A Peek at Life as a Natic

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our time in the hospital for Preston here

Well, it has been a while since I have posted  – sorry about that.  We have been very busy with our awesome visitors and enjoying our time with Preston.  I’m sure you can understand LOL.

Preston is doing very well.  He has been such a great baby and is just so cuddly and sweet.  The only time you hear a peep from him is when he is hungry or he is being unwrapped to change him.  He loves to be wrapped up and warm.  As you may know, I am normally queezy and get grossed out often.  This made the first diaper change was quite interesting LOL.  With Alisha being as sore as she was I needed to jump in and be super dad for a while.  He pooped and as I was wiping him while I had his legs up and he began farting.  I was scared to death thinking that some poop cannon was aimed at my face.  It scared the heck out of me LOL.  It was really funny scary, but Alisha very quickly found out that she cannot laugh without being in some serious pain due to her c-section. 

Preston has lost a little weight since birth but we are monitoring it to make sure that he is getting enough from breastfeeding to be sure that we don’t need to supplement a little bit.  Alisha is very committed to breast feeding as we truly believe it is the best for Preston and we have the time to do so.  We have had a lactation consultant come by a few times to give us some tips as well as tell what we can do to make sure that he is getting what he needs.  We can certainly tell that her milk has not come in yet, but we just want to make sure that he is getting enough to keep him healthy until then.   

We were told about the new recommended skin-to-skin contact that is really being pushed throughout the industry.  I took the time to read quite a bit about it and it is really interesting actually.  They basically say that skin-to-skin (SSC) is extremely important for newborns and that it stabilizes heart beats, regulates body temperature, reduces stress, and does a lot for their little brains.  With the increased need to feed today, Alisha has been spending a lot of time with him to make sure that he eats whenever he wants / needs to regardless of the amount of time that has gone by.  Sometimes he is eating every hour today.  We expect this to be quite frequent until her milk comes in.  The lactation consultant really gave her kudos for sticking with this and not just jumping to formula because of the number and frequency of his feedings.  You can read about the benefits of breastfeeding and skin to skin care for yourself here:  http://www.kangaroomothercare.com/whatis01.htm .

The doctors are keeping an eye out make sure that he is not too jaundice and that he is not loosing too much weight.  They are expected to check on him again tonight to get a better idea of where we are.  Hopefully all checks out well.  He is not really at any risk, but if he continues to drop weight we will most likely need to supplement the feedings with some formula so that we are sure that he is getting enough food and nutrients to keep him healthy.  We would prefer not to formula feed at all, but we will do what we need to do so that he does  stay healthy.

While I was typing this I sent Preston to the nursery to be weighed and he did lose another ounce even with all of the feedings.  Basically he is just not getting enough from Alisha right now as her milk is not in to keep his weight stable.  We are now feeding him some formula to supplement his breastfeeding. 

Alisha is doing great as well.  She is feeling a million times better.  After the c-section she was quite sore.  It really took a toll on her.  She was in a fair amount of pain especially as she tried to get up from bed.  They removed the epidural that they had in place and began giving her percocet to help her with the pain.  The first dose they gave her two and it knocked her on her FACE!  She was totally out of it and just passed out after about 5 minutes of dozing off.  We then decided to scale that back down to one per dose and that has been doing much better for her.  She is now getting in and out of bed and has really been doing well.  We are walking around the floor making sure to keep her mildly active so that she does not get to sore and to keep her muscles from staying so tight. 

Thanks to everyone who has called, emailed, facebooked, texted, visited, and thought about us.  We are doing very well and appreciate your thoughts and care!

Final Update: 10:55 P.M. -  See below

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our time in the hospital for Preston here

All updates will be added to the bottom of this post and the time it was updated will be above so you know there is new information.  So just scroll down and read away!

We got the call that we could head to the hospital last night at about 6:00.  I got home from a tough day at work at about 6:30 and we needed to leave around 7:00 to be here around 7:30 to 8:00.  I grabbed some Asian Table (mmmmmmmm!  Thai food!)  on the way home for Alisha, her mom, and I and we had a quick dinner before heading out to Northside Atlanta.  

We got to the hospital at about 8:00 and were given a room right at about a 8:45 last night and we got settled in – us and our 4,000 pounds of luggage that Alisha packed LOL!    We literally have two large suitcases and one small one plus my laptop bag and her purse.  It was insane lol. 

