Baby Woes and Other Woes...

No. Weston is still not here. But people have been asking...and while I was going to wait and update my blog when he came other things have happened.
Drew's grandma passed away Tues. morning. Her funeral is set for Sat. in a town an hour north of Vegas. Do you think I am stressed? Slightly...Weston has not come yet, when I was so sure he was going to be early. I had 3 hours of contractions on Tues. night which lead to nothing, and then I had 2 hours worth of contractions tonight, and still nothing. I have done just about everything safe that I can to self-induce this labor but he will come when he wants. Which I figure will be while his dad is away in Nevada attending his grandmothers funeral. Only because it would just figure. Luckily my mom is here, and my sister has the weekend off so I know Autumn will be taken care of and my mom can be at the hospital with me in place of Drew, should Weston decide to grace us with his presence while Drew is gone.
But let's just hope that he comes tomorrow and Drew can be here for the delivery and then head off to join his extended family in celebrating a life that ended earlier this week.

Congrats are in Order and an Update.

I want to congrats the Checketts/Chapman family on their new addition. If you don't know the Chapman's they had their baby girl on New Years Eve. Which is very exciting because she was due just a few days before me. Those lucky ducks. Not only was she early, but she will also be a tax break. :) And the Pope's may have their baby girl in their arms on Mon. (unless they can get the baby to turn and avoid a c-section) and she is due two days after me. All of my friends are having their babies before me! Stubborn Weston. :)

I had a dr. appt. yesterday. I am now dialated to a 1 & 1/2 and still 50% effaced, but the dr. did say he could touch the baby's head. Very exciting. I wasn't sure he had dropped because I can feel him all over, but maybe he will be bigger than Autumn was. She was 21 in. and 6 lb. 14 oz. I also measured 37 weeks, but the dr. said that it's fine and he can come anytime. I have measured smaller most of the time anyways. My due date is in 8 days. Let's hope I don't make it to my next appt. this Fri. and this baby comes atleast a few days early!!

With all the celebrating of new life and babies, there is a bit of discouragement and fear of death for one of Drew's family members. His grandma fell down some stairs (we are thinking around 4 or 5 steps) and fractured her skull and face. She has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now. Her lungs keep filling with fluid and she is on a breathing machine, and there have been other issues. The decision has now been left up to Drew's grandpa as to whether they should take her off the ventilator or keep her on. It's a very difficult decision for him. They are in their mid 80's and have served several missions and in her failing health over the years he has had to serve her in so many ways and do almost everything for her. Sacrificing his sleep, his health, and his comfort to make sure she was happy and able to get around. In serving others we gain a different level of love for them. So as I am sure she has been a burden on him, I bet he would rather have that burden then be left alone in this life and be the one left to make the decision as to what could keep her alive or possibly end her life. We are lucky that we got to spend so much time with his grandparents at Thanksgiving. Before Thanksgiving we hadn't seen them since Autumn was just a few months old. Drew's grandma told stories about some of her mom's relatives that played a key role in church history, which many of us hadn't heard but found out was usually taught in Seminary. And I pretty much drilled and interviewed Drews grandpa because we don't get a lot of time with him and I wanted to get to know him better. So I feel truely blessed that we took advantage of that time with them.

On a lighter note! Here are some pictures of Autumn, sure to put a smile on anyones face.

These were taken my by Aunt Amee back in Nov. at my sisters wedding.

As Prepared As Can Be

We are a week and a half away from my due date and we are feeling the crunch. Last night we went to the grocery store and bought a months worth of groceries, leaving not even an inch of spare space in my cabinets and freezer. But it's nice to see all that food and know that if Weston comes tomorrow or in a week not having food in the house won't be an issue. Drew has Thurs. off and we plan to do a "deep clean" which anyone who knows me knows I am not the cleaning type. I basically straighten up and wipe things off. But last night with the groceries we bought some cleaning supplies we knew we lacked and Thurs. will be the big day where Drew gets to spend his day off with me cleaning, scrubbing, dusting, and sterilizing everything so when Weston comes home, he can come home to a clean home. (Plus my brother will be here this weekend and my mom flies into town to help us out for a few weeks on Mon.)
I have gotten Autumn and Weston's room ready. I am quite proud of myself, I did these at the beginning of the month. I have one more project I was planning for their room, but I might cancel that. I am running out of wall space in their room.
What started out as this:





Became this:And here it is hanging with Autumn's name above the crib.I also painted a shelf, and decorated it with their names and some decals. This is above the changing station. Now it has lots of cute stuff on top of it, Autumns princess stuff on her side and Weston has Tigger stuff on his; but I haven't taken any recent pictures, these are pics from when I first hung everything up.It's surreal to know it can be any day now, and lately when I call people they ask if I am in the hospital or if I have some big news for them. Being 9 months pregnant puts everyone on edge when they see my name on their caller ID. I am glad I didn't have a Christmas baby, and hope to not have a new years baby. My brothers birthday is Jan 5th so I would like to avoid that day too...but Weston will gladly be welcomed anyday before the 11th!

