Pre-Baby Fun

Monday...

10 more days till induction. This weekend was a blast. We had so much fun being together and making every moment count. Friday we went out to lunch at our spot "Shaddy's" and it was yummy. Then at night we tried to go to a movie, but it was sold out so instead we went to a restaurant and watched the Hawks game.  Saturday morning we woke up early because we can't sleep late anymore and had our coffee, took Lotte for a walk, and did all the lawn work. We ate lunch at home and then headed out to the golf course to hit some balls. It was a hot day, so I didn't wear much and I was probably the talk of the course.

Actually everyone was starring at me. One man even asked if it was possible to hit the ball with my stomach in the way.  My response was...actually I've seen men with bigger bellies who are golf pros. Surprisingly, NO it did not get in the way. The biggest problem for me was bending down to put the ball on the tee. That was the hardest part. Then after hitting some balls we headed over to WatterCreek Shopping Center. They had lots of artists showing off their painting on the streets and we got to walk around and look at all of them. We got some Gelato (banana cream pie) and then headed to Pandora. Craig wanted to get me two color charms for Mother's Day.

I got two blue charms and wore them the next day. On Mother's Day Craig took me to a restaurant called "Bonnie Ruth's" and they had a Mother's day Brunch buffet. It was very nice and came with as many Mimosa's and Peach Bellini's as you wanted. So Craig drank for both of us since we were already paying for it in the price. I think we ate a week's worth of food. We took our sweet time and spent at least two hours trying to eat slow and try everything including... blueberry crepes, french toast, eggs Benedict, bacon, spiral ham, fruit, spinach dip, salmon, yogurt, muffins, red velvet cake cupcakes, caramel bread pudding, carrot cake.. and the list goes on.

Afterwards we met a couple from our LIfe Group at church for the late service at 12:30 p.m. Then decided to go to a matinee movie "The Neighbors" at 5:45 p.m. The movie was hilarious. I mean Craig stayed up the whole time and we were both cracking up. I didn't actually want to see this movie until I saw the reviews. Critics gave it a 74 percent and users an 80 percent rating. I haven't seen a high rating like that in a long time. I was pleasantly surprised it was a perfect movie for us. It was about a couple who had a baby and a fraternity buys the house next door. They struggle with still wanting to be cool, but also being parents. I wouldn't recommend the  movie to my parents or anything, but for us it was really funny.

Had a wonderful (could be) last weekend. Wanted to add one more thing. The funny thing about Craig is he falls asleep on the couch very quickly when he's tired. It's so hard to get him to bed and put his pajamas on. On Friday he got up and made it to bed but didn't get his pj's on. He got far enough that he took his jeans off but fell asleep with them in his hands.. so what did I do? I took a picture.

Don't worry.. I warned him that I would take a picture and but it on the blog. haha

Have a great MONDAY!!


LOVE from The HOOKER'S

Black Out

It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday!!

Thunderstorms and rain all day on Thursday has kept me from posting. I couldn't save anything because of the storm yesterday. I did, however, get a lot of cleaning done because we were stuck inside all day. On the plus side I didn't have to water the plants/flowers.

I can't believe we will have our parents here soon. It's such an exciting time to have family see our new home and our new baby boy. I wish we could celebrate our Mother's WITH them this Sunday, but we will be celebrating soon!

On Wednesday night Craig and I took our last baby class. We learned all about when to call your pediatrician, how to take your babies temperature, give baths, take care of circumcisions (yikes!) and swaddling. Right now taking care of myself seems so easy compared to taking care of a newborn. I'm not worried as much anymore about the actually delivery, just want him to be healthy. I don't care HOW or WHEN he comes out...Just for him to be healthy is my main concern. I've said before he is a very chill baby. He never bothers me or kicks me to the point of hurting me. He sleeps through the night and moves a little bit throughout the day. I just remember always hearing prego's being so frustrated with the baby and the movements they make after awhile, so I feel lucky because I am perfectly content with him inside.

I went out with one of my good friends last night and her friend who has a 5 week old baby girl. It was so encouraging to see a mom out with her baby still enjoying a girls night out. This is her second baby so she is more confident this time around I'm sure. She made me realize just how fast time will fly by and I shouldn't worry too much about routine or doing things the "right" way because you only get so much time to snuggle with your little one before they grow out of it. I don't want to regret not snuggling with my lil man.

