Wishing the Cardinals were as hot at the weather...

In spite of excessive heat warnings in the St. Louis area, we ventured out to the Cardinals game tonight. Josh got the tickets free from UMSL...they were for the Coca-Cola Patio, which meant free food as well as a pretty sweet view of the field. You know it is hot when one of the concession stand workers brought me a wet cloth full of ice cubes to put around my neck! The Cardinals lost, by the way, although it was quite the pitching duel for the first 6 innings or so.

Everyone says I look great for being two weeks out from the due date, but all I see when I look at this pic is swelling! We are hoping for an early delivery (last week I was 1cm dilated and 75% effaced), but obviously only time will tell!

What the future holds...

It has been a busy summer for the couples in our small group. The Snyder's son, AJ, is approaching his first birthday... the Cobbs welcomed their son, Micah, into the world in May... the Scotts are expecting their daughter, Sophia, to arrive any day now... and we, of course, will add our own baby to the bunch sometime in the next few weeks.

Needless to say, our growing families have prevented us from gathering quite as often as we are used to... so three of the four couples gathered last night for an impromptu BBQ. It was fun to catch up and see what our future holds... Micah is 10 weeks and AJ is 11 months!

Baby lunch at UMSL

Josh's co-workers in the athletic department were gracious enough to host a lunch/baby shower for us on Wednesday... Josh was thrilled with the Mexican food served at lunch as he has decided that it is bumpy roads and spicy foods until the baby comes (his collegiate volleyball season starts the day after the baby is due)! We also got some great necessities for the baby's room (including a diaper cake!) and a stuffed bear Josh seems pretty attached to...

The dog days of summer

Josh and I like dogs but know that our lifestyle is not conducive to having one of our own. Many ask us what we will do when little Lauer begs us for a dog... our answer? Take them to grandma and grandpa's house! Josh's parents have two scotties, Brody and Tavish (aka Pudgy), who now live in St. Louis... here is candid of Brody.

Showered...

Some of my good girlfriends threw me a baby shower over the weekend... it was quite a whirlwind, with family in from out of town as well as a double celebration of my birthday on the same day as the shower. I definitely felt "showered" with love from all who were there... and little Lauer will be well equipped when he decides to enter the world! (No new updates on WHEN that will be... I was 1/2 cm dilated at my last appointment on the 26th... we'll see if I've made any more progress after my appointment tomorrow!)

Here are some pics from the shower...

Margaret, Molly and I study a book designed to prepare Josh to be a dad in the style of an old boy scout manual. And I suppose this is a good "belly shot" for those who haven't seen me in a while...


This is a quilt my mom made for the baby -- you may not be able to make out the detail, but the fabric has pictures of Noah and the animals from the ark. Very cute.


The gals: Dena, me, Nicole, and Gina

The crib!

At long last, the crib has arrived and was assembled over the weekend! As you can see in the picture, the crib is a dark walnut...we didn't like the matching pieces (which were also way overpriced) so we decided to go with white for the rest of the furniture in the room (especially as I already had a white armoire we were going to use). The friends you see in the crib are Baxter (the bunny), Bear (um...), and Teve (the camel) -- all waiting to meet little Lauer. The quilt you see hanging on the back matches the bumper that will also be in the crib...

The last major piece we are waiting for is the swivel/glider/recliner that I convinced Josh to let me splurge on... it will arrive in 4 weeks or so. The color of fabric we chose is "Latte" -- I figured this is appropriate as that is probably what I will be craving during those 2am feeding times!

I will post additonal pictures of the baby's room as it reaches a more finished state!