They administered Cervidil (used to thin the cervix) last night at about 10:50 PM and inserted her IV.  Contractions started within about 30 – 45 minutes.  At 12:10 she had them give her a shot to reduce the pain so that she could sleep.  Unfortunately for her it had to be given in her butt cheek LOL.  I woke up, rolled over and saw her getting a shot and cringing as they gave it to her.  LOL.  I hear those hurt like hell.  I am doing my best to never find out first hand.  She finally got to sleep at about 2:00 AM

We were woken up at 5:10 to have the Cervadil removed.  She was then allowed to take an hour to take a shower and get ready.  At 6:10 they started her on Pitocin and her IV.  The Petocin will be upped every 15 minutes throughout the day.  At 6:15 AM they started her blood pressure cuff which will monitor her blood pressure every 15 minutes. 

Stay tuned for updates!  They will be on here first….

update:  10:00 AM:  The Dr. came in about 20 minutes ago and tried to break her water.  It did not break then but 15 minutes later she got up to go pee… yep… there it went.  She stood there like a kid who just peed himself  in the bathroom LOL.

update:  11:10 AM:  Contractions are starting to get a little stronger now.  Alisha is debating whether or not to get the pain medication through the IV.  While they are not strong enough to get an epidural, she is trying to hold off on that as much as possible as it will slow the dialation and; therefore the delivery process in general.  So she is going to try to get some pain medication through the IV first (can only get three of them) and then get the epidural a little later… obviously she is going to need to do so before it is too late though

update:  11:30 AM:  Not labor related but we have just destroyed our previous hit record on the blog site and it is only 11:30

update:  12:05 PM:  Picture link was added above.  I will update everyone the same way when more pictures are added.

update:  12:40 PM:  At 12:15 Alisha caved and finally asked for some pain medication through her IV.  She was in a good amount of pain.  It hit her like a ton of bricks though.  She instantly felt dizzy and drunk feeling.  It did not remove the pain entirely like the epidural will, but it helped.  She is looking drowsy.  All in all she is doing well and we are progressing.  We are not sure about dialation or anything as the Dr. did not check her when he came back because she was not in enough pain to really warrant it. 

update :  1:15 PM : Pain is getting quite a bit rougher.  She is up to 26 out of a possible 37 milliliters per hour. 

Alisha has asked for an epidural, and they said she could have that or try to do an additional dose of the pain medication through the IV.  She decided to try the IV route but it is not working very well.  She is in quite a bit of pain and is looking forward to the epidural which unfortunately she cannot have for an hour we think.  She is hanging in there…

update: 1:35 PM:  They said she can have the epidural whenever she is ready and she is ready.  She will be getting it here in a little bit to alleviate the pain.  You natural birth moms are a special breed LOL

update: 2:30 PM:  They just administered the epidural.  Alisha is no longer feeling the contactions like she was.  She was taken back by how much the epidoral actually hurt.  I, as you expected, was not in the room for that event.  I was outta there!  We are currently waiting on Dr. Graham to come back in to check to see how much she has dilated.  She has not been checked since 9:00 AM when they broke her water.

update:  3:30 PM:  The Dr. just left after checking her cervix and she is now 80% effaced and 1 cm.  Dr. Graham thinks that it will be tonight for sure and not overnight or anything.  Now that she got the epidural this process will slow down as well but the contractions are decently strong so that is a good thing. 

update:  6:06 PM:  The nurse just checked Alisha’s cervix and we are now at 3 cm dilated.  Making progress … now get out Preston!  LOL

update:  9:15 PM:  The Dr. came in and checked Alisha again and and she is now 8 cm!!!  The baby is still high so they are trying different positions but we are making progress.  We need to get him down so that we can get him through the birth canal so we are hoping

update:  4:20 AM:  Goodness… where do I start.  It has been a heck of a day.  After the 9:15 update we tried a few different positions to get Preston to come down further so that we could push.  Unfortunately none of these did any good and the Dr. was convinced that Alisha’s pelvis was too small / his head was too big.  Dr. Graham then recommended a C-section but gave Alisha the option.  We agreed that we did not have too much hope for being able to deliver vaginally.  They booked an Operating Room and prepared Alisha for surgery.  I was a little worried as I was thinking I would pass out during normal delivery… what the heck was I going to do in an Operating Room?!?  Many of you probably already know that I am an absolute WUSS with this kind of stuff.  I just get queezy at the thought of stuff… now I was going to be there with it happening!

