Baby Shower #2!

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted. With the holidays and traveling, I haven't had much time to do anything, really. While back in Virginia, we had two baby showers thrown for us. The first one, hosted by my mother-in-law, I posted on last time, the second one was hosted by my sister. Here are some pictures and details from that shower.

The theme of the shower was reading. My sister wanted to help get Butterbean's library started, so she tailored the shower around that.

First up, cupcakes! You'll notice throughout these pictures, my sister has paired up a popular book with the food. Here, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake is with ... you guessed it! Cupcakes!

This is one of the best tables. Not only is it one of my all-time favorite books, there's also a plate of Rainbow Cookies! Fresh from the Ukrop's bakey. I realize many of you reading this may not be aware of what Ukrop's is, and well, I'm sorry for that. But rest assured, these are delicious. Like seriously amazing.

Goodnight Moon and Moonpies. Two great American classics.

Tell me this isn't the cutest thing ever. The Very Hungry Caterpillar with a sub sandwich ... in the SHAPE of a caterpillar!

Bread (pound cake) and my Mama's jam. ("That's my mama, she makes the best jam in three counties." - Props to you if you get this reference.)

My Nanny's meatballs are in the dish there, which is why it's paired with the book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

Couldn't get away without a Dr. Seuss book! Green Eggs and Ham with some ham biscuits!

So that's a peak at some of the decorations. Developing a party around the theme of "Books" is pretty much perfect for me. I'm kind of a nerd. Which is why I'm still in college. Perpetual student.

My dad even made this poster to go in Baby Girl's room.

These are some of my favorite books. I still love reading The Chronicles of Narnia. Anything by Dr. Seuss or Shel Silverstein is amazing. I love The Velveteen Rabbit so much, two of my close friends did a reading from it at our wedding.

I'd be remiss if I didn't include one last decoration/gift picture here.

My aunt and cousins made us this diaper 4-wheeler. How cute is that?! Some owls just hanging out, riding on a 4-wheeler.

There was also a "station" at the shower, where guests could write down a wish for Butterbean, tie that wish to a candle, light the candle while making the wish, and then blow the candle out. I had never seen this done before, so I thought it was kind of cool. I have a box full of candles with wishes tied on them for our little girl. I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do with them, but I'm definitely planning on sharing them with our girl at some point!

The shower was wonderful. I was able to see a lot of my friends who I never get to see anymore! Baby Girl also has quite the start to her library. I hope she develops the same love of reading I have! I would go through all the gifts Butterbean got, but it would take too long and I know no one wants to read that. However, we did get a lot of adorable outfits for her and some new blankets. She even got her first VCU shirt!

And here, the obligatory picture of me. Take this as a "belly" picture for week 23!

Here I am with my sister, the Hostess of this soiree!

Between Christmas and the two showers, Baby Girl got a lot of cool new things that her daddy and I have been putting together. I hope to update the blog again this week, with a 24-week picture, as well as pictures of some of Butterbean's new gear!

Baby Shower #1

This is the last time we will be home in Virginia before our little girl makes her debut. Because of this, our baby showers here are getting hosted early for us! Yesterday I had my first baby shower. Things just got real. It was a bit overwhelming (and more than a bit exhausting), but amazing nonetheless! My mother-in-law hosted this shower. Parties are her thing. If you need a party planned and decorated, you should call her. Seriously, it's amazing the things she comes up with. Here are a few of the decorations from yesterday.

This is the table where the food was (before the food, obviously).

One of the many tables set for the guests. There's a diaper cake center piece there.

These are little cake pops. Notice a theme here? We are decorating the nursery with owls. She drilled little holes in a branch and put the cake pops in them.

These are just a few pictures from the party. There were decorations everywhere! The shower was great. Everyone was so sweet and our little Butterbean is already spoiled rotten! We got so many great things for our little girl! All of the gifts were so thoughtful and we appreciate every one of them! She has some great new clothes and books, as well as a Virginia stage flag to go in her nursery!! I'm also pretty excited about her new bassinet that she will most likely will be sleeping in the first month or so ... in our room ...

