The Findings of Me

The Nursery

2012-01-19T15:35:00.001-06:00

The nursery is FINALLY finished!! I was able to snap a few pictures of it today when the sun was finally out. I believe this is my favorite room in the house now.

1 Month

2012-01-19T11:01:00.001-06:00

It’s been one month since our sweet little Zoey arrived and stole our hearts! So far, time hasn’t been flying by for us. I’m sure when she hits six months we will wonder where the time went.

We have been very blessed to have such a GREAT baby. Zoey came out sleeping 3-4 hours at a time and eating great. The second night at home, she slept for 6 hours; I did go in and check on her a few times to make sure she was still breathing. She doesn’t cry unless she is hungry, tired, gassy, or needs her diaper changed. We are getting plenty of sleep at night. We typically put her down between 9:30-10 and she sleeps till 3-3:30. She wakes up again around 6. I am very thankful for such a good baby; I do not feel tired or sleep deprived at all. She is doing great about staying awake during the day as well. She typically stays awake an hour to an hour and a half after each feeding. We try to get her to stay away from the 6:00 feeding till the 9:00 feeding so she will sleep better at night too.

Right now the biggest struggle is gassiness. She seems to have a lot of it after each feeding. I’m trying to avoid foods that might cause this, but I’m still learning. I made the mistake of eating broccoli a few times this week and I think that has caused a lot of it. I’m hoping this gets better. I give her gas drops after each feeding to try to help, but doesn’t seem to help all the way.

When she was born she weighed 6lbs 13oz; when we left the hospital she weighed 6lbs 5oz. On the follow up appointment 2 days later, she had already gained 4oz; she was up to 6lbs 9oz. The nurse did not like the fact she had slept 6 hours the night before and told me I needed to wake up her every 3-4 hours (even at night) to feed, but I think that if she gained 4oz in 2 days she is getting plenty to eat and not going hungry.

We started giving her a bottle for the last feeding of the day so her and Brian could bond more. Her first bottle.

Zoey had her 2 week doctor appointment on January 4. I hope she does as well at her 2 month appointment as she did this one. She did not cry at all when they were measuring her or weighing her. Nor did she fuss when the doctor was checking her out. All bundled up for the trip to the doctor. It was pretty cold that day.

She sat contently in her Daddy’s arms as we waited for the doctor to come in.

In 2 weeks she grew an inch and half, up to 20 inches from 18.5 inches at birth, and gained almost a pound since birth; up to 7lbs 11oz. I think we are doing ok with letting her sleep as long as she wants to at night; she is getting plenty to eat. She has been holding her head up since Day 2. I know you might not believe me, but the girl has some serious neck muscles. She loves to hold her head up. She is still wobbly and doesn’t hold it up long, but she does better each day. She loves to sit up as well. As soon as she can hold her head up I plan on buying her a bumbo seat so she can look around.

We started doing some tummy time after the doctor’s visit. She’s not a huge fan of being on her tummy unless she is laying on you. She loves to lay on Brian at night and take a deep nap.

Tummy time; which last only about 15 minutes or less.

Her favorite type of tummy time; laying on Daddy.

She tends to love her bath as long as the water is being poured over her or the warm washcloth is on her. While she loves this, she is not a fan of being washed. We have discovered that she sleeps better at night when she gets a bath before bedtime.

I know it’s a long post, but I wanted to track all this stuff since the baby book doesn’t have a place for most of this. Here are a few of my favorite pictures so far. I really need to get some printed to put around the house. :)

Sourdough

2012-01-11T14:31:00.001-06:00

Growing up my Mom used to make sourdough bread all the time. I used to love coming home from school and warming a piece up with butter for my after school snack. Before Christmas she got starter to start making it again. Not only has she been making loaf bread, she has been making cinnamon rolls as well. Christmas night when her and Dad come to stay, she brought us a loaf and cinnamon rolls. I had forgotten now good the bread was and the rolls are so yummy. Brian never had sourdough before so he fell in love with it. He loves it for his sandwiches. I asked Mom if she would bring me some starter next time she came to visit. Yesterday was the day to feed it and make the dough up. When I woke up this morning the dough was beautifully risen. I divided it into thirds, 2 loaves and a batch of cinnamon rolls.

My beautiful golden loaves! If I toot my own horn, it tastes very yummy!!

I baked the cinnamon rolls for half the time so I can freeze the ones we don't eat tomorrow and they will be freshly baked in the morning. They look so good half baked.

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Christmas Recap

2012-01-09T15:14:00.001-06:00

I realized I never posted about our Christmas; I guess I had a little more going on lately. :) This year Christmas was a little different than the years past. This was the first year (minus one in college) that I did not spend Christmas Eve/Morning with my family.

The weekend before Christmas, Brian and I headed to Alabama for the Montgomery Christmas and Christmas with my family. We decided to do Christmas early this year since we were not sure when Zoey would arrive or the face she would be arriving on the 27th. It was great seeing all my aunts, uncles, and cousins. This time of year is really the only time we all get together, unless it’s for a wedding. Having a large family is one of my favorite things about my Mom’s side of the family; I cannot wait for Zoey to be old enough to run around with all her cousins.

Saturday night, we had a low key family Christmas with my family. The girls were all excited about opening gifts and watching us all open ours. Zoey even got a few gifts herself.

A few pictures from the night.

Brian and I had planned out all what we were going to do this Christmas since Zoey was not “scheduled” to be here until after Christmas. Christmas Eve we were planning on spending the day in our pjs, drinking hot cider, opening our new Christmas pjs, and going to look at lights that night. Christmas day we had planned on opening gifts, going to church, eating lunch at Cracker Barrel, and enjoying our first and only Christmas with just the two of us at home.

Well, as you are now aware, those plans were changed a little bit due to Miss Zoey arriving early! Throw in Brian coming down with the stomach virus early Friday morning, I was starting to get a little down and lonely. (Mom had left Friday to go back home and I was left alone for the first time with Zoey and a very sick husband who I was trying to avoid so I would not come down with the stomach virus.) Thankfully by Saturday morning, Brian’s fever had broken and he was feeling much better.

We were still able to do all our plans; just an added bonus of Zoey being with us. I had already decided weeks before that if she did happen to arrive before Christmas, we were not going to do a big Christmas for her this year; next year would be her “first” Christmas. Saturday, we spent the day in our pjs. It was great. We opened our new Christmas pjs (one of our traditions) and got ready to look at lights. Zoey even got her first pair of Christmas pjs. She did great riding around looking at lights. Sunday morning we got up and opened gifts. We let Zoey open her first before we got into ours. Even if it wasn’t the Christmas I had planned out, it was wonderful! Here are a few pictures from our first Christmas at home and as a family of three! Oh! I forgot to mention a new Christmas tradition we started this year; Brian in the pink bunny pjs!

The Birth Story

2011-12-26T09:30:00.001-06:00

As promised, below is the story of Miss Zoey’s birth. It’s long.

Last weekend, Brian and I went to Alabama for the Montgomery Christmas (my Mom’s side of the family gathering) and Christmas with my family. Since we had it all planned that Zoey would not be here before Christmas, but we knew I shouldn’t travel after last weekend, just in case. Brian and I had our Christmas weekend all planned out and I was looking forward to having one Christmas just the 2 of us at home. We had a great time, several of my aunts said that my cousin who is due 2 weeks after me would end up having hers before me due to she was carrying so low.

I felt fine all weekend, just the normal of Zoey balling up in a ball at the top and staying there. Sunday was the same. We headed back home and decided to stop and eat dinner before getting home. I wanted sushi, don’t worry it was all cooked, so we went to Mist. We got home and did our normal Sunday afternoon chores and and packed from the weekend. I had been debating on whether or not to work from home Monday and Tuesday, then take sick days Wednesday and Thursday since she wasn’t here and I had sick days to burn. Plus I had a LONG to-do list which needed to get done before Monday when I was admitted to have Zoey. So I sent Jimmy an email stating all this and he was fine with it.

We finally got in bed around 9ish and decided to watch SNL with Jimmy Fallon hosting from Saturday night. Brian always jokes that Jimmy Fallon is my TV boyfriend; I do love him. We were laughing our butts off at the skits. At some point I heard a “pop” (probably around 9:45). I had to pee shortly after that; when I went I honestly couldn’t tell if I did in fact pee or not. The fluid did not look like pee, but was more clear. So I told Brian I thought something might have happened. (I didn’t tell him I heard a “pop”.) I mentioned that I didn’t know if my water broke or not. So, what do we do, we googled “how to tell if your water broke”. Didn’t find much at first. While he was looking for info, I was going on how I was not going to go unless I was sure. I did not want to be that girl that goes and just gets sent home. Brian was telling me that we needed to go and I just did not want to be that girl. Finally, he finds an article that mentions hearing a “pop” and he asked me if I did, and I say yes. Of course he was like why didn’t you tell me that at first. Since I was not planning on it to happen this way I did not have a bag packed; so I had to pack. I had no clue what to pack. But keep in mind, I still wasn’t convinced that I was in labor. We were not in a hurry at all. We finally headed to the hospital. (Keep in mind, I still had not had ANY contractions at all.) We arrived and got in the pre-delivery room around 10:45.

They hooked me up to the monitors and said that I was having contractions. I think after that, I started to feel them. Funny how the mind works that way; as long as you don’t know, you don’t feel the pain. They did the litmus test to see if my water broke up couldn’t tell. Next thing I know they are telling me I’m going to have to be checked out by a NP to see and it will be like getting a pap smear. Um, NO THANK YOU! By this time, the contractions were getting more frequent and were hurting. Unfortunately, they had some student NP do the checking; she barely got the clamps (or whatever those horrible things are) in and my water broke. The student then checked me to see how fair I was dilated; she said, you are 8 cm. I was like what. Thankfully the other NP checked behind her and I was only at 3cm. Oh, I forgot to mention that as soon as I got there my blood pressure was high, so no pain meds for me yet. Since it was high they had to take a urine sample via catheter. Man, I forgot how PAINFUL those were; plus add in the pain of contractions. On top of that, they took blood to run test to see why my blood pressure was so high. I kept telling them if they would just give me pain meds it would go down. Needless to say they did not listen to me. After all this, they sent me to a delivery room.

Once in the delivery room, my L&D nurse was AWESOME! Even though I was only at 3 cm she had already called the anesthesiologist to come put in my epidural. I was begging for something for the pain. Sadly Dr. Hudson was out of town (oh, here is the funny part. He was in Decatur while I was in Hartselle. For those of you who do not know, Decatur is 10 minutes from Hartselle. How crazy is that!) and had not gotten back in town yet. (One of the many things I love about him, regardless if he is on call, he will come in for certain patients.) Dr. Turner was the doctor on call, thankfully I knew her and was ok with her being the one. She came in and said as soon as the blood work was back, they would give me something for the pain. I didn’t’ care what it was, I just needed something. Finally a few minutes later I was given something. It didn’t really take the pain away, just made me loopy and drowsy. Not that I could go asleep yet. The anesthesiologist shows up to give my epidural; woo hoo! Getting an epidural is NOTHING compared to getting an IV. I would rather have an epidural given to me over an IV. I thought I was golden once I had it. WRONG! Sadly the first one did not take. My nurse checked me again and I was at 4 cm now and Zoey still had not dropped. Here is where I say, Susan, you are a stronger woman than me!!! I do not know how you did your whole labor and delivery with NOTHING. By this time, my contractions were VERY STRONG and were almost one after the other. I could not stand it; I was in so much pain and was in tears from it. I was begging for the anesthesiologist to hurry up and come back to redo it. Once he arrived and gave me the second epidural, I was GOLDEN. My nurse checked me again once the meds kicked in and I was at 5 cm now; still not dropped. She said that if I did fall asleep, she would not wake me to check me unless it had been more than 2 hours since she last checked me. I believe now, the time was just after 3ish or right before it. We decided it was time to call the grandparents that we were at the hospital. We didn’t want to call them earlier due to we didn’t know how long it would be and wanted them to get a little more sleep. Oh, the whole time, my blood pressure still was elevated; man those cuffs in the hospital get TIGHT. Having it check about every 2-5 minutes was not pleasant. Thankfully, I feel asleep and slept off and own for a good 3 hours. Around 5 or after I woke up and Brian’s parents had arrived. My nurse came in around 5:30 or 5:45 to check me again; this time I was at 10 cm and Zoey had finally dropped. She told me it was time to push and once she crowned they would call the doctor in to finish. Um, not at all I was expecting to hear! This is when I start to freak out and said no I was not going to. I was worried my epidural was wearing off; my legs were not as tingly and I did not NOT want to feel ANYTHING. The nurse and Brian were telling it was going to be ok and that I had to push; and I was adamant about not. I did not want to do this nor think I could. They finally convinced me to push. Thankfully it wasn’t bad at all. I barely felt any pressure. After about 3 pushes, she was crowning. Dr. Turner came in and I pushed I think 2 or 3 more times and Zoey was here! I do wish Dr. Hudson had made it, but he came in about an hour or so after she born. He was upset he missed it, but everything turned out great. Total time of labor (from the time we arrived at the hospital to the time she was born) was just over 7 hours. It wasn’t near as bad as I thought or feared. My parents got there just shortly after she was born, they took a wrong turn getting to the Women’s Hospital but that was ok. It’s not like I had anyone else in the room with us; just me and Brian. Zoey weighed 6 lbs 13 oz, 18.5 inches long born at 6:19AM on December 19. The perfect size! She is a small little one though.

