Home Stretch!

We are definitely closing in on the end of this pregnancy!  Things are finishing up and we are preparing for the birth of our beautiful baby girl any day now.  :)  Michael and I have our hospital bags packed and ready to go.  We still need to get a few more items to be completely ready, but they are things we don't necessarily HAVE to have.  So if she decides to come before we get things like snacks, it won't be the end of the world.  ;)

Lately I have been having plenty of Braxton Hicks contractions.  These could actually be real contractions, as there has been little twinges of pain associated with them, but I think they are just the fake ones for now.  Other symptoms lately include heartburn, difficulty breathing, and trouble sleeping.  The heartburn continues to be a problem when laying down.  Because of this, I no longer sleep completely horizontal, but instead am slighty propped up all night.  I also eat lots of Tums.  This baby is going to have strong bones if nothing else!  The trouble breathing occurs while sitting up and laying down.  She continues to be up in my ribs and diaphram.  Standing seems to help them best to relieve that pressure and allow me better breaths.  I keep waiting for her to "drop" and get rid of the pressure on my lungs, but no luck yet.  My trouble sleeping is associated with the breathing and heartburn.  I also have a difficult time getting comfortable at night.  Sometimes I wake up gasping for air.  I'm starting to wonder if it's the baby in my ribs or if I'm starting to develop sleep apnea and I'm forgetting to breath.  I wake up every 1-3 hours and look at the clock.  I'm up 1-2 times a night to go to the bathroom. 

It all sounds pretty bad, and when it comes to resting and sleeping I really get tired of all of these symptoms, but overall, things are not so bad.  ;)  Our baby girl is still moving a lot.  She dances to the music at church and does flips and kicks for her daddy at night when we're laying in bed watching TV.  She keeps me entertained with her constant movement.  And she reminds me how she's growing when she stretches out her arms and legs and my belly stretches from one side to the other.  I have read that in the last several weeks her movements will decline as she becomes increasingly pressed for space, but as of right now, she shows no signs of slowing down.  :P  She is just as active, if not more active, than ever!  :)  I'm excited and glad that she has remained very active since I first started feeling her move.  It's always given me reassurance that everything is going ok and that she's doing well.  :)  An active baby is a healthy baby.  :)

We have another doctor's appointment today.  :)  Hoooray!  This will be considered our 36 week appointment, even though we are actually past the 36 week mark and are up to 36 weeks and 4 days.  (We got on our Tuesday appointment schedule back in February when I had to go in to get Zofran for my morning sickness.). From here on out, we will have weekly appointments.  I am soooo excited for today's appointment and the appointments to come!  Every week from here on out my doctor will check my dilitation and effacement.  I'm looking forward to getting these numbers and having some quantitative data to indicate how close we are to getting our little girl in our arms.  :)  It's all up to her now.  She just has to decide when she's ready to arrive.  :)  Michael, our doctor, and I are all ready and waiting.  There is no reason for us to stop labor if it were to begin, so she could literally come any day!  :D  While I would be more than happy to deliver if she chose to come now, if she will wait 3 more days, and as long as her and I stay healthy, there is no forseeable reason that I won't be able to have her over at the Birthcare Center.  :)  But they made it very clear in our childbirth class that you will not be admitted to the Birthcare Center until you are AT LEAST 37 weeks, so for that, she will need to wait until Friday.  ;)

I'm beginning to get excited about having 6 weeks (or more if I want) at home with my baby girl.  I'm also beginning to worry about work and the people there while I'm gone.  I'm not worried that they won't be able to do their jobs or that things will go wrong, I work with a great group of people and they will do great!  What I'm worried about is the number of hours that will need to be filled.  Lately I have been working between 30 and 35 hours/ week.  This has been good because I haven't been too stressed or feel like I'm majorly overworking myself.  However, by the end of this week we will have 1 full-time employee out for 4-6+ weeks for hip surgery.  This week I am scheduled to work 39 hours.  Next week that same person will still be out and I'm scheduled another 39 hours.  I haven't seen the schedule for the following week yet, but I know our assistant manager is taking a week of vacation that week to move into her new home.  I'm sure I'll be scheduled for another 39+ hour work week.  Now this is fine, the more I work now, the better my short-term disability pay will be, but eventually, I will be on maternity leave and it will leave the store with even more hours to fill.  Our managers work 40-48 hours/week already.  All full-time employees are working 40 hours/week lately.  2 of our part-time workers are also working 40 hours/week.  And our last part-timer is working 30 hours/week!  Yikes!  We have too many hours and not nearly enough workers.  So hopefully the store will be hiring people soon.  We will see.

Well, other than the baby and work, there isn't much going on in our lives.  Michael and I are doing well and loving our time of 2 until our princess gets here.  The pups are doing well and enjoying the beautiful weather.  We will hopefully have our maternity photos back by the end of the week if not early next week.  I continue to clean and nest in preparation for the baby.  I'm getting bigger and gaining more weight every day.  We'll see what my doctor has to say about that...  :P  I think that is about it.  Hope you are all doing well and your Tuesday goes well.  Only 24 more days until our baby girl is due to be here!  :D  Get excited!  I'll try to update either today or tomorrow on the results from today's doctor appointment.  :)  Have a good one!  :)

Conflicted

I've told several people about this before, but I thought I'd blog about it this morning.  I'm conflicted on when I want our baby to come.  I have it in my head that she will be an October baby.  Michael and I planned when we were getting pregnant so that she would be born in the fall, hoping for October.  This plan worked out great and she's due right at the beginning of the month!  Woohooo!  But as we get closer to her due date, as I continue to get bigger, and she continues to put more pressure on my bladder and pelvis, as breathing becomes more of a struggle and heartburn gets unmanagable, I begin to wonder if I want to wait all the way until October.  I have my heart set on an October baby, because it is truly the best month of the entire year, but September wouldn't be so bad, would it???  No, it wouldn't.  Now, I know I have no control over this matter what-so-ever.  I am having a healthy pregnancy, which is amazing and a huge blessing.  There is no medical need for me to be induced, much less induced before my due date.  This is a great thing too, because our baby girl will have every opportunity to grow and be fully developed before she decides to arrive.  My doctor will not stop my labor from here on out if I were to go into labor.  He and I both believe that she will arrive when she's ready.  The only reason we would help her out and move her along is if she gets far past my due date (no more than a week).  So in the end, it will be her choice if she wants to be a September or an October baby.  ;)  This is fine with me, but I'm thinking, the earlier the better.  ;)  Not only am I anxious to meet my little girl, but she is fully developed and healthy, she would have no problems coming early, and I would have no problem being one baby lighter and being able to rest a little more comfortably.  ;)  We will just wait and see what she decides to do.  I am so very thankful for this little girl and all she's bringing to our lives.  What a blessing!  She has been such a great baby so far!  Can't wait to meet her!  :D

Friday Thoughts

I tried to sleep in this morning because I have the entire day off today, but here it is, 8:45 in the morning, and I'm awake already.  Sigh.  Oh well.  I guess I'll have plenty of time to work on my baby list today.

