Amber's Little Pumpkin

November 12 my "medical school wives club" threw me an awesome baby shower. The theme was "pumpkin." My friend called me up and asked what my feelings on pumpkins were...um I like pumpkins? I wasn't sure how I was suppose to answer, but they diffidently had a clear vision in mind. They decorated the tables with vases full of pumpkins and gourds, had yummy food for the brunch including pumpkin cinnamon rolls, passed out pumpkin seeds as the favor, and of

course this adorable banner as a decoration.

My camera batteries were dead so this is the only picture I have (which I took from my SIL facebook;).

We also played a few rounds of baby themed charades. My 8-year-old niece was fun to watch especially when she drew "going into labor" as her action to act out. I couldn't have asked for a better shower, great food and great friends-they really thought of everything!

Year of the Wedding part III

Yes this is the year of the weddings. My good friend from high school got hitched November 4 on a beautiful golf course in Northern California and became Lauren Gordon.It was a beautiful and meaningful ceremony centered around God and love.
I love this picture of her...could she look any happier?
I didn't mean to take this picture so close up I was trying to get a shot of the couple...But I really loved her dress so I can't complain. I assumed when the invitation said the ceremony would start at 5pm that it would start until 5:30 so we showed up at 5 and sat on the back row...perfect for picture taking!
My dates. Since Evan was still in Florida I took another great high school friend, Kristi, and her husband, Joesph, as my dates to the wedding.
Yup really pregnant...33.5 weeks
I only got a picture of the cake...But the decorations were very classy...just like the bride

Halloween

Evan's Dad's birthday is on Halloween. The night before Evan's sister made a lovely dinner for the family and I provided the entertainment. We made scary witch fingers (Pillsbury pizza dough rolled out really skinny with almond sliver finger nails and marinara blood sauce), caramel apples (my absolute new favorite fall tradition) and pin the nose on the Jack-O-Lantern.Since I work with kids I had a great excuse to dress up for Halloween. I wanted to do something pregnancy related-because who knows the next time I'll be 32 1/2 weeks pregnant at Halloween. So I dressed up as...


A Magic 8 ball. My friend Kendra helped me put it together...She is quite creative. I called her up one night and said "I want to be a magic 8 ball and you have to help me"! She came up with a clever way to make the fabric inside the shirt turn to have different answers on it. I only had time to make two answers so you either got a "No" or a "Yes." It was a fun costume and very comfy-I'm not a huge fan of discomfort these days;)

Pumpkin Carving

I haven't always been Halloween's biggest fan, but in recent years I have really been taken a liking to the holiday. Evan and his brother left for the 2.5 day drive to Florida on Friday October 28th and that night I went to his sister's house to carve pumpkins.

Before the fun began...Here we are carving the pumpkins. The boys shared one and the girls shared one. They were much more interested in carving this year then they were last year-they even helped get all the slime out.

The after picture. I think little Klinton was sad because we wouldn't let him use the sharp knife (he'll thank us later I'm sure)

Setting up the crib

Evan's brother flew down to Arizona to DRIVE with Evan all the way to Florida. Evan went to a medical conference in Orlando the last week in October and then he had a two week rotation in Largo, Florida. He was able to hang out in his home town for a few days and see old friends and his Alma Mater (Go Hawks).

Before the boys left with the help of Grandpa Norby (who also flew down-but to have a root canal) they set up the baby's crib. It turned out to be more of an ordeal then anticipated. We had ordered the crib months ago and let it sit in the box. Well when Evan opened it up it was the wrong color! So he called around to the different stores to find out which ones had the color we wanted in stock. But since we have a little car he also had to go to Home Depot and buy some supplies to attach the giant box to the roof of the car to be able to take it to the store and return it. When he got to the store they wanted to charge Evan for the exchange since we bought it on sale and online. Luckily Evan put his foot down and only had to pay a little additional tax for the exchange. So when I returned home from work there was a beautiful baby crib set up in our baby's room.

I asked Evan to take pictures of the men setting up the crib, but he misunderstood me so I don't have any pictures of the process of the crib assembly. However, I couldn't really complain after hearing how long it actually took to set it up!

Evan pretending to kiss our little bundle of joy!

Eventful Weekend

This past weekend Evan and I took a tour of the hospital we plan to have the baby born in-that is if I don't try to upstage my sister who had her baby in the bathroom while trying to make it to the birth center. I was thinking of calling a cab to take me to the hospital, maybe my baby will get a cool birth story like baby Alice...Just kidding. The hospital it really small and very aesthetically pleasing from the outside. The rooms have big TVs in them that connects to the Internet, which I think was my favorite part. Then that night Evan and I went to a fashion show. A friend of mine at work models on the side so we went to support her. We got to dress up all fancy, which is always fun even if you are 31 weeks pregnant. Luckily my sister sent me this "sexy" pregnancy dress. I even won the grand price raffle, which included a salon style mini hair straightener, Aveda lip gloss, hairspray and hand relief lotion, a salon comb and brush, a necklace and earrings from one of the sponsors and a cup and straw from the host salon. I guess Evan's luck is rubbing off on me!

Sunday we participated in the primary program since we teach the CTR 6 class. It was fun to watch all the kids read their lines and sing the songs, even if one of the sunbeams screamed through all the songs so you couldn't hear the kids who were actually singing!

FIRSTS

The last couple of weeks have brought a lot of "firsts"
First time realizing why pregnant women touch their bellies so much…my baby is so strong and moves around quite a bit sometimes quite to my surprise-which then makes me laugh out loud (she also is very active during primary when we have singing time.)
First time raiding Evan’s closet for clothes
First time realizing why woman in their third trimester are so uncomfortable
First time there was some relief from the weather last Thursday there was a high of 78, but we are back to the high 90s this week
First time since living in AZ I thought to myself as I was driving to work at 6:40am "Does my heater work in this car?" (although I didn't even attempt to turn it on-it was just a thought)
First time a stranger asked me "when are you due?" I guess I’m not just “fat” I’m actually pregnant which leads me to...
The first time walking by the mirror and thinking "wow who is that pregnant lady in my bathroom?"
First time attending prenatal classes. Evan couldn't make it to the first one so I brought a girl friend which was a little weird, but the next week Evan came and the class was all very impressed with Evan's knowledge when we played a review trivia game.
First time noticing pregnancy stretch marks...I wish all stretch marks were foreign to me
First time sitting down on the shower floor to shave my legs
First time my baby was given a "hug" (a little kid at the Club reached up and awkwardly grabbed just my belly. When asked what he was doing he said, "just given' your baby a hug." Kinda weird, but still cute at the same time.)
First time my co workers acknowledged I was pregnant. (Apparently they all figured and were daring each other to ask me and taking bets on who would ask me first, yet all were too polite) I guess it just became so obvious that it was "ok" to talk about me being pregnant and asking questions or perhaps it was the kids asking me in front of my coworkers if I really had a baby in my stomach.
First time I had to address the “are you going to work after the baby?” question. I wasn't prepared to discuss that matter yet. Oh well it went fine (and no I will not be
returning to work after the baby is born)
First time I was informed by a five-year-old that it is "really hard to get a baby out, you have to push and push and push." His mother told him that.
First time entering the “30s” in terms of weeks pregnant, and somewhat starting a
countdown instead of a count up

My niece joined me for a girls afternoon while Evan was in Philadelphia taking a required $1,200 test and NO that is not included in tuition and NO there is not a closer testing site and YES he did have to pay for a rental car, hotel, and air fare
At the pumpkin patch with Evan's sister and her kids...30 weeks pregnant and Evan looking oh so sexy