Here are a few pictures from the first couple of hours after she was born.

Look at all that hair!

Eyes wide open.

Proud Daddy holding Zoey for the first time!

First family photo!

Overall, things went great. My blood pressure was evaluated most of the time while I was in the hospital. Not sure why since I did not have any issues during pregnancy. Dr. Hudson didn’t seem too worried about it and said that it’s normal for people to have to go home with meds for a couple of weeks. I had hardly any pain afterwards. Thankfully, it went down Tuesday night and stayed down Wednesday morning so I was able to go home. I do have to go back sooner; a week later; to have more blood work done to check on things and a follow up appointment.

I’ll admit I’m glad I went in on my own instead of being induced and that’s it all over. Brian says that I would be sitting here today (Dec. 26th) worried and thinking about it all day if I didn’t. I don’t think so, but he seems to know me better than I know myself.

Here are a few more pictures from the hospital.

Aunt DeAnne loving on Zoey. She hated that she had to work on Monday and couldn’t get here until late Monday night. She stayed with me that night in the hospital so Brian could go home and get a good night sleep. Not that she minded at all since she got to love on Zoey the whole time.

Aunt Krista and Zoey.

Dr. Hudson getting to finally hold Zoey.

Daddy already learning to mult-task.

Wide awake!

“Going home” dress Granny made which swallows her whole. She was not a fan of being put in a dress. I was only able to get about 2 pictures of her in it.

It’s been surreal this past week. I’m very thankful she is here and it’s all over. She has been a GREAT baby. She typically sleeps 4 hours at a time at night and goes back to sleep after nursing. The second night at home, she sleep for 6 hours before waking up! Too bad, that won’t happen ever night.

We did have a scare starting Thursday night. Brian woke up around 1:30ish throwing up. He thought he has food poisoning, but I had a feeling it was the stomach bug. I immediately got up and went to sleep on the couch. I was not about to chance it. He ended up getting sick through out the night. In the morning, I had him check his temp and it was a low grade fever. I called to make him an appointment to see if it was for sure the stomach bug. Sure enough it was. He was all upset and worried that he had given it to Zoey due to holding her and loving on her the night before. I told him she was fine and I was more worried about me getting it than her. I felt so bad for him, he was so sad and upset about it all. Not only did we have a newborn at home, he was upset that he had “ruined” Christmas. I tried to comfort him the best I could. I told him I would call the pediatrician to check on if they thought Zoey would be in danger. They didn’t seem to think so; which was how I felt. I told him I was more scared about me getting it and not being able to care for her or nurse. Thankfully, we made it through and I dogged the bullet. Friday night his fever broke so I knew it was going to be ok. Thankfully it was only a 24 hour stomach bug. We had a great Christmas and was still able to do everything we planned to (before and after Zoey arrived).

I hope you all stuck with me and read the whole post, I know it was long, but I wanted to make sure I got it all down before I forgot!

Introducing Zoey Nola!

2011-12-20T22:46:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post to announce Zoey made her grand entrance early Monday morning!!!!! I plan on writing about her birth story once we get home, typing up that much in the iPad is a little hard, but wanted to share a few pictures of her.

Just minutes old.

One day old. Such a cutie if I do say so myself.

Daddy bringing breakfast before going to work.

Look at all the hair!

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Hard at work.

2011-12-13T19:31:00.001-06:00

Instead of writing the thank you notes I should be writing, I put together the bouncer seat! All we need now is Zoey to put in it!!

Update: Then when I put batteries in it last night, it didnt' work. Great. Now to take it apart and return it. Sigh. Guess I need to put together the swing soon to test.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Negative Nancy Post - Warning

2011-12-08T11:29:00.001-06:00

It’s official. I’m ready to be on maternity leave. I have been pretty proud of myself not to be the “hormonal” pregnant woman, to let things get to me (mainly at work), but I’m to the point where I just want to be at home doing nothing. I’ll admit that I’m having a hard time focusing on work and keeping comments to myself and not snapping at people.

I still need to get the pictures hung in the nursery, do some final straightening up in there, and make sure I have everything ready. I have the diaper bag pack, I think. I’m just waiting on Mom to finish her coming home dress; she works better under pressure so I’m sure she will be bringing it to me in the hospital.

I haven’t even thought about packing my bag yet. I really don’t even know what to pack in it. Any suggestions? I don’t see a point when I have yet to dilate at all. II will be that woman who either is running around packing my bag if I go into labor at home or will be packing it on Dec. 26th before he puts me in that night. Yep, that’s right ladies and gentlemen, I am official on the schedule to be put in on the night of Dec. 26th and to be induce on the 27th! I think that Dr. Hudson doesn’t think I’ll have it before then so he went ahead and put me on the schedule for that day. Yeah, I know that being induce typically causes more pain, but at this point I do not care, that’s what the epidural is for! I tried my best to get him to induce me earlier, but he won’t budge. At least he is willing to do it on my due date and not make me go any longer!! I can suffer that much longer; I think.

This week Zoey has decided that she wants to curl up into some type of tight ball or something and not move. She has yet to drop so it’s right near the top and it hurts like hell. Thankfully today she seems to have moved out of that spot, but goes right back to it during the night which causes for me to hurt greatly and wake up very uncomfortable. I long for the night when I can sleep on my stomach (even though I’m not a stomach sleeper).

Last weekend we did get the house all decorated for Christmas. I’ll post pictures this weekend. Brian was good up until putting the lights on the tree. I swear it’s a genetic wiring for all men to get bent out of shape when putting on Christmas lights. I don’t get it. Sure it’s time consuming, but it’s not that big of a deal. I ended up helping to make sure it went smoothly. This year hasn’t been as much fun for me nor have I wanted to get all into the Christmas spirit. Typically the night after the tree goes up I wrap gifts, but this year they are still sitting in their pile in the dining room waiting to be wrapped. I just do not have the motivation to do it. Maybe I’ll get to it this weekend.

I apologize for the Negative Nancy post. Please don’t hate me or think I’m too crazy!

Um, is it really almost December?!

2011-11-29T14:38:00.001-06:00

Holy crap! Where did the year go?! Where did November go?! It’s hard to believe that tomorrow will be the last day of November. I feel like I have so much left to do (which I do) to get ready for the holidays. By this point I typically have my Christmas cards all addressed and ready to go the first day of December, but alas, I’m behind on thank you notes so Christmas cards will have to wait till those are done. Motivation for getting them done. :)

Maybe I was wrong when I said that the next month would be crawling by, but just thinking about it now, I don’t think it will be. This week along is BUSY with birthing class last night, Holiday Tree Festival tonight, church tomorrow, then the weekend of decorating the house for Christmas! Next week we have all the fun filled Christmas parties starting up. Let’s hope I can make it to all of them!

Thankfully I do have 90% of my Christmas shopping done!! I have a few more things to pick up for Brian, but I have just about everything taken care of. Now to wrap them all and tuck them under the tree! This year Christmas plans are still up in the air some, but we do have my side planned out as long as I’m still able to travel on the 17th. I’m a little sad I won’t be there Christmas Eve, but at the same time, it will be nice to have one Christmas morning at home with just us (maybe!) before Zoey arrives!

I have got to get the house cleaned for decorating. The dining room is MESS and it’s beginning to get to me. Thankfully it’s mainly boxes to be put in the attic.

35 weeks

2011-11-22T20:27:00.001-06:00

I promise I won't post a week by week update on the baby front going forward. Just the milestone ones. Today was the first of many visits were I was "checked". I'll admit I did not know what to expect and had heard it was painful. It wasn't as bad as I thought; although it was discomforting--pressure. It was also time for my Strep B test too. Zoey is head down but no dilation. I guess we still have a few more weeks before her arrival.

Now for fun stuff!!!!

We had another shower Sunday down in Aberdeen. We are so blessed to have so many friends and family who want to help with preparing for the arrival of our little Zoey. We received so many wonderful things! I don't have any pictures from the shower but Nona does so I'll have to get the, from her.

The nursery is really coming together; I'm just not ready to share pictures yet until it complete. I'm finally getting around to making up the art work I have had planned. Here is one piece. It's not a 100% done (have to put some type of hanger on it before I glue it all down), but you get to see the layout! Lisa gave me the idea from the shower she hosted. Not only did she give me the idea, she provided the letters and flowers from the diaper cake she made. I can't wait to hang it on the wall!!

Today I was walking by the nursery and I found Sunni like this.

Typically he does not lay on the laundry, but I guess he was trying to connect to Zoey's things.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Gloster Street Shower

2011-11-19T20:49:00.001-06:00

We were honored with a shower from the wonderful ladies at church last weekend. Mom was able to make it to this one so she was in charge of pictures. We received so many great things for Zoey! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who are already spoiling her!

Tupelo Shower

2011-11-19T20:43:00.001-06:00

I’m a couple of weeks behind posting about the second shower we were given for Zoey. Our lovely friends from Tupelo hosted a beautiful shower for us. Instead of trying to do everything justice, I’ll share in pictures!

Meeting the Goo Goo Dolls

2011-11-15T12:41:00.001-06:00

To be almost 8 months pregnant in this picture, I’m very pleased with it! One of the best pictures of myself in a long time. Rachel was trying to convince me to let them touch my belly, but you all know how I feel about that.

34 Weeks.

2011-11-15T12:33:00.001-06:00

I told myself I was not going to fall behind again on blogging about all the events we have had the past few weeks, but alas, I have. I’ll start now trying to catch up. They are not in order due to I do not have my camera with me at work, so I do not have pictures share so I’ll start with just the boring pregnancy updates.

Today I am 34 weeks! Time still feels like it’s crawling by for me. I have determined that it will never speed up for me. Next week will be my last biweekly checkups; then I start the once a week ones. As much as I’m not looking forward to being check each visit, I am excited to find out at times if I have dilated at all.

On the pregnancy front, this week has been a great week for sleep! I have slept through the night the past 2 nights (ok, so my definition of sleeping through the night right now means only waking up between 11:40 and 12:40 to pee, and then again around 4-5:30 for good). I finally figured out why, we have not had the heat on at night and last night we had the air on. I sleep better when I’m cold. The plan is turn the heat off at night so I can sleep better. Thankfully we have a very heavy winter comforter for Brian to use to stay warm. I feel like I am as huge as a house; seems like my belly has grown the past week. Ugh.

We are halfway through our birthing classes. Last night we were the only ones in the class; there is only one other couple in the class now. The annoying couple was only there the first 2 classes. I do have to share the story on them.

“Last night we found out that she had the baby Friday. She had pre-eclampsia so her doctor decide to induce her on Thursday night. She was, I believe, 35 weeks or so. They gave her the meds to make her cervix ripen, but it did not take. They tried again Friday morning with the same procedure, but did not happen. After a few hours of no progress, she had to have a c-section. It’s ironic due to all she would talk about was how she was going to have it naturally, use a doula, etc. (Hey, I’m all for that if you can do it, but she was putting down those who used drugs for pain.) Moral of the story, things do not always work out as you plan.”

Not sure what dreams mean when you are pregnant, but I did have an interesting one last night. I dreamt that I has Zoey this week. Maybe I’m just so ready for this to be over and her to be here, that my brain is on over load. Of course it was a weird dream, but I do remember having her. Does that mean she will arrive sooner than later??? Maybe all these classes are getting to me. Since I have no read anything about pregnancy the whole time, I have not had dreams like this and now that I have been in taking the information of the signs of labor I’m starting to have them. Crazy.

