Showering Canon John

Here are the pictures of the showers I promised I would post. These first pictures are from the shower at my home town church.

Logan Street Baptist Church Shower

The lovely hostesses

My sister, mom, and my niece

Little Miss Emma Grace

Friends/Family Shower

My 2 dearest friends from back home and that were in my wedding threw me a baby shower with the help of their family. It was just perfect and I had such a great time catching up with all of my old/dearest friends.

Katie and Brook

My sister, Sarah

Diaper Cake that Katie created!!

My mom

The whole gang, minus a few ppl that were taking pictures. Thanks girls for such an amazing shower and for spoiling me!

Love,

Rachel

Update of the Rainer's

36 Weeks

Today I am officially 36 weeks, only 4 weeks away. I am very excited to meet baby Canon, but also have some anxieties about giving birth and how to

care for him once we come home. This past week I have been much more emotional about having a baby. I guess the pregnancy is coming to an end and it is all becoming so real. I am feeling pretty good. I am starting to move slower these days, but still have pretty good energy. My body feels really weird some days, but I asked the d

octor about all my weird feelings today and she said everything was "normal". I did have an appointment today and we saw one of our favorite doctors today , Dr. Mohr. She is quirky, but gets excited for us when we all listen to the heartbeat. She is the doctor that lets us listen to Canon's sweet heartbeat the longest and gives us lo

ts of good information that is helpful. She gave Canon and I a good report. Dr. Mohr predicts that Canon will be around 7 1/2 pounds if I go full term. She wasn't sure if he was head down, so she did a quick ultrasound to make sure, and sure enough he was. So, we just wait and we are on Canon's timing.

Maternity

Pictures

We had the privilege of having one of our good friends April Chancler (www.aprilevephotography.com) take our pictures this past Sunday. Brandon and April go to our church and Brandon is also in seminary. Their daughter Eden was in our Sunday School class, so we got to know them through having their daughter in class. They also have a sweet baby boy, Salem.

We had such a great time taking pictures and

can't wait to see how they all turned out. We do have one picture to share. Thanks April for taking our pictures!

Zoo Trip

Jess and I took a trip to the zoo 2 Sundays ago. I had been wanting to go to the zoo all summer, but we never really had a chance until a few Sundays ago. We had a great time just spending time together doing something we hadn't done since we have lived in North Carolina. I thought I would have a really hard time walking and staying in the heat, but I think I did pretty well. The elephant exhibit was cool and we got see him bath himself for quite a while and the sea lion show is always a highlight for me.

Other highlights...

Since I have stopped working I have had more time to do things around the house, help Jess out in ways I couldn't when I was working, work on Canon's room, plan a baby shower, and have lunch with Godly women here from seminary.

I am really enjoying my time at home and feel productive most days. I really love serving and helping Jess make his life a little easier since he is so busy with school and full time work. I enjoy being able to give Jess attention when he gets home from work since I have had time to get all my work done throughout the day.

Thom and Nellie Jo (Jess's parents) came to visit this past weekend for a short visit. We had a great time visiting with them. Jess was excited he was able to watch a Bama game with his dad. His parents also brought the rest of the shower gifts down for us that I couldn't bring home on the plane. I was a little overwhelmed with having to put it all up, but it is finished. We also put together Canon's stroller and read up on all the directions for his car seat. I will post pictures later.

I also gave one of my closest friends (Laurie) here at seminary a baby shower. It really turned out great, it was a success. I will post these pictures later as well.

This post is getting really long, so I will post more later. Thanks for reading!

Love,

Rachel

Wake Forest Shower

I had such a great time hanging out with all my Wake Forest friends! I am so blessed to have wonderful friends.

Here is my sweet sailboat cake.

Amazing food!

Playing the Diaper Game.

Seeing how big I am with streamer paper. Good job Sarah!

One of the lovely hostesses - Jill! Thanks Jill for all your hard work!

The other lovely hostess - Laurie

Thanks everyone for such a wonderful shower!!

