Small Group Shower

On Sunday, Amber and Sonya had a shower for us and our friends from Small Group. It was such a fun afternoon, enjoying time with our friends and celebrating Anabelle!

The guys got to play cornhole outside since it was a beautiful day, but first they had to play the baby bottle game. Each bottle had 4 oz. of water in it, and they had to race to finish their bottles first. The guys were all talk until they started sucking on the bottles, realizing how challenging it actually is. Too funny!! Here are Mark and Cam trying to suck that water out.
And here is the champ, daddy Mack! It wasn't easy, but he managed to win.

And Sarah thought this was the greatest game in the world! She walked around double-fisting her bottles the rest of the afternoon.

Kathryn, Jaime & Katie on the couch.

Opening our adorable whale bath tub from Amber & Michael. Bath time will be so much fun!

Love the clothes... Mike even looks like he thinks they're cute!

And a little jumper to match Sarah's! (It'll go perfectly with the silver ballet slippers I bought)

Thanks, friends, for such a wonderful shower! We feel so blessed.

32 weeks - Big as a Buick!

Since my parents are in Florida for so many weeks, I keep them updated with belly pictures and such via e-mail. I sent them my 32 week photos today, and here's what my dad quoted from Uncle Joe in Madea's movies (one of Tyler Perry's character):

"Girls, you is gettin' huge. You is as big as a Buick"

Thanks, dad!

The tape on the wall is step one toward the finished nursery walls! Our part should be done by the weekend, and the finishing touches will come in the next month. Stay tuned for more belly and more updates!

She has a name!!

It's official! After months of discussing and dreaming about what our beautiful baby girl's name will be, we have made a decision! Here is the photo we used in a card to tell our parents and sisters what her name will be....

And this will be her full name!

Over the past few months, Mike has come to affectionately nickname her "A.B." It's been his way of committing to the name without calling her by it prematurely. It was a good thing too, because Mimi (my mom) has been listening unbelievably closely, just waiting for one of us to 'accidentally' say her name.

The three days between mailing the card to Florida and my parents receiving it were torturous for Mimi & Papa. They texted me daily asking for hints. But we held out, and now the whole world gets to know our sweet girl's name! Now, we just count down the remaining 60 days until she is due to arrive!!

Irrational Worries

Thus far, I've been really good about staying level headed with all things pregnancy-related. With most things in life I'm that way. I am more analytical and prefer to think things through before reacting, especially dramatically.

In the past week or so, I've had several worries pop into my mind that seem silly when I really think about it, but I can't help worrying about them! In no particular order, they are....

1. We have 9 1/2 weeks before babygirl's due date. In the past month, I know of at least 5 people who have given birth, ALL of them prior to their due date. What will I do if she comes in 6 weeks? I'm not prepared for 6 weeks! I'm prepared (sort of) for 9 1/2 weeks. Holy crap, I'm not ready for a baby in 6 weeks!!

2. My babygirl may be chunky and not the tiny little baby doll I have envisioned all along. -- This occured to me this weekend when I was shopping with my girlfriends, Katie, Heather and Sonya. I found adorable outfits, including a Ralph Lauren romper and a dark teal and pink floral ensemble for the summer. I imagine my tiny little girl looking so sweet in them. Not that chunky babies aren't so stinkin' cute, but that's just not what I envision my daughter to look like. And I could be completely wrong about that!

3. Where will I be when my water breaks, and what if I am sitting at my desk at work?? The majority of my office is men, and only half of the women have ever had children. How would they react? I would be mortified! I won't know what to do. I can't even imagine that happening and how everyone else would react. In fact, one of my male coworkers asked me this morning, somewhat jokingly, to not go into labor in the office.

4. How on earth are we going to have all of the baby gear we need? Who on earth buys the $300 travel system that will protect my babygirl in the car and roll her around on our walks? and Why would anyone spend $280 on a breastpump? Baby stuff is expensive! Some of it's fluff and totally unnecessary, like the adorable socks that look like mary jane shoes. But some of it is 'necessary,' and I just don't know how we'll end up with it without writing a check to Babies R Us that equals our mortgage payment.

