Diaper and Wipe Shower

This is a backtrack post, but I just got these pictures today. My school always gives a diaper and wipe shower to any teacher that is expecting. It is such a blessing because you all know how expensive diapers can be! Each grade level buys different sizes of diapers and wipes to give to the expectant mom. We had this shower about two weeks ago one Friday after school. We received so many diapers and wipes. Josh put them in the Eli's closet and the top shelf is nothing but Size 2 and Size 3 diapers, the bottom shelf is all baby wipes, and under his crib we have stashed all the Size 1 diapers. We are not going to have to buy diapers for a very, very long time. Thank you so much VLE family! You gave us an incredible blessing! We'll think of you every time we clean Eli's little booty :)

Look at all those diapers and wipes!!

I'm so happy to have all these diapers!

Shower cake made by Edna

My Last Baby Shower

This morning several of my close friends from school gave me the last of my baby showers for little Eli. Josh and I have been UNBELIEVABLY blessed through all of the showers that have been given for us. There isn't anything that little Eli needs thanks to all of our wonderful family and friends. We feel so loved and so thankful to have so many people that care about our family. God has indeed blessed us with a wonderful support system.

The shower this morning was so nice. Thank you Sarah, Torri, Judy, Becky, Ruth, Ellen, and Jeanie for all you did for me. You have all been so wonderful to me during my pregnancy. I'm going to miss seeing you guys every day, but I'll have someone new to think about in a few days. Don't worry...Eli and I will come up to the school so I can be the proud Mama and show him off :)

We had wonderful breakfast casseroles at the shower and after eating all that yummy food, I opened all the presents for little Eli. It was so much fun sharing this with my close friends. Eli got a lot of cute stuff. I can't wait for him to use it all. Thank you once again! I had a wonderful time!

I LOVED his little Christmas outfit Zoo-Zoo gave him. The pants were my favorite!

A scrapbook of memories that Nicki gave me for Eli.

Eli's going to be my "New Man"

Reading the hostesses' card. They are such good friends! I love them so much!

Noah's Ark book plus a little lion friend to squeeze while we read.

A book about grandparents from his Zoo-Zoo

Baby's 1st Thanksgiving bib

Baby's 1st Thanksgiving outfit
He'll be my little turkey this year :)

A book of nursery tales from Sheila. Books are my heart!

Reading the inscription. I can't wait for Eli to discover the magic of books
(such a teacher thing to say, but it's TRUE!)

My friend, Kimberly, and her baby, Reid, and Sondra, my aide at school.

Showing off the little sleeper he got. Ellen hosted the shower at her house and it was so nice! Thanks for inviting us into your home, Ellen. I had a wonderful time!

Who Will Eli Look Like?

Sue and I were going through Josh's baby book and photo albums and I ran across this picture of Josh as a baby. I pulled it out because I thought Josh looked so much like Baby Eli's 4D sonogram picture. A few weeks ago when I was home, Mom and I went through my baby book and photo albums and we also found some baby pictures that look oddly similar to Baby Eli as well. I still feel like he has more "Dixon" in him, but I definitely see some "Wilson" features as well. I want to know what you think! Here are all of our pictures. Who do you think Eli is going to look more like?

Me a few hours old.

Me, again, a few hours old.

Josh a couple of months old.

Baby Eli at 30 weeks

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Baby!

Our house is starting to look like we're going to have a baby! Here is the nursery, now officially complete with pictures and washed clothes.

Eli's swing

His closet full of goodies!

The letters Mom and I painted

The door hanger that Sarah painted for us.

The Bible verse picture I painted to match his nursery.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Tuesday I celebrated my 27th birthday. Happy Birthday to me! I received some wonderful presents from my family and friends. Josh and I had talked before and I knew there wasn't anything I needed, so I asked him to get me the book "What to Expect the First Year." He completely surprised me though and bought me a Vera Bradley overnight bag and a make-up bag! It's perfect for me to take to the hospital for the delivery. I was so surprised! Mom and Dad ordered me something off the internet but knew it wouldn't make it in time for my birthday so they sent me flowers for the big day. The flower company messed up and didn't deliver them, so after Mom called and told them that they had missed my birthday, they sent a make-up flower arrangement. In the end, I got two flower arrangements! Nicki and Sue also gave me a pretty neat birthday gift...a blog make over! It's going to take a few weeks for it to be complete, but pretty soon you'll see that Wilson's World has a whole new look! Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes and presents! I feel so loved!

The original vase of flowers I was supposed to get.

The replacement vase of flowers I received.

The Vera Bradley overnight bag and make-up bag I got from my hubby!

37 Weeks

Oops! I just realized that I never posted my 37 week belly pictures. Here they are!

38 Weeks

Here they are...my 38 week belly pictures! It's funny because last night I was looking at pictures of my belly from the beginning to now. I found the picture of when I was 19 weeks and we found out that we were having a boy. I remember thinking I was HUGE then. If that was huge, I am enormous now! LOL! It's funny how our perception changes :) I've posted the pictures for you to compare yourself. I have one week left to go and I'm still amazed that my stomach has been able to stretch as much as it has. Little Eli is beginning to squirm more and kick less as his little home gets smaller and smaller for him. He's still quite active though with the squirming. It's fun to see little elbows and knees roll across my belly. I feel like I'm a human science project sometimes! LOL! Only one week left to go and then Eli can squirm around to his heart's content!

