Today was the second in my weekly checkups before baby L.J. arrives, and all seems to be right in the world. Aside from testing positive for Group B Strep, which fortunately is common and simply requires that I be on antibiotics during labor and delivery, everything else is progressing as expected. I've started experiencing pre-labor, which is nothing to get your underpants in a bunch over as it's not the same thing as the first stage of labor, but still it's a good sign that we're on track for an early January arrival. Basically, the baby's head is in position for delivery, I get up to pee about five times every night as a result, I get crampiness and backache very similar to the ones I got when Aunt Flo stopped by, I've started having painless contractions, and according to the doctor, I'm dilated to 1 cm (out of 10). Baby girl weighs in at a little more than six pounds right now, and the doctor says that if I don't deliver in the next ten days (which is an unlikely scenario anyway), she'll be around 7.5 pounds at birth. The doctor guessed we're in for another two or three weeks, which puts us right at her due date- and although I have just had this "feeling" that she would be early, I have no complaints about her being on time because overall I feel pretty darn good.

That, and we still have some things to take care of in order to be ready for her to actually be here.

The nursery, however, is nearly finished. Cody has been working tirelessly to get our old dresser sanded and painted and ready to be filled with all sorts of baby clothing goodness. Man, is this kid gonna be dressed well. I've been sewing up some goodies and still have some projects on deck that I'm hoping to tackle sometime in the midst of the holidays, my husband's 30th birthday, the new year, and the birth of our child… deep breath. It's not like we have anything going on…

My baby shower was last weekend and I couldn't have imagined it more perfectly than it turned out to be. At some point I decided that I was going with a vintage bird theme in the nursery, and that theme was carried through in my shower, complete with carefully decorated birdhouses, bird nest cupcakes, a scrapbook full of notes, advice and encouragement from attendees, and a photo collage of some of our maternity photos from our shoot with Session Nine. Everything was set up so beautifully and in such an incredibly thoughtful way that I had to hold back tears when I walked in, I couldn't believe the effort and care that was put into everything. My BFF Amber, who flew out from Laguna Beach to throw the shower along with my dear friend Kelly, went above and beyond to make little Elska's shower absolutely perfect. My mom and grandma made the delicious food, Jessica was there taking pictures, and Renae was there helping set everything up as well. All I can say is that I have the absolute best friends a girl could ask for- and baby L.J. is going to have a whole slew of Aunties doting on her when she makes her debut in the very near future!

I didn't take any pictures at the shower because Jess had that part covered, so once I get those from her I'll be sure to post them for your enjoyment. Also, stay tuned for maternity pictures- those turned out beautifully as well. My blog is so boring because I never have any exciting pictures to post! Ha! Rest assured, that will be changing soon- after all, we'll have a precious new photography subject in our household.