Hello Heat, Goodbye Feet.

For someone who despises the cold, the past few weeks (months?) of UT weather haven't been that bad for me. You could almost say they have been a "tender mercy", even the snow we had in our front yard on May 24th (I never thought I'd say something like that.)! The cooler weather seems to have kept me from swelling. Alas, no longer. The heat and pregnancy swelling both kicked in nearly overnight.

My fingers are so swollen and stiff. Over the weekend I was asked (at the last minute) to fill-in for the pianist in the children's primary at church on Sunday. I know I butchered a few of the songs, but in my defense, I seriously cannot get my fingers to move quickly over the keys when they are the size of sausages. Also, accompaniment never has been one of my strengths, and probably never will be (can't teach an old dog new tricks, right?).

At least I finally have a piano in my home now, so I can actually practice these days. Too bad Reagan thinks the piano is hers and pushes my fingers off every time I try to play. Ha ha.

The piano is all hers. The novelty hasn't worn off yet. Any time, day or night (or right after her bath); Reagan loves to be playing the piano.

So, back to the swelling.... I'll spare you pictures of swollen blobs that used to be my feet. You can thank me later. Because, anyone who has ever seen pregnancy induced swelling knows it is not pretty. 8+ weeks more of this misery.

But by the time I am granted the remedy (ie- labor and delivery), I ought to be more than ready for my little bundle of joy to make her appearance.

At last count I had 40 cans of formula, over 900 diapers (in varying sizes), the baby clothes are washed and hanging in the nursery closet. I feel just a little more prepared for this baby than I did for Reagan.

The nursery is in awesome shape. Even if I do say so myself. I had been planning on keeping the yellow safari theme. BUT... call it nesting, or whatever; I got a wild hair and decided I wanted to make the nursery more girly. I really wanted to paint the room pink, but Nick said that we have 40+ other projects that take priority right now, and that painting the nursery was out of the question. So, I went on the prowl for a way to make the nursery more feminine, even with the yellow walls. After all of the time and effort I put in to decorating, it probably would have taken less time to just paint the room pink. Oh well.

Without further ado... here are the fruits of my labors (so to speak :)

I ordered over 500 vinyl circles to decorate the wall. I'm not even going to tell you how much time I spent putting each individual dot on the wall in a random pattern! OK, yes I am- I want the sympathy and the kudos. It took this pregnant lady over three hours of going up and down a step ladder, assessing the design and applying the vinyl. If that doesn't show how much I love my new girl, I don't know what does (oh yeah, other than the hours of labor I am in for to deliver her, and the sleepless nights that are ahead of us).

Here's another view of the room Nick has deemed "The Pink Nightmare". Maybe he would appreciate it more if I had forced him to help me decorate it. But probably not. Nick loves to tease too much. Nick says that when the sun shines through the pink curtains the room gives off a bright pink glow, and he keeps referencing the Kenny Rogers Roasters; Seinfeld episode.

The crib is the last thing that needs to be put back together, but that won't take too much work. I love the crib bedding I found! Oh, and for those of you who didn't know (not that it has been any big secret...) We have already decided on a name. As you can see from the vinyl lettering over the crib. For both of our girls we picked first names that Nick and I liked. There isn't any too special meaning behind Reagan, or Elsa. Their middle names are the ones that are "family names". Reagan's middle name is: Kae. Nick's Mom's first name is: Kay, and my Mom's middle name is: Cay. So, that one was a "no brainer" for us. We only had to come up with a unique spelling. Elsa's middle name will be: Ruth. My Maternal Grandmother's name was Ruth. Some days I still can't believe that she has been gone for over 4 years! I miss her dearly. She was such a neat lady, that I think Elsa will be honored to share her middle name.

After I got the pictures of the nursery, I thought I'd try to snap a few of Reagan. Mainly, so that my Mom can see them, since she doesn't get to see her every day, like she used to.

Reagan was obviously having nothing to do with this plan.

This was the best I could get out of her. Lil' Stinker.