32 Weeks

We'll actually be 33 weeks tomorrow, but it has been a CRAZY week and I'm just now getting these pictures loaded onto the computer.  Things are going great with the baby and we couldn't be more thrilled. We had our ultrasound on Monday and the specialist gave us the all clear to stop having ultrasounds unless something else comes up - woohoo! We still may have to have one at 38/39 weeks to determine position, but this baby is placenta back instead of placenta front and I can often times feel the baby's position myself so I'm sure the Doctor could tell. He also said that he didn't see any reason to change my due date even though the baby is measuring big. Another blessing! He said all the organs looked beautiful, especially the heart which was also great to hear. We took Grace with us to the appointment and she cried most of the time. We couldn't really figure out why, but at least the next time she gets to see her little brother or sister it will be in person, without someone putting a scary wand over my belly.

Before I dive into baby pictures, I have to post a picture of my big girl. I found this super cute smocked dress at a consignment sale this spring and I couldn't wait to get her in it. She LOVED wearing it and didn't want to take it off all day. She was playing with Scotty after lunch (you can see the animal crackers in her hands) and she just looked so pretty I had to snap a few shots. I wish it hadn't been 95 degrees, I would have loved to do a mini shoot outside, perhaps another day. Anyway, here's my favorite...isn't she stunning? :)

Now onto the baby pictures. We didn't have a very long ultrasound this time since they were mainly taking measurements, but we did get a few good pictures of our little bean...

Profile

Face & hands

Finally, here are some belly shots. When I look in the mirror, every single time, I say "whoa - that's a big belly." I don't remember thinking that with Grace, but I FEEL huge with this kid. I posted a picture of me at 32 weeks with Grace (in the red shirt below) for comparison, I am much, much bigger this time around. It's fine with me except that I've had to buy a few more pieces of clothing since I was probably this size when I delivered and I still have quite a few weeks to go. Oh well, it's all worth it and I can't wait to have the payoff of having my beautiful child in my arms!

...And Baby Makes 4!

I have a secret!

We are beyond thrilled to share the news that we are having a baby!  We're due August 4 and I'm just starting the second trimester.  After the long road we travelled to conceive Grace we are so excited that this little miracle is already on the way - God is good!  :)  The baby bump pops out SUPER FAST with #2, wow...I don't think I was this big until closer to 20 weeks last time around - here's a photo we took tonight, 12 weeks.

We saw our sweet one's heartbeat on Wednesday Jan 5th and he/she is doing great.  It was just a sneak peak, so we can't wait until our official ultrasound in another 8 weeks or so.  And for those of you who want to know, we will NOT be finding out if Grace will be having a little brother or a little sister until his or her birthday.  Judge if you must.  :)  David & Grace came with me to the appointment and we finally got a picture of our Doctor (who delivered Grace) with Grace for the scrapbook!

We found out we were expecting on Grace's due date - I guess November 23 will always be a special day for us.  We thoroughly enjoyed having Grace spill the beans to all the family with the super cute shirt she's wearing in the first 2 pictures.  Needless to say everyone is thrilled and we are too.  And now we're so excited to share our news with you!

I've been really sick with this pregnancy, so we would appreciate prayers for the baby to be healthy and for me to feel better.  Also, I would love the opportunity to have a VBAC and would greatly appreciate your prayers for that as well.  It would mean the baby has to come on or around his/her due date and with no help (from progesterone).  A c-section will be scheduled for shortly after my due date, so it's all about timing.  We are preparing for the c-section, but I'd love to try to have this baby without the surgery.  Either way we know the Lord is in control and we ultimately want us both to make it through whatever kind of delivery, safe and sound.  We'll keep you posted as we go along and look forward to introducing you all to our new addition this summer!

Oh - and I know I owe lots of updates from the holidays and more of Grace's month long birthday celebration extravaganza, but being sick I haven't even downloaded the pictures and video yet.  I promise as soon as I'm feeling better you'll see a slew of updates!

Another Baby Update

Well, the baby has dropped! Today Dr. Hudson said "it could be anytime...tonight, tomorrow, 2 weeks from now..." I had to laugh at that "timeline" of sorts. :) I'm still having contractions and while they are getting stronger, they aren't at all consistent.

We're ready though. We're all packed, my mom gets here tomorrow, David finished the cradle, the outdoor Christmas decor is up (don't judge - the presents are all bought, wrapped and delivered and the CC envelopes are all addressed too...I did all that over the summer) and I got everything on my to do list done. It's funny though, now that the house is spotless, I am being a little OCD about constantly cleaning up after us. I wash a dish as soon as it's used, I'm doing a load of laundry as soon as there is enough to wash...things like that. I keep thinking I don't want to come home to a mess with a newborn - lol. We both think it's kinda funny, I think it's just my need to control something in all of this. :)

Anyway, we're really hopeful that the baby will come sometime this week. Dr. Hudson said that if I haven't had the baby by the 30th an induction is on the way, so Lord willing the little one will come before that. We'll be keeping you posted!

