Showered with love...times two!

You have been forewarned: this is a long post!

Expectant sisters recently showered by friends :)

This past weekend, we gathered to shower my sister, Lynnlee, and her hubby, Thomas, for the upcoming arrival of their little GIRL. They just found out last week at their 20-week appointment they are having a daughter :) It was a wonderful shower thrown by her co-workers jam-packed with lots of good food, laughs, and great memories (and wonderful gifts for the parents-to-be).

Lynnlee getting some practice in with her "diaper baby"

Mom and Maggie

The food...scrumptious!

The goodies :) Pink and brown were popular colors

Lynnlee's friends and family gave her lots of great items, including stuffed animals, cute clothes, a diaper bag, their travel system, books, etc.

Checking out the cute jeans Aunt Courtney gave her :)

Their travel system...woohoo! (also in pink and brown)

Lynnlee and Thomas, we can't wait to meet your little girl!

On the 15th, some of my dear, dear friends from high school and college collaborated to throw us an AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, so-very-SPECIAL (the list could go on and on) shower at our house. Even more family and friends drove in from all over the state to join in on the fun. From beginning to end, the tasty food and creative and hilarious games/door prizes to the generous and thoughtful gifts and decorations, it was one of the most touching days of our lives.

The hostesses and Me: Kim, Lindi, Becca, Maggie, Me, Lynnlee, Ryan, and Brenda. What a group!

Posing at 35 weeks...they made me do it

Here is the sweet invitation Becca made for the shower:

Becca wanted a "belly picture" with me :)

She's done this with other friends of ours, so we thought we'd continue the tradition!

It has taken me a little longer to post about the shower because my camera died during it, and I have since been bothering friends to send me pictures. At last, here is only a sampling of the fun we had:

The spread...oh so yummy and colorful :)

Mmmm, mmmm good...cupcakes with booties and pacifiers.

My lovely younger sisters, hostesses, and soon-to-be aunts, Lynnlee and Maggie

Undergrad and grad pals: Me, Brenda and 8-month-old Adam, Wendy and 3-month-old Riley, Lindi, Diana and her newest addition, Giada, 3-months-old, and Ryan

We played a game that required everyone to have balloon bellies...ask for details. As you can see, it was hysterical (Wendy and Lindi above), and my mom had a lot of fun with it :) She was the champion!

Glenda (GG), Jennifer and Adam, and Brenda

Shannon, Me, and Kim

My sister-in-law, Jessica with her girl, Ruby, and my mom, a.k.a., Mimi

My high-school friends, Clarisse, Jessica and Genese, hang out in the kitchen and admire Genese's newest addition, Kailey, who is 2-months-old...what a cutie!

Everyone hanging out in the living room

I already knew that I have the coolest friends, but I did not know they were soooo creative. My cousins made me several items, from a blanket and "snugglie" to a nursing/rocking chair pillow. Also, some of my friends monogrammed outfits, Shannon made a diaper cake (one that I thought was done by a professional, I might add), and my sister Maggie made some cute cupcakes with the initial "J" on them.

And as you can read from the invite above, they did something a little different for the shower by each person getting us their favorite children's book instead of a card. Everyone put so much thought into the selection of a book. I was surprised that, of all the books that we received, there were no duplicates! Our children's library is now officially up and running...we are set!When Brett got home and saw all the sweet and sentimental gifts, he was speechless. Words cannot describe how awesome it is to feel the great love and support during such an exciting time in our lives...we are truly blessed!

All of Jameston's goodies (Texas Tech was a recurrent theme, as was monkeys (the theme of his nursery:)

Thank you ladies for such a wonderful celebration! It was perfect and more than we ever expected...y'all are the best!

We are abundantly blessed...Stewart gals preparing for two new additions to the family!

*And if any of you shower attendees are reading this and have more pictures, please email them to me because I don't want to leave anyone out!*

Sleep tight, son

We have had a blast getting our little boy's room ready! I've gotta say, Brett took the reigns on this project, as I was out of town the weekend he painted most of the room. Once we both settled on a theme and furniture, it was so much fun...and a breeze, compared to all the other renovations going on in our house!

Before "Mission Nursery"

Brett painted below the chair rails, baseboards, door frames and doors

The shelves were already there...one of the selling points when we bought the house (for me at least :)

The entrance to his room: our friends Kim and Shannon gave us the matching blue wall plaque and picture frame, which reads "Snips and snails, and puppy dog tails...that's what little boys are made of." Love 'em!

On the theme, Brett and I agreed on monkeys. The bedding is called Monkey Bars, by Carter's...it was secretly one of my top three favorites. I had shown Brett a group of about 10-15 bedding designs (I wanted him to choose it), and he picked this one!

Our cozy corner...I already had the lamp from college, and we finally got the glider last week! My cousin, Allison, made the nursing/rocking chair pillow :)

And the monkey theme has really taken off...Jameston has received monkey shirts, onesies, socks, blankets, stuffed animals, picture frames, books, and the list could go on. His Aunt Maggie even painted a monkey picture for his room.

During this process, I have fallen in love with Etsy's website (http://www.etsy.com), where I found both the wall decal and chalkboard initial. I highly recommend this website if you are looking for something that is hand-made and unique.

Paintings and a toy chest...we may eventually put in an armoir or another chest along this wall

We have been shown an outpouring of love and support from our baby showers, and everything is officially put away. Jameston's nursery is ready...now, all we need is him!

