1 Down, 9 To Go...

As of today (Friday, July 3), I'm 36 weeks, 3 days pregnant. I've started visiting with my OB on a weekly basis now. At yesterday's meeting, we found out that I'm 1 cm. dilated. I was fully expecting him to say, "Nope, nothing..." - so even 1 cm was exciting to me! I do realize that I could be 1 cm for several weeks, but at least it's a start!

We've been "nesting" a lot lately - the nursery is really starting to take shape. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what things look like:

It's been so much fun getting ready for our little girl! Oh- and we finally have a name! This has been a struggle for us, for whatever reason, but once we landed on "the name" we've felt much more settled. Originally, we had thought about naming her Kennedy - but when Michael "googled" the name & discovered that it means "Helmeted Chief" or "Ugly Head" in Gaelic, we decided against that. (Both of us being middle school teachers, we knew this little-known fact would rear its "ugly head" at some point during her school years...) Anyway... several weeks ago, when I was at an appointment with Dr. Andersen, he asked if we had decided on a name. When I began to describe our struggles, he said, "You're thinking about this too much. Just close your eyes and see what name comes to you." Knowing my propensity to overthink/overplan/etc., I took his advice. The name that came to my mind is the one we eventually decided on. Ironically, it was not a name that we had picked out during our first "round" through the Baby Name book. Michael & I wanted to use a family name for the middle name, but the names we liked from our family didn't really "fit" with the first name we chose. We started brainstorming names - listing everyone in the family we could think of. I took the first initial of various family members & came up with a middle name to honor several people. So... our little girl's name will be...

Savannah Grace

We're very excited to welcome our little angel into the world! We'll keep you posted on when this finally happens!

Here are a few more pictures from the past several weeks:

Some friends from Spartanburg Methodist College threw a Baby Shower for Michael & me. Above is a picture of several members of our family - Left to Right: Jennifer (my cousin), Sandi (my aunt), Nana Lou (Julie's grandmother), Julie, Michael, Daune, & Charlie (my mom & dad).

Mom, Julie, Nana