Shower and Pumpkins and Pain, oh my!

So this weekend Reed had his first baby shower hosted by some of our closest friends as a couples shower. I was so excited about the upcoming festivities and apparently so was Reed since i had not slept in quite a while thanks to his late-night tummy parties and the ever so lovely Braxton-Hicks contractions that I have been having. I realized at this late point in the pregnancy that i would not feel great, but not feeling great is putting it lightly....and at this point there is nothing light about any of it!!! I have only gained about 15 pounds, but at this point i feel like i am weighing in at a little under 300 pounds. It is all baby belly too and so i sometimes think he might come out weighing 12 or 13 pounds, even though my doctor assures me he will not. I have about 5 weeks left if he waits it all the way out till November 2nd...which i have been trying to talk him out since about a week ago. The part I guess i never thought much about was how painful my stomach would be, but i guess it makes sense with 15 extra pounds all bundled up next to my now ever so creepy outie-belly button. For some odd reason I feel the worst in the mornings till about noon and then again in the evenings around 8:30 or so. In other words, i try to fit in all my daytime activities and chores in the 8 and 1/2 hours when i feel somewhat decent. Im telling you, not a day goes by that i don't try to talk him out already. We are talking full on bribery. After my last bi-weekly dr. appointment (can't believe we are about to start going every week!!) my doctor seemed to think he might be here a tad before the due date...so fingers crossed. The rest of the symptoms include headaches, arm and leg numbness, fatigue, and nausea. So in other words, if i didn't have 8 months of baby living in my belly i would probably be admitted to the hospital for having a stroke...same symptoms it seems!

On to the baby shower!!

We had a wonderful couples baby shower this weekend thanks to our wonderful group of friends. It was definitely a shower meant for Nathan and myself!!! We had wonderful chili and cornbread, a fire going in the fire pit, candle light, great friends and great conversation and to top it all off, a pinata in the shape of two very large testicles to represent our baby boy. Yes, you read that right!! The ever creative Ben Johnson and Luke Nipper fashioned us some very cute and larger than life pinata "itza boy" baby balls.  (pictures coming soon)! I had to litterly put on a blindfold and swing a bat to retrieve the presents inside. I must admit, it was a blast and I am pretty sure this activity was one of a kind!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family joining us in celebrating the upcoming arrival of our 15 pound bundle of joy...just kidding

Don't forget the pumpkins....

To complete a weekend of fun festivities and since i have been itching to do this since the first leaf fell signaling the beginning of my favorite season...FALL, we spent the day pumpkin picking! Everything great is wrapped up so cozily in the next 3 months...including Reed's arrival! He is picking the perfect time to make a birthday for himself!! He will fit in with our little family so well! So this Sunday morning after Nathan had heard for the one billionth time that i need pumpkins to make this pregnancy a little easier, he took me to not one, but two wonderful pumpkin patches. We definitely would have loved a chilly day to stroll the fields, but the dreariness of the day did add some fall-like ambiance to our fun-filled outing. I am such a sucker for all things fall and halloween and pumpkins that we had to do the full pumpkin patch experience...petting zoo and all!!!

                                       (sorry, couldn't get the pic to stay rotated...im still learning!)
The petting zoo was one of my favorite stops of the day and the funny thing was that this horse kept going straight for my belly...Reed might be destined to be a cowboy! Nathan and I love animals and wouldn't mind having a small farm some day with some of these....

After our animal adventure, we got back to the dirty business that is pumpkin pickin!! We found a few biggins out at Johnson's pumpkin farm, but i had not gotten my fill of fall yet so we headed to location number two to gather a more unique set of pumpkin pretties! We ended up somewhere around 10 total, not counting the one im carrying around under my shirt for another month. We kept talking about how surreal it is that next year we will be carting around our own home grown pumpkin, Reed Haskell Howse. I have every intention of teaching him my enthusiastic need to start fall somewhere around September 1st. Who knows...pumpkin just might be his very first word and i might just be ok with that!!!  We are blessed and we can't wait to welcome Reed to the very best season of all!!!

Happy Fall, Yall!!! - Love, the Howses!