Yesterday Michael and I got our maternity photos taken!  :D  We had a really good time.  :)  Michael was very pleased with Courtney and her photography skills.  We've seen people claim to be photographers, even at weddings, so had no sense of lighting, spacing, framing, etc.  Courtney showed us she was a professional, sitting us in different places and positions, catching unique angles and sun rays, it was really good!  We have 2 preview pictures from the session so far!  Hope you like them!

Michael and I went last night to Nancy's (Michelle's mom's) house to watch the DNC.  It was really fun!  :)  Shell made dinner and I got some good quality time with her while she's in town.  It was also nice to watch the DNC with people who believe the same way we do.  Not many of those types of people here in Kansas.  Michael had a good time talking politics, as always, and having an outlet of someone to talk back instead of me who mostly just listens and can't contribute much.  Thanks for inviting us, Shelly!  We had a great time!!!!  :D

So I've seen on facebook that Starbucks has their fall flavored coffee drinks out!  Finally!!!  I think a trip to Starbucks is in my future!  :)  Maybe today!  Or maybe tonight when my hubby gets home.  :)  That would be a nice little date night idea.  :)  Hmmm....  ;)

Today we hit the 36 week mark!  Hoooray!  Our baby girl is the size of a honeydo!  I'm getting even more excited for my upcoming doctor's appointments!  While they will probably be awkward for Michael, as the doctor checks for dialation and effacement, it just means that we are getting dangerously close to the end!  :)  Next week she'll be considered full term!  If I went into labor 7+ days from now, I would be considered full term and low risk and be able to be admitted into the birthcare center to deliver our little girl.  It's all getting soooooo close!!!

My checklist of things to do before she gets here is getting shorter.  I got all of the cloth diapers washed, she they are all ready for her adorable little bottom!  :)  I love having them out again.  I had forgotten how cute they all are.  Only another week until our final baby shower.  Then I'll be able to finish off our thank you notes and buy the last few items that we still need off of the registries.  Most of my cleaning on my to-do list is done.  But I may need to pass some of it off to Michael.  I was on the floor scrubbing the carpet the other day and found it very hard to move and breath down there in that position.  While I do fancy myself Wonder Woman, I think my time is coming where I need to admit that I cannot do it all.

Coming up here soon I am going to schedule some pampering for me.  As I near the end of my pregnancy I am getting plenty uncomfortable.  But my sweet and wonderful hubby bought me a massage for our anniversary!  So I think it's about time to cash it in!  :D  I also want to go to a nail salon and get a pedicure and my toes schelacked (sp?).  That way I don't have to worry about them for several weeks, which is good, because I'm not sure now much longer I can reach them anyway!  :P

Life continues to be extremely good right now.  Our time with family was awesome.  Our time in Manhattan was like going home again.  Our house is the perfect home for us, our puppies and soon a baby girl.  Our jobs are good and stable.  My worries about various little things have been put on the back burner, and I'm looking forward to the last month of just Michael and I before our lives change forever.  How can life get any better than this????  :D

Well, friends, I'm going to call it good for now.  ;)  Have a few things to update on facebook in regards to pregnancy progress.  I hope you all have a great Friday and a super weekend!  Stay tuned in every day, because any day now this baby could decide to come!  I'm sure I'll be facebooking, blogging, texting, and calling from the delivery room, so there's no way you'll miss it!  ;)  Love you all!!

Happy Friday to you!  Happy 36 weeks to us!  :D

Staying at Home

Yesterday I had a very productive day!  To say that I'm nesting is a bit of an understatement.  :P  I made a list of things that needed to get done before the baby gets here.  There were 46 items on that list!  :P  Michael just laughs at me and all I say I need to get done, but he's great at helping me with my little to-do list. 

My day went a little something like this:
Get up late (Hey, it was my day off, I was entitled!), grab all the clothes from our weekend travels and misc items around the bedroom and bathroom, and start a load of laundry.  Bring the pups inside to run and play.  Unload and reload the dishwasher.  Then I went to work to make sure counts were right after PC Weekend.  Did some other office work while I was there.  Got home a little after 2pm.  Began cleaning the house!!  More laundry, more dishes, sweeping and mopping the kitchen and breakfast nook, windexing the table, cleaning out the fridge and freezer, taking trash out of Michael's car (He had mine so he could pick up the chair from Babies R Us on his way home from work, see picture), finishing thank you notes, paying bills, addressing envelopes for birth announcements, organizing songs for labor and delivery playlists, and making a grocery list (Never actually made it to the store, that's on the to-do list for tonight).  ;)  So yeah, I was busy!  Oh yeah!  I made dinner too!

Then Michael came home and took care of a few more items on my to do list for me.  Not to mention, he brought home my chair from Babies R Us to go in the nursery!  I had him changing lightbulbs, vacuuming, installing the car seat bases in the cars, and helping me take the lid off the laundry soap (Yeah, I was that tired by the end of the day!)  Bless my sweet and wonderful husband for being so willing to help me out with my list.  He's great!  :)  Never complained about me asking him to help with things, would even come back and ask for more after he completed a task.  :)  I think he's nesting too.  ;)  Not too much longer now!

