Allison Grace

She's here!!

Allison Grace Simcox arrived on July 5th, 2018, at 10:42 pm.  After 15 hours of labor and 7 minutes of pushing, she emerged into the world at 7 lbs 13 oz, 20.5 inches long.  She is absolute perfection and we are so grateful to God for this amazing blessing.

Allie Grace's first week with us was quite the whirlwind, but we are starting to get the hang of things thanks to a lot of help and support from family and friends.  

Allie Grace is a very sweet baby who especially loves to hear her daddy's voice.  When she is awake (which isn't a whole lot of the time these days), she loves to be held and to take in her surroundings.  She is such a joy.  

Welcome to the world, Allie Grace.  We are so glad that you are here.  

TSL Baby: Weeks 35-38

We're in the home stretch, folks!  I began Week 39 on Monday and am officially full-term.  I had my Week 39 appointment yesterday and, while things are progressing, it looks like Baby is not quite ready to make her appearance so we have a few more days to go.  I can't believe we're just talking about days now!  So before she comes, let's jump back to the last month - Weeks 35-38.

Baby:  She is the size of a watermelon!  

Feel Any Movement?  Yep!  All the time, although she doesn't have much room left in there.

Symptoms:  The baby dropped last week, so I have embraced the pregnant woman waddle this week. Haha.  I am feeling the weight of the baby much more as I move around these days.  Bending over, tying shoes, blowdrying my hair - they all require just a bit more effort.  I'll get bouts of insomnia every once in a while.  And I'm hungry all the time!  

Food Cravings:  My #1 craving these days?  Ice water!  Starting in Week 35, I have carried around my bottled water filled to the brim with ice.  Perhaps it's the Texas summer heat, or the fact that my body temperature runs much hotter these days, 

Other foods I've been loving - Arby's roast beef sandwiches (a "must" after every weekly doctor's appointment), harvest cheddar Sunchips, and fruit.  Watermelon is still a very big part of my life.

Food Aversions:  None!  And I actually ate guacamole this month!  It was delicious.  

Nursery Plans:  The nursery is done!  Our changing station is fully stocked with diapers, so now we are just waiting for the baby's arrival.

Pregnancy Exercise:  Still kept up with my workouts this month, but just slowed down a little a lot.  I dropped down to 1-2 spin classes per week and 3-4 days at the YMCA.  My nightly walks with Steve have shortened, too - due in part to the Texas heat, and in part to my new-found waddle-walk.  

Appointment Updates:  My weekly doctor appointments have gone well this month.  I was cleared for regular delivery during my Week 35 appointment, which was a great relief.  

Pregnancy Life:  Steve and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary during Week 36.  He was in Minnesota on a fishing trip on our actual anniversary, so he treated me to a staycation the preceding weekend at the downtown Omni.  We had dinner at one of our favorite local steakhouses and enjoyed the rooftop pool at the hotel before heading back home.  We had a great time!  

My mom and I went to a Texas Rangers game over my actual anniversary weekend.  It was hot, but we lasted for 6 innings in the sun.  It was a lot of fun! 

These days, I spent a lot of my time either in the pool or in the air conditioning.  What can I say - it's Texas, it's the summer, I'm pregnant, and it's HOT!

Looking Forward To:  Meeting the baby!  Anytime she wants to make her entrance into the world, she is more than welcome.

Dallas Baby Shower

On Cinco de Mayo, my sister and best friends from college and high school threw me a beautiful baby shower in Dallas.  My college friend and sister both planned everything long-distance from Houston, which made the event all the more special to me.  

The hostesses did an incredible job of transforming my living room into a beautiful baby shower wonderland!  Carey brought a huge array of decorations from Houston, which matched the baby's nursery and looked great in the house.  

The shower too place over brunch, complete with a full spread of beautiful food and delicious punch and mimosas (for the non-pregnant gals).  

I loved having so many of my Dallas friends over for the shower.  From lawyer friends to church friends to long-time high school and college friends, there were so many wonderful women in the room and it was really fun for me to see them all getting to meet one another!

{my oldest and very best friend, my sister}

{high school/honorary high school friends}

{work friends}

{my first high school friend, from Georgia!}

{love this lawyer lady}

{one of my church friends with her sweet little boy!}

After an hour or so of mingling, we played a shower game where the guests had to guess how big my belly was.  It was so funny to see who was close - and who was waaaaay off :)  After that (and a short cookie break!), I opened gifts and was blown away by everyone's thoughtfulness. 

Everyone was asked to bring a book for the baby in lieu of a card.  My mom wasn't able to attend the shower as she was out of town that weekend, but she sent a gift with three books that were my absolute favorites as a child.  I managed to hold back the tears (dang pregnancy hormones!) through all of the gift opening until I opened those books.  Then it was a brief interruption of waterworks as I imagined my little girl reading the books that I loved so much as a little girl. <3  

All in all, the shower was just perfect.  I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but each of the baby showers thrown for Baby Simcox just made me so grateful.  I am thankful that this baby has so many wonderful, inspiring, kind and loving women in her life already and can't wait for her to meet them all once she makes her appearance in the world very soon!

Indy Showers

The last weekend in April found us in Indiana, where I was treated to not one, but two baby showers! The first was hosted by one of my best friends, Sara.  