For moving to a whole new area, being pregnant, no job, practically no life (HA) God has blessed me with some awesome people in my life here. My childhood best friend Ashley, College Station MBA wife Katie, my new prego friends Cali and Johanna, my life group friends Lobelia. And these girls want to come see me in the hospital. I feel so loved!! Before we moved I thought Craig and I would be all alone at the hospital. Now I will have family and friends come see me.
Trust in God and he will provide in ways you can never imagine.

Couple more maternity photo's edited by Erin R. Photography.

Have a great weekend everyone. This could be my last weekend without a baby..all goes to plan I will have this weekend and the next. Thinking maybe Dave & Buster's this weekend or a movie date? We'll see.

LOVE YOU

Happy Hubs

Hope you are all having a good week. Mornings lately have been so enjoyable with my hubs. He gets up and reads every sports article, then reads his devotions, then either goes for a run or down some ab work outs. He is so happy. It's so nice for him to not be stressing over his job and be able to focus on other things in life. I took a pic of him this morning with his AT&T polo and you can just tell he is loving life.

I know Micah will change our morning and our lives all together, but we are so excited to give this love we have to our baby. As I'm reading "Babywise" it talks about figuring out who will do what once the baby comes home. Like chores around the house and just everyday cleaning and cooking. So the other night I told him he needed to make the coffee for the next morning. I said it's a small step, but it's something I do every night. So he finally made it right before coming to bed. I said thank you, this is just one step to doing a lot more things especially when he's off for 2 weeks. I was then laying in bed and I could smell the coffee...Yep he accidentally made a whole pot of coffee at 10 o'clock at night. I laughed really hard for awhile and thought...this is the way I have to look at things. Just laugh and know he tried. But seriously I made fun of him for awhile. 

You can prepare all you want, but we have no idea what it will be like when the baby comes. The good thing is I am sleeping through the nights again. Except I have to get up like 2 times to go to the bathroom. Other than that I am doing a lot better with sleeping. My hips don't hurt anymore. I don't know what I'm doing differently, but I am thanking God for this time I get to rest before I'm up every 3 hours.  

This week I made Southwest Pasta Salad for lunches. I really like this recipe. It makes tons of pasta and lasts us the whole week. I add chicken to it so it's more of a meal than a side dish. 

http://theharrissisters.blogspot.com/2013/07/southwest-pasta-salad.html

Thanks again for reading and keeping up with "The Hooker's" .. Don't be afraid to leave a comment!!

Happy Hump Day

37 wks

Tanning Tuesday.

Today I am going to Ashley's Pool at her apartment complex. Yay!! So excited.  

This morning I had my 37 week appointment. Everything looks good. I am measuring around 1 -2 cm dilated and 60 percent effaced. I might even go into labor on my own : ) 

Babywise book is going great. Learning so much about a healthy home environment for a baby. It's all about Parent-Directed Feedings and setting your baby up for a routine which will in the end help with sleeping. I know Craig was a big sleeper when he was a baby, but I don't want to count on chance to have a happy, sleepy baby. 16 days till induction. Are you guys ready? I don't know if I am. haha. 

Yesterday I went to Ikea and was looking for one last thing for Micah's room. I think I had been to Ikea one other time in my life and it was about 10 years ago. That place is insane!!! People asked me if I was there to start the labor process. Makes sense since it's huge. Took me forever to figure out where I was, what I wanted, and how to get it. 

I figured it out eventually. And this is what I got:

Now I need some teal organizers for the other two spots. Still want to get a couple more decorations, but it's tough when you don't have the easiest theme. Trees, owls, orange and teal and black. Not much at the baby stores that go with this room. I need to stop looking and then hopefully I will just run across something perfect. 

Hope you all had a margarita for me yesterday!! Cinco De Drinko 

LOVE

Baby Wise

Good Monday Morning

Hope you all had a great weekend. It was a hot but beautiful couple of days here in Texas. Craig and I went to a place called Garden Ridge and picked out some new decorations for our living room. It was so much fun to pick out things together. All of our decorations in our house were wedding presents or things I picked out. This was the first time we designed together. I'm telling you... for being a guy he has really good taste and is super picky. He didn't want to just get it done and over. He took his time and made sure we got all the right colors and designs. I'm really happy with the results.

We went over to another couple's home for dinner on Saturday. Craig and the guy are in the same LDP program at AT&T. They have two boys. One is 6 months and the other is almost 2 (i think). I asked what I could bring and she said a salad. So being the prego that I am I made a great salad and also found a dessert on Pinterest I couldn't pass up. Here is it:
http://www.lovewithrecipe.com/recipe/273.html

It was super easy to make... no baking and even the kids could enjoy it.

