NC Baby Shower

My mom, Cyndie, and Kristen threw me a baby shower this past Saturday. It was so much fun and such a blessing. There were people there from my church in New Jersey who have moved to North Carolina, people from my first church in NC, people from high school, people from my church now, and a few people from some random places! The above picture is of Me, Melissa, and Autumn. We are high school classmates and have traveled to New Mexico, Holland, and Colorado together. Melissa is an amazing friend and even though we struggle to get together with our busy schedules, when we do get together it's like no time has past! Autumn is due with her 3rd child a week after me. She has been a great friend and has offered me invaluable advice about pregnancy, labor, and motherhood.

The best part of the whole shower was when the women laid hands on me and prayed over me, the baby, and Chad. I am incredibly blessed to be surrounded by Godly women! I feel that I am lifted up and fully in God's hands. The words that were prayed over me truly sunk in and I felt filled with Christ. He will give me the strength to make it through the remainder of this pregnancy, labor and delivery, and motherhood. God is also with this baby and Chad! I also was blessed by a Blessing Book made by Kristen. All the women who attended not only signed the book, but wrote advice, prayers, and blessings...I will cherish it forever.

Cyndie was so gracious to offer her home for the shower...thanks Cyn. Kristen came up from Atlanta to help with the shower and to visit...what an amzing friend, thanks! My mom was wonderful at getting all the food together and planning. I can't thank my mom enough!

Oh and these pictures were taken by Melissa.

Jeans update!

So far I've worn my jeans twice to work and no one has said anything! I have been much more comfortable at work which makes work much much better!

I plan on wearing my jeans to work up until my last day! We'll see if anyone says anything before then.

Slightly Rebellious

I only have 13 days, including today, left at work. I work 3 days a week and my last day is September 18th. Then I have a time of rest before my new job kicks into high gear as a mom. Well, for now I have deal with my current job. It's not bad, I occasionally get the mean person calling in telling me to fix their problem right now, but I can deal with that. The thing that I can't deal with is that with my growing pregnant belly, my business casual maternity pants are no longer comfortable. My most comfy pants are either my pajama pants, not appropriate for work; no pants...REALLY not appropriate for work; or my maternity jeans! (And for those of you who are thinking why not a dress...come on it's me! I don't really wear dresses!) So today I opted for wearing my maternity jeans, even though it is not approved by the company to wear jeans to work unless its Friday (I don't work on Fridays).

I am letting my rebellious streak show through today. I'm curious to see if anyone will say anything about it. If they do they might get a response like "Well, I'm 5'1" and have a child that is over a fifth of my height in me and these are the most comfortable pants I have. If you'd like to pay for work appropriate pants that are as comfortable as my jeans that will be about $40!" or "Your options are: give me a raise, pay for $40 maternity pants, or let me wear my jeans for the 13 days of work I have left."

Ok, I'll probably be nicer than that, but you never know with these hormones!

Very short road trip with my dad!

My dad's very close friend, Dan, and wife, Mary, are moving to Kansas City, Kansas. Well, Dan was going to drive his truck out and pull his wife's car on a trailer. My dad offered to go with him and fly back. This is what happened. However, Dan wasn't leaving from Charlotte he was leaving from Lake Lure which is about 2 hours west-ish. I drove my dad out on Friday morning to meet Dan.

My dad and I greatly enjoy road trips together. We are incredibly goofy and at some point get serious and have great heart to heart talks, too. We goofed around a ton and laughed a lot. We stopped at IHOP for breakfast (I, of course, had pancakes!). At IHOP we discussed life and books. We talked about some of the great authors: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and George McDonald. I am currently reading George McDonald's book, "At the back of the Norh Wind". I absolutely love McDonald's writing. He is quite possibly my favorite writer. He is actually one of Lewis and Tolkien's inspirations for their books. We had a great time.

