Movie Stars!

What a fun day!  Landrie and I drove to Wichita Falls Thursday to help our agency with some new advertising material!  

Me, Brianna and Landrie Grace

A writer interviewed both of us about our stories.  I told her to be careful what she asks, because I LOVE to talk about adoption. :)  I can't wait to read what she says!  

Then we started filming!

 

Brianna and I couldn't believe how hot it really is under all those lights!  We were in front of this green screen, then I think they'll add pictures behind us as we talk. (Oh, Brianna was on a short stool- she's not really that short!)  Thank you, Misty for keeping Landrie entertained for me!  It was really sweet at the end though.  Landrie was mesmerized by the whole thing, and she crawled up in my lap for the last part of the interview. :)

Brianna was pretending to be a diva!  We both answered questions lots of questions, like these:

How did you come to choose adoption?

Why Inheritance Adoptions?

What is it like to have an open adoption?

Do you have any regrets?

They also asked Brianna questions about how she felt in the hospital and what it feels like to visit and see Landrie.  There were some tough ones!  

I'm excited to see the finished product.  I'll just keep having to check Inheritance's website to see if it's posted!  (I just checked it, and there are already several sweet pictures of Landrie, other adoptive families and birth parents on there!)  They interviewed several adoptive couples and birth moms, so it should be really interesting!

Afterwards, we headed to a late lunch with Brianna's daughter Brynn.  This was no-nap-Landrie...I couldn't believe how good she was!  

We have several friends who are waiting to adopt right now, and I can't wait to see them with babies in their arms!  There's no way to determine how long the wait will be, and it can be agonizing!!!  Would you please pray with me that God will bring birth moms to agencies?  We are so, so thankful that Brianna chose life for our precious baby girl.  Brianna, YOU ARE AMAZING!!  

What to name the baby??

Can I just share how much I love facebook for stuff like this?  I asked, and you all answered in droves!  I am so impressed with all the good choices you gave us!!  I've got to list them here so that I can keep them all. :)  Here are the most fabulous baby names, as of July 2011. :)

Abigail

Addison

Ainsley

Allison (Allie)

Alyssa

Ana

Anderson

Annabella (Bella)

Annabelle

Annaliese

Annick

Annika

Arden

Ashton

Audrey

Ava

Betsy

Bristol

Bryton/Brighton

Callie (Calista)

Caroline

Caroline Corlista

Carys

Charlotte

Chloe

Claire

Darla

Delany

Eden-delight

Edyn

Eliot

Elizabeth

Ella

Emerson

Emory/Emery/Emeri-brave and powerful

Faith

Finley

Fiona

Freya

Gemma

Georgia

Grace

Gracelyn

Hadley

Hannah

Hannah Jane

Harper

Ireland- country of

Isabelle

Jaden-God has heard

Julia

Juliana

Juliette

Kami

Katie

Kinley

Kira

Laney/Lainey

Larissa

Laurel

Lauren

Leah

Leeann

Lexi

Leyton/Leighton

Libby-God's promise

Lila

Lily/Lillie/Lilly

Linden

Lindsey

Linleigh/Lynleigh

Liora-God's gift of light to me

Lochlyn

Logan

Lola

Loni

Lorelei Hope/Lorelei Faith

Lucy

Lydia

Lynleigh

Malachai

Mia

Morgan

Naomi

Natasha (Tasha)

Neely-champion

Nieva

Olivia

Penelope (Penny)

Phoebe

Piper

Rachel

Reagan

Riley

Ruby

Ruby Corlista

Sarah

Savannah-open plain

Saylor

Scarlet

Shaeffer

Shiloh-his gift

Sighlor

Sinead

Skylar

Sophie

Stella

Tatem

Taylor

Teagan-poet

Teleri

Tessa

Tori

Violet

Vivianne

Zoe

(Some people included the meaning, and some put middle names too!)
Whew!!  That's a LOT of names!  I whittled the list down to our top 10-20, then did a few more things.

1.  Check the meaning.  We loved the name Mallory last time (Mark's initials are MAL) but it means bad luck!

2.  Check the popularity by looking at the Social Security baby name website.  I LOVE this one!  You can search by state or year and see what the name ranks.  How popular was your name in the year you were born??   This former teacher doesn't want a super popular name, even though some are so cute!

3.  Google each one to make sure we aren't overlooking some association that we wouldn't want our sweet little girl to be stuck with!  Is it the name of some awful character on a show we don't watch?

SO, now we are down to just 7 first names and 3 middle names.  The good news is that I think I'd be happy with any of them!  It's just so much pressure to pick the PERFECT name.  I told Mark I thought it would be easier if we were having quintuplet girls.  Then we'd just have to pick our top 5! :)

34 week update!

