35 weeks along, 35 days LEFT!!!

Ok, WOW! Isn't it crazy that I am 35 weeks along?? CRAZIER still to think about it in terms of days because that means I only have 35 DAYSSSSS left before I meet my son! (If he comes on his due date of course). This week was such a whirlwind! We knew we had to get the house (somewhat) clean because Mom was coming Thursday night to stay with us. Not not mention, we only have a BABY ON THE WAY and need to get everything in order. I have just one question... Did anyone else feel like they had to rearrange their ENTIRE house just to get ready for a baby??? Um, let me just tell you that we have been working little by little for a couple of weeks now on getting the nursery ready, BUT this meant that we had to change a guest room into a nursery. Easy enough, right? WRONG. First we had to rearrange the office so that we could put the guest bed in the office with the desk and bookshelf and all the other "office stuff." Then, we had to empty out the closet in the guest bedroom. Easy enough, right? WRONG again. This closet was packed full of STUFF. Stuff that we didn't know where else to put. Let me give you a glimpse of what SOME of the items in the closet were: my wedding dress (big poofy wedding dress), all giftwrap and giftwrap accessories (not in ANY sort of organized fashion, just in the closet), a dresser full of t-shirts that Brandon and I don't wear on a regular basis, items that I bought on Black Friday this past year at a great price to keep as gifts or back-ups in case we needed one including crock pots and tupperware sets and coffee pots, random picture frames and other decorative items that we just don't have set out, etc. ETC ETC ETC. ETC.... ET CETERA. You get the picture right? There was a LOT OF STUFF stuffed in that closet that we are in the process of finding space for right now. In the meantime, we keep accumulating more baby stuff and just keep putting it in the nursery so now we need to paint. And now we need to find a place for all of this STUFF plus all of this baby gear to go while Brandon paints. At any rate, we managed to clean up enough for Mom to come stay with us. She got there Thursday night after our childbirth class and the next morning, rode to work with me so that Daryl could pick her up there and they could head on down to SC to do last minute wedding planning. Mom got to meet a lot of my coworkers and finally put faces to names in the stories I tell from work =) I wished she had been able to stay a little longer so I could have shown her around even more (because this was the first time she had seen where I work) but I know they had a ton of stuff to do, not to mention the drive to and from SC in front of them that day! Then that night Brandon and I went out to eat for Cole's birthday with the rest of the family. It was chaotic and funny as usual and I think Cole liked his birthday gift from us. Brandon and I got tickets for Cole and Brittney and Brandon and me to go see Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker in concert later this summer! Then, Mom got back from SC with Daryl and she stayed the night with us again so she could go to my baby shower the next day at Joan's house. Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast at IHOP (YUM) and then went to get manicures and pedicures! It was, by far, the best pedi I've ever gotten. I don't know if the girl felt sorry for my poor legs hauling around all this extra weight, or what, but she gave the best calf and foot massage ever.

Then baby shower time! Brittney had been planning this shower for a long time and was really excited about all the decorations and spent a lot of time and effort on everything and it all looked great! The baby's room is done in all lime green and chocolate brown so everything from the balloons to the cake to the green apple decorations were lime green ad brown! And she even made these cute favors out of baby jars and painted the lids and filled them with m'n'ms. Something a little traumatic happened at the baby shower... I've been swollen for about 2 weeks now and it happened so fast at first that I didn't have time to get my wedding rings off. At the baby shower, I was swollen so much that my rings were actually cutting into my finger so hard I thought I might start to bleed! I ended up having to soak my hand in ice water for about 15 minutes and then use dish detergent to get them off (plus half my knuckle). It was very painful and I actually wanted to cry, partly from the pain and partly because I don't ever take my rings off. I am proudly married to the man of my dreams who gave me gorgeous rings to wear for eternity and I want everyone to know I'm married! If I have to go the rest of my pregnancy without wearing them, it will be the longest amount of time I've ever gone without wearing my rings =(

Ok, here are some of the pictures from the shower but it's taking a while to load them all so I'll have to load the rest later...

I love this precious picture with Corben laying his head on my shoulder! For almost 3 years now, the kid has had my heart wrapped around his little finger... its crazy to think that in 5 weeks or so, I'll be even more in love with my own little boy!! (Not that Aunt Bethy will love you any less, Corben) =)

Here I am with my FIRST box of DIAPERS!!! Whoa!
Here is a picture of the bride-to-be and the mommy-to-be!! I love you Mom!


I want to write about Mom's wedding but I think that deserves a post by itself...
Here are the stats for this week!
How far along? 35 weeks 1 day

Weight gain? I go to the doctor tomorrow so I'll find out then if I've gained any more but so far, 32 pounds. (ugh)

maternity clothes? uh, yes.

Sleep? I'm not getting enough. I'd loooove to be able to sleep through the night again without waking up to go to the bathroom or from pain/being uncomfortable...

stretch marks? Nope, we're keeping a close eye on my tummy these days though...

belly button in or out? Out.

