Wide Awake

There are only so many times mommy can check Facebook and Twitter for entertainment after a certain hour...apparently most of my friends go to bed before midnight these days! Not us Joanna, we are wide awake at 1:12 am! Those two nice long naps this evening must have done you wonders! Mommy's 45 minute nap isn't quite cutting it. However, I will I am sure look back on our odd hours we're keeping these first couple of weeks as one of the things that was special about getting to know each other. Speaking of getting to know you, here are a few things we've learned the past 11 days!
1. You love to snuggle, especially with your whole body curled up on our chests. In fact, we've nicknamed you Joanna, Queen of Snuggles or Snuggle Bear. It's pretty funny commentary to think about what "the queen" would have to say when you get a sad face or we change your diaper and you get MAD!
2. You love your hands, it's pretty cute when they are always by your face!
3. Everyone thinks you are beautiful. Especially us. We also think you are a strong woman already! Literally strong, you hold your head up so much already and sometime push off people who are holding you to try to see! You also let us know how strong and assertive you are when you cry...it is not very often, but when you do, you know what you want!
4. Face Time is the greatest invention! We talk to grandparents most days.. crazy to think about what technology will be around later in your life, but this is awesome for now!

Well, you have decided it's time to sleep...maybe, so time to close. We love
you Joanna Grace, even if it is 1:30am!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Daddy's Little Monkey

Joanna Grace Messamore

In just a short few hours we went from this...

to this...

And now all the fun begins

Thankful

I would consider myself a pretty patient person...except when it comes to really exciting things like holidays, vacations, gift giving and apparently having a baby! I've been known to give Will his Christmas gifts weeks early or start counting down for summer break at least a few months in advance (what teacher doesn't)...but now, as I sit here on baby girl's due date, my patience is being tested like no other time in my life before. So...instead of whining about still being pregnant, hoping to see my girl and wishing our families could just get here already, I thought I would try a new approach and reflect on how thankful I am to be here right now. Throughout the past 9 months I (we) have been incredibly blessed. There is really no other way to look at it.

-The Lord's protection over us with a very healthy and uneventful pregnancy, most doctor's visits were refreshingly short and sweet. We know that doesn't guarantee a smooth birth or mean our baby will be 100% healthy when she arrives although Lord willing those things will be true, but it certainly made a worried first time mom a lot more relaxed.

 -Amazing friends and family who "showered" us with love! First of all, this starts with the fact that we have such strong ties to our hometowns and friends and family there that we grew up with over the years as well as our Kansas City community! From a beautiful tea party in Wichita, to the cutest birdy shower in Kansas City, a sweet pea pink and green party (with incredible food courtesy of Carey) to a fun diaper-themed breakfast at my school...each celebration was unique, baby girl received wonderful gifts and I felt incredibly loved as I know Will did too. I also have to add as an avid lover of parties and themes and all, my friends are so creative and talented in hostessing--it is not always easy to host a shower and they all did such a wonderful job! By the way, we have some crafty people in our lives...this girl has more wonderful handmade gifts and I can't wait to tell her about the amazing women that made each blanket, hat, bib, artwork and more!

 -My husband. Period. Just thankful for him in general. His genuine excitement, kind words, willingness to do the dishes (my main aversion at the beginning of pregnancy that has lasted the whole time...hmmmm), constant reminders to take care of myself and the baby, pursuing me and how I was really feeling even if it often lead to tears, and so much more. All this while completing his dissertation and PhD, starting the challenging 3rd year of medical school and more. I know he is going to be a loving, steadfast and wonderful dad to our girl.

 -Being pregnant. I really didn't think when we started talking about having a baby that we would be anywhere close to this point right now. I had convinced myself that it might be a bit of a challenge to get pregnant due to some weird cycles and all that. In a season of life where many of our friends are pregnant, trying to get pregnant, dealing with pregnancy loss and more, I again just have to be thankful that we are even where we are right now. We are hoping and praying for all these babies and soon to be babies and their parents too. Sometimes it just doesn't seem fair, but we trust a God who is bigger than our plans could ever be. His story will be the perfect one in the end.

 -So many other things...helpful and supportive co-workers, a summer off to prepare and rest up for baby, a new car that makes me feel safe, grace from Jesus and others, a home to bring our baby home to, pumpkin spice candles, hilarious questions from junior high kids, Latte Land, hamburgers (probably my biggest pregnancy craving) and much much more.

 Pray for us as this baby will be coming sometime soon--who knows when!
 Love,
The Messamores

July

July was a much busier month for us! Will is back to work in clinicals--he's already done with Psychiatry and onto Neurology! I have been traveling a lot--twice to STL and a great visit to the lake with Emily and our moms!

First trip to St. Louis was for Mom's retirement party and the 4th of July--their last one on the parade route 

:( It was great to see friends and family and meet new baby friends too!

Baby Campbell!

 LOTS OF BABIES!

 Fun last minute visit from Emma for the occasion!

Then the next visit to STL was for my cousin Lauren's wedding (that's me with her in the above picture)!

 Bride and Groom

 4 Cousins

 MACY!

My man...

Didn't get any pics of our trip to the lake, but it was great! Shopping, reading, pool time, boat rides and the start of the Olympics! 