Maternity Shots & Baby Update

Yesterday Bethany went with us to Oregon Park to take some maternity shots of us. My beloved husband was wonderful and let me pose us however I wanted to get the pictures I was hoping for of this special time in our lives. Here are a few of my favorites and the most recent belly shots at 38 weeks.

I really, really love this pictureThis one just makes me smile and I had to share it in color since that tree is so beautiful!And here's some shots of this massive belly...

As for a baby update - I want to the Doctor today and things are moving right along! I started to soften last week and things are progressing. We have 2 weeks to go until our due date and today she said I am dilated to a 1 (slow and steady, right?) and the baby has shifted to a full downward facing position which is fantastic! I have been having real contractions for the last 3 days which is also great news so hopefully next Monday we'll see even more progress. My mom gets here next Tuesday, so as far as we're concerned, anytime after that this little one can make his/her entrance. :)

8 weeks to go

I can't believe we're under the 2 month mark until our little one is due. I thought I'd take some time to write out a few of my favorite things about this pregnancy and also note the few ailments I've had before this baby arrives and my life goes topsy turvy.

My 3 favorite things:

• Feeling the baby move and more recently, seeing him/her wiggling around from the outside
• Watching my belly grow
• BEAUTIFUL nails...seriously strong gorgeous nails. Nails so pretty that I no longer bite them (and I've bitten my nails all my life).

My top 3 ailments
(that I'll be glad to see go with the arrival of our little one):

• A constant headache that started at the end of my 1st trimester that has yet to cease but often gets worse
• Hips constantly feeling like they have been beaten with baseball bats
• Pinched nerves in my lower back

I am so grateful to experience being pregnant. There were often times when I thought that getting pregnant was out of our reach and I am so unbelievably blessed that the Lord saw fit to make us parents of this child. There are of course ups and downs to pregnancy, but I can honestly say I've tried to enjoy every minute of it and relish in all the joys with as few complaints as possible.

Family Time & Belly Shots

Today has been a glorious day. Chris, Carol & the kids were here this weekend, and while it's wonderful to get to spend time with them, 4 kids under 6 is exhausting! Especially for me being very pregnant and hot all the time. With the rain keeping us inside yesterday, we enjoyed an afternoon of Wii with the boys which they loved - and they were surprisingly good at most of the sports games. We did get to go out to dinner to celebrate our birthdays which was fun and we got free dessert without having to be sung to - can't ask for more than that. :)

Today we all headed to church and after a great service, the Clarks headed for home and we went out to lunch with our friends the Crabbs. Mmm...mexican.

When we got home, we had nothing on the agenda so we read for a while, napped and then watched some TV. Before I changed out of my dress clothes for our afternoon of relaxation, David snapped a few pictures of my belly. Just 8 weeks to go and I'm getting bigger by the minute (and loving it!).

Makeup Lesson

Wednesday night I headed out to Dunwoody for a focus group on DirecTV. I love my DirecTV and was happy to do it, plus it paid $100 for the 2 hour session - score!

The study started at 4 and it's about a 35 min drive. So I changed out of my PJs into shorts and a nice-ish top around 3, brushed and put up my hair, grabbed a book, a snack and my water bottle and I was off. As is normal for me, I left the house with no makeup, no fancy outfit on, no necklace or earrings...just my regular "plain jane" self.

I got to the study and after signing in, we talked about DirecTV for about 45 min when the facilitator left the room for a few minutes. I thought - awesome, we're getting out of here early! They told us when we arrived that the session was being recorded, video & audio, and that DirecTV execs were behind the mirror, but all that is pretty standard (at least for the focus groups I've participated in). When he returned, he said that the Execs liked what some of us had to say and they wanted to know if we'd be willing to film a brief testimonial on why we like DirecTV for their new national ad campaign. We all said sure, but I'm thinking to myself - seriously? Thankfully my mother-in-law stocked me up with a few key maternity tops that aren't my standard crew neck T-shirt, but I had no make up on and I couldn't even remember if I had brushed my teeth that morning! I just kept hearing Lacey saying to me "you need to start wearing makeup - you're somebody's mother now"...

I got into the studio, which was HOT because of all the lights (I'm a photographer, I'm usually on the other side of the lights & cameras) and I immediately start sweating. While I was totally comfortable doing the interview, in the back of my mind I just kept thinking...I can't believe I don't have on makeup. They loved some of the things I had to say (I have a marketing background I do know how to sell!) so there is a part of me genuinely scared that they will use this piece in their testimonial. Not to mention I said my first and last name, and lets be honest...it can be "heard" as something totally different. Anyway, I stopped by the restroom on my way out and wasn't completely horrified, but I did look like a hot, sweaty mess.

