The Baby's Nursery! (Part 2 of 3)

Here are the pictures from our very recently finished nursery. Well, it's not even really finished yet. The curtains need hanging and there's a stack against the wall of things that needs to be hung as well. But it is in a presentable state so it's time for pictures!
We start here with a couple of shots of the blankets that Grandma Phyllis made for Andrew. She took special care in selecting touchy feely fabrics that all feel good and coordinate with the print super well! I can't wait to see him all wrapped up in these.





















These blocks spell out 'Little Andy' and will go on the big black shelf once it gets hung.






Changing table. Organized as well as I can without knowing what I'll need and when and how often. I imagine many a thing in the baskets will be moved. The table came from Phyllis and Tressie as well as most of the furniture in the room. Phyllis also painted the green shelf up to the right.













On the left is a very special rocking chair from my mom. It is the one her mom rocked her in and she rocked me in and soon I will be rocking our baby in it as well. Draped over it is a rug my dad made. I will probably hang it right behind the chair so he is there with me. The curtain is also draped there! The swing and bouncy seat will come out into the living room once the baby arrives. And the tub of toys will be put in the cabinet it is next to.


Crib from the door to the room. The letters on the wall behind it were painted by Grandma as well to match the shelf! Hanging on the wall to the right is Andy's present from his mom and aunt on the shower day. It is a camera that we can use to watch baby from the computer. We'll put up a link to it eventually when we have it in a good spot. For now we'll leave it there.



Close up of crib! Look at that awesome bedding! Thank you Anne and Janet! Everything in there was a gift and the crib itself also came from Andy's aunt and mom! We are SO blessed! The pillow was also made by Phyllis. I wish I could sew like that!





Inside the crub. All it needs is a baby! Actually when the baby's in there all that other stuff will go for safety but it looks so cute now! It is unfortunately already getting black cat fur on it! I think our youngest, the girl Sami likes to get in there. Not sure what we'll do about that.




Crib and dresser. A lot of the things on top of the dresser will be put on the shelf once Andy hangs it. I'll take more pics then too.








Dresser again.







Little closer on the book shelf part. There's the frame my shower guests signed on top and a collage of Andy's baby pics up there too. A special book There's a Wocket in my Pocket which my dad used to read to me!




Thank you for touring the nursery! Now please read on to hear more about last week and some info about our plans for labor and delivery! Plus more pics at the end of the next post!

The Week Before Last + Pics!

To close the drama from last weeks car episode. We had been told that our car would be ready on Tuesday. We were totally fine through the weekend. We had just grocery shopped before it broke down and had everything we needed. The only problem was we had plans to see my mom and bring her a birthday dinner. Well, we rescheduled that for Tuesday after we picked up the car and that ended up being better for her as well since she just had new flooring put in and it was still being worked on on Saturday. And she is off on Tuesdays. Well, Tuesday we called to find out the car was not ready, the part was not in and hopefully they’d have it ready the next day. Yikes!

Phyllis to the rescue! Big time! She’d been offering us the use of her truck, and we hadn’t needed it but it was so nice to be able to call upon her then and say hey, can we borrow the truck for the night. It was the only night of the week we could see my mom and I’d already made the dessert and started the dinner! Plus we were getting to a point where we were going to need some groceries the next day. She was a doll about it and let us borrow the truck for as long as we needed and even gave us some money for food and gas! Thank you so much Mom Phyllis! We wouldn’t have made it last week without you!

We ended up only needing it for one day. The dinner at my mom’s was fun, and I think she enjoys my cooking! Then we got see some friends too.

The next day we were on our way to the grocery store here in Sanger when Andy’s phone rang. We both thought it was his mom because he had just called her to see if it was ok to keep the truck a little longer since we hadn’t heard about the car yet, but it wasn’t, it was the lady calling to say our car was ready! We figured, no time like the present and headed on down to get it. Sounds easy, but I was totally unprepared. I had no water and no snacks and it’s an hour drive each way with no traffic, and I’m pregnant and need to pee when I need to pee! But I made it there ok and drank a lot of water in the shop and used their restroom. Then I drove our car – which ran beautifully and cost us nothing for the repairs! – and Andy drove the truck back to his mom’s.