Onto August...school awaits :(

Love,

The Messamores

Before and After

As I was thinking about this post, I thought it would be perfect to include some before and after belly pictures, but I actually haven't taken any...maybe soon. Oh well! Here are some before and after pics of projects I've been working on for the little girl's room!

The first project of the summer was her dresser and the second was an ottoman! I'll show you the befores and then the after pics of part of her room!

 This was the dresser I had when I was a kid (along with a matching desk and bed which we'll add to her big girl room a few years down the line) and my mom had when she was a kid! It was fun to update it with paint and I think it turned out pretty cute! Obviously I missed a very first shot before I took the handles off and started sanding!

Now for the ottoman...we had this ottoman thanks to mom and dad along with a chair that we used well for a long time till we got new furniture a couple years ago! We kept the ottoman as a catch all and it was so nice to be able to reuse it for the baby's room because the ottomans that go with the glider chairs seem ridiculously expensive!

 I removed the skirt...

Then spray painted the legs white (didn't take a pic of this!)...and the actual recovering was a bit of an experiment, but it worked! Here's the after!

Awesome fabric from Nell Hill's!

Now for some pictures of the dresser and ottoman and her room! I love it so far...really just some details to add, some of which will just have to wait till she's here like her name in letters and some blank spaces on the wall above her dresser for some pictures of our little family!

So, all big things are done before school starts (two weeks from tomorrow...WHAT????), now just lots of details...12 more weeks till she is hopefully here!

Love,
The Messamores

Summer So Far...

Yeah, apparently, I'm not great at this blogging thing, but here goes a little update...

School's Out: I've been done with school for almost a month and sometimes I wonder what I've done the past 4 weeks, but then I realize it's summer and it is ok to not do much! I planned on late May and early June being filled with lots of time around the house and KC as Will finished up his dissertation and worked from home. Basically whenever he was free I wanted to be around to hang out and it has been really nice! July will be filled with more traveling and time away but June has been a pretty low key month.

New Car: When William did have free time we spent a good chunk of it test driving new cars! We drove 7 different small SUV's and finally settled on the Mazda CX-5! We're still waiting for ours to arrive...speaking of that, I should probably call Kenny and see where it is! Hopefully we'll have it next week!

"Babymoon": We talked a lot about going on a small vacation in June when Will was nearing the end of paper writing, but it never really worked to be able to do that, but the opportunity to take a few days and go to Mom and Dad's condo at the Lake of the Ozarks came up so we did and it was mostly free! It was awesome...pool, reading, yummy food, playing Sequence on the porch, beautiful weather, Battlestar Galactica (yeah, we're nerds) and more.

Baby Girl's Room: This has been the other big thing I've worked on this month and slowly but surely her little room is coming together! First, mom came to town and we did lots of fabric shopping to find material for her quilt, curtains, crib skirt and sheets. We went to Urban Arts and Crafts in North KC and hit the jackpot on amazing fabrics.

Her room is basically going to be filled with lots of colors and patterns and I'm so excited to see it all come together over the next 4 (OMG!) months! I also spray painted some fun things I had around the house to put on her walls and painted the dresser my parents brought to KC (that was mine when I was little and my mom's when she was little!). I have a bunch of frames I want to paint still and have been "pinning" lots of little printable ideas to put in them along with pictures too! Mom also got us an amazing chair and I can't wait to get it in a week or so too! All we really need now is a crib and nightstand!

4 Months to Go: This month has been really fun and also
more emotional as our little one grows. Early this month (at about 21 weeks) Will was really able to feel her kicking (I've been feeling flutters and kicks since about week 16 or 17!) and that was pretty amazing for the both of us. Now I'm just enjoy the frequent nudges and jabs and more pronounced stomping on my bladder! Along with all that movement has come a real sense that we're going to have a little buddy in our lives soon and that has made me feel a sense of a bond to her that I didn't really feel early in pregnancy when there weren't many signs of her except for being nauseous and tired and gaining weight! It is a truly and amazing blessing and we're cherishing everything about this healthy pregnancy and praying it continues so our sweet girl can grow and develop into a healthy little newborn! Oh yeah...still not sure on her name! I think it will be a game time decision but we'll see!

Mom and Dad's Big Move: One crazy thing that is going to happen in our lives is that my parents are moving from WG to Bartlesville, Oklahoma! This has been in the works for a while, but now its actually happening! I have a bit of Father of the Bride Part 2 going on in my head (except for my mom being pregnant too thing) and feeling sad that they won't live in my hometown anymore, but knowing we have so many friends and family still in STL that we'll visit regularly makes it a lot easier. Hopefully they can get all settled by the end of summer! It's really a great opportunity for them so we're excited!

What's Next: Will starts his 3rd year clinical rotations on Monday and will be doing Psychiatry for a month--we're looking forward to some interesting stories! It's incredible to think that he's starting his 7th year at KUMed and also hard to believe that this is the final stretch of his program! Two years from now he'll be starting residency somewhere! Wow! I'll be in STL twice in July for the 4th and my cousin's wedding later in the month! Also, more projects, organizing, purging our house and pool time to come as well I'm sure!

That's the story for now!
Love,
The Messamores