Getting ready for baby

When Tim and I were out shopping for a rocking chair we were also looking for a dresser for the baby's room. We didn't find anything we liked at a price we were willing to pay so I decided to search Craig's List. I found a dresser we both liked so we went that evening to look at it. When we got to the lady's house, she still had the crib she was trying to sell. We already had a crib but we wanted a white one and we were running out of time to get it painted so we bought another crib. : ) She also gave us a mattress, lamp, a crib music box, baby gate, toddler gate for the bed, a blanket, and a matching bed skirt. This has turned out to be a fantastic purchase. Tim can now enjoy his weekends and we are now ready for the baby. We were able to use the original crib as a frame for our full-sized bed.

Tim getting everything off the truck.

My mom and dad (aka Mimi and Granddaddy) came this weekend to help us get it all together. The result was more than I could have hoped for.

Here we are at the end of the day.

Mom helped me cut tags off all the clothes we received at the baby shower and then we washed them. We also did this with all the baby linens. Everything is now ready for the baby! We had so much fun looking at all the cute clothes and putting everything away. Here's what the room now looks like:

This is from the hall door. The changing table isn't done yet
but it will go in the corner on the left.





The decorative items the lady from Craig's List gave us worked perfectly in the room.
The blanket hanging on the wall is the one she gave us.

I wanted to include in this room some items that were special to Tim and I. The quilt rack behind the crib and the shelf over the dresser were made for us by Tim's dad. The quilt rack holds handmade blankets that were given to me while I was growing up and one or two new ones for the baby. I hung on the shelf an outfit my mom crocheted and another that my aunt made and embroidered along with a little pink dress I wore as a baby. The quilt hanger holding the blanket over the crib was made by my grandfather. The blanket on the end of the bed was made by my great-grandmother. The pictures over the bed were taken by Tim on a couple of our vacations. The yellow blanket on the chair is one my mom made for the baby. The mirror in the corner was given to us by Tim's mom along with the purple blanket hanging over the end of the bed. I digress. I guess all parents feel this way about their baby's room. It is special and I wanted to include a lot of old memories to go along with the new ones that will be created.

Tim's mom and sister, Carrie, and her boys will be here this weekend. Atticus and Isaiah are 7 months old so they'll get to test everything out. We can't wait to see them!

Giddy...

My brother Stephen just called to let me know that I'm going to be an aunt!!!! I am just beside myself with excitement. Their first appointment isn't until June 11 so they don't have a due date yet but they're guessing it'll be in February. Happy Birthday to me!

Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers in these early months. Stephen just lost his job so they're having to work out some insurance issues along with trying to find him a new job. I know it'll all work out, though. They're going to be great parents! Congratulations Stephen and Jessica!

I don't know how I'm going to get any work done today....

Baby Bump - 31 weeks

Here's my 31 week belly shot.

This was my Mother's Day present. We found a really good deal on this at La-Z-Boy. It is a rocker-recliner that swivels. We're putting it in the baby's room.

And it is incredibly comfortable!

Baby Shower Week - Monday

On Monday, we had to head back home but not before Tim made one last stop. He was very vague about why he was stopping but I had a feeling a I knew what he was up to.


After seeing all the gifts his daughter received, he decided he had to get her something. I had spotted this in Tuesday Morning a few days before but had resisted the urge to buy it. Tim decided this was something he wanted his daughter to have. I can just see them having tea parties in a few years! She already has him wrapped around her little finger...

Baby Shower Weekend - Sunday

Well, my big day finally arrived. I was so thankful to wake up feeling good especially after the trip the day before. My weekends have been touch and go over the past few months. I think getting to my parents house on Wednesday helped. It gave me time to rest.

My Aunt Mary Jane drove down from Dothan that morning and came in early. It was good to get to talk to her for a while before the shower.

Here we all are before the shower:

This is one of my favorite pictures. Don't the Burke sisters look beautiful?!

Me with Mimi and Grandaddy. What pretty flowers!

We had to get Tim in a picture!

After we took pictures, we went on to the Elks Lodge for the shower. Bonnie, Debbie and Jessica had done a beautiful job of setting up everything.

This cake was so pretty and delicious!

I loved the table decorations. The colors were perfect!

And the food! Good grief, there was a lot of food! It was all very good, as well.