This is when we hit the traffic! And of course Little Andy would like to wiggle around and rest on my bladder for brief periods of intense ‘I gotta go now!” pressure, only to move off right when I would be about to pick up the phone and say ‘I gotta go now!’ Of course the traffic was so thick even if I had decided I needed to go, I wasn’t getting anywhere! I’m pretty tough though and made it the hour and a half back to mom’s.

We were there only for a moment because we still needed to get some groceries!

What a day! We left to go shopping and got home over 3 and a half hours later!

We got a special surprise treat last week too when Andy’s dad Paul called one the evening to ask what we were doing the next day. We had few plans and he said he wanted to come take us out to lunch and hang for the day. And of course show us his new bike! It was so nice to see him.

He came over early (for us) around 11 and we went to Denny’s for breakfast. Then we drove all over Denton and he showed us places the Goin family had lived and worked around town. Places he grew up and lived when Andy was young. It was neat. We even went and hung out at the mall for a little while watching the kids play and just talking and catching up. We hadn’t seen him in a few months. He has such a crazy work schedule. But he plans to be off on a vacation around the time the baby is due so perhaps he can come meet him at the hospital!

All are invited to come see the new Goin after he is born and to come support me and Andy while I labor. As long as I can stand people that is! But for the actual delivery, I’d rather no one else be in the room. Ew, you don’t want to see that!

We would like to ask that those that come visit do not bring flowers. They are not necessary, our gift will be a healthy baby boy! If you would like to bring something and don’t feel a card is enough, we would gladly accept gift cards to grocery stores or Target or Wal-Mart. But again, don’t feel a need to bring a thing except yourself! I know it is a tradition when people are in a hospital to bring flowers, but we won’t have time to enjoy them as we will be so busy enjoying the new baby and our family!


Here's Granddaddy Paul's new bike. Pretty sweet!







Nice front shot.






























Damn that's a nice bike! I love the black. And no, I didn't ride it! Not till I go past my due date and I'm trying to get knocked into labor!!





Look at that belly in the background! Yikes!








And to close with cute Tyler so passed out on the chair his head is resting on the bar.






And that concludes this 3 part blog update. If you made it this far, thank you! If you'd like to be on the phone chain to come see us at the hospital, shoot me an email lea.goin@gmail.com, otherwise be checking your mailbox for the birth announcement! And of course check back here (hopefully weekly!) for the pictures!

This Past Week

It was been one heck of a week! It’s been a really good week filled with worries that all worked out in the end. I love it when that happens! I find it usually does happen that way but sometimes you have to wait longer to see the happy side.

It started with a doc appointment for Andy on Tuesday. He has this crazy spot on his nose he’s had for years. I jokingly called it his “cancer spot!” But it occurred to me recently – through the miracle of pregnancy I am sure, that this could be something serious and maybe “cancer spot” isn’t such a funny name for it until we get it looked at! He tans easily and although we aren’t in the sun often now, he has been in previous years. So we went to see a dermatologist. It isn’t cheap to see a specialist but as usual, a little extra money came up to cover the cost. We were told at the office if any procedures needed to be performed, we’d be out of pocket because we haven’t met our deductible. This was frightening for a second, but I was fully prepared to write a hot check and transfer funds from our savings when we got home! I want this man healthy – I want more babies with him you know! And I need his help with the one on the way!

So after over an hour of waiting – gotta love doctor’s offices – we saw a very nice lady doc. She checked out his spot and answered a few other questions. The verdict – it’s nothing! She said think of it like a birthmark that hasn’t been there since birth. No danger. Just of course if it changes shape or color, come back. It’s been there for years and still looks the same, so I think all will be well. I can’t tell you the relief I felt after she said that! Thanks to everyone who sent all the prayers and positivity! I guess I can call it his “cancer spot” again!

Then on Thursday we went to the WIC store in Denton to get our monthly cheese and stuff – boy that place is WAY more convenient than doing it at the regular store! But while we were in Denton our car started making the craziest, scariest sound! We were dropping a bag of stuff off at the Goodwill, and I drove the car around the parking lot for a second while Andy ran around in the 100 degree weather trying to listen to what it was. It was definitely coming from the driver’s side front tire and sounded similar to when the brakes need to be changed only a little more scary and deep, like something was loose. Plus, we just had our brakes done not even 6 months ago, so that couldn’t be it. We decided it was something we’d have to look in to further when we got home but for now it was fine, the tire wasn’t about to fall off or anything.

