Our memorial for Ganny was very touching and the place was filled with people. Even my mom was shocked at all the well wishers and beautiful plants and flowers that filled the room from friends, former nieghbors and distant relatives. 
Even Ganny's housekeeper came with her whole family and a breathtaking flower arrangement. Ganny was one popular lady!
Even Ganny's housekeeper came with her whole family and a breathtaking flower arrangement. Ganny was one popular lady!This is Ganny and Pom's whole family! None of us would be around without them... the 7 great-grand kids are on the couch with Pom. Standing are their 3 daughters, including my mom and their husbands, and the 5 grandkids and spouses.
My best friend Lisa and her husband Clifton surprised us and I was so happy they came to honor Ganny.
After the ceremony, everyone went to the reception at Paesanos in the quarry. It was great to be distracted with so many people and catching up conversations, it helped ease the pain. I'm so thankful that we have Pom and will hold onto him as long as we can!
My family, and I really think it's funny that we're all the same height. Daddy always told me to marry tall, I think I did pretty good.
In other news, with all the baby talk, I have hardly said a word about my favorite little "fuzz rat." Shelby was such a good girl travelling back and forth to San Antonio, twice. She was also good about taking her meds when she got an infected foot. And she hasn't torn up any of the new baby stuff in the nursery, extra YAY Shelby!! I love her so much!! She's laying right by me as I type this and I just wanna snuggle up in her fur and take a pup nap. One thing she does not enjoy is when I use the at-home Doppler to listen to Claire...Shelby thinks that's a weird sound and leaves the bed.
I had a 20 week check up yesterday and everything was great! I was so happy that they put my in the ultra-sound room because it was just supposed to be a heartbeat check and whatnot, which I do at home anyways, so that's BORESVILLE! Lucky for me...she's still a girl!
He took some measurements and plugged it into the old computer and the Due Date said Dec 7th. We've been going by Dec. 11th, so it's right on track. It's be nice to come a week or few days earlier, I wouldn't mind!
I had a 20 week check up yesterday and everything was great! I was so happy that they put my in the ultra-sound room because it was just supposed to be a heartbeat check and whatnot, which I do at home anyways, so that's BORESVILLE! Lucky for me...she's still a girl!
He took some measurements and plugged it into the old computer and the Due Date said Dec 7th. We've been going by Dec. 11th, so it's right on track. It's be nice to come a week or few days earlier, I wouldn't mind!
^^ that's a picture we got of her yawing! It's so funny looking! I love it! I was so sad Josh wasn't there to see her in action since we thought it was just a check up. Here are some stats so far...
Weeks: 20
Weight: +6
Cravings: Changes daily, right now it's cheese (not a shocker) and grapes, and fruit snacks. I NEVER eat fried shrimp and I had to have that in the Bahamas. Cold food mostly
Aversions: Meat and meat smells, especially red meat. Soup sounds gross to me right now too. Hot food....bleh.
Quickening: As of 19/20 weeks I have really felt her move, she is extremely low too, it's really in the pelvic area where she kicks and squirms. She likes Zac Brown Band and "dances" around when I play that Pandora station. She's not so strong to where I can't sleep or Josh can feel, but anytime I'm still I can usually feel her wiggle.
Planning: We are going to book our Labor Class/Hospital Tour soon and also the Breastfeeding class. Both are at Texas Women's hospital, so that's exciting! We also are thinking about hiring a part time nanny for when I return to work, so if you have any leads, we're looking!
Showers: My aunt is throwing a San Antonio on on October 15th and my friends are planning the Houston on for October 23rd! I'm registering at Amazon.com so hopefully peeps be high tech!
Claire's first trip!
...No, not naked but you get the point. Bump at the beach.
The Bahamas was beautiful and relaxing. It was bittersweet after losing Ganny, but we went and made the best of our 4 days there...spending time with Josh and taking lots of pictures which I uploaded to Facebook. I really hate uploading to Blogger, it's a huge pain and takes forever. So I'll pick a few to share.......
We tried to do some excursions like snorkling or sailing, but turns out when you're 5 months pregnant, people look at your funny when you say you wanna go on these adventures. Then, they mention things like "waiver" and "liability" and that just did it for Josh. There was no way we'd take the risk, so we just made our own adventures.......
Our hotel was over 100 years old, the British Colonial - Hilton. It was really nice and had a private beach. We were located right next to the downtown market where I got to shop and swipe up some good fake purse action. Love my new yellow Tory Burch purse! Also got my sis a Coach purse and Josh got some sunglasses. It was your typical market with locals hassling you and little kids giving you "free" bracelets (tip please?). 
We were also located next to the harbor where the cruise ships come in. It really was facinating watching them come and go and turn and dock. They are huge, especially the Disney Cruise! And this is what the locals LIVE for. Literally. Without these ships porting, I think the Bahamas would be in big trouble. Even though we were tourists at the nice hotel...everything shuts down after the boats leave! If we didn't get food by 4:30/5pm... we were outta luck! Hence our lovely evening at McDonalds. Which, by the way, was DELICIOUS! .... 
