03/09/2008 - Grau Baby Shower

G.G. (Grandma Grau) and Megan (Auntie Mimi) threw me a shower on Sunday. Eric's aunts (Diane and Gayle) drove all the way down from Maryland to come to the shower!

We had such a great turn out!! I was exhausted from opening so many wonderful gifts!


This picture is from one of my favorite memories of the day. I really wish we had video footage of this: As soon as I sat down with my plate of goodies, Anna Claire started moving. At first I just felt it but then I could actually see my stomach moving. It seems like most of the times when I've noticed her moving, by the time I'm able to tell someone, she's stopped. But not today! She was moving so much that anyone who was in the living room could see it. It was like she knew she had an audience and wanted to perform!


I decided that this pic can be my 34 week belly shot. I really wanted to stay on top of taking those to watch the growth but we have been so busy lately! Eric has planned a "babymoon" trip for us in Asheville this weekend (we leave on Wed.) to make us take a break from all of the baby preparations and relax a little bit before the real work gets here! Now that the trip is here, I'm so grateful for his persistency in making sure we take time to relax.

The other pics from the shower are posted under Photo Albums on the right.

03/01/2008 - Harper Baby Shower

The Harpers had a couple's get together for us on Saturday night.

We enjoyed a really fun and relaxing evening. We had dinner, cake, opened presents and played a couple of fun games (well, mostly fun...check out the Harper Baby Shower photos on the right for more details :))

02/23/2008 - Columbus Baby Shower

My aunt and cousins threw me a baby shower in Columbus this weekend.

The decorations were so cute and creative and I think everyone had a great time!

Click on "Columbus Baby Shower" under Photo Albums on the right to check out some of the neat gifts that we got!

02/21/2008 - 32 Week Doctor's Appt.

Today I discovered that Anna Claire and I have had a little growth spurt :) She went from just under 3 lbs. at my last visit just 3 weeks ago, to 4 lbs. & 5 ounces at this visit! This took her from the 47th percentile to the 67th! My doctor said not to put too much weight on the percentiles this far out, but I must admit that I'm a little nervous now about having a bigger baby than I was anticipating!

That was the most interesting part of the visit...everything is still coming along smoothly!

02/17/2008 - Glider

Back in October, Mandy's dad said that he wanted to buy the baby a gift and asked us what he could get.

Mandy remembered a story that her dad used to tell about the first time that his little girl was visiting her paternal grandparent's house and wouldn't go to sleep. Mandy's dad knew immediately that his little girl was desperately needing a rocker so that her mom could rock her to sleep, but the only problem was that Mandy's grandparents didn't have one. Well, when Mandy's paternal grandfather found out that his granddaughter didn't have what she wanted, he got up in the middle of the night, woke up the shop owner of the local furniture store and went down to purchase a rocker! It was such a simpler time then!

So, Mandy thought that a glider would be a very appropriate gift from her dad :) As the nursery started coming together, we decided that a yellow glider would be a nice compliment to all of the pink and green. We ordered this glider about 3 weeks ago and got it this week. We're very happy with how the color and fabric pattern turned out and also very excited that the glider is super comfortable to sit in!

02/13/2008 - Promotion

Most women in their 3rd trimester of pregnancy do not pursue promotions at work :) And even though promotion to Director was a natural next step for Mandy, after obtaining her FSA, she still didn't expect to receive the promotion before going on maternity leave. So you can imagine her surprise on Wednesday when she found out that she had gotten it! Eric was just as excited and came home with these flowers to show how proud he was.

02/04/2008 - Prepared Childbirth Course

For the past 5 Monday nights we've attended a prepared childbirth course at our hospital. Our instructor was thoughtful enough to take a picture of our class and email us the picture.

The class turned out to be really informative. We realize there's only so much we can do in anticipating what Mandy's labor experience will be like, but we found it really helpful to learn about all of the different possibilities (induction, epidural, cesarean birth, etc.) We'll see how well Mandy remembers the breathing techniques we learned once those painful contractions begin! :)