Operation WANA

So one of the blogs I follow, MODG , is doing something incredible and she's asking her readers to help. This is what the Christmas season is all about, so I just had to share and hopefully it will touch somebody like it touched me. If you head over to her blog and read THIS it will better explain everything, and give you instructions on how to participate and either help or receive help. I'll try to sum it up as best I can. Here goes: She has asked that if any of her followers who are struggling this holiday season to leave a comment saying so. Then she has asked any of her followers that are in a position to help, to contact these people requesting help and link up with them and help in whatever way they can. I think that sums it up pretty nicely :) For more details check out her post on it.

I was so moved when I read this post. It's very easy to get caught up in the "I wants" and forget about everything we do have. Joe and I aren't wealthy by any means, but we don't struggle either. We are very fortunate and blessed to be able to pay our bills every month with a little something extra left over. A lot of people don't have that luxury and they struggle everyday to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. While we should all be willing to help others year round, Christmas time seems to help remind others to be generous, and I think it's wonderful. So, if your in a position to help someone out this year, please go check out this post and see what you can do!

Baby Update

So Dr. Holdaway called last night with induction news. If I don't go into labor on my own by Monday, we will be getting induced Monday morning. Hopefully my body and stubborn ass baby will get it together by then, but it's nice having a back-up plan. I'm kinda nervous now. This means we will for sure be parents by Tuesday at the latest. WTH?! Who decided that us having a baby was a good idea?! My emotions are all kinds of outta whack now. Haha But I'm also very excited. We're still doing everything we can to get labor started naturally. Walking, massage, raspberry tea, hot chocolate, spicy foods, etc. Hopefully something will work. I've been having contractions, but nothing in a pattern or consistent. We have a NST (non-stress test) on Friday, but fingers crossed we'll go into labor before then. That's the update for today. I so badly want the next one to include a picture of a brand new, squishy, rubbing alcohol smelling Charlie girl. Keep your fingers crossed for us :)

Christmas Decorations!!

Daddy, Moma, Charlie, & Keech's stockings. Hers is tiny b/c we're going to let her choose her own next year, and her little one will go in her bedroom every year.

Our tree :) And all the wrapped gifts. It's alligator skin wrapping paper btw. Lime green & Fusia, with plum purple ribbon & bows. Green and red aren't the only festive colors :)

I finally got to decorate for Christmas on Monday! We usually decorate the day after Thanksgiving, but since our entire family came to GA for Turkey Day and its Red Phase (I'll explain this one in a sec) we had to wait until Monday night. Now, normally I go ALL OUT and it will look like Pier One threw up in my house, but we went minimalist this year. See I'm still pregnant and most of our decorations are still in NC in my parents basement. So we have our stockings, and most of our tree decor. I'm a little bummed we aren't as decorated as usual, but I'm definitely grateful I won't have to deal with the put away process with a newborn. I'm so on it with this Christmas thing though, all of our shopping is done and everything is wrapped! I went last Monday and got it all done in just a few hours, and then came home and immediately wrapped everything. I had a list and new exactly what I was getting everybody, so there was no aimless wandering. I put a lot of thought ahead of time into our gifts this year. Not that I don't every year, just usually I go in with an idea and then it manifests into this fantastic gift that I get super excited to give. I was more organized this year :) Oh and I stayed well under budget! Go me! So that meant I had a little extra to get the random small things I saw and include that as part of people's gifts. Hopefully Charlie will make her grand entrance soon, and we'll be able to go home for Christmas.

I'm Still Pregnant :(

Ok so my due date of December 4th has come and gone, and no baby. To quote Dr. Holdaway "She's stubborn." Not a question, not a suggestion, but a statement of fact. All I can say is that she comes by it honestly :) So we should have our induction date by the end of the week, and I'll keep everybody posted on that. As long as we don't have to go the c-section route, I'll be ok. Not knocking on people who do choose that route, it's just not for me. Hopefully I'll have a baby update soon! C'mon Charlie girl :)

Pregnancy Highlights: Fully Cooked Edition :)

How far along: 40 weeks 2 days OMG

 Size of baby: 6 to 8 lbs and 19 to 21 inches long

  Weight gain: 35ish lbs

   Sex: Girl. Charlotte Rose

  Movement: Lots of stretching. I know she's cramped, I don't know why she's still hangin out in there :)

  Sleep: Better. I'm up about 4 or 5 times a night.

 Symptoms: Baby in belly. Swelling in hands and feet. Contractions.

 What I miss: Nothing this week.

 Cravings: Surprisingly, nothing this week.

 Aversions: Meat. Tea. Ranch. White cheese. The usual.

  Best moment this week: Hitting the 40 week mark. Holy cow I'm about to have a baby.

  What I am looking forward to:  Meeting baby girl.

40 weeks 2 days

40 weeks 2 days

  Milestones: 1/2 cm dilated... I think. We have a doctors appt. tomorrow to find out if I've progressed any. Hopefully I have :)