Changing things up, and getting things done.

The latest the baby will be here is in 45 days! ! ! !

I'm giving us a timeline of 2-3 weeks to get the room completed. If she comes any time after week 36, there might not be weeks and weeks to work on the room while she is at the hospital. There is a chance she won't even stay much or at all. I know she won't know what her room is like in this rental house that she might not even ever know. But I also know that we still have boxes in the garage( that I'd LOVE to park in), and I don't want one more thing to add to the to-do list once there are 3 kids. 

Since we decided to get started, Luke brought home some paint on Saturday . It was pretty white. It was actually a darker color than we had decided on, but was still too light. He just had to take it back up to work, and one of his workers did some magic to make the can darker. She added what she needed, and it is close to the Dolphin color now.

The back left is the color we decided on, the back right is the color we got on mistake.The color swatch in the front is the final gray we got, and the dots on the back two are the final color as well so we could see the comparison.  

Here is a before picture of the room :

The room is a little smaller, but I'll get better pictures after.

My mom came over and painted the room today.

Gray walls, and the bumper. It came in today from Amazon!

The rest of the fabric should be in tomorrow. I also changed that up a little! I'm taking out 6 of the blocks from the quilt, and replacing them with the chevron I ordered for the back. The pink paisley fabric had a brighter pink on it, and I had wanted to stay with light pinks.It's getting kicked out. If I don't have enough extra chevron, I'll add what I can and then use the stripes or polka dot from my scraps. I accidentally kept ordering 1/4 yard instead of 1/8; this gave me double of almost all the prints.

I'm trying to find some wall art projects with the other fabric, & have a few ideas. Hopefully more pictures to come soon! 

Baby Ella

I haven't added belly pictures in a while! I was waiting until our family pictures got back to us, and then we were in and out of town the past 2 weeks.

29 weeks

It was a long day!

Almost 31 weeks. I skipped that week, but this is 30 weeks & 5 days.

She has a name!

I keep asking Luke if my belly really looks big, like when I lay down, because I just forget about it. If I wasn't in so much PAIN any and every way I sat or laid, I don't think I'd remember half as much as I even do now. He assured me that there is a basketball under there, and this 32 week picture REALLY looks like it! It really just is surreal at this point. I'm trying to keep it real, but there is so much going on. Even if we make it until the c-section, we only have 6 weeks and 5 days left until we will be holding a newborn! That's very soon! It really is weird to feel a little elbow or hand pushing on my belly and really know how TINY that baby is. I have held one of those hands that is the same size of my finger. It's amazing and creepy all at the same time.

We are going to start working on the baby's room this week. Well, that is the plan. Luke brought the paint home today, but accidentally got the wrong color he was comparing it to. Hopefully tomorrow we can get it fixed after church. I finally found 2 grays that weren't too purple or brown.

I took a picture a few weeks ago of the fabrics I had so far and the 2 colors. We are going with the lighter, Opal. It is almost a white, but we don't want dark at all in the small room. With white furniture hopefully you can tell it is gray. 

opal

I have also FINALLY started on her bedding. The fabrics I chose weren't fabrics I had been on the hunt for. They actually were just the only 10 light pinks, grays, and whites I could find in the stores I went to. The bottom left in the picture above actually got kicked out of the quilt. I didn't really like it at all, and just got it because it was gray.

There were quite a few fabrics I saw on-line at stores, but I only needed 1/8 of a yard of each, and most stores I would have had to purchase a full yard. I could have done that and had a lot of scraps. But the fabrics were all over $9.00 a yard, which is not much when you are only buying 1/8 of a yard, but I wasn't needing to buy a yard of each just to have so much scraps.

Getting started cutting my strips. This was actually fun. I love that rotary cutter!

All done cutting, and checking out the tutorial again.
http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2010/07/tutorial-road-trip-quilt.html

Laying it out ONE TIME to see if it looks Ok.

The pinks are not as bright as they look on here. Only one has a brighter pink. It wasn't my favorite. But it works. I am planning on sewing the top together tomorrow. I get more anxious about that--sewing straight, keeping the stitch at 1/4 inch, and just messing it all up! I ordered the fabric for the backing today. I actually was able to get one i REALLY LIKED for that because I needed about a yard and a half. I'm going to use this:

I don't even know how it will match or look against the others, but I wanted chevron the whole time. I'm sure HOPEFULLY the pink will match some pink on the top somewhere, and one of the grays will match a gray too. I might just have to add some other things into the room in this fabric, if I have any extra. I'm not sure which way the chevron stripes go either, I don't understand that stuff. Let's just hope it turns out OK. I also need to get a fabric or binding for the edge, and will have to figure out the actual quilting part. Anyone want to do that for me?!?

