"You make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed, sing like a bird, dizzy in my head...you make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe, shine like gold, buzz like a bee, just the thought of you can drive me wild, oh you make me smile..." -Smile, Uncle Kracker

What a great shower I got to go to in Austin last weekend! Some friends from my hometown threw it for me and it was lovely! Sandra and Liza hosted the shower and they made very tasty treats for everyone to enjoy!  They also made a very cute diaper cake!  I was so impressed!  It was so much fun to see friends and family and pretty awesome to be on the joyous side of things! 

Many of the guests who attended the shower also came to John's funeral last year, and what an amazing thing it was to me to see everyone gathered again, but this time to celebrate Creighton's soon to be (11 weeks!) arrival!  Real friends are like that though, they are there when life is hard and there when life is so exciting you just can't stand it! It really meant a lot to me.  Of course I didn't mention any of that, but I sure was thinking it.  The experience of having John is just such a part of my life now, but thankfully thinking about him or being reminded of him now really draws me back to God's grace and faithfulness.  So much has happened in a year and I am thankful.

The shower was SO much fun! All of my aunts came and so did two of my cousins- many of them traveled multiple hours to come for the shower, and it meant a lot to me that they came! I loved talking with everyone, the food, all the hugs, tummy pats and I loved opening all the gifts for Creighton and imagining him using them!  The outfits are adorable and he is going to be well dressed!  I also came to the relization (after Brian unloaded everything from the car) that having a baby equals having a TON of stuff!  It seemed like a lot at the shower, but when it was all piled in the nursery is was a massive amount of baby paraphanalia!  Crazy! I've since completely cleaned out the closet in his room and reorganized oh...everything!  It was so fun!

After the shower I went to Kirby Lane with Erin, Jen, Shea, Laura, and Carosa and we had a great time talking and eating yummy food!  It was so nice to just sit and be with such good friends, I am again quite thankful to have them in my life!

I would also have to say that I am in full-blown nesting mode around the house!  I have a list of projects for me to complete and a list of projects for Brian to complete before Creighton arrives.  We'll see how we do on getting all that done!  I know the time will probably pass quickly, but it seems like eleven weeks is a long time unitl Creighton gets here! 

I've been reading all sorts of wonderful books lately. I've been reading  Helping Baby Sleep, The Science and Practice of Gentle Bedtime Parenting and this has been my favorite so far, but I'm also reading a massive book by Dr. Sears Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know about Your Baby from Birth to Age Two and it is more of a reference book, but it is really helpful too!  I have The Philosophical Baby on order as well as Nurtureshock.  Nurtureshock just sounded interesting in general, I'm not sure that so much of it really has to do with infants, but I decided I wanted to read it too.  It was just recently published.  Anyway, in the midst of all of this informative reading I also read Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol and LOVED it!  It was so interesting and a page turner. I will admit that I slowed down for the very end of it, but up until then, I was staying up way too late to find out what happened! I would definitely reccomend it!

Things are going well at our house, and Brian has lofty plans of building a deck off the back porch before Thanksgiving when all of our family will be celebrating at our house this year! I'm going to attempt to help Brian some which means I get to put some screws in the deck way down the road after he has put the planks on! I'm so excited to host Thanksgiving!  It will be a blast to have everyone over!

Creighton is doing well.  At my last doctor's appointment (28 weeks, last Monday) I measured perfectly and I had not gained any weight which was quite ideal!  All that walking and eating right really paid off!  Now I'm on the two week rotation for going to see Russ or Gretchen (The nurse practitioner who sees me every other time and is delightful as well!) and I think that is pretty amazing!  I'm in the third trimester officially and I have started to experience some of the aches and pains associated with that, as well as some Braxton-Hicks contractions...which are just small contractions you get as your body starts to rev up for the inevidible labor.  Creighton is kicking all.the.time. now and he's pretty funny! I can feel when he rolls to the side or switches posititions and that is pretty interesting!  A few nights ago I saw something push out on the top of my uterus and arch all the way from one side of my tummy to another! Was it an arm, an elbow or a foot? I can't be sure, but it was pretty neat!  Right now Creighton is a bit over 2 pounds and 14 inches or so long.  From this point out he just gains weight each week.  All of his senses are developed and his brain is continuing to mature.  He probably has hair on his head now and his little toenails and fingernails are still growing!  He can open and close his eyes and he can respond to light. (He does, each morning when I get in the shower!)

I could ramble on and on...summary:  I'm really excited!