Day 31 ~ August 31, 2010

Tonight's picture is of my pastor, Clayton Hentzel. He is the pastor at The Crossing in Macomb where I attend church on Sundays. I also attend a college-aged ministry on Tuesday nights called Fuel, so this is him at tonight's sermon.

He talked about repentance tonight. It was a really moving message that made me think about my life as a Christian and what I can do to better follow God. I am thankful for the wonderful friends I have that share in my belief in God. I am thankful for a wonderful church family that supports me and is there for me when I need them. I really, truly love attending church at The Crossing in Macomb and I look forward to going every Sunday and Tuesday.

Day 30 ~ August 30, 2010

I'm so excited that the baby bed is all ready to go! I received the bedding from my parents at my shower yesterday and I opened it and washed everything last night. I put it all on the bed last night and today and I'm so happy with the way it looks.

Turtles are my favorite animal and when I saw this bedding I thought it was absolutely adorable! It's called Turtle Reef by Cocalo. I originally found it on Target's website, but it was out of stock. Luckily, my mom searched the internet and found it on another website for even cheaper than it was listed on Target's site. She ordered it and it was here within 2 days!!

I wanted to get the crib set up and ready to go because I'm watching my friend Jessica's little boy Kolby tomorrow while she's at school. I know he'll need somewhere to take a nap, so while I'm a little sad that another baby will use the crib before mine will, I'm really excited to have a baby in it!

We're getting closer every day and the nursery is coming along nicely. I definitely have some organizing to do and I need to go through all of the gift bags from my showers, but it's coming together really well. Just a few more weeks until my precious little guy is here!

Day 29 ~ August 29, 2010

Today was my 3rd and final baby shower. It was hosted by my grandma, great aunt and two of my aunts and it was held at my Great Aunt Mary's house in Blandinsville. We had such a great time and Baby Lotz got lots of wonderful gifts from all of our family. In this picture is my lovely mom, Anne (black outfit on the left) and me, the excited mother-to-be.

We started the party with a couple games. The first was a questionnaire about famous nursery rhymes. My Great Aunt Joan won that one by getting the most correct answers. The second game was a word scramble with baby-related words. I, along with my mom and my Great Aunt Martha, was able to unscramble every single one of the words! It made us think, but it was still a fun game to play.

Then we moved on to me opening gifts. The baby received lots of cute outfits, books, diapers, our bedding set, a crib mattress, and many other great items. I am so thankful to have such a loving family who cares for us and supports us.

We finished off the shower by enjoying some yummy jello cake, mints, and mixed nuts. I was so glad to spend the day with my family. I had an awesome time, and I thank my grandma and aunts for throwing us such a great party!

After returning home from the shower, I washed the baby bedding and started putting the crib together. I'm so excited that the nursery is finally starting to look like a nursery! Granted, there are still gift bags EVERYWHERE that I need to sort through, but at least my little guy has a comfy place to sleep and a dresser for his clothes. Not to mention a huge family that loves him already!

Day 28 ~ August 28, 2010

Girls night in! Tonight I spent the evening with some wonderful girlfriends of mine. At 6:00 my friends Courtney and Brittney met me at my house and we went to Blandinsville's Farmer's Picnic for porkchop sandwiches and to check out what was going on at the park. It was pretty dead (the porkchop sandwich was amazing though!) so we didn't stay too long. It was so nice to hang out with those girls though.

After returning from Blandinsville, Brittney and I went to our friend Crystal's apartment to watch a movie. We were joined by two other friends, Emily & Mary. Crystal made brownies (which I enjoyed with a small serving of mint chocolate chip ice cream) and we watched "The Last Song". It really was a fun evening with friends just relaxing and enjoying some girl time. We all need that every once in a while!

In this picture (left to right): Me, Crystal, Emily, Brittney, and Mary

Day 27 ~ August 27, 2010

Today's picture is another random one. Here is my pet turtle, Buddy. My sister brought me Buddy when I was in the 4th grade (about 10 years ago). A friend of hers found him and offered him to me as a pet. When I got him his shell was about 2 inches long from his head to his tail. Now, he's about 6 inches from head to tail. He's grown quite a bit, but is still pretty small for a turtle. Turtles don't outgrow their environment, so he won't get any bigger than he is now.

Buddy is a painted turtle. His underside is bright orange with a yellow design in it. He hangs out in his 10 gallon aquarium complete with water, a floating dock, several rocks, a lamp, a heater, and his filter.

My day today was pretty busy. I had some Mary Kay orders to deliver and I also had my 34-week appointment with my ObGyn. We discussed some questions I had and he said that he would agree to induce me anytime in my 39th week so that the baby will come when Daddy is home on leave. He also told me that many women would be jealous of the fact that I have no stretch marks and I still have ankles. :P

Tonight I had a *BIG* Mary Kay party. I did one for a friend of mine who is now an RA in her Residence Hall and there were about 15 girls present. Luckily, I had the assistance of my director and a fellow consultant otherwise I may have been in over my head.

Day 26 ~ August 26, 2010

Today's picture isn't very exciting, but it's of the rawhide bones I bought for my dogs today. They absolutely LOVE rawhides. I like to give them something like this to chew on every so often to help keep their teeth clean. Rawhides are also a wonderful babysitter. All I have to do is give them each a rawhide bone, make sure they have water and keep them in my sight. Then I'm free to do whatever I need/want to do without dogs right at my feet and without worrying what they're getting in to. These were two separate rawhides that they chewed one end off of. They started out as 9" and are now about 4".

Today was also the first night of my actual childbirth classes. They break it up into 4 weeks and each week they discuss a different stage of labor (L.A.T.E=Latent, Active, Transition, Expulsion). Tonight we discussed the first stage of labor, the Latent stage. It was really informative and the nurse (the instructor) made it very easy to understand by using simple visuals like lifesavers and marshmallows. I'm looking forward to next week's class already!

Day 25 ~ August 25, 2010

We're getting closer! I'm 34 weeks pregnant today, which means just 6 weeks until my due date and only 3 short weeks until I'm considered full term! Ahh, there's still so much to do! Luckily, we put the crib together tonight!

It went together really quickly and really easily. My mom and I were able to get it set up in about 40 minutes! The instructions were very clear and I'm happy with the way it looks. With the exception of a minor dent (chip, whatever you want to call it) in the headboard (probably due to shipping) it looks great and I love that it matches the dresser/changing table. It also came with a rail to use for a toddler bed, and I purchased the rails to eventually convert it into a day bed and full size bed. Hopefully our son doesn't destroy it (wishful thinking, right?) and he'll be able to use it for years to come!