I also ordered her bumper, and we will get on ordering her bed. We got a dresser right before we moved, and will need to refinish it.

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Now on to a few of my favorite pictures from a few weeks ago!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Ok, that's a bunch!

Back to the doctor on Monday, seeing my regular high risk doctor, I know he will be pleased that I am still coming in! My blood pressure has been up and back down over the past week, and seems to have found a new normal. It's slightly higher than it started out at, but it still 'normal'. I've had off and on swelling, but that is to be expected with traveling in a car and then standing all day long. Hopefully only good news to report next week. I'm wondering how big or small this baby is. Landon was a tiny one ( so we thought) at 38 weeks being 5 pounds and 10 ounces, but he had IUGR from the oligo. I haven't even asked yet if there is a chance at all of happening this time. Maybe I should ask, and then maybe they would measure fluid ;) That was the plan with Lucy, and we had a measurement at 28 weeks, right before she came. Measuring fluid requires an ultrasound. An ultrasound means seeing the baby! (Except this office doesn't file things that same as my old one. . . . we've had to pay on all these we've had so far. We are still trying to get that taken care of =/ ) Maybe I will have more baby pictures soon-- IN UTERO! Let's hold off AT LEAST 3 1/2 more week until live baby pictures.

It's been a long week.....that means a long post!

I guess it is already another Saturday, 10 days since the last post, Luke's birthday is next week, and it's almost Halloween! I'm not gonna lie,the last two weeks were pretty long. After my appointment on the 8th, we all headed down to Nashville for the day and night to visit Luke's mom in the hospital. Luke brought the kids and me back Tuesday, and he rode back down by himself. He didn't really have a plan as to how long he would stay, it just depended on the situation as it unraveled. He ended up staying with his family until Friday or Saturday (it was a long blur of a week). He was able to go with his dad to the doctor, visit and sit with his mom, and talk with his family. His mom passed away Thursday around midnight, and the family all went back up to be together for a few hours. They had to meet at the funeral home Friday afternoon to get all the services planned out. By the time he went back to his dad's house it got too late for Luke to drive home. I guess it was Saturday when he came home, later in the afternoon. 

We knew the times and dates for the services, so Luke went into work for a few hours on Sunday. The plan was for him to go to work for a few hours Monday, and then we'd head down to Nashville Monday evening. He didn't make it into work that day, so we drove on down late in the afternoon, and tried to get ready for a long 2 days. We went to his dad's house, ate supper, hung out, and then headed over to stay with his best friend and wife. The visitation was all day Tuesday, starting at 11AM for family. We actually didn't pull out of the parking lot until after 8:40 PM.  We kept the kids with us until around 3, and I took them over to a friends' house. THANKS Ethridges!  Sorry for the mess and hassle of an exploding diaper in your child's bed. Even not being a blood relative was emotionally draining and tiring.  I can't imagine the feelings and emotions of Luke's 5 siblings and father and himself. It was good to see so many faces from Luke's childhood--church, baseball teams, high school friends-- and from college and our years in Nashville. His aunts and uncles and some cousins were in from Millington, Memphis, & Dickson, TN and California, Georgia, and Louisiana. There was a lot of support, and I am thankful Luke has had so much support from these people. There are people in your life who you KNOW would be there at a time like this, even friends' parents from when you were 11 years old, and they were all there at the visitation or funeral. Even the friends who are across the country sent emails and cards to let him know they were thinking and praying for him.  

I'm not sure if Luke slept any Tuesday night, and he was up & showered before me on Wednesday morning. The funeral was at his parents' church, and the burial was at Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery. It was a long drive going 25 MPH on back-roads  but the trees and the hills were amazing for the drive out. The service there was just a few short minutes, they then took the casket and did the burial while we got to talk for about 30 minutes, and then told us when it was completed. We were all able to then go out to the grave. We sang another song outside & gave people a chance to share anything they wanted.  We drove back to the church to eat lunch with the family, and then headed back to Louisville. 

Luke doesn't get much sleep as it is, 4-5ish hours a night maybe,but I really don't know how much sleep he has gotten in the past 2 weeks. And he came back to messes at work that he has to deal with now. We went on Landon's field trip Thursday morning, and then he went into work in the evening, Friday, and today. He'll be back at work tomorrow to finish out the work week. Hopefully next week will be better!

