What We've Been Up To

It's been busy times around the Frymire household. I thought all the changes would come when James was actually born, but I can see now that I was dead wrong. Slowly, during the pregnancy, things have changed more and more and more...and now we're just like in some kind of twilight zone of bizarreness and change. And mainly busy-ness trying to get ready for his arrival. Between trying to get things ready at work and trying to get things ready at home - it is very stressful. BUT, this weekend we got everything ready at home! Since today was Memorial Day and I was off...we finished just about every single thing up that we had to do. Now, we can just wait for James' arrival! Here's what we've been doing the past couple of weeks!

Daddy and Momma came last weekend (the 22nd and 23rd) to visit. It happened to be when the glider Granny and Richard gave us came and the travel system our other Winter Haven family went in together to buy. Here's Dad helping Landon with the glider:
Now, here's Landon putting together the travel system...I think I look like kind of Chinese-ish on the chair over there, but whatever, it's okay. I know I have small eyes and cliff eyebrows :) I LOVE the travel system!!!!! I am so glad we registered for this travel system. Actually, today we installed the car seat in the car and will take it to the police station so they can check it for us. I love it!

Here we are after Landon put together the travel system and glider....

Alright! So, as of tonight, James' room is ready! Our bag is packed, and the carseat is installed (hopefully correctly...). Here are the pictures of James' room. Right when you walk in the door...

Between the closet and bathroom....look at all his books!!!!

I wanted to do an arrangement of pictures on the wall - good grief, did you know they sell arrangements where you just buy the whole arrangement??!! Yeah, easy!! So, the only small picture I lack is one I need of Landon's parents. The two biggest pictures will be of James by himself and then one of the 3 of us. Our new family :)

Here's a view of the changing table/dresser.

Alright....here's my favorite wall...the crib...and the wall sticker - James 1:17 - it is so pretty!

And, a view from further back of the crib and glider.

I am SO HAPPY we got so much accomplished this weekend. Landon is a good husband! James should have 5 more weeks before making his appearance. Officially, this weekend, I am over it. I am over the pregnancy thing. I am ready for him to get out - I mean, I don't think I can take this another 5 weeks. Don't get me wrong, I will take it, and I was James to be healthy, healthy, healthy, so I'll do whatever it takes - it's just official now - no matter what's coming with labor and delivery and bringing him home and getting it figured out here - whatever - I would rather tackle those things than walk around like this any longer! Yikes! I am large and very uncomfortable...but still doing great and very thankful for James hanging in!!!

Shower #3 - RB&Co.

Last Saturday (or not last Sat., but the Sat. before...) I had my RB&Co. shower. This was a great shower because my parents were able to come to town for the weekend (and bring our new lawnmower)...and my mom was able to go with me! It made it extra special! BTW...I'm working on geting more pictures from my church shower, and as soon as I get them, I'll post them (that was Shower #2). Anyway, my work shower was at Bonnie's house, and it was fabulous! These girls really know how to throw classy parties :) Malissa has an embroidery machine and monogrammed a million things for me - look!

Then, here's the dessert table - 3 different cakes that Patty made! Chocolate cake, Strawberry cake, and Carrot cake! And....chocolate covered strawberries. It was delicious...

Here's the real food table. I asked them if I should just come hungry or super hungry. They thought super hungry, and it's a good thing I did. The food was amazing. We had chicken salad croissants, pimento cheese sandwiches, artichoke dip, and much, much more!

Here are the awesome favors Malissa made...

Here's a picture of Momma and me...I realize that I look like a giant in pictures at this point. I don't like it but there's nothing I can do about it. Plus, for some reason, all the people around me that day had on flats - are you kidding me? And, I had on heels! Why did the pregnant girl have on heels and everyone else had on flats?

Always have to show my Gator gifts....this one is from Julie...

Here's a great gift Terri made for me! It's a homemade afghan - awesome, huh?

Here are my sweet friends who helped with the shower. Mandy, Malissa, (me), Bonnie, and Patty.

The day was great! All the showers are over now - another thing I forgot to mention are how my Winter Haven family sent my gifts! They were awesome - they sent the travel system and the glider to our house, but then sent cards and books to my shower - so now I have books from all them for James!!!

