I've been terrible about taking pictures over the last couple of weeks! But that doesn't mean a lot has been going on - especially with the baby. Last weekend our good friends Kamal and Alexis and Dave and Tina threw us a baby shower. It was a beautiful celebration with lots of friends - and babies! Throughout our pregnancy, Heath and I have realized how difficult it can be to be so far away from family and relatives, however, we've also discovered just how wonderful and supportive our Lynchburg family can be. We've even had several volunteers for babysitters and listening ears when we're up with a screaming baby at 2:00 a.m. (they may regret that later!)
Which is not to say our IN family hasn't bee very involved with the entire pregnancy too! I even received some great advice from ther shover from my mother-in-law:
5. Babies don't come with an instruction manual, every baby has a different temperament. Keep trying, you will get it right.
4. Silence is not golden. Your baby will sleep despite the noise. (It took us a long time to figure this out with Tim, and by the time Heath came along, he could sleep anywhere).
3. Don't forget to take personal time and couple time after a "nesting" period. It's healthy and good for your relationship.
2. Babies like the sound of heartbeats, that is why they will stop crying and go to sleep on your chest.
1. And our #1 piece of advice: Remember to call your parents with all new cute and important things that happen in your babies life. And: ASK THEM TO COME OUT.We love you both and know you will make great parents.
Additional advice is always welcome!! As are visitors :)
Recently we've had a lot of "out-of-town" guests checking up on us to make sure we're ready for the arrival of Baby E. During my parents visit we tried to stay cool while checking out some of the local favorites. As you can see, Peyton has become quite the water dog. We even had a great drive along the Blue Ridge Mountains and lunch at Peaks of Otter. Of course we got some very helpful "baby errands" run as well with picking up a baby book and some nursing necessities!
And Heath and I realized that maybe the reason we've been having such a hard time picking a new name for our little boy is because we weren't making it a family decision. So . . . we decided to get Peyton involved and wrote our two favorite names on tennis balls and we decided which ever one Peyton brought back to us was the right name (I'm not quite sure how I'm going to explain to our son that our dog picked his name but hopefully he'll understand)! We decided to do best two out of three and Peyton did his best to keep it equal making it 1 to 1. And on the third throw he thought and thought and finally worked SO hard to bring back BOTH tennis balls!! (not sure you can see them both in his mouth from this picture but they're there!) He finally did break the tie but you'll have to wait until the little guy is here to learn what his name is going to be!!!
Heath and I have made some GREAT progress on the nursery! Thanks to my college roommate for her inspiration and beautiful handmade quilt. We decided to go with lots of colors and lots of polka dots.
Finally, after 16 weeks our nursery furniture has come in! Heath went all the way to Richmond to pick it up on Saturday (not surprisingly he got a round of golf in with his buddy, Kamal, while he was there) OF COURSE I made him put it together right when he got home and then rearrange it, and rearrange it, and rearrange it until we got it exactly where we wanted it. Ironically, the mobile was the hardest part to put together! 
I'm now going to the doctor every two weeks! And am certainly feeling more and more pregnant. Heath kindly refers to me as the "pillow queen" since I'm now stealing every pillow in the bed to get comfortable. The doctor's appointment well and Baby E's heartbeat sounds great and she even believes he's already head down!
A few weeks ago our wonderful friends at Sweet Briar wanted to make sure the dads weren't feeling left out of this whole pregnancy. They hosted a shower for Heath and my co-worker's husband Eric. They went all out with special "dad" presents including ear plugs, rubber gloves and alcohol, hmmm. They even made personalized golf cupcakes for Heath.
While we didn't have the typical baby shower games there was some friendly competition involved in multiple "Wii" games.
I even managed to sneak in a trip in to MI to see my sister's new house in Saginaw while on vacation. Definitely a little jealous of the beautiful molding, granite countertops, wood floors and wall colors! It was fun to get see where she works too!