 34 weeks

Belly update: After all of our scares last week, we have good news!  At yesterday's appointment, Baby Girl had grown on the sonogram.  Mark and Landrie got to see her in action.  She's too cute. :)  My belly (the fundal height) grew this week too!  Now I'm just 3 weeks behind.  

What's Baby Long up to?: Baby Girl is busy growing bigger each week and learning how to breathe.  We even could see her "breathing" during the sonogram.   Based on her measurements, they estimate that she's about 4 pounds, 6 ounces.  According to the websites, she's about 18 inches long.   We love to watch my belly morph into all kinds of crazy shapes as we she wiggles and flips like crazy!

Cravings:  I found these chocolate peanut butter filled cookies that are really similar to the Girl Scout cookies.  YUM!  

Best part of these 2 weeks: Was turning 34 weeks yesterday and knowing that Baby Girl will be okay if I go into labor!  These Braxton Hicks contractions were stressing me out when they got regular because I wasn't sure if it was the early stages of premature labor.  

I'm looking forward to: Well, it's the same as last time:  a name for this baby!  Mark and I took the 3 PAGES of suggestions that you gave us on facebook and have it narrowed down to just 7 names.  We are so close!  I am also excited to start sewing some baby bedding!

34 weeks!

34 weeks means this baby could be born any minute.  That would mean an incomplete belly chart though, and I know that would stress a lot of you out, so we'll all just pray she stays in a bit longer. :)

Landrie and I have really been taking it easy the past 2 weeks.  We've started staying home a lot more and have been skipping out on all the play dates, trying to make sure Baby Sister doesn't join us early!  That's made for one mama's girl who is into EVERYTHING.  She learned how to open doors, and here she is pouring an entire bag of SUGAR into the candy bowl!   She was mighty proud of herself! :)

{Side note: There was no such thing as a candy bowl in the pantry 34 weeks ago!}

1st Trip to the Dentist!

We love our dentists!  Not only do this father/son team and their families go to our church, but they are fabulous dentists too.  Check THIS out.  They have a new office and have childcare for you while you get your teeth cleaned.  Genius!   With all these doctor's appointments for Baby Girl, I appreciate childcare more than ever!  Too bad my ob/gyn doesn't have the same thing.  :)

She was thrilled with her penguin she got while she waited.  

Ashley and Dr. Bohannan took great care of Landrie.  She did a fabulous job!  Doesn't she look grown up in that chair?

This girl is SO proud of her teeth.  This is what you get when you say, "Show me your teeth!"

On our way out, she had to stop and smell the flowers. :)

So, if you live in DFW, you need to check out Bohannan Dentistry!

Check, check, check!!

My parents came in town over the 4th of July weekend, and we attacked our Baby To Do list with a vengeance!!  My dad retired this spring, and my mom's a teacher with the summer off, so they were able to stay almost a week.  

Landrie, Mark and I got spoiled rotten. :)

Just like Landrie's room, they helped us paint!

My niece Abbie spent a day with us, and she was in charge of Landrie.  Landrie loved it, and we were able to get so much more done.  Thanks, Abbie!

Such the adventurous one when P-Pa's close by!

"I'm ready, GranJan!"

Peekaboo!

I love her little pigtail loops.  :)

My parents went on our weekly grocery trip.  They were playing "push Landrie across Walmart and make her giggle like crazy" while I picked up my prescription.  I stocked up on bulky and heavy stuff while I had help!  My tailbone went out while they were here, so I ended up spending an entire day on the heating pad.  Time to start taking it easy.  We were so thankful to have help right when we needed it!

My mom already finished Baby Girl's blanket.  Isn't it beautiful??  I can't wait to snuggle our little baby girl up in it!

My parents moved this bed from the playroom to Landrie's room, rearranged the playroom furniture and moved all of Landrie's nursery furniture to the baby's newly painted pink room.  Whew!  I've still got lots of decorating to do in all 3 rooms, but I'm so thankful to have all that moving done!  (Oh, the big girl bed thing is getting it's own post, don't worry!)

I don't have a before of the guest room handy.  At first, it was just a plain guest room.  Then, we got rid of the queen bed and started moving baby things in there, even though it was still the catch all room.  YUCK!  We finally got everything non-baby out of there...

...and my parents finished painting it for us!  Landrie loves to help, so after a few weeks of attempting, Mark and I had only gotten 1.5 walls done!  We love this soft color.  

My parents got everything moved in too!  I love the dark wood with the pink!  Landrie was a little confused because the room layouts are identical and all her furniture is in there.  After telling her that the baby will sleep here, she had to get a baby doll (with a pillow, blanket and a Little People toy as a baby doll sized lovey) to put in the crib.  Such a sweet girl!