Shower #2 - Bethabra - Pictures Part 1

I had my second shower yesterday afternoon at the church. GOOD GRIEF!! There were so many great ladies there, and I got so much for James!! I have a few pictures, but then Jeanette took over with the pictures on her camera for me, so I'll post them later in the week when I get them. It was amazing - I do not cease to be amazed by how they do stuff here at this church. Every event I have ever been to has been FABULOUS and FIRST CLASS. There are some seriously talented ladies here! So...here are a few pictures....

The gift table when I arrived...
The diaper cake Jeanette made for me. Is this great or what? Ya'll, I have gotten two diaper cakes!!! They have both been awesome! Do I have some talented friends, or what???? Jeanette did such an amazing job on this...and I know it took HOURS! I hate to take it apart!

Cupcakes from the food table :)

Okay, so Ms. Karen made the cakes for the shower. That's right, I said cakes with an s. She made a chocolate cake and a vanilla cake just in case (no I am not kidding). They were both DELICIOUS. I didn't realize she could bake like this (probably everyone else knew, but I didn't know yet). Isn't this the sweetest cake ever???? I have the leftovers at home to freeze!!

Hershey kisses say "It's a boy"

Plates and napkins....

And, Landon and me before the shower. He didn't stay during the shower, but he did come in at the beginning and at the end. AND, even though he was really tired when we got home last night, he let me show him all James' gifts :)

These Bethabra ladies beat all I've ever seen! They are amazing!!!!! More pictures to come later in the week!

Mayfield Dairy Tour

We took the Mayfield Dairy Tour on Saturday. It was fun, but not too much fun. Mainly, it was just fun to do something FREE and brainless on a Saturday afternoon. It took about 30 minutes (if that). Here's me before the tour with the Aero-vac. Mayfield is apparently the only dairy company that uses this technology - gets all the onion taste or weird smells out of the milk. But, I've actually heard since I told people that we took this tour that one of the Mayfield cousins (or maybe brothers) went to work at the Publix dairy nearby, and that they use something almost just like this aero-vac, so basically Publix milk should taste just as good as Mayfield milk. Interesting, huh?

After my photo op with the aero-vac, we watched a 10 minute film on how the milk is made. Then, we all put on hairnets and put our cameras up.

We proceeded back to the part of the tour behind the double doors where no pictures are allowed and hairnets are a must. We watched the milk on the assembly line, and we learned that the dairy also packages milk for other places (like Wal-Mart), but they don't use their special aero-vac technology for them :) After the tour, you can buy ice cream and sit outside and eat it. It wasn't that expensive, but we decided not to get any. We did both agree though, that if we had brought a child here, we definitely would have gotten the ice cream and all eaten it together outside. I mean, hello, that would be cruel to take a kid on a special tour of the Mayfield Dairy and then not get ice cream. We didn't care though - just wanted to point out we won't be cruel parents. Here's Landon....

Here's a picture of the front of the building - you can sit outside and eat your ice cream here.

Here's a Mayfield truck rolling in as we were leaving.

And, a better picture of the front.

I'm glad we took the tour because I love tours...and now I want to see if we can tour the Publix place in Dacula where they process all their freezer stuff. I will be checking that out this week in my spare time between commuting, working a full time job, thinking about packing my hospital bag, writing thank you notes, checking out a pediatrician....more stuff but I can't think right now...

Show Us Your Life: Favorite Children's Books

I have not participated in a Show Us Your Life Friday on Kelly's Korner in a LONG TIME. I mean a seriously long time. It just has seemed like I've been so busy (because I have), and the topics were not anything that I was dying to sacrifice time and post something. BUT TODAY, I must put in my two cents. I love to read. I have always loved to read. I can remember when I was little, Momma taking me to the public library once a week, I guess, and picking out book after book after book to read. The town we lived in has the oldest library in Florida, so you can only imagine how it smelled in there - like old, old books - it was great. They even had this really old record player thing - is it called a phonograph? - that they would sometimes play for us when we came in. ANYWAY, the point is that I have always loved books. Now that I am pregnant, I am beyond excited about reading to James when he arrives. I really wanted to have a book shower, but I knew that since this is our first baby, we just need so much! I couldn't sacrifice the real needs for a book....so for one of my showers, my friends put this on the invitation:

One small request that won't be too hard

Please bring a book instead of a card.

Whether Cat in the Hat or Winnie the Pooh

You can sign the inside cover with a note from you.

Isn't this great??!! So my friends were so smart to know I couldn't afford to give up the stuff we really need for James, but instead of bringing a card, the guests can bring a book!!! Alright, alright, let me get to the children's books I love....