Best moment this week? My baby shower and my mom's wedding!!
movement? I realized for the first time this week that what I thought was just my baby "knocking" to get out in a rhythmic pattern was actually him having the hiccups! Don't make fun ok? I thought he was just trying to get out and was banging on what he thought was the door! =) Haha! But then one day it hit me all of a sudden that he had the hiccups! So cute! He's had them 4 or 5 times now!

food cravings? frozen lemonade still but I've been practicing restraint =) and still candy =)

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... a weekend to relax (somewhat) and get the baby's room painted... I keep saying that but it REALLY has to get done sometime this week!

milestones.... I'm starting to have more and more baby "stuff" and its kicking this mommy into high gear! I've been busy washing baby clothes and blankets and trying to get organized. My house looks like Babies R Us exploded inside... and it will never be the same, I hear =)

34 weeks

Wow, we're definitely on the home stretch now... 34 weeks. In 6 weeks (or less) I will meet my son. My tiny little sweet baby boy. The little boy that will depend on us for everything he needs. I wonder sometimes if it still hasn't hit me yet because this is serious stuff. I looked at Brandon the other day and said "We're about to be parents... forever... because once we're parents, we'll always be parents, until we die." What a crazy idea! My role as "mommy" will stick with me the rest of my life. I will never not be a parent again. Does anyone else feel the weight of this responsibility?! Do we realize how profound this journey of parenthood is?? It makes me grateful to my mom because I know from the moment I was born, she was striving to be the best parent she could possibly be. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely terrified, but absolutely honored, and one hundred percent excited to be a parent and as Brandon has been saying "I am aware of how unaware I am of how much my life will change." I'm not having second thoughts or anything like that, I'm just realizing how real all of this really is =) If that makes any sense.
This past Sunday was Father's Day. I haven't celebrated Father's Day in about 6 years for reasons that are probably obvious to anyone reading this blog and that won't be discussed here even if you don't know. At any rate, I was very excited that this was Brandon's first Father's Day. Brandon is so excited to be a Daddy and is so sweet to his little boy (my belly) that I can tell he will be a wonderful dad. If you don't know, what first attracted me to Brandon was his maturity and grace in handling a particular situation and I think God really blessed me when he gave me someone so gracious to marry. Brandon is even keel (most of the time) and handles situations with such maturity that I am blown away. Even if I am irate and screaming at him, he calmly tries to reason with me and diffuses the situation. He's told me stories of different instances where he has been either talked down to, embarrassed, cut down, or yelled at, and when I ask how he responded- thinking of course that he would tell me he yelled back or flew off the handle, etc- BUT he always tells me how he wanted to react and that he didn't and just tried to handle it calmly. What a man. Is anyone jealous that my son will have such a cool-headed father? What an asset that will be in disciplining and raising our child. I am so fortunate to have Brandon as my spouse and best friend. He may not realize it, but I look up to him and admire him. He is everything I ever wanted in a spouse and now that he is going to be the father of my baby, I am realizing more and more just how lucky we (me and baby boy) are.

To my husband and father of our child, I love you and want you to know how proud of you I am. I can think of several great men in your life who have influenced you and want you to know that you emulate the best characteristics in all of them. You are a man of great wisdom and grace and are admired by so many. I can't wait to raise our son with you and can't imagine being on this journey with anyone but you. You make me laugh, you inspire me to be better, you encourage me, and you are better to me than I deserve. Happy Father's Day to the man I admire most in life.

I promise I'll post pictures at some point this week...

How far along? 34 weeks 4 days

Weight gain? Weeeeell... about that... 32 pounds... I'm not entirely sure this is accurate. Ok, I'm desperately hoping that it isn't accurate. To my credit, I did go to a different office location so the scale was different and little miss nurse didn't even let the little weight thingy stop wavering up and down before she just slid it back and told me to "hop down." PLUS, I've been swelling a lot in my legs, feet, and hands so I'm thinking some of this weight is water weight.... right?!


maternity clothes? uh, yes.

Sleep? What's that? I think its absolutely hilarious (note my sarcasm) when I read in my pregnancy magazines and online that now is the time in my pregnancy when I should be "storing up on sleep since when the baby gets here I'll be so exhausted." Are they kidding??? Has ANYONE who has written any of those articles every been pregnant? Because let me tell you, I go to bed at 10:30, get up at approximately 1:30 or 2am to go to the bathroom, then wake up around 3 or 4am because my hips hurt or my legs are cramping up, then up again at 5 to go back to the bathroom, and then just about cry when my alarm goes off at 6. When exactly does this "storing up on sleep" or "resting up" for the baby happen?

stretch marks? none so far... lotion and i are very good friends.

belly button in or out? Out. and causing a scene sometimes =)

Best moment this week? swimming at the pool with my husband... weightlessness=a very good thing right now

movement? Only all the time =) I expect nothing less from my baby boy with an achiever mommy =)

food cravings? frozen lemonade from Jims. O-M-G amazing. Don't ask me how many I've had, I'm embarrassed to say =)

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... my baby shower this weekend and Mom's wedding!!

milestones.... I start going to the doctor every week now! Wow! I can't believe I'm already at this point in my pregnancy!