Sara hosted our small group and just happened to also live down the street from me back in the day.  She has visited me in Dallas several times now, too.  Sara is such a joy in my life, so it meant a lot to me that she managed to throw a beautiful shower for Baby Simcox in the midst of the craziness that is balancing work/life/kids/her own birthday that weekend!

{my small group girls}

{Wooden McLaughlin ladies}

Sara hosted the perfect brunch baby shower at her home, complete with one of my biggest pregnancy cravings (especially early on) - waffles!!  The food spread was amazing and the decor was just perfect.  

The guests included friends from my old firm, my small group girls and two of my cousins who live in Indiana.  It was a lot of fun to have everyone finally meet and put faces to names, since I talk about them to one another all the time!

{Halsey cousins}

{Schuckit survivors}

I left the shower feeling so loved and knowing that Baby Simcox is already so loved by these wonderful women.  It's amazing how you can move away from a place but still keep friends so near to your heart.  And two of these girls are expecting little ones this summer too - with another just recently learning that she is expecting this upcoming winter!  So many babies on the way :)

It was hard to leave the shower at Sara's house, but nearly three hours later I knew I needed to get back to Steve's parents' house because my in-law family was throwing a joint shower for me and my SIL that afternoon.  My SIL and I are both expecting little girls, about 6 weeks apart!  

My nieces were a big part of the planning committee - along with my MIL, they put together the food spread, decorations and shower games.  They were excellent hostesses!

My MIL sure knows how to throw a beautiful shower!  It was great to see all of the ladies on Steve's side of the family and to celebrate the upcoming arrival of two new granddaughters/nieces to the family. 

After the shower was over, the men were allowed to return back to the house ;) and we had a big family dinner!  I was pretty wiped by the time the evening wrapped up, since it had been quite a long day.  But it was such a joy to be able to celebrate with dear friends and family, all in one day.  Baby Simcox is so blessed to have all of these wonderful ladies in her life, she just doesn't know it yet ;)

TSL Baby: Weeks 31-34

We're 34 weeks in (well, officially 35 weeks as of Monday) and it's hard to believe that I have less than 6 weeks to go in this pregnancy!

Baby:  At Week 34, she weighed 4 lbs 4 oz and was the size of a cantaloupe.

Feel Any Movement?  Yep.  Lots.  The baby continues to move all the time.  I've grown accustomed to it, so I think it is going to be a little strange when she is outside of my belly and I don't feel her flipping around in there anymore!

Symptoms:  Third trimester continues to be pretty enjoyable for me.  The biggest symptom these days continues to be my ever-growing belly :).  Also, frequent trips to the ladies' room, as I 'm pretty sure the baby is just sitting on my bladder these days.  I occasionally get mild heartburn and soreness in my hips, but it's manageable.  Energy-wise, I still feel pretty much like myself but I try to stick with an early bedtime of 9-9:30pm.

Food Cravings:  Allllll the watermelon.  Toasted sub sandwiches.  Also, Golden Grahams.

Food Aversions:  Still no guac.  I also have no desire to eat Asian food lately, which is so strange to me since I craved it early on in the pregnancy!  Other than those two things, my diet is pretty much normal.  Lots of snacking.

Nursery Plans:  The nursery is nearly done now!  I had several bouts of nesting during the past month, which helped to really make the nursery come together.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  Sometimes I will just sit in the glider in the nursery and think about what it will be like with the baby is here with us.  It is a lot of fun.

Pregnancy Exercise:  I'm still sticking to my spin class/elliptical/free weights routine during the week.  I can sense myself slowing down a bit, particularly in my spin classes, but as a friend noted for me, I am multi-tasking during workouts these days :) I also have started swimming laps more during the weekends, which has been a lot of fun.  It's especially amusing to me when I am doing backstroke and my belly sticks up out of the water!  I still feel pretty agile in my day to day activities, and I credit so much of that to keeping up with my exercise routine.  (Making a note of this for myself for [hopefully] future pregnancies, just in case I am not so motivated at that point!)

Appointment Updates:  My OB appointments are occurring weekly from here on out.  As of my Week 34 appointment, all is going well!  The baby and I are both on track with growth and weight gain.  I have another ultrasound in Week 35 to check out a couple of specifics related to my placenta, but otherwise it's just the normal stuff.  I do feel like I have essentially moved into my doctor's office, though, hah!

Pregnancy Life:  Y'all, this stage of pregnancy has actually been so fun for me.  Some of my best Texan girl friends threw a baby shower for me here, in Dallas, which was just perfect.  (I'm behind on blogging about the baby showers that friends and family have been so kind as to throw for me, but I will catch up soon!)

We took some maternity photos at the end of Week 32 at White Rock Lake.  I love our photographer and was so pleased with how they turned out!  I'll post more pictures in another post, but here's one of my favorites of the two (three) of us.

I have been spending a lot of my free time putting together baby gear.  This past weekend, I assembled the baby stroller and car seat, and Lyla gave her stamp of approval ;)

Looking Forward To:  Steve and I are celebrating our 6-year wedding anniversary this month with a mini-staycation/babymoon at a nice hotel in downtown Dallas.  I am looking forward to a fancy dinner with my #1 guy and soaking up the slower pace of life with just the two of us before the baby joins us.

I'm also looking forward to just getting closer to meeting our little lady.  I feel like I am nearly in the final stretch and it is beginning to feel a lot more real.  So, here's to getting closer, one day at a time, to Baby Simcox's arrival!