Lesson learned - I'm putting makeup on my Christmas list and will make more of an effort so I don't end up embarrassing my child by being "that mom". I'm still not giving up my yoga pants though. Some things never change. :)

Little Things

Today has been all about the baby - what fun! We headed to Lowe's this afternoon to buy all the wood we need for David to make the baby's cradle. He decided on solid oak and it's such beautiful wood I can't wait to see the finished product. We bought the plans years ago, but the time has finally come for him to build it. We are excited to have the baby in a bassinet handmade with love by their Daddy. Now, to find the time to build it...

The nursery is certainly coming together. Over 3 years ago we bought a solid wood, unfinished dresser that has been sitting in a box in the nursery ever since. It was such a good deal and we loved the lines of it that we went ahead and bought it right before we started trying to have a baby. (I even remember running around the store with a diaper changing pad to make sure the height was right - lol!) When we found out we were pregnant, we busted open the box to refresh our memories on what it looked like and to make sure the crib we selected would match.

Well, our freshly finished & painted dresser was delivered today and it looks so good! I knew yesterday that it would be ready so I went ahead and washed burp cloths, gowns, blankets, onesies, sleepers...all of cute little things we got at our family shower that have been in gift bags for a month - I didn't want to wash them until I had a cat hair free place for them to go. :) We are so thrilled with how the dresser turned out and after we put on the new knobs, I immediately started loading it. It was so much fun!! I still have so much space in it too which is good because there are still lots of clothes from Aunt Carol & Aunt Lacey to put away once we find out of this little one is a he or she. We even went through and picked the blankets and outfits that we want to take to the hospital with us so I could leave those out to be packed away into the suitcase.

As I was loading all the sweet things our little one will soon be using into the dresser, I looked at David and said "can you believe we've had this dresser for 3 years and soon our little one will be here?" It was such a sweet moment for us. We are really treasuring everything that's involved in getting ready for this child and we are so blessed!

Oh, and pictures to come soon, Promise. :)

Baby Bump - 26 weeks

I cannot believe that we are only 99 days away from the little one's due date. It's crazy to me how quickly this time has flown by! David's folks are here this weekend painting for us and one of their projects is the nursery. I can't believe that by Wednesday I'll be able to start loading things into the room and really preparing for baby. We do need to get the dresser painted and no one is jumping up at the opportunity to do that, so we'll have to see how that happens. Until that's done I'll still have alot of boxes and gift bags in the room because I don't want to wash anything until I can put it away.

Anyway, I'll be sure to post pictures of all the finished projects when they are done, but for now here is my latest belly shot. I feel like I get bigger and bigger every day...

Our 1st Baby Shower & Family Reunion

On July 28th I drove up to West Virginia for a week with my side of the family. We got a great deal on a ticket to fly David up on Thursday night after work, so I drove solo. I got into Elkins just before dinner and enjoyed a relaxing evening with my dad & step mom. Wednesday my Uncle Tim (Dad's best friend) came into town and we went to see The Ugly Truth and out to dinner at the Mexican restaurant. After dinner I headed to Fairmont to spend the rest of the week with my mom's side of the family.

Thursday I had my semi-annual haircut with my friend Debbie and then I shopped and Mom & I started baking for the family reunion while my step dad took off for Pittsburgh to pick up David from the airport.

Friday my brother Mark and sister in law Kayla came into town and we met Dad, Linda & Tim for lunch at THE hot dog place...yum. After lunch we headed over to my Aunts to help get ready for the shower. She, my cousin Jenn & my mom were putting the shower together and we were on hand to help set up the venue, decorate and help with the food. At least as much as they would let us help. :)

**Note: For all you southerners reading this blog - don't be alarmed! In the north, the family puts on the shower and it's expected that some member of your family, aunt, mother, cousin, etc. is involved in the planning. I know it's the polar opposite of how ya'll do things down here, but I think it's special. :)

Around 5pm, we changed and headed back over to the church to put out all the food. Everyone started arriving around 6 and we had a delicious dinner before David & I got to dive into the gifts. To say our little one is spoiled already is an understatement. We especially loved all the handmade goodies that the grandmothers made. My mom made the baby beautiful bassinet bedding as well as a quilt (pictures to come later), my step mom crocheted blankets for the baby and my grandmother made a beautiful quilt as well - how special! It was so nice to have our families gather and celebrate this baby. It was such a wonderful evening and we had a great time. We are so grateful for all the work that Jenn, Aunt Reta & Mom put into the shower. :) Here are a few pictures from the festivities.