33 weeks

So much has happened since my last post and I really started out wanting to write every week but I've been so tired and so busy with other things that it just hasn't happened. I'll at least try to capture the highlights from the last few weeks. Brittney and I have had several very good coupon classes lately and some not so good classes... One of the not so good classes was an hour away and at a church. Since it was at a church, they requested that we not take up the usual fee, but instead, let them take up a donation at the end. We had been there before and done that very same thing and it turned out fine. Well this time, I counted the donation before we left and counted out $44 and SOME CHANGE. Ask me how insulted I was that someone had dug in their pocket for some dimes to throw in there. Ok, I'll tell you... VERY. Keep in mind that I'm pregnant and pretty hormonal at times so I was desperately trying to keep my emotions under control when I realized that this group of 13 ladies was going to send us home with 22 dollars apiece and NO gas fee, which was required for this class since it was an hour's drive for us (even further for me, since I had to drive about 20 minutes to get to Brittney's house). Brittney looked at me and said "I'm gonna take this stuff to the car, ok?" because she doesn't like confrontation and didn't want to deal with talking to the lady that hosted the class. Fine. I was irritated enough that I was going to say something, whether Brittney was going to stay with me or not. I calmly informed the lady when she asked if the donation was enough that "no, it is less than half of what we were expecting and normally receive." She and another lady nervously looked back and forth at each other and said "well I guess we can write you a check for the difference." And when I told her the difference was $83 dollars, she proceeded to look at the other lady and said "I guess we can write a check and mail it to them for $80, right?" And I wanted to say, NO actually I said 83 dollars, not 80!!!! But I didn't. Then a few minutes later I heard the ladies talking and one of them said "Yeah, we can vote on it at church." Um, excuse me? Vote on WHAT exactly? Whether or NOT you will send me the rest of the money you owe me? Ok, now I am officially ticked. Get me outa here. This was a few weeks ago. Have I received a check in the mail? NO. Let me just stop here.

Ok, next bad class we had... The directions said "go past the brick house and we live behind there." My first thought (for some reason) was that this was going to be in a trailor. Nothing wrong with living in a trailor, I was just concerned about space for 10 people plus us, plus all our stuff we bring. Sure enough, we roll down a gravel drive past the brick house, past the pasture with BULLS (YES BULLS!) to a trailor. Ding Ding Ding. I win. I knew it was a trailor. Still not a bad thing. However, Mr. Husband of the lady who is hosting the class is outside puffing away on a cigarette. THAT is a bad thing. THEN, Mrs. I am hosting this coupon class comes out the side door of the trailor puffing on a cigarette. DOUBLE BAD thing!!! Brittney and I look at each other, terrified, and mouth "we gotta get outa here!!!" BUT, we did the honorable thing and unloaded the car, and walked inside, where immediately upon entering I gag. The cigarette smell is overwhelming. Why? Because they clearly smoke INSIDE their house. There are ash trays EVERYWHERE. I was mortified. All I could think about was my baby and how I shouldn't be around smoke, let alone how much I HATE the smell of cigarettes. We got all our stuff set up and sat down to wait for the guests to arrive and after 3 ladies got there the host looked at us and said, "Ok, there's one more coming and then we can start." UH... wait, did you say just ONE more lady coming or ONE HUNDRED? Because I could have sworn you said "ONE" and we have a requirement that states a minimum of 10 people have to attend the class, otherwise the host has to pay for the difference. Why do we have that requirement? For exactly this reason, classes that we take time to prepare for, drive to, and conduct, not to mention all the refreshments and supplies we provide so we want it to be worth our time. We ended up teaching the fast coupon class in the history of A Penny Filled Pantry. Not joking. It was a matter of life and death. Well maybe not that serious, but our health was certainly at risk!

As far as other happenings in my life, I went to Northern VA for a college girlfriends reunion weekend at Susan's new house. We had so much fun! We got there Friday night for Susan's housewarming party and boy, does she throw a great party! There were a ton of people there and she was so prepared! I was impressed for sure. PLUS, her new house is fabulous and I'm so happy for her! She and her dad spent a ton of time remodeling and the results are awesome. I'm particularly jealous of the heated tile floors in her bathroom! Yes, heated! Then Saturday morning we got up and Whitney, Susan, and Laura surprised Sierra and I with a baby shower brunch!! Sierra and I had no idea and it was so sweet of them!! Here's a picture of the cute cake they got for us and some of the yumminess... Thanks to Whitney, Susan, Laura and Susan's mom for making us feel so special and so loved! Then that afternoon we went to Susan's parents' house to swim in the pool and it was so relaxing. It was just what I needed because being weightless for a few hours is absolutely fabulous when you are carring around 30 pounds more than you are used to! There was one downer to the weekend, and that was that Whitney's GPS and laptop were stolen out of her car and she had to leave Saturday night because she had to redo a presentation for work. Bummer =( I was so sad that happened, especially because I know Whitney was concerned since it was her work laptop. BUT, at least it was things... things that can be replaced... and not Whitney, because there is no replacing Whitney! So Whit, as sad as I am for you losing your gps and laptop, I'm really glad you're ok!!! That night Susan, Sierra and I went to dinner and then on a little coupon outing... and by this, I mean I needed to use a couple of coupons because they were expiring or the sale was ending or something. At any rate we went to Walmart and got 22 tubs of Pampers baby wipes and some Sour Patch Kids for $2. We were pretty excited! Then, apparently I was on a roll with my free stuff because we went to rent a movie at Redbox and got it for free using a code I had! Woohoo! All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and I realize every time we get together, just how much I miss my girlfriends and how grateful I am to have made such wonderful lifelong friends. Makes me miss college =)

I'll have to post some more pictures when I have time...

How far along? 33 weeks 4 days

Weight gain? 29 pounds... when I went to the doctor last week and got on the scale I was ecstatic to see that I had only gained ONE pound in THREE weeks!!! Who knows, maybe I'll keep the weight gain to a minimum the rest of the time and might possibly stay within the "healthy 25-35 pound weight gain" for my pre-pregnancy BMI!

maternity clothes? For the most part. I can't remember the last time I wore a pair of non-maternity pants, other than my PJs... on the other hand, I've bought some maxi-dresses lately that aren't maternity, which is nice, because I'll be able to wear them after he gets here too.

