Who is this cutie?

Yup - the baby in that last post was my cousin, Jake. Here's another one from Corey's side for you to guess...

39 Weeks Along!

Yesterday we hit the 39 week mark. Only one more week until the due date! I'm still feeling good, but do feel more pressure now that Charlotte has dropped. I get tired more quickly, but I'm still able to do things like making it in to Nashville for a birthday lunch for one of my former co-workers (happy 30th, Angie!). My patience is running a little short (I just about lost it last night when the idiots at Lowe's couldn't seem to figure out how to charge us for the new storm door), but I thought I showed amazing restraint when I woke up to find that Duke had eaten ALL of the banana bread I made last night. Anyone who knows how much I love banana bread will find it phenomenal that I didn't murder Duke right there on the spot.

BabyCenter.com doesn't have anything very interesting to say about Charlotte's development at 39 weeks:

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. The outer layers of her skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

More photos for you to guess about...

Erin guessed right - yesterday's photo was our own little Stephanie Sanderson.

Got the car seat mounted in the Mazda . . . unfortunately, side curtain airbags mean that we have to mount the car seat in the middle of the back seat.

Okay - can you identify this little Evans-family baby?

Making progress!

This morning's appointment with Dr. Bell revealed that I am dilated to 3 centimeters and am 80% effaced. Not bad! Dr. Bell thinks the baby should come within the next week and is very pleased with the way things are going. Charlotte is still moving around (a good sign that she's not in distress or has the cord wrapped around her in a bad way) and Dr. Bell thinks Charlotte has dropped (though I couldn't really tell much of a difference).

All right - the answer to yesterday's "name that baby" quiz is that the top baby was my mom, JoAnn, and the bottom baby was Corey's mom, Barb! No one guessed Barb - not even Corey!

Here's the next baby for you to guess (try as I might, I could only get one photo to load today. I don't think this blogging program likes the Mac):

From the Stringer side:

Guess those babies!

I'm FINALLY scanning all of the family baby photos to hang on the wall in Charlotte's room in the "family tree". The photos are just too cute not to share. I decided to post a couple of different ones each day and let you guess who they are. I will reveal the identity of the family members in the photos the next day. You can make guesses by adding a comment to the blog entry.

Here are today's subjects:

From the Evans side of the family:

From the Stringer side of the family:

So who do you think those two cuties are?

All together now -- AWWWWWW!!!!

I have been filling my first day as an unemployed stay-at-home soon-to-be mom doing very exciting things -- laundry and vacuuming. If you had your in-laws, parents and sister and brother-in-law (not to mention a bunch of other visitors) coming to see you soon, wouldn't you do the same thing? Anyway, I was taking a quick rest on the couch in between chores when all of the sudden there was a knock on the door and the dogs went ballistic.

To my great surprise, it was a florist delivery dude with a gorgeous arrangement just for me! But who could they be from? None other than my darling husband, who is busy working his butt off while I lounge around at home just waiting to go into labor. I tried to call him to thank him, but he's super busy with a big real estate closing. So, I'm posting this so everyone else knows how tickled I am that Corey recognized the big life change we're going through. The card says, "First day of a new life! Love, Corey". Awwwww...


Yes, it's fun to think that I don't have to go to work anymore, but it's also a big shift in my identity. My new boss will be a demanding little thing without the ability to communicate to me exactly what she wants or needs, and I'm going to struggle with the worry that we're putting too big of a burden on Corey and wasting all of my expensive education. We're happy with our choices so far, but it's going to be an interesting next few years to see how it all plays out.

Connie, Duke and Pacey all seem happy that I'm home to hang out with them. They even promised to try to shed less and behave better. We'll see how they like it when there's a little baby competing for what they consider to be their belly-rub time.

Week 38 and getting closer!

Congratulations to Nancy and Matt Clark (formerly Nancy Dawson) and to Helen and Sebastian Schiavone (formerly Helen Hennighausen), who both gave birth last week! Nancy and Matt added little Cara to their family, and Helen and Sebastian brought little Joel (there is supposed to be an "umlaut" over the "e" in Joel) into the world!

Niki is at 38 weeks, and is growing bigger every day. She still looks great and cute, and besides not being able to sleep well, is doing great. I woke up this morning to find Pacey sleeping ON TOP of Niki's baby bump. According to www.babycenter.com, Charlotte is about 6.8 pounds and about 19.5 inches long. She can grasp things now (and according to Niki, can poke VERY STRONGLY). What on earth could she be grasping in there?

All's quiet here in the Cannonhood. This is the calm before the storm. (We have fully accepted, that being a child of ours, Charlotte is going to be a LOUD little baby.) Similarly, March has come in like a lamb - guaranteed it will go out like a lion . . .


Niki had her last day of work (from now until when Charlotte is born, she will be a woman of leisure). Her co-workers had a very nice going-away lunch for her. I know she will miss the job, but she is also looking forward to caring and raising Charlotte.

