A little less talk and a lot more pictures

Before heading to my baby shower on Saturday, we had to overcome this obstacle:

We are still trying to locate the bird that comes and makes a nest in her head every night. I promise that I washed and conditioned this before she went to bed the night before.

After we tackled that mess, we headed to the shower...

My friend, Tara, recently started making cakes for special occasions. She did such a great job on the cake - not to mention, it was pound cake. Need I say more? Thanks so much, Tara!

I loved the little name tag on the cake. For some reason it made me a little emotional.

Hair problem solved.

Please tell me you all have had coffee punch. See how heavenly it looks sittin' in that punchbowl? That is the only special request I made for the shower. And I may or may not have insisted on a double batch.

With this pregnancy I've noticed that I will sport a jean jacket like it's my job. Call it my security, call it my lack of wardrobe, call it both if you will.

Thanks Aunt Marella and fam for the "Big Sisters Rock" T-shirt!

Go Gators!! We gotta train 'em up right.

Sal Gal, Marella, Kerri, me, and Abbi

Sal Gal, my mom, and me

Kate and all of her great-grandmothers

She loves crossing her legs and even rides in her car seat like that sometimes. I think it's hilarious because she's really such a wild woman.

The shower was so much fun, even though I started sweating while opening all of the gifts. I think it was a mixture of pregnancy hormones, being the center of attention, and oh, that blasted jean jacket.

After the shower we headed to watch the season opener of Matt's Mini-Cup race.

It was freezing but we had a good time, even though we ended up getting home way past my bedtime.

And on Sunday my mom and dad came over to have lunch with us and play for a while.

Kate makes them dress-up for the occasion.

Cinderella's got nothing on that dude.

He couldn't spare a square

Yesterday I went for my monthly doctor's appointment. Hamp sounds great, heartbeat is around 130-145 and he's super active. I will now be going every 2 weeks, which means the big day is getting close!

I've become a queen in my own right lately, as I've been spending lots of time on the throne. My bathroom visits are becoming more and more frequent. The lil' babe in my belly seems to have my bladder working overtime. I know ya'll don't wanna hear about my bladder, but it's been ruling my days! As a matter of fact, it's even noticeable to M to the Izz-A. Actually, my bathroom visits aren't what's being noticed, it's my toilet paper usage, on the other hand, that has caught his tightwad budget-conscious attention. He mentioned that we seem to be going through more toilet paper than normal and pointed to me as the culprit. Just the other day he looked at me with a serious face and told me that there's no reason for me to be tearing off more than three squares at a time. He even asked me how many toilet paper squares I normally tear off. Are you laughing as you're reading this, because dang!

I, Matt, take thee, Hollie, to have and to hold - as long as she controls and curbs her fondness for big wads of toilet paper?

I have made an attempt to help the situation and have done something I never, ever thought I'd do. I've started buying.....brace yourselves.....Wal Mart's Great Value brand toilet paper. I know, that statement does indeed deserve a big gasp. I am big on toilet paper and know a 'great value' when I see it, and this stuff really is worth the switch. I first discovered it at my sister, Sal Gal's, house. She had been using what I like to refer to as 'school toilet paper'. The kind of toilet paper found in schools and other public restrooms. It's almost see through. Then one day while visiting, I came out of her bathroom and proclaimed that she must have realized that while cutting back in certain expenditures is smart, cutting back in the area of toiletry is not. I thought that she surely had crossed back over to the Cadillacs of bathroom tissue and switched to her old fave. It about shocked me to pieces to find out that is was Great Value brand. I then knew that I had solved my 3 square dilemma. This could save me.

And indeed it has.

Ahhh, it's the little things, isn't it? Chocolate milk, rainy days spent in pj's, realizing you still have an hour left before your alarm clock goes off, and sharing toilet paper thoughts with you all on my blog...

This weekend was jam-packed and my camera rode around with me the whole time, but only made it out of the car once. Friday night I attended a Pampered Chef party at my friend Kristin's house. After most of the guests left I remembered my camera and managed to take a pic of the lets-pretend-the-party-is-still-going-on crew...the crew of gals that stick around a good hour after the party is over just because we're out of the house with no kids for once and are enjoying the heck out of ourselves.

Sorry the blogging has been lacking this week. Sometimes I got it, sometimes I don't. I'm having my first baby shower this weekend at Sal Gal's and am so excited to see all of this boy stuff! Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share next week. Kate will be by my side, helping me open all of the gifts I'm sure. She's been practicing her baby holding technique with all of her baby dolls. She looks as if she'll be a natural.



Happy weekending!


And please, keep it to a 3 square maximum would ya?

Off

I can't wait to go to bed tonight. Today was pretty boring and blah - just kind of off, if you know what I mean. Kate didn't sleep very well last night, which means I didn't either. She's usually a great sleeper and has spoiled me as far as that goes, so when she has a rough night, the following day is less than stellar for me. I sat through a six hour power point on reading comprehension and just about doodled a hole through my binder of handouts. When I got home my mom came over for a short visit and had dinner with us.



Before she left we took an awkward picture...


Mom didn't wanna smile because she had just taken a big bite of chocolate cake and it was all stuck in her teeth. Kate's reading a book that appears to be about the same size as her body and I'm smiling through my complete exhaustion. This picture is just funny to me.