They took me with Alisha to the Operating Room after getting me all scrubbed up.  I had the full Operating Room gear and waited outside while they got her all setup.  While doing so I heard someone just loosing it.  I was talking to Dr. Graham at the time and thought that it was Alisha.  I asked him how much longer that was going to go on and he thankfully told me that there was someone who was “not all there” that was going in as well and that was what I was hearing.  PHEW!  There was no way I was going to stay composed with that going on.  A few minutes later they brought me into the room.  They brought me up to her head and began the procedure.  Alisha was an absolute MESS.  She was soo upset.  She was freaked out by the fact she could feel the pressure, by the curtain being too close to her face and by the situation in general.  I was somehow okay.  I dont know if I knew that I had to be there for Alisha or what, but I was not only okay, I was great.  I was talking to her to calm her down and the doctors were talking to me as well.  They asked me to look while they pulled Preston out and I took pictures like crazy.  Poor little guy had a heck of a cone head.  This is expected to go away within 24 hours.  Afterwards, Dr. Graham asked me to look at some anatomy… and I did!  It was rather interesting.  They brought Preston up to us so that Alisha could see him and said that Preston was looking healthy but they were going to take him to have him looked at a little further.  Preston Michael Natic was 6 lbs 6 ounces and 20 inches born at 11:05 PM on Wednesday December 16th.  He was doing a little grunting and reverse breathing which happens sometimes as fluid is in their lungs.  Since he was not forced through the birth canal, that excess fluid was not squeezed out as much and therefore that happens sometimes.  I went with Preston and Alisha went to recovery.  They stated that he needed to go 2 hours with normal breathing patterns before he could be released to us.  This felt like an eternity!  I checked on Alisha and headed back to Preston to watch his first bath. 

Afterwards,  I went back to Alisha.  They were releasing her from her recovery room to a post partum room.  We called our family and friends back in and anxiously awaited 2:30 so they could release him (we hoped).  Fortunately they did but we did not get him back to our room until almost 3:10.  The family said their hellos and left shortly after to allow us time to rest.  When they left Alisha spent about an hour trying to feed him.  He ate for about 15 minutes and passed out.  As we were ready to allow him to go to the nursery, we checked his diaper to find a mess   Daddy got his first lesson on this lovely task and changed his diaper.  We then let him go to the nursery to get some sleep.  They will bring him back every 3 hours for feedings so it will be a rough day tomorrow as well as we try to catch up on this lack of sleep we are working off of.

We have now been up for over 24 hours without a bit of sleep, and the night before I got about 4 hours of sleep and Alisha about 2 at best.  We are just completely beat.  We have had a rough day.  Alisha was poked and prodded and most of it came with extreme pain.  She was incredible to withstand all of this and I am honored to have her as wife and have a baby of our own with her.  I am proud of you Alisha.  I love you so much!  You are going to be the best mommy in the world!

Thanks for keeping up with us.  Our blog has never seen this much traffic… ever!!!  Our previous record high was 147 hits in any 24 hour period (12:00 AM- 11:59 PM) which was the day of her miscarriage just over a year ago.  Here we are today absolutely DESTROYING that number with a total of 903 hits yesterday and there have been another 35 hits since midnight.  Yes you read that right.  That is incredible!!!  Thank you to all of our friends, family, facebook friends, and blog stalkers for your interest and support.  I am glad to report that we are all doing well and are healthy.

Good night and stay tune for pictures tomorrow once I get some energy back.

-The Natic Family-

update:  3:00 PM:  More pictures have been added including pictures of Preston. 

update: 10:55 PM:  This will be  the final update for this post.  All others will be a new post above this one.  More pictures have been added to the Labor and Preston album.

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our pregnancy shots here

On Wednesday night Alisha and I made up a little mini shoot at the house to take some pics with some blocks and of course the belly.  When we got to Edwin and Geni’s house, on Thursday we headed straight outside to do another round of pictures with Susan.  Click the link above to check out some of our favorites from the group of pictures we took.