Michael said the sweetest thing when he got home from work.  It melted my heart and made me so happy about the decisions that we've made for our family and what the future will hold.  When he got home I was telling him about my day, all the cleaning I had done, the items I had checked off my list, and I told him dinner was in the oven and would be ready in 25 minutes.  Then he said, "I'm going to like you staying home full-time."  I laughed and asked, "To take care of the house?"  Then he smiled at me and said, "To take care of me."  :)  It was the absolute sweetest thing.  :)  He never takes me or the work I do for granted.  He always so thankful for what I do.  I love him so much!  :)  What a great guy!  :D

A Message to my Daughter

My Dearest Baby Girl,
I can't believe time has flown by so fast!  Sometime in the next month you will decide that this world is where you'd like to live, and you'll make your debut.  I wish I could tell you that you are entering a wonderful place where everything will go your way and all of your dreams will come true.  But I'm afraid we live in a fallen world and things are not always the sunshine and butterflies that I wish for you.  However, there is hope!  A man came some 2000 years ago to be the hope for this fallen world.  He already knows all about you.  :)  He knows what day you'll arrive, he knows your hair color, your eye color, and your heart.  He's not our doctor, though He is the Great Physician.  He's our Lord and Savior and He came to this broken Earth to die, so that you can have eternal life with Him.  :)  He is your biggest fan and love you more than your Daddy and I ever can.  I pray that you'll develop a love for Jesus and will walk closely with Him throughout your life.  His is the most important realtionship you'll ever have.  I pray that your relationship with Him begins early and grows and flourishes throughout your lifetime.  :)  Your Daddy and I will do our best to lead you and guide you on the path of righteousness, but we are broken humans as well, and we will make mistakes.  But take solace in the fact that Jesus does not make mistakes and always has your best interests at heart.  :)  When we fail you, He will always be there to show you the right path.  Follow Him and you cannot go wrong.

We are your earthly parents, and we are going to work as hard as we possibly can to make your life wonderful, joyful, loving, and happy.  We've prepared your room and now only wait for you to arrive.  You cannot imagine how many people love you, are praying for you, and are anxious to meet you and see the type of person you become.  I, personally, cannot wait to see your hair and your eyes, to count your fingers and toes, and to hear your voice for the first time.  I have thought and dreamed about you so much in the past 8 months.  You are a blessing and a gift from God to your Daddy and me.  We could not be more excited about your arrival.  We have big plans for your life.  :)  We've been making plans for you and your younger sibling since before you were even in the making.  We want to allow you many experiences in your life.  We want you to experience art, music, sports, theatre, family, fun, and so much more.  :)  We're going to push you to do things that you might not want to do at first.  We are going to encourage you to try everything.  If you decide you don't like something, that's ok.  But you might miss out on something that you love if you are never brave enough to try.  So when you resist and don't want to try that new sport, instrument, or food, don't hate us when we tell you that you don't have a choice, we just want the best for you and your life.  We're already talking about you going off to college, to K-State of course.  ;)  We hope to develop a love of learning in you from an early age.  But even if that doesn't happen, college is not a choice.  You'll go.  Again, we're doing what's best for you.  ;)  Your Daddy is already dreading that day that we take you and your things, unload them into your dorm room, and leave you behind in Manhattan to spread your wings and become the person you'll be.  I know you'll do great.  We highly reccommend you get involved in Cru or some other Christian campus organization.  You'll never believe the kind of growing that will occur during your time there.  These will be some of your best friends for the rest of your life, go out there and meet them.  And then, not long after, I'm sure the day will come when a boy will come home with you to meet us.  (This is going to kill your Dad, I hope you know.)  We want you to find someone who loves you, who wants to spend all his time with you, who makes you laugh, who holds you when you cry, who respects you, and who will make you the happiest woman in the entire world.  :)  We're praying for him already.  He might be here already, or he may be like you and has not yet arrived.  Either way, God has a plan on how you'll meet, fall in love, and make plans to spend the rest of your lives together.  I pray you find as much happiness in your marriage as we have in ours.  :)  Just try to be patient in finding him, it might take some frustrating time of being single or dating the wrong guys, but I guarantee, he will be worth the wait.  :)

Well, beautiful daughter of mine, these are my wishes, prayers, and plans for you and your life.  As this new stage begins in our lives I realize we have much resposibility on our shoulders.  I hope that your life is everything that you want it to be and so much more.  You are such a blessing to your Daddy and me.  Your existance has brought us closer together.  We look forward to meeting you and becoming the best parents that you've ever seen!  ;)  Thank you in advance for being such an amazing influence on our lives.  We are blessed to have you and to have the opportunity to raise you.  It will be the most exciting adventure of our lives.  :)

We love you with all of our hearts.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Movement

I know what you're thinking...  Yes, she moves, you keep telling us, get over it already...  But today our baby girl was doing such a funny thing.  Before I left for work I ate some breakfast, and as I was sitting at the breakfast table Baby Girl decided she needed to stick her foot/knee/elbow out of my left side.  No big deal, she does this all the time.  It's uncomfortable for me, so I push the unidentified body part back into the center area of my stomach so I am comfortable again.  But she decides today she's going to fight this battle.  :P  So she moves her foot/knee/elbow back.  I call Michael over to have him watch.  I push her unidentified body part back in, and you can see the movement on my stomach as she moves it back where she wants it.  We repeat this activity 3 more times until finally I win and she stays put.  :P  She's a firecracker, this one!  :D  But ultimately, her mommy is waaaaaaay more stubborn that she is.  ;)  Just another fun game we get to play for the next 4.5(ish) weeks until she decides to make her debut and play some games out here.  :)  Love this little girl so much!  Can't wait to meet her!  :)  Daddy and I are praying for you, little angel, we will see you very soon!  Until then, keep up the theatrics!  ;)  We're loving every minute of it!  :D

Happy Life of a Happy Mama

Things are so good right now.  So perfect.  :)  Michael has an amazing job that can support our family, so I don't have to work.  We have a big, beautiful home that we will be able to raise our family in.  We have 2 sweet puppies who provide endless entertainment and companionship.  We have a savings account that grows a little more with each paycheck so that we can afford all of the things we need, and a few thinhs for fun as well.  I have a healthy baby girl growing inside of me.  She is completely developed and is simply gaining weight over these next several weeks as she prepares to make her debut into this world.  I have the world's most amazing husband, who loves and cares for me no matter how I behave.  He never leaves my side or puts me down.  He always considers my feelings and does what is best for us.  He puts our family and marriage above all else.  Everything is so good.  I'm going to just take a moment and breathe in how incredibly wonderful my life is.  God has blessed me far beyond what I ever thought possible.  I couldn't ask for more.  :)

Gameday!

It was a great Gameday in Wildcat Land!  :D  We got to tailgate with Nate and his family, a great day to start the big game!  We sat in section 9, where there was shade from the beginning of the game!  And Bill led the boys to another Wildcat Victory!  :D  Awesome!

