Nursery is Finished

Andy and I had met a few weeks ago with Natalie Brockman, a good friend from church who does lots of painting and murals all over the state, to see if she could come up with a little something to do on the walls of the nursery. We showed her our bedding, which basically consists of lots of different soft colors, the alphabet and a few baby animals to match the letters. Natalie came up with the idea of putting some Bible verses that start with different letters, and we quickly agreed. The last week or two, we chose our Bible verses, and on Wednesday, Natalie was able to come and do the actual painting. We loved the results and would more than recommend her to anyone looking for any type of wall art. (Here's a link to her website http://natbrock.shutterfly.com/). Everything she and/or her sister has done is amazing! Here are a few of our photos.

Doctor's Appointment--February 26th

This week, Andy was able to come with me to my doctor's appointment, which was a great addition. Everything was good for my weight and blood pressure, and the baby's heart rate was 140, which is about the average of what he's been at the entire pregnancy. (We had guessed it might be a little higher since he was moving a good bit in the waiting room :)

Much to my mother's excitement, I am still 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced, so no great progress last week. (I guess the baby was listening to Grammie's lectures on staying inside while she's gone.) But, we could not have been happier with everything. We'll see what happens next Thursday.

Big Doctor's Appointment

So we had our first "weekly" appointment this week. Andy was pretty busy as work, so since we're still several weeks out, I was fine to go by myself...though hopefully, he'll be able to get caught up for at least the last few appointments.

The big news is that (a bit to my surprise), the baby had "dropped". I am 2 centimeters dilated and 50% effaced. While we're not sure exactly what that means, the doctor seemed to indicate that it would be a good start on labor, though not necessarily predict whether he will be early or on time. He's also head down, which is always good news. The doctor also said that she'd be willing to induce us as long as we're within three weeks of our due date. Though, God has blessed us with patience thus far, the idea may become more and more tempting as we reach the last couple of weeks. We will just have to wait and see what God and our little guy have in store!

We know for sure that we would prefer to wait at least a couple more weeks. My mom and dad are leaving in the morning for back to back conventions...first in the Bahamas then in Costa Rica (tough work I know :). They will be back very late on March 6th, so Mom, Andy & I, and I'm sure many others are praying mom won't miss anything. I feel like it's probably fine in terms of timing, but we certainly hope nothing prevents mom and dad as well as Denny and Lee from being at the hospital when their first grandchild arrives.

Visit with Shannon and Baby George

This week, I was able to spend an evening with Shannon, Mark, baby George and Shannon's parents. It was great to catch up and see how much George has changed in just three weeks. And, as one might imagine, she had a few good tips for us as we prepare for our newborn's arrival.

After several pregnancy pictures together, Shannon had joked that she wanted one where she was back to normal and I was still carrying the big belly. So, we thought the time had come :). I certainly hope I'm looking as "back to normal" as she is after just three weeks!

As I held baby George, I first realized that I'm definitely running out of lap. Second, our baby thought it was quite funny to try to kick the baby that was pressing down on his space. Hopefully, he won't try that once he's on the outside and they can be friends :)

The Last of the New Furniture

My family (mostly my dad with the help of other family members) has been in the process of moving my grandfather and my dad's oldest brother, Johnny, to the Lafayette Place. Eventually, once a good bit of renovation is done, Chris and Julie (my brother and his wife) will be moving into my grandfather's condo off Tates Creek Road. But to do all of this means a good bit of cleaning out and sorting through their things. They have been in Florida...and will return around the second week in March hoping to catch baby Waldroup's arrival...so in some ways it's been a bit easier to do things on our schedules and give me a chance to help before we have other priorities :)

Two weeks ago, we moved most of their items to the Lafayette. Last weekend, Andy (with the help of his brother Eric and Mark Moore...thanks so much to them) moved the items from my grandfather's place to our house. This consisted of a large buffet, a smaller buffet, a table and two twin beds with matresses. Somehow, the guys were able to get all of this into two pickup truck loads, which certainly impressed me. Also, Emma loved hanging out with Traci and Joni Beth for a

Then, Tuesday night, Andy headed to Baby's R Us to pick up our glider, which had finally arrived at the store. He was able to get it together without too much trouble. I guess he's getting some experience with baby-item assembly :). The glider is wonderful, and we can't wait to rock our little guy in a few weeks. We certainly feel very blessed with all we've been given and been able to pick up for our baby.

