Baby Shower

This past Saturday my mom and sisters hosted a baby shower for me in New Jersey. I had been looking forward to it for a long time and it was a perfect day. The sun was shining, I was surrounded by friends and family, we ate delicious food, and I received an incredible amount of adorable baby clothes and other baby goodies. My mom and sisters really went all out with the decorations. I only have a few pictures at this point (thanks, Mary!) but there will be many more to follow.

How cute is this whale sweater?! A family friend got me a whole bunch of whale themed outfits and they are so darn cute!

Last gift--stroller system from my mom and dad. I look forward to pushing Baby Shuman around the Yale campus this summer.

Jessie entertained Maddie while I opened gifts.

Cousins Hannah, Mary, Amy, and Amanda

Pottery (and other updates)

I've always wanted to take a pottery class and this year I finally got the opportunity to do so. I took a 12 week session Sept-Dec. and then recently finished a 6 week session. I'd love to sign up for the spring session too, but with baby on the way (and not to mention the cost!) it's not going to happen. Yesterday I went and picked up most of my pieces from the last session that had come out of the kiln. I was very pleased with how they turned out. I have some pictures of the dreadful pieces I first made in the fall. Hopefully you will see an improvement!

Here are the most recent creations...

Mugs. I tried an overlapping glaze technique on the green mugs. The blue mug has one glaze on the inside and one on the outside.

I crushed up sea glass and put it in the bottom before the final firing. I love the effect, however you can see that my bottoms were not flat. The sea glass should have pooled in the middle, not the sides. Oh well, I still think it looks pretty neat.

These are some of my "larger" bowls. I guess I should have put something next to them for perspective.

More sea glass. The one of the right has a flat bottom.

I love how the melted sea glass looks.

I used this midnight blue glaze on many pots.

More sea glass

Oops, forgot to flip picture. I threw this as a circle and then shaped it into a heart.

And now for the ugly pieces...

Okay, so THIS is my first bowl ever. Pretty atrocious. Contrary to Edward's beliefs, throwing a pot on a wheel is NOT easy.

This is another early bowl. I love how the glaze turned out but you'll see in the picture below that the shape of it is pretty dreadful.

A poorly thrown bowl but a cool metallic glaze.

My first mug

Yikes! So uneven!

Lopsided


And here are some pictures of a valance I made for the nursery. I got a great deal on this fabric and will be making smaller valances for the french doors as well.

Today I had a dr. appt for my 33 week checkup and everything checked out just great. My weight was right on target (2 pound gain since the last visit), blood pressure good (110/60--meaningless numbers to me, but the doctor said that good), and my belly measured at 33cm which apparently is supposed to coincide with how many weeks along you are (33!). A bit of exciting news is that we get an extra ultrasound in two weeks because our baby appeared to be larger than normal at the 20 week ultrasound. Of course I hope the baby is not abnormally large, but Sarah had this same issue with Maddie, who ended up weighing under 7 pounds. They really can't get an accurate measurement of weight because they are measuring the bones, not the fat on the baby. Anyway, what's great is that our doctor's office does 3D/4D imaging (what we just paid a bundle of money for a few weeks ago), so we'll get another chance to see Baby Shuman in detail. Hopefully we'll get some good pictures to scan in.

Well I guess that's it for now. Thanks for reading!

Mexico!

Edward and I spent a fantastic week in Mexico with my parents, the McInnes family, and the Barnes family. Jessie had to teach and was unable to go :-(.

This was my fifth time returning to the Iberostar resort (Riviera Maya) and Edward's third. We've been there together engaged, married, and now pregnant! Hopefully we'll make it back someday with our baby.

I found it difficult to sleep on the plane but these four were out cold.

My dad attempts to catch food in his mouth at a hibachi restaurant.

Intercepted!

Shuman family

McInnes family

Dad and Mom

Dr. and Mrs. Barnes

Edward enjoying ice cream and a book (The Fountainhead--ugh!)

Sarah and Maddie

Jenny and a very enormous iguana

Our second day in Mexico--31 weeks and a day! (forgot to take a picture the day before)

Lunch time!

Meet Baby Shuman...or what little he'll reveal!

What a day! Today we had our 3D/4D ultrasound and despite the fact that the baby tried to hide from us most of the time, it was an amazing experience. My parents drove up for the appointment and I'm so glad they could share this experience with us. We got to see the baby's legs kicking, his heart pounding, his boy parts (just to double check he is indeed a male!), and half of his face, but he kept one arm over the other half of his face during the entire hour long session. I drank plenty of fluids the last few days (as instructed by the ultrasound technician) and brought along chocolate to get the baby moving, but he would not move that arm. At times he put both arms and hands over his face as if to say "Leave me alone!". Despite not getting the whole face shot, he certainly looked adorable and we got a great look at his tiny fingers and toes and even his hair! He's not even here, yet he's been such a blessing and joy already.

Sarah just posted this on her blog the other day, but it's so appropriate for my post as well...

Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

What a blessing to know that our Creator is in control of this precious boy's little life from his tiniest beginnings and what a privilege it is for me and Edward to raise him to know our Lord and Savior.

eye and nose, cord is over mouth area, arm up on right side of picture

one hand up on forehead, other hand more in foreground, cute button nose!

one hand covering eye, other hand covering mouth

he's got all his fingers! (covering his eye)

forearm over face, hand up near top of head

spreading his fingers over that eye!

*video to come either tonight or tomorrow!