I love Manhattan like you wouldn't believe.  I stopped several times today to just take it all in.  I love being able to come back to Manhattan.  It will always be a very special place for Michael and me.  We got to stop and see several different wonderful places while we were in town.  We stopped at the scenic overlook on our way into town, this is where Michael asked me to be his wife.  We went to Java (Bluestem Bistro) in Aggieville and I got my favorite coffee, a Snickers Latte.  We were reminded of the issue that is parking on gameday, but it couldn't dampen my spirits of Manhattan, my day was absolutely blissful.  :)  We drove by our old apartment, we stopped by campus, and we went to Ballard's and Varney's to buy new shirts and baby clothes.  That was only a little of what our day contained.  It was awesome!  :D

Michael and I talked on the way into town today, we would like to retire back to Manhattan.  We love the town, the college, our time here so much, we would love to come back and call Manhattan our home again.  :)  For now, Wichita is great.  I'm excited to raise our little girl around Dayton and any other kids Sis and Adam end up having.  I love our home, our neighborhood, and living close to my family, but Manhattan feels like coming home again.  I hope we can come back to stay at some point.  :)

Well, I would like to rave even more about how great our day was, but I am absolutely exhausted!  :P  My hands and feet are sweeling from the heat and all of the walking, and our baby girl insists of poking her tiny body parts out of awkward parts of my body.  ;)  So I'm going to wrap this up.  Overall, today was an amazing day!  I'm so happy we were able to come!  I can't wait to come back.  :)  Goodnight friends.  :)

Be Proud, Be Purple, Go State!  :D

Photo Stops

Michael and I are going to stop at different places here in Manhattan to take pictures.  We want to document our trip here while I am 8 months pregnant.  We can't wait to tell our baby girl about how badly I wanted to see a K-State football game the year she was born, even if it meant waddling through town.  :P  So far we have stopped at the Scenic Overlook and Java.  Can't wait to take more pictures here in Manhattan.  I love this town.  :)

Manhattan

I love this place so much!  It is so good to be back!  6 hours until game time!  We already have a tailgate lined up to go to!  :)  Can't wait to take LOTS of pictures of us here in town in the wonderful place we love so much!  More updates to come!  Be Proud!  Be Purple!  Go State!

35 weeks!

I can't believe we are so close to the end!  We only have 5 weeks, or 35 days until our baby girl is due!  It's a surreal feeling thinking that sometime in the next month I will become a mother, Michael will become a father, and we will have our very own daughter here in our arms to love and care for.  It is the greatest responsibility we could have gotten ourselves into.  What a blessing this little girl is to us!  She is going to make us into worthwhile human beings.  :)  She is going to be our reason to get up and face each day.  I cannot wait to have her in our arms and in our lives.  :)

When I woke up this morning, our sweet baby girl had the hiccups.  Michael spoke to her and she gave him a couple kicks.  Then he kissed her and told her he loved her.  He told me he had been thinking about the time when I go back to work around the holidays and he will have time alone with her.  He's got big plans of what they will do together.  It's very obvious the things that are valued in our household: education, love, literacy, and music were what Michael discussed.  :)  He plans to read to her, childrens books and others.  He plans to play his violin for her.  He also plans to play her some "good music for once".  :P  He doesn't like that I generally only play and sing country to her.  But hey, I'm baking her, so I get to do what I want!  ;)  He's also planning on simply holding her and watching her sleep, letting the puppies get to know her and love on her, and learning more about his beautiful daughter.  He's so excited to be a dad!  He's going to do so great!  He already has a nickname picked out for her, which I love.  When I journal about her I call her by that name.  She has such a beautiful name.  I hope it fits her well.  :)

We bought a couple more bins for our bookshelf/dresser yesterday.  Things are slowly coming together as we get our registry finished off and the rest of her stuff bought.  There are just a few key items that we really need to get before she arrives: a monitor, bottles, and a swing.  We have been on the lookout for these items, and we can generally get decent sales on things, but I think we'll wait until after the baby shower to see if any of those big ticket items come off.

I'm anxious for our last baby shower to be here so we can see what we still have left to get and can finish the nursery.  Only 2 weeks left until the shower!  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful church family who wants to love on us and share in celebrating our baby girl.  :)  I can't wait to introduce her to them.  They are so wonderful and mean a great deal to our lives.  I feel at ease with the idea of raising our baby girl at Countryside.  I know it will be a great place for a woman of God to grow, mature, and learn.  Can't wait to see the woman she becomes.  :)

Well, I think that's about all I've got for this morning.  I'm going to go work on cleaning my house, packing for the weekend, and getting the nursery ready for the arrival of my daughter!  :D  Happy 35 weeks to my family, and a happy Friday to all of you.  Have a wonderful and safe weekend! 
Love,
Jen, Michael, and Baby Voss.  :D

Let's Do This!

8 hours of work are all that stand between me and my weekend of family, football, friends, and Ren Fest!  Wooohoooo!  I CAN'T WAIT!!!!  I have been looking forward to K-State football starting up again for some time now.  I remember being up in Manhattan and there were so many hot games, and in the student section you had to stand for virtually the entire game.  But going back now we sit with the Alumni.  We get to sit and enjoy the game.  We don't have the sun in our eyes half the game.  And the game we're attending this weekend is an evening game, so it won't be hot out!  We'll get a whole day in Manhattan to wonder around and remember the amazing town that it is.  We'll take plenty of pictures to remember our last trip to the Little Apple before our Little Girl arrives.  It's going to be so much fun!  Manhattan holds a special place in Michael's and my heart, as it was where we first got to know each other (not where we met though), where we began dating, where Michael asked me to be his wife, where we planned our wedding, where we lived after we got married, where we grew up into the people we are today.  Manhattan had a huge hand in shaping the people that we are today.  I love Manhattan and am greatly looking forward to our return visit!  :)

This weekend we'll also get a little more family time with Michael's family before the baby comes.  We have to make more of an effort to see them and spend time with them since they live farther away.  That's why I'm looking forward to being in Topeka, staying with Glenn and Linda, seeing Nathan and Chelsey, and visiting Nick and Maggie.  We probably won't see any of Michael's family again for another 5 weeks or so until the baby is born.  Hopefully they will all be able to make it to town on the day she arrives to welcome her to the world.  But if not, we understand.  It's quite a drive, and with us not knowing what day of the week she's going to arrive, it makes things difficult with work.  But we will see.  Hopefully they'll be able to come down.  I know it would be so awesome for them to be able to say that they were there and held her on the day she was born.  :)  I know I'm looking forward to that day.  Hope everyone else is too.  :)

