Isaac's Room- A Virtual Tour - Sort of

As promised, here are the pics of Isaac's nursery. I can't wait to bring him home and put him in it! Enjoy!

Mindy

This is Isaac's ultrasound picture from September in a frame from his Aunt Jilian. I sure hope he doesn't look like that anymore.

This is a sideways picture of Isaac's puppy dog hamper.

This is Bentley, he thinks we bought the rug for him. Boy is he going to be surprised.

This is the door to Isaac's room. His Jeje made the little animals for it.

Poor little guy. He won't have a thing to wear.

This is the wall over his crib. The letters are cardboard and held on the wall with velcro. I painted them myself.

A close- up of the bedding, pillows, and toys, which will all have to be removed once he starts sleeping in there. The book of blog entries in in there for now until we are ready to put the sequal in the crib. :)

This is his already packed diaper bag, his swing from his Aunt Aub & Aunt Charity and his rocking lion from Bree Menard, my friend from work.

This is the rocking chair and boppy.

This is the curtain and the huge basket "o" blankies. Most of them are home made which makes the extra sweet. Note the doggies on the TV stand. Two poodles and a cavalier, just like Bentley, Sadie and Lexus.

The dresser/changing table. We are putting two shelves above it so we can actually use it for changing.

It's all here, just waiting. We are ready. Come on Isaac!

Final Countdown: 5 Weeks, 3 Days Left!

It's been so long since I've blogged that I have a million updates. I will try to give you the Reader's Digest condensed version. We will see how well that actually turns out. Again, Miss Logue says I could write a novel when a sentence would suffice. I agree but I have always had a lot to say, so I need my words!

I am going to go in no particular order:

Joia Leslie Gardner- My second beautiful little niece came into the world on December 11, 2008, weighing in at 6 pounds and 4 ounces. Ryland and I got to keep her big sister Jaisa and watch them meet for the first time. Ryland took Jaisa to Wal-Mart to pick out a gift for Joia. Jaisa picked a "Pooh" stuffed animal. We got in the car to go to the hospital and Jaisa changed her mind and kept saying that Pooh was hers and she was NOT going to share it with Joia. Thank God for technology because Ryland's I-phone saved the day. I pulled up some pictures that had been e-mailed that morning. I showed Jaisa the pictures of Jilian holding Joia and one of Joia crying. I told Jaisa that she was crying because she wanted to meet her big sister and a "Pooh" would probably make her feel better. ( A little fib never hurts right?) Jaisa's voice instantly softened, the light bulb went off and I watched my niece instantly love her sister. It was a precious moment. She told me that she would give Pooh to Joia. We went into the hospital and Jaisa held her baby sister and I watched my little family grow. I am ready for it to grow more and for my belly to shrink! I attached a picture of my beautiful nieces. Again, credit needs to be given to Ashley Ofosu. This was one of many gorgeous pictures from a photo shoot at Jilian's house. Joia is a little over a week old in this:

Baby Showers- I have been given two baby showers that were so sweet and generous. I am so unworthy of the generosity that has been shown to me by our friends and family. I can't say thank you enough for allowing God to use you in helping to provide for my Isaac. Baby stuff is EXPENSIVE and we have been generously provided for.

My first baby shower was November 22 in my hometown of Barnsdall. My lifelong best friends, Aubrey (Hibdon) Cramer and Charity (Carpenter) Duran had the cutest shower for me!
The theme was "boys are loads of fun". They decorated with dump trucks and yellow and black caution tape. We even had dirt cups with worms in lieu of a traditional cake. Both of my grandmothers were there as well as all of my Harmon cousins, even Haley came in from Fort Worth. I like to think it was for my shower but I suspect that she may have been there more for the Thanksgiving feast at Grannie B's after the shower. :) I can't say I blame her.

A few special highlights were the opening and closing prayers offered by my Grannie Myrna and my Dad, respectively. It was moving to hear prayers of safety and blessing offered up on behalf of my son. I pray those things all the time, but it was precious to hear them from the lips of people that I love so dearly. I got so many sweet gifts, everything from a stroller, to butt paste, to darling homemade blankets. Two of my favorites were the onesies from Aub and Charity: And Ryland, the sweetest husband in the world, compiled all of my blogs into a book. I'm published! Its is in full color and includes every single blog post I have ever entered. I love it that I will have a record to show Isaac and Gurt someday of what God lead us through to get them.

My second shower was at my school on December 4. It was given by my wonderful grade-level teammates, Flo Norman, Donna Burkey and Lynn Weathers and my AMAZING homeroom mothers. My co-workers have struggled with me through the last 2 1/2 years with infertility and miscarriages on a daily basis. They have provided so much encouragement and support. They have watched my pregnancy closer than maybe anyone else and have been wonderful. They have taken such good care of me and I can't wait to share my Isaac with them! It was also been wonderful to work with the group of mothers that I have this year. I have never been so so supported and edified by a group of parents before. I was so afraid that my pregnancy would be an automatic strike against me as a professional this year. But they have been so flexible and supportive and they are raising amazing kids, I get free parenting lessons everyday! This is probably my favorite class of my career. They already love Isaac and they ask everyday if he is happy and moving. They are very vested in my pregnancy. I loved having them be part of my baby shower. Unfortunately, I have no digital pictures of this shower. I have really cute print-outs in my purse if you ever want to see them though!

Gestational Diabetes- I went in to have the test for this condition the week before Thanksgiving. I drank some McNasty orange glucose stuff and had blood drawn an hour later. I got a call the next week telling me that I had failed. Great. I had to have the follow-up test which meant a bigger bottle of the orange drink and having my blood drawn 4 times. Let me just say for the record, I don't mind needles. This pregnancy ordeal has caused any fear I may have had of needles and pelvic exams to go away. They are necessary discomforts. But when I have blood drawn, my veins are tiny and they roll, which causes nurses to have to stick me multiple times and dig in my arm to find a vein. I DO NOT like this. My four sticks for this test turned into about 8. My arms were so sore and looked like those of a heroin junkie when I left. But I passed the test with instructions to "watch my sugars". I've been watching them all right, watching them go right into my mouth. Not to make excuses, but Christmas is not the easiest time to avoid sweets.

Isaac's Nursery- We painted last week and after returning two cribs that were recalled, we put together the one we are keeping. The nursery is finally finished! It is so cute, definitely my taste. I am nesting like crazy and it makes my hormones so happy to have it all completed. I will be posting pictures of it very soon.

I think that is all for now. Please keep me and my little ones in your prayers as we count down the days until they arrive. Happy 2009!

Mindy