Baby Update!

2011-11-08T20:04:00.001-06:00

Today was a fun doctor’s appointment! On top of a doctor’s visit, today is 33 weeks. Only 7 weeks left! We got to see Zoey today; been awhile since the last time we had a sonogram was at 19 weeks. Boy, has she changed! Sadly we didn’t get many good 4D pictures due to she wasn’t having it. She had her hand in front of her face most of the time and wouldn’t turn toward us to get a good view. We got one ok one and if you look at it far away you can make out her face. I personally cannot tell much from it, as far as who she looks like, but you can tell it’s her face.

On more exciting news, you can see she has HAIR! Ok, so I know this is not a big deal to most, but I did not have much hair until I was about 2 years old. I have been hoping she would have hair, even just a little, so people wouldn't stop and say “what a cute little boy!”
.
Even more exciting news, I have a definite end in sight! Since my due date is the 27th of December, I have been worried about my doctor being out of town. (Side Note: While I understand that doctors can’t always be on call and have to rotate on who is on call, but I really want my doctor to be the one who delivers the baby. I spend all this time seeing him and building a relationship that I want him to be there when the time comes.) I went ahead today and brought it up on what the plan was. Thankfully Dr. Hudson is not going out of town during the holidays. He has a few days before that he will be out, but hopefully when I start going every week we will be able to tell before that if things are progressing fast enough for me to go into labor while he is out or not. One reason I love Dr. Hudson is he prefers to deliver his own patients regardless if he is on call. Ok, so I know that was a bunch of ramblings, but the point is, he said he would not let me go past my due date!!!! While I have never been a fan of inducing I have been worried that I would go past the New Year and wasn’t thrilled about that at all. Dr. Hudson prefers not to let you go past 40 weeks; which means no later than the 28th Zoey will be here!!! So if she has not arrived on her own by the 27th, we will induce. I am praying she decides to come on her own, but I am thrilled to know we have a definite day when she will make her grand entrance!

Only shot of her face we were able to get. Maybe you can make it out if you look at it from a distance.

In this one you can see her hair! Amazing how you can see that on the sonogram. All I have to say is I can say that the old wives’ tale is true, heartburn/acid reflux = hair. Too bad we can’t see what color it is.

Goo Goo Dolls

2011-10-31T14:35:00.000-05:00

Sunday night we able to go to the Goo Goo Dolls concert in Tupelo. Rachel scored us AWESOME seats and Meet and Greet with the band. I do not have pictures from the Meet and Greet yet, but I will share once I have them (we could not take pictures with our own cameras). It was a great show, but we all felt bad at the poor turnout. It was like being in high school again! Our seats were so good it was like having our own private showing (due to the small crowd)!! We were the old people and left before it was over; hey, it was a Sunday night and already 10. I did wish we got to hear Iris, but oh well.

I was able to snag a video of Name. I was afraid my camera was going to die on me before it was over, but I got it all. I forgot how much I like this song.

Oxford Shower

2011-10-31T13:58:00.001-05:00

What a lovely weekend!

Saturday morning was our first shower for Zoey! Lisa and Rita did a lovely job at making sure everything was perfect for the shower; everything was gorgeous and delicious. It meant so much to have friends around to help celebrate the upcoming arrival of Miss Zoey. She will be one spoiled little girl!

Instead of my trying to do justice with words on everything, enjoy the pictures!

Adorable owl cookies!

LOVE the diaper cake! I cannot wait to take the name and flowers and put them in a open frame for the nursery wall. (Lisa has all the best ideas!)

The spread!

Rita, Me, & Lisa! Two wonderful hostesses!!

Thank you again Lisa and Rita for such a wonderful shower!!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends!!

Where in the world is Leah?

2011-10-28T13:43:00.000-05:00

Wow, I cannot believe it’s been almost a month since I last posted. Things have been a little crazy around here. I know in the next few weeks it will be even more crazy! Here is a long recap of what we have been up to.

Two weeks ago was my 28 week check up and the lovely glucose test. OH MY. All I have to say is it sucked. I barely choked down the lovely flat fruit punch “drink” in the allotted 10 minutes. I felt worse after drinking the crap than I did going without food that morning. When I was waiting to see Dr. Hudson, I looked down at my hands at some point and they were very pale. I can only imagine what my face looked like. I swear my blood sugar dropped more after drinking that crap than going up. I really thought I was going to be starving afterwards, but by the time I left the office, I was no longer hungry. The visit was great, I’m not anemic and I passed my test. Well, I should say I’m assuming I did since it’s been 2 weeks and I never heard from them saying I failed. Woo hoo! Funny how now that I have that out of the way, I want cupcakes! I guess I was more cautious about watching my intake of sweets than I realized.

Last week (ok now it has been 2 weeks since I first started this post) I was in Seattle for SQL PASS. Yes, I know. I’m a geek, but I love it! I had a good time and my brain was ready for me to come back. It has been a long time since I sat in a classroom for 8 hours (not all back to back, but total) learning things. It’s a lot different than working 8 hours a day. Brian was able to take a week of vacation to come with me. Granted he had more fun than I did and was able to see Seattle more, but we did get to do a few things at night.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Before we left for Seattle, the nursery bedding was finally read and we picked it up. I can’t wait to share it all set up with you!

I’m hoping by the middle of November to have the nursery all set up. I find it amazing that I haven’t freaked out yet about it not being all ready. We are ripping up carpet and moving furniture around this weekend. I still have to figure out what all to put on the walls. I do have a plan for some art work, aka initials, but other than zero ideas.

This week (last week) starts my bi-weekly doctor’s appointments. Yep, that means we only have 10 WEEKS left! I’m sure going every 2 weeks will help speed up time, plus the holidays are about to be in full swing.

Friday (last Friday) Mom and DeAnne are coming in town to go to Celebration Village. Maybe I can add a few more gifts to my Christmas pile. I have a good start on it, but not near where I was hoping to be by this time.

90 days!

2011-09-28T14:45:00.001-05:00

Technically today it’s 89, but go with me on this. Hard to believe that it’s already been 27 weeks. I thought I didn’t start the 3rd trimester until 28 weeks, so it sort of caught me off guard yesterday when I check my phone app and it said 3rd trimester. Time still seems to be crawling by for me, I feel like it’s been forever and a day since I found out I was pregnant and it feels like forever and a day before it will be over.

I finally got brave and took a picture of me. Not the greatest, but I just took it in a hurry this morning.

Overall I’m doing great. As much as I’m not honestly a fan of being pregnant, I can’t complain too much as I have had a pretty easy time. I’m sure I have said it before, but I’m honestly surprised at how pregnancy has treated me. I just knew I would blow up and be HUGE, have such a horrible time dealing with it, etc., but it really hasn’t been bad at all. I believe I have gained 5 of the 10 pounds I lost back, so I’m still doing pretty good in that case. Only issues I have is not being able to sleep 100% well at night and the occasional heartburn now. I go in for my glucose test next Tuesday, joy. I’m not looking forward to this AT ALL. I’m mainly afraid of getting sick while drinking the crap or waiting the hour. Going without food that long is not very pleasant for a pregnant lady.

Tuesday I can pick up the nursery bedding. I’m anxious to see how it turned out. Now just to finish that room and get the furniture in. By the second weekend in November, the nursery should be 90% done. I still need to decide what all I want to put on the walls. I know I’m going to do canvases with her initials on them, depending how it looks, I’m going to hang the picture of the 3 fairies godmothers from Sleeping Beauty which DeAnne did for me a few years ago, and maybe a couple other things. OH! We did finally pick up an overhead light for the room. The room has gone without one for 3 years now. Brian actually picked it out, it’s a pretty little chandelier. It will add a little fru-fru touch to it. It will be odd to actually use the light switch instead of turning on lamps.

Fall is around the corner!

2011-09-20T14:07:00.001-05:00

I have been in the crafty mood lately. I have been sewing for Zoey, planning some fall/Halloween/Christmas décor ideas, and actually doing them! I found this gem on Pinterest and decide to give my hand at it. It looked simple easy to make and not much time involved. I did make a few changes on it. Instead of using burlap on the flowers, I used felt and no buttons for the center. Oh, I used a grape vine wreath instead of foam due to the foam one was smaller than I was looking for, but still think it turned out great! I love it! Just a simple fall wreath.

Sunni thought the burlap was for him when I laid on the table to cut the strips. He went nuts over it. If he would actually lay on it, I would make him a burlap blanket or bed.

My latest shopping run.

2011-09-19T11:48:00.000-05:00

Tums
Maalox Advance
Pro-Health Crest toothpaste.

Sigh, the heartburn/acid reflux has now become my least favorite thing about being pregnant. The old wives' tale better be true; Zoey better arrive with a head full of hair!

I jumped on the bandwagon

2011-09-15T11:16:00.001-05:00

I made my first Etsy purchase yesterday. I have been holding out due to there is WAY too much on that site I want and then feel like I can just make it myself. Plus I know I can easily get carried away.

I decided to jump on the new happening trend for babies. I toyed with the idea of doing something different and making my own thing, but then I thought why not just do the simple way.

Here are the month by month stickers I picked out for Zoey. Now, just hope I remember to actually do this each month. I opted for the addition 13th sticker of the “Just Born” as well in the same set. Yes, I know I’m silly.

Then of course I stumbled across these and thought they were cute, so off they went on their way to my door step.

On the pregnancy note, I finally have a little baby bump. Although I still feel as thought I just look fat. Blah. Last night I went to picked up a few maternity clothes…not a fan of buying at all. I still can wear all my normal clothes, but I do need a few new fun shirts. Tuesday was the 25 weeks mark. Hard to believe we have 15 weeks left. I’m still feeling great and all. I think I might have gain a pound back of the initial pounds I lost, I’m still doing good on the weight gain. My next appointment is the dreaded sugar test, blah. I am not looking forward to this at all. I’m so scared I’m going to fail it, although I hardly eat many sweets, I do crave carbs. Stupid hidden sugar. I’m hoping I pass it so I don’t have to worry about watching what I eat while in Seattle. I think after my next appointment I’ll start going every 2 weeks, crazy. We still need to finish painting and replacing the carpet in the nursery, oh and get an overhead light. Shouldn’t take us too long but just finding the time is the issue. Maybe in 2 months I’ll have pictures ready to share with everyone of the nursery!

You know you have a great friend...

2011-09-14T09:46:00.001-05:00

...when he agrees to mow your yard.

Evidently at some point during the night last night, John stated he wished he could mow someone's yard. Brian graciously told him he was welcome to mow ours. So this morning when he woke up, he mowed it.

A little sewing.

2011-09-12T18:42:00.001-05:00

The past couple of months I have done a little sewing for Zoey. There is still so much I wish I could make for her or have time to whip up. Here are my recent finished projects. All taken with my new camera! I’m not sure you can really tell a difference between the new and old, but I like to think you can.

Pocket bib. One of the first times (other than the botch job on the lunch bag) I have use oil cloth. I still have a lot of this left.

Burp cloths with monograms. It’s crazy burp cloths like these can run anywhere from $10-$20. I have more that I plan on just putting fabric down the center panel.

Stroller blanket. Not the greatest work I have done, but it works. Adding the blanket binding was a pill.

The 30 Club

2011-09-06T21:04:00.001-05:00

Well, over the weekend I joined the 30 club. Having a birthday which falls on a holiday weekend, a long weekend, is wonderful. I had a fabulous 30th birthday/weekend. I actually remembered to take pictures of most things, so this will be a long picture filled post.

Thursday night started out the celebration with a small happy hour gathering at the house. It was sweet of all my friends to celebrate with me. I will admit it wasn’t quite as wild as I had imagine it would be last year, but I did have a lovely time. Brian was the sweet husband which he is and planned the whole thing. He even got me a cookie cake to celebrate! Thankfully, no one tried to put candles on it.

Friday I took the day off to start the weekend out. We were heading to my parents for the weekend and a party which my sister and Mom planned. It was family and a few friends from school. It was great getting to caught up with friends I typically only see at Christmas. I know y’all are all waiting to see the AWESOME cake my sister made for me. She really out did herself!! I had no idea what she was planning or decided to do.

The 30th cake!!!!