Sunday the plan is the Ren Fest.  I love the Ren Fest.  It's just one more of the reasons that I love the fall (and you know how I feel about the fall).  ;)  I love watching shows, listening to music, window shopping at the boutiques and shops.  Last year I loved having a glass of wine at the Ren Fest, but I guess I'll have to wait until next year for that one.  ;)  It's just a fun day to get out and do something we don't normally do.  I hope that I can make it there, even for just a little bit.  I would hate to miss that fun event that I look forward to every year.  In KC we will also see some amazing friends who we haven't seen in some time.  We'll visit Nick and Maggie and see their new home, we'll hopefully see Tim and Dave and catch up with them on how life is going, I'm sure we'll see Amy Colby, because she's very good about making time to see us when we come into town, hopefully we'll get a chance to catch up with Nate and see how med school is going, he hasn't seen me since I got pregnant, now I'm huge, should be fun, and finally, I would love to see Justin and Becca and baby Noah if we get the chance.  :) 

Lots to see and do.  Should be an interesting, exciting, and exhausting weekend.  I figure if this is my last weekend to travel, I might as well make the best of it!  :D  Now I just have to survive those 8 hours of work.  So with that, I'm off to get ready.  Need to sell big today so I can leave for the weekend feeling confident!  Have a wonderful Thursday, my friends!  :)

3rd Trimester Sickness

Really???  34 weeks in?!?!?  Seriously???  I thought this was supposed to be over by now.

Feel gross, want to throw up, don't want to go to work.  Tried to call in sick, but no one will cover me.  Thanks a lot, co-workers.

Doctor's Appointment and Other Rambles

Well, yesterday's appointment was pretty boring.  But my doctor noted that he likes boring appointments because that means that everything is normal and healthy.  I guess he's right.   I like boring appointments too.  :)  Baby girl and I are progressing very nicely.  We're both healthy and doing great.  In approximately 37 more days she'll be here and I can be done with this whole pregnancy thing and focus and loving on my baby girl and spending time with my hubby getting to know our new family member!  :)  Here are some stats from my appointment yesterday:
-My weight was down a pound.  My doctor said as long as I wasn't having trouble eating (definitely not!) that he wasn't concerned about it.  I'm not concerned about it either.  One less pound to have to worry about later.  Our baby is still growing very well, so all is good.
-My systolic blood pressure seemed a little high to me, but the nurse told me not to worry and that it was still within the normal range.  My diastolic was fine, so that led to her being not so concerned about my systolic.
-Baby girl was nice and relaxed again yesterday (but not as relaxed as at the sonogram 2 weeks ago).  Her heartbeat was at 136 bpm.  For as active as she is she sure does have a calm heartbeat.  :)  Maybe she'll be more calm than I anticipate.  :P
-I had bloodwork done at the end of my appointment 2 weeks ago to check my platelet counts.  The normal platelet count level is between 150,000 and 400,000.  At the beginning of my pregnancy my platelets were measured at about 124,000.  So they rechecked the levels again at 27 weeks for my gestational diabetes test.  At that point they had gone up to about 127,000.  After my appointment 2 weeks ago they checked again and they are still at 127,000.  My doctor is not concerned about this.  He said my platelets will continue to be effective to 100,000 or even to 60,000.  He thinks I just naturally sit a little lower on the platelet count range and that my low numbers have nothing to do with the pregnancy (a huge relief).  We will do more blood tests in 2 weeks to make sure the levels are staying consistant or going up.  But he's not concerned about them at the moment.  Just going to keep an eye on them.
-My doctor also asked me if I'm feeling any contractions yet.  It made me laugh a little because Michael has been asking me the same thing.  Shouldn't I start feeling something soon indicating that we are getting closer to the end?  But no, nothing that I have noticed.  My doctor said that I could be having small ones and not feeling them yet, or they just might not be coming yet.  I haven't even noticed Braxton Hicks in a while.  I guess this is all Baby Girl's way of saying, I'm comfy in here and am in no hurry to come out.  :P  Which is fine by me.  I still desperately want my October baby.  :)  And even if she doesn't come by her due date and we have to induce, a 10-11-12 birthday would be AWESOME!  We will see!  ;)

That's about all the news I have from yesterday.  It was an easy and quiet appointment.  Michael and I always try to think of questions to ask our doctor, but we can never think of anything.  Everything is running so easy and so smooth.  We've had very few concerns throughout the pregnancy.  It's been such a blessing to have such a low-risk pregnancy.  Things are looking very good that we'll still be able to deliver in the birthcare center.  I'm excited about this and hope it happens.  So far Amy and Sis have both had babies recently.  They both had to be at Wesley.  They were both cared for very well, there would be nothing wrong with going to Welsey, but I really want to be at the Birthcare Center.  *fingers crossed*

Something I hadn't thought of until yesterday...  People are going to be coming to the hospital to see Michael, Baby Girl, and I, but they have jobs to work too.  Sis said something yesterday about wanting me to be able to be at the birthcare center, but also wanting to know when she's coming so she can request off work and be there.  Only Michael and I will be in the room (obviously, if you didn't make the baby and don't have any sort of medical degree I have no need for you in there), but I know my sister, mom, grandparents, aunts and uncles, maybe even Michael's family will be there and want to meet our little girl the day she arrives.  But I've forgotten that that means special plans and accommodations for everyone who has to work.  I'm sorry to be an unconvenience, guys.  :(  I will try to give everyone as much notice as I can so that anyone who wants to be there has plenty of time to get off and make it.  For family who lives in or around Wichita, we'll probably call or text when we head to the birthcare center, but won't advise people to come down until I'm at 7 or 8 cm.  That way people aren't sitting in the waiting room forever.  As for people living out of town, we'll call or text when we go in to the birthcare center, and people can make their plans as far as when to come down.  I guess for the most part we'll just play it by ear.  ;)  Still too many uncertainties at this point.

We still have so much to do before she gets here!  :P  My nesting is definitely kicking in, but the lazy in me is strong, so while I want things cleaned, I don't want to do it all, lol.  We will be switching to new laundry soap soon, so I'll need to get some items to assist the laundry soap to make it most effective.  The laundry and dishes, of course, are a never ending battle.  The nursery is looking pretty good, but there are a few more things left to get.  However, I don't know how much to buy, as we are still having a shower in a couple of weeks.  So I'm back to resisting the urge to buy everything and finish things off.  ;)  The hospital bag has been half packed for weeks now.  I think after we're done with our vacation this weekend and our maternity photos next week, then I'll be ready to pack.  :P  The carseat and bases still need to be installedand checked.  And I still need to work on a few more freezer meals.  But overall, I think we're about ready.  :)  Just more of a waiting game now.

