The room is ALMOST finished...

I like to think I get the house cleaner and more organized every day... I've kept our house free of dirty dishes and laundry for WEEKS now, I've kept a consistently neat and tidy living space, I constantly pick up after everyone who sets foot in our house (not at all annoying, I know!), and I've developed an even deeper love for the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (post from two years ago, when I was pregnant with Abbey). I had been waiting on Max's shower, however, to do any of his laundry... drum roll please... all of his laundry has been done, his room is clean an organized, and most of the decorations are up! I'm waiting on one tiny thing, and it should arrive from Pottery Barn Kids tomorrow!

I posted some pictures before, but here are new and improved pics of Baby Max's room:

His name is up!! Chris did an awesome job :)

The small shelf on the left is new, and it has Where the Wild Things Are propped on it; for the record, no, the Max from the book is not his namesake... just a cute coincidence

The shelf in the corner is from our living room. It was sitting there empty, so today, I dragged it into the nursery, confiscated Abbey's (now empty, since she's not a "baby" anymore) baby baskets from her changing table (now toy table), and voila! Max now has storage! Also, note the new sign above the window (I Love You to the Moon and Back).

View of most of the room from the doorway- I love it!

As soon as it arrives tomorrow, this is going to be hanging on the wall next to his closet (just the A). I can't wait to have it COMPLETE!!

Max's Baby Shower

I had a GREAT time at my baby shower for Max! Since I am able to reuse a lot of my baby items from Abbey (except clothes of course...), we had a small shower. Max got so many adorable outfits, diapers, toys, new bottles, blankets, and gadgets that weren't around when I had Abbey. We're so blessed! Here are some pictures from the shower, courtesy of my friend Courtney:

Max and I at (nearly) 34 weeks

The airplane cake Courtney made!

All of the other amazing food Courtney made

I love my diaper cake Amy made

Cute decorations, punch, and invitations were done by Candace

I'm so lucky to have three amazing friends who all wanted to do this shower for me! Love you, girls!

Abbey Hope is TWO!!

Well, our sweet baby girl has turned two, and what a fun two years it's been leading up to this point! We had a small back yard party for the birthday girl (complete with Rock Band for the dads...), and she had so much fun playing with friends and family!

In case you've forgotten, here's what she looked like on her actual birth day:

9.20.07

And on her first birthday:

9.20.08

And now on her second birthday:

9.20.09

Some pictures from the party:

Cake table

Abbey's giant cupcake

Sneaking a bite before the party starts

Daddy helps Abbey open her tricycle from Granna and G-pa (Nana and Beebop)

Mommy and birthday girl (and 33 week belly!)

More pictures to come...

Two years ago...

Now that I'm expecting our second baby, I find myself reading my old blog posts from when I was expecting Abbey. The closest I could find to exactly two years ago today was this one. If you don't want to go back and read, it's basically about how I was eight days away from my due date, and how I physically had made no progress as far as going into labor. HA!!

Little did I know that she was not coming out on her due date, which was September 14, 2007. I happened to be induced on the 19th, but she was born on the 20th. Yikes! I'm glad I didn't know that on September 6, 2007 when I was feeling so sorry for myself that my baby wasn't coming until TWO weeks later!

This is about what I looked like two years ago today.

I think this warrants another "yikes"... I was swollen from head to toe, miserable, covered in PUPPP, and weighing in at nearly 200 lbs. I still think I had every reason to feel sorry for myself :)

Oh, and to top it off, this was the bed I was sleeping in: a LOW to the ground Ikea bed that I had to heave myself out of several times a night to either go to the bathroom or reapply cortisone to my swollen, itching skin.

And this was the TV I was watching:

I think you can barely make out an old Friends DVD on the teeny tiny screen. Needless to say, I was very happy when we got our new arrival:

And, with the addition of Abbey, this room has been changing ever since! I can't wait to see how our house and our lives evolve after Max's arrival, and here's praying for a safe one at that.

So, here I am, two years later, planning Abbey's SECOND birthday party (wow!!!), preparing for the birth of my SECOND child, and all in the SECOND year in our house. We are very blessed.

Do you think they look alike?

It's a little difficult to see, but the top picture is Abbey. She has all hands and feet in her face, and was sleeping pretty peacefully during this sonogram. Her typical position was one hand on her cheek, and one foot in or on her mouth!

Abbey

This one is of Max! Like Abbey, he has an arm/hand on his face, but luckily, his feet were not blocking our view of him. His typical position is head down, bottom up, and feet all over the place! He moves "bigger" than Abbey did, but he's much more mellow. She kicked and pushed and poked and prodded; he rolls and turns and shifts. Makes for a much more comfortable pregnancy this time around!

Max