Introducing Eden Grace!

Our Little baby girl, Eden Grace Preston, was born early Tuesday morning, July 14th at 1:04am. She is 8.3 pounds and 20 inches. She's already stolen our hearts completely! We got home from the hospital about two hours ago (4pm Wednesday), and are soaking her up! She is a terrific baby! I will share more info and pictures later, but for now I have a baby who wants to be fed so I'm off!

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement! We are SO blessed!!

Love, Jess & Charley (and Eden too!)

False Alarm...

Last night I was having some pretty consistent (and painful) contractions. We timed them for about two hours, but they never got closer than 10 minutes apart. Eventually, they stopped and I went to sleep... which was nice, even though I really hoped (but still douted) that it was the real deal. I could tell that Charley was hopeful too, gathering the camera and anything else he thought we may need if in fact it was time for us to head over to the hospital. My guess is that she's waiting for my sister to get here. :) Jen and Coie will both be here Thursday night, and I CAN'T WAIT to see them! Friday is my last doctor appointment (hopefully), and Saturday she - Dr. Wiggins - said that we could "get things going" if Eden wasn't here yet- whatever that means. I sorta have a feeling she will be here by then. It's so crazy and exciting to think that we have LESS than a WEEK left! God is so awesome the way he prepares the hearts and minds of mamas just before labor and delivery. I know it's not going to be easy, but my mind is telling me that I'm ready (and wishing it'd come sooner than later!!). We are praising the Lord for a healthy and good-sized baby. She is now well over 8lbs, and I feel every one of them!!! God has been so, so good to us!

This week has been one of the hottest I've ever seen in Alaska. We saw temperatures upwards 85 degrees. Normally, I'd be LOVING it, but with my own internal heater, and no A/C in our house (NO one has A/C in Alaska), it's been less than pleasant. Thankfully, we have a fan in our room which has helped a little bit. Today we went to Eagle River to the Bear Paw festival which is basically just a little carnival with some of our typical Alaska food and craft vendors. The fire department was there and hooked up their hose so that people could run through the water and cool off ... I mean, it WAS a scorching 75 degrees!

Here's me with my goods.

Charley's (and my) cousin who lives up in Eagle made Eden some really, REALLY cute bibs!! Aren't they ADORABLE? She's so talented! Here are two of my favorites (even though they are ALL precious!)

Her Momsie made Eden this awesome winter hat. I love it!!

It's just a waiting game now. Please pray for us. I really would prefer not to get induced, which like I said before, will probably happen Saturday if she's not here yet. Please pray she comes sometime this week... we just can't wait to meet her! :) That's it for now! I'm off to go eat some more popcorn.

Enough is Enough

Okay, so my little watermelon head is a solid 8 pounds now... and still happily bouncing around in my tummy. I would be thrilled if she decided to come out and meet her Daddy and me, but I think she's pretty content where she is. I have a feeling it's still going to be a few more days... *sigh*. Anyways, we're ready when she is! I'm 38 weeks now... and STILL growing. Can my belly stretch any further??! It's becoming increasingly hard to do anything or go anywhere without nearly passing out or having to run to the bathroom. Here are a couple of pictures that I'm NOT proud to post, but will anyways for your amusement. No gawking allowed. Also, you can see the letters that Charley finished cutting out, painting, and hanging in the nursery. He did that FREE HAND. Isn't that man amazing?? I especially liked coming into the nursery and seeing him in the glider, bent over intently tying those little bows at the top that he hung them from.

My already squinty eyes are even SQUINTER now that my face is all chub. How come some people can gain 45 pounds and it goes to their hips and misses their face and arms completely (the two things people see first)?. But not *ME*. I'm a WRIGHT girl. When we gain weight, it goes straight to our face and arms. Lucky us. I'm so ready to have my body back.



Oh, and here's a picture of Charley hanging off the side of our roof, fixing the gutter outside. For some reason, he insisted that I take a picture of him and blog about it... so here you go:

Anyways, happy 4th of July! Lately, I've been wondering how many more true 'Independence Days' we will enjoy. Seems like every day I hear about a new proposed bill or piece of legistlation that Obama or our sorry congress wants to pass that would further strangle our rights as Americans. I guess that just goes to show the continued/increased need for prayer for our country and our leaders. Also, did you hear that our famous Sarah Palin is stepping down from office here as our governor? I hope it's because she notices her need to focus more on her roll as mommy and wife rather than just positioning herself to better gear up for campaigning for the presidency (which she WOULDN'T win anyways) in 2012. Unfortuntely, it's the latter that most people suspect is why she made this decision, but one can hope.

Alright, Chacha and I are off to Lowes!

A Week of Celebrations!

Tuesday was my 25th birthday. Charley took part of the day off to spend it with me! He got me the most beautiful braclet, and a new jewelry box since my other one was literally falling apart. Then we went to Target (stopping to get me a white mocha on the way! :) and picked up a few things for Eden's room. I forgot how much I like that store. It's on the other side of town, so we don't go there very often. Then, Charley had to go to the office for a little while, so I went and had lunch with a friend. Later that afternoon, he took me out to dinner. Here's the tasty dessert we shared. Apparently, Charley told them it was my birthday...




Then, Saturday, my close friend Crystal, and another friend of mine, Renae, threw me an incredible baby shower! Those two worked for months on this event, and it was truly amazing! The decorations, cake (made by my precious friend Stephanie and her sweet daughter Michelle), devotion (also given by Stephanie), food, games, etc were PERFECT! I was so humbled and blessed by everyone's kindness and love to put so much work into making my baby shower so lovely. It completely and drastically exceeded any expectations I had. I think the best part of all, however, were all my friends (about 30 women) who showed up to share that time with me and celebrate the upcoming birth of this little girl! Having all of those ladies who have invested in my life all in ONE PLACE was overwhelmingly wonderful! I was overcome with gratitude and joy. God has been so good to me and has brought so many precious women into my life to minister, encourage, laugh with and cry to over the past 7 + years. Anyways, it was a special, precious time. Here are some pictures from the shower.




In other news. I woke up the other day with a bad soar throat. As if I don't have enough aches and pains as it is at 36 weeks... please pray I start to feel better and that it doesn't develop into strep or something.

35 weeks!

Charley and I got dressed up and went to a friend's wedding Saturday night. Here are some pictures of us in Eden's room before we left. Can you believe how enormous I am? Don't answer that.

Somehow, this guy still finds me cute... he's a crazy man :)

Papa Preston looking forward to meeting Baby Preston

Thursday was my last day of work. It feels incredible knowing that that I don't have to wake up to an alarm clock anymore. My next 'alarm clock' will be my baby's cry. :)