On a completely different note...  We have our last weekend of travel this weekend!  Hooray!!!  Not excited about being stuck at home after that, but it will only be 5 weeks, there is still plenty to do here in Wichita, and this weekend is going to be awesome!  :D  Friday when Michael gets home from work we'll head to Topeka and visit with his parents and Nathan and Chelsey if they are available.  Saturday we'll spend all day in Manhattan reminising, eating, shopping, and getting ready for the opening game of K-State football!  :D  Just ask the girls I work with, I am STOKED!  :D  Then on Sunday (depending on how I feel from the long day Saturday), we might go to the Ren Fest, or we might just run around KC and see all the people we know and love up there.  :)  We will again, be playing it by ear.  Either way, it's going to be a great weekend and I'm PUMPED!!

Ok, I have to go get ready for work now.  This got way to long.  Sorry.  :P  Happy Wednesday, Peoples!

Day Off! Woot Woot!!!

Well, I have today off of work!  Hooray!!!  I am so excited!  I have been getting pretty tired lately.  I think the 3rd trimester is getting to me.  I have also had a harder time sleeping lately.  It's been difficult for me to get comfortable.  A couple of girls on my facebook suggested pregnancy pillows that go all the way around your body.  I'd like one, but at the same time, I feel like I'm so close to the end that I might as well just stick it out and use the $60 on something for the baby. We will see if I still feel that way in another week with very little sleep.  :P

Today I am at 34 weeks and 4 days.  That means I have 38 days until our little girl is due to arrive!  I can't believe it's coming up so quick!  She's getting so big and strong and, as always, is still very active.  I'm surprised that she's still so active.  I would have thought with her little home getting smaller and smaller as she gets bigger, that her movements would slow down, but that is not the case.  She is a very active little girl and moves quite a bit throughout the day.  I'm excited to meet her and to see what kind of a baby she ends up being.  Is she going to be active when she gets here?  Or will she be more chill and relaxed?  Time will tell!  :D

Not a whole lot of news on the cooking, cleaning, and nesting front.  I need to get more work done on the house today since I have the day off and time to clean.  And yet, I am highly unmotivated.  :P  I had 2 more recipes I was going to freeze, but we used more of the turkey than I expected.  So the enchiladas are going to have to wait for a little bit, but I will get to them eventually.  ;)  The other recipe I have yet to make and freeze is my mini meatloafs.  Those shouldn't take too much work, so I really should do them today....  We will see what the day brings.  I finally got my laundry soap in for my cloth diapers.  I want to finish off the bottle of soap that we are currently using (it's about gone), then switch over to the new soap for all of our laundry.  So maybe I'll begin working on laundrering the cloth diapers today.  Again, we'll see what the day brings.

We have another doctor's appointment today!  Wooohooo!  Can't wait!  I love that we're getting to go every 2 weeks now!  I enjoy getting updates on myself and my baby.  We will only have 1 more 2-week appointment after today, then we will begin seeing the doctor every week as we get closer to her due date.  Can't believe she's going to be here so soon!!!  I just can't wait!!  No alarming new symptoms to tell my doctor about today.  Just general aches, pains, sleepiness, etc.  Last time when we went and had our sonogram done her heartbeat was 123bpm.  I was shocked, as she's been in the 140's since about 14 weeks.  The sonographer said she was probably sleeping.   I'm hoping her heartbeat is back up in the 140's again today.  :)

Michael and I were talking yesterday about how crazy it was that she was going to be here so soon.  5 weeks and 3 days seems a little farther away.  A little over a month seems farther away.  But 38 days seems so close!!  She's going to be here soon and our lives will change forever.  :)  When we're under a month left it will be very strange and fast approaching!  I feel like a ticking time bomb.  Just waiting to go off...

Michael seems to be getting more excited and ready with each passing day.  He loves feeling her move since she's so active anymore.  He likes to talk to her and kiss my belly.  If he allows his face to linger too long at my belly she'll usually give him a little nudge back.  ;)  He also likes to play with her.  He'll poke my belly a couple times and wait for her to roll or move or kick in response.  When she does he'll poke again and wait.  She'll kick and he'll poke again.  Last night it went on for quite a while!  He was getting absolutely giddy at the fact that she kept responding to him.  He was laughing and smiling.  It was such a sweet moment.  :)  There is no doubt in my mind that he will make an amazing dad.  :)  He loves this little girl so much already.  It's precious.  I know he's nervous about having her and having to care for her and holding her correctly and things like that, but I think he'll fit into the roll easier and faster than he thinks he will.  I was telling him about how she can hear us talking and how she'll recognize his voice.  I think it will be a HUGE confidence booster for him when she's crying and he starts to talk to her and she stops because she recognizes his voice.  :)  I think at that moment not only will he fall more in love with her, but he'll also feel so much more confident in himself and in his abilities to care for this tiny baby girl.  It will be amazing!  I can't wait to see him in his new dad roll.  :)  Just one more way for me to fall in love with him.  ;)

I'm still very curious about her hair and eye color!  Michael thinks she'll have dirty blonde hair with curls, maybe even ringlets.  He's not sure about her eyes, but it leaning towards brown.  I just hope she's blessed with her Daddy's long beautiful eyelashes.  I think if she does end up with those big brown eyes like he has, that he will have to face the same puppydog eyes that he used to get away with giving me when we first started dating.  :P  Ahahhahaha!  Payback!  :P  I have a feeling I'm going to have to be the disciplinarian when it comes to his baby girl.  She's got him wrapped around her finger already.  :P

Well, that's about all I've got for this morning.  Good work for those of you who made it to the end, especially after the long segment about what an amazing dad Michael is going to be.  ;)  Have a wonderful Tuesday!  More info and baby stats after our appointment this afternoon!  :D

34 Weeks

Well, another week is over and we are at 34 weeks today!  :)  Hooray!  I can't believe our little girl will be here in (about) 6 short weeks!  It seems like no time at all!  It's definitely sinking in for Michael and I that we are about to be parents and our lives are about to change.  We're getting everything ready for our little angel's arrival, including lots of cooking and cleaning.  I'm trying to conserve my energy as well, because I know I'll be plenty tired once she arrives, but it seems like there's still so much to do!

