One Hand Countdown!

Tomorrow we begin 35 weeks with Natalie!!!!!!
That means you can count how many weeks I have left on ONE HAND!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm trying not to lose it with excitement and anxiety!
My thoughts lately:
"There is SO much left to do before she arrives! How will I have time to do it all"?
"What if she comes EARLY!!!! She won't come early. Most first babies come late. Surely, she won't come early. There have been NO signs of early labor or pre term labor. I haven't even had Braxton Hicks contractions. SURELY SHE WON'T COME EARLY! But, maybe she will and HOW FUN WILL THAT BE!"
"Do I rush to do all my projects now and risk sitting around bored waiting and waiting for her to come or do I space it out and just finish them sometime after she's here..."
"Where will I be when I go into labor? What will it feel like? How will I know?"
"I HOPE I'M NOT IN A PUBLIC PLACE WHEN MY WATER BREAKS!!!!!"
"What if I go into labor while we are at Neil's family's for Christmas? Do we try to drive back? It's only an hour, surely we'd make it back... right?"
"What will she look like?" "Will she have curly, red hair? Please, to satisfy everyone elses' desires, let her have curly, red hair!"
"I CAN'T WAIT FOR HER TO GET HERE!!!"


So, to say the least my mind has been VERY FULL of thoughts and errands, yet I feel like I don't have the time to put my thoughts together or run my errands! Hopefully next week I can start tackling my "To-Do Before Natalie" Lists.
Yes lists is plural.

Other than feeling like I have SO much to do and NO time to do it, I'm doing really well. I wake up a little achy and my back usually hurts by the end of the day, and I'm fighting a sinus/cold thing I got from Neil this weekend, but these are SO MINOR compared to what others experience. Pregnancy has still been VERY easy and I'm still amazed and humbled that it has been this way. I don't desire it and really believe it is evidence of God's grace on me. I feel like I deserve to be sick and have problems as a 'punishment' for not 'waiting well' all last year as we struggled with getting pregnant. I know this isn't the Gospel and that God does NOT punish his children, yet pours grace upon grace on them even in discipline. But I can struggle with that thought at times.
Since I'm almost eight months pregnant, I feel HUGE!!!!!!!! I look HUGE!!!!!!!!! I saw a picture of myself from the baby shower this past weekend and was AMAZED! I had no idea! How can I get any bigger?! I haven't gained too much wait, but I guess because I'm short it just doesn't have anywhere to go!

I'll keep you posted as we continue to count down till we see our sweet Natalie!

Thanksgiving Shower

Here is a little teaser for where we are at with Natalie's room!
We are slowly but surely moving along with getting things together and I'm excited about the ideas I have for decorating, now just to find the time to sit down and sort out my brain to know where to start first!

This weekend, along with Thanksgiving festivities, we had a baby shower at my parent's house. It was a "small", if you count just over 20 people small, family shower. It was a sweet time to see family and to celebrate Natalie with them. Here are a few highlights:



Yummy food table



Fancy Baby Cake


Table decor'



Fortune Cooke Party favors
that say:

"Thank you for sharing my special day" Natalie Jane Williams

Here's a sample of the fun, sweet gifts Natalie received

Sweet family to celebrate with!

I promise more people were there, but I'm too tired right now to load the pictures. We have one more baby shower this weekend with Neil's family and I am looking forward to celebrating with them! Hopefully there will be pictures to share!

Bitter Sweet

This weekend I had my first Baby Shower and it was PERFECT! The ladies in our small group at church threw it for me and invited family, out of town friends from college, and friends here in town. I was so blessed and overwhelmed with so much love, encouragement, excitement, and support! Natalie was ALSO blessed with lots of great clothes and books! My friend, Melanie, had the great idea of asking for people to give a copy of their favorite childhood book and write on the inside cover instead of giving cards. Neil and I were both SO excited to receive so many great books for Natalie. Now I'm definitely praying that she will be a reader and a learner!

Here are some highlights from the shower:

sweet baby booties made by Grandmama (Neil's mom)

best friends from college (minus Brittany who couldn't make it)
Fun fact: We each have a baby right now! (4 of us pregnant and Liz with 2 1/2 month old baby John!) I will cherish this picture!



Left picture: Grandmama, Aunt Claire, and Aunt Olivia
Right picture: my Aunt Wendy, Natalie's Great Aunt

This shower was also on a somewhat bittersweet day as well. It was on Nov. 5th, the 5 year anniversary of my mom's death. I really miss her and know that she would have LOVED this shower and would have LOVED Natalie so well. I miss talking with her about being pregnant and asking her questions about parenting. I know we would not agree on everything, but she and my dad did so many things well that I want to model in my parenting.

Here is a picture of her at one of her baby showers when she was pregnant with me:


My mom stayed so small when she was pregnant with me! She only gained 15 pounds!!!!! My dad says you really couldn't tell she was pregnant till like the last two months. I haven't stayed quite that small thanks so inheriting my dad's sweet tooth, but I have stayed in the healthy range of weight gain so I'm satisfied. This picture of me isn't great, but I loved that you could see my baby belly pretty clearly.

Here are two last pictures:


Left picture: 30 weeks
Right picture: 31 weeks
Somehow I look smaller in the 31 week picture. Maybe because it is a maternity shirt and the 3o week picture is a regular shirt???