Girlfriends, Father's Day and Short Hair

The past few days have been pleasant ones when I'm able to get my focus off of the late pregnancy discomforts! Even though the summers here don't compare to the ones I grew up with in South Texas, Iowa does get its fair share of hot muggy weather and these days seem to have suddenly arrived. I'm so grateful for our comfortable air-conditioned home right now!

There are a few other things on my mind lately that I've been grateful for. I consider them all to be blog-worthy, so allow me to share...

My Girlfriends

All last week, I knew that Darin's sister was coming by to pick up Miss Lucy on Thursday evening for a fun aunt/niece outing! Lucy loves to spend time with and be spoiled by Aunt Dawn who likes to take her to the mall and get her dinner at Chick-Filet and play on the soft-play area! Darin suggested that we use the opportunity for a date-night, and this soon-to-be mama of two didn't need much convincing to agree to the idea.

You can imagine my surprise when we arrived at the restaraunt Darin picked and the hostess escorted us to a table where four close girlfriends were waiting to surprise me with a fun girls night out to celebrate the soon arrival of Baby Boy. After I adjusted to my shock, Darin kissed me on my cheek, set the camera next to me on the table and made his exit! After a fun time of great conversation and a delicious meal, the girls and I headed to the nearest mall to go to The Gap and pick out a cute new shirt for me that is NOT maternity! How fun! I felt so blessed and supported by my friends. It's these gals (and many others who were not able to be present) that have offered so much encouragement and prayer as we hoped for a child and then witnessed the Stevensons grow from a family of two to four!

Thank you, Ladies!

Lucy's Daddy

Father's Day was pretty low-key this year and Darin was such a good sport "going with the flow" on a day that is set aside to honor him as a father. I approached the day and its activities with a "let's just see what I'm up for" kind of mentality. After a relaxed breakfast, church, a trip to Lowe's, going through the Wendy's drive-thru and a nap for all of us, we made a spontaneous trip to the closest public swimming pool and had a great time splashing in the cool water. I loved watching Lucy play with her daddy and have so much fun with him. Darin has taken to be a daddy more naturally than I think he ever expected! It is such a joy to be his wife and parent with him!

My Hair Grows Fast

I went on Saturday to get my hair trimmed. It needed it and I figured it be easeir to do it now than wait a few weeks when I have a newborn. Somehow my hair ended up much shorter than I intended it. I think I'd really love this short bob if Ihad my pre-pregnancy figure. But I'm feeling rather "pear-shaped" at the moment and the short hair is only adding to narrow on top pear-look. Oh well. My hair grows exceptionally fast and it is easier to do in the mornings (much less time spent with the hair-dryer). After lamenting my short do on facebook I had many demands for pictures, so I'll share one here. I'm making peace with it, and since the initial disgruntled-phase, I've even had a few moments where I've thought it was cute.

Well, I hope you have a great day and find many things to be grateful for!

Getting Prepared

So I'm definitely having compulsions to clean and organize my home and life that I don't normally have. This is partially hormonal, but I know it is also mental to an extent because I was the same way as I was waiting for Lucy to join our family. It's a different ball game to simply prepare the house for one new baby versus now, preparing ourselves AND Lucy for the new addition. It is requiring me to attempt to organize in ways that are challenging to me. Organizing just doesn't come naturally to me. But little by little plans are coming together. Aside from enlisting friends and family to be "on-call" to come care for Lucy whenever we must head to the hospital, I'm also just trying to spend as much quality time with Lucy as possible since her little life is about to be turned upside down! She is such a delight and is trying new things all the time:

I recently ordered this adorable wooden push-walker from Amazon (a really great source for quality educational toys... I've discovered this through my mom!). We've had it for awhile and she was really reluctant to use it at first, but now she can't get enough of it! After she takes several strides we'll cheer for her and she'll let go and balance herself long enough to clap for her accomplishment. It's fun seeing her gain more courage with her gross motor skills and to be so pleased with herself when she has success.

Lucy has also taken a greater interest in her baby dolls which is fun. As you can see above, mainly her interest is in biting them, but she also enjoys giggling and doing the sign language for "baby" when I hand her one.

Well, I think I'll go and spend time with my sweet girl now rather than continue to blog about her. But before I do, I thought that in light of my last post, I'd share the most recent belly pic (at least for my mom and sister!). We're getting closer!! : )

Eating My Words

If you've talked much with me about the pregnancy, you have heard me confidently predict that I am expecting to go at least ten days past my due date, and no, it doesn't matter what YOU may think, there's no way I'll be giving birth prior to my due date (July 7th). I've been predicting a July 17th birth.

