happy daddy day

i'm completely obsessed with these two...

yep. this is the sappy father's day post. i couldn't help myself. i'm hormonal right now.

i've watched my husband and best friend become a daddy this week - something he was born to do. 

he is enamored with his little lady and she loves her daddy. 

he holds her, rocks her, sings to her, calms her. 

pretty much everything except feed her - and that's not exactly possible...

happy father's day to my best friend - you pretty much rock at your new job. 

{embrace} the Camera

By far my most favorite picture of this week...

We embraced the silly camera all week long. Birth story to come in the following days!

Can't wait to see your {embrace} the camera pics from this week!

Introducing...

Campbell Hope Good

6.14.10

12:07 pm

6 lb 3 oz

19 in

red hair & BIG blue eyes

More to come... when I'm not falling asleep while breastfeeding.

Peace at last.

Today I officially gave up my control. This week I have tried everything - literally everything short of castor oil to get her here before induction. Spicy food, pineapple, clary sage oil, accupuncture, stripping membranes, exercise ball, long walks - and a few other things I won't mention on a public blog. After a marathon effort yesterday I woke up this morning to a full bladder and no contractions - majorly bummed. Then out of nowhere I realized I needed to give up control and relax. She's coming when she's coming and everything is going to be okay. When I admitted that to myself, I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of peace. So the birth might not go according to MY (and Ida May's plan) but that's okay. If I have to be induced? Fine. If I have to have the pitocin because the first stuff doesn't do the trick? Fine. If I have to have an epidural? Fine. If I have to have a Csection? Fine. We'll take what comes our way. We have so far during this pregnancy and God has been faithful every single step of the way. I am seriously at peace with it. Bottom line, my babies get here. One I have to say goodbye to, the other I get to welcome into our home. After the journey this pregnancy has taken us on, I am just so incredibly thankful to have made it this far - past due. Who would have guessed. (yes Cori - you did call it in February.)

So to celebrate, here is a little video Mat snagged at our very last perinatoligst appointment today. Campbell passed with flying colors in about 2 minutes. She was totally showing off. And I loved every second of it. We were lucky and got to see my favorite perinatologist, Dr. C, instead of a tech who usually does the scan. She was VERY pleased with how she looked and how our pregnancy has ended. (FYI - we had a different peri on Monday who wasn't familiar with our situation) She was very reassuring about her weight and said that we shouldn't be surprised if she is bigger than the last growth-scan estimated.
So here you go. Miss Campbell Hope Good.
(With some seriously chubby cheeks. Seriously - looks like my nights of blue bell ice cream have done her well. )

PS- Yes I realize that ultrasound pictures are a little ... uhm... alien-ish -But enjoy those chub-a-licious little cheeks!!

{Embrace} the Camera

aka Holy Double Chin

So a blog that I stalk (yes, I confess, I am a blog stalker - admit it - so are you.

Technically she's a bestie of a friend of mine, so is that really blog stalking?!)

has started {Embrace} the camera Thursday & I jumped on board. 

I love this idea.

So this is my {Embrace} the camera debut

The idea is to snap a photo with your kiddo and publish it every Thursday. 

You probably don't get too many shots with YOU in them do you? 

In 20 years or so your kiddo(s) can look at them and love seeing you and them together....no make-up, double chin & all...

Fun idea right? You should do it too.

So this will be my last {Embrace} the camera with my lovely little ladies in my belly 

and I thought it would be a great kick-off.

My friend Kristin snapped it a play date today. 

Yes I realize this is a scary picture. But let's be honest. When you are 40+ weeks - 

you're not exactly sexy.

I even tried to work some lightroom magic on it.

But there's no helping 40+ weeks. 

No make-up.

Double Chin.

Tired eyes. (not to be confused with bedroom eyes)
Oh, and I walked 4 miles this morning. Does that help?

And I love it. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'm already excited for next week's post=)

PS: If you are going to join in {embrace} the camera Thursday, leave me a comment so I can check out pics of you and your babies!

Time's up Baby Hope

That's right - Campbell was delivered her first (and hopefully only) eviction notice today. After a growth scan yesterday revealed that her growth has been pretty poor since her last one (she is now only up to about 6lb 2oz and only in the 7th percentile - and I know those things can be wrong - but still - itty bitty little girl) my perinatologist gave the green light to induce. I met with my OB today who conferenced with my peri yesterday and they feel comfortable waiting until Monday June 14. This gives her a few more days to cook and hopefully grow a bit more. My doctor will be there the entire day and is even on call that night which makes me feel better. We switched to him because we trust him and it makes us both feel better knowing that he would be there the entire time.
It's been a crazy 24 hours. The growth scan and bio yesterday were emotional for me.  (Let's be honest - what ISN'T emotional for me right now?) I was bummed to see her growth slow down, but the bio is what really sucked. She has 30 minutes to make X-number of movements and for the first time it took all 30 minutes plus some. I know she's out of room and she was probably just sleeping. Her heart rate was fine which made the whole thing easier. And in the end she passed the test, which is what counts. It was just a LONG 30 minutes of watching her NOT move. Brought back some icky memories.
Induction is not my choice at all, but I want to get our baby here nice and healthy. As one of my best friends pointed out yesterday, this whole pregnancy has not exactly gone according to our plan. It's another opportunity to learn, that yet again, I am not in control. You think  I would have learned that by now.
This pregnancy has been quite the adventure and I just keep learning lesson after lesson.

