Nora Kate 33 Weeks

We are only 7 weeks away from Nora Kate's due date!  Although this seems completely impossible, we have finally been making progress in preparing for her arrival!  Her room is now painted, you guessed it-PINK!  I have cleaned out, organized, and put her clothes in her closet.  All of these tasks were very time consuming!  First, the walls were previously green in the room, so a good coat of primer was required before painting it a light pink.  John finished priming and the room sat with white primer for a couple of weeks as we were too busy with VBS and John with work to have time to paint it pink.  Last Friday, I took the boys to swim with some friends and John and Pop painted the entire room pink while I was gone!  I was surprised at how quickly they were able to work with us out of the house.  Now the walls are bare, so that is my next task-decorating!  I have a couple of things to hang on the walls and several ideas, but I need to get started this week on the decorating! 
In other pregnancy news, I am feeling great today!  I had a rough week last week.  This pregnancy has been so easy and I've felt so great that I was surprised when I started feeling really achy (think flu-like aches) and began having A LOT of Braxton Hicks contractions and a fever!  After this lasting the weekend and not being able to have enough energy to do anything last Monday, I went to the doctor.  Thankfully I was not in pre-term labor, but the most likely reason I was given for everything happening was overdoing it which was possible since I had had such a busy week with the boys, Splash Country, and VBS every night leading up to when this all began.  In the end, everything checked out fine, and after A LOT of rest last week I am back to normal...100%!  I'm feeling better than I was with Carter or Dawson at this point, and other than the week of VBS when I was on my feet constantly I have really not even had any swelling yet!  (Yay!)  My gestational diabetes is great, it's right in the range where it should be. And best of all, (other than last week), I'm still feeling great!  This has by far been the easiest and most enjoyable pregnancy of the three since I have felt so well.
Nora Kate is doing well.  I had a check-up this morning, and everything was great.  When the doctor asked what questions I had or what I wanted to talk about at my appointment today, and I told him I didn't know of anything (I usually have a few things to ask), he said, "Well, you're a pro now.  This is number three. You could write a book!"  Haha!  I go back in 2 weeks, then I will go every week (how is it this time already?!).  Nora Kate is SO active.  She's constantly moving and kicking, and while it's fun to feel her movements we really enjoy SEEING her movements now! 
My Aunt Arlene offered to host a baby shower for Nora Kate since we have two boys and are preparing for a girl this time around.  We thought it would be fun to celebrate her coming arrival, so her shower is this coming weekend!  After learning that we were going to have a shower we headed out to Target and Babies R Us to register...all four of us!  The boys did awesome registering-Dawson, of course, got to scan all of the items which he thought was so cool and Carter was bribed in the shopping Carter with snacks! :)  Looking at little girl things is so fun, and Dawson enjoyed being a part of this too.
Dawson is excited about Nora Kate's arrival.  He has asked if he can bring balloons to the hospital like he did when Carter was born.  He remembered this on his own, so I told him yes that someone would let him get balloons to bring to our room.  He has also mentioned several times that when we "go to the hospital where the doctor got Carter out and is going to get Nora Kate out of Mommy's tummy you park in a big garage."  Apparently parking in the parking garage at St. Mary's was impactful because he has talked about this several times!  haha!  I do think it's fun though that it is recent enough in his mind that he remembers and knows what to expect (somewhat), so I won't be as worried about what he's thinking when he comes to see us in the hospital.  And, of course, Carter will be too young to be worried.  I am interested to see how Carter will react to Nora Kate, specifically me holding and taking care of her since he's usually the one in my arms or being carried around.  Seven weeks (or so) and we'll find out!!

Look how excited Dawson was to get to scan the items for Nora Kate's baby registry!

 

Friday I started making hair bows for Nora Kate, and so far I've made about 20!  These are most of the bows I've made this far.  I'm excited about these because I can clip them on headbands when she's little and doesn't have any/much hair, and then when she gets enough hair I can clip them in her hair.  I have some more ribbon I haven't used yet and a few styles of bows I haven't tried yet, so there are more bows to come!  John has given me a hard time that I've become obsessed with making them over the weekend, but they're so fun. 

Now that the walls are painted pink (good job, John & Pop!!), I love how the bedding looks in the room!  It's pink and taupe damask.  The underside of the comforter is minky fabric and the ruffle on the bumper pad is satin. 

33 Weeks!