Sleep? Oh how I miss thee... I've been getting up 2-4 times a night to go to the bathroom and I've started waking myself up because I'm crying so hard because my hips hurt. The other day Brandon looked at me and said "It makes me so sad when you wake up crying in the middle of the night" and I hadn't even realized I'd still been doing that. I remember most nights when I wake up crying but not all. The pain in my hips is so bad that I can hardly stand it and I think exhaustion is the only thing that gets me back to sleep.

stretch marks? none so far... I'm keeping an eye out for those bad boys though because I know my tummy is stretching tighter than ever now, but Brandon just checked yesterday for me and didn't see any... whew!

belly button in or out? Out. And very clean. =)

Best moment this week? Brandon laying his cheek on my belly and feeling baby boy kick him

movement? This is a crazy question. I feel like I must have the most active child ever. Now, he has his moments when he'll sleep, but then there are times where, for an hour or more at a time, he will kick nonstop and squirm and wiggle and move all around. He's figured out that at night, when I lay down and am still, he can get up and dance and move all over the place... I sure hope this doesn't mean his days and nights are mixed up.

food cravings? candy. I can only imagine that I am making up for sweets making me gag in my first trimester because really the only thing I want to eat ever is candy. Like fruity flavored candy. Chewy Sprees, regular Sprees, nerds, pixi stix, pez, sour patch kids, etc... you get the idea...

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... going to pick up our crib this weekend and painting and wallpapering the nursery (finally)!

milestones.... BabyCenter.com says this week he should be about 4 pounds, like a pineapple! how cute!

30 weeks!

Um, is this right? 30 weeks?? Whoa, where have the last 30 weeks gone? I can't believe there are only 10 more weeks (give or take a few weeks or days!) until I meet my son! I have been so busy lately with finals and end of the semester final projects and papers and whatnot that I haven't really had time to think about my pregnancy. Now, I'm done with school for the semester- hallelujah!- and I passed both my classes!! I can't beleive I did 12 credits of graduate school while pregnant and passed every single one of them. If I had to do it all over again, I'm not sure I would... because it was tough. Really tough. Like I probably wouldn't recommend that anyone do it because I'm an achiever and I had a tough time making myself get through it. This "tired like you've never known" that people talk about when you're pregnant is true. It exists. It is truly an exhaustion like never before. And it is perpetual. I wake up in the mornings exhausted, drag myself out of bed, and by the time I get to work, I'm ready to lay down and take a nap. Not joking. Then all throughout the day I have to constantly get up and move around because I.am.so.tired. Seriously. Then some nights, I'm so tired that when I lay down to go to sleep, I'm too tired to sleep. Anyone know what I'm talking about? But at any rate, I did it! I feel so proud of myself for pushing myself to stick with it and gut it out til the end! Now I only have 3 more classes until I have my MBA! Woohoo! I am so excited that this time next year I will be holding my precious baby boy in one arm and my master's degree in the other!!!

So, because I was so busy I haven't been able to post every week like I wanted, but now hopefully I'll have time to post more often. This past week was a busy week because I had my last 2 classes and finals and final presentations and projects due and then Wednesday and Thursday were packed full of appointments that just kind of popped up! One of which was my appointment to get my cavity filled. Yeah, I said cavity. Have I written about this yet? I don't think I have. So I've been having some pain in my right upper teeth and I haven't been chewing on the right side for a few weeks now. My gums were swelling and I was getting food packed in what I thought was my gums so I would use my water pik every night to get the food out. Yeah, gross I know. Well, wayyy back during my second visit after I found out I was pregnant, I had told the doctor I thought I might need a calcium supplement since my teeth were kind of starting to hurt and I wasn't able to drink milk because it was hurting my stomach. I was trying to eat yogurt and cheese but you can only get so much calcium that way. At any rate, the doctor basically blew me off, threw a sheet of paper at me and told me those were foods that contain calcium, I'd be fine. I'm not an idiot, I know what foods have calcium in them, and I've lived in this body for 26 years, I think maybe you should pay attention to concerns I have... ESPECIALLY WHEN 2 MONTHS LATER I HAVE A HUGE CAVITY!!! Ok, so I'm a little angry at that particular doctor, but I got a cavity and there's nothing I can do about it now. So at any rate, I had to have my cavity filled this week. I was a little nervous because I canNOT lay on my back anymore because it is SO uncomfortable. In fact, when I went to the dentist for my checkup (when they discovered my cavity) I had been laying in the chair for my cleaning and had to sit up all of a sudden and almost passed out. Everything went black and the dental hygenist was like "are you ok!?" and I was. I just needed to sit up and then she let me lay on my side for the rest of my cleaning. So when I went to have my cavity filled I tried really hard to be a big girl but I didn't hesitate to remind them that this was my first filling and that I was very nervous. It actually wasn't so bad. Maybe it should be an awful experience, that way it deters people from getting cavities again but it really wasn't anything like I thought it would be. They numbed my gum with a gel first, then the dentist gave me my injections of numbing stuff and by the time they came back after letting it set in and work, I could blink and not feel my right eye so I felt much better knowing I was completely numb on that side of my face. I thought the drilling would be the worst part, but it really just sounded like an electric toothbrush and I couldn't feel anything so I was ok. I did start to get nervous though when the dentist told the assistant to keep rinsing and suctioning because he couldn't see anything since my gums were bleeding so much. This went on for what seemed like forever and he ended up filling the cavity and then having to go back and drill and re-fill again because my gums bled so excessively. If you didn't know, some pregnant women's gums bleed at the slightest thing and to have someone picking and drilling and spraying and suctioning only made mine worse. He was clearly getting frustrated, which is never a comforting thing for a patient to witness, so my palms started sweating profusely as thoughts of me having to leave with a huge drilled hole in my tootha dn come back after the baby got here to have my cavity filled. Luckily he was able to finally fill it and I left numb and slightly sore and dehydrated (from all the sweating) and completely prepared to have myself babied all day (Brandon came with me for moral support, even though he just sat in the waiting room). By the time I left the dentist's office, I had been there so long that I had to call into work because I had my doctor's appointment that day and I would have driven to work and had to turn right around and come back for my doctor's appointment. So Brandon took me to get a smoothie and listened to my slurred rendition of what happened as they filled my cavity (remember, my whole face was numb).