Well, those are the thoughts creating the pretzel in my head. Laugh if you will... or if you're a mom already, you might sympathize with me. :)

30 weeks!!

The scenery has changed because we now have a PINK nursery!! Cotton Candy Swirl, to be exact. It's only step one of the decorating... but we're taking advantage of it.

Pregnancy Woes

There are very few things I can complain about with my pregnancy. And, let me just say, I LOVE being pregnant! I have felt fabulous, apparently have "the glow," and am generally happy all of the time. The usual tiredness came and went in the first trimester. Since then, it's been smooth sailing.

But I have a few frustrations that as I sit here and try to digest my snack, I must share! I pretty much have to stand up half way through a meal to let it digest down before I can keep eating. So weird! It'll be really inconvenient when we're at some fancy dinner and I excuse myself to stand & digest. :)

The only other complaint I have is watching Mike prime and paint the nursery while I have to wait down the hall. The fumes were really strong, so there's no chance I will help, but it's difficult for me to let him do all the work!

That's all. I love this girl and being pregnant with her!!! Praise God for an easy pregnancy!

Baby Shower!

Our first baby shower was last weekend! The Sabelhauses and Johnsons were generous enough to throw a couples' shower for our Jones friends and a few others. It was wonderful!!! We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and managed to make our house quickly look babified.

The big items we received were our crib mattress!, exersaucer, bouncy seat and baby monitors. We also were given tons of precious clothes, lotions, a framed poem for the nursery wall, a bumbo seat and more. The nursery is looking wonderfully girly!

What a fun day, and I just loved getting to share it with Mike and the other husbands!

(These are the pictures Jen was sweet enough to share with me. I'm still waiting on the ones from my mom's camera)

28 weeks!

Here's me at 28 weeks! She's growing quickly -- now about 14 inches long and weighing 2 pounds. She is quite the mover, too. In light of last week's excitements, her heartbeat has since been monitored four times. Every time, the doctor, nurse or tech is amazed at how quickly she escapes the monitoring device. Last week, I fell asleep on my back, which is a no-no. Mike let me lay there for a few minutes and apparently decided he'd see if babygirl was awake. She was, and she put on what he called "A lightning storm" for him for about 10 minute. Since then, our new favorite thing to do before falling asleep is spending about ten minutes with babygirl while she somersaults around in there. It's unbelievable how much she moves when I lay down!!!

We went to my parents' house Friday, and my dad wanted to feel his grandbaby move. I didn't have anything for him all night. So, just before we left, I laid down on the couch to see if we'd get some action. Sure enough, he got to feel her for quite a while. Something about being still and limiting her playground.... It's incredible!

More pictures of our first baby shower and the other fun happenings of late to come! We leave for Cali on Saturday for my big work event, the Winner's Circle!

95 days... Hello, 3rd trimester!

We only have 95 days to go. WE ONLY HAVE 95 DAYS TO GO! Kind of overwhelming when I think about all the things I'd like to do in the next 95 days, plus all of the things we already have planned. But it's all wonderful! I've still been feeling wonderful and getting bigger as the days pass.

I was in Vegas last week on our "official" 26 week picture day, so the 28 week photo will come on Monday!

My mom came to take me out to lunch Monday at work, and we had to stop by this precious baby boutique in Carmel. She found these adorable ruffled bottoms that babygirl must have. And I bought her a must-have headband that mom took home to see if she can figure out how to make more.

Then, I opened a gift that Tony and Joy bought for us to find this darling little outfit. I can just imagine showing babygirl off in this. I just adore things like this. Can't wait to dress her up!!!

Mike's wonderfully generous Aunt Deb works at Carter's and is pretty excited about her new niece. She has been buying things for us and just brought them by this weekend. Check out our new supply of bibs (including Mike's favorite that says "Let's do lunch, it's on me) and a few sweet outfits.

