here you go....

so, finally here are some pictures of the nursery. We bought some decals from Babies 'R' Us, and now it looks like a little girl's room! I love it! There's no crib for now, since we're using a cradle that Quenton's grandpa made, but there's room in the nursery for one when we do get it. I'll probably change things after she's here, but at least it's mostly organized for now. :) (hope you enjoy the pictures, Sheri!)

soon.....

so things started happening last night that make me believe that this little girl will be coming on the weekend. I'm excited, nervous, anxious, and loving the idea that my little girl will finally be home! I was thinking that I'd just go for walks with Quenton and the dogs to get things going, but I think just having my doctor's appointment yesterday was enough to kick-start things. I still feel like there are things that I'd still like to do, but I don't think anything can compare to holding our little baby. :)

Oh, and we got some maternity pictures taken on Monday, so here's a few to see. :) Thanks Kim!!!!

thankFUL

so it's been a good/busy weekend :) Quenton has been working 12 hour days, and we had been praying that he'd be able to get this job done before the weekend so we could visit my family and help celebrate my nephew's 1st Birthday. Well, by Thursday we thought that he'd have to work all weekend and we'd miss out on visiting family. Of course things turned out ok, and Quenton got off early Friday and had the whole weekend off. I love how prayers are answered! With Thanksgiving this last weekend, there really was so much for me to be thankful for. My brother-in-law was in a car accident last week, and although he was ok, he was very nearly not ok. His accident had us all thinking how quickly things can change, and how lives can become so different. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father watches out for our loved ones, and even though terrible things can happen, He knows how to comfort and heal us when we need it.
Anyway, my nephew turns 1 today, and his party on Saturday was so fun! I love visiting with family, and even though it was short, it was nice to get away. Happy Birthday, Zachary!
We finally got our maternity shots taken yesterday (photos to follow soon) and, as silly as it may sound, I now feel like this little girl can come anytime. :) I can't imagine how our lives are going to change, but I guess we're going to adjust :) We pretty much have everything we need, so I'm just trying to finish decorating the nursery. I think I'd like to get some blocks to spell out her name to have sitting out on the ledge. I just have to figure out where to get them and how much I want to spend. :) I'm hoping that I'm not overdue, at least not by too much. She'll come when she's ready, so I think I just need to be patient. It's been a good year, and there really are so many things to be thankful for. :)

as of late......

so, Quenton has been working wicked long hours, and I'm ok with it just because it's more $$$ for baby and for our needs. However, I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed with the little things that I'm trying to accomplish here. I haven't been sleeping very well (typical in pregnancy, I know), so I often feel pretty groggy throughout the day. I've had some really productive days, though, and I felt so good at the end of those days. But, then the next day I see that I again have some dishes to do, more vacuuming, more laundry, organizing, and making lists of things I'd like to buy or do before baby comes, and I feel like it's all never ending. Maybe that's supposed to be normal in pregnancy too, but it makes it a lot harder knowing that there are things that I need to improve upon SPIRITUALLY as well before baby arrives. Where to begin?? Our home teacher talked about reading the Book of Mormon and how wonderful it is, and I was reminded of how infrequent I've been studying. How could I do that??? I need to be a better example for my family, and now's not the time to be slothful.
After talking to Q about testimonies and how now is NOT the time to be a fence-sitter, I wanted more than anything to improve those habits that will help our children know where we stand, and hopefully know where they stand. I like to think that even if we weren't expecting our first baby, that we would still pick up on the seriousness of our own spiritual standing and of those around us.
So, in a nutshell, I feel overwhelmed with the temporal things -cleaning, cooking, organizing- mostly because I don't want to have it all overpower me after the baby comes, and I feel an urgency to improve on my family's spiritual well-being. To repeat myself, where to begin?? I suppose with the temporal things, just doing what I can is sufficient. With the spiritual matters, I need to begin at the beginning. Just the simple steps that we all know of - reading, praying, keeping my testimony strong - is a good place to start. I suddenly feel the urge to preach repentance like in the good ol' mission days, but I'll refrain for now. :)
So, having said all that, I want to start being more domestic and bake more (it's amazing how much you can do when you don't have school and work getting in your way!) and to become the kind of mother mine was to me. I have a long list, and only 20 days to get things in order, but as long as I take the first step, I think everything will be ok. :)