Side views of the cake. She put different things that were me: Angry Birds, Honeymoon to Disney, knitting, Nook, music, my “signature” lsh, Ole Miss, and Apple logo. How awesome is it!!!!

She made an Ole Miss, but it was too big to put on the cake, so she had to redo it. How cool is this!? It’s made out of gum paste, so I got to bring it back with me. Same as the Angry Birds.

Saturday Mom and I went shopping around town. We hit up a consignment sale and picked up a few cute things for Zoey. I wanted to go in the Robin’s Nest to see if they had anything. Of course I could have spent a TON of money in there, but was good and only bought a couple of things off the 50% rack. I was good and didn’t buy one of every smocked dress I saw. I really could outfit Zoey in all smocking for the first year and be happy. We hit up a few other shops I had never been in downtown. I found the PERFECT thing for Brian, waterless soap, "Oh My Goodness”. Yes, I know you are thinking that’s what anti-bacterial gel is, but this is better. It doesn’t dry your hands out. I also thought of picking up some of the Poo-Pourri, but I’ll save that for Christmas.

Sunday we headed to the Westin at Bridge Street in Huntsville for a getaway. We had hopes of laying by the pool, but plans changed and it rained. We walked around shopping instead. When we arrived, shortly after getting settled in the room, we had a LOVELY surprise…

Chocolate covered strawberries!! Casey was so thoughtful and had ordered these for us!!! How sweet is that! I could not get over it. I will say, these were some of the BEST chocolate covered strawberries ever.

We had dinner reservations at The Melting Pot. I could not wait to take Brian here, he was a fondue virgin. One of the things I love about the Melting Pot is that it’s a romantic spot. They have booths which are in little nooks. We had a blast.

Our cheese fondue. I should have taken a picture of the flaming turtle we had for dessert, but I could wait to dig in!

Tonight when I got in and checked the mail, I had a surprise waiting for me in the mail…

which was this…

My cousin, Jessica, sent me a birthday happy in the mail!

All in all, my birthday was fabulous!!!

Start of a plan.

2011-08-24T16:50:00.001-05:00

I’m starting to plan more for the nursery. Friday afternoon, Lisa and I went to Premier Prints to pick out fabric for the nursery. I’m so thankful she went with me!! They have so many lovely fabrics that it is almost overwhelming to do it all on your own. Also it help that Margaret, the lady there who does most of the crib bedding, was there too. I can’t wait to see how it looks when it’s finished.

Fabric for the crib skirt. I decided to add in the pink to give it a more feminine touch. I didn’t want it fru-fru, but needed an accent color.

Fabric for crib bumper. The white dot fabric is actually chocolate brown, not sure if you can tell that it’s not black. The long lengths of the bumper will be a chocolate brown mickey (you know that really soft fabric with the raised dots) on the inside, then the white/chocolate dotti will be the short ends on the inside. Just another touch of the pink to tie it in.

Fabric of the curtains. These are already made and up, but thought to share the it all together.

Fabric for the rocker cushions and curtain on the changing table. I choose pink to tie it all in.

The walls are the green in the fabric with white trim. The furniture is white as well. I plan on getting chocolate brown baskets to put in the changing table for accent as well. I believe I will have some of the pink left over and my plan is to cover small canvases with it then paint Zoey’s initials on them in brown as décor. At first I thought about doing an owl theme, but that seems to be the “it” theme now, so I nixed it. I just like adding accents and random pieces to it instead of having a “theme”.

12 Days

2011-08-22T10:20:00.001-05:00

12 Days…

left in my 20s.
until I enter a new decade.
until Ole Miss football starts.
until a relaxing long weekend.
until I start a new chapter in my life.
until the awesome cake my sister is making me is revealed!

Halfway there!

2011-08-17T14:11:00.001-05:00

Every time I sit down to write something, nothing really comes to my mind. I hate to always post about pregnancy or whatever, but honestly that’s all I’m doing right now.

In the next couple of weeks, I hope to be able to make it to Premier and pick out the fabric for the bedding. I already know that there will be WAY too many options for me to choose from and I hope I stick with my color scheme. At times I really want to get the nursery all set up and done, but other times I’m just not ready yet. Don’t ask me why. I think mainly due to if I start on it, I’m going to have a hard time waiting to see what we get as gifts and not run out and buy everything.

I’m trying really hard not to buy too much right now. I have bought a few clothing items that have been on sale for later on next year. Speaking of which, I do believe smocked dresses will be my weakness. I bought 3 today from Zulily. Aren’t they cute!! They are all for Zoey after 6 months. I’m in love with Bishop dresses! I really need to learn to smock myself or get my Mom and Sister busy making me some.

Source: zulily.com via Leah on Pinterest

On the pregnancy front, I’m now 21 weeks. Over halfway there; crazy. It seems like time is crawling by. Some months it feels like it is going quickly while others not so much. As far as I can tell, I have not felt her kick yet. It is amazing how many people think this is horrible that you haven’t felt it yet. I guess some do not realize that not everyone does feel the baby kick or it might be later for some.

Speaking of things that are now getting annoying to hear, I do have a list now. Yes, I realize that these things won’t stop until after I am no longer pregnant, but hey, I get to vent.

1. Anytime someone asks, “When are you due?” and I respond December 27th; “Oh! A Christmas baby!” I’m sorry but if I hear that one more time, I think I might scream!! Yes, people I realize this you don’t have to tell me.

2. When people find out I’m 5 months along and say “Oh, you’re not showing much at all. You really need to eat more.” Thank you for your friendly advice, but I am eating; I’m just not being gluttonous. I eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full. I even eat things that I “crave”. Dr. Hudson says my weight looks great, so there. (On that note, I’m still the same; no gain since losing the weight in the first few months.) I know that come the next few months I will gain some. So what if I don’t gain 40+ pounds like many people do. Don’t most know you are suppose to gain the max of 30 pounds depending on what you weigh before getting pregnant.

3. “Have you felt her kick yet? No. What? Are you sure?” Sigh. As far as I can tell no, I have not felt any kicking yet. No, I haven’t felt anything that felt like “gas” either so I’m not thinking that it’s just that either.

4. When people come up and touch my stomach. I am trying really hard to avoid this from happening. I typically back away when someone attempts to or if they are a good friend I just tell them I don’t like it. I’m sorry, but it freaks me out. I just now (like literal yesterday) allow Brian to touch it. If I won’t let my own husband do it, you can’t either random person.

5. “Have you had any weird cravings? No. Really?” I didn’t realize that it was a must to have some crazy, odd cravings. When I want something, I typically do eat it. But nothing odd.

Other than that, things are good. Only thing I wish would change is sleep. I am so used to sleeping through the night and not moving at all. Brian always is amazed that I go to sleep and just sleep. Most nights I would wake up in the same position I went to sleep (on my back). Lately though, not so much. I just cannot get comfortable, at all. For a funny post that is not identical to my nights, but VERY similar read Sage’s post. It really sucks not being able to get comfortable. I would be ok with waking up here and there if that was the case. Most of the time when I wake up I cannot go back to sleep so I toss and turn. Then I see Brian sleeping soundly (for him, he is a light sleeper) and really have a hard time not waking him up. I think that if I have to suffer, he should too. But alas, I’m a good wife and let him sleep.

Drum Roll…

2011-08-03T12:15:00.001-05:00

Monday was the BIG day! We found out what the little one was; boy or girl. I’m sure most of my regular readers know already, but we found out it was a GIRL!!!

Here are a few snapshots of her. The tech said she was facing my back so there' wasn’t many shots of her face. Even a pretty good one where you can tell that it’s a girl. Everything looked great they said, has 10 fingers and 10 toes.

Good profile shot and you can see the heart pretty well here too. While it looks like she is sucking her thumb, she’s not, just has her hand in front of her face.

If you look, you see the 3 lines that denote it’s a girl. There was plenty of shots to verify this.

We already have a name for her, Zoey Nola. Thankfully picking out names was pretty easy for us. We already had both names picked out and have for quite awhile.

All in all, pregnancy is going good. I still have moments where nothing sounds good to eat or I get queasy after eating. As far as weight goes, I still haven’t gain any since I lost weight in the first trimester. I did wake up this morning with a lovely rash on my stomach. Not fun. I’m hoping that it was just due to I’m allergic to the gel they put on to do the sonogram since it was on there longer than it has been in the past and nothing more serious. If it doesn’t go away in a few days or spreads I get to see a dermatologist to see if it’s something else. The nurse told me that it can happen during pregnancy and they are not sure what causes it. Lovely. All I can do is put some Benadryl cream on it or take a warm bath with Aveeno bath mix.

She did it again!

2011-08-01T08:55:00.001-05:00

My sister has really out done it this time!! This year for the twins (her niece and nephew) she did an Angry Birds cake.

Here are the cute little birds she made for it.

And here is the CAKE!!! I can’t seem to get it to embed from facebook on here, but I hope you all go watch it. She did an AMAZING job!!!

Yikes!!

2011-07-25T09:26:00.001-05:00

Last Monday, we put this in our yard…

(Disclaimer: This is not our actually sign or yard. I did not want to post it with my number on it for the whole inter-web to see.)

We must be crazy!! We are not in a hurry to sale, but wanted to go ahead and do this. While we know right now is not the best time to sale, it’s a great time to buy. I LOVE our house, but in a few years we will need a bigger house. I have forewarned Brian that I will be very sad if and when we do move. I get very attached to things like this. I have already become sad thinking about the possibility.

In other news, 1 week till we find out what baby Herndon is!

Girls’ Weekend 2011

2011-07-21T13:08:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was the 4th Annual Girls’ Weekend with Casey, Lisa, and myself. Five years ago, the three of us started getting together once a year for a weekend. Casey had just moved to Birmingham, so Lisa and I picked up and went there. The year Casey and I got married we skipped the weekend and got together for each of our weddings! Three out of the four trips, have been in Birmingham; the last year we went to Savannah since Casey and Michael were living there. I love each one of these ladies so much! I am so thankful for such loyal and wonderful friends in my life!!

On Friday, Lisa and I headed to Birmingham. Casey and Michael have recently moved back to Birmingham and have the most adorable little cottage like house. I feel in love with just about every house in their neighborhood. I love having Casey closer now; it’s just a hop and skip away now.

Friday night, we had reservations at Hot and Hot Fish Club. YUMO! I’ll go ahead and admit that I was worried about what I could eat, but my entrée was lovely. I had the red snapper on a bed of seasonal vegetables in a lemon oil sauce. The lemon oil was amazing.

Saturday we decided to do the spa at Ross Bridge and stay the night there. Before heading out to Hoover for the rest of the trip, we had brunch at The Continental Bakery. This is a standard for us when we are in Birmingham. LOVE this place. Ross Bridge is gorgeous. We arrived early to enjoy time by the pool before our spa appointments. This was my first time at a resort spa and let me tell you; this spa is a completely different experience than the experience you get at your every day spa. I could have stay there all day just lounging in the hot tub, drinking cucumber water, and being pampered.

We had dinner at the Clubhouse restaurant; where we enjoyed the view and rain shower briefly. After dinner, we took a walk around the surrounding neighborhood. The little neighborhood around the resort is very quaint. The houses look small from the front, but then you see how far they go back. Gorgeous houses with most of a cottage look. We ended the night with wine on the balcony of the resort and sitting by a fire pit.

We did manage to get one picture! We almost forgot to get one, but we did get one as we were leaving!

Quick baby update

2011-07-15T14:43:00.001-05:00

The next 2 weeks are going to be the longest EVER!! On August 1st, we will hopefully find out what we are having. I tried to get one today, but he said he would prefer to wait due to most still look like girls at this point. He will do the anatomy scan/look at that time as well.

Everything is still looking good. I still haven’t gain any weight, but he’s not concerned about it due to he said I have a “parasite” and if anyone was not getting nutrients, it would be me. He did listen to the heart rate and it was 145; a big drop from the last 2 visits of 172/171. He just laugh when I asked what it was and said that never works. But hey, I can still guess right. :)

In a few short hours, Lisa and I will be on our way to Birmingham for a Girls’ weekend with Casey!!! I cannot wait to see her (it’s been what since last Memorial day I think)!!! We are having a low key night tonight, then a day at the Ross Ridge spa on Saturday. I am in need of a good massage and pedi.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Date Night

2011-07-14T13:28:00.001-05:00

Last night was Date Night for my bowling group Dolls with Balls. Enjoy a few of the pictures! I wish I had the group picture, but I’ll have to wait and swipe that from Meredith when she posts it.