She also bought us a cute pink diaper bag, the softest bunny blanket ever and a sweet white eyelet comforter. I couldn't help but get giddy about using these things for babygirl. She's one blessed little thing!

p.s. We went to the doctor today for a follow up ultrasound to yesterday's happenings. We were able to see babygirl and how well she's doing. The doctor said she checked out fine, and I have no signs of preterm labor. She actually said that what happened yesterday was like my body giving them the finger. Translation: gesturing at labor, but it will not be happening any time soon. Ha!

We have new pictures of babygirl and will post those soon. I am taking it easy this weekend, but we are perfectly fine! Now, I just need to convince that of my General Manager so I can still go to California next weekend for the big event I've been planning all year for work.

Not My Average Wednesday

After anyone asks how I'm feeling, Mike tells them I'm a rockstar. I have felt great and thanked God regularly for that!

Today was a minor blip in that smooth ride, though. I started having strong stomach pains at work and couldn't stand it anymore so I decided to go home. Mike suggested I call the doctor to be sure it wasn't a concern. So I did, and they told me I should go to the hospital, which of course made me start crying from fear of the unknown. Mike was on the northside in a meeting, so my mom picked me up and took me in.

After getting set up, they monitored babygirl's heartbeat and my uterus for contractions. Turns out it was a combination of dehydration and having contractions that was causing my pain. They put me on a heavy IV to rehydrate plus Gatorade, gave me a shot to stop the contractions and checked to make sure I wasn't producing the protein that would cause preterm labor.

After five hours of being there, everything checked out okay and the pains went away. After praying all day, we are now praising God for it not being anything more serious!

One of the blessings out of this was that my mom got to feel babygirl spinning around in there for quite a while. As the nurse put it, for how far along we are, she's moving around "shockingly well." We also heard her heartbeat on the monitor (when she'd stay still long enough) for the entire 5 hours. My dad, Rachel, Abby and Mike's mom all got a call to hear the heartbeat, too. What a wonderful sound!

All is well. Babygirl is great, and I'm feeling much better! Just thought you'd want to know.

Baby Girl Update

It's been too long, and I'm sorry. I never even posted Christmas pictures! Life is wonderfully crazy right now, and being online at night is the last of my priorities.

But, you asked for it, you get it! Here's baby belly at 24 weeks. Yikes! In just 4 months we should be holding our sweet girl. We cannot wait. Well, in fact, we can.

(23 weeks in shirt)

I just finished registering for most of our items at Babies R Us. It was an adventurous trip with my girlfirends, Heather and Katie, who are already mommas. (photo to come) They walked me through the whole store giving advice on what they used, what they liked and what they'd never use again. I can't even begin to imagine what the day would have held if Mike and I had gone by ourselves. Needless to say, the trip was a success! I'm still trying to come up with a nursery design, so I think I'll be buying the bedding and decor myself at someplace other than big box BRU.

Which leads me to my most exciting part of the nursery, her crib!! My coworker is amazing when it comes to woodworking. As I was finding cribs online for over $1,000, I asked him what he thought about making a crib. His eyes lit up, and he said "I would LOVE to do that!" So, babygirl is going to have a custom, handmade crib to sleep her pretty little head in. Here's an idea of what he'll be creating.

Once the crib is made, Mike and I get to help finish and stain it. We're also using a piece of furniture passed down to Mike as our dresser/changing table, which Ken is going to help us refinish to match the crib.

What's new with babygirl you ask?
She is moving SO much! I feel her constantly at work. At our last check-up, the doctor had to move the doppler all over my belly to keep finding the heartbeat as she was moving. Last weekend we laid down early to read before bed, and Mike ended up getting to feel her dancing around in there for almost an hour. Maybe she'll be more coordinated than I am and be a dancer!

We go back to the doctor on Wednesday next week for our routine checkup. Then I'm off to Vegas and three weeks later, California. She's going to have momma's love for travel before she's even born.

Happy Birthday, Sarah Land!

It seems like everyone has "I'm sorry for not posting for a while" on their blog... Well, I'm sorry, too! Life has been crazy, the holidays have compounded that, and baby thrown on top makes blogging impossible these days.