On top of it all, Kate's sitting with me right now and trying to pick the freckles off my arm.


I think I'm done for the day. It's 8:39 pm to be exact and by 8:45 pm I'm hoping to have my head on my pillow. Now, if someone could please just relay this message to Kate...


I'm feeling incredibly thankful that tomorrow is Friday! Can ya tell?

Wordless Wednesday

I wanted Kate to hold up seven fingers, but she wouldn't drop that cookie for anything!

7 months

At this point I would have welcomed a Ladies Home Journal

Well, I walked away from my glucose tolerance test unscathed. But not without jumping through a few hoops.



For starters, as most of you know, you have to go without food before having this test done. Problem numero uno. This chick doesn't do well without food, pregnant or not.



Problem number two: After drinking the sugary liquid, I head back to the waiting room only to find that this is what they're coming at me with:






This, my friends, is the supply of reading materials I was working with.


My only thoughts were, "You're telling me I gotta sit in this waiting room for an hour and the best you've got to offer me is Seniors Guide?! Are you kiddin' me?!" I mean technically yes, I could use a few tips on where to get the biggest bang for my buck on elastic pants right about now. But that's beside the point. Stay with me.



So by the time they called for me to come back for the blood-drawing portion of my appointment, I was only about two articles short of being an expert on all things geriatric.



As I sat down and rolled my sleeve, the phlebotomist kept sniffing, sneezing and rubbing her eyes. "Sinuses," she says. "I promise I'm not contagious."


"No problem," I reply. I can deal with sinuses.




Just as she's getting all of her supplies lined up and ready to go, she starts complaining of how tired she was. And then I notice her doing a quick mathematical problem....on her fingers.


"It's way too early for me to be doing math....or to be a work for that matter." And then she laughs. Because we all know, or at least hope, a laugh takes the severity of an inappropriate statement down a few notches.


Okay now I start feeling a little uneasy. For starters, it's 9:45am. I don't think you can officially call that 'early'. Secondly, why are you telling me this? Thirdly, you better get your act together Sister, and I mean quick, fast, and in a hurry - because you're holding a needle, and my arm is your playground.


I actually turned my head, closed my eyes and prepared for the worse, but surprisingly she did a fine job. It didn't hurt any more than it normally does and I was outta there as fast as I could pull my sleeve down and give her a quick, "Thanks, have a good day."



On my way back to work I made a quick stop at Wal-mart for some more Palmer's Tummy Butter. Fifteen short minutes later I was heading out with four bags full of snacks. Never ever send a pregnant woman who has fasted since the night before into Wal-mart and think she'll come out with only Tummy Butter.



Oh, and I found a way to eat dessert for breakfast.



Lunch.



And dinner.

It claims that you can eat it as part of a tasty balanced breakfast.



I believe the tasty part. As far as balanced......I'm not so sure. But hey, it says it is, so I'm going with it. Besides, it's delicious times ten.

Now that's pretty fine!

Tomorrow I'm heading to the ol' lab for my glucose tolerance test. I'm officially in my third trimester! This won't be the first time I've had to do this test for this pregnancy. Because Kate was a big baby (8lb 15 oz), my docs made me do a glucose test in my first trimester, too. I don't dread this test as much as most people. I happen to think that the sugary liquid you're required to drink taste like a nice glass of Kool-Aid made just how I like it - super sweet.

I've actually been feeling pretty good. As a matter of fact, when people ask how I'm doing, an old phrase from my Grandaddy Buck (and my dad still uses it a times) comes to mind. I find myself wanting to answer, "I'm finer than a frog hair split four ways!" I try not to use this phrase very often as it tends to draw some strange looks. Understandable.

Hamp's nursery is coming along, although a bit slowly. We've put together the furniture and painted the walls. Paint, however, is the only thing on the walls as of yet - no pictures, no decor. I didn't want his nursery to have a theme really, just about anything that has to do with being a boy will be incorporated...racing, fishing, hunting, and any and all sports. I guess you can say the theme is "All Boy".

Here's a sneak peek of what's been done so far...

I'm in love with madras plaid. It looks like a pair of super cute summer shorts.

Although Kate is excited about being a big sister and she loves to show Hamp's nursery to anyone who visits, she didn't want to be left out of the pictures of his nursery. She ran and got her new Dora undies and thought they were picture-worthy, too.

This week is going to be a busy one, as is the whole month it seems - doctor appointment , friend's baby shower, Pampered Chef party, teacher workshop/conference (although I'm looking forward to this only because I get to eat a yummy lunch at Ranchero's), and two birthday parties on Saturday. Whew. Hopefully I'll still be feelin' fine by Sunday!

Oh, and I'll be posting my 7 month belly pic on Wednesday!

Friday Nights Done Rite

Sometimes Friday nights call for a quick trip to Rite Aid.


But only for some essentials, of course...

$1.99 Petites Polish in the shade of Comet - because it had lots of 'parkles in it, and some Watermelon Lip Smackers.

Oh, and these...

...because I'm a sucker for chocolate, malted milk, and impulse buys - especially the generic brand on sale kind.

The first coat went on great because she let me do the polishing. Then she felt the need to take over.

I think we ended up with a grand total of six coats.

She didn't want the skin around her nails to feel left out.



Hope everyone has a great weekend, with lots of 'parkles!!! (S's are overrated.)