We got back in the car and drove on to Lake Lure. We were almost there and we saw this metal sculpture of a giant mosquito! It was hilarious we both laughed really hard. So I stopped on the way home to take a picture with my cell phone. When I stopped I realized why it was there. It was an advertisement for a creative metal working complany. If I wanted or ever do for some odd reason want a metal sculpture I will drive out and find them and have them make the sculpture, all because of that giant mosquito!

This next weekend is very busy...my close friend Kristen is coming, we have a Dr. appointment, a baby shower on Saturday, dinner out on Saturday night, and a Hospital tour on Sunday. I think it's great that they have these tours so that when I'm freaking out in pain we will know where to go and what to do!

Diaper Practice

This morning we did a funny thing. Since Chad has never changed a diaper before. I showed him how on a stuffed elephant and then let him put it on! He's going to be a great dad and will have no problem changing a diaper! He's so excited to be having a son!

29 weeks!

Here is me this morning on our back deck before work. I am 29 weeks and 1 day pregnant! Whoohoo! it is getting so close!

I feel more prepared for our son now that our crib and changing table (thanks mom and dad Burns and mom and dad Grubbs!) are set up. We put them together over the last few days. Now the crib just needs a mattress and the changing table needs a pad. Of course there is a lot more that we need, but we are on our way to being prepared for this little guy to come into our home!

I will get a picture of the nursery once it's a little put together!

2008 Oregon Trip

We had so much fun on our trip to the Portland area of Oregon! The weather was amazing not too hot, not humid, and cool mornings and evenings! Such a nice break from North Carolina heat and humidity.

We got to see so many friends and had a wonderful time visiting with Chad's parents.

Friday, we had lunch with Mark and Amy, and Heather, who was at that point just days away from having her baby! Sadly Heather's husband, Micah couldn't come. Then that night we hung out with Pisey and Beka and had great time. For pictures of Heather and I click this link: Heather and Charissa .

Saturday, we had brunch with Joe and Amy. Then the wedding festivities for Travis and Eva-Lynn began with a rehearsal at Champoeg Park, the Robert Newell House. It was beautiful and so much fun. That evening I hung out with Eva-Lynn and the other bridesmaids. Chad got to spend time with our friend, Steve.

Sunday, was the wedding. On the way to the wedding site we realized that we were driving right past Joe's house, Joe was Chad's Best Man. We decided we ahd just enough time to stop in for a few minutes! The wedding was beautiful. I loved being a part of the wedding. Eva-Lynn is one of my very closest friends, so it was awesome to see her and Travis get married. They are perfect for each other! The receiption was so fun to watch all the college friends dance like maniacs...I of course watched since I was tired and far too pregnant to dance! After the reception and everything was over we stopped by Joe's house again and hung out for a while. (In the picture I am obviously the pregnant one not jumping! And the Picture was taken by David Way.)

Monday, we went to see Batman with Steve and it is such a great movie! Chad says it tied with Ironman for him...but I think they are too different to be compared, both awesome movies. After Batman we went to Mark and Amy's apartment to have dinner and play games before the baby shower. The Shower was so fun! It was totally worth it to see my father-in-law drink water from a bottle! He actually won the game...he can suck! HAHA!

Tuesday, was the most relaxing day! We went to Lincoln City, a small town on the coast. We ate at Mo's which has my favorite clam chowder and then we went to the beach. We walked down to the water and I got in up to my ankles and decided that was cold enough. We then went and sat on some logs and just talked. It was great! We discussed all sorts of things, but a big topic was parenting...we got some great advice. We are so very blessed to have 2 sets of amazing parents who are incredibly supportive and wise! We then went back to Dundee, where we staying with Mom and Dad Burns. We ordered Papa Murphy's, which is not on the east coast! We relaxed and hung out. For Pictures of the beach trip click this link: Beach Trip.

Wednesday....began the long trek home, see previous post about Delta.

It was a great trip...just too short. We could have stayed another week at least!

The next time we go to the Pacific Northwest things will be very different because we will have our son with us! So exciting.