Short week, but long post.

2011-07-08T15:04:00.002-05:00

What a week! To be a “short” work week, it has been the longest one in awhile. Today I believe is the longest day; it’s only 1:00 and I feel like it should be at least 5:00.

Tomorrow is a busy day for us. I have an appointment mid-morning, then Brian’s step-cousin is getting married in Oxford, and later that night on the way back into town, we will be stopping by to help celebrate Ashley’s 30th birthday! I hope I can make it for at least an hour at the party or longer. I’m going to force myself to make sure we get pictures this weekend. I haven’t had any recent pictures of us and weddings always make for great picture taking times! I do see trying to take a nap late afternoon to prepare for the long evening. If I’m this tired now, I don’t want to know how I will feel trying to keep up with a newborn, much less those late night feedings and earlier mornings.

Thankfully, I think I have finally hit the stage where I am feeling better during the pregnancy. I am starting to be able to eat meat again, still have no desire for chicken unless it is in a quesadilla. Granted I had a moment after eating a hotdog today where I was thinking I shouldn’t have.

While I feel like I’m getting energy back, most food does not appeal to me still. I am having to make myself eat due to if I get too hungry I start to feel sick. Crazy how that happens, it’s a Catch-22. You are so hungry, but yet when you try to eat something you have to stop before you regret it. Mornings have been pretty rough in that category for me this week. I wake up STARVING, yet nothing appeals to me and I cannot get it down. If anyone out there has any tips on how not to wake up STARVING in the mornings please share. I am really struggling with this. I have never been a breakfast person as it is, so it’s been a challenge for me to eat something before I even leave the house. Typically OJ will help raise my blood sugar to help the sickness go away, but then nothing appeals to me to eat.

I think after 4 months, I’m starting to “show” a little bit. I am still able to wear my normal cloths without any un-comfortableness at all. While I’m ready to start looking a little pregnant, I’m not sure if I’m ready for the plunge of maternity clothes yet. I’m hoping that I can still fit in the dress I’m planning to wear tomorrow night for the wedding. While I haven't gain any weight yet, I feel “different”. I am hoping I can hold off any weight gain for at least another month. I know it’s ok to gain weight, but I’m not quite ready for that either. I guess I’m afraid that if I start to gain weight, I might gain too much. I eat healthy(ok so I try to) pretty much and watch what I eat, but I’m just worried. I try to tell myself that I have about 7-10lbs to play with due to I have lost about that much since becoming pregnant; so even if I do gain weight, I won’t be too much over my original weight I hope. Fingers crossed.

My next doctor’s appointment is next Friday; I really like these Friday afternoon appointments. The office is pretty much empty (ok, so it was last month) and you are called back quickly and out quickly. I was really hoping to have another sonogram done this time so we could find out the sex of “it” (it will be nice not to have to call it “it”), but I’m not scheduled for one. So one more month of waiting!!!! It really sucks having to wait another month. People have asked me what I want, but I honestly do not care for many reasons. One, I just want a healthy child, two, this is one time I honestly have no control over; so why get attached to one sex or another and it not turn out the way I want it and be upset, and three, three, ok so there is no three only two reasons I don’t care. I don’t have any feelings either way either. The only thing that I have to go off is the heart rate and from what I have heard from others. Both times the heart rate has been 172/171; which typically leans toward a girl. I am curious to see what the heart rate will be this visit since it supposedly slows down some. Go ahead and start placing your “bets” on what it is!

Cheers to the weekend!!!

A little sewing.

2011-07-05T13:50:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, I got the motivation to pick up a few projects that have been waiting to be sewn. Sadly I do not have pictures to share of all the completed projects.

The first one up was Lisa’s birthday gift. I have had it cut out now for about 2 months, but never had the energy to sew. I was quite please how the handmade bias tape worked. I was worried I was not going to have enough, but I even had some left over! I think I will use it as a little embellishment for some bibs. While I will say, I like making my own bias tape, I still have some practicing to do before I will sign off on pre-made tape. It’s a little harder to make sure you get the underside sewn together and it’s not as “crisp”. I did not take a good picture of the apron before giving it to Lisa, so maybe Lisa will share a picture wit you.

Another project I have had cut out for a while now is a pocket bib made from oilcloth. All I had to do was sew the bias tape around it, add the snaps, and attach the pocket to it. Hard to believe it will “big” enough for a little one. The neck opening looks so small.

A few weeks ago Heirloom Forever was having their summer sale, and I picked up almost a yard of white with lime green polka dots (that really soft fabric, you know the one that is fluffy, but I cannot think of the name right now) to make a small blanket out of it for the baby. My first time using blanket binding and it was a little challenging. I still need practice with it as well. Overall it turned out to be a nice simple blanket. I don’t think the baby will notice if it’s the neatest sewing.

I still have several more projects to start and complete before the end of the year. I really need to just sit down and make myself do them! Before long, I’ll be starting on a stocking (don’t worry, I’m not worried about having it done before this year. Even if the little one is born before Christmas, I don’t think I’m going to worry about it. I’ll let next year be it’s first Christmas (so I say now.).

A whole new adventure!

2011-06-20T18:07:00.001-05:00

The cat’s out of the bag! For those of you who guess the theme of the last post was baby, you guessed right! Brian and I are expecting a little one the end of December. It has been a world-wind the past 3 months. I promise I won’t turn the blog into a pregnancy/baby blog, but if y’all will indulge me, I do want to share a little with you on this new I’m embarking journey.

Friday was my 12 weeks appointment. So far everything has been great. Thankfully I haven’t been sick at all, just queasy here and there. I NEVER knew how EXHAUSTED you would be during this time. It hit me around 8 weeks and lasted till about 10 weeks. All I wanted to do was come home from work and lay on the couch, then go to bed around 8. One day (it’s super crazy how this happens) I woke up in the morning and could tell that I had my energy back. It’s the oddest thing how it is literal like turning on a light switch. I’m hoping the next few months will be smooth sailing. So far I haven’t had any food cravings, but I have not been able to eat meat the past few weeks. It’s the oddest thing, raw meat doesn’t bother me, but cook meat does. Dinner seems to be the hardest meal on me, nothing sounds appealing at all during that time. The pro side of being pregnant (to counter the yucky feeling) is that I have actually lost weight instead of gain it! Woo hoo!!! I’m hoping the rest of the time I can have a very small weight gain. So far I have lost about 10 lbs since I found out I was pregnant.

I’m sure everyone else says this about their doctor, but I’m going to go ahead and say that I have the greatest doctor. Dr. Hudson is awesome! For those of you who know me well, know that while I have always wanted kids, pregnancy was not something I was looking forward to at all. Dr. Hudson has been great and understanding. He is very meticulous about everything, but also doesn’t overwhelm you or do more than is necessary. Fingers cross that when it comes down to the delivery time he will be the one on call or he will be willing to come in to deliver!

I’m sure most do not care to see, but for those of you who do, below are the sonogram pictures from my 8 week appointment and 12 week appointment. It’s amazing how 4 weeks changes things. This time it looked like a baby. It’s fun to see how much it changes. I was hoping he would do a sonogram the next visit too, but since he can hear the heartbeat using the doppler, no sonogram. The next visit after that (August) will be the big one—sex identification!

8 weeks:

12 weeks:

Let’s play a game!

2011-06-13T09:00:00.002-05:00

Below are a few of the upcoming projects I would like to start and finish. What do you think the theme is?

Memory Game
Daisy chain ABCs Crewelwork Sampler
Quite book
Happy Stacker Ring Toy
Blankets
Room Ideas

I’ll post the answer later for those who do not know!!!

Snake!

2011-05-31T08:29:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, a snake crawled up into my car. Everything would have been fine, if Charles had not decided to aggravate the snake. Thankfully one of my co-workers managed to get it all on video!

Enjoy!

The Adventures of Brian and Sunni

2011-05-23T20:07:00.001-05:00

Last week Brian got the idea he want to take Sunni on a walk. Back when Sunni was a kitten I tried to take home outside as well, but he just shut down. Brian really wanted to try. I knew Sunni would either get really mad when he tried to put the harness on him or just shut down.

While I didn't want to be the one who was putting poor Sunni through all this, I did video the adventure.

Once Brian finally got the harness on, outside they went!

YouTube Video

A new theme

2011-05-18T16:08:00.001-05:00

My new theme makes me want to make Posie Gets Cozy Oregon Summer quilt. I really like her Pink Lemonade one too (couldn’t find it quickly)! So summery and cozy!!

I really need to get back into sewing. I put it off for a bit for no reason other than laziness. Maybe I’ll get motivated soon to get back in to it!!!

Mayday, Mayday

2011-05-06T15:44:00.001-05:00

Wow. I can honestly say I have no idea where April went. Last thing I knew it was our anniversary back in the first part of April and now it’s middle of May!!!!

I hope my very few readers haven’t given up on me due to my lack of posting. Things just have been crazy or I have been lazy. Take your pick!

Now as I sit down to blog, I have no idea what to blog about. I had all these ideas here and there, and then I was just too lazy to sit down and put them down. I promise to get better in the upcoming weeks.

This weekend we are heading to my parents’ to celebrate my Dad FINALLY retiring!! After 45 years of working for the same company (well sort of if you count starting with South Central Bell and ending with AT&T), he finally decided it was time to rest. I don’t think it really has sunk in with him, but he seems to be enjoying it so far. I have a feeling they will be coming to visit us more now that he is retired; which won’t be bad if I can put him to work some.

Up next will be a fun adventure of Brian and Sunni!

M.I.A.

2011-04-06T21:07:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I know it's been awhile since I posted anything. I have been thinking about all my lovely readers and how you all want pictures from our vacation. Honestly I just haven't felt like sitting down to upload the pictures, think of witty things to say, and post. With all that said I will at some point go back and post about the trip, but I wanted to a share more recent events. I'll do a few short posts so don't get bored of one long one.

This blog post is coming to you live from my new iPad!!!!

That's right, my very sweet husband bought me a new one a week ago. I never really thought I would want one, but after seeing the new one (I was really drooling over the smart cover for it) and realizing that I use my phone more than the laptop to get online; I decided it was for me.

Each Wednesday night before church, we grab a smoothie and do some window shopping. We headed to the mall last week. As we are walking around Brian notices Radio Shack has a sign for them. I was not hoping for anything since it was a 3-4 week waiting if you ordered from Apple and none of the stores around seem to have any in stock. Well, boy was I surprised when the sales girl walked up with one. After trying to talk Brian out of it, he bought me one. I was shocked they even had them in stock AND they had the color of smart cover I wanted; green! I am in love!!! I still need to figure out good apps to get for it, but I'm still having a blast with it. Any of you who have an iPad, any apps you recommend?

Sneak of the day

2011-03-18T13:07:00.001-05:00

Today we are spending it at the Biltmore.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy St. Patrick's Day (aka Allie's Birthday)

2011-03-17T14:43:00.001-05:00

Quick post to shout out a Happy St. Patrick's Day & Happy 30th Birthday to Allie from Lexington Avenue Brewery!!!!

We are starting off with a Golden Strong Ale. This a Belgian-style ale made with Belgian candy sugar & German noble hops. It is carbonated like champagne.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

First hour in Asheville

2011-03-16T11:49:00.001-05:00

We just arrive in Asheville in time for lunch. After a recommendation from a friend, we decide on lunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe. My favorite part so far.....

Fat Tire!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Here, there, everywhere.

2011-03-04T19:38:00.001-06:00

I have been a bad blogger lately. I mean well, I just do not sit down and put fingers to the keyboard. I probably should break this down into different posts, but I like making a long one! :)

There has been a lot going on over in our neck of the woods. February we celebrated Emma and Brian’s birthdays. This year everyone came to us to celebrate. It was nice having Mom fix lunch and everything else for us. DeAnne did another amazing job with Brian’s cake. For those who have not seen it yet; here is his iPod cake. Although his is silver, DeAnne figured a silver/gray cake would not be very appealing to eat. She had all the details of the iPod included. I’m not a big fan of fondant, but I do like DeAnne’s. She makes her from scratch with marshmallow cream and powdered sugar. How can you go wrong with that? The ear buds were very neat in that she had the shape and everything down to a T. I still do not fully understand why she does not do these for people. She could make a killing off them!