Ok, here's this week's survey...

How far along? 30 weeks 3 days

Weight gain? 28 pounds... I actually only gained a pound a week this past 2 weeks.. wow! I did good compared to my previous 2 pounds a week gain-age that I've been consistently keeping since 1st trimester...

maternity clothes? Mostly yes. And mostly the same things over and over. Anyone know where I can get CUTE maternity clothes? I'm not a huge fan of Motherhood Maternity because I just can't feel good about myself feeling fat AND looking frumpy...

Sleep? Never more than 3 hours at a time (due to baby-on-bladder syndrome), which is awesome when I'm falling asleep at work. I feel like a whale in the bed and when I turn over (which is often because my hips have started falling asleep when I lay on one side too long) its like a tidal wave going thru the bedroom and poor Brandon is startled out of his sleep every time I flip over (even though I try reaaaally hard to do it as gentle as possible) and asks "are you ok!?"

stretch marks? none so far... I've had Brandon check for me because I can't see past my belly button to the underneath of my belly

belly button in or out? Out. Definitely out.

Best moment this week? not having homework, not having to go to class and spending time with the love of my life.

movement? yes. I've read that you should feel at least 10 fetal movements an hour throughout the day... well, I might have an Olympian because this guy thinks it is 10 movements a MINUTE sometimes! And he's still chillin with his feet in my ribs and if I bend over to put my shoes on or pick something up, he does NOT like to be squished. He will immediately shimmy his little behind up in the middle of the ribs and stay there until I stretch out enough so he can get comfy again... demanding little fella =) ... (just like his Mama!)

food cravings? mostly frozen yogurt... randomly one day I craved dill pickle spears

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... getting the call that our crib has finally come in!

milestones.... BabyCenter.com says that I will be getting more and more clumsy because my center of gravity is shifting and the day that I read this I did a "bumper-car-like" move in the main office at work and enjoyed a good round of jabs from my coworkers =)

Hello... Third Trimester?!?!

Wow! Am I really in my third trimester already??? I am 28 weeks pregnant... wow, where did the first two trimesters go?? These past few weeks have been a whirlwind with school, finals coming up, work, and coupon classes, not to mention BEING PREGNANT! This week we had 3 coupon classes and the one Saturday was an open to the public class, which was a success! We had a great turnout and the facility was awesome for holding a class.

Saturday night, our life group drove an hour to eat at a place that is country style food, buffet of course, and we had a blast. I was a little nauseous by the time we got there because it was an hour of curving twisty roads, but by the time we got to get our dinner, I felt much better. I like country style foods, but I wouldn't say its my favorite. I guess I always question exactly what goes into it (AKA how much butter and fat) to make it taste the way it does. BUT, I will say that I ate my weight in fried popcorn shrimp (little shrimpies, I like to call them). For dessert they had blackberry cobbler that I thought would be really great with some ice cream, just one problem though, no ice cream on the buffet. However, Kate is so good to me and asked our waitress if there was-by some wild chance- any vanilla ice cream in the place and lo and behold there was!! Now, it was probably ice cream from 1970 and just a touch freezer burned, but I ate a few bites nonetheless because at this point I reaaally wanted ice cream with my cobbler. Thank you Kate =)

After we got back, I packed up my bags and headed off to Virginia for Mother's Day and to say goodbye to my house. What? Oh, my mom was only moving out of the house I spent my entire childhood in and I had to say goodbye to it and look around one last time. And what was the very first song I heard on the radio on my drive up to Virginia? The new Miranda Lambert song "The House that Built Me." Yeah, I cried. Why? Here are some of the lyrics:

I know they say you cant go home again.
I just had to come back one last time.
Ma'am I know you don't know me from Adam.
But these handprints on the front steps are mine.
And up those stairs, in that little back bedroom
is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar.
And I bet you didn't know under that live oak
my favorite dog is buried in the yard.

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
this brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here its like I'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself
if I could just come in I swear I'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
from the house that built me.


Ok, first of all... the line that talks about the handprints makes me cry right away because when we put in our concrete driveway, Josh and I put our handprints in the corner of the drive in the concrete. And yea, I had the back bedroom for a while... so anyways, the point of all of this is to say that this song makes me boohoo because I grew up in that house. There are a lot of memories contained under that roof... my whole life. And yes, I'm crying AGAIN as I type this because I'm female, I'm pregnant, and I am VERY hormonal.


