Maternity Photo Shoot

Here they are.  It was a little toasty outside during these but we pushed through and I even managed to get some heels on AND my wedding ring.  Things are swelling and I pretty much didn't do anything else after these were taken.  

Picture on the left is one of our engagement pics.

Almost 5 years later.....here we are again.

Thanks for taking the time to view our growing family.

April

Baby update

Sixty eight days. 68 days.

That's the countdown until my due date.

I cannot believe it is creeping up that fast.  We went to a birthing class this past weekend and learned a little bit of helpful information.  I learned that when you don't get an epidural you scream and moan and go through a lot of pain.  At least the girl in the video did.  I've been a little scared of the epidural needle but they showed it to us and it wasn't as intimidating as I thought it might be.  Bring it! I can take it.

Our past couple of appointments the doctor has talked to us about Evelyn measuring a little over a week ahead and said it's possible that she may be a big baby.  Ouch! What exactly does that mean?  Big head and shoulders being pushed out my business? Earlier due date? C-section?  It makes me a little nervous but as long as she is okay and healthy that is all that matters.  I'll do whatever is best for her.

As nervous as I'm getting I'm also getting really excited.  Lots of fun stuff coming up before she gets here and even more fun afterwards. My first baby shower is happening on the 25th at work and my friends and family shower is happening June 9th.  Very excited for the both of them! But before these fun things take place we are doing our maternity pictures this Saturday and then going to Branson for our "baby moon"on the 18th for the weekend.  It will be nice to get out of town and just hang out with the husband and do some shopping and have this free time together before Evelyn gets here.  Cause once she gets here it's gonna be a whole new scene in the house.  And I'm ready for it.

Her room is pretty much done besides one wall that  I just don't want to rush to finish it. It will come together when it's time.  I've been going over our registries several several several times to make sure we have added everything on there that we will for sure need. (And some extras that are too cute not to add.)

I was surprised with this little number this weekend from my husband.

LOVE it! I've had this on my Pinterest board for awhile and now it's mine.

My sleep has definitely been interrupted.  Lots of trips to the bathroom and lots of tossing and turning just to get comfortable.  And I'm only going to get bigger and my bladder more squashed.  It's all worth it though.  But I will be ready to get back to normal.  I was asked the other day if I will miss being pregnant and I think a piece of me will.  Feeling her squirm around is a pretty cool feeling but to see her squirm in person is going to be so much better.

I did finish my new album and one of the tracks is one I wrote for Evelyn.  Hoping I can figure out how to put the audio on here so you can give it a listen.   I play it for her every day :)

Time for some Idol!

Enjoy your weekend,

April

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my favorite royal couple!!

Should've worn my tiara today.

Baby update coming soon.  The countdown is on!  My stomach gets a little bit rounder every day.  My regular shirts that I used to fit in are slowly starting to make me look like Gus Gus.

At least I'm still wearing pants :)

Have a good week! 

April

ROWELL RECAP

Oh goodness! Here I go again not keeping up with my blog like I want to.  Some of my absence is due to being busy.  Some of it due to being tired.  And some of it due to my right arm hurting.  The job I do (and have done for 11 years now) involves A LOT of ten key and mouse work.  Constantly moving my wrist and arm and clicking clicking clicking.  It's bothered me from time to time over the years but I usually just stretch it out and it feels better.

I read recently that pregnant women are more prone to carpel tunnel so I got checked out by employee health and they think it's very possible that it's hurting me more than usual because I am pregnant.  The doctor told me "Once you deliver the baby, you will deliver this."  They gave me a brace to wear and came over and looked at my work space to see if I was sitting properly.  The only thing they want to change up is to give me a roll top mouse and an ergonomic keyboard all while wearing the brace.  So not happy about it.  I DO NOT like the ergonomic keyboard.  I DO NOT like the roll top mouse.  And I DO NOT like this brace.  It's making my hand hurt worse.  I even tried sleeping with it and I woke up with my thumb completely numb.  I really hope this fades because it's driving me nuts.

Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good.  Evelyn is swishing around a whole lot these days.  Sometimes it catches me off guard and makes me jump.  We had our monthly checkup last week and everything is looking good.  She is measuring a little over a week ahead of schedule but my stomach was measuring right on track so they said it's possible that she may be a big baby.  My first thought was "I have to push that out."  We were also told that she could have hit a growth spurt or the ultrasound could just be a little off.  I did pass my glucose test so I know we are safe there.  

I can't believe how fast this is going by.  I'm 7 months today.  There will be a child in this house in the next 3 months and it's both exciting and scary.  Our worlds are about to change.  Phoebe has no idea what's about to happen.

Here's a little recap on wants been going on since the last post.

I made a picture for over Evy's crib.

Her room is completely done except for one wall.  That will have to just wait until I get really inspired to put something there.

A little sneak peak of her room.

I celebrated my 31st birthday with some Hideaway Pizza and some Cherry Berry.

I stumbled upon this dog just peaking out of Evy's room.

We had a stare off for a few minutes.  She just kept peaking out.

Not sure what she was up to.

So I made her pose in front of the crib.

We attended our friends wedding last weekend.

And today.....

I'm 28 weeks along.....

Promise I will try to do better with my updates.  The closer the due date gets the more I realize I have a lot of stuff to do before she gets here.  Tonight.....we doing some Pediatrics research.

Happy Dancing With The Stars results night!

April

Ps--I'm working on a new look for the blog so it's a work in progress right now.  Could be totally different the next time you check in.

I'm Sexy And I Know It??

It's time to admit something. It's time to whine.  It's time to complain.

It used to always bug me when I would hear and read about pregnant women complaining about how large they looked or how whale like they were becoming.  My first thought - YOU.ARE.PREGNANT!  You are not large, you are an adorable life toting lady.

Well guess what?  I've joined the bigger than a whale club.  I swear it happened over night.

I'm gaining weight and I know that is good and I don't mind the scale going up one bit.  When we went in for our last check up I was up 14 pounds and my doctor said it was a little on the high side but it was okay because my weight before had been down so I was good.  

As long as Evelyn is heathy that is all I care about it.

However, I can see the change in my body.  If there was any tone on my body at all before this pregnancy I can tell you now that it no longer exists.  Everything to me just looks bloated and swollen.  My ankles are ballooning up every day it seems.  I have started walking Phoebe and doing some extra laps around the neighborhood without her since its been nice and I need to get some physical activity in but by the time I get back to the house I have no ankles and my feet are throbbing.  And I have a few more months to go!

It doesn't help that when I see people at work they tell me how huge I'm getting.  I know they are talking about the baby bump because I feel like there has been a growth spurt over the weekend.  She's a growing girl and I like it! But it's still never a good feeling to hear "you're huge!"

Evelyn's room is completely finished except for the walls.  Still looking for ideas.  I did buy a canvas and a big E so I'm going to see what I can come up with.  

Evy's closet is another story.....I am quickly running out of room in the rest of the house to stash things.  Her closet was my secret hiding spot for all my junk.  Now it all has to move out.  And I've done such a good job getting rid of stuff and throwing stuff away.  You'd be proud of me!

My mother-in-law really put it into perspective the other day when she emailed to tell me Happy 25 Weeks and followed that up with "only 15 weeks to go!"  Holy Cow!!! I hadn't thought of it that way.  Totally got me stoked for the arrival of this precious baby girl that has Moves Like Jagger in my stomach :)

Speaking of 25 weeks.....let's see what it looks like.....

Last week we celebrated my cousin Kaycee's birthday so here are some shots from that fun Dave and Buster's night.

Donnie and Amber

Don't worry, the mustache is gone now.

It was not a welcome addition to our family.

I fear it may come back.

Sister, neice and nephew

Birthday Girl!

Trying to answer trivia.

I lost.

Still being serious.

Our ticket sash.

Like I said.....the mustache is gone.

Big ticket night! Zach hit the 1000 ticket light.

The kids were freaking!

Now if he could only do that at the casino.

Enjoy your weekend!

April

HALF A YEAR

6 Months. 6 MONTHS!!! I can't believe I am already that far along.  Baby Evelyn is going to be here before I know it.  We've done a lot in the past few weeks getting ready for her.  Her wardrobe has grown a little bit, her room is painted and the crib is up.  We have done our registering and keep adding to it every week.  We are ready!  My bump seems to be growing every minute.