THANK YOU, Mom and Dad!  We loved visiting with you!  When they left, I felt so much more rested and ready for the baby to make her appearance.  Well, not ready enough for what happened on Thursday.  :)

33 weeks and in labor??!!

What a wild week this week!  I've been having more Braxon Hicks contractions than ever.  :(  I had to leave VBS Monday night because I was having so many!  At my appointment on Tuesday, my doctor measured my belly, and I hadn't grown at all.  My belly is now 4 WEEKS behind!  Obviously, she was worried about the baby's growth, so she did another sono.

(This is not my belly.)

The baby (still a GIRL!) is measuring about a week behind according to the sono, which is much better!  Then she checked me, and was SHOCKED at how low Baby Girl's head is!  It's actually several inches lower than normal.  I've already dropped!  That explains the problems with my tailbone. :)

She was worried about all the contractions, so she did this special test that can tell with 99% accuracy if you're going into labor in the next 2 weeks.  Mine was negative.  Thank you, God!

SO, this morning I started having contractions before I even got out of bed.  I didn't think too much about them, because there's a 99% chance that I WON'T go into labor today, right?  I noticed that there were a lot, so I started timing them...every 9 min or so.  I cancelled my breakfast play date, but sweet Tracy and Lindsay brought the food and kids over here to stay with me!  I'm glad they did, because the contractions never went away and after a few hours, the doctor told me to go to the hospital!

Tracy and Lindsay prayed with me, helped me throw everything together and loaded my car up with all of Landrie's stuff for me.  I was really hoping that this would be nothing, so I just packed the camera. :)  Mark has the absolute busiest week/weekend at work this week, but he dropped everything to race downtown.  My sister-in-law Christy met me to get Landrie, and I had the surreal experience of asking where to go if I was in labor!!

Thankfully, when I was laying still and hooked up to the monitors, I only had tiny contractions, and I am still not dilated.  They sent me home after a few hours!     

We are SO THANKFUL that Baby Girl is not joining us today!  Thank you for praying for us!  It looks like this weekend is a good time to pack some bags and choose a name.  Please pray that Baby Girl will keep growing (or that the measurements are just wrong) and that she comes at God's perfect time!

Anyone else have the doctor say your measurements were off?  I don't know that I've heard of any doctor's who were right about guessing the weight, and we are hoping that's the case here. :)

Happy Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary to my one true love!!  There's not a person on this earth more perfect for me. :)  I've loved being married to you for the past 7 years!

We celebrated with dinner, a movie and dessert!  It's been ages since we've been on a real date, and we loved it!

Landrie had an amazing night too!  Thank you SO MUCH, Shamron!  Landrie loved playing with you and talked about her night all the way home. :)

32 weeks Pregnant!

32 weeks=8 months!!!

Belly update: Well, it's growing, but not like my doctor would like it to!  At my appointment last week, she measured on the outside of my belly with the measuring tape, and after being the perfect size each week,  for the second visit in a row, I measured smaller than I should.  I told Mark not to take off any more work to come to these quick appointments, so he was SO disappointed to hear that my doctor ordered a sonogram to check on Baby Girl!  He had to miss it, but the good news is that the sono showed she's perfectly healthy!  The doctor just said since I'm so tall, I must be a "baby hider!"

What's Baby Long up to?: Well, this time I get to tell you actual stuff, since we got another peek at her with the sonogram!  She measured 3 pounds, 5 ounces.  My doctor said that could be off by a full pound though!  She's also about 16.5 inches.  Her head is DOWN (woo hoo!), and she's still a GIRL!

Cravings:  Hmmm... I'm still not so hungry, but I am loving the frozen treats!

Best part of these 2 weeks: My parents just left today, after a whirlwind trip of  crossing items off of our LONG to-do list!  It was great to spend time with them and be pampered.  Of course I'll do a post full of pictures of our time with them and all we did, but here's a sneak peek of our former guest room...

PINK!  Don't you love this soft pink color?  I do!!  I can't wait to show off what the room looks like today!

The other best part had me tearing up.  We did lots of switching around, and on the 4th of July, Landrie officially declared her independence from the CRIB!  My baby is getting so big!

I'm looking forward to: A name for this baby.  Seriously, that is so hard for us!!  Was it hard for you?  If you are one of my sweet friends waiting to get pregnant or for an adoption placement, pick your names NOW. :)

 32 weeks down, less than 2 months to go!!

Look straight down the columns to see a real change!!

I like when others post how they looked at the same point in their last pregnancy.  Here I am just 8 weeks from Landrie's due date.  My belly looks so little!  HA!!  Brianna chose us to be Landrie's parents when she was 32 weeks, and here we are a few days later at a sonogram appointment.  Such joy!!  The crazy thing is that Landrie was born just 5 weeks later.  If this baby tries to emulate her big sister, she will be born August 10th.  Oh my!