So anyways, I went "home" for Mother's Day and ended up going through some boxes of things from my childhood and deciding what to keep and what to throw away with my Mom. We went to church Sunday morning and then out to lunch to celebrate our Mommy! Not to get sappy again on you, but I have to write a little something to my Mom so I'll try not to get to personal but hold on, because I'm already crying again...


Mom,


Happy Mother's Day! This is officially your 26th Mother's Day... can you believe it? I think you have done a fantastic job as a mother. I only hope that as I am about to become a mother to my own little munchkin, that I can be at least half as wonderful as you are. I truly mean that. You have been a constant in my life that has been invaluable. As I think about all the people who have come and gone in my life, I can only name one person who has been there since day 1... You! Of course, Josh and Brandon, are my other constants, but they haven't known me as long as you have =). You've been a pillar of strength and morality for me that hasn't wavered. Never once have I seen you move from what you believe to be right and true and even in our darkest hours, you were steadfast. In some of my hardest moments in life, you were the one holding my hand or holding me up, like at Mr. Scott's funeral. You have sought to please God and no one else and this is probably your most admirable trait. I have heard you tell me and Josh more than once, that we can hate your guts, but you are responsible to God for us so you are a parent first, then our friend. And you have been a constant source of laughter and joy. Some of my favorite memories from life involve us laughing, like the time at that seafood restaurant where we laughed so hard we cried, the time at a mall somewhere out of town that you thought something was so funny, the whole mall literally turned and looked to see where the peals of laughter were coming from and Josh and I had to walk away. The time that we tried to move a bed either from downstairs up, or vice versa and got stuck in the landing of the staircase and we both laughed so hard I almost wet my pants. Then, don't forget the time at the drive-thru at Subway when we couldn't order because we were laughing so hard we couldn't speak. Not to mention all of the fast food restaurants after that infamous day... So, Mom, even though your "angel baby girl" is grown and married and almost a mommy myself, I still look up to you and admire how you approach life. We may be different (not much, some would argue) but I still think you are the most wonderful woman in the world. You are, by far, the strongest woman I know and I will continue to try to be like you, especially as baby boy comes into the world. Here's to the most amazing Mom in the world and to another 50 years of Happy Mother's Days and now Happy Grandmother's Days too!

I love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my mommy you'll be.


Ok, let's dry our eyes and get to the weekly survey...


How far along? 28 weeks 3 days

Weight gain? Yeah...about that 25 pounds... I've officially gained more than that! At my doctor's appointment I had to get weighed and I've now gained 26 pounds this pregnancy! YIKES! And I still have 12 weeks to go!

maternity clothes? Mostly yes.

Sleep? Eh, some nights its ok, other nights not so much

stretch marks? Not yet...

belly button in or out? Still half in half out but a teeny bit more out than in.

Best moment this week? Going home to see my Mom and brother!

movement? feet in ribs... constantly.

food cravings? not really... most days I just have a hard time even figuring out what I want to eat...

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... decorating our nursery!


milestones.... BabyCenter.com says this week that he's able to make out light that filters in through my belly!! So cute! I find myself wanting to make different animals with my hands and put them against my belly so he can see the shadows... =)

26 weeks pregnant on my 26th Birthday!

That's right, I turned 26 years old this week AND "turned" 26 weeks pregnant on the same day! I should have bought a lotto ticket with the number 26 somehow =) This week was pretty much a great week. For those of you who know me, you know I celebrate a "birth month" rather than just a birthDAY. I mean, I only get one month out of the whole year to celebrate, so... I do. I'm not ridiculous, but I do pull the "it's my birthmonth" card if I need to throughout April. Brandon is used to it by now and most of the time just laughs at me. He is probably secretly really annoyed that I do something so childish the whole month, but he humors me anyway =) Thanks babe! This week on Tuesday, my office at work had my birthday lunch. My coworkers go all out for birthdays. They are cause for celebration (aka EATING) in our office so we love a good birthday. The birthday girl/boy gets to pick what they want to eat and this year I wanted a make-your-own nacho/taco bar. A woman in my office (who used to be a Spanish interpreter) makes wonderful Mexican food and volunteered to bring all of the food for the nachos/tacos and BOY was it delicious. I made a HUGE burrito stuffed with refried beans, ground beef, lettuce, salsa, nacho cheese, sour cream, etc. and ate every bite (and a second one for a snack later!) A girl who is fairly new in our office made me homemade cupcakes- which were DELICIOUS- AND she brought in homemade monkey bread for us to have for breakfast that day! I felt so special! And to top it all off, they got me a singing birthday card, YES, singing! AND little baby trinkets, like a UNC beenie, some rattles, a bottle, and some tiny little socks. Needless to say, my 26th birthWEEK was off with a bang and I SO enjoyed it! (In fact, my mouth is watering just typing this!)