It wasn't just about Baby Girl, I even got a little something, as well! My sister spoiled me with my first ever "blue" box!

Seriously, if I had known getting pregnant would get my Tiffany & Co. jewelry, I may not have waited so long! ;)

This is the necklace my sister got me. It is the "Tiffany Bean." The "Bean" represents "the origin of all things." So, you know, like a baby! It's perfect because we refer to our little girl as our "Butterbean." So now, I am wearing my Bean around my neck as I carry my Butterbean in my belly. (Feel free to tear up now.)

I know I posed for at least 57 million pictures yesterday, so I will try to find one or two, so as to update y'all with a new 22-week "belly" picture. I have another shower coming up this weekend, hosted by my sister, and I'll be sure to get a "belly" picture there as well, for 23 weeks!

That's it for now, check in with y'all later!!

8 years

This week sure is taking its sweet time... It's so hard to be patient when I know in just a few short days we'll be packing up and heading South for Christmas! I can almost taste my Nanny's chipped beef and gravy!
I wanted to take a minute today to post, because 8 years ago today, Paul and I went on our first date! So, it's kinda where this whole thing got started!

I'm sure there are earlier pictures of us together, but this is the first one I have on my computer, so we'll just start here. Here we are before prom senior year. Just a couple of 18 year olds. Lookin' fly, per usual.

Paul and I were in Government and Statistics classes together senior year. I feel like we may have had earlier classes together, but they clearly didn't leave much of an imprint. Anyway, senior year started and we had pretty much the greatest Stats class ever (not just because I officially met my husband). I'm not going to go through the step-by-step process of how we began dating, but let's just say it took a couple of tries, after somebody cancelled on me. (No, I'm not still bitter). It was worth the wait.

 

One summer, after dating for 4 1/2 years, Paul proposed on the beach at Topsail Island, NC. It was perfect. It was during a family vacation, so my family was there, which made it even more special. (That's my niece in the picture, apparently dancing around the beach.) I was actually caught completely off-guard, but looking back, I feel like I should have been more aware of this. I really am oblivious. This picture was taken moments after I said, "YES!"

9 months later, we got married just down the beach from where he proposed. Here are just a few pictures from our wedding day. The day was perfect, which is pretty impressive for an outdoor wedding. You're really begging for disaster when you plan a wedding on the beach. Especially a beach that is a barrier island, known for getting hit hard by storms. The reception was a blast. Really, I can't even begin to describe how much fun we had. Hopefully everyone else enjoyed themselves as well. Seriously though, how can you not have fun at the beach?!

And here we are today, getting ready to welcome our first child into the world. I couldn't be more excited to be sharing this moment with the love of my life. I hope you all enjoyed that trip down memory lane. I know I did. Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging. Here's this week's belly picture!

That's right, Baby Girl is about 10 inches long and weighs almost a whole pound! I myself am up about 11 pounds. Apparently that's on track, or so they tell me. We'll be heading to the doctor's office on Thursday to listen to her heartbeat and measure my belly. So much fun.

You may have noticed this picture is not cropped like normal. I wanted to give a look at how these pictures normally go. Layla is a little uneasy. We're lucky she's here to keep an eye on things for us.

That's it for now! Next post will probably be from RICHMOND!!!!! <3 RVA

It's the most wonderful time of the YEAR!

Because I love all things Holiday, we have taken on Christmas full-force. The house is decorated inside and out! I just keep thinking about how next year at this time I will be decorating our baby girl for Christmas, too. That's right, decorating her. I have to imagine she'll have no qualms about this, as she seems to move around the most while I'm listening to Christmas music!

This year, we went to a local Christmas Tree Farm, Tannenbaum Farms. It was over-the-top adorable!

Here is the outside. In here, they trimmed and drilled the trees. You could also buy fresh wreaths and garland. They had little ornaments that said "Tannenbaum Farms 2012." Obviously I got one. It is displayed proudly on our tree! :)

This is my adorably handsome husband holding our first live tree! I know he hates this picture, because it was cold and flurrying and I made him take this awkwardly close picture, but I love it! I really am annoying when it comes to the holidays...

