28 weeks "There's a whole lotta baby in here"

Hello 3rd trimester!  The 28th week marked our first baby shower, a girls weekend, and an attempt to buy a chair for the baby room.  And speaking of the baby room....all it needs is the chair and a couple more DIY art projects to be completed.

First up, the chair attempt.  After going to 7 different stores last week, we were more than a little discouraged about finding something reasonably priced that we liked.  I of course found the perfect chair over at Pottery Barn Kids for the almost-a-good-deal-if-I-were-supersupersupersuper-rich price of $999.  Needless to say, we weren't even considering one of these as an option, just something to compare other chairs to.  I stopped at Babies R Us after work one day and finally found one that I liked almost as much as the PBK options.  I also happened to have a 20% off coupon that I could use.  But.  Do you think they could have it in stock in the store? No.  Do you think the warehouse could have it in stock? Of course not.  Do you think Babies R Us allows you to order one on back order to then be called when it comes in? No way Jose.  Why this is, is beyond me.  So, the only option I had was have another store ship one in their stock to the Madison store, which I was then told was risky because it doesn't always work out... meaning some lazy ass doesn't put it on a truck ever.  So I'm crossing my fingers this last hopeless option works.  I'm going to give it two weeks and if I don't hear from them, I'll order a different one.  I already found a couple online that are rated really high (from another store...I'm kind of not trusting Babies R Us' customer service at this point) for a little more $$$, but not too much, like only $50 or so.)

Second up, my girls weekend with all my best college girlfriends.  The nine of us hadn't been all together since March 2009, that's 3 1/2 years!  We used our time together to eat A LOT of food, and honestly just have a lot of hanging out/chatting/catching up time. :)

7 out of 9 of us at dinner Friday night at The Great Dane Restaurant in Madison.

(Laura, Evans, Courtney, Britt, Nicole in the back row. Briana, Baby G, Moi, and Baby K in the front)

And they were all wonderful enough to allow my baby shower be held over the same weekend, since we were all going to be in the same place at the same time.  And it was in a word.... amazing/exquisite/awesome/perfection. :)  A few of my closest Madison friends were able to attend too, which plopped the icing on the cake.  I (and Matt) could not have asked for a more wonderful shower for our little boy.  Nicole and Courtney planned a Dr. Seuss theme which was perfect for my English major dorkiness and Baby K's furniture favorite pastime (aka reading).  And Britt was amazing to host us all at her new house.  All my ladies were sososo generous and wonderful to us.  We are truly blessed. (And those of you who know me, know I do not throw that word around.  Like ever.)

Courtney politely demanded I wear the hat for the gift opening :)

**You can kind of tell by my red cheeks, but I had a seriously awful cold this entire weekend.  It started Thursday night and is still hanging around today (Tuesday). I tried going to work on Monday, but ended coming home sick after about two hours and then slept the rest of the day.  I'm blaming the flu shot I received the week before.**

Not quite figuring out the timer delay on the camera...

Shower attendees (minus Heather and Baby Lane who was a tiny bit of a cranky pants :)  )

All my Winona BH's :)  Finally together again!!!

The baby room is about 90% finished too!  I finally found a furniture configuration I like and finished up the first of two DIY art projects for the walls.  The antique rocker will be replaced with the future baby room chair once that fiasco is figured out.  The dresser used to be an orangey wood color, but I painted it white last week and spray painted the knobs a darker color too.  I'll come back with a full source list of where we got what and the costs at some point.  What do you think??? :)  :)  :)

View from the door.  Crib to the right, closet to the left.

Door to hallway on the far left.

Homemade/Hand-painted "No Monsters Allowed" art print :)

Nursing/Reading corner (new chair and more DIY art on the way soon)

All the girls gave Baby K a book :)

Changing table and toy basket in the corner.  Closet on the right.

Refinished dresser!

We put the dresser in the closet for a few reasons, mainly because there isn't a ton of wall space in the room, but also because the closet is HUGE.  It spans the entire length of the room and a little boy obviously won't need that much space for quite some time.  So for now, this 1/3 of the closet is a nook (with the other 2/3 still behind closet doors for storage)  We're going to paint the closet walls to match the rest of the room too.

28 weeks along (3rd Trimester!)

xoxo,

Matt, Steph, and Baby K

***Weekly words of wisdom:  When you're 28 weeks (or 7 months) pregnant you will look pregnant 100% of the time.  I repeat, YOU WILL LOOK PREGNANT 100% OF THE TIME.  Sometimes you think you don't look very pregnant (for whatever reason) and then someone makes the comment "There's a whole lotta baby in here!" when your friend and you walk by (your friend is 5 months pregnant).  Realize you look pregnant every second of every day.  And then have another Culver's chocolate milkshake.***