view from the top

Yes, those are my toes. I know it looks like I've stepped on a small toddler, but I just had to share what the view is like for me these days! (I'm not sure if this picture makes me want to laugh or cry... luckily my pregnancy hormones allow me to do both of those quite regularly.)

Many of you have been getting my riveting "weekly cornett cervix updates", but I wanted to let you know the latest word from our doctor. My due date is this Tuesday the 5th and my doctor said she didn't want me to go more than a week past that date. So even though it's not our ideal plan, Jamie and I decided to go ahead and schedule a date to be induced at the hospital (if it comes to that). We decided to go with a Friday morning so that any family and friends that wanted to visit us in the hospital that night or on Saturday could do so more easily. So, unless the baby comes sooner, we will finally get to see our little girl next Friday, Feb. 8th!! Most people I talk to say they don't think I will make it til next Friday (I'm dilated a little over a two, 50% effaced and have been having contractions constantly), but I had a little chat with my belly and said that if she didn't like the birthday we picked for her then she better start heading south.

It's just exciting to see the end is in sight and very soon we'll be holding our baby girl! (though lately I've been having nightly dreams that I have the baby and the doctor says... "it's a boy!")

arranged marriage?

Friends of ours, Rhonald and Jenny, had their first baby two weeks ago and their boy, Cole, is the most adorable baby ever! It's been so fun all along to be about a month behind them with my pregnancy and see what to expect. This past week we got to spend some time at their house hanging out and holding their baby (I was hoping it would help calm my anxiousness to have our baby here, but I think it only made it worse!) This may sound strange, but when we left their house I could still smell the wonderful scent of "babyness" on me and I loved it! Spending time with them and holding their baby has been really good for Jamie, too. (I think he is relieved to see that not all babies scream nonstop!) We keep joking that Cole is Audrie's future boyfriend, but we may just have to wait and see if Jim and Emily's little boy is a better match! :) But how will Audrie resist falling for this adorable face....

Nicholas Myers Searcy ("Cole") was born on Friday, January 11, 2008.

Game Night!

Jamie and I have always loved board games and this weekend we definitely got our fair share. I have a great group of young teacher friends from school who I get together with occasionally to vent and gossip about our adventures in teaching, but we decided this weekend to expand our group to include all our husbands for a big friday night of Game Night! It was really a lot of fun! We even learned a fun new word game (I can't remember if it had a name) but it was funny to see me and my huge belly trying to act out words like Jack Rabbit and Hula Hoop...! (I think I was making Jamie nervous!) And then Saturday night, Josh and Carrie (friends from high school) invited us over for dinner and games at their house. They had a new game called The Last Word that was really fun and then the girls versed the guys in Cranium, which is one of our favorite games. Of course, the girls won! I've heard of alot of crazy things that women do to try to induce labor... I'm not sure if playing active board games is on that list, but at least it's passing the time quickly!

Eating for two... or twenty?

Jamie and I decdided to fill our freezer with dinners from Pass Your Plate before the baby arrives. We love Pass Your Plate and have been there a few times in the past year or so. It's this great place where you pick out, on their online menu, all the yummy dinners you want to prepare and then make an appointment to assemble all the ingredients into freezer containers. They have all the food, recipes, untesils, etc ready at each station and after you make a big mess mixing everything you just leave your dirty stuff there and they come behind you and clean it all up! We went with Brandon and Erin and the boys looked pretty cute in their aprons.

Audrie helped me cook, too...

After we made our 20 meals (we weren't sure if it would fit in our freezer!) we all went next door to our favorite pizza place, Gusano's, for dinner! I only have a little time left to "eat for two" so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can...!

SO EXCITED!!!

One of my dearest friends (and my "work wife"... we share an office at school), Melanie, recently found out that she is expecting a baby!!!!!! We are so excited for her and Brian!


I can't believe we're both going to be mommies!!

handy man

Jamie has been meaning to put crown molding in the nursery for awhile but every weekend seems to be so busy he hasn't had the time. But this weekend he actually had a little free time to devote to the task and it looks great!!!



BEFORE:



AFTER:

The nursery is looking cuter and cuter all the time. And I know that our baby will not care one bit how adorable her room is, but it has been so much fun to work on!

Baby Business

My sister, Mary, is a certified doula (sort of like a midwife) and she invited my mom, Kim and I to a screening of a new documentary, "The Business of Being Born", Friday night in Rogers. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be quite granola enough to handle it, but the movie was actually really wonderful!! I will definitely recommend that all my prego friends go see this movie (it comes out on Netflix Feb. 12th).

But (this is sad to admit) the highlight of the evening for me was a few minutes before the movie started I saw Jim and Michelle Duggar walk in the room! (They are a family in Arkansas that have 17 children and they have a TV show on the Discovery channel all about their life.)

I love their show and was really excited to see them in real life! Mary said she had seen their show, too, so we went over to talk to them and got a picture.