Love,

Rachel

Scroll down, there are a few more posts.... (I will post about my other showers soon!)

Updated Nursery Pictures

This is my little computer nook. Its nice and cozy... Still need to get rid of the filing cabinet.

Nursing area, still need to do a few things to this part of the room.

Crib

It is coming together, still needs a few finishing touches. My in-laws are bringing some items down in a few weeks I couldn't fly back with. If he were to come today, we would be okay though!

Love,

Rachel

34 Weeks

I can not believe I am 34 weeks (only 6 weeks left, or less). I am feeling pretty good. I do feel dragged down at times and my feet are starting to swell, but other than that I have no complaints. We had a doctor's appt on Monday and everything seems to be right on track - baby's heartbeat is good, my blood pressure is good, and I am for sure putting on some weight (the doctor told me not to gain as much weight next week -oops). Canon is moving around like crazy, I don't think he ever sleeps. Jess is pretty much able to feel him whenever he wants, Canon likes to put on a show for people.

I have started a new chapter in my life - I am now a stay at home mom. Jess and I have always felt strongly about me staying at home with our children, but I never thought it would be so hard to leave my job. My job was so stressful, but looking back I really learned so much and really grew up working there. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to work with the adolescents and I really have a heart for mental health. I do enjoy staying at home and nesting, but do miss my co-workers and the kids at work. I do feel very blessed to be able to stay at home and raise Canon and not miss out on him growing up.

Some other things that have been going on...

• Canon's Room is pretty much finished. There are still a few things to do, but all the big things are finished, we are just ready for him to be here now. Pictures to come.
• Jess started a new semester here at seminary. He is taking a Saturday class and a Tuesday late afternoon class.
• I have had a total of 4 baby showers (work, seminary, friends from back home, and a church shower). All the baby showers were wonderful!! People are so generous and so thoughtful! It is amazing how much people like to shower a baby. We are so grateful for everyone helping us out and we are so blessed to have such great friends and family who like to spoil us and Canon. Pictures coming soon.
• I was able to go home to IL for 10 days to see my family!! It was such a sweet time, but I really missed Jess a whole lot! I ate lots of good food from the vegetable garden (I think I ate a little too much corn on the cob, hence my weight gain), hung out with my grandparents, old friends, my niece, sister, brother in law, and my parents. We had a family dinner with my sister, niece, and brother in law pretty much every night. I was able to watch my niece for a day and spend some time with her. Boy does she have lots of energy and has grown so big since I last saw her in April. She is a sweet little girl! My dad and I got to spend time together picking vegetables and watching Project Runway together, haha! My mom was able to pick me up in Paducah on the way in to IL and took me back to Nashville on my way back home. It was nice to talk with her in the car and just spend time together. We were able to spend the night with the Rainer's and have dinner with them the night before my flight. It was such a great trip and I am so thankful for the opportunity to go and spend time with my family before Canon's arrival.
• Now I am home just nesting. I feel like I am more busy staying at home than when I was working. Sometimes it is hard for me to rest because I just want to get everything done in the next couple of weeks in case he comes early.

Hope you enjoyed reading my update. I will post pictures when I get a chance.

Love,

Rachel

Belly Pics

Here are a few updated belly pictures. Hopefully they are in the right order

24 weeks

26.5 weeks

27 weeks

28 weeks

30 weeks

Only 9.5 weeks to go!!

Love,
Rachel.

Work Baby Shower

This past week two of my good friends at work, Donnie and Hollon, threw a baby shower for me at work. It was so well put together and I really appreciate their thoughtfulness and hard work. It meant so much to me to have people there from work that really do care for me and support me. It is a little bittersweet knowing in one week I won't be there any longer and my time is up. I have learned so much and am really thankful for the opportunity I had. I will miss many of the people I worked with and the kids as well. The kids have taught me more than I probably ever taught them and I will forever be grateful for the time I had at Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Hospital.

Here are a few pics from the shower. Everyone was so generous and I can't thank everyone enough.Love,
Rachel