23 Weeks

Last night (9/21) was Rock's Signal Ball and we attended it while Rock's parents came up from Houston to hang out/babysit Abby.  Here are a few pictures I do have from the night which will also serve as my Week 23 pictures:

Front view 23 Weeks

Side view...but keep in mind I just had a huge two meat dinner before taking this picture. 

Abby wasn't leaving my side after I had been gone for three hours at the ball.  

Me and Miss Sassy Pants!  

How I look without pulling fabric back.  

Rock and I enjoyed the company we were in at the ball, but both agree that it was the most unorganized, inappropriate military ball we have ever been to.  They had a live rap/R&B performance during dinner; people were walking straight in to the ball room and eating their salads and desserts before the ball had even started; since there was "club-like" music playing, some people decided to get up and shake their booties in the aisles during dinner; and the color guard didn't place the flags in the proper places so Rock and his 1SG had to go up to the podium to fix them!  It was just disorganized and not appropriate for a formal event...aaaand the ballroom smelled like a mix of vomit and urine.  (They had recently hosted a margarita and salsa testing party there and maybe some people had too much of the margaritas or maybe margaritas and salsa is a poor mix or maybe both.)  Anyway, it was bad but the food was good and we had a good time hanging out with our friends, so it wasn't a complete loss of an evening.  It was also nice to get out alone together for a little while.  

Abby stayed with her Grandma and Grandpa Stevens and had a blast while we were at the ball.  Her grandma brought her some Princess dress up things (gets Abby every time) and even brought an outfit for her to dress up in so she and Abby could play "pretty" together.  Abby LOVED it!  Apparently they played all night and she even had her grandma dancing for an hour straight (Abby's energy has no end).  My MIL said she slept like a dog all night because Abby wore HER out!! 

Princesses!  

Abby acting coy.  

Princess Abby and her noble steed.  

Our little family (I love how proper Abby looks here).  

Can't seem to get everyone to look at same time but it is still a cute photo of us all.  

"Shwinging" at the park with Grandpa.  

How my husband poses for about 99% of photos.  

This week I also received an awesome gift from my friend Jamie.  She sent Shane the full bedding for an adorable doggy nursery set.  I knew when I saw the bedding originally that if I ever had a boy, I wanted him to have that bedding and she sent it to me!!  She's such a sweet and kind person and I am so lucky I got to meet her and that we got to share our pregnancies together in Maryland.  Here is what the bedding looks like (since I don't have Shane's bed set up yet).  

I had an OB appointment on Thursday, and the midwife said everything looked good and that my quad screening blood test came back with normal numbers.  She did say that all my first blood pressure readings they do when I immediately sit down in the room were always a borderline high but when they did the second reading they were always well within normal, but because I did have two higher than normal readings, I had to go see a doctor at my next visit.  She made it clear that because my blood pressure readings were always normal the second time, that she wasn't concerned, but that it was protocol, so I have to go see an OB.  She advised me to tell the nurse to wait for about five minutes before taking my reading and to just tell her that my first readings are always high so it was best to wait to avoid getting a false high reading.  Anyway, the baby's heartbeat was in the 140 bpm range and when Abby saw the midwife rubbing the lotion into my belly after using the fetal doppler, she got jealous because that is what she usually helps me do every night!  Abby was awesome the whole appointment, so we went out afterwards for a late breakfast to celebrate.  

We are just going hang out the rest of the weekend, watch some football, and enjoy the beautiful Fall-like weather outside as much as possible.