For Emma this year, we all chipped in to get her a Nintendo DS. She was very excited when she opened her gift, but she is her daddy’s daughter, she does not show excitement much. Daniel never shows excited about anything. Emma was grinning from ear to ear when she opened her gift; which I took as a good sign she was excited.

For Valentine’s we stayed home. This is the first year since we have been dating we did not go to Clarksdale. While I love going, we have saturated everything there is to do there. Instead we had a quite evening at home. Brian picked up my favorite pizza from Pizza Factory and we at off the wedding china and drank champagne out of the crystal. It was quite fun eating pizza and staying in. I love my china and really should get in the habit of using it more. One thing my mother taught me (even thought she doesn’t practice it much) is to actually use your china. Why wait for a “special” occasion to use it? For dessert, Brian bought me petit fours as part of my Valentine’s gift. This is actually all I asked for. I LOVE petit fours! It’s a good thing they are such a pain to make otherwise I would be making them all the time!

The week after Valentine’s we had a beer tasting of the beer Brian brewed. For Christmas, I got him a beer brewing kit. Now, it was no where near involved as Michael’s (see Casey’s blog for his process and her 100th post!), but he enjoyed it. I did not think to take pictures of the process, but I do have one of all the bottles (we went ghetto and used water bottles) before we starting drinking them. Do not fear! We use pints to drink out of. We were nuts to not taste the beer before we let anyone, but we did it. I was so scared of what the beer would taste like and that it might be flat. Let me be the first to say I was pleasantly surprised! As you can see it’s a light amber brew. I believe it was called a pale ale, but it’s a little more amber than most pale ales. It had a nice citrus taste to it. We did discover that home brews do tend to have a higher alcohol content. For some reason that never crossed my mind!

I completely forgot to get a picture of Brian with a pint of it, but I do have Meredith enjoying a glass of it!

By the end of the afternoon, all the beers were gone! I do believe others thought it was drinkable too. I cannot wait for him to try his hand at a different brew. I would love for him to get the hops and try it all from scratch at some point!

I have not been sewing much this month; seems like too much as been going on for me to sit down for a couple of hours to sew. I did though finish my lunch bag. Please do not judge me or look closely at it. This was my first time making anything like this so it does have PLENTY of mistakes. I am looking forward to making a few more. Even with all the mistakes it turned out pretty well. I just need to pick up some clothes pins to use to close it.

I have some of oilcloth left over so I plan make a few of those pocket bibs. I’m looking forward to seeing how they turn out. I really like using the oilcloth. There are so many things that can be made with the oilcloth. I have seen a few placemats that might be fun to whip up. Speaking of household items, I picked up a few new pattern books the weekend my family was in town. One is full of retro aprons (I have become in love with aprons) and then one is different types of linens; napkins, placemats, shopping bags, dishtowels, etc.

A week from tomorrow we are heading on vacation for one glorious week! Saturday through Wednesday we will be in Pigeon Forges with my family. I have never been to the mountains; so I am looking forward to a little mountain getaway. It will be so nice to get away from everything and just be enjoying the scenery. Wednesday thought Saturday Brian and I will be in Asheville. We decided to find something near Pigeon Forges for us to finish out the week. Neither one of us have been to Asheville plus it is only an hour and half from Pigeon Forges. We plan to tour the Biltmore and winery, take in a Brew Cruise, possible ghost tour, St. Patrick’s day fun, and much more! I’m looking forward to a relaxing week away from everything.

I am getting the itch to pick up a cross-stitching project. Not sure what I want to do, but I do have few patterns to choose from. Maybe next time I’m in Alabama, I’ll pick up some fabric and start one. Right now at night, I’m working on another baby blanket. I just started a random one to have something to do while watching TV (I’m the type who has to have something to do while watching TV. I very rarely just sit and watch TV; I feel like I’m wasting time if I do not have something to do.). Turns out this one will be for our good friends Tyler and Whitney! They just found out they are having a boy; I knew I decided to do a blue one for a reason. :)

Oh! For those who haven’t heard (and this shows you how bad of a blogger I have been) I got a promotion last month! I’m uber excited about it and have been going none stop at work. I am still in the same group, reports, I am just now the manager. Hopefully soon, I will find a new hire to replace me. I am in need of more help.

Celebrate!

2011-02-14T15:09:00.001-06:00

Friday night we continued to celebrate Brian’s birthday. This year Brian wanted to have dinner at Snack Bar. Snack Bar has quickly become one of our favorite places. We invited Kevin and Laura and Lisa to join us for dinner. I had made reservations for 7:30; once we arrived we had to wait a little bit. It seems like everyone decided to have dinner there we knew. It was great getting to chat with everyone while we waited. I was having a grand time that I did not even noticed we had been waiting an hour for our table. As we are being setting at our table, champagne glasses were being set around. I was a little confused as to who ordered champagne, but I never pass it up. :) The manager comes over with a bottle for us to celebrate finally getting a table. I have never experienced such wonderful service!! Not only did we get a lovely bottle of Cava, we were also treated to our appetizers. The food we had was divine!!! I do not think I will ever be disappointed with anything I eat there.

Kiss the cook!

2011-02-02T08:49:00.001-06:00

Here’s a quick shot of Brian modeling his new apron.

What’s in my bag?

2011-02-01T08:22:00.001-06:00

5 tubes of Bare Escentuals Buxom in shades of Blanche, Tonya, Julie, Gabby, & Carmen
hand sanitizer
Tide pen
Hobo clutch wallet
Jergens Ultra Healing lotion
Burt’s Bees Replenishing lip balm
bareMinerals mineral veil & compact brush
Neosporin
green iPod
flash drive
Sharpie pens
Burt’s Bees lemon butter cuticle cream
Leatherman micra
nook
Franklin Covey planner

A little sewing going on.

2011-01-25T15:15:00.001-06:00

This month I have spent a lot of time sewing. I am really enjoying learning how to do more things while sewing. One of my goals for this year is to make several projects out of my Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts (MSFSFC). I can’t wait to share with you what I make from it.

Back before Christmas I picked up fabric and a pattern to make pj pants for B and I . During Christmas I had Mom help me work on B’s due to I wasn’t confident to work on them alone. With her helping and showing me a few things, B’s pants turned out well. This past weekend I cut out and sewed my pair. I love them! They are super soft (we both picked out flannel for the winter) and comfy. I look forward to making light weight cotton ones for us this spring/summer. I think I might try to modify the pattern some next time around. Wish me luck!

About a week or more ago I 99% completed my first project from MSFSFC; an oilcloth lunch bag. Sure I didn’t really need it, but I was dying to use oilcloth and who doesn’t need a cute new lunch bag. All I lack on the bag is topstitching it, but I’m not sure how to start on it. In a couple of weeks when Mom, Dad, DeAnne, Daniel, and the girls come to town I’m going to get Mom to help me on this. I didn’t do so hot on the first try, but I will be making more of these. I really enjoyed working with oilcloth and am looking for ideas of things to make from it. There is a child’s apron that I might just have to make for the girls and then those pocket bibs for my dream of an Etsy shop. :)

I learned how to make a couple of new things over the past 2 weeks. I have always wanted to learn how to appliqué. There are so many cute dishtowels, pillows, towels, shirts, bags, etc. I see in all shops but have a hard time paying when I know I could sit down and do it myself. It seems so hard, but in reality it’s not at all. Mom showed me the basics over Christmas to help me get started. Last week or so, I gathered up the supplies I needed to try out appliquéing myself. The first attempt was a heart dishtowel for Valentine’s Day. I made a few mistakes and learned what not to do next time, but all in all it turned out fine. I also made a heart hand towel too. I don’t have a picture of it on hand, but I’ll try to remember to take one to share later. The waffle dishtowel did cause a little problem when stitching around the heart. It would catch and just stay in place instead of gliding alone. With practice, I should be able to master using this type of towel since I do love how it soaks up water. I plan on doing a shamrock and Easter egg one for St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. Maybe one day I will be able to make the gorgeous towels I see in all the stores!

The second technique I learned this week is making my own bias tape. Who knew it was this easy to make your own! Bias tape allows for a quick clean finish on items instead of having to hem everything. I use bias tape on all the aprons I have made so far. For Christmas, I got a 1/2” bias tape maker in my stocking and I picked up a 1” maker the other day. I learned my lesson on this one too. It’s not like the pretty double folded bias tape I have been buying; it is single fold. I first made the 1/2” bias tape without really realizing that it’s not going to work for me like I was expecting. Now I need to think of fun projects that I can appliqué using blue bias tape! Last night I finished making 1” bias tape that I can fold in half to make my double folded 1/2” bias tape which is needed for my current project. I know it’s not as crisp as bought, but it’s sure is fun to make and adds more care and love to a project.

On another note, I’m ready for SPRING! All this cold, rain, snow is getting to me. I’m ready to enjoy a spring day!

Snow Day 2011

2011-01-13T13:36:00.001-06:00

Sunday,as I know everyone is aware, snow was in the forecast! As we are used to living in the South, we do not honestly believe we will get as much as forecast. This round was 8-10 inches!! Brian and I do not buy into the whole “let’s-freak-out-and-run-out-and-buy-milk-bread-meat-etc” mood like everyone around us seems to. I will say, Friday night when we headed to the store to get ingredients to make Chipotle Turkey Chicken for Sunday lunch the shelves were already bare. I would hate to think what they looked like by Sunday afternoon. I honestly did not believe it would really snow, so I was thrilled when it started to really come down!

Here are few of our snow day pictures! We got up and played out in it around 7ish Monday morning.

Christmas Day

2011-01-03T15:10:00.001-06:00

Christmas Eve we loaded up the car and headed for Hartselle. We made a stop down in Aberdeen to see PaPaw before leaving Mississippi.

Car all loaded up and ready to go!

Christmas Eve we headed over to my sister’s for pizza and decorating cookies. I hate that I didn’t get pictures of us decorating cookies. The girls always make it more fun!

Christmas morning we woke up to this!

This is around 7AM.

By 8ish it was this.

Then around 10:30ish it was this!

It snowed all day!! It was amazing waking up to an actual WHITE Christmas!!!! We ended up getting about 3-4 inches.

We had a few great surprises this year! Daniel surprised DeAnne with a Cricut Cake! She had no idea he was getting her one.

Mom was really surprised by her gift from all of us…a nook!! DeAnne lent Mom hers for a few days to see if she liked it (we were already thinking about this an idea). Mom loved the fact it didn’t strain your eyes as much and she could read using one hand.

Mom made the girls each a ruffle skirt. I have not seen so many ruffles in so long! Too bad I can’t have one too. Look at those ruffles!!

DeAnne loved her apron I made her! I have really enjoyed learning to sew more and loved making aprons. I am toying with the idea of opening up an Etsy shop. (Gasp! I actually said that out loud!)

Brian and I both were blessed to receive so many wonderful gifts from family and each other. I believe Brian ended up getting 90 bucks worth of iTunes. Everyone knows that is a great filler for him when they run out of ideas or need to fill up the budget.

Here are a few more random Christmas pictures.

I’ll leave you with a couple of my favorite ones!

Christmas Eve Eve

2011-01-03T14:30:00.001-06:00

Chad & Allie did it again; another fabulous Christmas Eve Eve party!! I think the pictures will speak for themselves. (Note: Brian was in charge of the camera that night. I just wish I had gotten a picture of Allie and I.)

Stockings

2011-01-03T14:13:00.001-06:00

I was so happy when I finished our stockings. I hope these pictures give you a little more detail on them. I cross-stitched them and Mom sewed them together for me.

One more on the mantel!

Whew!

2011-01-03T14:01:00.001-06:00

What a break! My holiday vacation was fabulous! I know I have a lot of catch up to do. Stay tune for all the Christmas/New Year’s posts!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T10:42:00.001-06:00

It’s a White Christmas!!!!

Santa’s House

2010-12-22T09:33:00.001-06:00

My sister did it again! She made Santa’s House for the kids’ Christmas party last week.

Traditions

2010-12-21T15:41:00.001-06:00

For a couple of weeks I have been meaning to sit down and write this post. It all started when my cousin posted some of her traditions that her and husband have started.

Traditions are one of my favorite things in the world. No matter what holiday or occasion, I LOVE traditions. Christmas is one time of year that it really hits home for me. Growing up we had so many wonderful traditions (and still do), I wanted to continue those and add to them for Brian and I. I want to share a few of them with you.

