Phil Hard at Work

Throughout our preparations for little Ridley, Philip has been doing a lot of work. He put together the crib, the cradle we just borrowed, and our new high chair (thanks, Corinne!). Not to mention he completely refinished the glider (thanks to Stephanie for reupholstering the cushions)! Here are a few pictures:

Putting together the high chair.

Finished!

Testing it out.

The monkey seems to approve.

This is the BEFORE picture of the glider.

Philip spray painting the frame.

The finished product! That monkey is a bit of a camera hound.

32 and 34 Week Belly Photos

Last couple of belly photos:

32 weeks 1 day

34 weeks and 1 day

Pictures from Ridley's Shower (8/8/2010)

Some choice photos of the shower! Again, thank you Christy and Stephanie!!

The cake!

The spread.

Yummy!

Christy (aka Stina), one of the hosts, with the yummy food. She made a lot of it herself! Including the mac n' cheese muffins, pasta salad, and mango/avocado salsa. So good!

The party favors that Stephanie handmade! The birds matched the ones she made on my one-of-a-kind mobile!!

Balloon decorations.

I'm not sure what I'm doing here, but this is while opening up gifts.

Wendy (Grandma!), LaKishia and Crystal enjoying some food and conversation.

Cousin Titus enjoying his food.

Family shot! Me, Aunt Tammi, Cousin Titus, Cousin Karen, Aunt Christy and Aunt Evelyn. Muah!

Aunt Tammi and Cousin Titus with Kacy by their feet.

Heather making her onesie!

Some of the onesies.

Christy, LaKishia, me, Rose and Crystal.

With my hosts!

Summer won the door prize! Though obviously she'll have to wait until after Jovanni makes his arrival to partake!

About to cut the cake.

Can't wait to meet you, Ridley!

Ridley Moving!

Here are a couple of videos of Ridley moving around! I didn't know that they would turn out so well, but you can really see her. She's moving around the best towards the end of the first video and at the beginning of the second video.

**The second video is sideways. I couldn't figure out how to turn it around! But Ridley's movement is so noticeable in it, I decided to post it anyway!

Seeing and feeling her move never ceases to fascinate me. It's just crazy/incredible!!

Hospital Tour

After finally getting all of Ridley's things from the shower into place in her nursery this weekend, Phil and I took a hospital tour Sunday afternoon. We joined a lobby fully of pregnant women and their husbands/children. A nurse came down and showed us around the different units and wards. It sort of felt like the march of the pregnant women!
We started off with check-in where we received forms that allow us to pre-register. This is great because now we won't have to fill out a bunch of paperwork the day of. Then we moved on to the labor and delivery rooms and finally ended on the mother/child rooms on the top floor (also the floor with the nursery).
I'm definitely glad we went through the tour. I have a good picture in my mind of where I'll be when I meet Ridley and the tour definitely made it pretty real for me!

Appetizer Photos

Here are a couple of photos from the photo shoot I posted about yesterday! These are the only ones I get to see for another four weeks or so, but if they are any indication of the way the others turned out, I think I'm going to be one happy pregnant lady! (And welcome Philip's image to the blog! yay! about time...)

Both photos taken by Dana Jackson of Dana Jackson Photography. (You can find more of her work here: www.danajacksonphotography.com and here: danajacksonphotography.blogspot.com).

32 weeks, 3 days along!

Ridley's Baby Shower

Yesterday (Sunday) was a big day because we had our baby shower! It was so much fun and everything went so smoothly and wonderfully. I can't thank everyone enough who came out, who gifted Ridley with all sorts of incredible things, and who helped celebrate this little girl whom I can't wait to meet and introduce to everyone. Special thanks to the organizers of the event, my aunt Christina (aka Stina) and my friend Stephanie Hagens (who also designed the invitations). It was a great time. I can't wait to share photos and videos to show off all the hard work these two put into making the shower a wonderful memory.

Phil had his own shindig next door at the neighbor's house. While we were oohh-ing and ahhh-ing over onsies and booties, Phil and his buddies grilled out and had a little barbecue. Thanks to our neighbor Kris who helped him celebrate with the boys!

Photos and videos to follow of course.

Photo Session

Last week Phil and I were able to take some professional maternity photos. A photographer, whom my childbirth educator knew, organized a photography workshop weekend with 22 photographers. They used the workshop to trade ideas and teach their specialties. Since they needed models, I was able to get a session with all 22 of them for free! Phil and I went on the day they shot at the beach (they also shot in a park area and downtown/"urban" area). We took photos for about an hour and it was a lot of fun!

At first the photographers tried to divide into groups (one group doing maternity shots with Philip and me, another group doing family shots, and another doing engagement/couple shots). But the weather was threatening rain the entire time we were out there, so organization of the afternoon seemed to fold a bit. Photographers were jumping in and out of groups (all the "models" were in pretty close proximity to each other on the beach) and often the entire group of 22 photogs would be snapping away all at once on one model/model set.

By the end of the session, Phil and I had all of the photographers taking our picture at once, paparazzi style. They had me laying on my side in the sand with my shirt pulled up to show off the belly with Phil behind me and the tide coming up to our feet and lower legs. It was hilarious. But funnier still when one of the photographers came up close to us and asked, "We were wondering if you wouldn't mind taking your shirt off." At first I thought, "What kind of photos are we taking?!" But then she quickly said, "Oh no, not you! Your husband!" I don't know how they did it, but they got Phil to get shirtless for the last few shots! Absolutely crazy.

Of course I can't wait to see how these pictures turn out. I don't know when I'll be getting to lay eyes on them, but I was promised two of the best photos from each photographer!

Childbirth Classes Over

Phil and I had our last childbirth class on August 1st. We both feel better prepared, or at least think we now know better what to expect. And it gave us some great ideas for pain management. If nothing else, it gave Philip the opportunity to torture me with ice cubs, packs, and water (in an effort to simulate a contraction Phil would put an ice cube or pack on my skin for a minute or he would put my hand/foot in ice water for a minute so I could practice using the pain management techniques we learned).
I'm still reading, exercising and being conscious of what I eat all in an effort to have a good labor. It is definitely my intention to have a natural childbirth, so I hope that it works out.

Busy Busy Busy

I haven't made a single post to the blog in August until now. This isn't due to a lack of updates, but due to a lack of time to update! I've been pretty busy with various things that I haven't had time to upload photos and videos. But trust me, I have quite a few to share with you all. I can share what we've been up to and am going to follow it with some photos and videos later in the week!