Contrary to my better judgement

Hey Everyone. So against my better judgement, I am releasing these pictures of my massively growing size to be forever immortalized on the world wide web. I agree----It is pretty amazing that anyone can stretch this much in 9 months. It looks painful. This is a flip book of the physical changes I've gone through to get a precious baby. I'm so glad Jason really loves me :-) Also, I'm hopeful that most of this is a temporary condition. Here are 4 angles of my nine month progression.

Baby Shower

On July 18th, we had our baby shower. Mom hosted it and it was at the Hilltop House on Ft. Bragg Rd. It was so nice. We were in the sun room and had lunch. It was so lovely to be surrounded by friends and family. It was such a beautiful space that we really didn't need decorations but we did put together a few things. There was a cake decorated like a baby quilt made by the same person who did our wedding cake, Whitney was there in spirit and gave me an adorable diaper cake, I made party favors of washcloths called boo boo bunnies. We also had an entertaining table baby trivia game. We did some introductions to help everyone get acquainted. It was so neat to have such a variety of friends from all stages of my life. Ellen, my friend from when I was 5 weeks old and her mother were in attendance as well as friends from undergrad, dental school, my residency, Sunday school, and some special Fayetteville friends I've kept in touch with all along. We had chicken salad croissants, fruit, salad, and cake. We played the guess the size of the belly with the string game. The opening of presents was delightful too. It is so fun to see all the cute miniature clothes, bath supplies, and baby goodies. I think between the gifts and the gift cards, we have gotten everything we can dream of needing for baby's arrival. Thank you to everyone who helped make the event so special! I hope to get some additional photos but here is a start of the ones we got before all the action got started. Afterward, I invited everyone to visit our house to see the baby room and get to know where we live. For my Meredith girls and some of our friends, it was the first time they had really been to visit me in Fayetteville. I wish we could be closer but at least they know where they can find me now. Also, I got to spend some time with the Gonzalez family and Susanna tested out some of the toys in our room. She is so cute. She loved the little chair and the books. Later that evening we got to spend some time with the Logues and the new Stablers at my favorite restaurant for dinner. It was a perfect and fun filled day I will never forget.

2nd Ultrasound July 2nd

These ultrasound photos were taken on July 2nd at approximately 36 weeks. As you can see baby is much bigger than the last images. The estimated weight was 6 lbs and 9 oz. It is a little difficult to differentiate what you are looking at due to the cramped space. The top picture is a profile image, the next two are of the baby's face. It is on the left half of the image and easiest to distinguish is the nose. Once you see that, you can see fat cheeks, an eye and lips. In the third picture there is even a tongue.

Everything is going normally which is always a relief. We managed to still not know what the sex of the baby is. We can't wait to meet you face to face little one.