Bedding and Belly Molds!!

FINALLY!!! Finished with my task of making Payton's bedding!! I had someone ask me when I was going to post pictures of the bedding I was making, I laughed inside because they like me in the beginning thought I could whip that up no big deal...ummm quiet a task my friends! Especially when you taught yourself how to sew and the only thing you have sewn is curtains! Ha well between working full time and exhaustion from pregnancy, I was starting to doubt my enthusiasm for this project. It took a while to find just the right fabrics to put together and lots of studying online to figure out just how to sew baby bedding. I am so proud of her bed skirt, it is my favorite fabric, it has a vintage look and is so pretty! Thanks to Brandi who explained the trick of bunching, I was able to start with the skirt!!

The crib skirt-I wish you could see the print of this fabric, its so pretty!

The comforter. Thanks to Ms. Jody who was very patient with me, she explained to me how to make my first blanket! I wouldn't even let her pin the fabrics, batting or backing! I made it clear I wanted to learn and do this on my own!! She would just laugh and tell me what to do and answer any questions I had during the process.

The bumpers. This is the second set of bumpers I made! Haha I figured I knew how to put these together with only light reading online....ummm after the second set was complete, there was Ms. Jody teaching me the slip stitch move to close the ends, well that is after we figured out a much better way to make them look!

Finished product!

Yes, I will be purchasing my next child's bedding!!! Haha

I learned so much during this process and I am very proud of the outcome, it was just very typical of me to think I can do something and then it end up so much bigger of a project than I thought. Thanks to my understanding husband who always supports my efforts and letting me transform our dinning room into a sweat shop for my sewing!!!

I will be posting the rest of her room soon, that whole room was a project of my own therefore still a work in progress!! haha

Fresh new patio!!

We finally finished our side patio! You would think since such a small area it would not have taken us this long to do it! I have to say, one of my most favorite things about Louisiana is the friendliness here. Our wonderful neighbors behind us are like the neighborhood parents of the year! Mr. David has helped me so much when Blake is out of town and I need a ladder, hang something, and even decorate my door-he and wife Ms. Jody are always there to help and usually just offer without me asking. They also have the yard of the neighborhood and love plants, so i asked Ms. Jody if she would come with me to help me pick plants that would go together and I have to admit, I asked her to choose ones that didn't take much maintenance! She was happy to do it and kept me $80 less than the budget Blake gave me!! Blake said he could have kissed her when I told him how much we spent, well saved by bringing her!!! It turned out beautiful! I think we have eaten dinner our there every other night since we finished!

38 Weeks!!

Yikes!! I never realized how big I had gotten until I looked back at my first picture from 8 weeks pregnant!! WOW! Next time my doctor fusses about weight gain, I think Ill show her the pictures! We went to the doctor this week and not much progression. Still at 1 cm but now at 60% effacement, contractions have slowed but still come every now and again, last week was my first week of no more working, I gained back 1 of my 2 lost pounds, Dr scheduled an ultrasound for next week-we need to measure little girl to make sure she isn't too little. There are the highlights!! I am trying to focus on protein this week, little P needs to become big P so we don't have to stay in the hospital more than the usual 2 days. As much as I want to meet her and am totally over pregnancy (not really how I mean it, those who are pregnant and or remember what these last weeks are like, know what I mean!!) I would hate for her to come early and miss out on a bit of weight gain.

Funny thing from this week.... Payton has been jazzing it up in my belly lately!! They say closer to the end they slow their movement, but P has been moving more than ever! One evening we just starred at my belly as it moved! After several minutes I asked out loud "What is she doing in there?!?!" Blake promptly responded with, "She's packing her bags!!!" We just laughed and I literally pictured our little girl getting her stuff together to come out and meet us!!!

Materity pics!!!

Ok, little disclaimer...I did not want the typical shear piece of cloth that the wind blows across your boobs and belly while you are naked...umm not my cup of tea!!! So I had a photographer just come take a few shots of me fully clothed and of course, outside!! I am 34 weeks in the pics. Be careful not to let my belly button poke your eye out!!!

Go to www.nvacheephotography.com

Click on the bottom right "client proofing" (if you also scroll over the index Expecting Moments, that is one of my pics, now featured on her website)

the password is broussardbump

Enjoy little Payton in my belly!!

Our little Get Away!!!!!

