Thirty-One Weeks

We were quite busy at the Hess House at thirty one weeks. I returned from the FNCE conference and Kyle was able to be home all week with no overnight traveling for work! After a few days of rain, we squeezed in maternity pictures and then headed off for the weekend to Dallas. I had big to-do list of all the things we needed to do in Dallas and we didn't have near enough time to do all of them (like seeing my dear Aunt Billie was on the list but this pregnant lady was so pooped after a busy Saturday that we over-slept on Sunday!)

The Taylor Family are some of our favorite people. Larry is the headmaster at one of the bigger schools in Plano and he and his wife Delinda come up to Ute for three weeks to host family camp with us. We think they're just the best thing ever. And this year after they heard about our little baby on the way they insisted on hosting a shower for us and the families that come to family camp from their school.

It was a blast. All the families were welcome: moms, dads, kiddos in soccer uniforms! It was wonderful. There really were kiddos and people everywhere. It was great to see all the families that we hadn't seen since the summer, and since many of the counselors were there the kids were suuuper excited to get to see them too!

Then of course we had to get pictures with the hostess of the party... she's just as beautiful inside as out!

Then they had us pose with the sign...

We really were so blessed. I keep teeling Kyle that it really is so convenient to be getting things for the baby, but that most of all I'm blown away at how many people love our little baby girl already and want to bless us. And buy her cutie little outfits and even hot pink-soled leopard-print sparkly infant Mary Jane Toms :) I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like those! (Ignore the large nostril flare... that happens to me often, it's a shame someone caught it on camera...)

Then since so many of Kyle's sisters are now in the Dallas area they surprised us by coming down to the shower too!

And then the men: Kyle on the left of course, me and the belly in the middle, and Delinda and Larry (hostess and host) on the right. Oh we just love them!

After the shower we had other events to attend to in Dallas, we were helping host the Ute Trail Alumni Reunion. I was helping take pictures. So I snuck this one of Kyle and then made him swing me and my belly around the dance floor for a night of good friends, barbeque, and lots of Western dancing. Isn't my baby-daddy the most attractive man you ever saw?

October 27, 2013
31 Weeks, 5 Days
After a busy day yesterday with the shower and lunch with Kyle's family and the Ute Trail Reunion last night, we slept in with our light-blocking curtains in our hotel this morning, like we really overslept-in. And the craziest thing happened...

I think I may have had those things they call Braxton-Hicks contractions. They (the medical professionals) say that they can start anytime in the second half of pregnancy and say they aren't a sign of labor, but simply your body's way of working out the labor muscles ahead of time. And since I'm way past halfway, I figure this could be the Braxton-Hicks contractions starting.

I woke up this morning and it felt like our little girl had the hiccups. But it was like a 'hiccup' every second for more than a minute and although she was moving around, the location of the 'hiccups' were all in the same place. I got out of bed, walked round the room, got some water, and laid back down. They went away for a moment and then came back. Kyle offered me some water and I told him what I was feeling. Apparently I was shaking the bed, lol, he felt the bed moving and asked if that's what it was.

For a moment I started to worry that they weren't going away. But then a moment later they stopped. Baby still rolling around, but no 'hiccups.' And I wondered if they were hiccups, and I wondered if they were the beginning of Braxton-Hicks contractions, and I everything got a little more real. I think I realized that one day in the near future, I might add, I'm going to wake up and it's going to be the real deal and this baby's going to be on the way...

Exciting, and maybe even a little bit scary...

Here at 31 weeks, with some people saying baby is the size of a pineapple (although another app told me baby was the size of a pineapple at 33 weeks...) we've got a whole lot of baby bump to go around. This week the 'bump' pictures are via Jill Pfalser photographer extraordinaire. So here's a sneak peek, we're have more about the maternity photos on Friday ...

Thirty-one weeks... this baby will be here before we know it...