The Craigs: June 2012

38 Weeks

I'm really hoping this is my last picture in front of this board!!! I have started to go to the doctor every week now and we have some more info. Paisley is at Level 0 which is on the pelvic floor (just imagine how I waddle now that she's sitting on my you know what). She's head down, backed her bags & ready to go. I went to the Dr last week and I was 50% effaced but NOT dilated. I went again this Tuesday and now I'm 70% effaced but still not dilated. I was bummed when I heard that. So looks like she'll be in there for another week. I'm really hoping to have a 4th of July baby! Mainly so I can get out of the BrewAQue party we're having but also because I want to get the show on the road.

From Baby Bump

How far along? 38 weeks (9.5 months)

Total weight gain? 26 lbs. Not bad when they say the average is 30-35 lbs.

Maternity Clothes? I think I have 5 dresses that still fit. It's getting to be slim pickings.

Sleep? It's been ok. Still getting sick at night and having to sleep sitting straight up a few times this week but overall still sleeping.

Best moment of the week? This was actually the BEST and WORST moment of the week. I applied for a job in Athens, GA with my agency a few weeks ago and they called to let me know they were interested in me. I literally had 24 hours to decide what do to. They wanted us to move ASAP which meant that I would have to cut my maternity leave short and we would have to put our house on the market ASAP which would have been hard with a newborn. I literally cried for 24 hours straight because I knew the decision would impact the rest of our lives. My gut was telling me to go to GA because they are closing our office in Raleigh at the end of 2013 and I need to make a move but my heart was telling me that the timing wasn't right. Todd & I had a prayer conference with our families on Monday night and then prayed about it all day on Tuesday. We both came to the conclusion that this seemed rushed and the timing was off. I told Todd that I couldn't make a rash decision at 9.5 months pregnant and that he needed to do it. He didn't agree but gave me reasons why he thought it was a wrong move. I listened to him talk for an hour about scriptures God showed him on Tuesday and about how we needed to put Paisley first instead of our careers first. I literally cried while we talked just thanking God for such a wise husband who SEEKS FIRST HIS KINGDOM. I can't tell you the peace I felt after we decided to turn the GA job down and stay in Raleigh. I've moved twice with this agency and each time, I've moved alone. This time is SO much different. This time I have a husband to help me make decisions and now I have a baby to think about. Even though that was a pretty stressful 24 hours, I can't tell you how grateful I am for this decision we made and for this little family unit I now have. Seeing Todd be the head of our household and make decisions for his family makes me love him so much more & confirms once again that I married the right person. I can only imagine how much more I will fall in love with Todd in the next few weeks when I see this little miracle that he will be giving me!

Missing Anything? Same stuff.

Movement? I had a doctor tell me that she would run out of room to move starting at 36 weeks and she's proving that Dr wrong. I've had lots of Braxton Hicks contractions which she does NOT like and kicks me when they happen. She's still as active as always. She's had two days of EXTREME movements that really hurt & she's starting to really wear me out.

Food Craving? I'm back on the milk again.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Braxton Hicks & lying down. I had a iced coffee from McDonalds Thursday morning and within an hour, I threw up the entire thing. I had been craving Bonefish for over a month so last night my sweet husband took me. At midnight, I up chucked my Bang Bang shrimp, salad, Salmon & Creme Brulee. It was disgusting. Not sure why I'm getting so sick but I've had enough.

Gender? Strong baby Girl

Labor Signs? Same ol Braxton Hicks as before.

Symptoms? Nothing new

Wedding rings on or off? Still off.

Happy or Moody? Emotional roller coaster this week but really looking forward to the 4.5 months that I'll have with Paisley once she gets here. I can't tell you how excited I am to not be working for that long.

Looking forward to? Going into labor. Daddy Rodney got home late last night so Miss P can come anytime now. I'm SO ready to meet this little thing I've had growing inside of me for the last 9 months.

Just to give you a little perspective, here's what I looked like at week 12 versus what I look like today. I really have been growing a baby in there haven't I???