HOWELL, Teddie Jean "Miss Teddi"Age 67 of Nashville, TN. Passed away October 12, 2012. The daughter of the late Carl F. and Ina Brasher Douse and was born October 3, 1945 in San Diego. She lived in Nashville 42 years and was a faithful member of the Crieve Hall Church of Christ. Miss Teddi worked 21 years for the Crieve Hall Preschool. She was also a foster parent to 35 foster children for Agape for over 16 years. She is survived by her husband of 44 years, Bruce D. Howell and six children, Christy (John) Kirchner, Robert (Stacy) Howell, Mindy (Jeff) Black, Jeff (Kim) Howell, Luke (Emily) Howell and Chris Howell; she is "Goodmama" to 9 grandchildren, Carmen, Marlo & Violet Black, Jay & Mason Kirchner, Brynne & Garrett Howell, Landon & Lucy Howell; sister, Merrily Welden; brother, Richard T. (Tammy) Douse and many nieces, nephews and cousins. Visitation will be Tuesday, October 16, 2012, from 12-8 p.m. at Woodbine Funeral Home, Hickory Chapel, 5852 Nolensville Road and Wednesday from 9:30-10:30 a.m. at the church. Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday, October 17, 2012, at Crieve Hall Church of Christ, 4806 Trousdale Dr., at 10:30 a.m. Interment Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Crieve Hall Preschool c/o Jody Hupka or Camp Kalos c/o of Crieve Hall Church of Christ

I will add some  pictures from the field trip. I'll wait until later to add our family/maternity    pictures and my last 3 belly pictures.

                                         Happy Fall!

Life These Days

I guess I have left a huge part of Luke's life out of this blog in the past 5 months. I don't like to 'post' or blog medical information. People did it when Lucy was in the NICU and it drove me crazy. I didn't like that they would tell people the wrong information. I didn't like that the facts were exaggerated or even downsized. If I wanted people to know information, I wanted to tell them myself. People who were closest to us asked us personally or we would keep them updated. It just all rubbed me the wrong way.

At this point, most people who are near and dear understand everything that is going on. I don't even know if I have all the facts correct, but this is the best I can recall. Luke's mom had cancer about 5-6 years ago. She had been having trouble this spring with breathing and went to get treated for pneumonia. I believe from there they ran more tests because of the amount of fluid in her lungs and other issues. They did find that her cancer was back, had spread into bones and other areas, and were ready to start treatment immediately. The doctor at that time said that most people with this cancer will have 1-3 years with treatment. There was a day ( as I was driving to Orlando with my sister & kids) that Luke got a call saying he needed to get to Nashville because she wouldn't make it through the night. She did end up going home from the hospital and recovering from the low point. She has had several procedures and hospital stays since May/June when she found out. At this point, she hasn't had chemo in about 5 weeks because her body is too weak and she has other medical issues that keep coming up. She was re-admitted into the hospital this past weekend. We drove down to Nashville Monday after my doctor's appointment so the kids could see her again. Luke made it just in time Monday night to hear what the doctor had to say. They discussed the course of action left, which starts with trying to get food/liquids in the body to get her strong and well enough for anything else. There were other steps after that, but the doctor didn't think they'd make it to them. They were given a timeline of this week until her body will not be able to hang on any longer.

Luke drove the kids and I home on Tuesday afternoon. My doctor told me to go ahead and go when we could. But being there cooped with the kids in a waiting room or some one's house & worrying about Luke's feelings and emotions was causing stress & my bp to rise. He went on back that evening and will be staying until this weekend most likely. 

I'm not sure what my role is in this situation. I'm not sure how to handle someone so close to you dealing with so many emotions and hurt. He is beyond stressed with work. We still haven't been able to unpack every box in the house. And we are still on pins and needles watching my BP. He doesn't even know how or what he feels right now about the whole situation. We will just take it one day at a time, and appreciate the prayers from everyone!

Baby news-- everything is still going great! The aches, pains, cramps, contractions, and random right foot swelling are annoying, but nothing we can't handle! I am 31 weeks along today, and the c-section is scheduled for December 7th, 2012. My doctor said that we've gotten to a good point--far enough away from 24/25 weeks that if ANYTHING starts to show, we aren't taking any chances, and it will be GO TIME. He said basically we almost got burned last time, and you just can't take any chances when it comes to my life.

I'll have some pictures to post soon--29.30, & 31 weeks!