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I have so much to update everyone on! I honestly have been putting off writing this because I don't know where to start, lol.. It's funny how much can happen in just 6 days!

My last post was the 25th. The day after that was my baby shower, which was fantastic! It was beautiful & so many wonderful family members & friends came & brought us wonderful gifts for Levi. Kelley, Connie, & Aunt Sue did a great job decorating & Kristin did a FANTASTIC job on my cake. I have pictures up [here] of everything, buuuuut...


Isn't it amazing?? She did so good. & yes, that IS Toad sitting on the edge of the bottom layer :P
Kelley ordered such a cool banner for us, too.



& Mama Sue made an adorable diaper cake with a monkey on top of it :P


All in all I was very pleased with how everything looked :) As far as gifts go, holy cow! I was so surprised! People went the more practical route for my shower. I received VERY nice things.. Things I actually registered for & that we actually really needed! Normally you go to a shower & the receiver gets an overabundance of clothing & little knick-knack stuff. I got the monitors I asked for, the exact diaper bag I wanted, an awesome bouncer, lots of bottles (including the Dr. Brown ones I wanted for colicky babies), a BOPPY (yessssssssssss :D) & TONS of other stuff. Oooh & don't forget about all the homemade stuff! I was given beautiful blankets & all kinds of awesome stuff with Levi's name embroidered on them. I'm so excited :) Now all I need is a bassinet, my baby bedding, & a few other small things. Things are pulling together to prepare me for Levi's arrival!! I need to send out thank-you cards & start working on making his baby book (that's right--I'm making it myself!)
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NEXT big thing is that Jonah found us a place to live! Who's excited? I'm excited, for sure. He found us a beautiful corporate apartment just a few miles from his office. Look!!

Aren't they beautiful?? I'm so happy! Doc? Check. Apt? Check. Now we just have to get there!
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Other than that, we have been spending time with people before we leave.. Shaun & Jenny leave tomorrow to go home to D.C. & we decided to definitely squeeze another visit in with them before they left. We went to Galveston on Monday & had a really great time :) Yesterday Jonah & I went to the fair for a little while & then went to Pearland & picked up Tre' & Katy (& were nearly killed by an idiotic truck driver who thought it unnecessary to check his blind spots before switching over 3 lanes of traffic at once while going at least 70 mph). They're here with us til tomorrow visiting, & then we're headed south to visit some family & then very much southeast for Jonah's work! Busy bees, busy bees!! :)

Some Slight Stress Relief??

Over the past few weeks, one of our main stressors has been how to go about finding me a good OBGYN in New York since that's where I'm delivering Levi. We have had so many negative experiences during my pregnancy with doctors, nurse practitioners, etc, & because of this, as soon as we found out we were moving I scoured the internet & made phone calls almost daily, trying to find a doctor that I at least got a good feeling about. I eventually just gave up, though, because everyone I spoke with was booked up for deliveries all the way from May to July!! Why did everyone get pregnant during autumn??!

Anyway, today I decided to bite the bullet & start researching again. Time is escaping me, so I really had no choice at this point. I brought up my browser, went to google, & typed "OBGYN Schenectady area" & the very first thing that popped up was a link to a white middle-aged female with short red hair named Dr. Elina Burstyn (I've never found her before in my searches). I think she is a God-send.

Their office has a website named after her ( http://www.drburstyn.com ), she has 4.5 out of 5 stars & all of her reviews are novels praising her every move, including one woman raving about how Dr. Burstyn (pronounced bur-steen) cancelled her vacation to come deliver the woman's baby! She has a nurse practitioner working with her, & all of her reviews are fantastic as well. I hate Southeast Texas!! If you find a doctor with a decent review, he's booked through 2013 & has crappy nurses or something.

OH & the kicker is, her original office location that she JUST moved out of recently was on McClelland Street. Hellooooo, sign from heaven???

I called & scheduled an appointment for April 25, which is a Monday. I'm going to try to reschedule for an earlier date as soon as I know for sure when we will be in NY. The desk nurse that answered my call was fantastic too & sounded just like a Jersey Shore girl. Looove her.

I'm sure something will go wrong, lol.. But for now, I'm elated! I have a doctor! I know who is going to be delivering my son!! Hallelujah!! Now to get past the shower tomorrow, get the house packed up & in storage while Jonah finds us somewhere to live.. Things are falling into place. Whew. When can I relax???

Things Are Crazy!!

As I look back on the past year of our lives, I sit amazed at how much has changed. Jonah & I had only known each other for 6 months when we married & had only been dating for 4. Since then we've experienced so much! It's like our life just refuses to slow down, & now that we are expecting our first child I don't see us ever being blessed with a reduction of pace.

As most of you are already aware, we are relocating from Lumberton, TX to upstate New York in less than a month & will be there for right at 5 months. This means in less than a month I need to have everything RE-packed, find a storage facility of some sort for the things we can't bring with us, find somewhere to live while in NY that Jonah's company will approve for compensation, find me a doctor since I'll be giving birth in New York (hooray, right??), etc, etc, etc. The list never ends! We are constantly on the move, staying busy. I don't think I'd trade it for the world, though.

The hardest part is finding the funds & time to see everyone before we go. This week we were blessed with visits from 2 of Jonah's oldest & dearest friends. Johnny Green left today after about a week down from New York (It's nice to know there will be someone familiar semi-near while we're in Schenectady), & Shaun Wesberry & his wife & son have been down also, from D.C. Jonah was thrilled to see them, & it was really wonderful to be able to spend time with Johnny before he left & to meet Shaun & his family. Jenny is hilarious & such great company, & Oliver is precious. He doesn't like me much, though, haha. If you listen to old wives' tales, that's because I'm pregnant with Levi.

Speaking of our son; holy cow, has he been on the move lately!! He is growing so fast (& making mommy grow too.. a little too much!). I swear he is already 6 feet tall! He stays balled up on my right side, mostly in my ribs & back. It is the strangest feeling ever! It's so funny to look back just a year or two ago. I never saw myself weighing this much, sporting this many stretch marks, being this swollen & achy & sloth-like... I certainly never thought I would be head over heels in love with a little boy I've never even met. Sure, he's ruined my amazing leftover-from-teen-years body, caused me to develop sciatica, made me a hormonal nutcase & increased the volatile repurcussions of allowing my to become hungry by about a zillion.. But he is still the most amazing thing that has ever happened to our family.

We still haven't decided on anything about his name other than Levi. We were going to try to encorporate Shelby in there somehow, but I'm not entirely sure what the best way to do that is.

I'd better get back to cleaning!! I'll update just as much as I possibly can! Busy week ahead. We have my baby shower & a crawfish boil at The Wesberrys' both on Saturday, plus Colton's first game of the season. Hope I have enough energy to make it til Sunday, lol!