Me, next to the direction signs so you can find a tree! This sign points to the pre-cut trees, which is what we went with. I would have loved to cut down our own tree, but again, it was cold and flurrying and I think Paul would have killed me. I hear that's one of those things that's good in theory, but often ends in divorce.

Some of the baby trees for the coming years... I was already picking out next year's!

This is the entrance to The Christmas Shop! Such a cute little store, with lots of ornaments, decorations, and even freshly made maple syrup and candies from the farm! Also inside, they were selling Christmas cookies and hot chocolate. AND, SANTA WAS THERE! That's right, Santa was hanging out, with no long lines to get to him. Yes, I absolutely cannot wait to bring Baby Girl here next year!


Anyway, onto a tour of a our personal Winter Wonderland (our house)! First, from the outside ....

The other week, we got a little dusting of snow, that was gone by the afternoon. Before it all left, I ran outside to get a quick snow-covered picture! Now, can you spot the puppy?!

Our kitchen table, all set for Santa! I love Christmas kitchen stuff!

I wanted to have a picture with the lights off so you could see the glowing "snow," but it makes it difficult to see anything else... I swear it looks better in real life. This is where our stockings are hung, soon enough we can add Baby Girl's. Layla has a stocking, too, but I don't have another holder right now to hang it. I got that Christmas tree taper-holder from Crate and Barrel a few years ago and I love it. Also, front in center, is our Countdown to Christmas Hallmark ornament!

This is our coffee table. The table runner is from Target a year or two ago. I love the little reindeer because they remind me of Nittany. We have the matching doormat outside. This plate is one of my all-time favorite Christmas decorations. It came from a craft show in Charlotte, NC a few years ago. I told my parents how much I liked it and they surprised me with it. I kinda want this out year round.

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for, our Christmas Tree!!

I have a few more things to post for Christmas, but I'll spread those out. Our neighbor has his lights hooked up to a local radio station, which is awesome! I have a video I will eventually post on here, probably as we get closer to Christmas.

That's it for now, but I'll be back in a few days with more Christmas cheer and baby stuff!

20 Weeks & Nursery Pictures

OK, so I've been really bad about this. I meant to have another post up sooner, but it's been crazy busy here with the final weeks of school. Busy really doesn't begin to describe it. It's mostly my own fault, as I put off some grading and other things I should've done earlier in the semester. But I choose to blame my dad for that, because I get my procrastination trait from him.

Hopefully I make up for the delay with today's post. Since posting last, we've gotten the nursery a little bit set up and I've reached (and passed) the halfway mark for this pregnancy!!! I seriously cannot believe how quickly the last few months have gone. It's amazing. Now, if only this next week and a half would go by equally as fast!

So here is the belly picture from 20 weeks!

This picture was taken in the evening, and I tend to be a little bigger at night. After eating like a horse all day and drinking 1203808 ounces of water. Plus, I feel like this angle is making me look larger for some reason. Or maybe it's the baby. She is the size of a banana now, apparently.

You may have noticed (if you're paying attention), we switched walls, and are no longer taking pictures on the same wall. That is because we put up some wall decals on the other walls. Fatheads. That's right, a big ol' Peyton Manning Fathead. (No, not really. Like I would put up Broncos stuff in my house ;) ).

At the time of the belly picture, this tree was in the process of being put up. It goes up in segments. And just FYI, these little guys are tricky. Paul and I realized during the process of hanging this, that I may have severe ADHD. I get really excited about something (let's go hang that wall decal NOW!), and then when it takes more than 5 minutes I get bored by it (seriously, are we still doing this?!). I have no idea how he puts up with me. Anyway, I think this turned out quite nicely! (By the way, we found the tree on Amazon.)

After hanging the tree, it only seemed appropriate to put little owls on it. My aunt found these owl decals at a Pier 1. They will fit in quite nicely with the owl theme we've got going on.

Here's a close-up, so you can see the little guys. Ain't they cute?! Just perched on a tree, lookin' all bug-eyed and maybe a little high.