Saturday was Brittney and Cole's housewarming party (for which I made YET ANOTHER strawberry shortcake- I've lost count I've made so many the last few weeks). We left the housewarming party to go pick up our crib... the one I told you about before that was the one we originally wanted that the little baby boutique owner was going to sell to us for half price! And we were going to pick up our glider that we had purchased the week before. Well, we got to the baby store, went inside to look at the crib and Brandon and I just looked at each other and back at the crib. Neither one of us wanted to say it, but this was NOT our dream crib. We weren't impressed... at all. And in fact, we didn't even like it. We were so disappointed and as I was trying to get away from the store owner's husband to talk to Brandon (just a side note, if you are a sales person, periodically leave your customer to go "check on something" or "get something" or whatever so that your customers can talk to their spouse... especially if the purchase is more than a few hundred dollars!) to tell him that I didn't really like the crib and find out if he felt the same way. As I was walking back towards the front of the store, I stopped in front of another crib and couldn't help but think that THAT crib was what I pictured in my nursery. Brandon and I talked it over and decided that the crib we had come to pick up was not the crib for us and that we wanted this other crib that we had looked at before but not really ever paid much attention to until now. The more I looked at this crib, the more I could picture it in our nursery at home with my little man sleeping in it. I looked at Brandon and we walked right up to the cash register and told the owner and her husband that we wanted to buy that crib. The crazy part... the crib we bought was over $500 less than the one we went there to pick up!!! We were ecstatic! AND, we're in love with the crib we bought!



My mom and brother were meeting us for dinner, my choice of course since it was my birthday, and I chose yummy Maggiano's. I always get the chicken and spinach manacotti and it didn't let me down. Then we shopped for a little bit and the boys went to go pick up our glider.



The next morning we went to church and then went to eat at Dan Thai, which is a fabulous little restuarant. I highly recommend it and it might just be this town's best kept secret. The service there is amazing and the food is so fresh and delicious.



Sunday night we had reservations at a Japanese steakhouse with Brandon's family and everyone came! Nana and Pop, Bradley and Tiffany, Brittney and Cole and Corben, Joan and Rodney and Wendy's family too! I felt so special to have everyone there in the same place for my birthday! Corben has been afraid to go to Japanese steakhouses because of the little fire show they do at the beginning and this time was no different. He WAILED. Like screamed and cried like he was going to die. He is truly fearful of the fire. I felt so bad because we were in a room to ourselves with 2 back to back grills (because we had so many people there) and our chef finished his fire thing and we all told Corben not to worry, that it was over and no sooner were those words out of our mouths than "Whoosh!" the other chef lit his grill up and the flames soared up just as high and Corben freaked again. Poor thing.



How far along? 26 weeks 4 days



Weight gain? I go next week and will be weighed... I feel like a heffer.



maternity clothes? Mostly yes.

Sleep? I've figured out my pillow situation... that has helped my sleep some...



stretch marks? Not yet...



belly button in or out? Still half in half out.



Best moment this week? My birthday!!!! and getting to celebrate it with all the people in the world I love most! And buying our crib!



movement? he's an active little fella =)



food cravings? well after my birthday lunch at work, i can't stop thinking about nachos =)



Food aversions? coffee



what I'm looking forward to... getting the crib (its being shipped to the store) actually in the nursery



milestones.... BabyCenter.com says he's putting on baby fat now! (how cute!!) and he is 14 inches long... wow!!

25 weeks

This week was kind of an exciting week in terms of baby stuff! Brandon and I had a free evening together Wednesday so we spent the evening cooking dinner together and looking at baby bedding and cribs online. We know what we want the nursery to look like, now its just pulling everything- the right crib, the right bedding, the right glider, etc- together to create that look. We had found some bedding a while back that we keep coming back to, and of course after you have the bedding picked out, you can create the rest of the room around it. Then, we decided on the crib we wanted to get but we'd never seen it in person and we found a baby boutique nearby that sells that line of cribs so we decided Saturday we would go and look at the crib and then do our baby registry. We got up Saturday and went to this little baby boutique, which is so cute and has so many of the things we've been looking at online. Most of you probably know that our taste is very modern and contemporary so the bedding sets and decorations at Babies R Us just weren't tripping our triggers. This little store, however, had a lot of very modern cribs and decorations. We didn't see the crib we originally went to see but there was another there that we had been looking at and THEN the lady helping us (who we think was the owner) told us that she had another crib she thought we would like, it just wasn't in the store this week because a company had borrowed it for a tv commercial shoot. The crazy thing about this is that this crib is the EXACT SAME BRAND and almost the EXACT SAME CRIB that we picked out in the very beginning that is *coughcough* only the cost of a small car. Not really that expensive but WAY more than we could afford or could with good conscious spend that much money on. Now you might be thinking, well if it was that expensive before, why are we getting so excited about it? Well, BECAUSEEEE the lady told us that if we liked it, she would sell the floor model to us for OVER HALF PRICE!!! Oh my goodness, let me just tell you how giddy we are about this! I don't remember if I've written about this in previous posts but since Brittney and I started teaching coupon classes, I have been saving every penny that I earned (with the exception of 11 dollars that we needed cash for to get hot dogs at Jim's one day haha) to pay for the baby's furniture. Yes, it was hard to stock this money away, especially since Brittney has been able to buy half of Anthropologie's inventory over the past 5 months and has THE cutest wardrobe EVER, but I did it. Brandon and I weren't sure how we were going to pay for baby furniture, since just like you can't squeeze water from a rock, you can't really squeeze anything extra out of our current paychecks. We agreed early on that I would put this money away after each class and neither of us would touch it until time to buy the crib and bedding and glider, etc. Brandon and I are shoppers and trust me, we must already be in parenthood training because we could get some serious clothes and shoes out of the money we've saved but we haven't, we've had eyes only on the prize. The prize being the perfect nursery for our perfect little man. So back to the crib that she agreed to sell us for half price... Like I said a minute ago, this crib is almost identical to what we originally had our hearts set on, the only difference in the two cribs is the color (the one we are going to get is white and the original one we looked at had a very mod wood finish) and THIS crib actually has panels on the sides that you can change with different fabrics to match whatever bedding you have. You probably can't picture how cool this thing looks and I so want to give you a preview but I think I'm going to wait. At any rate, we are THRILLED about this crib and are so excited about possibly getting to bring it home next week (if its back in the store).