From Baby Bump

Love,
Candice

Thank You Mike & Laura Lee

I go to the most amazing church- Hope Community- and my pastor always talks about how he gets nasty emails from people. I can't imagine EVER emailing anything rude to Mike Lee. On the flip side, I haven't done my fair part of thanking him either. Every weekend I walk out of service & tell myself "this is the Sunday to email Mike & tell him thank you". Do you think I do it? No. But I'm going to try to make up for some of that with this blog.

This post is dedicated to my pastor and his wife- Mike & Laura Lee. Blogging with pictures is the only way I know how to communicate all that he & the church have done for me. For most of you, you know my story and have heard all of this. But this isn't for you. It's for Mike & Laura. It's a very long overdue THANK YOU!

So here goes. It's a little long so I apologize but I wanted to show a true picture of what my life at Hope has been about.

Mike,
I have been a member of Hope for 5 years and I absolutely love it! I have never loved a church more, have never been involved & invested more. Nor has another church changed my life more. To appreciate all that Hope has done for me, I feel that I have to tell you where I started so you'll appreciate where I'm at today.

I grew up in a Christian home but I didn't "get it" until I was 21 years old. I quickly become a Sold Out Jesus Freak. Unfortunately that didn't last long. I graduated from Texas A&M in the winter of 2002 and accepted a job with the USDA in upstate NY. For the first time in my life, nobody knew me and I could do whatever I wanted. SO I dropped Jesus off at the Pennsylvania border and lived 3 years the way I wanted. I had a blast in NY but deep down knew that there was something missing. Once my time in NY was over and it was time to move again with my agency, I knew that I wanted to get back in church once I got back down to the South. So I picked Jesus back up at the Pennsylvania border where I left him at and we moved to NC.

I wish that I could say that I joined Hope right away & got my life where it needed to be but that didn't happen. I visited Hope but was scared to dive in because I didn't want the accountability in my life. So I became a bench warmer in the back row for about a year. I continued to live life the way I wanted and was completely miserable. I knew exactly what I needed to do but it took awhile to get to the point where I was willing to actually jump in. You had talked about the importance of small groups so I reluctantly sought out a small group.

God placed me in the most amazing group of real life women. Some were younger than me, some older. It was a great mix of all stages of life and it was there that I started to get back in the Word and started to grow.

From Thank You

We had so much fun together.

From Thank You

We went on retreats each year to get away and reflect on all that God had done over the last year in our lives.

From Thank You

After a year in the group, we "branched" and I become a co-leader of the 2nd group.

From Thank You

Leading a group is SO much different than just being in a group. It held so much more responsibility & so much more accountability which was exactly what I needed.

From Thank You

I have been in the same group for the last 5 years. We have seen each other through every stage of life- break ups, make ups, weddings, birthdays, good time, bad times and now even BABIES!

From Thank You

I know that I wouldn't be the person I am today without this group!

Another thing that I did 5 years ago was SERVE. I listened to you talk about how we all needed to be involved and children seemed like the natural fit for me. So I became a gold group leader in the K room. Hated it! Yep, you read that right. I was only serving because I knew that I needed to and I just wasn't making the connection with the kids. So after a year of that I decided to become a full time teacher. And this proved to be one of the greatest things I've ever done! I have had the same group of girls for the last 4 years. Each year I move up with them. We started off in 1st grade together and now they have finished 4th grade. I have had so much fun with them and I've really used my creativity to throw a million parties.

Father/Daughter dances

From Thank You

Pumpkin Pickin

From Thank You

Christmas Parties

From Thank You

Princess Slumber Parties

From Thank You

Rockstar Slumber Parties

From Thank You

And our most recent Summer Time Fun slumber party

From Slumber Party 2012

Each year I take them to Spring Arbor Nursing Home in Apex and they literally become the hands of feet of Christ.

From Thank You

Some girls got a little carried away with the hands & feet concept and almost pushed this poor woman into a early grave. Oops!

From Thank You

I've even learned a few things about myself along the way- like I'm NOT cut out for Camp Kid Jam (this is a picture before the trip started. I promise you don't want to see the after one). I can serve every weekend in Kid City but 4 continuous days of screaming kids is not my idea of fun!