The Tree. Growing up we started out by having a live tree. We would all go to a farm, pick it out, then Dad would cut it down. I remember riding in the back of the truck (this was before it was “illegal” for kids to do that) with the tree on the way home. DeAnne and I would get to ride in back with it. At some point we switch to a fake tree, but when Brian and I bought the house 3 Christmases ago, I decided I wanted to go back to a live tree for us. Now, we don’t go out to a farm (if anyone knows of one in the area let me know because I would love to start doing this!) to pick out our tree, but we do pick it out together the weekend of Thanksgiving.

Ornaments. Every year since the day we were born, Mom has given DeAnne and I an ornament. In addition to her giving us one, up until we graduated high school we would swap with cousins. Mom decided to do this so when we got older and married, we would have a tree full of ornaments that had special meanings to us. I love looking at the tree full of odd and ends of ornaments, each either what we were into that year or from a trip we took. Brian, Daniel, and the girls each get one from Mom as well now. Our tree is getting very full with all of ours! DeAnne had to buy a bigger tree (they do fake ones) to hold all of theirs. To carry on the tradition of swapping (yes I know I don’t have kids yet) I get the girls an ornament each year as well.

Pajamas. Growing up DeAnne and I were allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Mom always got to pick it out. It would be from her and Dad consisting of new pajamas. We would wear them Christmas Eve so we would look all fresh and new for pictures Christmas morning. While we were young we normally had matching ones. DeAnne has carried this tradition over to her girls, while I have started buying Brian and I new Christmas pjs. (Don’t let Brian know I told you this.:) ) Another part of this traditions growing up was DeAnne and I would always sleep together on Christmas Eve. It added the excitement to the night!

Holiday Happy. For the past couple of years, before the Christmas party season Brian has bought me a new outfit for all the parties. I love how he picks up on an outfit or piece of clothing that I like but will not buy for myself.

Looking at Christmas Lights. This time of year is one of my favorite times of year. I love grabbing a cup of hot chocolate and driving around looking at Christmas lights. I hope this year more people decorate their houses; I was a little sad when we drove around town and it seemed like not many people were decorating.

Baking Goodies. Lots and lots of baking!

Christmas Cards. I’m that person who is thinking about Christmas cards in July. I order them either before Thanksgiving or right after Thanksgiving. I love addressing cards! I look forward to that night(s) where I sit down, watch TV, have a glass of wine, and address my cards.

I hope you enjoyed learning a few of our traditions. I would love to hear about some of yours!!

Montgomery Christmas

2010-12-21T15:17:00.001-06:00

Every year we get together for Christmas with my Mom’s side of the family. It’s one of my favorite times, I just wish we didn’t always seem to have some place to be that night that we have to rush home afterwards. It’s harder for every one to be there with all the grandkids married with kids of their own, but it’s still a good crowd. This year we have 4 new babies (my little cousins are now having babies!!!) in the family. I have not seen any of the new ones in person, so I was thrilled to get to play with them. Marcia and her family (who’s husband I have not met before, she lives in Colorado) were there for the first time in years. It’s so odd seeing my little cousins (who I remember being born) having a baby of her own! Micah is a doll!! (Sorry but I sucked at taking pictures that day.) He is the oldest out of the 4 new babies. Next up is Nora, Michael’s newest one. Nora looks just like a Montgomery with those dark eyes. She favors Michael a lot more than Maggie does Jason. I wish I had gotten a picture of the 3 babies that were there (Sierra wasn’t there with her little (read hoss) Tucker). Nora is HUGE compared to Micah (he’s a month older than her) and Taylor. Taylor is the 3rd in line for this year. She is VERY petite. In her pictures she does not look that small, but she is teeny tiny. Tucker brings up the rear this year. Taylor and Tucker are cousins (i.e, 1st cousins) who are just 5-6 weeks apart, but Tucker looks like he is 10 months old.

Instead of doing baby showers for everyone, on their first Christmas everyone gets the new baby a gift. This year I decided to make someone for each one. I have been wanting to make these cute little bibs from The Purl Bee for someone. I used flannel instead of terry cloth due to I waited till the last minute and did not like the terry cloth which was at Wal-Mart. All in all I think they turned out great!

Deck the Halls

2010-12-21T14:57:00.001-06:00

I have finally got around to taking a few shots of the decorations around the house.

The tree in the living room.

Dining room set for Christmas Dinner.

Tree in the dining room. One of my new favorites this year!

Stocking hung with care! (I’ll take more detail pictures of them later to share.)

Another new addition-12 Days of Christmas garland.

Another view of the dining room.

Living room.

The Herndon Christmas

2010-12-21T14:48:00.001-06:00

Sunday was the Herndon/Harden Christmas. We hosted again this year. Christmas is my time to go all out for the meal. We have a nice meal complete with formal setting. I am looking forward to one day having a dining table big enough to hold everyone! Here are a few pictures from the day.

Perfect.

2010-12-16T10:01:00.001-06:00

Two of my ALL time favorite movies.

Day 8

2010-12-08T10:29:00.001-06:00

Sunni loves “his” Christmas present! (Really Brian’s; new chair & ottoman)

Day 7

2010-12-08T10:28:00.001-06:00

Christmas cards are on their way!

Day 6

2010-12-08T10:26:00.001-06:00

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Day 5

2010-12-08T10:25:00.001-06:00

Night lighting.

Day 4

2010-12-08T10:24:00.001-06:00

A little peppermint love.

Day 3

2010-12-08T10:22:00.001-06:00

So I know I have been slacking on my picture of day, but I have been taking them just not posting. Catch up time!

What’s that under the tree?!

Advent Day 2

2010-12-02T19:50:00.001-06:00

A little Rudolph cheer!

Advent Day 1

2010-12-01T21:12:00.001-06:00

I saw a lovely idea from Mila’s Daydream blog which I decided to do as well. Advent in a different way; a photo a day.

I’m a HUGE advent fan!! I wish I had more (I have plans for more, but only have one little one right now.) than I do. So, here is one more fun way!

Day 1:

The holidays are upon us!

2010-12-01T21:11:00.001-06:00

Whew. Time has been flying by the past few weeks.

Let’s see what has been going on.

Last week was super busy with preparing for Thanksgiving at our place. I had nothing to worry about; just that I am truly my mother’s daughter. Brian and I tried to do a little here and there to get ready for the Big day, but never fails I put it off. Wednesday, thankfully Jimmy let me leave at 2, we finished cleaning house and I cooked, the cornbread for the dressing, mixed up the dressing, cooked 2 pecan pies, and bake a caramel cake. Boy, staying up till midnight to make caramel icing must mean I love my family a lot! I honestly believe it wouldn’t be a holiday if I didn’t stay up late making something for it. Growing up (still today as well) my mom would always be up late the night before cooking or baking.

Thanksgiving was wonderful!! For my first time cooking a turkey, it turned out GREAT! It was a nice golden brown color and so tender it was falling off the bone as Brian tried to carve it. (Did I mention he craved it!?) All the food turned out lovely and we had WAY too much to eat.

After lunch, Brian and I cleaned up and hit the road to Hartselle for a few days. We were welcome with a lovely Thanksgiving Day supper of dried white beans, fried potatoes, and cornbread. Friday’s lunch was yummy! Mom had all of our favorites prepared for lunch. Dad out did himself once again with a smoked turkey (which by the way is the only way I’ll eat turkey now.)

Saturday we drove back in time to quickly unload the car, pack a cooler, and head to Oxford for the Egg Bowl. Alas, the game did not turn out in my favor, but overall we had a good time. It was very cold! We were wimps and left at the half, but listened to it (thank you XM radio!) on the way home. I was glad we came home when we did; it was already 9:45ish when we got home. Here are a couple of shots of the game.

Sunday was devoted to decorating the house for Christmas! I am not finished just yet (I will be sharing photos. I just wish I could take cool artistic photos like everyone else does of their decorations.) and the house is a big mess right now due to everything strung out.

I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving and was able to spend time with friends and family!

More new firsts

2010-11-08T11:18:00.001-06:00

Remember when I posted about these fabrics? I finally was able to complete one of the two projects yesterday. I had another new first for me, cutting out a project with a “real” pattern. I can’t tell you how many times I have watched my Mom do this. It was quite fun.

I couldn’t wait to share this with y’all that I just snapped a quick picture of the finished project running out the door. I plan on “modeling” this for the full affect. This was a SUPER easy project. I will admit, I was nervous about making something “real” without my Mom watching me.

Apron for DeAnne (Christmas gift)

I thoroughly enjoyed sewing this project. It was great being able to start and finish this in just a few hours. I had no idea how long it would take me make it. I was please to see I could make these in just a couple of hours. Krista is getting one as well for Christmas, in the other fabric. I think I might make Mom one too after learning how quickly I can whip it up. So much fun!

In my last post, I mentioned a new first for me, to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving as well as be in charge of the meal. Well, guess what. I learned Saturday afternoon, not only will I be cooking the meal, it will be at our house! Yikes! This is good and bad. I’m glad I don’t have to travel with everything I was going to make and try to cook in someone else’s kitchen that I do not know my way around, but it’s going to be harder to leave for Hartselle when we want to that evening. Wish me luck! I’m already thinking about this 24/7!

A new first.

2010-11-03T15:16:00.001-05:00

This Thanksgiving will be a first for me…I’ll be in charge of the Thanksgiving meal on Brian’s side of the family. Due to Nona having surgery and the complications after surgery, I have offered to take charge. On Brian’s side of the family, we get together on Thanksgiving day for lunch. Normally its us, Dennis, Nona, Grandmother, Meri Jo, Ricky, and Lyne; sometimes Ed too. This year I had a feeling Krista, Michael, and Anne Klaire would be there as well. It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just a mere 3 weeks away from tomorrow! Of course I have already planned the menu and delegated (Krista and Meri Jo are helping out with cooking) who will be making what.

I’m hoping that the turkey Brian gets (Sysco always gives the employees turkeys for Thanksgiving) will not be frozen with a saline solution so I can try out the turkey brine from Pioneer Woman. I’m excited about trying my hand a cooking a turkey, but nervous at the same time. The dressing will be easy since I have helped Dad out each year making it. I just hope Brian’s family likes my recipes! ;) This year will be interesting to say the least! I am thankful that I have had years of helping out Mom and watching my Grandmother cook. I can’t wait to make her pecan pie! We always fought over the last piece.

The holiday season is getting underway and I couldn’t be more excited about it! Just a few short weeks till I can decorate for Christmas!!

Got Candy Corn?

2010-11-02T19:58:00.001-05:00

I have been meaning to post pictures of my latest Halloween decorations.

Candy Corn Garland. I think I will pull it up in the middle next year. Turned out better than I expected.

Candy Corn Wreath: I really hope the candy corns last till next year. I sprayed them with polyurethane.

I’m anxiously waiting…

2010-10-19T15:05:00.001-05:00

…the arrival of this little gem!

I ordered it yesterday and it should be on its way now to my lovely doorstep. (Which I need to stare with you all. I do love the fall!).

A little blanket

2010-10-18T20:34:00.001-05:00

Tonight I actually started and completed a project. Shocking, right?! I whipped up a swaddling blanket for Claire, Laurie’s little one on the way.

(My camera did not take a good picture. The yellow is a pale yellow, instead of bright as the left picture shows.)

While I was sewing, Sunni was keeping me company.

Happy October!

2010-10-18T15:20:00.001-05:00

Happy middle of October! I know I say this all the time, but man, seems like time goes by faster each day.

This weekend my parents came for a short visit. Friday night was low-key with dinner out at Lost Pizza. This is slowly becoming my favorite new pizza place. We watched the Tupelo vs. South Panola game on TV (how crazy is that to see a high school game on national channels); poor Tupelo got slaughtered. Saturday I planned to take Mom to see the quilt show which was set up at Oren Museum. I have never been to Oren so I was not sure what to expect. The quilt show was more of a small display the museum had, but still nice. We toured the rest of the museum while we were there. I was pleasantly surprised at everything there. I got several great pictures of the grounds outside.

Here are the rest of the photos.

After the museum, we headed over to Heirlooms Forever. I knew she would like this store, but she LOVED it. She picked up a couple of patterns for the girls. This store always makes me wish I knew how to sew more and quilted. I need to get back to my quilts I’m slowing making, but then again what do I not need to be working on! :) I picked up the fabric for two Christmas presents. If everything goes according to plan, I hope to cut them out this weekend and work on them.