I cannot believe that we are getting so close…. so close to having our first child in our arms!  We are 27 days away from our due date!  Obviously he can come earlier or he can come later, but either way we are getting so close!

Alisha is doing very well and has had such a great pregnancy.  She has had no cravings, no issues, no pain, no discomfort.  Just all in all smooth (other than the sickness in the beginning).  She has gained only 17 pounds total throughout the entire pregnancy and just flat out looks great!  We went to the doctor this morning for another checkup and he was head down but the cervix is still completely closed so there is no dialation this week.  Hopefully this show will get started in the coming weeks.  I just want to be able to make it to Athens next weekend, so slow your roll Preston… you can make your appearance after next Saturday

36 Weeks 1 Day

We are so excited to hold our son for the first time.  It is going to be so great!

Saturday morning was a big day as Hector and Reagan were heading back to the 3d/4d ultrasound studio to get their gender confirmation and I was excited to watch the UGA Auburn game with Lin.  It was bound to be an excellent day!

So in the morning we woke up, got ready, and headed out the door to meet Hector, Reagan, and Geni and the ultrasound studio on Marketplace blvd to do their gender confirmation.  This was the same place that helped us out when we were in need and I highly recommend them to EVERYONE trying to get a 3d /4d ultrasound done.  See the bottom of this post for a full shout out.  We went back and confirmed…. ITS A BOY!!!  Looks like Preston is going to have another partner in crime to hang out with just like I did with Hector when we were young.  It is going to be great for these two to grow up with another family member their age.  I know it was huge for me.  After the ultrasound we headed over to ihop for breakfast with Hector, Reagan, and Geni.  We had a delicious start to the day and then headed off to go shopping at the outlet malls while they headed up to North Point Mall to do some shopping of their own.

After brekfast we headed up to the Dawsonville Outlet Mall to check out Baby Gap and pick up a few things for Preston.  I have fallen in love with that store and before anyone gives any lectures, I’ll be sure to mention that we buy things when they are on sale and they are no cheaper than any other place we look for clothes and they are much cuter and nicer.  We use coupons and watch the sale racks and love every bit of it.  I can’t wait to dress Preston!!!  We then grabbed lunch and headed back towards the house to meet up with Kara and Lin before the UGA Auburn game.

As you know I am a UGA fan and Lin is an Auburn alumni and huge fan as well.  Well… today was the day.  UGA was playing Auburn in Athens and it was bound to be a great game.  Before it all got started Lin and I headed out to Home Depot to pick up some double sided sticky tape and then over to Taco Mac to grab a few beers and watch a little bit of the games on the tvs there.  We had a some good guy time and then headed back to the house to meet up with the ladies.  We caught some shit about disappearing for a while, but hey… we had some bonding time right?  When we got to the house Jason Lucas had come buy on his way home from work to drill a hole in a keg for me before having to head back up to his house to get things done preparing for his move back to MD… damn you Jason…. we will miss ya buddy!  Courtney was also there as she was in the area to work for the night and stopped by.  I did not get to see her much but it is always great to see her.

We had Bobby, Danny, Kelly, Kara, and Lin over to watch the game and had a blast doing so.  Auburn took an early lead and then after the half it was a battle to the end.  UGA pulled off a HUGE win over the Auburn Tigers making my weekend!!!  GOOO DAWGS!  It was a great day full of things to do and excitement.  Congratulations to Hector and Reagan!  We are so happy for you two!

I want to recognize A Window to the Womb on Marketplace Boulevard in Cumming GA for helping us out when we were in need and providing such a great service to people.  It was a beautiful studio with a huge screen and amazing technicians.  If you are in the market for this type of ultrasound, please support them!  Window to the Womb

On Thursday I had no plans to head to Taco Mac and we were having Courtney come over to have some dinner and chill at our house.  I had a rough day in the Kennesaw office and was exhausted and was eager to get back to the house to unwind.  As I got home, I called Alisha who reminded me that I needed to grab some food so that we could cook dinner.  Damn!  I had to pull back out of the driveway and head back to Publix to grab something for us all to eat.  On my way home, I am pulling into the neighborhood when I get a text message from Bobby who was stating that he was drinking Terrapin’s new beer which was just released for the first time.  I had not had it and was extremely jealous.  I sent him a damn you text, brought the groceries inside, and headed off to Taco Mac to taste this new deliciousness!  Damn was it good!  Everything they make is ridiculously good!  I love that brewery!