Hmmm. I may be singing a different tune now. Yesterday my doctor estimated the baby's current weight at 6 lbs 8 oz and said he wouldn't be surprised if I gave birth two weeks from now. What?! He also predicts that if I make it to the due date to expect him to be in the 9 lb range. I have many friends who have given birth to babies this big and they have survived, but you know, I had the privilege of witnessing 6 lb 14oz Lucy's birth and that didn't look like a picnic! Since neither me nor my siblings were even in the 8 lb range at birth, I've been assuming I'd be in line with my genetics when it came to my baby's birth weight. Now it's looking like I'm inheriting Darin's genes when it comes to birth weight.

So, for all of those who have listened to me tout my over-confident predictions that I won't be giving birth to this baby until mid to late July, I am officially eating my words. I am now rooting for late June.

Dream Nursery # 2

Many of you have seen/heard about the nursery we were able to put together for Lucy as we were awaiting her arrival. With the artistic abilities of two of the high school girls from our church, we were able to transform Lucy's room into the whimsical world of A.A. Milne's children's poetry books (When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six).

Well, for Baby Boy Stevenson, we decided to try to transform his room into the Curious world of everyone's favorite monkey, George! : ) We hired Bre once again and I've been doing my best to sew and search for bargains here and there to put together "Curious George" colors for bedding and other decor in the room. It doesn't have all the finishing touches yet, but I wanted to share pictures of his room so far, because every time I walk into the room it puts a smile on my face! I thought you might be able to share the joy with me!

If You See Me Wearing Your Sunglasses, Let Me Know

I have a really cute pair of sunglasses that I bought in New York City this past Fall. I have become quite accustomed to wearing them and I recently misplaced them. I have high hopes that I'll find them and wear them again soon.

Back in September, we had a big party here at our house-Lucy's Adoption Day party. We had over 50 guests and one them (I've never figured out who) left a pair of sunglasses here. They are also cute.

I've been holding onto them, hoping that we'll eventually find their owner, but we haven't yet. So since I'm missing my own pair, and this cute mystery pair has been here for about 8 months, I'm going to start wearing them.

But before I do, I felt I should just post this disclaimer. If you see me wearing your sunglasses, there was no shady behavior on my part as to how I obtained them. And, I'll give them right back to you as soon as you make the connection that they are yours. I promise.

Daddy and Daughter

It has become plain to me in recent weeks that Darin is Lucy's favorite. She pretty much thinks her daddy is the greatest thing since sliced bread and I love it. When I work with her on learning to say "Daddy" and "Mommy", I love how no matter what I try to get her to say, it always comes out, "DAHD". And if the word "daddy" is mentioned in conversation, she'll immediately start scanning the room for Darin (if he's present) and catch his eye and flash him a grin. Pretty sweet!

I thought I'd share a few pictures that seem to capture their relationship... enjoy!

She doesn't see why her daddy's nap should stand in the way of a good bonding opportunity:

On Mother's Day, Darin decided to try his hand at doing Lucy's hair. He concluded that he is more than glad to let me continue as Lucy's primary hair caretaker.

This is Darin's current favorite toy of Lucy's... I think he hopes to instill that it's fun to swing a hammer.

She's always interested in Daddy's latest remodling project.

Loving Spring

Step outdoors in Iowa right now, and you'll find the world is green, blooming and beautiful. It very well may have been the best spring yet for my beloved crabapple tree in the six (!) years I've lived here:

Although Miss Lucy has been an incredibly easy-going baby and toddler, one thing we noticed from the time she was a newborn, was that during her rare fussy moments being outdoors has always seemed to calm and soothe her. That didn't do us much good in the winter months around here, but these days (especially as the little munchkin is becoming more active and taking more tumbles and spills around the house) it's been nice to once again have a dependable way to instantly cheer her up.

With only two months left of my pregnancy, I feel like I am keeping in step with springtime myself-"blooming" right along with the flowers and trees. I'm preparing our own little "nest" to welcome our sweet baby boy by gathering special items for his nursery and working on some knitting and sewing projects for him-my favorite being a cuddly 100% cotton blanket-a boy version of a blanket I made for Lucy years before she was ever born.

When I made Lucy's blanket, I didn't know who I was making it for. I was a new knitter and just liked this particular pattern. During the two years of hoping and praying for a child I held on to this blanket once I completed it. There were plenty of opportunities to give it to other baby girls born to friends of mine but I just couldn't bring myself to part with it-I was holding onto it in faith that it might belong to my own child someday. Now I'm so glad I did!

Newborn Baby Lucy with the blanket that waited a long time to welcome her into her family:

Now I can't believe that I am putting the finishing touches on the blue version of the same blanket-awaiting the arrival of yet another sweet blessing and answer to prayer:

This spring has also been beautiful to me because it is marked by my anticipation of his arrival. Can't wait to meet him and introduce him to you!