so much to post about at 23 weeks!

We're at 23 weeks today, & have finally started getting quite a few things accomplished around our house to get ready for Little Miss' arrival!  Craig has been SO busy!  Since I'm not able to really lift much, he has worked his tail off moving furniture around our house.  Thank goodness, a great friend of ours', Herb Palmer, was nice enough to swing by & help him move a few pieces that he just couldn't move himself.  I can tell he's just as excited as I am.  He usually dispises doing things like rearranging furniture!  He was so awesome, though!  He didn't even complain ONCE...not even when he had to unhook the ginormous mess of cords behind our TV, get in the crawl space to run co-ax, & re-hookup all of the cords!  ANY other time, he would probably be using some choice words the entire time...this time, I think he wanted to do it.  He's a fantastic dad!  :) 

So, there really was reasoning for moving all of the furniture & putting Craig through all of that torture.  The last time we went for a baby doc appointment, we also were able to get her furniture ordered while we were in Springfield.  And, I really must say...I am jealous!  She's going to have better furniture than WE do!  We found a fantastic set & ordered her the crib, armoire, 6 drawer dresser, & a nightstand.  Unfortunately, the nursery won't have a closet in the room, so the armoire will double as that.  Although there is a closet off of our bathroom, I figured we would want most of her things in her room.  So, here's a picture of the furniture...although, you can't see all of the peices.  We love it!  And, we absolutely can't wait for it to arrive...which should be in the next week or two!  :)

Since we were able to get her furniture ordered, we also could finally start looking at bedding.  Long before we knew that she was a SHE, I really wanted something different for the nursery.  I had originally said I would like to have gray, yellow, & possibly accent them with teal, purple, or even pink.  BUT, I had no idea how hard it would be to find that combo!  Literally impossible!  After looking for three weeks at every single site I could think of, googling every combination of the words gray/yellow/bedding/baby, & beating my head off of my desk in frustration, I finally came to the conclusion that maybe there just wasn't a gray & yellow set to be had.  So, I started going through & finding other combos that I liked.  I had narrowed it down to three or four & had driven Craig nuts by showing him all of my different options numerous times.  But, I just couldn't bring myself to order anything.  I just wasn't crazy about the typical pinks...either they were too pink, too bright, too light, or combo'd with colors I didn't care for.  I just couldn't decide.  In one very last ditch effort, I started going to the actual websites of each of the makers/designers that I could find on Babies-R-Us, Target, or anywhere else I could think of.  And, wouldn't you know...THERE IT WAS!  On the http://www.bananafish.com/ website, under their MiGi bedding...GRAY & YELLOW!  I couldn't believe it!  And, to make matters even better...Craig loved it, too!!!  I was so excited, I looked at the picture numerous times over two whole days before I decided to order the whole set.  :)  So, here it is...obviously, all of the decals on the walls are not exactly my style, but I did order all of the rest of the stuff...decor & all.  And, you have to try to picture this on chocolate brown bedding (above).  We're so excited!  It's so different, but still girly...without all the pink!  :)

Not only has our house & credit card bill changed quite a bit in the past few weeks, so have I!!!   My baby belly has gotten bigger, & I'm certain Little Miss has hit a growth spurt again.  :)  She's definitely getting much stronger with her punches & kicks these days.  And, I've recently started feeling hiccups almost every day...most of the time, twice or three times a day.  I'm loving every second of feeling her movements.  What an awesome feeling!  :)

Last but not least, it's official...I have definitely hit the nesting phase.  I have been crazy about cleaning out closets, going through all of our clothes, reorganizing, & doing what my mom likes to call, purging!  :)  Anything that we haven't used in a few months...it's GONE!  It's such a great feeling just to decompress our house & get rid of all of the nonsense & clutter.  I figure it will be a while before I have time for all of this again!  :)  And, in the midst of this phase, I've definitely found a new little hobby.  I have been using our "Sunday Football Day" (which translates to "Lay-around-and-be-lazy Day") to sit on the couch & make hairbows for all three of our girls.  :)  It's been a lot of fun.  It's cheap.  AND, it's super addicting.  I've just about made one (or two) in every color.  I'm still on the hunt for Illini, Colts, & Cardinals ribbon, but I'm sure I'll find some.  Those are definitely my next ones on the to-make list.  :)  I'm also going to try my hand at decorating some onesies & making pacifier clips...but, we'll see how that goes.  I'm not sure how far my crafting skills will take me.  :)

We go for our next appointment on the 25th (right before Daddy's birthday on the 27th), so I'll be sure to fill you in on Little Miss' checkup!