What I've forgotten to show you are some of the fun we've had this past month! On Nov 22, our sweet little friend, Sarah, turned 1 year old! Katie and Cam had a birthday party for her, which was precious. Sarah had all sorts of new experiences: opening presents, eating as much cake as she wanted and then one not so new: being the center of attention. She was quite the little lady! We know she's going to be a great "big sister" for our little girl.

She was a very patient present opener!

One of her favorite gifts: a cell phone, from the Hughes! Mike made sure to program his voice into it so the Lands could get to hear from him every day. :)
Happy big O-N-E, Sarah!

The verdict is in!!!

In case you can't tell, she's a GIRL!!!! Mackaveli is a girl!!! We are THRILLED :) Now we are celebrating... details later.

Bow Crazy!

Last weekend, Katie and I got some great girl time in while our men golfed. We had a date to make bows! This is the starting point of what I plan to be a successful business for us. But, our baby steps began with some adorable bows. Plus, we had the most beautiful baby model to show them off for us, which never hurts a business. (If you see something you like or have a need for precious little hair bows, let me know!!)

NEW CAMERA!!!

In just six days-- SIX DAYS-- we are headed to the Domincan Republic for a relaxing, sun-filled vacation. I know, it may be hard to imagine the Macks relaxing, but we're doing it. And we CAN'T WAIT!! I'm sure we'll still fill our days with snorkeling, scuba, horse back riding, golf (for the man), etc, but we'll get pool/beach time, too! I get so excited just writing about it....

Well, two weeks ago our camera decided to work only when it wanted to, which wasn't often... so that meant quick decision on a new camera! Mike found an awesome one, used our dell gift card from last year's laptop purchase and hooked us up big time.

Here comes the fun part..... we had our weekly babysitting night with sweet little Sarah Land tonight. She comes to play with us when mommy & daddy go to church for their class on Sunday nights. We love it!! And today Abby was hanging out with us, so she got to play with Sarah, too. Which included trying out the new Sony CyberShot on our adorable 7 month old model.

Check out what our camera can do!! (No photoshop used, just the rockin' camera)


Mike entertaining us all with his beautiful music... (note the highlight of his guitar)

Sarah being sweet... (note the "nostalgic" feel of the photo)

Sarah doing what she does best, teething! (note the gaussian blur and highlight of her face)

Abby might kill me for this one, but I had to do it! No, her head isn't that large, but the camera does an excellent job at distorting, wouldn't you say??And finally, no changes required, this is Sarah's devilish grin that I just happened to capture. I can't help but laugh out loud whenever I see it!!!

Summer Time, and the Livin' is Easy!

Saturday Mike and I went to my parents' house for a birthday brunch. Mom and my sisters made the most wonderful spread of egg casserole, blueberry muffins, fruit salad, coffee, etc. It was delightfully relaxing to enjoy breakfast with the family and to just sit back and chat. They spoiled me greatly and made me feel special.

Following that, we went to see mom and dad's house in process. It's ah-MAZ-ing! The outside is 90% complete, and the drywall had just been hung inside, so it looks like a house! They were supposed to begin painting this week, which will make it look even more finished. It's exciting to think they'll be in their dream home in a matter of months.

That afternoon, the Jameses and Lands came over to spend an afternoon in the sun with us. We had so much fun playing Baggo (even though Sonya is too good for it), Bocce Ball, and our newly developed POOL baggo. Plenty of food and drinks were enjoyed, and the weather could not have been more perfect. I wish I could replay Saturday every day. It was the perfect way to enjoy summer!

We couldn't resist taking many, many pictures of the adorable Sarah...

Mike loves that girl...

Uh oh, daddy is influencing her early!

Couple of studs we picked up at the pool...

Sweet momma and baby!

Cam and Abby playing pool Baggo.

Rach & Shaun

Mark and Sonya playing with Sarah...

Mike (wearing Rachels' glasses) and Shaun acting "Ruff" and Tuff...

Katie and I playing rock, paper, scissors to see who went first in Bocce ball. Can you guess who came up with THAT idea?

Playing bocce ball against Katie & Cam.

Sarah, exploring the grass...

Sarah all tuckered out...