Yesterday Michael and I went to the Toys R Us out here on the east side to order our chair for the nursery. We've been looking at furniture stores around town, but couldn't seem to find what we wanted, so we had to go ahead and cough up the money for the expensive Babies R Us chair.  Drat!  Oh well.  It was quite an ordeal ordering it too.  The color we wanted made it a special order which meant it would take 12-15 weeks to get in.  By that time my maternity leave will be OVER!  So that was not going to work.  We settled for a floor model in the standard chocolate color.  We wanted something a little lighter in color at first, but I think the chair we ordered will be just fine (hopefully).  And it will be here in 1-2 weeks.  MUCH BETTER!!  It took over 3 hours and a trip out west to the Babies R Us, but we finally got it figured out.  Thank goodness!

Today I'm going to be making lots of freezer recipes to have for when our little girl gets here.  That way I won't have to worry about cooking, I can attend to her, and heat up a homemade meal so Michael and I aren't going hungry either.  :)  I've got 5 recipes picked out to make.  3 of them I've done before (only 2 of them I've tried freezing before) and the other 2 are new recipes.  The first 5 freezer recipes I tried were all hits, so I'm hoping the 2 new recipes from today will be good as well.  :)

Well, I better get to work!  Happy Friday to all of you, and happy 34 weeks for Michael, myself, and Baby Girl Voss.  :D

Upcoming Events

Well, as always, there is a lot coming up soon!  Here's what I'm excited about and looking forward to in the near future:
-Tomorrow - Day off!!! I'm going to work on freezer meals, housecleaning, and getting more finishing touches of baby stuff.
-Saturday - Another day off!!!  I'm looking forward to relaxing and spending the entire day with Michael.  :)  Weather permitting there might definitely be a zoo trip in our future!  ;)
-Tuesday - Doctor's appointment.  Should be pretty standard.  34 weeks.  We'll only have 1 more 2 week appointment, then we'll move to weekly appointments!  Hooray!!!
-Next Weekend - My last weekend to travel.  Friday - Topeka with the in-laws, Saturday - Manhattan and the K-State season opener, Sunday - Kansas City Ren Fest and visiting friends.  Should be a packed weekend!  I have to make the most of my last weekend to travel though, right??
-2 Weeks - Maternity photos!  Can't wait to capture the bump on film!  She won't be a bump for much longer!  Enjoying the last few moments of just Michael and I.  :)  The photo shoot will be a fun, loving time.  Can't wait!  :)
-3 Weeks - Church Baby Shower!  Rosie is so sweet to want to throw us a shower.  It will be fun to celebrate our little girl one more time before she arrives.  :)
-6 Weeks - Baby Voss is due!!!  I can't believe she'll be here so soon!  She has been long awaited and I can't wait to meet her.  She's already the center of my world.  :)

Stayed tuned for more updates as her day gets closer!  :D

Nursery Progress....

Michael and I have been working hard on getting everything in the house ready for when our baby girl arrives.  This includes buying a few more items that were missing from our registry, finishing up the set up on the nursery, and readying the house to bring a baby home.  Here's what I was able to accomplish today:

Kitchen - We only have 1 bottle at the moment, so I haven't washed it yet.  Still waiting on a couple of people who have mentioned that they might be getting us some bottles.  When I feel like we have them all, I'll wash them all so they are ready for their first use.  I set up the drying rack, bottle and nipple brush, and dishwasher basket on the counter so they are ready to use when the time comes.  I also set up the bottle warmer on the counter, so we're ready for it when the time comes.  I also put the baby spoons away in a drawer for when we're ready for baby food.  On second thought, I probably should have just stored those, as we will not be using them for over 6 months...  But oh well!  ;)  One item I still really need for the kitchen (other than the bottles) is the microwave sterilizer.  I'm going to keep an eye out at Kid to Kid and see if I can score a good one.  ;)

Dining Room - Michael and I went to Kid to Kid today and got our little girl a high chair!  Now given, we won't need this for a while, but I was glad to get another big item off of the registry.  It's not exactly the one we had on the registry, but it's green like most of our stuff and looks like it will work well.  Michael already has it set up at the dining room table.  :)  By getting it at Kid to Kid (second-hand store) we saved over $50 on the cost of the highchair!  I think that's a win!  :D

Living Room - Upstairs we only have a couple baby items.  Michael has put together the play mat and it's sitting in the living room upstairs, as well as the bouncer seat.  Right now we spend more of our time upstairs than we do down.  We will see if that changes once she gets here.  Some of her major items may need moved around a little.  Michael set up the pack and play downstairs.  It looks great!  Can't wait to use it!  I took some wipes, cloth diapers, and cloth diaper inserts downstairs so we can have a baby changing station downstairs as well.  We will see how that goes.  One thing I still need for the living room downstairs is another wet/dry bag for used diapers, that way they don't have to be carried upstairs when changed.  I think I'll wait to see how things go at the last shower at church, then buy it afterwards

Bathroom - I think the bathroom is all set and ready to go!  Wooohooo!  We have the baby tub, baby wash cloths, soap, shampoo, hooded towels, and toys.  Today we picked up a bath toy scoop at Kid to Kid!  The idea of the scoop is to pick up all the toys and store them on the shower wall where they can dry out and keep your tub a little cleaner.  The scoop we got today is shaped like a frog.  :)  It's awesome!  :D  We saved $19 from the regular price!  Wooohooo!

Nursery - We've done a lot of work on the nursery in the last few days.  We bought a shelving unit with 1x1 ft cubes in it.  There are 4 rows and 3 columns, so 12 cubes all together.  The plan is to get 6 cloth baskets (like the ones on the changing table) and put them in every other space.  These baskets will work as her dresser, holding her clothes, blankets, bibs, socks, etc.  The remaining 6 spaces will serve as storage (3) and her bookshelf (3).  It is turning out REALLY CUTE!!!!  :D  We still need to get the 6 baskets.  The plan is to get 2 solid brown, 2 solid green, and 2 beige baskets with a monkey print (These are new!  I just found them yesterday!).  Then her dresser/storage/bookshelf should be complete!  :D  Michael and I have been shopping the last few days for a chair for the nursery.  We like the one at Babies R Us that's on our registry, but we thought we'd look and see if we could get something cheaper.  Turns out the furniture stores don't have what we're looking for.  :(  So, Babies R Us it is.  We still need to order the chair (sooner rather than later since we were told it can take up to 12 weeks to get in when you ask for a specific fabric like we have).  But will hopefully get that ordered in the next few days.  Her bed and changing table are all ready.  So really, there are only a handful of items we still really need!  Getting closer every day!  :D

We've purchased a few things the last couple of days to get ready for our little girl's arrival.  I finally invested in the soap for the cloth diapers/high efficiency washer.  It should be getting here in the next week sometime!  Wooohooo!  :D  We also purchased the "Itsbeen" from Kid to Kid today.  We saved $12 off of the original price!  What this device does is keeps track of the time between feedings, changings, sleeping, medication doses, etc.  So you can start to notice the patterns and habits of your little one.  I'm looking forward to using it and hope it will be helpful in the early/learning stages of being a mom.  :)

As you can see, Michael and I have been quite busy preparing for our perfect little girl to arrive!  Can't believe we've only got a month and a half left!  She'll be here before we know it!  ;)  Today I've attached some pictures of the nursery.  I'll post more when it's all done.  :)  Enjoy!