We also bought our Baby Bjorn. It is the Baby Bjorn Air model, which should be nice and cool for little Charlotte in the Tennessee summer heat. Even better - it fits on Duke! This is great - if Niki is on a walk and Charlotte needs a change, all she needs to do is put Charlotte in Duke's Baby Bjorn, slap him on the rump to send him home and I can get the diaper changed when they get here . . .



We are getting more excited every day. We cannot wait to meet our little Charlotte!

2 Centimeters and 70% Effaced

At today's appointment, Dr. Bell confirmed I am dilated to two centimeters and am 70% effaced. Charlotte still hasn't dropped at all, so Dr. Bell and I both think Charlie Jo isn't making her debut any time within the next week. If I want, at the next appointment Dr. Bell can help things along a little by "stripping the membranes", but that will only encourage labor to begin if I was on the cusp anyway. Since I'm still two weeks and a day shy of the due date, there's no huge hurry.

Corey asked a very good question at today's appointment. If he has a cold, should he be allowed at the delivery? Dr. Bell said it would be fine, since the baby is going to go home to live with us anyway and can't live in a bubble forever! She said it's pretty rare that a husband is so sick that he shouldn't be there for the birth. Of course, we often have a hard time distinguishing between Corey getting sick and his allergies just acting up, so it's nice to know we don't need to stress about which one it really is.

More good news - Dr. Bell also confirmed that Charlotte is still head down. Considering all of the dancing she has been doing lately, I was afraid Charlie has been doing backflips! It doesn't sound like we have anything to worry about in terms of a breech birth, but I know there's still other reasons why a c-section may still become necessary.

Cross your fingers for some more progress, but not so much that I miss my last two and a half days of work!

Redneck Baby Shower

Unfortunately, I don't yet have photos from the Redneck Baby Shower (it's kind of hard to take photos when you're the guest of honor). You'll just have to take my word for it that the costumes people showed up in were absolutely hysterical (lots of camouflage, overalls, and even a halter top made out of a pair of men's undies), the food was to die for (pigs in a blanket, fried spam sandwiches, ding dongs, twinkies, cheese whiz, etc.), and the redneck baby advice I was given was priceless. Alicia and Jean (the hostesses) are two very special individuals. Very special, indeed.

Charlotte also attended a very fun show Saturday night. Alicia and some friends had a gig at Puckett's Grocery in Leipers Fork, and our neighborhood basically took over the place. By the time we left, a waitress was in tears and I don't think there was a beer left in the place. Ok, so maybe the part about the beer wasn't true, but the waitress was feeling a little overwhelmed since she was the only one on shift that night and she hadn't exactly kept good track of who ordered what. Whoops. The music was excellent though!

Only three more days of work after today. Then, I need to get going on all of the final preparations for Ms. Charlotte's arrival. I have yet to hang a single photo in the family tree on her bedroom wall and the house is an absolute wreck. We have another appointment with the doctor tomorrow, so we'll have a better idea of how close I might be getting to giving birth. I don't think Charlotte has dropped down any yet though, so we're still probably looking at a couple of weeks of waiting.

Woo hoo!

I have figured out how to post to the blog from my Blackberry!! That means that although we won't have wireless internet access from the hospital, we can still post text blog entries while we're there. We'll be documenting our experiences as much as we can for two purposes -- to keep anyone who is interested informed, and to help us remember everything that happened throughout the chaos.

I have never been good at keeping journals, and this blog has helped me keep my thoughts organized. Whether anyone ever reads the entries, I have had a really good time posting and hope Charlotte will enjoy reading it all someday!

ET - I'll send you an e-mail to let you know how absurdly easy it was to post from the Blackberry. Then we can hear all about your New York Adventures even while you're on the road without internet access!!

Test

Test message from Blackberry.

Niki Stringer '02
Associate Director
Development & Alumni Relations
Vanderbilt Law School

Top Ten

Top Ten Ways My Life Has Changed in the Last 8+ Months:

1. I am never more than three steps away from a bottle of antacids.

2. I have no problem discussing my cervix with my co-workers.

3. I actually don't mind when Corey rubs my belly.

4. I don't mind when people break eye contact when talking to me to check out my changing shape.

5. I see pregnant women EVERYWHERE! I know it's just psychological, but it suddenly seems like the whole world is pregnant.

6. Edamame is no longer a special treat (not after being force-fed it in a vain effort to reform my marginal eating habits in a fit of nutritional consciousness in the first trimester).

7. I don't stress about wearing the same outfits over and over again. I do plan on burning some of them in the near future, however!

8. I get excited over things like little overalls with a stuffed pig sewn into the front pocket.

9. I'm actually looking forward to my first-ever real admission to the hospital (getting stitches in my finger and another minor surgery to remove a benign fibroid cyst in my breast don't count, since they were over within a few hours, didn't entail an overnight stay, and didn't require me to eat hospital food!).

10. I don't find it weird when people call me "Mommy".