Insomnia and maternity pictures

Brett is in Chicago this week (just a short flight away, right?!), and I cannot sleep! This is a usual occurrence when he's gone, but it is even more magnified by the fact that I have a big baby belly that is impeding my sleep routine. I have been a lighter sleeper lately (due to all the excitement, frequent trips to the bathroom, anxiousness, etc.), so the combination of that with him being gone is not much fun. So, I have put my extra time to good use after work and have been busy getting the nursery put together (a separate post to come very soon), scrapbooking (thanks, Kimberlee!), going out to dinner with co-workers (thanks, Nancy and Sherri :), having visitors (my sister and her boyfriend), and last but certainly not least, getting caught up on my blogging! I have lots to blog about, but I am waiting on some pictures from friends and our glider for the nursery...but once I get those things in line, we are ready for some posts!

Since I am up, I thought I would post the maternity pictures my cousin so graciously took of me at the end of June. Allison was kind enough to take on this project (I was her first expectant client, as she just does this on the side for engagement photos, model portfolios, etc.). She gave me the proofs this past weekend, and I was so excited to see her great work! I think she did an amazing job, but I may be biased (hey, we're related, and we took them outside on a beautiful day).

I love the background colors in the pictures!

We met up one Saturday morning and headed to some area parks, and she captured what I believe are some very priceless photos of my current state: expanding (I was only 28 weeks at the time of these pictures, and my belly has DEFINITELY popped out there even more so since :) and excited!

We went to two different places, and in between three outfit changes, numerous water breaks, and plenty of resting in the shade, we had a blast! Since the photographer is my cousin, she gave me the rights to the pictures:) I got to play around with the color on our Mac, which was fun to do!

Can never pass up on the classic Sepia tones...

Can't wait to see his little feet in these shoes!

Thank you, Alli, for lending your great skills to help us remember this very exciting time in our lives. Jameston, Brett and I will cherish these keepsakes!

Three years in the making...and the newest Winters' family member!

No, not our baby boy...he's not here quite yet :)

About the first half of the blog title: when Brett and I married, we bought a house within six months, so a lot of our big purchases were postponed. One of those was a new bedroom suite for ourselves. We have been living with a hodgepodge collection of furniture in our master bedroom that we have not been very fond of. Don't get me wrong, I love my great-grandmother's armoire, just not paired with Brett's veneer dresser from college! Also, Brett promised me we would have a headboard (he even considered making one out of cedar posts). Before the upgrade:

Um, yeah...you can see why we were ready for new furniture!!

So, after looking around for at least the last six months, we FINALLY bought a new bedroom set from Weir's Furniture in Plano (thanks, Sharon, for the recommendation!). We got a super-great deal, and we love it! We feel so spoiled now to have matching bedroom furniture :)

Ta-da! Our dogs are not so fond of it, though...with a platform bed, they can no longer sleep underneath!

And about the newest member of the Winters' bunch...this past weekend we headed up to Lawton, OK, to meet our newest niece. Layne Rene Winters was born Saturday night to proud parents, Bryn and Jared. She was 10 days late, so you can imagine that everyone was very anxious to meet her!!

Layne Rene Winters

Proud parents!!

Dad, Uncles and Aunt with little Layne

What a cutie!!

Long, Tall Texan

So the title is a throw-back to an older Lyle Lovett song in honor of our impending bundle of joy. We had an unexpected sonogram yesterday (thanks to doctor's orders), and found out that our little fella ain't so little! They told us at the 20-week sonogram that Jameston will be in the upper percentile for length; and we found out yesterday that he's already ahead of the pack on weight, too. 

They think he weighs about 5 1/2 to 6 lbs. already!! According to all my books, babies at 33 weeks are only supposed to weigh around 4 1/2 lbs. or so. At this rate, my doctor is guessing he'll weigh in around 8.5 to 9.5 lbs! We'll have another sonogram before the due date, just to make sure, in my doctor's words, that we have "no surprises." What, like a 12 pound baby?!

He's flexing his arm, as if to taunt us about just how big he is :)

The first thought to cross my mind was (besides the ever-popular question, "And you are still trying to have him naturally?" Thanks...like I have not thought about how that course may be affected) I hope he can wear his cute newborn outfits and fit into those Swaddlers newborn diapers we have, which are made for babies up to 10 lbs.!

Profile and hands view: Awww, all my L&D worries (well, maybe not all) go away when I see this picture. No matter what, he'll be so worth it!

Who's out there?

So...we are wanting to know who is checking out the blog. Many of you have told me you are (but following our blog does not substitute for catching up via phone, lunch dates, email, etc. :). Please sign into the "Followers" section on the left of the blog page so that we can see who is reading...Thanks ahead of time!

Lakin' it

This past weekend, all the Stewart siblings were in town at the same time. So, we headed to Flower Mound and Lake Grapevine to hang out with Dad and our stepmom and go out on their new boat! It was fun, especially because it's been awhile since all four of us have been together.

Me, Scott, Maggie, and Lynnlee

Whoa, Mommas! Me at 32 weeks, Lynnlee at 17. How exciting!!

The best sisters in the world!

Brett saved the day by moving a really stinky (dead) fish off shore...no one else wanted to get near it!

Sista, sista...never knew how much I missed ya

Thanks Dad and Glenda for being such great hosts. We really enjoyed the relaxing Saturday afternoon together (hope you did, too :) !