We finished the week with finding Emma under our bed. Perhaps she's starting to figure out that there's something going on...or she just didn't want to go to bed yet. Who knows what she's thinking!

Another good week

I had another doctor's appointment today. This was my last "every two weeks" appointment. From here on out, I will be going every week, and Andy will be joining me as often as work permits. The doctor said we're still measuring well, the baby's heart rate is good and all else seems normal. Again, we have been so blessed throughout the pregnancy!

Our little guy is getting stronger, but his movements are a bit more constrained (for lack of a better term). He no longer does dramatic rolls as much as pushing out in different directions. I can definitely look down and see him sticking out in one spot or another...then shifting to another spot or back to the center. As would be expected, we think he's beginning to run out of space. This morning he moved for almost two hours straight, then relaxed the rest of the afternoon. His heart rate was about four beats lower than he's measured before at 136 (though still well within the acceptable range). With his big morning, I told the nurse who took the reading that I had guessed he might be sleeping.

According to the books, etc., our little guy should be about 5 1/2 to 6 pounds this week. And, he'll be gaining about half a pound a week from here on out.

Again, we appreciate everyone's prayers and support for us, and we will definitely keep you posted on our progress in the coming weeks!

Church Baby Shower

One of the big events of our big weekend was our Church Baby Shower. We were so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family able to attend. Three women in our class, Rebecca Johnson, Erin Waddell, and Krista Keathley have graciously and faithfully put together each of the many baby showers over the past few months. In our case, Traci also volunteered to help out by sending the paper invitations to those outside the class and making the cake. I'm sure the other women appreciated a tiny bit of a break. (Here's a picture of me and the hostesses.) We also had help, as always, from many of the women in the class who graciously brought food items for the group. The food was amazing, so I just had to have one plate for me and a few second helpings for him!

We met after church last Sunday, and had a great group. We appreciated all the wonderful gifts, as we're certainly getting down to crunch time. Everyone was very generous. Most of all it was such a blessing to see how many care about us and will be praying for us as we begin this new chapter in our lives. Here are several pictures from the big event!

One other exciting moment was having several of the many pregnant friends in attendance. Five of us--Mandi, Liz, myself, Rebecca Lawson, and Grace--have sort of been going through the experience together...as we're all due in February, March and April. We also had three additions to the club--Rebecca Johnson, Kelli, and Marci--who are expecting in late July and August. The picture below shows almost all of us in order of our due dates (minus Mandi who had to leave early since they had family in town...awaiting their little girl's arrival). Mandi actually went into labor and had Molli within 24 hours of when the group picture was taken, so it was neat to have all of us there and pregnant one last time. We'll have to take one this time next year with all the moms and new little ones!

Also below is a picture of me and the two grandmothers (Mimi and Grammy unless something changes :). We have certainly appreciated all of their help and generosity over the past months and feel so blessed that they will both be fairly close in proximity when our little boy comes.

Big Weekend

We had a lot of excitement last weekend. Andy's parents came in town late Friday for a threefold purpose:

First, my Dad had graciously shared a set of basketball tickets for the four of us to the UK vs. South Carolina game. While the Cats couldn't pull it out, it was certainly close and exciting. (The baby enjoyed it, too :). We also got to end the evening with a trip to P.F. Chang's with Eric & Joni Beth as well as Lee's cousin, Sam Drake, who we had not gotten to see since he moved back to Lexington a few months before.

Second, we had our church baby shower after the service on Sunday. (More info and pictures will follow.) So, Lee and my mom were both able to be in attendance for that. Also, Denny and Lee were able to come to our Sunday School class and add a good bit of experience to the parenting study ("Shepherding a Child's Heart") we are doing.

Third, after a year in the deacon yokefellow program at Porter, Andy had his deacon ordination in the evening Church service. So it was wonderful to have his parents, Eric & Joni Beth, and my mom there to celebrate that with us as well.

It was a wonderful time of being together and celebrating so many things...but by Sunday night, I was ready for bed and even a little tired on Monday as well.

Oh, and one more important detail...Andy and I were able to head over to see Shannon, Mark and Baby George on Saturday morning. Though, a bit tired, mother, dad and baby all seemed to be doing well on their second day home. But, I forgot to get pictures in all the excitement :(