Deedra's last doctor appointment

I just had my last doctor appointment today and there is still no progress with dialation or anything. We are scheduled to be induced one week from today so we'll at least have a baby by then. Doctor just told me not to interrupt the super bowl game, LOL. I told him I'd try not to, hehe. Yes, I am tired of being pregnant but I will be very happy if Curtis can be here for the birth. So as far as we're concerned Jack can come any time after Mon at noon, which is when Curtis is scheduled to be home or as he put it, noonish. So somewhere around that time is when his plane comes in. I'd like to have a February birth anyway. I just need to hang in there for at least a few more days.

Home in a week!

Yay, one week from today and Curtis will be home! We are both very excited and anxious for next Monday to be here. Go cast your vote and see what you think if Jack will make his debut before or after Daddy comes home.

A new day

I am happy to report that I am having a much better day today. Sorry about the depressing post yesterday but hey, I'm entitled to be depressed sometimes and sometimes just getting it out in the open helps me. It also helps that I woke up to snow on the ground. Then I checked the forecast for the next week and there are good chances of rain all week, which will help clean out this inversion. I've also had a cold all week that I'm having trouble shaking, so hopefully cleaner air will help it to go away.

Also today I've been more active and actually doing more things like cleaning, folding clothes, and I even made biscuits, cheesy scrambled eggs, & bacon for lunch. It was delicious! And talking to Curtis this morning helped boost me up. My visiting teacher came by after I talked to Curtis this morning and it was nice talking to her. Now it's time for me to get off my feet for awhile and relax before heading to the store.

If you want to get more of the surprise baby shower story and pictures, check out "Mom and Dad Norton" blog link. It really was a great party and I'm so glad that Tamara and Laverne could be there also. And I really was surprised. Yes, I did figure out on the way over where we were going but I still wasn't totally sure what they had awaiting for me. So the baby shower part of it was still a surprise.

Are we there yet?

Okay, this inversion that has been hanging around the valley is really not helping me right now. It's getting more difficult to keep myself from getting depressed and to be happy with anything. I'm also sick of cooking meals and cleaning any part of my house. I had to force myself to vacuum on Tuesday. Some women get that nesting instinct toward the end of pregnancy but I'm not one of them. So it was a very nice surprise last night that the young women in my ward threw me a surprise baby shower. Even though they caught me on a bad hair day (actually, bad hair week) and without makeup on I had a great time and it definitely lifted my spirits. And not only the young women were there. They had invited women in the ward as well. It was a great time. Thank you all so much!

Today wasn't much better. I did get out of the house to go to my doctor appointment. The only news there is that he thinks I have thinned out 70% but baby is still up high, so no dialation yet. The evening got better as I was putting my new baby gifts away plus all the other clothes I had already washed and folded but hadn't put away yet.

So I feel like a kid at the end of a long car ride thinking "Are we there yet?"

Baby shower reminder

Just a reminder that my baby shower is this Saturday the 24th at 11am @ my house. There will be a light brunch served such as muffins, bagels, fruit, etc. Email me if you need directions or have any questions. Oh, and I did register at Walmart.
Thanks! Hope to see you there!

Man of the house

Garrett is assuming the man of the house responsibilities by taking out the garbage. Who knew he was so strong??

Whoa! Nikki can do it one handed!

Okay, okay so the bag was full of balloons. What can I say? I couldn't resist.
I actually took these pictures last week after all the parties. The kids filled this bag with a bunch of balloons and then I pinned the end of the bag closed. They had so much fun sitting, laying, and running and jumping onto the bag. I really enjoyed watching them.

A special delivery & surprise

No, no baby yet. Just after I showered and got dressed late this morning my doorbell rings and look what was delivered! All from Curtis!!! Thank you so much honey! You made my day! I love you so much!!!! I think now I'll have a better birthday than I thought. This was a special delivery because it was from my hubby who is thousands of miles away. Thank you for thinking of me.

Can't ask for a better picture when you're leaving it to your 5 yr old to take it. hehe Not too bad though.

Beautiful flowers, balloons, & chocolates! The flowers smell wonderful!

Surprise!

Just when I thought I was all done with parties my mother in law did a wonderful thing for me. She surprised me this afternoon with a party for my birthday! All of my sister in law's were there from Curtis's side of the family. I thought I was just going over to have lunch with her and to have a relaxing afternoon with the kids. I had no idea what was really going on. I have to admit that I've always wanted a surprise birthday party and now I finally got one. It was great! Here I was thinking my birthday is going to be boring this year and I was too tired from all of Nikki's parties to worry about doing anything for myself. Plus it doesn't help when my hubby isn't here to help me celebrate.

My birthday is not actually until Saturday so it made it even more of a surprise. We had a lunch together consisting of chicken salad croissant sandwiches, orange jello w/orange slices in it, sliced up strawberries, Doritos and Rootbeer. Yum! Then we played Bingo where everyone won some prizes. After that we were ready for cake & ice cream. Wendy made a lady bug cake and did a very good job. I got a nice incredibly soft body pillow from my mother in law for my birthday and I love it! Then we just sat and talked until we heard a "crash" and turned to see that one of the kids had knocked down a lamp and broke it. I guess you could say my party ended with a bang. I didn't get any pictures taken but maybe I can steal some from my mother in law's camera.

Thank you thank you thank you to Gaya and all my sister in laws for thinking of me!!!! It made my day!