This is our hotel/resort...Hotel Galvez! It was built in 1911!! It was actually shocking to see something so beautiful in Galveston! Haha

I have ALWAYS wanted to rent one of these bikes!!! Blake and I made it 20 minutes out of the paid for hour rental! It was hard!!! I'm going to blame it on that we had just come from dinner when we decided to rent this not-so-awesome bike!!!

Ah yes, the sea gulls!!! We ate every meal outside on some sort of balcony and the sea gulls and pigeons are ridiculous!! Can you believe some people are dumb enough to actually feed them and attract them!! Or some people, like my husband, like to make the gesture of throwing something into the air so that they come near your 35 week pregnant wife and make her look crazy as she swats at them, ducks away, and runs down the seawall!!!!

This is an old family owned shop with a gorgeous porch over the water. We watched the sunset our first night there. We met some women on a business trip who were so fun and hung out with them for the evening. They even bought Blake a beer and me a water!!

This is the Flagship hotel. The only hotel on the water. I stayed there when i was young with my family when we came to the beach. It was ruined by hurricane Ike, and is now in legal fights with the government so it just remains abandoned and ugly :(

My favorite plane in the Lonestar Flight Museum!! The hurricane had flooded and ruined a lot of the old planes, but the museum open just one of the two large hangars and had about 15 planes available to look at and read about.

We had decided we needed one more weekend just the 2 of us before we become a family of 3! Due my sickness everyday, we knew we were limited to where we could fly to. i get sick every afternoon, plus now a bit of air sickness since being pregnant too. So that left us with choices of flight time around an hour. Galveston Texas here we come! Haha It actually looks a bit cleaner since the hurricane! We stayed in a beautiful place, Hotel Galvez! They has a spa, which I was able to enjoy their services one afternoon by receiving a pregnancy massage! The pool was gorgeous! We were able to catch some good sun!! We met lots of people who were so nice and lots of blessings and luck wished on us over the next month by all of them!! You know Blake and I, we can make friends with the wall in the elevator!!! We both really wanted to go to the Flight Museum they have there. We enjoyed it and were able to get Payton some airplane books!! Plus a little pink airplane backpack!! For a weekend that was meant for the 2 of us...we sure didn't talk too much about anything other than Sweet Payton!!!

What made this trip even better was that Blake had just flown back from Palm Beach where we purchased a new plane!!! We sold ours a couple of months ago and Blake has been searching for just the right one!! Well we found it! It flys great, looks amazing and flew us safely to our last get away as 2!!! Ill be posting pics of our new ride soon!!!

35 weeks!!!

WOW!! That is one BIG belly!!! If you look close you can see that belly button sticking out, actually it probably poked you in the eye when you brought my blog up!!! As for that thing, I hope it goes back to being an innie!!!

I began my internal visits this week and will continue every week until the big day!!! I hate to be excited about these visits but they do mean that its getting close! To spare the creepy female words, lets just say that my body is already preparing for birth, and I should begin to dilate this week!!! My doctor thinks that Payton will be early...YAY!!! She also is certain that it will be a quick delivery, which always sets my nerves at ease. She also is so very supportive of my choice for a drug-free birth. She always assures me that if she didn't think I could do it she would not say anything at all, and proceeds to say that I will do great! Haha Who knows she may say that to everyone, but these days hearing from people that they think i can do it, gives me a sense of support! Lets see, we don't cover that much at these visits, I had just seen her 2 weeks prior! I cant imagine what we will talk about each week! I did not gain any weight in the past 2 weeks, blood pressure is still great, and Payton's heart rate is low as usual at 140! She is scaring me, making me think she will make her appearance as a boy! Ha

We started our Prepared Child birthing classes this week, it is a form of Lamaze and is once a week for 3 weeks. Blake was out of town, of course, so Christy, my friend and neighbor went with me. It was actually extremely informative. I feel like when it comes to the big day, there is no way i will remember everything they told me! I am so grateful for the friendship I have with Christy, she is so supportive and "shows up" for me when needed the most! We had a fun time in the class, she took a ton of notes...I'm serious, she is so organised and wanted to make sure she remembers what to do when in the birthing room and wanted to remember everything to fill Blake in when he is back in town. I believe she will be joining me this week as well, Blake will be in Houston. Should be another interesting class!!

Will keep everyone posted on my progress!!