Simpson's Journey

Our crib for Cameron! It didn't take too terribly long to put together and we are excited about the finished product! We just can't believe that she will be with us in about a month! The only big thing left to get for our nursery is the glider rocker with ottoman and Joe is in the works of taking care of that. We are getting excited and nervous about Cameron coming! I am starting to get a little nervous about the whole labor and delivery part, I just keep telling myself that God is in control over everything and that includes the labor and delivery! I have my next doctor's appointment on Tuesday and then I go once a week until she is here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope that everyone is enjoying or enjoyed their Christmas this year! Joe and I have spent a quiet day at home just the two of us. We got up, opened our gifts, had pancakes for breakfast, and are now just hanging out. This is our last Christmas without child, so it is a little special but we can't wait until next year when Cameron is here, she'll be almost a year old, and enjoying Christmas morning at our home with her! I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoying your time with family and friends! Love to All, Eve, Joe, Flair and soon to grace our presence Cameron!

We had our final baby shower, in Lindenhurst, which was thrown by our sister Christy! Christy did a fabulous job with the food and decorating. Also, thanks goes to Becky and Mom for helping out! We had a wonderful time and received a lot of great baby gear!

Joe and I have a tradition to get our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. With us actually having a house and a place to put the tree we were able to get a tree this year! We are excited about our tree and love the way the pine smell fills the downstairs. I have done some other small decorating around the house too. I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

Our first snow in our house! As of right now we have about 4 inches of it and it is still early. The forecasters are calling for a total of around 7 inches. I am so excited! As most of you know I really love the snow and anticipate this time of year! Living in Illinois for the past 3 and half years I have seen a lot more snow than I can remember seeing living in NC. Joe is so awesome, he went out to shovel our drive way and side walk. He also did a path for Flair off of our porch in the back because when Flair went out the snow was really close to his chest! Many thanks to my wonderful husband. Right now we have a nice fire going in the fire place and are getting ready to decorate our tree, which we bought on Friday. What a great way to spend a Sunday! A fire, some football, and hot chocolate! The 'snow season' is upon us in IL, Joe and I just hope that in January when it is time for Cameron to come that it won't be snowing so that we can make it ...

Some of the ladies I work with decided to throw me a baby shower. It was very nice of them and I got a lot of neat things. I especially loved all the clothes Cameron received! I got a couple of books to get my collection started and it was my classic pooh theme. It was so nice to have people I work with and are my friends do this for me!

Yesterday, I had my 30 week appointment and my last time doing a sonogram. So the next time we will see Cameron is when she is born! Everything looks good and healthy! Cameron weights 3lbs 5oz right now and the technician said that she will gain around 6 to 8 oz every week until she is born. Cameron could be around 8lbs when all is said and done! I am just glad that she is continuing to grow and become a healthy girl! All of my stats were fine and my stomach is measuring around 30 from bottom of uterus to the top. I don't go back until Dec 2nd and continuing every 2 weeks until I am 36 weeks and then after 36 weeks I go back weekly until she is born. Joe and I are very excited that Cameron is doing well and prays that she continues to grow and be healthy until her birth.

Thank you Kim Shoemaker for throwing Joe and I a wonderful baby shower! I am so glad that we were able to come down and show off my tummy and see friends and family! The food was great and the company was awesome! Joe and I had a wonderful time! We got a lot of great things and thanks to all who could come and thanks for the gifts! It was a great time with friends and family and we are so glad that we were able to 'catch up' with everyone! Thanks for a wonderful shower!

November is here and I just started my third trimester today!  I am 28 weeks pregnant! This has been an amazing journey so far and we can't wait to finish this part on becoming parents and start the new year with Cameron here to hold and love and actually being parents! This month is very busy. Starting tomorrow we have a 3 night birthing class that will last from 6pm to 9pm each class, we go to NC on Friday for our 1st baby shower, I have a doctor appointment on Tuesday of next week, I also have a couple of breastfeeding classes, a Mommy and Me class, oh and can't forget about Thanksgiving! Then it is December and Christmas is around the corner! I can't believe how fast this time will pass. I have enjoyed the little bit of Fall that we have had so far. I added the picture of this tree and I love the beautiful color the leaves have turned! It is amazing to me that God can put so much color in the leaves before they die! I like the fall weather here in IL, and can...

Here are three pictures of me and my belly. I don't see a real difference between the first and second picture but the third is definitely noticeable. The first one was taken at 16 weeks, the second at 20 weeks and the third at 25 weeks.

Today Joe and Todd went to Fogcutter and watched the Bears game while Kim and I went shopping. We meet up with the boys and went to dinner at On the Border, a great Mexican restaurant, and then back to downtown Chicago to go see the Blue Man Group. We had a fun time there at Briar Street Theater and the show was very entertaining. At the end of the show they had everyone pass tons of streamers from the back of the theater to the front and through all of the paper I briefly lost my engagement ring. Luckily a girl found it who was sitting right behind me! I thanked her a million times and thanked God for letting us get the ring back. After wards the Blue Men we out in the lobby and we were able to take pictures with them! What an enjoyable night!

Our great friends the Shoemakers came to visit and we took them to Chicago! How can you be in IL and not go to Chicago! First we parked at Navy Pier and grabbed a bite to eat. Then we did the tourist thing and went to the Sears Tower, went back to Navy Pier to walk around and shop, had a great meal at Mike Ditka's and finished the day at Navy Pier watching the fire works over Lake Michigan! It was a wonderful time with an ample amount of walking! Dinner was fabulous and the company was awesome!

This dresser was a hand-me-down from Joe's grandparents. It was spray painted a cream color. Well Joe and I wanted to spray paint it something more in the brown family to go along with our theme in the nursery. We are going to use this as a changing table and dresser for Cameron. So we got to work on striping the paint off so that we could repaint it the color we wanted. Joe and I hard at work spraying on the striping agent and then cleaning it off once we waited the 15 minutes. Nice stripped down drawers. The finished product. Another project that Joe and I never tried before we accomplished. We feel like we have done more with this house than the previous one in Greensboro. I guess it does help that we have Cameron on the way to make things look a certain way!