Work shower

Church this morning was great. I love worshiping in a bigger setting. The music just has a deeper quality for me with a full band and many voices around me. The sermon was on Luke 8:26 on. About Jesus casting the legion of demons out of a man and allowing them to go into the pigs. Bryan and I talked a lot about what do we know about demons and spiritual warfare. We concluded that we didn't realize that demons can only operate under the permission of God. God gave permission for the testing of job. He gave permission for a spirit so to and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all he prophets of Ahab in 2 Chronicles 18:19 and on. We ate at Sharies while we talked. Bryan was stoked to see the Ruben back on the menu and I convinced the waitress to order me the senior portion of eggs Benedict.
We ran errands until it was time to head to the east side for my work baby shower. It was good to see and chat with so many of them. Karen and Steve were there with baby Dorothy and Judy came with baby Lucas. Shelly Coe came and Sheila Ball. Dani came. Jeanie brought Leslie. I got so many wonderful gifts! I only need to return/ exchange one thing and it is because it's broken. Savannah did a great job, and I know Megan helped a ton. The food was all amazing! Ribs, amazing dip with bread, veggie and fruit trays and the dip for the fruit was march mellow cream and cream cheese mix nit was so good. There was ice cream cake. Blended iced cocoa. It was all so yummy.
Karen got us the car seat base and a swaddle designs blanket. Jeanie picked out a ton of cute clothes. Judi got us one of the cute monkey bins and a bib. We now have three super cute skip hop bibs. Savannah got me the under cover nursing tank and a changing pad cover and the giraffe bib. Kayla got us the mobile I've been wanting some cute clothes and a car seat cover. Plus many more awesome gifts.
Savannah found this game where you match the animal with the name for it's I spring. It was crazy hard. I did a team of 3 and we still missed 8.
The whole event was a huge success!

Only 8 work days left!

I got a bit tired today being this was the last day of my work 5 out of 7 days. Now I get to rest? I need to file the taxes, type my 12 page complicated work evaluation, deep clean the whole house, sew a skirt, make 2 baby gifts, throw a baby shower, go to my own work baby shower, see the doctor 3 more times, and maybe the chiropractor a few times, practice/train for natural birth with Bryan nightly, and probably many more things I forgot all before the baby comes, tentatively march 1st. Where is the supposed energy that nesting is supposed to give me?
I cannot say enough how excited I am to have only 8 work days left until July or so! Maybe I'd rather be leaving permanently like Laura is to be a full time mom, but maybe not. I love my job and I am excited to see how things go with Bryan at home!

Plans

Bryan and I called his parents tonight. Sounds like all kinds of baby things are going on in the extended family. Several of his cousins are expecting new babies this year. One ended up having a miscarriage. :'(
We also found out that Edwina no longer plans to fly up here around our due date. She wants to drive with Bob. He evidently has a lot of plans for the whole month of March. It sounds like they don't really know when they will come. I feel more confident now how to make plans. I can set up the care calendar and my parents and people around can sign up for meals and help with house cleaning and that way we can show off our little boy one family at a time and everyone can help and nobody will be a stepping on anyone else's toes.
I guess I am just a planner and I like to know what is going to happen or at least what to expect so I can make plans. I am totally ok with them not working out the way I expect them to as long as I get to make my plans. Probably because with each plan I run through back up and contingency ideas so that when things change I feel like plan B was at least an informed decision. So hears to planning for my plans to change.

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go.

I spent the day getting things ready for when labor happens, just in case the baby comes early. All my prep resulted in somehow sending an e-mail that I drafted for when the baby does come. So 18 people got a message that I was in labor. Boy did that cause a 2 hour fuss, but now they are all ready! They know what to expect when it does happen. Lol Sometimes I can be really careful and hit all the right buttons and technology still fails me.
Packing for the hospital was interesting. I am bring all kinds of things I wouldn't normally bring on a trip (mostly pjs, slippers, frameless candles, relaxing music, energy snacks, nipple cream). And I had to pack for 3. What a new experience. I have only 3 bags, and one of them is a breast pump that I was told to bring for practice with nurse supervision.
I set up lists for Bryan to be able to access all information needed to call all the right people and places needed when the time comes and all the stuff needed to check me in at the hospital.
I stopped some auto savings deductions and set up all bills on auto. I still need to do the taxes. I think I'm still missing some papers for that so I can't do them yet.
There are still a few more details I need to take care of, but things are almost ready!

Granny Smith

It was been wonderful to watch a more feminine side of my mom that I haven't seen in a long time. She has been making things for me like crazy! She also went through the attic and found all kinds of things that she had saved from when my sister and I were little. She is getting ready for grandma-hood as much as I am getting ready for motherhood. She'll be a great influence on our son's life!
She has been a great help to me through pregnancy. She became my running buddy after Christmas. We have run 3 miles a week together. It is good to have a buddy who can put up with my slowness, tell stories to distract me and encourage my efforts. I am really enjoying it!
The first two pictures are things from when my sister and I were babies. I love the booties, the little green overalls and all the blankets. The next picture is an afghan she made for the baby from squares she crouched long ago. The last one is a fitted sheet and some swaddle blankets with matching burp cloths that she made. The Giraffe in the sheet turned out really cute!

Ready?

I wonder if I will ever consider myself ready for this baby to come. I am as mentally prepared as I can be, but there are still so many things left to do. I guess I scared Bryan I to mental readyness when I explained due dates as a ball park so big that two weeks before and two weeks after are both normal. I have been so focused on how first babies are usually late that Bryan kinda didn't think it was possible to come early. I guess he is now mentally ready too and I guess I will just keep trying to do as many physical things as possible without exhausting myself until our baby comes.
On another note, the strange feelings are continuing. They make me wonder if I am officially done running. If walking fast causes the crazy pressure and tingling legs then running probably will cause pain and falling. I took the elevator tonight because I wasn't so sure about 6 flights of stairs to get to my car. I could probably handle it as far as endurance goes but the body symptoms might have been unmanageable.

Strange Happenings

I started having shooting nerve pain/sensations down the back of my legs today. I asked a coworker who usually works labor and delivery about it and she confirmed my thought that they are not labor pains. It is the feeling of the baby's head moving down deeper into my pelvis starting to push on nerves. I am also feeling fairly wobbly. Every day is a mystery and learning experience.