This first one was not around when I was born (as far as I know). But, it's one I've read before, and one I can't wait to read to James.

Just listen to some of the words....and look at sweet James' picture:

"On the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, "Life will never be the same." Because there had never been anyone like you...ever in the world."
"Not once had there been such eyes, such silly, wiggly, wonderful toes."
"Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn on the wonderful, marvelous night you were born."

Okay, well, let me stop crying so I can move on to the next book. I haven't even really seen James yet...but in 8 weeks, hopefully, we'll get to see our sweet baby.

Well, if you know me, you should know I can't get through this without putting something for the Gators in. We've already beeing playing our Gator songs for James, and I know he's soaking them up. Again, this book wasn't around when I was a kid, but it will be for James. This will be a very important book in our family.
Now, on to some of my childhood favorites. I think my very favorite I can think of is Miss Twiggly's Tree. It's about a lady who lives in a tree, and a hurricane comes. Although she doesn't like bears and some other animals, she lets them come and stay in her tree while the storm rages. My favorite line is "I believe we are in for a wild hurricane." When Katrina hit, I kept thinking about this book and wanting to say it over and over again. I love this book so much that a couple of times I've made Landon listen and watch while I read it just so I could read it to someone.

Miss Nelson books are some of my very favorites. Miss Nelson is a really sweet teacher, but sometimes she has to come in really mean with a different look.

Madeline books were also some I distinctly remember. it's something like "in the house on the corner, and they all walked in straight lines..." uh, obviously that's not exactly right, but it's something like that. And, the little girl had red hair, so duh, I thought she was great.

Okay, this book just is interesting to me. I really loved this book when I was little - I don't even know if we still have it now at my parent's house. I can't remember all about what's inside, but the little girl wears a muff and goes shopping. I think this book is really cool, and the other day I was looking to see if I could buy my own copy (like I did with Miss Twiggly). Guess what? This book is considered an antique and was over $50!!

Ah, and I did love some Amelia Bedelia. No explanation necessary for her.

Berenstain Bears top the charts for me, as well. I had a bunch of their books - my favorite was probably the one about the spooky old tree, but I remember this one too.

OKAY!! I know, I know, that's enough! There are a ton more I could put down, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some book that I loved more than any of these!! I remember my sister's two favorite books were "The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash" and "For Every Child a Better World". HA.

Happy Friday! Landon's taking me for the Mayfield Dairy Tour tomorrow. I am super excited because I love tours (like an old person) and I love ice cream. We have no company this weekend! YAY!! I have my Bethabra baby shower on Sunday afternoon, and I am so excited about it. I am so, so glad today is Friday. I am ready for a commute free weekend!

Baby Shower #1

I seem to want to start out every single blog with...."Can you believe I'm really having a baby?"...but I can see that would get old. I had my first baby shower this Saturday. Showers can be touchy situations - who to invite, who not to invite. Do you send people at home courtesy invitations even though you know they can't come? This was my Woodstock shower, so since I'd been gone for 4 months from Woodstock, I was nervous about that, too - who to send invitations to - would someone think I was inviting them just to get a gift? I worry about these things. I ended up inviting everyone I wanted to - people who have been special to me in the 4 years we've been at Woodstock. Then, I just tried to let it go. So...the shower was at Michelle Foster's house, and several of my sweet special friends helped with it. Kelli made this AWESOME diaper cake - and look how stuff from our registry is stuck on the cake - is that sweet or what????!! Then, Michelle made the James cakes - each cake has a different letter. I knew because of the girls who helped with the shower that it would be fabulous - no matter what they did. Can you believe how cute this is???
Alright, I have many pictures, but one of my favorites is taking this picture with Brooke. She made these things for me! She is crazy talented and has an etsy store :) You know, we decided on James Landon, and I was excited because I thought his monogram would look good, but this is the first time I actually saw it - I LOVE IT! I've got to start thinking about a diaper bag....what kind I want, what I want monogramed on it, etc. Anyway, homemade gifts are always special to me (although so are the gifts I registered for since those are things I REALLY NEED!). I was so excited to see lots of people I hadn't seen in months - Brooks was one of those people!

These are some of my very favorite ladies. Candy, Linda, and Nancy - some of my orchestra friends. I think of anyone I saw, I felt the most emotional seeing them because I think I miss playing for the orchestra more than anything else. It was so great to see these ladies - I am so, so thankful they came by!

