Oh Baby, Baby, Baby!!!

Obviously, these last few months have been spent doing nothing but thinking about, talking about, and doing stuff for our coming baby. It is a little crazy that the weird baby countdown ticker thing that we have on our blog is already down to 19 days. It's amazing that it's so close now even though this pregnancy has gone very VERY slowly.

Clint and I have spent a lot of time getting the nursery ready.

Clint repainted and replaced the ceiling fan and I hung a few fun pictures. I think the room is just about ready for our baby to come!

Some very kind people threw me some baby showers in the past few weeks. I can't believe how generous people have been. We got some really really great things. Here are a couple of things that Clint was able to take pictures of before I got in my nesting phase and got everything put away.

Look at ALL the clothes we got!

I've got some pretty talented friends!

My friend Marie stitched the white onesie and my other friend Holly made the yellow one. I think these are so cute and can't wait to put our baby in them!



My friend Holly also made this adorable car seat cover. I love it!



Clint's friends from Anserfone bought this cute baby swing for us as well. I love the pattern!

So interesting story...I went to Carter's with my mom a little while ago and saw this little shark outfit and took a picture of it to show Clint. I didn't end up buying it though. My good friend Briana stopped by a few days later with a gift and, what do ya know, one of the outfits she had picked out was the shark outfit! Love it!

This little kid is off to a good start! Check out all the fun shoes he already has!

His mommy is so proud!

Just a couple of pics...

Here are a few pictures. I've been a slacker and haven't really been posting much:

This has become Molly's new favorite spot to hang out. She will stay on this couch all day long. I'm wondering if she has arthritis or something because she refuses to move from this couch unless I have food to give her. Very odd.

Clint found the "take home" outfit for our baby. He doesn't put his foot down on ANYTHING! Until now. He has absolutely refused to allow me to put our baby in a BYU onesie. I'm thinking that's a little unfair!

I hate the belly shots but I knew I needed to take them for our baby to see later on. This is in my 30th week...

This is in my 37th week...you can't tell in this picture but my feet are starting to swell! It's almost comical to look at them. When the weather gets stormy (which it has been lately) my feet look like two loaves of french bread with little toes on the end. So awesome! Let me tell you.

This past Saturday Clint talked my little sister into coming over to help with our yardwork. I have been anxious to get some flowers planted and the beds weeded. Between the three of us we got everything done in 3 hours. Not bad. The only problem was that the little kids next door (who are babysat by the fire hydrant) decided it would be fun to trample my flowers the next day even after I asked them not to. Clint and I caught them red-handed when we came home from church and found them pulling petals off the flowers in the corner of the yard. I was pretty furious and we marched right over there and talked to their parents about it. They have stayed out of the yard since then...for the most part. Then we had some unlucky snow the following day but Clint dashed outside in his barefeet and covered all the plants with grocery bags. They are still alive...for now!

Long-time Goal Accomplished!

Some of you may know that I have been working in the Human Resources profession for awhile. I debated telling the whole long story of how I ended up in HR in the first place but decided it wasn't all that interesting to anyone but me. Long story short...a job that was haphazardly thrown in my lap several years ago became a career I really enjoy.

In the HR industry there are a few national certifications that can be acheived. It's a way to be recognized in the industry as one who has a high level of practical experience and knowledge of HR practices, laws, etc....all that boring stuff that the rest of you probably don't care to know. When I learned of the PHR certification (Professional in Human Resources) I really wanted to get it. Why? You ask. Pretty much because I'm weird like that.

In my previous job I worked so many hours a week that I never had time to prepare for the test. In my current job I don't work quite as many hours but there always seemed to be something going on that would make me push the PHR certification to the side. But early this year one of my coworkers told me she was going to take a class to prepare for the PHR test and asked if I wanted to take it with her. I was about 6 months pregnant and decided if I didn't bite the bullet and try for the certification now, I would probably never do it! So I signed up for an 11 week class, studied and studied, studied some more and then took the test on May 6th.

Let me just say...this is NO easy test. You have to have a certain number of years' experience in the profession before they will even allow you to take the test. And it isn't one of those where you spend several days memorizing things just so you can regurgitate it on the test and then forget it once you walk out of the testing center. The test relies heavily on the practical experience you should already have and incorporates all these crazy hypothetical situations where you have to apply everything you know.

BUT...

I'm proud to say that I passed! It's official. I am now

Emily Cunningham, PHR.

Here's the official certificate I received in the mail:

And here I am almost 9 months pregnant and SOOOO glad that I have tackled this project now before my life will be forever changed by this little "thing" growing inside me! I'm sure Clint is super happy this test is behind me now as well. Because I was nothing but a stress ball as I studied for the exam. And he was so incredibly supportive through the whole thing! Gotta love having a husband like that!