by things running through my head constantly. There's a lot to think about right now!
• For the last thing, the nursery is ready! I'm putting pictures in a separate blog post.

Just for fun:
Trey and our first baby. I'm not sure she's ready for the change!

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I hadn't gotten a chance to take photos. Finally, today's the day!

About a month ago, we traded in the Bug for a more family-friendly car.

Introducing my new car!
A Subaru Outback

I'm pretty happy with it thus far. It rides really nicely, gets great gas mileage, has quite a bit of storage in the back, and has plenty of room in the backseat.

Trey made me very happy by opting for the premium model which is the only model in which they have leather seats. I think we'll be very happy with the leather seats once the child is throwing a sippy cup of something across the backseat. Another thing I have that I didn't know if I'd like or not is bluetooth, but it's actually really great. It's nice to talk on the phone wirelessly in the car. I like the look of the inside overall - functional yet sleek.


Baby boy even already has his new digs ready to go in the backseat. And plenty of room for it too! We didn't have to put the seats way forward to fit the seat in there which we did have to do with other cars. I think he'll love to ride in the car, not that he has any other choice in vehicle. I figure if I like it, he'll love it! Well... maybe.

Showered with Love

My mom's bridge club that she's been a part of for the past twenty plus years threw me a wonderful shower last Sunday. These ladies always do a fantastic job and are the sweetest people!

It's hard to see, but they had blocks out that spelled out "Baby Boy Jackson".

The food was delicious! They let me take home a bunch of left over cupcakes. They were wonderful for a whole week!

Me and all the hostesses.


My mom and I with my cousin Megan and Aunt Susie.
They are so awesome! They drove in from Oklahoma City that morning for the shower and then drove back. It was so fun to see them!

Frances came with her daughter, Melissa, and granddaughter, Victoria. Frances has been in my life for a long time and has basically been like a grandmother to John and I. It's always fun to see Frances!

Of course, Susan was there. It wouldn't have been the same with out her!

One of the most special things I've ever received I got at this shower.
My mom made this christening gown for me to use when we christen not just this child but all of them. It has lace trimmings from her wedding dress and my mother-in-law's wedding dress. It's absolutely beautiful!! It's something that will definitely be passed down for future generations. I'm extremely lucky to have such a thoughtful and talented mom! I told her I need to learn to sew so I can do things like that also. I think she needs to open up a business doing gowns and other things like that after she retires!

The very next day my school threw me a shower, and it was so nice and fun! I'm going to miss all of these people after I leave. They are all wonderful, heartfelt women!

They had pictures of Trey and I on all the tables, a great spread of food, mini-red velvet cupcakes, and balloons! It was a great set up. They even made me a diaper tower!

Here's all the hostesses and the diaper tower one of them made. I've loved working with these ladies, and they've been too good to me!

I had one other shower that was thrown by some girlfriends that I've met here in Dallas. My greatest friend, Amy, introduced me to most of them and we're in a book club together. The shower was mostly my RISD friends that I've met along the way and then sorority sisters. I, unfortunately, don't have pictures to share because I didn't take them. Amy sent me some, but they're on a kodak gallery right now which will not let me save them to my computer, only order. After she gets back from Florence (how nice!), I'll get some of those and put pictures up of that shower. I will say, it was tons of fun to be with friends that day! And Ashlee Gibson makes THE BEST cake balls ever! So yummy!!

I had such a good time at all my showers, but I will say, I was ready to be done. It's taken a lot of time to sort through things, wash the clothes, and get the thank you notes out in a timely manner. It's been my second job! I appreciate all of the kindness- I feel extremely fortunate! I don't know how I'm so lucky to have all these wonderful people around me! I appreciate all of the love and support!



*I apologize for the pictures being small. They're all from my mom's camera and they were shrunk in the emailing process, and I'm too lazy to figure out how to return them to their normal glory. I figured it would work.*

4 Years

Trey and I just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!

Every year we treat ourselves to a nice dinner, and this year we tried something a little different. We went to a restaurant in Deep Ellum called Local. It was a quaint place that had about as many customers as tables and had a cool 50's/modern/sleek feel to it. They're big thing was they cook in-season food that's found locally. Trey found it somehow and I was very impressed. I had a beef tenderloin that was delicious! I enjoyed every bit. Trey had a lamb shank that looked delicious, as well. We topped the dinner off with an apple tart. Yum! I can't wait to go back when I can enjoy a nice glass of wine!

This is after dinner- not a great pic but it'll do!


I decided I'm tired of posting pics of me that look hideous, so I'm including a walk down memory lane to make me feel that I can be cute again!
This is last year's dinner at Stephen Pyle's. Mmm.. look at that decadent cake and notice the wonderful glass of wine. I can't wait until I look like that (hopefully) and can enjoy that again!!

I looked for pictures of year 2 in Las Vegas and year 1 at Abacus, but we didn't take any pictures. Shame one us.

Yea for four years of wedded bliss! I look forward to many more anniversary dinner with my love!

35 Weeks

At this photo, I'm 35.5 weeks along. Yikes!
First off, I feel like I look HUGE in this picture. I thought I looked a little better, but maybe the photo tells the truth.
At this point:

• He's moving constantly which is a good thing, but sometimes it's a little awkward. We're starting to share a little too much space. Sometimes his movements are almost violent. He's definitely stronger than before!
  
• He still tends to be right up under my ribs, so I don't think he's moving down very quickly. I can definitely feel the shortness in breath at this point.
• He's sometimes on the right side now, but not as much as before. I think he's too big to be more on one side than the other now.
• He's had the hiccups! It's a strange feeling for sure. It's kind of a neat feeling at first, but then it gets a little annoying.
• I'm feeling more tired than anything. It's hard work lugging around an extra person. I've had to learn to slow down and listen to when my body needs a break. I'm usually a go-go person who hates to slow down, but I definitely feel it if I push too much.
• My feet have started swelling just a bit. It's not anything big, but I can tell the difference, and I don't like it. I just feel lucky I haven't swelled any more.
• I get achy and crampy sometimes. I don't know how I'll be able to handle getting much bigger, but I guess I'll just take it one day at a time.
• I do feel lucky that I'm not overall horribly uncomfortable. I can still take it. I don't know how I'll feel in a couple of weeks, but I'm hanging in there for now.

It's weird to think that maybe by the end of this month we'll have a baby! I think we're both ready, but a little nervous, for him to finally be here. I'm excited to see what he looks like (which I predict that he'll look just like Trey). I'm not looking forward to the lack of sleep because I already feel run down and tired- I'm not excited about feeling worse than this. I know that won't last forever, though, and at least we'll have him here.

We're waiting on one piece of furniture and then I'll post pictures of the nursery in its entirety. Right now, KC is definitely the family member who is enjoying the room the most. She's breaking it in for the baby :)

Yea for the last month of pregnancy. Pretty soon I can say, "when I was pregnant". That'll be a good feeling :) I'm excited to post pictures of our actual baby and not just his stuff!