Busy week

So this week has been busy and super awesome! I've been attempting to help my mother and older sister to get things ready for my younger sister's wedding (which is next Saturday !) and so that is keeping me really busy. Basically if I don't have something else planned I'm at least over at mom's in case there is something I'm actually capable of doing to help :) I am getting to the large and not so comfortable stage of being pregnant so sometimes I really just sit and watch them, but I guess I'm cheering them on, right? So while my actual list of activities is short, the wedding stuff is what is keeping me busy. And I am still working on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So having activities the other days feels like a lot.

Tuesday the ladies from my church had a shower for me and it was awesome. Besides the uncomfortable opening presents and making sure I say something nice about everything ( I know this is something that others besides me worry about so don't even pretend to think I'm crazy!) it was really fun and way more people showed up than I expected. It may be that they just feel bad for me because my husband isn't here, but they would have to at least like me a little to care enough to come right? I got a sweet diaper cake (and it's the only one I've ever seen in real life), tons of cute clothes and various other useful things. It was great and I'm so thankful......but I was so tired by the end and it was only two hours! I'm definitely not used to getting tired so easy.

Side note, I need to learn to let people help me. I'm usually the one who is lifting heavy boxes when we get home from Costco and bringing them in with no problem. I cannot do that right now. I already hurt my back and when I try to carry heavy things in front of my large belly that only makes the object heavier and hurts my tummy and my back. I let my first heavy box go the other night....it hurt to put it in the car from the cart so I had my brother carry it in the house. Baby steps here people, I'm not going to go completely useless just because I'm pregnant. Unless I get put on bedrest....but I'm not.

Today I had my 36 week doctor's visit. I will spare you all the details but it was the best! Baby and everything is still good, heard the heart beat and had a few other business things to take care of, but I asked about being induced and got the exact answer I wanted. I will be induced a few days after Nathan gets home so that we can have some alone time, have the baby, bless the baby on Sunday and then have almost a full week as a family before he has to go back! I'm so excited that it is looking like everything will work out perfectly :) Oh, babies don't come early in our family and he said there is no way I will be ruining my sister's wedding with going into labor. Just don't tell her that....

We have a concert tonight and another one this weekend and fill in any empty space with wedding stuff! January will be here before I know it!!!

Thanksgiving Shenanigans

Be warned, I am very tired so this may not make sense and I will probably forget many things.

We started out our Thanksgiving fun by finding out something was wrong with the furnace. Our house was stuck at 65 degrees and it was so cold to get out of bed in the mornings. So grandma tried to start a fire...and dad finished it for us. The dogs have never seen a fire in the fireplace and they were very interested in what was going on.

Then on Sunday we found out that two of my cousins rolled their vehicle on the way here. They were fine and lost only the car and a cell phone. Plus, it was only a mile outside of Columbus so my mom and dad were able to drive over and pick them up.

My older sister was also on her way here and fishtailed her car into a guard rail. Everyone is good, but the back hatch on the car does not work. Which was way fun for her when she had to unload all the stuff and her kids through the doors, fun stuff!

The same night I dropped my car off to get fixed finally. I'm very excited to finally have it back and in it's perfect condition :) Then Monday the furnace was fixed!

Wednesday was the day we baked 14 pies (that was about a pie per person) and a whole bunch of rolls. It was awesome to have my sister and cousins here to help though. It is normally an all day process, this year it took about three hours excluding actual baking time since there is no way to hurry that along. Oh and Kaitlyn and Adam drove up from school with no wrecking of vehicles or anything!

Thanksgiving! Lots of food, games and fun! Everything was delicious and we had an awesome time.
This is probably my favorite picture from the day. The two little dogs insisted on both being on my lap the whole time we were playing games, but I got tired of sitting in such a way that created a lap. So I put Daisy on my belly and then Avarie wanted to say hi to baby (which she does all the time and is just so adorable!)

The rest of the week is blurred, actually it all is blurred because it's six in the evening and I think I could go to sleep now if I wasn't baby-sittting. But we had my younger sister's bridal shower on Friday so that was fun. Adam was watching the little ones and Aiden threw up on the couch...how fun for him:) He's a good sport!

 They called to tell me my car was done, but I wasn't able to get there before they closed and then some Wii was probably played and invites assembled. I don't really know. Those things happened I'm just not sure all when :)  Saturday Grandma took everyone (except mom and Trevor because they were sick) to Olive Garden and then we went to TJMaxx. Then Jeni and I did some other shopping. Then half the chaos left on Sunday to go back  to school. The other half is just staying through Christmas!

Now we are busy getting ready for Kaitie's wedding in 3 weeks and then the baby 3 weeks(ish) after that! Busy busy busy!

Baby Shower

I had my first baby shower a couple weeks ago. My mother-in-law hosted and we had some awesome food and everything was beautiful. My mom was in charge of the games, which I was lousy at doing! And we got so much stuff for the baby. He's all set for clothes through six months. And it took the full two weeks before company for me to wash everything and figure out where to put it all! It was way fun and I'm so glad some friends were able to get off work to play. I feel like I'm far too busy to have a social life right now so it was nice to catch up with people this way.
We played the "guess how large Shannda is" game...........

And we matched socks for 30 seconds,  or less you over-achievers who can expect a phone call when I'm swamped with baby socks :)

Mom put a giant ribbon in my hair and now the only pictures with me in them I have this on my head.

And a picture with my mother-in-law

And my mommy!

It was definitely fun for me and I hope everyone else got some enjoyment out of it as well :)

Crafty Things

I finally finished my diaper bag! I wanted one that didn't look boy or girl so I can possibly use it for the next child as well, but I also did not want it to cost a fortune. Oh and I wanted more than two pockets. I hate digging around in my purse for things and the diaper bag is twice the size of my purse so pockets were a must! I learned a lot doing this project (or so my mom tells me...I feel like she just had to explain the whole pattern to me) and it feels really good to have it finished. And when it gets dirty, I can just throw it  in the washer! I love that :)

It's really hard to take pictures of though, the outside has pockets on the sides and front and I made one of the small pockets so that my cell phone fits perfectly.

 When I was working on the beginning of the diaper bag my mom made these awesome receiving blankets. She was just gonna make three but we found so many cute combinations that she made five! I'm so lucky to have such a talented mother (and grandmother and sister, they all help me a lot).

I just finished the outline for the baby quilt I will be making last night. I need to find some material and then I will get started on that! Then over Christmas break my sister will be here and she's going to help me make nursing covers that have the little loop so it's easy to check on baby without exposing myself!!! I'm so excited that I have stuff to keep me busy and I'm not just sitting around waiting for him to make his appearance :)

Halloween

We didn't do much for Halloween around here....we sewed most of the time. But we do have some cute costumes for the little dogs:

Tinkerbell will only allow a collar to be put on her so I don't bother even trying. I got her a Christmas sweater last year....she wouldn't move and hated it!

Baby and I dressed up too, mostly for pictures for Nathan.

He was the baseball to my baseball player :) My mom thought I was crazy, but painted my belly anyway. And then agreed I wasn't so insane afterwards. I believe that is all for now!