Another thing we did Saturday was register at Babies R Us. I have several observations from creating our baby registry:

1) First time parents should never go alone. Take someone who has recently had a baby with you. Otherwise you will never survive.
2) Babies R Us should employ workers to walk around with couples to tell them about certain products and their parts (just for example bottles and breast pumps) OR edit their "must have" list to say not just "bottles" but "bottles, nipples for each age and stage of the first year, nipples for thicker fluids and thinner fluids, a bottle drying rack, a bottle dishwasher cage, a bottle cleaning wire brush, and a formula holder thingy." Not to mention all of the OTHER bottle parts I forgot about! We scanned a package of bottles and started to walk away and THANK GOODNESS Brittney was with us because she pointed out all the other crap you have to get.
3) Each product should have a pro-con list taped next to the price. How the heck do I know if the Diaper Genie is better than the Arm n Hammer Diaper Pail?? Does twisting off the bag kill the smell more than baking soda? I dunno, I've never had a kid!!!
4) Have chairs, or better yet, sofas, stationed throughout the aisles because remember, PREGNANT WOMEN are involved here!! Do they not know that we are EXHAUSTED and CANNOT STAND/WALK for that long??? I'm sorry, but I was about to keel over and was dangerously close to sitting in a stroller and wheeling myself around. My back and my feet were screaming at me after carseats, and that was the second aisle we went down!!
5) Offer couples a snack before embarking on this journey or at least tell me where I can find a Twix and a smoothie since after all, I WILL be hungry in 20 minutes (no matter when I last ate). Why would you ever ship a pregnant woman off to wander 50+ aisles of foreign objects (that SHE MUST HAVE in order to be a good mother) with no survival pack or at least a granola bar? This seems so simple to me, yet why aren't they doing this?

Don't get me wrong, I had a ton of fun registering. However, I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. Not to mention exhausted and starving. Those are just some tips I have for Babies R Us. I thought that when we went in and sat down and the nice lady started talking that she certainly was going to go around with us to explain things. Oh no. "Here's the scanner gun and your list, have fun!" Um, ok? Did I mention I'm a first time parent? Did I mention that I have no idea what to get or how many? Did I mention that I'm scared to death I'll pick the wrong carseat and will end up killing my child? Did I mention that I'm completely in awe of those little machines that are gonna squeeze milk out of my boobs (excuse my frankness) and have no idea which one to pick? DID I MENTION THAT THIS IS TERRIFYING??? HELLO! Has no one at Babies R Us ever had kids?? What the heck? Plus, I haven't even mentioned the fact that all other parents we know keep telling us "Oh, you'll never use or need half the stuff you register for." Ok then, WHICH HALF??? I know this is dangerous but all you parents out there, I'm inviting you to go look at our registry online (I think you just go to Babies R Us and then search our names) and let us know what stuff we really will need and what stuff we won't. Then tell me in the most loving way possible, because remember, I spent 3 hours in that store agonizing over each and every product we scanned... tired, hungry, and overwhelmed. So be gentle.

One more thing... to all of you who have told me I look like I swallowed a basketball or a volleyball. THANK YOU. Even though this is not true -well obviously I didn't swallow a basketball- I'm guessing you can't see past my belly to look at these thunder thighs or are just too kind to tell me how fat my cheeks have gotten. But thank you. You have no idea what this does to a pregnant girl's self esteem. I honestly feel a little buoyed each time someone tells me this (even though I know the truth!) and it means so much that you would tell me I look great even when I feel oh so fat. So thank you to all you kind, kind people. I sincerely mean that.

Survey...

How far along? 25 weeks 2 days

Weight gain? I'm choosing to ignore this until my doctor's appointment. In the beginning I only wanted to gain 25, now I'm just praying that I don't gain more than 40 pounds!!

maternity clothes? Yes and no. I'm still wearing my regular jeans and tops and then also wearing some maternity tops and pants. Its hard putting cute outfits together when you just aren't shaped the same anymore...

Sleep? Some good, some bad. Saturday night was roooouuugh. I woke up every hour or two hours and just could not get comfortable. I've started sleeping with my maternity pillow and another pillow to try to cope.

stretch marks? Not yet but my tummy sure does feel tight some days =/

belly button in or out? This question wasn't on my survey but I've seen it on some of my other friends' surveys so I decided to add it. Belly button is definitely half in, half out. Its been this way for about 3 or 4 weeks now and I'm just waiting for any day now to look down and see an outie.

Best moment this week? Spending all day Saturday with my best friend doing stuff for our baby =)

movement? More and more every day it seems! There's just nothing like feeling my little baby squirm and kick and tap dance on my ribs. Some days if he kicks in the same spot a few times, I'll gently poke my stomach in the same area and he'll kick back! Its a little game we play =)

food cravings? No strong cravings this week really...

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... hopefully bringing my baby boy's crib home sometime this week!

milestones... Ok, this week BabyCenter.com says he weighs a pound and a half! I guess that's why his kicks have felt so much stronger!!