20 Week Doctor's Visit - I can't belive we are this far!

We had our 20 week doctor's visit yesterday.  Our ultra sound was good, everything looked great!  Our little man is 16 cm long!  I was worried because I thought I had to get my blood drawn again (I don't do well with this...normally pass out), but to my delight, I don't have to do that until 28 weeks, so I have another 2 months. 

It seems that in the last week I have just started getting noticeably bigger by the day! I think he's growing by leaps and bounds--or I'm eating too much - I prefer to go with the first thought. I did ask about hip and back pain...I seem to have both now.  My left hip feels like it's just going to fall off any second, and my right hip has shooting pains when I turn a certain way or sit for too long...oh the joys of pregnancy!  I would have to say though that I'm not sick near like I was--which I'm sure has a lot to do with me showing more now - I'm keeping down my meals - so I'll take it any day of the week.  And I'll eventually do it all again!  It's only 9 months of pain/discomfort for a lifetime of happiness and joy.

Below are the ultrasound photos they sent home with us.  I'm excited and can't believe it's almost October!  With the holidays quickly approaching, he'll be here before we know it! :) I can't wait!

So we are house hunting...

Does anyone else feel the stress and frustration of house hunting? We moved back to the Memphis area on March 1st and started (slowly) thinking about and looking at houses. We didn’t want to rush into anything and wanted to make sure jobs panned out before taking the leap, but we are now full fledge into looking for a house for our growing family (to be here in FEBRUARY MIGHT I ADD!)

For anyone who knows us, I’m a “little” high strung when it comes to making my list and checking off everything on it…my cowboy husband on the other hand is the most laid back man on the planet (yet very specific about what he wants when it comes to his piece of property – on a side note: I’m completely ok with him being very specific because this has been a long time coming and I really want him to be happy with where we are). He’s not too worried about how long it takes us to find the “perfect” house for us. So here’s our wish list:

1. At least 5 acres
2. Preferably NO neighbors
3. Plenty of land to hold cattle/horses/etc. (so obviously more than 5 acres)
4. Trees on the land – cuz we’ve got to be able to hunt on our own land!
5. Several hundred feet off the street – don’t want to deal with the traffic
6. Preferably on the outskirts of Oakland (me), Somerville, or Whiteville (him)
7. A low volume traffic road – I think he would prefer a dead end road and we were at the end of it.
8. Within our budget – THIS IS KEY!
9. And a House – preferably nice, fixer up, with 3 bed and 2 bath. – This is my request…I think he would be ok with just pitching a tent! Just kidding…I think.

So as you can see “we” have several specifications…I don’t think we will probably ever find ALL of this within our price range in 100 years, but we are sure looking!

I have decided that this is out of my hands—God’s saying it’s about time! –and I’m leaving the perfect timing and place in His will. I know that it’ll all work out as long as we trust Him to put us where He will have us and not where we think we need to be. I hope that those of you who are house hunting are having better luck than we are…I know that it’ll be a matter of time and the perfect place will come up on the market, and we’ll both be in love with it, but until then, here’s to house hunting!

Labor Day Recap

I hope everyone had a great labor day! We sure did! We go every year with Jonathan's family (on his mom's side) to Lake Ouachita in Arkansas. It's the perfect meeting point between the Memphis, Tennessee and Paris, Texas family. This is no small get together, mind you. We had thirty people this year! The Goldings, Byrds and Clarks each have 4 children, and several of us are now married with kids (and four babies on the way)...so it's a BIG group! SO FUN...

Everyone drives down and gets together at the Golding's house for dinner on Friday night. We all catch up and fellowship, and then on Saturday and Sunday we spend all day on the lake -- swimming, riding on the boats, wake boarding, knee boarding, and tubing. Then we get cleaned up and get together again for dinner...it's all about sun and food.

Now that all the cousins are starting families of our own, it'll just get bigger and bigger each year. Four of us were pregnant on the trip this year, and Christy, Jonathan's oldest cousin, got engaged on Saturday night!! It was definately a weekend to remember. There's just no telling how many people we will have next year!

I tried to be adventurous and take photos while we were on the boat, but it made me a little nervous to have a my new camera so close to water, but here's my attempt to take some pictures of our fun this weekend.

I know it's a little hard to see what all this is, but there is a camp back in the woods, and this is the swimming area for it with a high dive and another lower diving board. We pulled the boat as close as we could and then everyone walked down to it...well I took pictures from the boat...but it looked like fun!

Swimming in the COLD lake!

Could you tell we had been on the lake all day...looking so tired and sunburned.
So I don't like individual pictures of myself, but I want to remember the stages of my pregnancy - so this is me at 18 weeks...just a small bump.

All the pregnant ladies...Veronica is due in November, Ashley in December, Lauran in January, and then me in February.

Me and my sweet husband.