And now for a "tour" of the rest of the nursery...

This is the guest bed that my mother-in-law rocked out. Looks snazzy, right?! I love the little owl stuffed animal she found (from Pier 1). He's super cute. Also, adorable owl pictures. I think it may be good that our little Butterbean is a girl, because there's quite a bit of pink in those portraits. They would've stayed up either way, because I like them, but it works out well.

Here is Baby Girl's crib, all assembled. We just need a mattress! (Obviously...) Layla seemed a bit concerned as we were putting this together. Actually, she seems a bit concerned about the whole process. She seems unsure as to why we're spending so much time in this room. Oh man. Her world is gonna be rocked. And she handles change so well... (For those who don't know Layla, this is sarcasm in its finest form. My dog is neurotic.)

Here's a view from the bedroom door. You can see where the wall decal is in relation to the furniture. Underneath the tree, we plan on putting a dresser/changing table. The balloon on the table says something about baby being a girl. It came from my sister. The first "It's a GIRL" type gift we got after finding out our little Butterbean is a girl.

And another shot from the door. We finally have some curtains up in here! Only took us a year and a half and an impending baby. In the corner by the window where that chair is, we plan on putting a glider.

So that's it for now! We'll add a few more touches, like the dresser, the glider, and Baby Girl's name above her crib (NOT before she's born... so don't ask! ;) ). It's starting to look more and more like a nursery. Oddly enough, I'm having more and more panic attacks. I wonder if they're related...

I am seriously planning on putting up a new post in just a few days with our Christmas decorations, so stay tuned! It'll blow your mind. OK, it may be a week before I get it up, but I'm shooting for this weekend!

Hope y'all enjoyed the tour!

OH! And by the way, only 10 days until we're back in Richmond! Not that I'm counting or anything...

Baby D is a GIRL!

Yup! We're having a GIRL! I'm still a little in shock. Now that we are referring to our little Butterbean as Baby Girl, it all seems way too real! The gender reveal cake was a hit, and went off exactly as we had hoped! Here's a a couple pictures of what the cake looked like before we cut it ...

Our neighbor did a great job! She dropped it off Thanksgiving morning very quickly, as she didn't want to hang around us too long. She said she was afraid she'd give it away!

Now here's the cake after we cut it!

Our very pink, "baby girl" cake! It was delicious by the way!

I'm going to attempt to upload a video of us cutting the cake here. Hopefully this works for y'all, so you can see the initial reaction. We were having dinner at our friends' Eric and Kristen's house with some of our grad school family. We were also able to Skype with both sets of parents so they could "be there" for this.

After doing this, I'm so happy we decided to wait an extra two days and share this with our friends and family. It made the moment that much more special to find out with people we care about.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we went to the doctor for our anatomy scan. Here are some close-ups of Butterbean.

This is one of the best pictures our little girl would give us. She's looking directly out, which is why her face looks like an alien. The ultrasound tech assured us this was normal. In this picture you can also kind of see her spine, which I thought was pretty cool.

Here our little girl is flexing. This is an arm and fist. As you can tell by the labels... I like that she's already a fighter.

Baby was chillin' here. Feet up and crossed.

Thanksgiving morning we ran in the Lansing Turkeyman Trot 5K. It went really well. There was a group of about 8 of us who ran/walked it. Here's a picture of Paul and me before the race.

So that brings us to this week. Yesterday we took a 19-week belly picture.

And here we are. Good gracious I'm large. I'm up about 9 pounds, which is apparently right on target. Almost halfway. I'm feeling some sporadic movement in there.

Also, I ordered my first pair of maternity jeans. Yup, I'm officially there. I can still rock the hairband around my jeans if I want, but it's more comfortable to just accept the fact that I'm large and in charge.

We ordered our crib and got that all set up! We've been putting up some more details in the nursery, so next week I'll have a post with a detailed tour of that. I'm also planning on posting again this week (I know, what a treat!), with our Christmas decorations. Paul and I went and got our tree this weekend at a local farm! The house now looks, feels, and SMELLS like Christmas!!!!!

That's it for now, but I'll be back later this week!!

