Nursery!

Nesting...I always wondered precisely when this whole "nesting" phase would start. Well, I have learned a few things in the last couple of weeks: 1) Nesting starts earlier than I expected, 2) It is real and COMPLETELY out of my control, and 3) Kevin's "honey-do" list gets longer by the day! Yes, I am anal retentive anyway (hence, the alphabetized spices and dvds, color coded closet, and I'll stop there before you think I'm totally insane!), but the last couple of weeks, I have felt totally out of my element. A million things to do and no time to do them.

So instead of continuing to panic, I took Friday off and oh, how thankful I am for that! The house is clean, George has been to the vet and much to his horror had all the necessary yearly shots, the carpets have been cleaned, Sophie's room got touched up and the trim repainted (that one Kevin helped with)! It was a VERY productive Friday :)

So with all of that accomplished, Saturday was THE DAY! Even as tired as I was from Friday, I was so excited Saturday morning to know that the nursery furniture was coming...I've only been waiting for several weeks now :) And, for the record ~ I am aware that patience is not my strongest characteristic :)

James and Jaime met us at the furniture store and came over to help get everything setup and ready for our precious girl! We are so very blessed to have such wonderful best friends, especially ones who love our sweet Sophie ALMOST as much as we do.

Since I know you want me to stop typing and just show you pictures, I'll be quiet now :)

It's still a work in progress, but it's certainly coming together. Comments and suggestions welcome :)

This bedding was a PAIN to install ~ Note to Pottery Barn: Ties should be a tad longer! I do love it though once I got past the frustration part :) This was a typical Aggie joke ~ "How many Aggies does it take to install a baby crib bumper?" Apparently 4 and even then it was hysterical! Laughter is good for the soul and even more so when it's with your best friends ;)

My VERY comfy chair! It is going to be my very best friend in the near future :) I will see more of it than most other things in my life! Need a lamp and something???

Still in need of a few decorations but love the letters! A great Aunt Jaime find :)

Not great lighting :( I think I need a picture or something above the dresser. Though if Kevin has his way, there will be a TV and in iPod in that general area ~ that's still an ongoing debate! The giraffe is ADORABLE! I still turn it on regularly and watch it's head bob. Thank you Aunt Debbie :)

I know it looks like a lot of clothes, but we caught good sales on winter items so we bought big! All girls need lots of clothes ~ plus she already has Daddy wrapped ;) Back of the travel system from Grandma Gail and Papa John ~ she is going to be traveling in style! Love you guys!

Video to come...

Third Trimester!

We are officially in the third trimester :) If I could input a shocked face I would but I'm not that tech savvy!

Time has truly flown by and we are anxiously awaiting our sweet baby girl's arrival. She is truly the love of our lives!

I haven't updated the belly pics in a while, so this should be a fun comparison! Enjoy :)

26 Weeks:

27 Weeks:

28 Weeks:

Biased as We May Be ~ The Cutest Baby Ever!

Sophia Grace Taliaferro ~ 27 weeks 1 day

Sweet Precious Face and Chubby Cheeks!

Arm Profile (Her arm is above her head and her hand is above her mouth.)

Legs

The Cutest Foot and Piggies Ever :)

Feet (This is hard for me to see but the feet are together at the top of the picture ~ a little imagination needed!)

Psalm 100:4

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thank to Him; bless His name!" ~ Psalm 100:4

Thank you Lord! Sophie is perfect, absolutely precious, and our dear sweet angel! She is measuring in the 42 percentile of babies her age (a little small but no biggie), weighs approximately 2 lbs 1 oz, and is active and healthy :) She even had the hiccups while we were doing our ultrasound ~ so adorable!

She is breach right now but has plenty of time to turn around. Normally breach gives you a larger than normal fundal height measurement but anything could be throwing off the measurement.

Either way ~ she's perfect and WE ARE COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS! God is good and we cannot thank each of you enough for the prayers, thoughts and kind words! Love you all :)

Pictures of our Precious Sophie to come soon!

Psalm 46:10

"Be still, and know that I am God..." ~ Psalm 46:10

It has taken me a while to get to a point where I could write this post and even now I'm not certain that I can find the words.

Last Tuesday, we went for our normal checkup. At 26 weeks, this was the "big" checkup as I liked to call it. I had to drink the "goo" to test for Gestational Diabetes and discussed a number of things with Dr. Tran ~ from cord blood banking, to cesareans, to preterm labor, to pediatricians. Of all the things I was scared about for that appointment, it was having my blood drawn! Yes, you may talk about cutting me open, sticking an enormous needle in my back to relieve the pain, and the necessity of birthing classes and I can keep my cool. But the whole, "we'll draw your blood in an hour" thing ~ my head spins and I start to get a little queasy! The good news is ~ no Gestational Diabetes :)

Anyway, that isn't really the point of the post. See how I'm avoiding ~ I do that sometimes! Like I said before, my fear for that appointment was simply that ~ my fear of having blood drawn. I hate needles ~ except for the big needle mentioned above that will take away the pain! That needle I may even name and love as my newest best friend for those few hours we are acquainted :) What my fear wasn't ~ that the pelvic measurements (officially known as, Fundal Height Measurements ~ but hey, it's a pelvic measurement, that's all) would be small.

At a certain point in the pregnancy they start to measure this in order to track the baby's growth. At 21 weeks, Sophie was measuring to perfection. At this one, she was two weeks behind :( Now I know that you shouldn't immediately panic but of course I did ~ well, I held it together until I was out of the Dr.'s office. Then I lost it.

This is my child we are talking about, and there is a certain connection and responsibility that is unique to a mother and her unborn child. I have had such an amazing pregnancy so far and was completely shocked by this sudden development. And yes, I have had my days of worry and shed more than my fair share of tears over this past week, but I have done my very best to carry on with my normal life knowing that this is beyond my control. And finally, tomorrow is the day.

Tomorrow is the day that we will go for an ultrasound and we will figure out what is going on. It could be nothing ~ simply her position, that I'm carrying low, nothing to worry about. But then, there is that other side of things ~ the side I refuse to acknowledge right now despite the fact that it lingers in the back of my mind.

So tonight, as I go through the roller coaster of emotions and pray to the only One who already knows all the answers, I shed a few more tears and remind myself of Psalm 46:10. Because at this point, that's all we really have.

Sophie - Mommy & Daddy love you more than life (and so do lots of other people by the way)! We're here waiting to welcome you into this world with open arms and hearts filled with unconditional love.

Until then, stay safe honey and grow big.

All my love,

Mommy

Hiccups :)

Sophie just had her first bout of hiccups! I had to laugh :) Kevin wasn't happy because he couldn't help her ~ so protective even in the womb! Such a good Daddy ;)

We love you Sophie Grace!

25 Weeks and :(

Today Sophie reached 25 weeks! We are so thrilled that she is happy, healthy, growing and EXTREMELY active ~ even if some of that activity occurs while Mommy is trying to sleep :) She is our precious angel and I love her more everyday!

And I'm sure you are wondering about the sad face :( Mommy and Daddy did our first daycare tour today. I loved the school and all of the kids seemed to be extremely happy, but I hate to think about having to leave my sweet baby girl.

For now though, I am going to count my blessings. I have a beautiful bundle of joy on the way, I get to spend 17 fabulous weeks with her which is more than most, my husband is going to be one amazing daddy, I have two precious fur-babies who give me such unconditional love, wonderful family and friends ~ see I feel better already!

Love you Sophie Grace! Keep growing Honey Bun!