David had been sleeping...and Katie was letting him use her lap as a pillow.
Katherine and Scott, you can see in this picture that the boats are right beside each other...we would meet and tie them together and then spend pretty much the whole day at the swimming hole, swimming, eating lunch, and hanging out together! It's the best.

Ashley and sweet Kaleigh - she was all ready to get in the water.

Katherine - cute pose - she was finishing up lunch. Sarah's behind her sun bathing...she likes to do this most of all.

A BOY!!

We are having a boy! We went for our 4D ultrasound on Tuesday of this week and it was so neat to see the baby. It seems that he's already running out of room and is completely wrapped around my bladder. Poor thing will probably be tall (which is great) like his daddy, and has no room in my stomach to move around!

He wasn't cooperating, so it took almost 45 minutes to decide what we were having. I think we aggravated the little man because he threw a punch at the ultrasound machine...I guess he was sick of having to continually move.

Now the real planning can begin! Nursery decor, registering, furniture painting, room decorating, etc. I'm looking forward to the next 5 months, but I just about can't wait until I get to hold our sweet baby in my arms.

We are having...

Tomorrow is the big day! We are going at 4 p.m. to get a 4D ultrasound and find out more (boy or girl) about the precious gift the Lord has given us! We just about can't stand it...but the hour is drawing near! There have been so many speculations, and I just want to take a picture of these days in my mind so I can always remember how it felt. It's so amazing to just wonder what God has decided and how it will affect our lives...forever!

So here's a few theories we heard in the last few weeks:

1. Everyone we know who is having babies in 2010 are having BOYS, but everyone who is expecting in 2011 are having GIRLS...hum?!?

2. It seems that I'm carrying our precious baby low, like a basketball, which several have guessed to be a girl. If I was carrying it like a watermelon, it would be a boy.

3. Jonathan is absolutely convinced we are having a boy, but I have this feeling that it is a girl. I'm not doing this just to disagree, maybe it's a mother's intuition, but I honestly think it's a girl. Also, I've heard that you are sicker with a girl, and I am still sick (at 17 weeks) - not like I was during the first trimester, but still a daily battle.

No matter what we are having, we will both be so excited! We are finally starting to clean out a room for the nursery and really getting serious about furniture and other things (I do realize that I'm only a little over 4 months, but time flies, and I'm an O.C.D. over planner!). I'm hoping that we have the basic framework of our room laid out and ready by month 7. We'll see just how much we really get done by then :)

Empty Nesters...

My sister left for school on August 11th. She is now officially a college freshman at Mississippi State, and my parents are now officially empty nesters. I went with her and my parents to help set up her dorm room. I think she and her room mate may have the cutests dorm room I've ever seen. Their color scheme was hot pink, bright green, black, and white. It turned out adorable! Check it out for yourselves:

Here is their futon that goes between the beds...it's like they have their own living room right between them.

This is her roommate, Elizabeth's side of the room.

This is her side of the room...we hadn't finished her wall space above the bed yet. They both have matching bedding, and her roommate's dad made the headboards.

Next is their bathroom. It is not one they have to share with the whole floor, just the two of them...and of course it's in the same color scheme.

We have baby furniture!

We are starting to get all the little pieces we need to make a nursery…obviously we don’t have anything cute and fun to put in it yet, but we have started collecting the basic pieces we need for the room! I’m very excited about the deals we have come across. We are using my in-law’s crib (she used it for all four of her kids!), and it’s so pretty. It’ll be perfect and I’m so appreciative to them for letting us use it. We also got a great deal on some wicker furniture – Jonathan’s boss had some in his garage, and wanted it GONE, so Jonathan loaded it up on a trailer and brought it to our house a few weeks ago…it needs a little TLC, but for the price we paid, we are happy to fix it up and make it work for us. It also has some great pieces we can use in future bedrooms. The wicker comes with all the below:

1. Full size headboard
2. TV Stand
3. Hope Chest – or Toy chest in our case
4. Book Shelf (he included two others that are not wicker)
5. 6 drawer dresser and mirror

Along with all of this furniture, I purchased a changing table at a garage sale with the changing pad and a cover for $25. It’s a beautiful black changing table, that I can place baskets underneath for storage. I had not planned on purchasing one like this, but for such a great deal I couldn’t pass it up! I also purchased a wicker rocking chair right after I found out we were pregnant at a garage sale for $5. I’m hoping to find a cute cushion to put in the seat. In the baby’s room, we plan on putting the dresser/mirror, changing table, toy chest, crib, rocking chair, and book shelves. We are going to probably find other places for the TV stand and store the full size headboard for now. I know that wicker isn’t really “boy” friendly, but if we have a baby boy I am planning on painting the wicker brown and if it’s a girl we are going to keep it white.

We had planned on putting a primer coat on the furniture this weekend, but had trouble with the paint drying in the sprayer because it was so hot outside, so we are hoping we can get it done soon.