Here's the gift table and my 30-week belly. Thank you Carrie for the pretty dress!

Well, we had to play some games to start things off. The object of this game was to get as many cotton balls in the bowl as you could with your eyes closed. Well, Bonnie kept moving the bowl around which made it very difficult but more fun to watch.

I only managed to get one picture of my sister-in-law, Jessica.
Here she is trying very hard to get the cotton in the bowl.

After the games, it was gift time! We received so many wonderful gifts. I can not express how wholly appreciative I am of everyone's generosity. It was a lot of fun.

Speaking of everyone, here are the guests:


Let the gift unwrapping begin!

Jessica wrote down all the gifts and who they were from
which was tremendously helpful later on.

Here's the blanket my mom knitted.

Here's a play mat/tunnel from Jessica, Debbie, Melissa, Bonnie, Thelma, and Valerie.
They all went in together and bought our baby a whole bunch of stuff
including this, a diaper bag, and a travel bed. Tim and I have
already put this together and are looking forward to watching the baby
enjoy it.

We received a lot of adorable outfits including this one that says "Cutelicious."
It came with some cute bloomers.

We also got this outfit from Mary Jane that she made. I can't wait to see the baby in it!
Isn't it gorgeous?!

My last gift was from my mom. As you will see, I was a bit surprised.

Yes, that is a very large sack!
(Also, thank you to Beth for helping keep the gifts well sorted after they came around the table.)

What was inside this sack? Stuffed animals, an entire wardrobe, diapers,
wipes, and other assorted baby paraphernalia. My mom had apparently been
doing a lot of shopping.


My dad had to add something to it. He found this cute denim Auburn jumper for her.

As you can see, we had a great time. When we got back to my parents' house, we took everything out of the car for Tim and my dad to look at. It was fun to go through it all again. Tim and I took a lot of things out of their packages once we got home so we could see them all put together. We feel like we have everything we need now and then some.

Baby Shower Weekend - Saturday

Sorry for the delay folks! I was trying to master a slideshow feature in Picasa to display all of our pictures from this weekend and it is taking too long so I'll just share the highlights.

Mom and I drove to Dothan on Saturday to attend my cousin Drew's wife's baby shower. I don't see my family in Dothan very often and they weren't going to be able to make it down on Sunday for my shower due to Burke's First Communion that day. Leslie looked great! She is due at the end of August and is also having a girl.

Here's a picture of me, Leslie, and my cousin Courtney:


The shower was wonderful. Courtney made all kinds of delicious treats including a twelve layer cake with chocolate icing.

Mom got Leslie's baby a bathtub along towels and wash cloths.
Check out this bathtub! It has a spa feature!

After most of the guests left, Courtney, Debbie and Leslie gave me gifts!

Our baby girl got a new bathtub, as well!
She'll have her own pink throne to bathe in.

Leslie got her an adorable outfit with a matching sun hat.

Debbie got us a boppy pillow and some adorable onesies.
I'm including this picture because my mom found it funny.

Thank you Aunt Debbie!

Mom and I had a wonderful time. It was great to visit with everyone. I just wish we had more time and that we had gotten to see all the fellows!

Allow a big sister a moment

Allow me to brag on my brothers a bit. When I left home at 18, Stephen was 16, Chase was 12 and Patrick was all of 8 years old. It is still an adjustment when I go home and I see my brothers all grown up into such handsome young men. They have become really wonderful and interesting young adults and I couldn't be prouder of them. Unfortunately while I was home, I didn't get to see as much of Stephen as I would have liked since he was working and Mom and I went out of town on Saturday so I didn't get any pictures of him. I am impressed, though, by his domesticity. He is always working on his house. I had no idea he had such skills!

I got pictures from Chase of his trip to California. The man can take some pictures! And he had such a beautiful part of the country as his subject matter. Here's a sampling:




I finally took some pictures of Patrick's art work while I was home, as well. Patrick loves to play with shapes. I asked him where he gets his ideas from and he says he just starts. He loves morphing an image into another image. Trees, eyes, unicycles, and oddly figured people are a favorite in his paintings Here's a taste:

He's been using a lot of natural materials, lately.
Here he has used moss and limbs to frame the picture.

This is one of my favorites. I like the colors and the simplicity of it.