I have to say that my second trimester treated me well.  My morning all day sickness went away. My appetite is slowly coming back.  Which may not be a good thing.  At my appointment last Monday I was up 14 pounds and I was told that was a little on the high side.  I walked twice last week and was a little more mindful of what I ate :)  Now that the weather is getting nicer I'm sure I will be taking more trips around the block.

I can't show you pictures yet of Evy's room cause it's not quite finished yet.  All the furniture and bedding is in but the walls are completely blank.  Not sure what I want to put up yet.  My biggest dilemma is deciding what to put over her crib.  I thought about the whole name thing but I really don't think I want to do that.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's totally cute and it was my first thought but I really think I want to go a different route.  Maybe a decorative E with some cute stuff around it??? Maybe a collection of framed art??? A sweet saying stuck on the wall????  I need some ideas!!!  Help me!

Other than this hold up, everything is going good.  Phoebe, on the other hand, might have something different to say about it.  Her crate has been in the "baby room" since we've had her (3 years now) and that's the spot she's used to.  Come Monday we had a little stand off in the kitchen.  Usually I tell her to go up and I show her a treat snack.  Sometimes she goes right in the crate, sometimes I have to give her a lick and then she decides she wants to go up.  Well, Monday she took her lick and took off to her old room only to find that the crate was no where to be found.  I directed her to her new location.  She stood in front of the crate and stared for a moment, gave me the elevator glance, looked back at the crate and took off to the living room.  I guess she decided she wasn't staying there that day.  This led to us having an almost wrestling match on the couch until I finally grabbed ahold of her collar and led her back to her new room.  She cried for a little bit and it broke my heart but the rest of the week got better. 

This week - so far so good.

Zach finally got to feel and see Evy move for the first time.  She has been a little wiggle butt for the past several days.  It feels so weird! Sometimes even makes me feel a little nauseated.  But I love it! It's pretty cool!!!

24 Weeks!!

I feel that I look really crazy in this picture.  I woke up at 2:45 this morning and haven't been back to sleep since.  I took this picture before I left to work this morning and was very shocked at how puffy I look and the dark circles under my eyes.  What is a fix for that?  I've already had 2 different people at work tell me about them.  I tried my best to take them out in this picture but you can only do so much with iPhoto.

Forgive the hair.  It went up because it's been very rainy and it would just be a waste of time to straighten it. 

A tiny preview of the room.

Phoebe's checking the scene.

Look at daddy go! 

Evelyn had a few surprises in the mail today.  

Of course daddy had to get her a Cardinals jacket!

Hope everyone is having a great week so far.

I'm doing my absolute best to enjoy mine.  The pregnancy hormones have struck big time in the past 2 weeks and for most of my day I spend it visualizing choking people out.

But only the ones who truly deserve it ;)

April

Jessica Simpson.....I'm Sorry

Well, this is a post I thought I would never in my life do.  Jessica Simpson and I haven't always had the best relationship.  Back in the Myspace days I did a little blog about how she was my enemy and I pretty much wanted nothing more than for her to fail.  Mean, huh? It was around the time I saw her on the cover of People magazine saying how she was in looooove with John Mayer.  Tramp! How dare she get involved with my man!! The nerve.

I've turned a new leaf over the years and I'm now able to profess publicly how I really feel about her.

I like her.  I'm a fan.

I like that she pretty much gets crapped on by the media and everyone else and still stands tall and succeeds.  I admire her for that.  I've read that after she has her baby that she may be the spokesperson for Weight Watchers.  I plan to get on Weight Watchers after I have Evelyn.  Before I got pregnant with her I was on Weight Watchers and lost 7 pounds in about 3 weeks.  It was the only thing I came across that I could really watch what I ate without counting calories.  I tried Fitness Pal and Lose It! but I don't feel they were successful because it was just counting calories, which is good, but I like how Weight Watchers counts everything about the food, not just the calories.

So, Jessica, if you ever stumble across this little ol' blog please except my apologies from being a jealous hater.  That's not me.....anymore.

Now, I'm not going to run out and have my pictures taken in this pose, but she looks great! 

Happy International Woman's Day!

April