Another adventure we took was the ferry over to Paradise Island where millionaires and famous people have private homes, like Nicholas Cage, Oprah, Tiger Woods, etc.... 
This is also where the Atlantis Resort is located, again...not too preggo friendly, but very beautiful! The smokey casinos and the water park rides weren't up our alley, but we did check out the huge Aquariums and of course...we found Nemo. ..... Josh did have some of the Bohemian beer and he said it was pretty good, I took a whiff and it smelled fine. Haha. I actually ordered a drink at the hotel bar from the Non-Alchoholic menu and it was called a "Fresh Fruit No-Jito." Hilarious!
........ Overall, the Bahamas has beautiful water like a swimming pool, fun shopping centers and GREAT fried shrimp at the famous Fish Fry that every local suggested. One draw back from our hotel...and maybe it's an issue all over the island. There are beach rats. Yes, RATS. They come out of hiding at night and run in front of you along the paths to the beach. And don't let Josh fool you...he was just as scared as me. We sat by the pool one sunset and saw them start to come out and thought...we'll just take this party inside.
On Sunday, my wonderful, beautiful, selfless grandmother went to Heaven surrounded by her 3 daughters and her husband, Pom, of 70 years. Wow. I was doing fine until I typed that sentence.
There are no words to say, nothing makes it better, just time. I want to celebrate Ganny and remember her for my daughter. I'm so sad that Claire will never meet her, but I'm so happy to know that she has a guardian angel in Heaven looking out for her, like she looked out for us , and all of my 28 years. 
There's not a childhood memory that doesn't involve Ganny, and Pom for that matter. She was there through everything, 3-year old dance recitals, softball and soccer games, church plays, Churchill football games watching me cheer, graduations, even in College Station...she came to everything. She never missed a moment of our lives and I'm going to miss her dearly. 
I'm so thankful for all the time we had, sleeping in her bed before Christmas mornings, the many Thanksgivings and her mashed potatoes, finding Easter Eggs in her yard, eating HoneyBuns and milk in the mornings with all the cousins, summers where she stayed with us and we drove her crazy singing made up songs on Shell's old keyboard and even heading to the Quadrangle to pet bunnies and deer...
To me, Ganny was the ultimate selfless and understanding person. She never judged any of her family's choices, spoke badly about anyone, or pushed her opinions. She always listened and always made time to visit family, no matter the distance, because being there for everyone was what she did best. I will love and miss you, Ganny.
Supplies were just scissors and the staple gun... then a hot glue gun for the buttons.
I wrapped and stapled the fluffy batting and the material around the canvas and trimmed off any extra.
I then stapled the ribbon, started with the longest one and then eyed the parellel pieces, and did the same going the opposite way, weaving them over and under.
The buttons were a variety of pearl, sparkles and rhinestones.
And the finished product! Can't wait to put little pictures of Claire and her family on this memory board!
Proud of my hubby! Our furniture is from Babies R Us ( dresser and crib )...
Putting together the glider from Target...Can't wait to rock our little baby on this comfy chair!
So, like I said, I'm going to do lavender, black and white in her room. I actually think Chelsea found this bedding at Pottery Barn Kids... I ordered stuff from there RIGHT away when we found out it was a SHE.... I have always LOVED purple...I'm going to try to not go TOO too purple on everything because Josh actually doesn't like purple, well that's what he said. I'm not sure he cares that much, but it's not going to look like Barney in there...it'll be classy splashes of lilac and lots of fun patterns in black and white.
Here is Claire's first chair from Pottery Barn too... so perfect match! I can't wait to do the progression photos with her month stickers on this chair.
This is just a shelf with canvas drawers from Target... and Shelby running by in a blur! haha
I'm thinking about getting this rug from Target...I'm not 100% because I kinda wanted a fluffy rug, but I didn't see any lavender ones, so I'll keep looking around.
So, in Josh's plea to not be ALL purple.. I ordered this canvas painting from a girl on Etsy, still has the lavender dots and black and white, but also throws in some sage and teal... I really love it and was surprised I found something so perfectly Claire! 
Ok, my next dilemma was what kinda of lamp shade... should I do a black and white damask pattern shade... kinda like this, but not exactly... I have a few damask accents like a pillow on the glider, a picture frame and a basket that all tie it in....
Or! I found these at Marshall home goods that incorporates the sage green and black and white, and looks eerie-ly similar to the flowers on her bedding...
About to make the big cut in front of everyone!
Look everyone it's PINK!!
Oh Josh, you're in trouble, house full of girls!!
We are so excited to welcome Claire Ellis Nowak in December ... I teared up, I couldn't help it, I just KNEW it was a girl!
My mom and dad
Claire recieved her first Aggie gear, a bib and pacifiers!
Uncle Ryan, Josh and Uncle Cody.