We rode all over town, running errands and the noise came and went sporadically. Then when we turned the final turn to the road where our apartment was we’d been driving about 50 down the previous road and it’s about 15 minutes from Denton back to Sanger, and suddenly, it sounded like whatever had been loose in there, just fell out! The noise was heart stopping! Andy put on the brakes and I told him we’re almost home let’s just get there so we can check it out!

Here’s where him being a smart and good man really comes in to play!

We got home, and he took off the tire to check things out. The first obvious thing was the brakes and brake pads were fine. So he stuck his head all around and looked all over the wheel well. Then he found something I never would have seen! A bolt on the back of the rotor had backed out and was rubbing on the axel! How he saw that, I will never know but I am so grateful he can do those kinds of things.

Fortunately we’d taken our car to a very good place to get the brakes done. We’ve taken both our cars to this place multiple times and had them do this simple brake job just to give them the business since we love them so much. Good thing too.

Andy had every intention of fixing this himself. He was going to get a new bolt and change it out. But he needed to ask our mechanic what all he’d have to take off to do it. So the next morning he gave her a call. Well, she said no way. He’d have to take apart way more than he’d thought. And she felt very responsible for it happening. Said that was their mistake, and it could have possibly damaged the axel. She insisted they tow it to their shop – almost an hour away from our new home – and repair any damage at no charge to us! Can you imagine! What an awesome ending!

Well, the only tragedy was we were out of our car for about 3 days and couldn’t see my mom over the weekend for her birthday, but we pick up the car Tuesday and we’ll see her then.

The other good news was the axel was fine, they just needed to change the bolt – but they had to order it in so that’s why the delay. Fine with us, we needed a break from leaving the house! Plus we do have another car if anything came up. Its ac just doesn’t work, and the antenna was stolen off it at our last apartment, so it’s no fun to drive anymore.

One last catastrophe turned well.

We had our online bank account PayPal hacked. Someone used Andy’s name and login and password and tried to buy a program online. We fortunately didn’t have much money in there so though they got it all, it wasn’t enough to cover the product.

Well, normally then it would have come out of our bank account, but we never changed our bank account with PayPal when we closed our old one and opened a new one a year ago, so the one they were trying to pull funds from, no longer existed!

Andy and I were of course completely freaked out by the whole thing. It’s like a complete violation. Not only were we out some money, we also had our account used without our permission.

He called and spoke with the people at PayPal. He emailed the guy who the product came from. He did everything he could. PayPal said basically, we’ll have to wait and see.

The guy that sold the product didn’t respond until today. And when he did and Andy told him what happened, he immediately refunded our money! We couldn’t believe it! After all the stress and fear yesterday and the guy was so cool about it!

What good business practices we have encountered this week!

It’s still scary that someone did that to our account, so we have learned to take a few more precautionary measures than before. We always try to learn something in all these mishaps of course!

As for me, I am 35 weeks pregnant out of 40. That means in 3 weeks, the baby can come safely at any time.

Are we ready?

We have the room almost done, the apartment almost clean. The car seat needs to be inspected still but we’ll do that this week when we get the car back. I need to get the announcements ready and thank you notes finished, all things that take little time and could be done by the end of this week easily.

But I don’t think I am ready yet. I love being pregnant! It’s like having a special person with you all the time! I feel him in there; I talk to him and read to him at night. And I know once he comes out, he’ll start slowly moving away. Oh sure, it’ll take years, but I know those years go quickly no matter how hard you try to hold on to them. I want to be a good parent and let him go as he grows, but I am afraid, in this moment anyway, that it’ll be hard for me. Perhaps I only feel that way now because of the closeness I feel to him. I hope anyway.

And I do want to get pregnant again. And I know I’ll get to feel another baby grow within me and get that closeness again. But he is our first and there is something about that.

This has been about the easiest pregnancy on record I think so far. I can’t imagine they’ll all go so smoothly. So I want to hold on to this one for a little while longer.

I have been thinking he’d be late, but who knows for sure.

I will admit, the uncomfortable times are upon me though and if you ask me again in a couple of weeks, I may say “GET IT OUT!” Who knows? For now, I am still kind of on a cloud about it. Even though the pressure makes breathing difficult when I sit too long, the lower baby pressure makes me have to pee ALL the time and I feel like I have to poop a lot too when I don’t, the heartburn sets in whenever I lay down, I can’t bend over straight.