Day Off

I have the day off from work today!  I could not be more excited!  The house needs some big time cleaning, the nursery needs some more organizing, laundry and dishes need done, and I need to get to the store to buy some more baby items.  It will be nice to get some work here at home done.  I'm also going to go see Sis at school today and take her some lunch!  :)  One nice thing about not working a regular 9-5 job is that I can go see Sis or Michael or other people while they're at work.  It's fun being able to do lunch with people.  :)  Should be a very nice day.  :)

In other news, my darn pregnancy brain got the better of me yesterday and Michael and I completely forgot to go to our last childbirth class last night.  :(  I'm going to email our instructor tonight and see if she can give me the rundown of what they talked about, or if there's another class ending this week that we could attend.  It completely slipped my mind this week.  It was close to midnight before it dawned on me that we had missed it.  I'm a little disappointed, because I enjoy the class, but I guess there's not much I can do at this point.  I'll email and see if anything can be done and we'll go from there.  ;)

Baby girl and I are doing well.  She's movin and groovin as always, and I'm trying not to get too fat, lol.  ;)  Last night we played a bunch of different music for her again.  Her favorites were Dancing Queen, a swing dance song, and What is Love from Night at the Roxburry.  So she must have been in the mood to dance last night!  :D  It was adorable!  I am still up around 15 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.  I could still easily gain another 10 pounds in the last 6.5 weeks of my pregnancy, but I'm hoping I don't add quite that much.  I know that weight gain is not bad, and that it needs to happen to properly grow my baby, but I can't help but think of the other side when it's time to come off...  A little worried about that...

Michael and I have been working on the nursery more and more every day.   :)  2 days ago Michael got a large 3x4 ft organizer from Target.  It has 1x1ft squares (12 all together) in it.  We have decided to opt for this as opposed to a dresser and bookshelf.  We're going to get more of the fabric bins from Babies R Us to use as drawers to put her clothes in.  Then some of the spaces will not have the drawers and will be used as shelves for her books!  :)  I'm pretty excited!  It's looking pretty good so far.  ;)  I'll get pictures when it's all together.

Michael got the carseat put together and knows how to level and adjust the bases.  Now they just need installed in our cars and the carseat issue will be one more thing off of our checklist.  I still need to finish packing the hospital bag.  At the rate I'm going with it, I'll be packing my bag between early labor contractions, lol.  Have been putting it off.  Haven't been doing it on purpose, just seems like we have some more pressing needs that require my attention first.  I'll get around to the bag eventually.  ;)

The weather changing has shifted my excitement in this last week to the fall and football season starting!  :D  There is no better season than the fall, and as the weather has begun to cool down I have been absolutely giddy about Fall's arrival!  :D  Now, don't get me wrong, I know it is still plenty early, I know that there could still be many hot days ahead, but I'm enjoying this weather far every minute it's around.  The coffee pot is getting more use these days.  We're going to have to start buying the large bottles of creamer.  We've begun fishing out the flannel pants and hoodies.  It's just wonderful.  I can't get enough of fall!  Maybe the reason the weather is cooling down so early is that in case our baby girl decides to come early, she can still arrive on a beautiful crisp fall day, even if it is September.  ;)

Well, folks, I had better get out of bed and get started on some housework.  I don't have too much time before I need to go grab Sis some food.  ;)  Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Random Thoughts

Not much new to say this morning.

I added pictures to the blog from yesterday.  The picture of me in the dress is at 33 weeks.  I got the dress from Michael's cousin Sara.  It's super cute!  I love it!  The other picture is my collage of the last 7 months.  Months 1-4 all look pretty much the same.  But around month 5 baby girl decided to show up.  ;)

It seems crazy that we are so close to the end and that our baby girl could literally come any day!  Hopefully she'll stay put longer, at least another 4 weeks.  But at that point, all bets are off.  And if she decides to come early I'm going to welcome it!  This Mama is getting hot and uncomfortable.  I wish rolling over in bed were easier, lol.  :P

I've had a couple short shifts at work lately.  I love this!  It's nice not having to be there for 8 hours at a time sometimes. Those shifts definitely make the day go by faster.  Yesterday I had $2800 in sales!  :D  That made up my deficit for my month and slowly helps chip away at my deficit for my year!  :)  Hooray!  Now to keep it up!  I think Christmas season will help a lot.  Hopefully I come back from Maternity Leave ready to sell, sell, sell!

The weather has been absolutely amazing lately!  I don't know if it's a fluke cold front coming through or what, but I love it!  I can feel fall in the air and I am pumped!  Fall is the best time of the entire year!  I love the colors, reds, oranges, and yellows.  I love the cool crisp weather.  I love the leaves russling and falling off the trees.  I love that football season starts again, Go State!!!  I love that it's hoodie weather.  I love going to coffee shops and drinking fall holiday coffee.  I love holding Michael's hand, walking through the pumpkin patch, and picking out 2 unique pumpkins.  I love watching (or listening to) K-State football while we carve pumpkins.  I love making soup and chili to keep us warm.  I love the dreary looking days after months of hot blinding sun.  I love decorating for fall and halloween.  I'm looking forward to trick-or-treaters coming to our new home.  I love that basketball season starts in the fall, Go State!!!  Everything about the fall is amazing!  And this year, we get to add one more amazing to the perfection that is the fall!  :D  Little A____ R___ Voss will join our family this fall.  :)  Can life get any better than that???  Ask Michael about it, he'll tell you, there is definitely a change in me, my personality, and my attitude when fall arrives.  How could you be sad or unhappy in that best time of the year??  I certainly can't be!  :D  I love it!!!!

Well, folks, I don't think I have anything else left to say.  Have a blessed Saturday!  Tune in tomorrow for more ramblings about the baby, how much I love my hubby, or my excitement for the next season.  ;)  Love ya!!