We set the date!

Emmalee Claire Welch will arrive on April 30, 2010.
We can't wait! The countdown begins NOW: 67 days!

More check marks

keep appearing on my to do list. Thanks to all of my helpers!

My sweet Mama took care of the spray painting. I'm so thankful, I don't think I could have smelled that paint to get the job done. We eventually want paneled closet doors. But, until then $6 worth of spray paint will do! And my wicker porch furniture desperately needed a new coat of paint. They haven't been painted in several years and have even been tossed in a tornado since their last coat. Why this has to be done before Emmalee arrives, is beyond me. I guess it's a nesting thing.

Emmalee's room

I'm almost finished, just a few little things left to do. And as much as I would love to say: "oh I spent a fortune on this room." Well that just isn't me or how I do things. So, here is the rundown of a nursery on a budget!Crib: gifted to us from my sister when Annagrace was born.
Crib bedding: Bumper $6, sheet $6, skirt $2.50, yellow fabric on skirt $5
Changing Table: Craigslist find $25 (including pad and cover)
Dark Pink Paint: $23 (light pink was from Annagrace's room)
Vinyl sign: a giftChest of Drawers: Salvation Army $25 Yellow paint $15
Mirror: Free (used to be in our bathroom)
Green Chair: had for a while originally I got it at a yard sale for $10
Crib quilt: $15 for fabric
Painting: I painted in middle school
Curtain: White shower curtain $2.50, yellow fabric on bottom $5
My last big project was this tree and I love it. It's the perfect solution for what to put above a crib that a baby can't pull on or can't fall off of the wall. The instructions, if you are interested, will be on my craft blog.
Tree mural supplies: $10
Grand Total $150

more pictures

Annagrace showing off her new bedding.

Her hair is a mess, but she just got out of the tub.
And another belly shot. 29 weeks.
(I like this one better than the last one.)

Have I told you lately . . .

how amazing my husband is?? Today started off with him (along with my Dad) making the trip to Home Depot for a NEW sliding glass door!!!! (a major item on the "To Do List") He spent the next 4+ hours installing the door. During this door install the FedEx truck arrived with my Valentine's present (and early Birthday) . . . MY LENS!!!! I'm so excited I got it early. I'll have time to play with it and really figure it out before Emmalee gets here. I'm in love with it already! I took a couple of random photos around the house (these are straight out of the camera - no Photoshop involved!):And then to top it off, tonight at 10:30 I had a craving for a Twinkie. What did Tyler do?? He headed out to Walmart for some Twinkies. Walmart didn't have any Twinkies so he also had to go to Winn Dixie. But, he came home with my Twinkies.
He is such a great Daddy too. Yesterday they sent everyone home early because of the snow. He came home started some hot chocolate, carefully selected snowman body parts with Annagrace, bundled himself and her up, and headed out into the cold. He built a HUGE snowman for our little munchkin and helped her decorate him. They threw snowballs and ran around in the wet mess. (I was safe on the porch, taking pictures.) He is so patient and fun with her.
I love you so much!
Happy Valentine's Day.
I'm so excited that I get to spend every single Valentine's with you.
(BTW: my amazing parents also spent the day at my house helping to check off items on my list. I don't know what I would do without them! Dad helped with the door and my Mom even helped me scrub the mystery crud out of the bottom of the fridge.)

Snow Day

Something New

I had the pleasure of learning tonight that you can develop an allergy to pretty much anything while pregnant. Me, well I have a pregnancy induced allergy to seafood. Within 10 mins of finishing my shrimp and fish at Red Lobster tonight, my palms started itching . . . then my jaw . . . then my neck . . . it just kept spreading. We went straight to Walmart to get some Benadryl where the Pharmacist told me I couldn't take antihistamines while pregnant. But, I specifically remember seeing it on my "okay to take" med sheet my doctor gave me. They have it listed as a sleep aid. I bought it anyway and called the oncall OB/GYN while chugging down the suggested dosage. At this point, my entire torso was itching and I had large lumps and hives swelling on both sides of my neck. The on call doctor promptly returned my call and confirmed exactly what I thought. ANYTHING is possible during pregnancy and the Benadryl is completely safe. He suggested I take it along with a cold shower to help with the itching but if it progressed to difficulty breathing or wheezing to go to the ER for an Epinephrine shot.
About an hour later the itching, hives, and swelling had gone away. AND I will not be eating anymore seafood for the next 10 weeks.

Count down

Well folks, believe it or not, we are already at 28 weeks. And for me that means only 10 more weeks until Emmalee arrives. {C-sections are scheduled at 38/39 weeks.} This pregnancy, while hard, has gone by really fast. It's getting down to the wire and I have SOOO much to do. Last night I put together my whole "To Do List" . . . yep, it's THREE pages long-typed-single spaced. I don't know what my hang up is, but I feel like the house has to be in perfect condition to bring a baby home to. There are things like pressure wash the outside of the house, paint the eaves and windows, clean out flower beds, paint kitchen cabinets . . . . it goes on and on. My first priority is her room and if I focus on one room at a time, I might be able to get it done. And honestly, several of the things are really going to fall into Tyler's lap, because I'm just not able to do them. I just hope he's on board with the obsession! There is so much to do that I don't think I'm going to be able to save it up for my off weeks. So, right now I'm headed to the sewing machine to finish up Emmalee's curtains and dust ruffle instead of going back to sleep. {Then maybe I can actually give Angie's machine back to her. Thank you, thank you, thank you Angie} I'll post pictures with the finished project and some of the projects in progress {because right now they sound really fun!!}

Belly Picture

Okay, here is a belly picture. It's not the greatest, but I had Tyler take a couple this morning before he headed out to work. I hate doing belly pictures of myself because I don't get the cute round belly. But, here is the best I could get this morning.

27 weeks:

Baby clothes disappointment

Well out of all of those boxes only one was clothing. But, it was still a pretty big pile of clothes. So I washed, dried and sorted them all out. Then realized half of them are stained!! I don't remember them being like that when I put them in storage. But at least half of my 0-3 month and a third of my 3-6 mo stuff is ruined.
So, I guess I will be doing some shopping for this baby. Plus, Annagrace has loved and I mean LOVED all of her blankets so I think Emmalee will be needing a new stash of those as well. I thought I was going to get out cheap by having another girl, and overall it will be cheaper than the first one. I just didn't realized how much we would still need.

Baby Clothes

Tyler brought in all of the boxes of baby clothes and toys for me to go through. I didn't realize how much stuff that we have! Annagrace had fun helping me go through it all and trying on anything she thought might possibly fit.