Saturday afternoon, Brian and I went down to Aberdeen for a blues festival. The festival was blah in my opinion, but I did have fun taking pictures at Blue Bluff. I don’t know why Brian hasn’t taken me here before! I really want to go back and get some more pictures. I also LOVE pictures taken with Hipstamatic app. If you have an iphone and do not have this app yet, go and download it NOW. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Blue Bluff.

Here are a few “normal” shots of Blue Bluff.

Football, brunch, showers, and more!

2010-10-14T14:27:00.001-05:00

Over the past few weeks we have been pretty busy. Two weeks ago we headed to Oxford for our first Ole Miss game of the year. We had a great time in the Grove, during the game, and after the game. Like always lately, I forgot to take any pictures of the weekend. I was happy to see a Rebel win and enjoy a weekend with family and friends. Speaking of friends, Chip and Lisa are sneaky! We ended up going to dinner with them at Snackbar after the game. Needless to say, I’m glad we have such wonderful friends who allow us to crash at their place on short notice when needed! :) Snackbar has some wonderful new fall cocktails. The Autumn Collins is delicious! I wish I could recreate this at home to enjoy. It was wonderful getting to see Casey Saturday night as well!

This past weekend was one of the busiest I have had in a long time. Saturday morning we hosted a Fall brunch. Brian and I have been thinking about hosting a brunch for a while. We both love brunches, but no one seems to give them anymore. Megan and Cole mentioned they would like to help host as well . I really do wish I had taken some pictures (I honestly meant to) of the brunch but I completely forgot. We had a lovely turnout and everyone seemed to enjoy it! Like us, everyone seems to love brunches, but never have an opportunity go to one. This might start being an annual event at the Herndon household!

After the brunch we headed over to The Lost Pizza Co.for the grand opening. If you are ever in Tupelo stop in; some of the best pizza. Personally I think it’s better than OVPC.

Saturday night, we went to a Engagement/Wedding shower for Kim and Shane. Needless to say, Saturday was a very long and tiring day.

Sunday, I help host a baby shower for a friend. I made a cute diaper cake for the table decoration. To be a first timer in making one, I found they were super easy to make and quiet fun. I wish I had embellished it some, but there is always the next one next month I’m helping give. We had cupcakes from one of my new favorite bakers, Sugar Rush. I made her a swaddling blanket and I just realized I didn’t take a picture of it!!! This the first gift I made that I forgot to document it. :( I’ll have to get Courtney to take one for me and send it to me.

The swaddling blankets have been fun and easy to whip up for gifts. I have 3 more I need to make in the next week. I’ll make sure to take pictures of them. I wish I had a running stitch on my machine, but I have plenty of decorative stitches to choose from which speeds up the process.

I thought it turned out cute!

Clockwise: Strawberry, French Toast with bacon, and White Chocolate Mocha

I finally took a picture of the simple fall table runner I made. It’s nothing fancy, but it is long enough for the length of my table.

I need to really press it, but I’m sure you won’t notice. :) I’m thinking about being brave and doing a Christmas and Halloween one from “scratch”. I found a great tutorial on how to turn and hem napkins (which I can just apply to this).

Tonight is the 11th Annual Tupelo Chili Fest!! I love being able to taste all the chili and get ideas for my own chili! Last year we tried out adding mashed up peaches and strawberry preserves to it for a little sweet and spicy kick. Maybe I can snap a few pictures from the event tonight.

The weekend should be a little low key. My parents are coming for the weekend tomorrow. It’s been awhile since they have been here. I’m looking forward to taking my Mom the the quilt show in town and a few other places. Not sure what Brian and Dad will be doing, but I’m sure they can fend for themselves. I really need to get cracking on Christmas gifts I’m planning on making so I won’t be like my Mom and wait till the last minute or the night before! I can’t wait to share what I’m making.

(Title)

2010-09-27T13:46:00.001-05:00

How AWESOME is this weather?! I am digging walking up to a cool brisk morning. Fingers cross it will stay this way for the next two weekends! I would love to have “football” weather for the game this weekend and for our brunch next weekend.

Now that I have a new sewing machine, I have been putting it to use. I whipped up a couple of projects (one not 100% complete yet) over the past couple of weeks. I am in love with my new machine. While I’m still getting used to some of the features, I haven’t played with the built-in stitches yet, it’s a dream! It sews through thick fabric like butter. My other machine struggled through the simple stuff. My next big project is one for my sister-in-law for Christmas. I’m hoping I can accomplish this without too many major snags.

Here are the candy corns I’m making for the Halloween garland I’m making. I think I’m going to place these on my china cabinet since my mantle has fall garland at the moment. (I decorate for both Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving at once since they sort of go together.) I took a picture of the Fall/Thanksgiving table runner I put together, but its’ too plain just to show it. I’ll take a picture of my mediocre table decor tonight to show it off. I still haven’t found a table setup for fall/Thanksgiving that pops for me.

I’ll leave you with a random picture of Lauren and I from the weekend we were last at Mom and Dad’s.

This & That

2010-09-17T13:11:00.002-05:00

Not much been going on over in my neck of the woods.

Last weekend we went to my parents’ to celebrate my birthday. It was good spending time with them and the nieces. This time it was a short visit since Brian was in Memphis Friday night with the guys to see Dark Star, but an enjoyable one.

For my birthday, I asked for money to put toward a new sewing machine. My poor “loaner” machine finally bit the dust a month ago. I guess after almost 45 years, it was time. Not sure how long before she got married Mom had it, but she did make her wedding dress with it. I put her in charge of looking around for a new one for me. She found one, Janome DC2010, she thought would be a good machine for me. Then we saw Hancock was having a huge sale and they had a Janome 8050 on sale for half the price of the DC2010. Last weekend we checked out both and from what we could tell, the 8050 had the features as the DC2010, just designed differently. I had to order it due to they did not have any in stock, so Mom and Dad are meeting us for dinner to delivery it to me! I’m so happy I did laundry yesterday, we decided not to go to the game (early games with no tickets makes it hard to hang out with the fam), and plan to clean house tonight so I can spend all day tomorrow playing and learning about my new toy! I’m not used to an electric machine like this one. It will be a learning curve I’m sure. All I need now is for mom to teach me how to really sew so I can start making more interesting things. I really want to learn how to appliqué so I can make more flags for the holidays (my yard flag) and those cute little kids shirts as gifts. I need to get back into my quilts as well. Sigh, too many projects and not enough time. :)

Here are a couple of fun stories about Ole Miss and football.

Oh, have a mentioned how I'm SOOOO ready for fall! I'm actually ready for it to start getting dark earlier; which is so unlike me.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

What’s been happening?

2010-09-07T15:50:00.001-05:00

There has been a lot going on in my neck of the woods. I know I should break up the long post that follows into smaller ones, but I don’t want anyone to miss anything. :) I hope you bear with me!

Last week, I FINALLY finished and mailed my Pay It Forward project. It took me a mere 6 months longer than planned, but I did it. I hope that Lisa, Susan, and Jeff enjoyed their happies! I hate that I had to change what I was doing after doing one set (I did coasters) due to my sewing machine died and I was determined to get them out before end of August! Here is a shot of the finished products.

Friday I celebrated my 29th birthday! Yikes! :) Brian cooked breakfast for me and his new special coffee, Nutella Coffee. I was excited to find out he got me a Hobo wallet/clutch for my birthday!!To celebrate my birthday, we had a cookout with a few friends over. It was wonderful having everyone over for some fun and the weather couldn’t have been more prefect. I think I have found my new favorite dish to make for a cookout; brisket. It’s super easy, especially if you take the route we did, and it feeds a lot of people. We had plenty left over for us to have several meals with this week. I am already planning to cook a brisket for Christmas supper for Brian’s side of the family (since we host).

Saturday, I was in charge of deciding what we were to do. Brian gave me too many great ideas to choose from; Oxford, Starkville, Memphis, staying at home, or a water park. I wanted to do them all, but at the same time I wanted to stay at home. Before Friday night, I had narrowed it down to Memphis or staying at home, but then Friday night I was leaning toward Starkville to be able to hang out with John and Margaret more. After waking up later than planned (we stayed up past our bedtime :)), Brian was sweet and went and got us Chick-fil-a for breakfast while I was to decided. It took me some time, but decided I didn’t feel like driving anywhere even though I really wanted to go to Memphis to play. We had a wonderful day playing around town and running fun errands. I picked up a few Halloween decorations too. I didn’t realize I didn’t have as much Halloween as I thought I did, so that means I get to pick up a few more this year! ;)

Sunday and Monday I relaxed and cleaned some. Poor Brian had to work while I got to enjoy the day off.

As promised, I picked up a State banner for Brian. The Ole Miss one is by far better than the State one. :0 I stand firm in the fact having the State one out Saturday caused Ole Miss to lose. (I promised Brian that we would put it out Saturday if we had it out Friday during the cookout.) I will have it out Saturday for sure!!

My sister has done it again! Her youngest niece's birthday celebration was this weekend. Katie asked for 3 cakes this year. (Did anyone else ever get 3 cakes growing up? I didn’t!) Katie wanted a cleat, soccer goal, and soccer ball; and she got all of them. DeAnne amazes me on how she comes up with ideas and how to create the cakes.

The cleat! How AWESOME is this!!! The cleat is made from rice crispy treats formed into the shoe. How in the world she formed it I don’t know because I would have no clue on how to even begin to do that. She then covered it with fondant.

All 3 cakes together! My sister rocks!!! If we ever have kids, I can’t wait to see what they might come up with and what DeAnne makes.

A piece of warmth

2010-08-30T19:05:00.001-05:00

After much promise, I am thrilled to share with you before and after pictures of the guest bedroom. This is one of my favorite rooms in the house. I LOVE the color of the walls. They are so bright but warming at the same time. I still need to hang pictures on the wall, but I hope that this room is warm and inviting to all our guest. (We at some point want to replace the carpet.)

Before picture:

After pictures:

View from the bed

Curtains and closet

How I love this green!

Birthday happy

2010-08-30T14:32:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post to share with you the birthday happy I bought myself over the weekend. I have been eyeing one of these for a few weeks after I saw it at Swirlz. When I first saw them, Kim didn’t have any Ole Miss ones in yet. Saturday we stopped in to order some invitations and I spotted it! Being the sweet wife that I am, I have ordered a State one as well to swap out determined by who is playing the bigger game. :) I’m already eyeing the holiday ones I want to get too. Plus I need to get an everyday one.

August?

2010-08-26T15:46:00.001-05:00

Whew. Where does the time go?! The end of August is already upon us and I feel like I didn’t see it all. I can’t even really remember what all has been going on with us this month. Hmm. Let’s see.

TWC (Tupelo Women’s Club) started up this month. I’m looking forward to being more involved around the community. Our biggest event is the Holiday Tree Festival at the end of November. If anyone is interest in attending, let me know! I will be selling tickets.

Our local Ole Miss alumni group started back up this week as well. We are hoping to start prompting our annual golf tournament now to help bring awareness of it. A couple watch parties are in the works as well along with the Pigskin in the Park event in October. I’m really looking forward to this event; all day of Ole Miss and State football downtown. The info I have heard on it sounds like it could be a big hit. If you are in Tupelo Oct. 16th come downtown to Fairpark to watch both the Ole Miss vs. Alabama game and State vs. Florida game!

Just as I was getting really motivated to do more sewing, “my” sewing machine starting having issues. So off to the shop it went for hopefully something nothing major. Well, it turned out to be major. Due to the age of it (over 40 years old) it finally started breaking down. Mom decided it wasn’t worth getting it fixed. So now I’m currently out of a sewing machine, but do hope to buy one in the next month or so. I have mom already looking to see what type and model I should get. In the meantime, when I’m at Mom and Dad’s next I’m going to have to do some sewing on projects that need to be completed before I get a new one. Too bad Santa already has my gift this year.

I’m hoping to finish up a project that I have been struggling to complete the past month. It will feel great to finally get this completed. I’m a few months behind on it, but it’s better that it’s done than not at all.

I’m really looking forward to next weekend; birthday + long weekend + football = happiness. Friday I will be one step closer to 30! We are having a small get together to celebrate. I thrilled that John and Margaret decided to come down this weekend. I like to think they came just because it’s my birthday. :) I am being the good wife and trekking down to Starkville for the State game. Brian has promised me a fun day is to be had.