Weekend Recaps (Weeks 21-23)

The past few weekends have been BUSY!   A recap...

July 6-8:  Wes and Nathalia's Wedding Weekend!  Michael has been friends with Wes since the 2nd grade--he is such a great guy and absolutely hilarious.  Before Wes met Nathalia the three of us would hang out together and as much as we loved those times, we were thrilled when he told us he'd met someone.  They had an instant bond and married a year later!  Wes and I went ring shopping last Fall, which happened to be the day he found/purchased her ring so I feel like I am partially responsible for their marriage.  Haha.  :)  Michael was a groomsman in the wedding so we went to the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner on Friday night.  Brian is another childhood friend and also a groomsman so I got to spend a lot of time with his wife, Erin, who (whom?) I adore.  The dinner was fantastic and we had such a good time catching up with everyone.   Brian and Erin live in California (awesome for them, terrible for us) so we only see them a few times a year.

Wes, Nathalia, and the Groomsmen

 

Coppell Boys - Wes, Brian, Michael, and Craig

Erin!

(Taken after the rehearsal dinner - 21.5 weeks)

On Saturday morning the groomsmen came over to our house to spend time together before the wedding so I got the boot.  I spent the morning with Michael's parents and we reunited at the wedding.  It was beautiful!  Nathalia was stunning and Wes looked so handsome (Michael looked pretty great too).  It was a very sweet ceremony and then we headed to the reception, which took place at an old theater in Grapevine.  Very cool venue.  We loved seeing all of his Coppell friends as many of them live out of town/state.  Three of us are pregnant and Lindsey had a baby boy a few months ago so you can imagine what the female discussion was about.  After the reception several couples came over to our house to continue the celebration (sans Wes and Nathalia).  It was a great day!

Gorgeous couple

Coppell group at the wedding!

 Michael, Craig, and Brian

Erin, Amy, Lindsey, and myself

Our little family of four

Amy is due a few weeks before me in October and Erin is due early January! Our kiddos will be classmates! (...if these girls would ever move back to Dallas!)

(My dress was not nearly this neon in person.  I blame the flash.)

 

 

 (Almost all of the above pictures I stole from Erin!  Thanks Erin!)

I woke up Sunday and felt like someone punched me in the face.  Apparently my energy level is not what it used to be.  Michael and I went to Lisa and Bryan's house to meet their sweet one-week-old daughter, Sophia (Sophie) Elise.  She is precious and they are naturals.  There is no way Michael and I will look that good or feel that relaxed when our kids are 7-days-old.  I was in awe!

We left right before lunch and I got ready for Amy's baby shower.  She and I have similar taste so there were several items she opened that we have sitting in the nursery or waiting patiently on our baby registry.  It was a lovely shower and one more chance to see the girls before a lot of them drove/flew back to their homes.

This past weekend was another busy one.  We attended a hospital class on Saturday afternoon, which was highly informative and (to me) a wee bit terrifying.  Our instructor (RN) is so used to the whole birthing process that she didn't really sugarcoat anything.  I'd prefer she say things like "c-section" instead of "when they cut you open."  Oh well.   After learning all about the delivery process we were given a hospital tour and taught how to perform CPR on an infant.  We were given a 20-minute instructional video as well as a "mini-baby" so we could practice.  Don't be surprised if I ask you to watch the video before I leave my babies with you.  Just kidding.  I think.

After several weeks of narrowing down a paint color for the nursery (FYI: there are approximately 5 billion greys), we finally settled on one so Michael spent Saturday evening painting!  We love it!  Sunday morning we went to his parent's house for breakfast and then came home to put some furniture together.  The goal was to assemble one crib (we've heard nightmares about cribs) but ours turned out to be very easy so he put both together in a short amount of time.  Michael's parents came over and his dad helped him assemble the dresser/changing table so the laborious part of the nursery is DONE.  Up next: time to decorate (yahoo)!

I'm feeling great!  My belly button is now doing this weird volcano-like thing (it's as cool as it sounds) so I'm going to go ahead and call it an outie.  FAIL.  The kicking and/or punching and/or head butting is still going strong and I already know a few things I can do to guarantee instant kicks (Jude does NOT like it when I sleep on my right side--it is war at 3 am).  Sloane is situated in a spot where I don't feel her kicks as often but when I do they are POWERFUL.  The babies are each around a foot long now!

This is such a fun time and I can't stop smiling.  While nothing is written in stone, Michael and I have always wanted two kids so this will most likely be our only pregnancy.  I'm really trying to savor every moment because I can't help it, I absolutely love it.  As excited as I am to meet these two, I already know I'm going to miss these sweet moments with my babies so close to me.  Gah, here comes the tears so I'm signing off.

23 weeks--15 more to go!  EEK!