Autumn on Christmas Eve

We are leaving tonight to spend Christmas with Drews family. This morning we had Autumn open all her presents from Drew and I so we don't have to travel with them, because we will just be coming home with more stuff anyways. Autumn was a lot more fun this year. It was cute last year seeing her with all her stuff, but this year she understands that by ripping the paper or pulling the tissue out of a bag there is a surprise beneath it. She was a lot of fun this morning!

Here are a few pictures that turned out- I had the video camera in my right hand and the camera in my left.The pictures above is of her opening her Sesame Street books. Below is her new Teddy Bear.Above Autumn is opening some new Crayola Tadoodles thing. Below is her with all her gifts. Mind you, we did this as soon as she woke up, before Drew had to go to work. And she was getting upset with us that we were trying to take pictures because she just wanted to play with all her new stuff.We would like to wish you guys all a safe and happy Christmas. I can't wait to see your blogs about how your Christmas was.

Weekly update...

Weekly dr. appointments and I have a love/hate relationship. I hate when he checks my cervix, but love hearing the baby's heart beat. Today I went back to the doctor. I lost 5 lbs. in the last week. My dr. never said anything about it, but the nurse did. She questioned me about it and I simply said that I must have had a big breakfast the morning of my last appointment. All together I have gained 15 lbs. so far. But I know the last month is notorious for weight gain...so we will see if I make it to 20 lbs, like the dr. suggested. I have dialated to a one. If I were pregnant with Autumn this would mean the baby would be born tommorow. (I had Autumn the day after my dr. finally announced some progress and that I had dialated to a one, but Autumn was only 3 days early.) I know women can be at a one for awhile, so my hopes aren't up for an early delivery, but progress is being made and the contractions I had last night were actually doing something other than causing discomfort. Plus I am 50% effaced.

And just for kicks and giggles. Here are some pictures of Autumn. She got some new clothes last week, and her two favorite items were her two Elmo hoodies. This first one is a 2T so it's big, she will get to wear it next year for sure. The other hoodie is 18 mos. and fits perfect!

My beautiful Autumn Lee.

Everyday I look at my little girl and just can't believe how grown up she is. There are days I am sad that in just a few weeks I won't be able to devote all my time and attention to just her. She is at such a fun age, and I wonder if my life would have been complete with just her. I already feel a lot of love for unborn Weston, but I have selfish days where I think that maybe having just Autumn would have been fulfilling enough, so I can enjoy all of Autumns Autumn-isms. I am anxious to see and meet our unborn child, and am glad we have been blessed with the ability to bear and raise children. So for the next month I will soak in as much Autumn as I can, so that when Weston does come, if I think that I am not paying enough attention to Autumn I can remember that she got 20 months of my undivided attention, and Weston will always have had to share my attention with his sister. Autumn was being silly outside. We decided to sing "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." She loves that she can do all the motions. Here she is watching her hand as it opens and closes for "popcorn popping.""I can take an armful and make a treat."After singing it was to the park with Grandma!I love the relationship Autumn has with her aunt. Growing up we didn't live around my aunts and uncles, and I haven't ever lived around my other 2 neices and 2 nephews. So I love that Autumn loves her aunt and that they have such a special bond and relationship at such an early stage in Autumns life. This was after church on Sun. We have a lot of pictures because my mom is glued to her camera. It's beneficial to my sister and I because she captures some really cute photos of our kids that we wouldn't have ever gotten.

Updates...

I went to the dr. this morning. Only 5 weeks left! Jan. 11th can't come soon enough. I am measuring a week smaller than I should but my dr. is not the least bit concerned, he is positive myself and the baby will gain ample weight by the time the baby is born. Great! Can't the baby just gain weight? Oh wait, that means I gain weight...silly me. Next week starts those wonderful weekly appointments where you feel your privacy being invaded by your dr. When I moaned at him mentioning that next week he will start checking my cervix he said, "It's a good thing. It means your at the end." So! That's the attitude I need to have. I am at the end! Other than that all my numbers are good, and overall the appt. was short and quick, and my dr. left happy with me.

We have been really busy! I haven't blogged since before Thanksgiving. I will quickly update you! We went to Snowflake for Thanksgiving. I have zero pictures from that. Autumn was sick, then I was sick, then Drew was sick, then his neice was sick, then I got sick again. So no time to take pictures when people around you can't keep their food down.

My brother, my mom, and my dad came into town a couple of days after we got back from Snowflake.

Here is a photo of my mom with her two grandkids that live here.We had my baby shower. Thanks to all who came (especially my in-laws who drove 3 hours to come to just turn right back around and head home!!)! It is always nice to get together with friends and family to celebrate. I got lots of clothes! Weston will be one sharp dressed baby boy!

Staci's decked out car. (It was at a park, so this helped people know where to go.)

My friend made really cute cupcakes! (thanks JB)The clothes.Nov. was busy, and so far Dec. has been also! I have some really cute pictures of Autumn I want to post, but they will have to wait. This is enough for one day!! :)