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!