Finally, the nursery

After much deliberation and work, we finally decided what we wanted to do for the nursery.  Most of the decorations for boys were either baby blue and brown or some sort of theme.  We decided a theme would not really go with the rest of our house, and we had other rooms that were already baby blue and brown so we wanted something different.  We decided we wanted to go with bright colors so that it wouldn't be so babyish and maybe he could use it for awhile.  Here is the room before we started:

Jon decided he wanted to do something artistic and add some boxes to a focus wall.  Here is how it all started:

The next step was to get the old furniture out and the room painted.  I worked on this with my helper bees over spring break and made some major headway.  Then, we ordered the furniture that ended up being an ordeal.  Finally the furniture came in and we were ready to continue.  Once we had the furniture we started talking about what we wanted to do for the bedding.  Finally my mom saved the day and made all of the bedding and it looks great.  Jon made the bookshelf and he also did the art piece that is hanging in there.  Welcome to Aaron's room

The wreath was made by some friends for the shower and it now hangs on his door because it matches so well.

I find myself walking in there every day just looking around and I love how cheerful it is.  I am sure there will be some thing we tweek but it seems just right for now.

It's Still a Boy!

I went to the doctor today for our last little sneak peak of our little man before we get to meet him face to face.  It is truly amazing how he has grown and I can't wait to meet him.

We got a few pictures but they are kind of hard to see because he is so big.  It is very different than any of the previous ones because you could only see parts of his body and he was all squished up.  This first one are his feet pushing up against my belly.

There is his face, again pushed up against me.  And the only other one that was clearly defined he was showing off his boy parts so I will spare you that one.  They did a bunch of measurements and estimated that he is weighing about 5 and a half pounds now.  She said he is measuring within the 50 percentile which is perfect.  She said between now and his due date, he will put on about a pound and a half and she guesses he will weigh plus or minus seven pounds.  I am just fine with that because I was afraid of anything above 8 pounds.  In talking with the doctor she said it seems like things are progressing quite nicely and she thinks he will come right around his due date, which is about four and a half weeks away.  I did ask her how long she would let me go past and she said only a day or two.  In all of the talking it made me realize that the day is coming and it is coming soon.  I am very excited, yet very nervous.  So many emotions for a first time mom and I am pretty sure dad is feeling it too.

His nursery is DONE!  I am hoping to have Jon take some pictures tonight so I can post them on here.

Many things to celebrate!

Well it is official, Jon's has completed his MBA and is just waiting on his diploma to come in the mail.  I am so proud of him and all of his hard work these past two years.  I know it has not been easy, our lives have been a little bit crazy.  However, he was determined and stayed buckled down.  His hard work paid off with a great GPA and lots of bragging rights.  He continues to work at Spectra and has now gotten many of our friends a job there, and it has created quite the fun work environment for them.  We are hopeful that one day he will be hired on direct and have even more opportunities for advancement.  He has done very well and his boss seems to love him so things are looking good.

I am done with work and done with all of my masters classes!  I however, am not done with the whole program quite yet.  I have a masters "exam" that I have to take before I can graduate.  Unfortunately, they will not send me the exam until the beginning of July with a due date of July 12th.  This is a little bit of a problem considering we have a baby due on the 15th, lets just hope I finish it before he comes.  I have begged and pleaded for them to send it early but I keep getting denied.  At this point I figure there is nothing I can do, it will work out one way or another.  Until then, I plan to catch up on my scrap-booking.

We have about 5 more weeks until Aaron's due date and have a little bit more time to start thinking about preparing for all of that.  His nursery is ALMOST finished and I hope to get some pictures up here next week with everything done.  I plan to spend next two weeks getting some of the baby gear assembled and thinking through what still needs to be done.  It is so nice that I have the time off this summer to get everything done, and it is even better to have my number one helper here with me, my mom!

My parents' house is coming right along, they anticipate the building to be complete in about 3 weeks.  It is crazy how fast they can get a whole house built.  They are quite bummed out that although the house will be done, they will not have utilities for several more weeks.  They are looking to close on their house sometime in July.

Getting ready for sweet little Aaron!

I am happy to say that yesterday was the last day of the school year!  It was a rough ending to the year with all of the chaos that was going on but it made the last day so much sweeter.  I have finished my first year of second grade and look forward to a repeat, well improved repeat, next year.  I plan to fully enjoy my summer and get the most out of it before I have to go back.  I am almost done with grad school, I just have to finish one last paper, and then I am free from that too.  Not only does this mean it is time to relax but it is also time to focus on Aaron and make sure we have all things in order for his arrival.

 It never ceases to amaze me what wonderful and loving people we have in our lives.  Last Saturday we were blessed to have a wonderful get together in celebration and anticipation of Aaron.  I was so excited that Barbie was able to fly in and be a part of the festivities.  Her, my mom, Rick and I spent some time Friday night getting some of the decorations hung and visiting.  There were some amazing hostesses that worked very hard to make sure that all parts of the shower were amazing.  The theme was "Courtney's about to Pop".  It was so cute because everything had to do with popping.  Here are some pictures of the amazing food.

Abbey spent some time the week before the shower making white chocolate popcorn as a favor for all of the guests, it was yummy!  Barbie made the cute lollipop bouquets out of baby washcloths.

Shawna made an adorable page for his scrapbook that everyone wrote their guess on when he would come.  In addition each guest added their finger print to a picture that will hang in his room.

Abbey and Kara made a super cute wreath that we hung on the outside of the door that day but now hangs on Aaron's bedroom door.

And, many great friends came to celebrate.

Sorority Sisters

Neighbors from my Mom's old neighborhood

Family

Other pregnant bellies

And, some very special little friends

 Emma, my sweet friend Rian's little girl was one of the big girls this day.

Mikey, one of the Sellers Fellers want to come check out where his new friend will live.


We were blessed with not only great company but many wonderful gifts.  We are well on our way to bring this sweet baby home.  Now, it is time for mommy to go get busy organizing everything.