I grabbed two drinks and headed home to meet up with Alisha and Courtney.  As a matter of fact, I was there before she even was!  That was the plan of course .  We had a nice dinner and chilled and they showed me the awesome gift that Courtney had made for Alisha’s shower.  It looks great!  I was quite impressed!

Thanks Court!  We love it!

Closeup to see detail of each letter

Last Sunday we decided to spend the day picking up the additional things that we needed for Preston so we are prepared when he is born.  We went down to Babies R Us and printed off our registry and started shopping away.  We know that if you wait until closer to our due date that we would get a coupon for 10% off of our registry, so I decided to do some online searching to match it.  I found a few other coupons but was sure to bring the 10% off your total purchase to be sure that we got the same savings we would have if we waited a few more weeks. 

Well it is a damn good thing we brought that little coupon with us because we sure spent a bunch.  We still needed a bunch of stuff including bottles, sheets, and many other day one things and we are glad to have all of that checked off of the list of things to buy.  One of the major items was the video monitor which was like $200 but Iknew for a fact that I could find that online somewhere cheaper… yeah.. .great idea.  I picked it up for $117 shipped on ebay.  Daaaaamn riiiiight!

After shopping we headed to lunch at Qdoba on Windward pkwy (after finding out that Amandos Caribe had closed permenantly ) and then headed to the house.  Once we got there Phil and Krystle stopped by to drop off a gift (thanks so much guys) and hang out for a little bit.

It was a relaxing and rather uneventful Sunday and we are so glad to have everything that we need for Preston!

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Alisha’s baby shower here

Last Saturday was the friends baby shower that Aubree and Andrea threw for her.  The ladies planned to come over for the shower while the guys headed out to tour the Atlanta Brewing Company. 

Andrea and Aubree came over to setup and get things ready for the shower and that was the perfect time for the guys to get the hell out of there.  Bobby, Hector, Mike, Spence, Brett, and I headed out to head to Atlanta Brewing Company which are the brewers of Red Brick beers, the beer for Mellow Mushroom, and the house beer for Jim and Nick’s BBQ.  This is the first time that ABC was open on a Saturday so the crowd was quite small compared to what I normally hear about the weekday tours.  The brewery was a lot cooler than I thought it would be.  It had a nice calm bar atmosphere up front with a TV (which had the college games on) and the bar with their beers on tap.  The brewery was connected to this bar area and was open to walk back into where there were plenty of other tables and stuff to sit at. 

The brewery tour there was probably the most informative of any of the breweries that I have been to although it was a little lengthy and drawn out.  They also seem to somewhat cater to home brewers a little as they had a $4K + homebrewing system setup in there on a stand and the employees certainly mentioned that they brew on it as well.  The beers were pretty good but seem to be the most mild of the other breweries in the state.  For some this may be more enjoyable but I do enjoy when breweries push the styles with their beers.  All in all they have great beers and a great atmosphere. 

On the way home from the brewery I was reminded how fragile my stomach is and reminded me that I need to be very worried about being there for the delivery.  Hector was pretty hammered and had to pee really badly so jokingly we told him to pee in a 24 oz cup that was empty and in the car from an earlier fast food stop…. well obviously he had to go!  He peed in this cup in the back seat of the van and was like oh shit… it is filling up.  we definitely didnt believe him but we were quickly corrected.  I pulled over to verify but he opened the lid and the sight of 23 ounces of pee and the smell of it hit me at ounce.  I threw the door opened, eyes watering and all, and gagged out the window nearly throwing up.  It had the best of me for sure.  I am just such a wuss

Alisha's Baby Shower Cake

Well… onto the ladies… yeah I have no clue what they did… so let the pictures tell the story LOL.  Click the link above above to check them out.  yeah…. so … now that i have gone through the pictures many had to be left out… most you could see almost straight up Alisha’s dress and others had the funniest of expressions on people’s faces so they had to be left off of the internet LOL. 

Spence and Envy

After the shower and the Atlanta Brewing Company everyone came back to the house to hang out for a little while.  We ordered pizza, had a few beers, and called it an early night.  Damn we are all getting old LOL!