From Thank You

And eventually God would use these 4 years to prepare me to have a little girl of my own one day (but I skip ahead)

Serving also allowed me to develop friendships with the people I served with each week

From Thank You

Some of my closest friends are Hope staffers and these relationships have made Hope feel like a small church.

From Thank You

So about 2 years into my Hope membership and I'm moving & grooving. Everything is great but there's still something that I'm struggling with: I'm SINGLE. I'm lonely and convinced that God does NOT have a mate for me. I date all the wrong guys & come up completely heart broken and discouraged. So I convince myself that I'm either going to convert and become a Catholic nun or I'm going to be a missionary. My good friend Smiley Steve convinces me to try out the mission field and go to Belize in August of 2009. I figure I can do anything for a week & know that this will probably be a good experience for me. Had NO clue that this trip would literally change the course of my life.

From Thank You

So I'm hanging out in Belize, minding my own business and falling in love with these 2 girls- Shameka & Chelsie.

From Thank You

This mission trip is tough. I'm hot. I'm exhausted. And God is slowly showing me that I'm not cut out for the mission field so now I'm sad. Then something happens on the last day of the trip. I sit next to this guy named Todd Craig. I had seen him all week long working on houses, digging trenches with tarantula spiders and playing with kids. But I had never really "noticed" him until that last day on the bus. I could literally feel God lift a veil from over my eyes and I saw somebody special. I saw a Godly man that I had been praying for for almost 30 years. He wasn't what I expected nor did he look like anything else I had dated- he was better! And 6 months later we were married.

From Thank You

My husband has been the BEST thing that has ever happened to me. He is the funniest person I know. He loves me like Christ loves the church and he's my best friend.

Princess slumber parties? No problem for this guy.

From Thank You

Rockstar slumber parties? I think he liked this better than the 1st slumber party we had at our house the first year we were married.

From Thank You

He is true helper & mate and I couldn't be more grateful that God used Hope Community church to send him my way.

Todd & I have also made the most incredible group of friends at Hope and we're doing life together.

From Thank You

This year God will be using all those years in Kid City to prepare me to become a MOM! Todd & I are literally 3 (but hopefully only 2) weeks away from becoming parents!

From Christmas Card

From Maternity Pictures

It's amazing to me how my life has changed since joining Hope Community Church. I was the prodigal son at 26 years old. Now I am back with the Father. I had no church family now I have the most incredible group of strong Christian friends. I definitely didn't have hope of a boyfriend let alone a husband. Now I have a Godly helper and mate. I had no clue how important serving is to your spiritual growth. Now my heart beats for 10 girls that I serve on a weekly basis and God has used that to prepare my heart to become a mom.

Todd & I have to make a big life decision soon. I work for the USDA and they will be closing my office in Raleigh at the end of 2013. In order to keep my job, we will have to move out of state. I recently put my name in for a job in Athens, GA and we are waiting to hear back. My biggest fear about moving is that we will NEVER find a church like Hope. I know we'll adjust, make new friends and even be closer to Todd's family. But my biggest reservation is leaving this church that changed my life. We'll see what God has in store for us but if we do leave Raleigh, leaving Hope will be on the toughest things I'll ever do in my lifetime.

I can't thank you or Laura enough for your sacrifice and dedication to this church. To say it has changed my life is an understatement. God has used this church to make me the person I am today. And I am only one of thousands who feel this way about this building of people we call Hope Community Church. I "hope" you see how this church has made an impact on my life and I apologize for not telling you THANK YOU sooner!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you both from the bottom of my heart!
Candice

36 Weeks

We're in the final stretches people! I've heard that the last month is the toughest and I would have to agree. It's all about attitude and I have to admit that mine sucks. I just want this baby here and out of my tummy. I don't know if she'll hang out for another 4 weeks and I'm praying/hoping she doesn't. Everything is ready to go so she could come tomorrow and I'd be happy. Guess we'll see what happens.

Since it's Father's Day today, I let Todd join in on the baby bump pictures.