But I don’t have much swelling yet so that’s good.

I feel the baby move everyday. He rolls around, he gets hiccups, he pushes on me and responds to his daddy’s voice. One day last week I didn’t feel him much and it scared me. So I drank some OJ before bed and Andy and I laid together with our hands on the belly to feel for him. After about 4 kicks in 2 minutes, he got the hiccups and all was well! I haven’t had a day where I felt him that little since. And I ate a lot of toast and butter that day, not a lot of sugar so that may have been part of it. He sure likes it when momma eats the sweets!

But for now, I am content being pregnant and letting him “bake” for a few more weeks at least! In fact, I am still loving it!

Shower Pictures Part 1.1

Here's the pictures from Andy's mom Grandma Phyllis. I think a lot of these were also taken by Aunt Tressie, soon to be (Meema Tressie!). There are two posts here of pictures because they are big files. So be sure you scroll down past this first one to see them all! Also, remember you can click on each pic to see them bigger.
Before the party. Andy brought me to his mom's house and Tressie, Phyllis and I rode together. We stopped and got my mom and her friends on the way.
Here Andy is getting his own gift since he didn't go to the shower. It's from Mom Phyllis and Aunt Tressie. They got him a webcam that broadcasts wirelessly over the net that we can keep in the baby's room and watch him on our computer. We can also post a link up for others to see so keep an eye out for that to come! It was a perfect gift for him, and he had fun just setting it up while we were gone!
Here we are with the puppy Tazz. Or as I like to call him PeeButt! :D He pees when he gets excited, which is anytime someone comes over, so Phyllis is constantly chasing him with a bottle of windex and a towel, good thing there's hardwood floors in the kitchen!




First shot of the shower crowd. Mostly it's the back of Greta's head! She is a friend of my mom's and remembers me from when I accolyted for her son's wedding as a teenager.






Me and my mom.









The sisters three! Left to right, Grandma Phyllis, Aunt Sue, and Meema Tressie.






More of Greta's head and Phyllis in the background.








An action shot of the crowd, there were way more people there than I expected and I was so flattered!







Gift time!


















Behind mom and I here is Tiffany, one of the hostesses. She was the other photographer and when I get pictures from her I will post them as well.























It doesn't end here - scroll down to see the second set!

Shower Pictures Part 1.2

The next set of pictures from Grandma Phyllis. My mom is next to me writing down every gift and who they're from so I can write thank you notes. Which I still need to do! YIKES!
This was always her job at Chrsitmas every year too!














You'll see my legs are very lady-like, but that big belly makes it hard to sit with my legs crossed or even closed! Especially when I keep having to bend donw to pick up the next gift!

































So many wonderful sweet gifts from everyone! I am very grateful and our new family is very blessed!








My girlfriend from school Anne, behind Karen my mom's friend and and someone who remembers me from when I was very young. And in the background, Andy's aunts and cousins on the left and right. I was so excited to see them all come!








































I am hoping to get more pictures to post from another photographer next week. But I will also be posting, maybe even this weekend about the week we've had! Bunch of words to come!

What a Great Day!

Yesterday was such an awesome day! We saw a doc, not the same one as last time, but the new one in their office. He was so young! He looked like he could have gone to high school with Andy and me! But he seemed to know his stuff and he answered all my new questions and took a lot of time to get to know us. We’re seeing him again for our next appointment too because he was the one that had the time available we wanted.

Then we went across the parking lot to the Women’s Center and the nurses had time to give us a tour of the Labor and Delivery department. The nurse who gave it has been an L&D nurse for 34 years! She is also the manager of the department so she was very knowledgeable. It made me feel so much better to finally see the place we’ll be delivering. And what a place it is! Each room is like a fancy hotel. They have all the high tech equipment but she said they monitor the patient not the monitors! They have hard wood floors, flat screen TV’s with DVD/VCRs, sit down showers and pull out chair beds and a rocking chair! Everything you could want to help keep you comfortable and relaxed as you labor. And then the delivery happens right there too. There’s also a baby bed in the room where they leave him with you for an hour after birth before taking him to the nursery. Down the hall from the rooms there’s a tub room with exercise balls you can use if need be also! I was so blown away and so was Andy. The nurse asked if we’d been watching too much Discovery channel! I suppose we had because we pictured bright white stale uncomfortable rooms. Of course, if we have to go to surgery for any reason, it’ll look more like that. But I doubt it. We’re pretty healthy!