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Alisha’s Belly Pictures at pictures.neilnatic.com or here

Damn this is really starting to fly by!  Last weekend we took some pictures of Alisha’s belly at 33 weeks and it is still growing and growing!

We ended up with the normal pics and one funny pic as seen below as Alisha was dancing around during the “photo shoot”.  It is so weird looking but is so cool!

As of tomorrow we will be 43 days away from our due date… we cannot wait!!

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Preston’s Nursery here

Preston's Nursery

Tonight we I applied Preston’s monogram to the wall above the crib.  It looks so good!  Check out all the pictures here!

We custom made his monogram from Uppercase Living and were excited to get it and get it on the wall.  We really wanted to have it here before the family shower but unfortunately it did not come to us in time   Alisha also had me take pictures of a few street signs that had his name in them.  We then converted them to Black and White and then just allowed the color of the street sign alone to come through.  They came out really good.  We then framed them and picked up a few shelves to hang on the wall. 

Watcha think?

Well, it feels like it has been forever but we are getting close.  We are now 60 days away from our due date! 

We have most of the nursery done (just some decoration left to do), have had the family baby shower, and have the friends baby shower early next month.  We are just counting down until December to finally have our baby in our arms.

December 22nd is the due date…. lets hope that these next two months go by quickly and smoothly!

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Alisha’s Family Baby Shower at pictures.neilnatic.com or here

This past Saturday was Alisha’s baby shower which was thrown by Kara and Alisha’s mom.  Her grandmother and her Aunt were scheduled to fly in from Pittsburgh in the morning so Denae picked them up and headed up to the house to finish getting ready. 

They were cleaning, cooking, and decorating which was my cue to get the hell out .  I took Envy to my parents house and picked Dan up to head to Taco Mac to watch the UGA game.  Mike and Bobby also met us up there for some lunch and drinks.  We had a great time – until kickoff that is.  The Dawgs played like total shit which really ticked me off!  They have had a terrible season so far and it has been very tough to watch the games each and every week.  Hopefully it gets better, but I have to be honest, it is not very likely.  We may just need to write this season off and chalk it up to experience. 

Well, obviously I was not at the shower, so I cannot say much about it, but I can tell you to here click the link above to see the pictures, and maybe it will bring back memories, or it will tell the story for itself

Thanks to everyone that came.  It means a lot to us and your gracious gifts are SO appreciated.  We cannot thank you enough. 

After the shower and cleaning up, Denae and her mom had to go back to the airport.  Yep you guessed it – she flew in and out in the same day and Denae was here for one full day.  That was so nice of them to fly in for this shower.  Once everything settled down, we headed to the Cumming fair for the evening.  We had a good time people watching (a must at the Cumming fair) and just hanging out.  We had some carnie food, walked around, and then headed out.

It was a great day!

We have been spending quite a lot of time around the house prepping for Alisha’s baby shower which was last Saturday.  We were doing everything from setting up furniture in the nursery, to steaming curtains, to just the basic cleaning around the house.  It was a ton of work but it all needed to be done before we had everyone over.  Many of the people coming had not seen our house in over 2 years.  Others had never been here at all!

Alisha’s mom flew in from Pittsburgh PA on Thursday and stayed in the city with Kara until Friday morning.  She then drove up to our house to help get everything ready.  They did everything from cooking to shopping during the day.  Later on, Kara came up from the city (after work) with their cousin Denae, who flew in from Florida.  We did a nice dinner with them and just got as much done as possible.  Denae went back to the city to stay at Kara’s hotel as her mom was flying in from Pittsburgh on Saturday morning along with Grammy B and she felt it was just much easier to be closer to the airport.

Saturday was the big day and there was still a lot to be done – good thing I was getting the hell outta there to go watch the GA game lol

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Alisha’s Belly Pictures at pictures.neilnatic.com or here

29 Weeks

Here is another belly picture!  Feel free to click the here link above to see them all and watch how she has grown.  Tomorrow marks 30 weeks!!  We are getting close everyone!

Yeah I know… i have been slacking on this blog and leaving you guys hanging… new posts coming soon.

We have just been trying to get the nursery and the house ready for the family baby shower this weekend.  To our friends, dont worry…. the friend shower is the beginning of next month.  Invitations are being done now (heck, they may be done already).