From Baby Bump

How far along? 36 weeks (9 months)

Total weight gain? 24 lbs. Gained 2 lbs in the last 2 weeks which is pretty normal. She basically just needs to fatten up at this stage.

Maternity Clothes? I'm so big that I seriously don't want to wear anything but my PJ's. I went shopping last week and I was just too big to buy anything which is totally unlike me. I can't wait for normal clothes again.

Sleep? This has been rough. I had a few sleepness nights due to bad heartburn, my daughter's gymnastics practice at 2:30am, charlie horses and being sick. But there isn't anything Tylenol PM can't fix. Overall I feel tired even when I do get some sleep so I just feel like God is preparing me for this next chapter. Once thing that is consistent is my middle of the night potty breaks which are at 12:30am, 3:30am & 5:30am. I have a feeling that will be Paisley's feeding schedule and my body is preparing itself to wake up at those times now.

Best moment of the week? Finally getting nursery pictures taken & shown to the world. I had 112 people look at that blog post! That's the most views I've ever gotten on this blog. Guess people are really interested in Miss P's nursery.

Missing Anything? Not feeling top heavy. I seem to be all belly and it just feels like I'm going to fall over at any point.

Movement? She's got 2 new moves lately. When I was in High School, I was a Nederland Westernaire- that's the dance team (think Radio City Rockettes). We would preform at halftime for football games and we were a high kick line team. There was this one kick we called "the fan". That where you swing your leg around 360 degrees instead of kicking straight to your face. Recently, Paisley has started doing fan kicks. Apparently all the milk I've been drinking has gotten her bones nice & strong because those fan kicks are painful and seems like she does them in slow motion. Her 2nd move? She will move from her beloved right side and lay horizontal across the top of my belly. She even sits right at the surface of my skin so you can see her. I swear she's trying to crawl herself out of my womb.

Food Craving? Nothing but Todd has been craving Honey Nut Cheerios like crazy. He doesn't want me to cook- just wants Honey Nut Cheerios. He's a nut!

Anything making you queasy or sick? Braxton Hicks & lying down. I have thrown up 2 nights in a row. I guess all that squeezing on my stomach makes me sick. I go to the Dr on Tuesday & I'm going to talk to him about this & see if that's normal.

Gender? Nederland Westernaire Fan Kicker

Labor Signs? Braxton Hicks are pretty common these days. I'm gonna be graphic here but all that squeezing upsets my stomach and they have been keeping me VERY regular if you know what I mean which can be a little embarrassing at work!!!

Symptoms? Same old stuff.

Wedding rings on or off? Still off.

Happy or Moody? Moody, tired & sick. I had a sinus infection for almost 2 weeks and it completely wiped me out. I've been tired & cranky ever since. Now I'm not sleeping at night & things are coming out both ends. Not the most pleasant these days.

Looking forward to? Going into labor. NEVER in a million years did I think I would say that but I'm really ready. We're all set on our end. We reorganized the garage & the kitchen this weekend. I even packed my bag so we're ready! I'm not sure if it's wrong or selfish to pray that she's early but that's what I've been doing. I can do another 2 weeks but not sure if I could make it another 4 or 5 weeks. That sounds like torture. Guess we'll see!

Til next time,
Candice

Nursery Tour

Lots of people have asked for nursery pictures so here they are. I've been waiting to get the nursery completely finished & everything perfect before I show the world. So after MONTHS of planning & crafts, we are finally ready to show you Paisley's nursery. There have been so many generous people who have contributed to the nursery and there are SO many details that I just have to share everything with you. This may be a little long but it's more for me to remember and not forget.

Here goes.

The door of her room has a wreath that my Aunt Tammy made. I saw this on Pinterest (of course- that's where I get all of my ideas) and just had to have one. I was going to do it myself until my Aunt Tammy volunteered to do it and man, am I glad she did. My mom said it took them DAYS to cut out all the fabric & ribbon that went on that wreath. I absolutely love it!

The Craigs

38 Weeks

Thank You Mike & Laura Lee

36 Weeks

Nursery Tour

Blog Archive

My Blog List

About Me

Followers

About This Blog