After the baby goes to the nursery and daddy goes with him, I go to postpartum room where I stay 24 hours. We’ll have our mothers visiting while I labor and then for the actual birth it’ll just be mommy daddy and baby (and staff of course)! Then when he’s had his bath (and me too) and can come see me in postpartum room, everyone can come and visit him!

Also, the nurse who gave us the tour lives in the same small town we do, so we got along really well. Then I mentioned how great the tour was because we couldn’t afford the birth class so this helped a lot. And she gave us a DVD to watch called Birthology! She said it is the best labor and delivery video she’s ever seen! I can’t believe how sweet that was of her. I wanted to watch it last night but after the day we had running around in the heat, I was wiped out and started for bed at about 9. Then I slept through most of the night with one break for a snack and more reading, and then didn’t get up until almost 1! I felt much better today!

The doctor had all good news for us. The only thing is the baby is big. At 31 weeks he was in 75-90^th percentile! But that was according to a sonogram and those aren’t always completely accurate. Of course I am convinced he’s big because of all this weight that I’ve gained (I’m up to 161 – shhh don’t tell!) and I swear it’s mostly in the belly. Sure my thighs won’t fit in my old pants right and my booty is a bit bigger, but my face and neck are still slim and my arms are too. It MUST be a big baby, right?

My shower is this Saturday, and I am getting a little nervous. I am very excited, but I have never had a party thrown for me like this and I am not used to being the center of attention. I’ve only even ever been to one other shower and that over 10 years ago so I have no idea what to expect. I am hoping for a small turnout and an intimate gathering of women some with children that can share with me their experiences! I also look forward to getting some cute baby clothes as I know that is the most fun gift for people to give!

Andy and I broke out the car seat last night. We had finally gotten the car completely cleaned out and vacuumed and decided to check out the equipment. It looked bigger than it had at Target. But then tonight after our walk we decided to try and install it. The directions for rear facing seemed very simple and we figured we could pop it in in no time. We plan to swing by the Sanger police station or fire department or both and have its installation inspected as well. But we found that it looks even bigger in our little 4 door Honda Accord than it had on the floor in baby’s room! In fact, to fit it behind the passenger seat, we had to push the seat all the way forward and sit it all the way up! Yikes! Looks like Andy won’t be riding on the passenger side no matter how tired of driving he is! He’d never fit!! It takes up so much room because as a rear facing it is tilted. Maybe that is why people even with only one kid get bigger cars! We don’t want to though because living as far out as we do we already spend a lot in gas on our little Honda, I couldn’t imagine having a bigger car. He only sits that way until he weighs 20 pounds. How long could that be? We’ll manage we always do. Like with most things there will be an adjustment period. I am just glad we got the seat in a little early so I have time to get used to the car like that. I do wish there was a way to put the back seat farther back!

I’ll have lots of great pics next time. I will try and put a few up before the shower and then after the shower I’ll have a whole post dedicated to the shower with the shower pics.

We love you all and keep you in our thoughts. Please keep us in yours as our time as a couple comes to a close and our time as a family draws nearer.

A Few Pics

We atart here with some pictures of our garden. It is getting abit unruly and we need to do some triming soon! These pictures are actually taken right before the big storm last weekend. Read on to the post beyond this one to see more about that!

New ivy coming in nicely!









Our pretty flowers! We cut some of the big ones today and gave them to my mother.







Ivy growing out the edges!








Ivy growing crazy and pretty flowers!







Dad to be posing with his first baby, Tyler!








Thunder getting to know the new person a little early.








Tyler sleeping with his remote. He likes to get the remotes.








Here he is! The dad to be! Does he look like a dad yet?











Well, this is one of our favorite summer activities - playing our Nintendo DS's! I like Soduko, so does Andy, but he's playing a lot of other games too.






Sleeping kitty Tyler. He's so adorable!








And finally the big belly! This is about a week and a half ago, I have one for last week too but it's not ready yet. As you can imagine, I am already bigger!






Be sure to read on to the next post to hear my rantings and raving of how things are going and how I am doing!