29 weeks, 3 days

I had my first shower on Sunday!! It was so much fun! Lyndee (sister-in-law) and Tamara (best friend) did a wonderful job putting everything together. It was mainly our church friends, but a few old college friends and colleagues also attended. It's hard when you have several different groups at one party because you never know who to talk to. The party was mainly poolside, which was a little hot...but I survived!

We received a TON of clothes and blankets. We also received our travel system from Uncle Tory, a homemade coat rack decorated to match nursery interior from Nana, and a wonderful homemade blanket from Mrs. Shirley (aka MeMaw..our church grandma). We also got the CUTEST pair of mini-cowboy boots. SOOOO CUTE!! I have everything I'll need to clean 'em, dress 'em and wrap 'em up! I felt so rushed to get through all of the gifts since everyone was sweating. I just hope I was thankful enough!

I came home that night and Chad and I sat in the nursery and went through all of the gifts. It was the most excited I have seen Chad so far. He was pretend washing the baby in the tub, using the Boppy pillow to feed the fake baby, and ohhhing over the cute tiny clothing! I wish all of our guests could have seen his excitement...it was so special.

Everyone kept saying, "Now you get to go home and wash all of your baby clothes and put them away!" Is it wrong of me not to do so?? I'm much too practical for all of this, but how do you know what's going to fit your baby?? I'm planning on a bigger baby, so I really don't feel like I should wash and put away all of the 'newborn' sized stuff. Then, some of the clothing is very summery, but I think he'll be that size during the winter....how do you know?? If I washed it then its just wasted clothes that he never got to wear. But then again, not like I can return some of it, because I have NO idea where some of it came from.

I'm planning on taking a newborn sized outfit and a small (8-11lb) outfit to the hospital with me. Then based on what ever fits, I'll know what to wash. I think the smalls are safe b/c surely I won't have a baby too big for those. I don't know....how are you supposed to know what to do here!?!

Also, now that I have all this stuff I want to put it away, but how do I know where I'm going to want it once he's here?? I have no idea how to organize my changing area and you know how organized I am. Ugh....

It's funny to me, because I'm relatively unafraid of the actual labor process but I'm terrified of taking care of my baby. You know about labor, you seen it all and heard it all by now. No one is afraid to tell you how it hurts, how it's gross, how it's hard...I'm not expecting it to be easy or unpainful (even with my mighty epidural) yet I'm not "afraid" like the women in my class are. But talk to me about cord stumps, circumcision, breastfeeding, suctioning boogers, bathing or doing anything else to my baby and I feel terrified. I feel so unprepared for taking care of him.

Our labor classes are going well. I guess its good to know what I'm learning, but I really feel like its been a waste of money. Not worth $120...yet. I keep hoping it'll get better. Yesterday we took the hospital tour and talked to a pediatrician. Both were very informative but stuff I could have lived without. The hospital gives free tours and I could have called to talk to pediatricians....however, I did LOVE the one that came in, he was so my style...VERY straight to the point! Chad and I talked about how much we liked him after leaving.

The video was also very informative. You can watch a Baby Story on TLC a thousand times, but nothing prepares you to watch THE video. Show that to a high school teenager and I bet she'll think twice about sex. I absolutely cannot believe you vagina gets THAT large. How does one ever recover???

Chad has also been dubbed the most popular guy in the class. I'm such a lucky girl! I swear, every time we walk in that hospital he knows someone. Last week he knew a girl that came to class with a friend since her husband couldn't make it. Apparently they went to high school together and he was close to her mom. Then yesterday we are walking in the parking lot and this girl freaks out and jumps out of her car and runs over to Chad. Secretly I was thinking, "Man, my man is a stud!" But then he introduced her as another HS friend! Then during class he sees another gal walk by like four times that went to HS with him that he had been talking to the other girl about. Confused yet? It was crazy. Then in the hallway during our tour he runs into a guy he used to play against in HS...his wife had just had her baby.

To make our world even smaller, I found out that the husband sitting next to us was a pilot for Southwest. I asked him how long he had been flying for us and he said his start date was in January. Turns out I had presented at his New Hire class. And that wasn't any ordinary day, that was the day I found out I was pregnant. Crazy.

Okay...I better get back to work...I'm not going to proofread this right away, so sorry if its a little messy!