19 Weeks
I was so little back then, but I thought I was huge!

38 Weeks
(Now this is BIG!)

Last Day of School

Yesterday was my last day of school until after Eli gets here. Originally when I started this year I thought that I would just teach until right before my due date and quit October 31st. After thinking about it, I realized that I wanted some time to just do what I wanted to do before Eli gets here. I want to make sure that all his stuff is ready, the bag is packed for the hospital, the house is clean, meals are cooked, and everything is ready. I plan to be in full nesting mode next week! Yesterday at school was kind of bittersweet. I was so excited that it was my last day, but I was sad to leave all my teacher friends and students. It's going to be weird not to see them for 3 months! Well, it won't really be 3 months. I'll be up there some between now and then to show off little Eli :) I think all my friends at school are just as excited about this baby as I am. It's been so wonderful to have all of their love and support.

I'm looking forward to next week so much. I have no immediate plans other than to get my home ready for baby. I do plan to take some of my birthday money and go get a pedicure and manicure. I want to have pretty toes and hands for when Eli arrives, plus it's SO relaxing! Josh and I all week have been trying to fathom the fact that in one week a baby is going to be in our house. WOW! I think it really just hit Josh. He's been so great throughout this entire pregnancy and I know he's going to be a wonderful dad. I can't wait to see the two of them together, playing, talking, running, laughing. It's going to be such a wonderful time in our lives.

I am so glad that I'm having this baby when I am because it is in the middle of my favorite season (fall), and also around the holiday season. I remember this summer I saw an old television Christmas show and it suddenly hit me that this year for Christmas I was going to have a baby with me. Plus, Eli is going to be here in time for Thanksgiving, too. When I do my ABC's of Thanksgiving this year, I know exactly what my "E" is going to be :) God has poured out his blessings on our family and we are so thankful. I can't wait for our little family to be complete! Only 9 days to go!!

New Poll on the Blog

At my diaper shower at school last Friday, all of my teacher friends wrote down their guesses of when Eli is going to make his big arrival (I posted a list of the dates they chose at the bottom). They decided that the winner should get to babysit Eli one afternoon :) Okay! That means Mommy can sleep and try to catch up on her ZZZ's.

I decided to post a poll on the blog and see what all of you think! I wish I could give you a whole calendar of choices between now and Nov. 3rd, but I had to narrow it down-before Nov. 3rd, on his due date, after Nov. 3rd. If you would like to get specific, then go post a comment (I love comments!) on this post. We'll see who gets the closest :) Now GO VOTE!!!

School Votes:
Sheila-October 17
Mrs. Polk-October 22
Angel-November 3
ZooZoo-October 31
Sondra-October 31
Rebekah-October 18
Robin-October 28
Sandy-October 27
Kimberly-October 26
Sarah-November 1
Ruth-November 2
Sue-November 5
Kate-October 20
Jeanie-October 26
Melissa-November 10 (we'll induce before this happens!!)
JoAnn-November 4
Mel-November 3
Monica-October 28
Barbie-November 7 (again, we'll induce before this happens!!)

36 Week Belly Shots

Sorry, I'm behind posting pictures of my growing baby bump (more like a basketball now!) These were taken when I was 36 weeks and 5 days. I'll post some of me at 37 weeks later on this week.

Eli's Door Hanger

Sarah, my good friend at work, asked when we first found out we were pregnant if she could do Eli's door hanger for the hospital. She is so creative and loves doing crafty art projects so I immediately said, "YES!" Last week, she asked me again if I still wanted her to make it for us. I let her know that I had everything ready to go-paint, canvas, ribbon, etc.-all I needed was a willing volunteer to paint it. I told Sarah what I wanted and she went over and beyond what I described! I am so happy with how it turned out! She did an unbelievable job and it is going to look GREAT hanging on his door at the hospital! I love it!!! Thank you, Sarah, for all your hard work. Maybe one day you and I can stay home, paint door hangers and signs together, and take care of our babies :) Wouldn't that be lovely?

Our Brand New Kitchen

Here are the pictures from our kitchen renovation. The only thing we haven't done is put the knobs and pulls on the doors and drawers. Other than that, the kitchen is complete! I love how it turned out!

Getting the Nursery Ready

Tonight was great! Nicki and Dan came over to help us get the nursery ready for Baby Eli. All I can say is thank God for wonderful friends! Josh and I would have been SO overwhelmed if we had had to do it all on our own. It's so nice to have someone who's been through it before help you. What lifesavers they were! I told Nicki that she had a tremendous gift...the gift of organization. That girl can organize, sort, label, and group! We got almost all of his clothes, toys, blankets, books, diapers, etc. put away and I am so happy. His room looks ready! We could actually bring him home from the hospital and I would be okay! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Nicki and Dan!

Dan got in trouble all night for looking at the camera instead of just acting natural.

Josh and Dan putting the crib together. Thanks again for the crib, Torri! We love it!

Putting on the changing pad cover.

Nicki and I putting the dust ruffle on the crib.

Hanging the valances on the windows. I was showing Josh how to fluff!

Josh hanging up Eli's clothes.

Dan looking at the camera again...

Dan acting natural while folding Eli's clothes

For those of you that have waited 9 long months to see the nursery, here you go. All we have left to do is hang his pictures on his walls to make the nursery officially complete, but I wanted to show you a preview. I'm too excited about the way the nursery looks to wait for the pictures to be hung on the walls!