Miranda Ann is Here!

Miranda Ann was born on Monday, September 29, 2008 at 9:18 a.m. You can view pictures of HERE.

God takes care of even the impatient

We just got back from our Dr's visit. We've been going quite frequently in these last weeks of pregnancy. This was by far my favorite visit though! Having just written about impatience this morning, I'm happy to tell you, we have a plan. Everything is happier with a plan! Our Dr. said the baby is looking good, I'm feeling good, my plecenta is apparently ready to be done with it's job and fully 'mature', which puts things in a bit of a time frame crunch, and he's leaving town in a few days. So, add it all up and it spells: inducing on Monday! There's always the chance that I'll go into labor on my own between now and late Sunday night, but if not, we'll take a pill to start the process. This makes me very happy, because the waiting and guessing is just stressful. Plus, I think it'll be really sweet if we do go until then and this girl comes on the 29th! My b-day is a 29, so is 2 of my cousins, and my mom and aunt are 9ths. We are fans of having girls on these dates, apparently! I can't believe I was just complaining about having to wait, now I'm a little freaked out that my baby girl will be here within 3 days - God always throws me funny curve balls like that!

I'm not patient

My husband knows how un-patient I can be when waiting for something big and good. Just ask him sometime about the weeks and months before our engagement. I was awfully unpatient waiting for that beautiful ring to appear from his pocket. These days, I'm waiting for a beautiful baby to appear in our lives. I don't think I've gotten any better at waiting in the past 5 years of marriage.

I haven't even reached my due date yet and I'm slightly upset that this baby hasn't arrived. I'm having a constant internal conversation with her about why today would be a great day to be born. Pretty sure she neither hears me, nor cares about my opinion on the matter. It's unnerving to plan your day and week with such a big quesiton mark of when all the plans will change. I think I've already mentally checked out of work and house chores and any plans, just assuming that at some point soon we'll drop everything and have a whole new plan involving hospitals and pink blankies. It's hard to think about, or want to do, anything else then meet this baby. Oh, the waiting. I couldn't even sleep last night while hoping every little teasing uterine contraction would develop into something more than the false labor my belly is so fond of these days.

I did have a really good time yesterday evening watching 'The Office' premiere with some friends. I didn't want to go into labor before that event, because I knew it would be fun. But now - I've little to look forward to other than baby time, and the anticipation has sure set in quickly since last night! I know, I'm pitiful, but thanks for listening to me whine (in type). Watch for news on the (hopefully soon-arriving) little one!

Best Baby Shower ever!

Sorry I didn't write sooner, my baby shower was 6 days ago, but it's really taken that long just to unpack the bags and put the nursery together!

We had such a marvelous weekend home in Bismarck! The baby shower was just perfect. All the decorations were beautiful - everything was either purple or safari animal themed (like our nursery)! Lisa made a great cake, and Kristie made these adorable decorations out of rolled up diapers and baby socks.

We played the 'guess the turd' game with melted candy bars in diapers - gross and fun. I didn't do very well, I think I only had 5 or 6 out of the 10. One of my friends came over from the Grand Forks area, and it was great to catch up with her. One of Mom's friends (whom I'm quite fond of as well) came with her little girl from MN. I think all the other guests were Bismarck natives. It was fun to see everyone at once!

In the midst of all the incredible gifts we got, Brandon actually won for best gift. He surprised me by flying in my best friend Jodi from Oregon for the entire weekend. Everyone knew about it but me, I was entirely oblivious! She came walking into the backyard with the guys on Thursday night. B said he was going to hang out with the boys (which is totally normal and non-suspicious), and actually went to the airport to pick up Jodi! I was so surprised, and delighted. So, all weekend was made extra special to hang out with her, and my mom, and friends at the house.

In the list of amazing gifts though - we have a lot of homemade things. Apparently my entire family and circle of friends are very crafty and talented! In our nursery is currently: the pictures my Dad drew (you can see below), two crocheted blankets from Lisa in Bismarck, one gorgeous quilt with baby safari animals from Aunt Lisa, a great shelf for above the changing table that my Grandpa built, a homemade ceramic piggy bank from Irene, and 4 totally cute paintings of baby animals that Aunt Beth painted! All that on top of really nice baby gifts and all the hundreds of things we had registered for at Target. This is one crazy lucky kid - and I get to be the crazy lucky mommy!!

Click HERE to see all the pictures!