Anyways, I am not one of those new moms that is reading every book about parenting, however, since I moved here I have heard of the "Baby Wise" book several times. This book is mostly about sleeping habits and getting your kids on a schedule/routine as soon as possible. Our friends have used the book as a guide and had their kids sleeping through the night at 9 weeks old. So I downloaded the book on my phone and I am hoping to get through it before Micah gets here. That means I have 17 days to read a book, and if any of you know me I don't read very fast. I'm thinking sleeping through the night could be a life savor for me and Craig so I am going to try my best to finish it. I will update you all on what I learned from this book. 

Last night our church held a music concert releasing their new CD called "Jesus Victorious." We got to hear some of the songs they produced, and wrote. My favorite was, "Hiding Place" and the main song "Jesus Victorious" as a worship song. Here is the song online if you want to listen to it.

 https://soundcloud.com/wendychild/hiding-place

I like Wendy Child singing it better, but Tyrone is really good too. He is our worship leader at Chase Oaks.

Tomorrow is my 37 Week Appointment. I will give you an update on my progress and of course a bump pic!

LOVE YOU ALL

Friendly Friday

Happy Friday Ya'LL!!

I'm so sorry to say this....It has been so gorgeous out and I am loving this weather. Yesterday I got to go for a walk with a new friend from Life Group. She is so very nice and has a son who just turned 1 yesterday. She also moved here a year ago for her husband's job. We have a lot in common. Her house is so nice. I can't wait till we are ready to purchase a home. Don't get me wrong I do love this rental house, it's perfect. I am so grateful for what I have and look forward to the day I have a HUGE kitchen (open concept of course). I have learned a lot from HGTV House Hunters. I hope to put my knowledge from that show into action soon.

Mother's Day is around the corner and I have been thinking about all the moms in my life. My own mom, of course, mom in law, sisters, sister in law, aunts, grandma's and my mom friends. They have all been an influence in how I look at parenting. Everyone is so different, but they all have so much love for their children. I feel so lucky to be a part of a family who will do anything for one another. My mothers have shown great love for their kids and I see it everyday. Looks like this whole "mom" things is a never ending job. The rest of my life I will be a mom and I can't wait. Awhile back at The Bridge Community Church I remember Pastor Scott talking about a Mother's Love for her baby can be compared to how God loves us. A mother has a newborn that only takes and takes, needs milk, and love from his mother. The mother cannot hear her baby say I love you and thank you mom. As a mother we want to take care of the baby because they are OURS and we have unconditional love for them even though they can't return the favor. We our God's children and even though we don't always thank him for what we have or give back to him like we should, he still loves us unconditionally. I don't get to hold my baby this Mother's Day (or maybe I will) but I am thankful for all the moms in my life who can love on their babies big or small.

Craig got lucky because this Father's Day he will be celebrating being a new daddy. I can't wait!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Here is a pic of Lotte with her Sophie toy. This is the "IT" chew toy for babies. So we got one for Lotte and one for Micah.

Tour de Hospital

Thursday

Last night was our last childbirth class. I guess that means we're ready... NOT.  This morning we both woke up feeling nervous and scared of what's to come. I mean there are so many emotions right now it's hard to feel one certain way. The hospital was OK. The bed's they have for me don't look very comfortable, but I guess I'll find out. They have suite's you can upgrade too for 250-350 a night. We were considering it, but it just seems like we would regret spending all that money on a bigger room.

We also learned about C-sections and postpartum depression.  Craig didn't seem too interested in what the nurse was saying and later I learned he was upset that I would be going through all that. He said he wished he could take all the pain and go through it for me. It was kinda gross to here about how to take care of yourself after a baby comes out.

Today I'm starting the calendar countdown until baby Micah is here. I love this month. Everyone is always so happy when May comes around, and I will forever love this time.

Today I read a blog about having me-time. Something I've heard a lot about once you have a baby...there is no me-time anymore. She talked about how instead of feeling like we are giving away our time for others we should be making our me time about them.  Choosing to spend our "me time" with our babies just like Jesus chose to die on the cross for our sins. He could have chose an easier way or sent down the angels to save him, but he chose to be crucified and suffered because he loves us. This baby may take all my me-time from now on, but I will chose to love him and give myself to him wholeheartedly. Just as Jesus gave himself for me.

Praying for warmer weather for my friends and fam in Chi-town!! I love you all.