So in the meantime - we're going to try all those natural induction techniques (headed to WF to buy castor oil & clary sage oil in just a few moments), pray for her to come on her own, but trust God that she's coming when she's supposed to - regardless of what we do.

In the meantime...

Yes. My due date has come and gone. I had a minor breakdown Sunday in which I informed Mat that I would be the only pregnant lady who stays pregnant forever. There were tears and foot stompin'. I'm trying to keep busy - but it's getting hard.

I go back and forth between exhausted and "nesting energy".
Nesting energy has helped me accomplish power washing the exterior windows, cleaning out some book shelves and "teaching" my husband to change the oil in our cars. (yeah that was pretty much a classic case of the blind leading the blind. I thought I knew what I was doing. apparently not. We will be paying jiffy lube from here on out. Oh - please don't bring it up with Mat - it's a sore subject between us. k? thanks.) Exhaustion has equated in even more TV watching. We've almost completed Day 8 of 24. I have now gotten into Housewives of NJ & NY. (those ladies are train wrecks but they have sucked me in). I am caught up on the Hills (Spencer = super wacko and did we suddenly forget about Kristin's alleged drug problem in our need to focus on his wacky-crystal behavior?) Oh and I watched most of the French Open.

Okay, more interesting stuff:
1. My parents came into town this week on their way home from Memphis. My mom and I did a little crafting. Who knew a bottle of modge podge and cheap crap 66% of at Hobby Lobby (aka "Hobby Crapola" per Mat) could provide so much entertainment AND such cute decor!  (and thank you Jami for the inspiration... I copied your block ideas, only used canvas picture things)

2. A mani / pedi with my mom. (no pics, sorry)

3. Mat & I went to a Royals game. Honestly I was kind of dreading going to a game 1) when it's 90 degrees 2) I'm sitting on hard seats 3) have to pee every 10 minutes 4) can't enjoy a cold beer, all to 5) watch them lose. It was GREAT! Our seats were in the shade, there was a nice breeze, the bathroom was ridiculously close, we had awesome friends there with us, I enjoyed a footlong AND a frozen lemonade AND they won! I made it all the way to the bottom of the 6th. If I could have those seats each game, I'd be quite the fan.

4. Walking at Loose Park with Mat. This is our favorite park in KC by far. We love to go there and just walk around or read or whatever. The walks there have been slow and broken up with lots of water breaks - but we've had fun walking around talking about Campbell.

5. PV art fair! LOVE LOVE LOVE the pv art fair! It marks the official beginning of summer. I love it SO much that when I first found out I was due on June 5, I secretly hoped the baby would come early so that I could take him/her to the art fair this year. Well, that's not going to happen - but I'm glad I got to enjoy it.

6. Hanging out with friends. What better way to celebrate summer than sitting on a patio, drinking a beer (or water) and watching kiddos run around. We've really enjoyed hanging out with friends with kiddos lately - it takes on a whole new meaning when you know you are going to be in their shoes very soon. It's been fun watching Mat come into the whole fatherhood "business". He keeps saying, "I'm just so excited!" (Turns out taking pictures is getting to be quite a challenge. Moving is quite a challenge right now....)

Okay last but not least, I'm taking an unofficial poll. When do you think this little girl is going to make her debut? My original due date was Saturday (did you hear that baby C???!!)  but since she is a bit smaller, they think it could be a little later. I think it's going to be middle to end of this week. Let me know when YOU think she is coming. If you are right there will be a small prize for you. Don't know what it is. (Maybe you will get to babysit for me? jk - probably a starbucks card or something.)
*Oh and this isn't a trick question. No induction date has been set. Neither our doctors nor Mat & I want to induce. (How nice to have doctors who tell you they WON'T induce you unless they absolutely have to for her sake!)

So far....
Jan, my mom has voted for June 11. This is her 60th bday.
Cori, one of my besties has voted for June 14. This is her 30th bday. (okay, do me a favor: click on the link and go to her TWO MONTH OLD BLOG ENTRY and tell her to start blogging again. i love her blog. love it AND she does a fantastic menu plan every monday with all organic food that I used to just copy. she pretty much fell off the face of the blogging world and needs to come back. maybe inundating her comment box will do the trick. tell her I sent you.)
Sarah, another bestie voted for June 11 as well.

So what's it going to be ladies & gentlemen? Let's get this little lady here. Sooner rather than later please. Or I might just go nuts.