Showers, sewing, reading, and waiting . . . it's still January here

   I've been showered! This picture was taken at my first baby shower last week, thrown by my wonderful church family. I am grateful to be in a circle that is so encouraging to me about this adventure I am currently embarking on. I am especially blessed by my sweet nieces (only 3 shown here, there were 3 more of them helping me open/organize) who shared in my excitement about everything soft and pink. My second baby shower was last night, thrown by dear friends who had wanted to throw a surprise shower but realized it was becoming too difficult with the baby mischievously crunching everyone's time tables. The theme was "1 Kid and Counting" (after my obsession with 19 Kids and Counting of course!!) and it was absolutely adorable and quaint. I feel blessed to have family and friends support me, especially during these challenging last weeks.
     Although my energy level is running severely low, I have been accomplishing a few things. I am  working on her baby quilt, which is quite the color wheel! Unfortunately, it's going slowly due to multiple sewing machine problems (even with two different machines). I always pictured myself as someone who would be very much into the soft flowers and butterflies for baby girl decor. However, I have completely taken my love for the antique/vintage look and churned it into my newfound love for colorful patterns and textures. Eva's chief theme for her nursery (which is about 1/4 of our bedroom right now) is birds. I found some birdhouses at Hobby Lobby that we secured to the walls, surrounding an amazingly colorful piece of artwork of a bird that I had found as a Marshalls deal some months back. Other than that, her patterns don't match very well--which is what I wanted. If nothing matches perfectly, I have a very eclectic canvas to fill! This picture is an early example of what I'm working on--I still need to do more work on the walls, and I've added some sweet vintage and colorful storage baskets to the area for organization.

     Yes, I am still working on my gargantuan reading list. I'm trying to read through the "Atonement" at present, and although the writing is truly brilliant I can't keep myself focused long enough to get through 5 pages at a time! Oh, how I DO love reading though. It has been fun to collect books for little Eva. I hope she loves for John and I to read to her, since both of us are avid readers. One of my most fond memories from my nannying days are just sitting and reading books to the precious little girl. I started reading to her at just 5 months old, and she loved it even then. Tonight we spent a long time at Barnes and Noble in the children's book section.
     I confess. I have NOT been a happy, sweet pregnant lady lately. I have been in a very sourly depressed mood. The baby is SO ready to come--the doctors will attest--so ready that she's causing me alot of pressure, soreness, and overall pain. She literally has been ready to come for over a week now--but she hasn't. There have been days when I have sworn I couldn't go a day longer. I am not at all belittling the blessing of this life--I just want her out so I can enjoy the blessing :-) I really started thinking today though--I need to just continually depend on God's grace to get me through each day in the exact moment of life I am currently in. I don't want to hurry Eva. Once she is here, I know that her time will pass so quickly that we will wish time would freeze. It's hard to believe this little kicking baby inside of me will soon be out to snuggle with and keep me up all night. God has Eva's birthday in His all-knowing mind, and I know His decision will be better than mine. Who knows--maybe the next time I decide to write on here, Eva will be by my side begging for all my attention! Until then, I'm waiting--and ready. :)