Come on Charlie!

So here we are, 39 1/2 weeks down the road of pregnancy.  For some reason I had totally convinced myself the entire time that our new brother would come sometime between 37 and 38 weeks.  It was just more convenient.  And since we already know what we're in for (in terms of labor and having an infant around) we might as well jump right into it!  You can imagine the feelings I may have had at my appointment last week when Ms Doctor told me she's thinking more like the end of NEXT week!  Patience.  Patience.  Here's what I would tell me if I wasn't me: "God has a time for this, and who knows what might go wrong or be harder if things were to happen in YOUR time instead of His.  He knows and will control the day and time and way that this will happen".  Right. I'm so right.

Also, everyone around us knows I think because we are Travis and Wendy and we have no secrets about our own lives, we decided back in August that we were going to name our kiddo Charlie Baylor Pierce.  My maiden name is Charlson - and my dad has some friends that have called him Charlie (or Chuck) since high school.  We liked that name and it means a little somethin somethin to us so there it is.  Other popular references to our son to be's name include : Charlie the Magical Unicorn, Charlie bit my finger, and Charles in Charge.  Which are all okay.  But just know - we're writing it down and double stamping it as CHARLIE - not Charles.  Baylor has nothing to do with the school.  Travis just liked it and since I had pretty much demanded that Savannah's middle name be Sue, he got to chose this one's middle name.

I'll just keep working away here - I've cleaned the entire house in preparation at least 15 times now.  Not that I'm nesting, I just don't want to come home from the hospital to a dirty house.

Savannah is doing great also.  The other day she made these two statements within two minutes of each other: "I want Charlie to come out now.  Come on baby Charlie!" and "Momma, I never want Charlie to be born because I like it just me and you".  I'm sure that will represent her feelings about him for the next 20 years.

To make this even more interesting, I'll include some pictures of her.  Everyone likes pictures of Savannah :)

E Z Eating

Momma has been tired a lot so Savannah and I have been eating out a lot. I didn't realize how much until I saw that I had several recent pictures of savannah eating out on my camera roll. Whoops!

Pretty much Anything cooked at our house these days is either in the crock pot or the microwave. What can I say? It's that time....

Just waiting now

I had my 38 week Dr appointment today. That means we're two weeks (or less) from having this kiddo! There have been lots of mixed emotions around here lately. Excitement for our new family shape. Nervousness about all the changes. Anxiety about being ready, the birth and all. Thankfulness that we made it this far... Really, the emotions are mostly from the girls. Travis is just pumped to have a son on the way. We have pretty much everything we know of that we need. His room is getting there. And I have about 7 meals in the freezer waiting to go. So lets get this show on the road already!

Lately

Here's just some pictures from my phone.  

Savannah has been having fun scrolling through the Christmas / Holiday isles at the stores.  She's in the mood for Christmas.  Shopping with her (especially during week day mornings) is pretty fun because we both just kind of space off into the isles and look at all the pretty things.  Of course, sometimes she gets going on a project while I shop - like this one - hanging candy cans on each other. 

I took a bath at a friends house the other day.  I remembered that they had a great big tub with Jacuzzi jets in it so I just went ahead and asked.  It was so warm, and so relaxing!  Needless to say, I'm going back.  :)  It's a little weird, and humbling to beg to use someone else's bathtub, but well worth it at this point in pregnancy.  Fortunately for them, they live on the other side of Ames and the 15 minute drive is enough to keep me from coming back every single day.  

Our friends that moved to Des Moines earlier this year bought a new house, so while Savannah had some time off of school last week, she and I went to visit them.  They have a daughter that's 2 1/2.  Savannah loves playing playing with her!  

Just watching TV at home.  It's whatever. 

Our annual Escape22 Fall retreat was a couple weekends ago.  I wasn't sure how'd i'd weather it this year being so big and tired and uncomfortable, but one way I managed was by driving myself around camp everywhere.  Which also meant fitting as many girls in my car as I could all weekend.  You can't see them all, but if we include the two babies that are inside my and Samantha's bodies in this picture, there are 14 people crammed into my car.  It was only a 4 minute drive. 

Sawyer

Savannah and I have been spending some extra time at Travis' school, Sawyer Elementary, lately. 

Last week a bunch of the teachers he works with blessed us (and another one of their pregnant co-workers) with a little baby shower.  

They were so generous and they even thought to make sure that Savannah got some gifts as well.  I can't believe how many people love this baby so much already.  

Here's Mr Pierce at work.  To get an idea of how big his "room" is - I'm standing in the middle of the room taking a picture, and you can see the walls on the sides of the room.  

One of Travis' students wanted to read a book to Savannah.  We made arrangements and went in at a time when she could come in.  They had cheese balls and juice together.  It was really fun.  This is the other end of Travis' room.  :)  Needless to say, we're glad he took the job in Ames for several reasons, but the easy access that our family has to each other now can't be replaced.  

Events of last weekish or more

I found a bunch of pictures on my phone - I think mostly pictures that I took to text to people.  But they describe some life events so I'm sharin them. 

I lost one of the diamonds from my engagement ring.  Tomorrow we celebrate 10 strong years of being married.  Luckily it's not hugely expensive to get it replaced so we'll probably do that sometime.  Still a little sad.  

Savannah has been sleeping in our bed about an hour every morning.  Sometimes (much) more, sometimes less.  I don't love it - but at the same time I'm really trying to cherish every moment we have left with our only child.  

I had a flat tire a couple weeks ago - did I post this already?  I just thought it was funny that I got three fully capable men to come to my rescue.  The cold weather and the 8 month old child in my stomach probably helped. 

Did we mention that Travis got a motorcycle?  A lady who he works with just stopped by one night and randomly dropped it off for him!  He's pretty pumped. 

And then a whole bunch of woman that I love had a surprise baby shower for us.  And THEY gave us a motorcycle too!  (complements of LeeAnn Farner)  It was a really fun time.  And we super appreciate all the love and gifts.  We may just be ready for another baby after all ...well....idk about that. 

Heart jar celebration

When the kids at Savannah's school do something kind or good or right, they get hearts for their heart jar.  Once the jar is full they get to have a celebration!  Savannah's class has had two celebrations now - and the entire school and one big celebration.  

The class voted for what theme they wanted this time and since Halloween was right around the corner, they had a costume celebration.  Out comes BATGIRL again!

Parents were invited to this one, so I got to go and take part in the party. 

Here is Savannah getting wrapped in toilet paper by her friend.  She was having a pretty good time with it - I just didn't get a good picture of them. 

Here they are all singing silly songs. 

And eating silly smile snacks. 

They also bowled with pumpkins, and they even got to open up a special pumpkin that was covered in glitter and full of candy!  Savannah said it was a party pumpkin.  This is just one of the many things we love about Savannah's school and her teachers.  She's doing great there!