Random Louisiana Trip

A couple days ago, Neal's grandmother called to say she and Tia Yoya were riding the casino bus on Sunday from Corpus to Lake Charles to go to LaBaurge. So we deciced to make a quick trip and Neal had planned on seeing a customer in Beaumont on Monday morning.

We stopped at my mom's to drop Mack off. Somehow I managed to lose the key to her house so we had to be creative. Luckily, Neal found a window that wasn't locked all the way and was able to get in.



We dropped the dog off and headed to Louisiana. We all met up at the casino. Grandma gave us some fun money to play on. I played video poker for about 30 minutes and then decided it was time for me to get out of the smoky casino. I took a little siesta in the hotel room and watched the Olympics for a little while. We ate dinner at the casino before we headed back to spend the night at my mom's. The casino actually had really good cajun food. We split a crawfish grilled cheese sandwcich and a cajun pot pie.

New Principal

Yesterday I stepped foot in my school to meet our new principal. Our old principal suddenly (but not really surprisingly) retired over the summer. The nerd in me was excited to see my school friends and I was really impressed with what this new lady had to say. I think she really gets what our problems are at our school and appears to have a plan to tackle them and make SBE a better place. As excited as I am for Baby Girl to come, I'm also excited to start this school year and a little sad that I'm not going to be there the whole year to see her vision come to life.

31 Weeks

Hello 31 Weeks!



The belly is now starting to get in the way when attempting things like tying my shoes and getting clothes out of the dryer. It never fails. There's always one sock that gets stuck in the back of the dryer.

I've been getting a little winded if I do too much too fast. I guess my lungs have finally been affected.

I've been going through this stage where nothing sounds good to eat. I'll be ravenous and then when it's time to eat, it's hard to get food down.

Still have heartburn several times a day and now sometimes even in the middle of the night. My new routine is when I get up to pee in the middle of the night, I also take a TUMS.

I should let Neal write this part but I'll take a stab at it. I think I've been bossing him around lately. He's been a good sport and I can usually recognize when I'm doing it and stop it.

We took maternity pictures last night with 2 of my friends. We laughed and laughed during the session. Well the girls did. Neal was entertained on his phone until he was called to take a few pictures. Again, a good sport he has been!

30 Weeks

Wow! Are we really in the 30s? Baby Girl is still growing strong. I had another uneventful (which is a good thing) doctor's appointment this week. I've gained 16 lbs, blood pressure was good, and her heart rate was about 135. I got the pertussis vaccine while I was there this time. Got all my questions answered and we talked a little about post partum. I've been reading a lot so a lot of what she told me, I already knew about. I still am perplexed with how this whole pregnancy thing works. Amazing how a baby grows from just a few cells. One of God's greatest miracles!

29 Weeks

Two Weddings and a Baptism

This weekend was a whirlwind of family celebrations. My baby cousin Candice got married in Beaumont this weekend.






Unfortunately, my dad's aunt passed away this week. The funeral was the same day as the wedding. We weren't able to make it to the funeral because we were meeting our new tenants to give them the keys to the condo.

My cousin's baby was baptized Sunday morning at church. He's 5 weeks old and has a head full of blonde hair. Here are just a handful of aunts, uncles, and cousins who have all worn the same baptismal gown.




The second wedding was a little surprise. A couple at church had a quick ceremony at the end of the service. We joked that we should have just thrown in my baby shower this weekend too and knocked out all the birds with one stone.

Sneak Peak

We went to the Inside Story to get a 4D sneak peak at Baby Girl. Mom and Karen went with us. The place was really nice. I laid on this huge bed while everyone watched the ultrasound on a big screen TV. We also had the tech check between the legs again to make sure "she" was still a "she". She was telling us that 2 women had been in that day thinking they were having girls based on what their doctors had told them and then both babies turned out to actually be boys. We'd love a boy just the same, but I can imagine the shock planning for one sex and then being told it's actually something else. Baby Girl showed us the tell-tale "3 white lines" that point to all girl.

She likes to suck on her arm.



Her squishy puffy cheeks.



When the ultrasound started, she was curled up in a ball with both hands and foot right in her face. The tech had me get up and do some exercises to try to get her to move her hands and foot so we could see her.



At one point, I guess she got irritated with us trying to move her. She ever so lady like sent us a message. Look closely where the arrow is pointing. Yes, our perfect little girl is shooting us the middle finger.



She gave us a quick shot of her face when Neal started talking to her. Good girl, start listening to your daddy now.



So, now the question is, who is she going to look like. The tech was leaning more toward Neal. From what we've seen so far, I think I'd have to agree.

Baby Becca


Baby Neal

28 Weeks

28 Weeks and she's about the size of an eggplant. She's somewhere in the 1.5 to 2.5 pound & 13.6 to 14.8 inch range.

She's still moving around a lot in there. She's got plenty of room so it's not uncomfortable yet. No jabs in the ribs or anything like that. I've been waking up around 3 every morning. I don't actually get out of bed but I can't really go back to sleep so I lay there thinking for hours.

I got a good report at my doctor's appointment on Thursday. Weight is good, blood pressure good, minimal swelling, belly measuring on track. It was a challenge to get her heartbeat because she was moving around so much when Dr. Roberts was trying to listen. Finally, we got a steady 140 beats per minute. I've now reached the mark where I go in every 2 weeks.

On Thursday we also went to interview a pediatrician. We really liked her and are going to give it a go. It's a small practice affiliated with Texas Children's Hospital.

We're getting closer!

Where It Will All Go Down

Tonight we went to the hospital to take the maternity tour. The most important thing is now we know exactly where we're supposed to go when it's game time. I had a list of questions I took with me but the lady answered all of them during her little speech so I guess they were pretty common questions. My heart melted when we saw the new little babies in the nursery. We saw the labor & delivery rooms as well as the post partum rooms where we'll be staying for a couple of days. I'm a little anxious about being in a hospital as I've never had to be admitted to one in my life. Guess there's a first time for everything.

They gave us a list of what to bring to the hopsital. Neal put his name tag at the end of the list I guess to remind me not to forget him when it's time.


On another note, I went shopping for a pair of black dressy sandals since heels are out of the question at the time. This is what I came home with instead. Random, yes, but it sure looks cute in Baby Girl's room.

Speaking of, the room is just about complete. I'm really loving how it's all coming together, especially since there's not really a theme.