This is the gift my mom sent for me UPS since she couldn't be at the shower. Gator bib and Gator overalls - we've already been playing all the Gator songs for James - Landon suggested we play one of them while he comes out of the "tunnel" - ha. Is that too gross to say? I thought it was funny - and I'm so glad Landon and I are equally yoked in that way. I tried to tell him though that I needed to sit this season out and not go to any real games and he was like, "Excuse me, are you a real gator or what? I thought you were a true fan." So...we'll see...apparently I'm going to be fitting a real live gator game into learning about motherhood this fall :) BTW, this is Michelle's sweet girl, Kate - she helped me with my presents and was a great helper, in general, at the shower!

I was so excited that since I didn't have any other family at the shower, Amy and Christy were able to come! Amy had to drive over two hours to get there, and I know it took Christy a while too. I was so happy to see both of them! Amy wrote down my gifts for me - I love my cousins!

Just a picture of some of us chatting...

This is me and Lara Hughes. Lara and David become great friends to us pretty quickly after we moved to Woodstock. We haven't been nearly as close in the last year or so, but they helped us through some tough stuff and helped us see what being in a care group is all about - and, she's a neurotic momma like I will be (I mean this is a VERY COMPLIMENTARY WAY)....so she's the one who bought our digital monitor for us - haha, that makes me super happy.

Okay, these ladies are some of my very best friends from Woodstock. They've been through thick and thin with me - we've heard lots of "Junk" about each other's lives and been through a lot together. These are seriously some of the greatest and strongest ladies I know - I have learned so much from them.

Okay, I know I'm acting like I have lots of friends - I really don't think I have that many friends, but the ones I have are just really special to me. These ladies below are also REALLY SPECIAL to me. They were in our Intimate Encounters care group the first time we really taught it with James. Michelle is on the end, then Kelli, then me, then Kristy. These ladies did a ton for the shower, and it was great. Kelli and Eric are our best friends from Woodstock - they are crazy talented and are looking now to go to a church. I serious business love these girls (okay, I won't say again how special people are or how much I love them - is it getting annoying??).

The shower was a great success. We had a really good weekend in general. Landon's parents had been in Helen, GA all week on vacation, so they stopped by and spent the night with us Friday night. Saturday morning Landon and his dad started hanging up the never ending saga project of the curtains in the living room. Landon's mom helped me put the big sticker on James' wall. Ya'll, I want to wait to show you the nursery - as the finished product - but I'm just telling you the sticker makes me want to cry. I LOVE IT. And I am so glad I ordered it. It has the James verse on it - right above his crib. It was a little complicated to figure out, but with L's mom and Landon on the hard parts of it...we got it taken care of! So, I have the sticker on the wall...but still quite a bit to do in there. And now, I have some gifts from my shower to figure out where to put stuff. Exciting. Yesterday was a great day. We had a special Mother's Day breakfast at our church for mothers and ladies - and I got to come! It was wonderful (not a surprise to me since everything I've been to there has been amazing). Bonnie came to church with us yesterday, went to lunch, and went home to check out our house. She gave me the cutest gator pacifier and clip! Last night Landon finished hanging the curtains. He set up the ironing board for me really low so I could sit on the couch and iron the curtains - it took a while - I had to iron four 108" panels - yikes. They look great though now that they are up - no crazy crisis, Landon did awesome and didn't even seem frustrated with anything, and now we have more privacy and more loveliness :) I know he was exhausted and didn't want to get that done, but I am so happy he did! That was a great gift to me yesterday!

Tonight we are taking the couples nursing class at the hospital - it's 3 hours, ya'll. I hope we learn something - and I hope we get out early (that's really awful to say since we are the ones who chose to take the class and paid for it). It's from 6:30-9:30pm - late.

This week is pretty ordinary, but just busy like usual. I have my Bethabra shower this weekend -on Sunday afternoon. I am so excited about celebrating with our new church family!! They have been so good to us....and so loving...I feel bad for them to love on us more, but I am so thankful!

I have many things on a to do list - check on Guidestone insurance (which we'll switch to after James is born so that we can pay our of our rear ends for it...), think about what I want to pack in my bag (I know it's a little early to pack my bag, but I'm a planner, and I want to be ready), I want to pick out some birth announcements, I have numerous thank you notes to write, check on a pediatrician - because it's time to do that, for sure, continue hanging stuff up in the house, and keep working on James' room... That's stuff in my spare time :)