Birthdays and doctor appointments

Well I think I'm about all partied out for awhile after having 3 birthday parties one right after the other this past weekend & today. I think it was worth it though because everyone had a good time at each one.

I also had a doctor appointment today and he checked for dialation. Nothing yet. That's good news so far for Curtis, who desperately wants to be here for the delivery. I'll hold out as long as I can but like I said before, no promises.

Here are some pictures of Nicole's other 2 birthday parties.

Nikki all dressed for church on her birthday! It's nice to have the 9 am schedule again but we were almost late because she wanted curls.

She wanted me to put this picture on the blog too. It looks so cute from the back!

Our little super star!

This is at the family birthday party Sunday evening right before we sang to her.

A new dress that Grandma (Curtis's mom) made. It was specially requested months ago by Nikki to have a pretty dress made for her that looked like her Aunt Shauna's and cousin Aubrey's bridesmaid dresses.

A new outfit from Gma Verne & Gpa Tony. Nikki wore it the next day. So cute!

Nikki on her new scooter with her Tinker Bell doll in her basket.

Yesterday she wore her new clothes and it was warm enough outside for her to take her scooter for a spin. She loves it! She told me she wants to ride it to school. I think she'll be using that a lot this year.

This was our preschool birthday party that we had this morning. They had fun playing games; eating oranges (today's letter was "O"), cupcakes & ice cream cones; and opening a present. We basically did a white elephant gift exchange where everyone brought one gift. This birthday party was for everyone for the whole year. Everyone got to blow out their own candle on their cupcake, even Garrett.

It was all fun but I'm so glad to be done. Now I can concentrate on getting ready for baby. I finally got a backpack packed for each of the kids with their clothes, etc. in case I need to drop them off quickly. I put them in seperate bags in case they need to go to different houses for whatever reason. Be ready, I might be calling you :)

Also, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who came to the parties to support Nicole and especially to those who helped me out! You guys are awesome!! Family and friends are a great thing to have!

Let's party!

Yesterday was a very busy day as we prepared and had Nikki's friend birthday party for her 5th birthday. She decided that she wanted a Tinker Bell party and so they all made their own fairy wings to begin with. Then we went into the family room and played a dancing statue game where they had lots of fun. After that they did a little treasure hunt to find their goodie sacks. All that dancing and running around got them hungry so we did the cake and ice cream and then opening of the presents. I think everyone had a great time and boy was I thankful for my sister Tamara and my neice Aubrey being there to help me. I couldn't have done it without them. I told Nikki she was getting a big party this year because she is turning 5 and starting school and that she shouldn't expect a big party next year. It's a lot of work, but it was fun!

For once I actually blew up all 25 balloons in the package and this is how I was able to do it. No actual blowing for me, haha! Although the vacuum saved my lungs, it didn't save my fingers from having to tie all of them....ouch, my poor fingers!

I love my vacuum! I wish I would've remembered it when I had to pump up my big exercise ball earlier this week.

Nikki and her special cup. She wanted to look like Tinker Bell for her party.

Tamara baked and frosted the cupcakes for me. She is a life saver! Thank you so much Tammy!

Here they are dancing and having a blast. Garrett was the only boy and only because he lives here. Jack doesn't count yet until he's born :)

Here I am putting 4 little candles and one big one in the middle of her cupcake. The big candle was a musical one that played the "Happy Birthday" song.

Tamara helping one of the girls with her wings since she arrived a little late.

Here's everyone coloring their fairy wings. We even let Garrett color on one but didn't finish making it. I don't think Curtis would be too happy to have his little boy running around with fairy wings on, hehe.

Everyone with their wings, their punching balls, & sunglasses. The ball and glasses were from their goodie bags.

Aren't they pretty?

Nikki wearing her new crown, earrings, & wings. Happy Birthday! (If you couldn't tell, I used the wings she got for Christmas to trace and make these wings)

And we're not finished with parties yet. Her actual birthday is tomorrow and we'll be celebrating with lots of family but it will be much simpler than last night's party. Then on Tuesday we're having our preschool birthday party here at our house, where we'll be celebrating all the kids' birthdays...whew! Maybe all this partying will put me into labor. I'll be considered full term on Tuesday and can come any time after that.

Countdown begins & we have a name!

As of today I have 30 days to countdown until my due date! It's hard to believe it's already that close. Not only are we counting down until my due date but until the time Curtis will be home for his first R&R. He'll be coming home on Feb 2nd and we are very excited! We just wish he could be here longer than 2 weeks, but we'll take what we can.

We have also officially picked out a name for our special little baby boy. It's going to be Jack Porter. I decided to forgo the name poll for the middle name since it didn't really help last time. Well, we can't wait to welcome little Jack into this world and to hold him in our arms. Lets see if he can hold out until daddy comes home.

Is it possible to be happy about my weight gain?

Well, when you're pregnant it can be! I just had another checkup with the doctor on Tues and I'm so excited to say that I have only gained 26 lbs so far this pregnancy! I only have 1 month to go and so that is great news for me. And if you knew what I gained in the previous 2 pregnancies you'd be excited too. Total weight gain with Nicole was 40 lbs and total for Garrett was 50 lbs!! Ouch, that's a lot! My goal this time around was to be within normal weight gain range (25-35) and it looks like I might make it! Now that Christmas is over I can stop hording down all the delicious goodies and maybe even get back to walking the track at the Rec Center.

Happy New Year everyone!

Enjoying Christmas 2008

Here are more Christmas pictures and some from the week after. Sorry it took so long Curtis.