My Hospital Bag, My Flower Bed, A Graduation Party, and Week 36!

It has been a productive Memorial Day weekend! Not only productive, but lots of fun! First I started getting my hospital suitcase together. I did some reading online to see what essentials I should bring, and I started noticing a pattern with many of the articles. What was interesting is that I kept reading how it was customary to bring a little gift of chocolates or flowers for the maternity nurses when checking in for delivery. Just a way of saying thank you for their hard work. I thought, “Aww I would love to make up a little gift basket for the nurses.” And so I did :)

I put in chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, sugar cookies, butterscotch candies, strawberry candies and chocolate. I put them all in little baggies with a pink bow, and added a thank you card. It was fun, and I hope they like it :)

Aaron and I finally started fixing up our flower bed in the front yard this weekend, too. Joann Fabrics had a huge Memorial day sale, and we were able to get 60% off on some birdhouses. We also bought fresh mulch, some fresh flowers for our baskets, a bird bath, a small flag, and some Shepard hooks to hang the birdhouses. We even got a cute little wind chime that has a subtle sweet sound which shouldn’t annoy the neighbors :) The flower bed has never looked this good! I absolutely love it!!!

The highlight of my weekend was getting to go to Aaron’s cousin’s Graduation party. I got to meet some more of Aaron’s family for the first time, and I really enjoyed myself. Aaron’s cousin, Bailey, is such a wonderful young woman. She plans on going into the youth ministry at Anderson college in the fall. I have gotten to know her a little through Facebook, and I finally met her for the first time at her party. She is so bright, and bubbly! So warm and friendly. Always a smile on her face, just like in her pictures on Facebook. Her energy is contagious! She was up and running around, talking to so many friends and family. Just watching her cheeriness made me want to get up and run around with her lol! But my feet were swollen, and baby Faith is sapping so much of my energy, I could only sit and watch her giddiness. Such a great girl! The Lord has big plans for her, no doubt about it! :)

I also got to FINALLY meet Aaron’s Aunt Lola. For as long as I’ve known Aaron, I kept hearing about Aunt Lola whenever there was a conversation about food, desserts, or baking. Evidently she is the “go to” person when you want something special baked. She is also the person you go to when you want to learn how to bake. She is famous for her pies, and Aaron cannot stop talking about her cinnamon rolls, and her biscuits and gravy. She bakes from scratch. I’ve tasted her banana cream pie before at Aaron’s parent’s house, and with every bite I took, I’ve tried to figure out how she made her pie crust so light and flaky. I love baking from scratch, but I just can’t make homemade pie crust light and flaky. I lose patience, and I always end up buying the pie crust. I have seen pictures of her kitchen table just filled with amazing looking pies, and thought, “Oh my gosh I got to meet this woman.” I hear she makes homemade apple butter, too! I would love to someday be known for my baking, just like Aunt Lola is. And so… when I was at the Graduation party, I got to meet the renowned Aunt Lola :) Aaron tapped me on my shoulder, and when I turned around there she was. As silly as this sounds, it was like meeting a Food Network star, haha! I absolutely loved meeting her! She is SO nice! She has read my baby blog, and has been keeping updated on our pregnancy journey. She seemed just as happy to meet me! We talked about her baking, and I told her how much I would LOVE to learn from her. She said she would be happy to teach me! Hopefully me, Aaron, and baby Faith can go to Aunt Lola’s around the Holidays and do some baking! I seriously cannot wait! :) Now I know two people in Aaron’s family that are great cooks. Aaron’s mom (who bakes the most delicious ham I’ve ever had, and just thinking about it makes me want some NOW) and Aaron’s Aunt Lola! As the years go by, I hope to learn alot from both of them! :)

Ok, now with the baby news. At my last baby check-up, my blood pressure was a little high; 140/80. The doctor didn’t seem too worried. My urine sample was fine, except for a little sugar, but what they look for is protein in the urine, and there was none. I had my Group B Strep screening done, and I’m waiting to hear about my test results. I haven’t got a phone call, so hopefully that’s a good sign. All in all, my baby check-up went fine, and I’m sure they will continue monitoring my blood pressure to make sure baby and I are ok. My feet seem to always been swollen at this point in my pregnancy. Even when waking up in the morning, they still look puffy. I can’t seem to stay standing on my feet for too long without feeling pain. Walking around the store is starting to make me miserable. Every time I walk down a new isle, I’m looking for a place to sit. A box, a low shelf… something! At Walmart I was lugging around a little plastic stool from the garden center so when I got tired I would set it down wherever I was and sit for awhile. When Aaron and I go out to run errands, I’m starting to stay in the car more and more, while Aaron shops. Goodness, I can’t wait to get my body back!

36 week belly pic!

Video of baby’s progress!

My feet are dirty from playing in the flower bed today, so now I’m going to take a nice long bath and get ready for bed! 4 more weeks to go! Just 4 more weeks!!! Or sooner! Who knows! Stay tuned! :)

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