It was a fun night. Mary and her little boy, Alex, had a slumber party at our house so I got watch him "test" out all our baby toys, books and stuffed animals. I was kind of hoping he would break some stuff so we could just get that out of the way now, but the worst he could do was chase the poor kitty around the house!

happy meals and singing

I had a hot date with my niece, Emma, last night! I've always been curious about Kindermusik classes and I heard that the new music store in Bentonville, The Ivory Palace, was offering a free class so I signed up. When I registered they told me that I needed to bring a child under the age of 5 with me so I called my sister-in-law, Kim, and asked her if I could borrow her daughter for a night. It really was so much fun! Emma was too cute singing (more bravely than any of the other kids in the room), marching around the room and playing all the instruments- she actually has an awesome sense of rhythm. Every time the song changed to a new tempo or beat pattern, she didn't have to wait for instructions she was always right on the beat and often making up her own rhythms that sounded great. I was pretty impressed. It was a fun night! Emma and I even went out for Happy Meals afterwards. And then we sang "The Wheels on the Bus" the whole drive home.

A Grateful Heart

"Be joyful and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Th 5:18
It's been hard lately to find the words to tell everyone exactly how truly thankful we are for all the wonderful gifts that our baby has received! Jamie and I feel blessed beyond words!

My friends, Melanie and Shannon, suprised us with an adorable play pen this week. So sweet of them!! It has a bassinet attachment that we are going to use in our bedroom to have the baby close by the first week until we get in the routine of night feedings and diapers.



Jaclyn, Gloria and the girls at church threw us a lovely baby shower at church on Saturday and we got many really wonderful gifts for Audrie! The ladies that work in the nursery at church are so excited to be getting a new baby in there soon (there are only 2-3 babies in the newborn to walkers class now).





And Brandon and Erin came over Saturday night for dinner and movie and brought us the stroller and car seat we had registered for!! We just couldn't believe that they did that for us- so awesome! Brandon and Jamie spent some time putting it all together. Naturally Erin and I had to give a little useful input to keep them on track... :)

... but they got it all together and we can't wait to see Audrie coming home in her car seat for the first time.

A million thank you's to everyone who has been so generous and excited for our first little baby!

Arvest Baby Shower

The wonderful people in Jamie's office threw us a beautiful baby shower on Tuesday. Once again, there was cuteness everywhere! (Jamie said it "smelled like pink" in the room.)

Audrie got so many adorable gifts! It was fun opening all the tiny outfits, bibs, toys, books, and too many cute baby things to list.


I always love visiting Jamie's office- everyone there is way too nice and so sweet to me whenever I stop by.

We even got these adorable embroidered burp cloths that I think are way too cute to let our baby spit up on!

Later at home, we went through all the gifts again trying to find a place for everything. I just love this tshirt that Audrie got!

Jamie spent some time putting together the swing that his co-workers on the trade desk got for us.

It's an adorable swing that has all kinds of settings to play music, adjust swing speed, timers, and who knows what else.

The shower was so wonderful and I was touched by the generosity and kindness of everyone Jamie works with. They made me promise to bring the baby by to visit... of course I will!

Two Thumbs Up

I've never considered myself much of a movie critic, but I have to say that the movie "PS- I Love You" (based on the book by Ceceila Ahern) is one of the best chick flicks I've seen in a long time!! I went out this weekend with a group of girls to see this movie and it was really so wonderful! Thankfully Gloria had tissues in her purse, because we had to pass them down the row- lots of tears and laughing and more tears. (rinse and repeat) Jamie would definitely have hated this movie, but he was busy playing tennis with some guys and enjoying the freakishly warm weather this weekend. There are a few more girly movies out that I want to see, so hopefully I can squeeze in a few more ladies nights before a different kind of "girl time" begins! "Ps- I Love You" won't win any academy awards, but if you are in the mood for some serious sappy romantical comedy- you have to go see this movie.

the stork is on the way

Admist all the adorable pink cuteness, I think it's finally starting to hit us that very very soon a birth is going to happen. I've started having early labor pains (Braxton Hicks) and at first it was kind of exciting, but that fun started to fade a bit after we were up for two hours the other night timing some pretty intense contractions and wondering if it was time to head to the hospital. (I had a little talk with my belly and explained all the reasons why she couldn't come early and she must have been convinced.) Jamie and I are finishing up our childbirth classes at the hospital this weekend so we'll be a little more prepared to handle the big moment. We have our list of people ready to call to be by our side (and keep Jamie from passing out). But as much as we are SO ready to meet our little girl, it's all still pretty scary!

My sister, Mary, gave me an adorable sling and told me to practice with our cat. (Kitty wasn't too amused.)

And Jamie and Kitty have been breaking in the glider chair in the nursery, too.

We'll keep you posted as we get closer, but you can help us pray that the baby will not be early!