18 weeks!

"A ship under sail and a big-bellied woman are the handsomest two things that can be seen." - Benjamin Franklin

I mean, in case there was any doubt, good ol' Ben cleared the air for us! I've started reading my first pregnancy book, Mommy IQ, by Rosie Pope. I figured it's about time, as I'm now about 4 months into this journey. At the beginning of each new chapter, there are a couple of quotes about pregnancy. One is typically from someone important (e.g., Ben Franklin), while the other is usually from someone, um, less important (like Snooki). So this quote came from that book. I like it.

Since updating this blog a few important things have happened: the soon-to-be nursery got a nice coat of paint and the guest bed was decked out, we put up Christmas lights outside, we took an 18 week belly picture, and, for the first time, I felt little Butterbean fluttering about!

So let's start with the nursery. The walls are no longer that lovely dark tan/brown color, but instead, a calming light grey (Sherwin Williams, March Wind). You'll see this in the belly picture. My mother-in-law came up and spent the week fixing up the nursery and organizing our garage. The guest bed in the nursery also has some snazzy new linens, but I'm going to wait to take pictures of that until the crib comes! That's right, we've ordered a crib! Should be in this week!! So, if you can all forgive me and wait a few days, I'll have some pictures of the nursery up! But believe me, it's awesome!

This weekend the weather was ridiculously nice. I mean Sunday, we were up around 60 degrees!! I decided to take advantage of that and put up my Christmas lights outside. I did this partially because our neighbor's son keeps asking Paul why our lights aren't up yet, but mostly because I am a 6-year old at heart and LOVE decorating for Christmas! So here are a few pictures of what is up so far. I plan on adding more and getting more festive after Thanksgiving.

This is off our back deck. I put up white lights around the railing. Straight back is the pond. One of our neighbors has put lights on the trees around the pond, which I'm hoping he'll turn on after Thanksgiving, so it'll look like a Christmas Wonderland!

This is our front entrance. Red lights down the columns, with white icicles around the top. I need to cut down the tall grasses in front, but we don't have large hedge clippers. I will be going to Lowe's on Wednesday to take care of this. The icicles are brand new, so they're not quite dangling yet, but Paul assures me gravity will take care of this. I will also be taking down the fall wreath and adding a Christmas wreath soon enough.

The inside of the house will get decorated on Wednesday. I also will probably add more outside! On Friday, we will be going to get our Christmas tree! I'm so excited I can barely breathe.

Since the last post, we also took our 18-week belly picture...

Is Baby D a boy or a girl?!?!?!?! Tomorrow we go to the doctor for the ultrasound!!!! We're having the doctor write it down and put it in an envelope. We will then head straight to our neighbor who is a baker, and give her the envelope. She is making us a cake, dying the inside blue or pink. We will be cutting the cake at Thanksgiving dinner with our grad school family. Some people have suggested this seems like an awful lot of work, but my response to them is this is really nothing compared to the work of having a baby. I can wait an extra two days to find out in a more memorable way than just sitting in a cold doctor's office.

I love Thanksgiving, I mean, what's not to love? Amazing food, amazing friends and family, Christmas season officially starts, and now, Thanksgiving will be the day we find out if we are having a little baby boy or a little baby girl! This is going to be the LONGEST week EVER!

Now, onto equally exciting news. The other night I was driving home from coaching, listening to Band Aid's "Do They Know it's Christmastime," singing passionately (obviously), when I felt something in my stomach. At first I just assumed it was normal stomach things, but that didn't seem right. It felt different. Like nothing I had felt before. Apparently, our little Butterbean likes Christmas music as much as I do!!! (On a side note, I am fully aware of the subtle racism in this song, but man is that tune catchy. In fact, if you haven't heard the song, or just need to hear it again, because, well, who doesn't, here it is: Do They Know it's Christmastime. I especially like when they cut to Sting, singing "the bitter sting of tears." Nothing says "Christmas" like "the clanging chimes of doom.")

Next time I post I will be (hopefully) uploading a video of us cutting our gender reveal cake!!! Only 3 more days!!!