Dad's side of the family including my great grandmother Haddix (far side of the table, 2nd from left)My mom, grandmother and several of their girlfriendsMy cousin Liz, suckered into tracking the gifts by her near perfect penmanshipDavid modeling a handmade hooded towel from Aunt KaylaHaving fun opening gifts

On Saturday we got up bright and early to finish getting the food ready for our annual family reunion at Rock Lake. We've been getting together at my Aunt & Uncle's cabin on the lake since I was in high school. It's always nice to get to catch up with my extended family and it's even more fun now that the next generation is making an appearance. My cousin Jenn had Maggie a year ago and my 2nd cousin Dan had his baby Ashlyn 2 years ago. Jenn & I are both expecting, so next year there will be 4 little ones running around and it's just so much fun. There's so much to do at the lake, volleyball, boccie ball, swimming, boating, fishing, etc. so it's hard to capture everything (especially when you're one of the cooks) but here's a few pictures from the day.

JP being his usual silly self on the volleyball courtMaggie thrilled with her birthday bear from Aunt LindaAunt Reta made this cake for the baby - I loved it!David & I at the end of the day - why don't I think to get a picture before we get all hot and sweaty?

At the end of the day, David & I were exhausted but we stayed up and got everything packed and ready to go home. We headed out bright and early Sunday morning and after 11 hours finally made it safely home. It was a wonderful weekend with family. It's crazy to think the next time we are all together our baby will be here...

Baby Update

On July 27th we headed back to the Doctor for our last ultrasound. I didn't drink anything but water to try to keep the little one calmer than our last few visits so the Dr. could see all 4 chambers of the heart. He was able to and was pleased that the baby's growth was right on track. Everything looks great - woohoo!It was so much fun to see our precious bean again.

Baby Bilbo "Cheesing it" for the camera...he/she was all smiles at this appointment!Tiny little foot

I also got some great audio of the heartbeat. I'll post it once I get it off my phone. :) I'm kinda sad that we won't get to see him/her again until November, but we only have another 16 weeks and they will fly by. We can't wait to meet our baby and have him/her in our arms!!

Catching up, again

This week has been super productive and for good reason, but first let me recap the last several days.

Last weekend we had some friends in town from Alabama. Marleah & I have been friends since high school and we try to get together with her, Randy and their daughter Avi when ever we can(but not nearly as often as we should). They came up Friday night and we hung out for a while before getting ready for dinner. We grilled out, which we always enjoy, and after Avi went down, we had a great time of playing board games and Wii as well as just catching up. Saturday I made us "fancy breakfast" before we headed out to IKEA for some shopping and Taco Mac for lunch. It was a great visit!! Here are a few pictures from Friday night.

Randy & MarleahAvi -love that crazy hair!

"The little one" (as we often refer to the baby) has been moving around SO much! I can feel the baby moving all the time and I absolutely love it. Alot of times he/she is the most active right before bed and whenever I stretch my legs out to read. I think the baby likes having more space and really stretches out when my body is elongated. We started swimming again last week and I think being in the water lulls the baby to sleep. I don't feel anything when I'm in the water, but once I'm home and showered the little one is very busy. :) It's so much fun!!

This last week has been super busy for me, but also very productive. I'll be gone much of the rest of the month and I had alot of errands and things to do around the house before I can go. (Of course that didn't stop me from reading Twilight in one day, but that's ok. I'll wait to start book 2 until I'm on vacation - lol.) I'm looking forward to time with both sides of our families over the next 2 weeks. It's always wonderful to get to see our loved ones and I'll even get to meet my sweet nephew Grady on Tuesday - can't wait!

Last night we had some friends from church over and we had a great time of fellowship and hanging out (and their 2 older boys enjoyed the Wii). We are very blessed to have such a wonderful church family...nights like last night remind me of that. Today David & I went to see Harry Potter. It was really good. We waited until we could go to a matinee and save ourselves $4...it was worth it. Highly recommend it.

We'll have Internet access while we're gone so I'll see if I can't get a post up here and there as I travel. If not I'll have a slew of pictures and lots to say when we're back in August.

Little Kicks

Last night we were reading in bed and I was on my side cuddling on my glorious Boppy pregnancy pillow that my cousin Jenn recommended (and I LOVE!!) when I started to feel the flutters that I've been feeling for weeks. All the sudden, I was kicked (or elbowed, punched, something!) and it was definitely the baby. I was so excited I started to cry. Of course, yesterday was a hormone charged day and I shed tears for far less important and monumental things, but I was so overjoyed. I grabbed David's hand to try to get him to feel it as our little bean did it several times, but alas it's too early for him to share in this with me. It was so very exciting though!!

When we were trying to get pregnant this was one of the 2 things I really wanted to experience that I would miss out in any other type of child rearing - the other is nursing. I have such fond and vivid memories of feeling my nieces and nephews and dear friends babies moving around inside and I absolutely love it! Most recently I got to feel my little Jane Dare who is due just 10 weeks before our bean moving around in Lacey's tummy and it was so awesome. Since I don't believe that pregnant bellies are public domain, I always have loved sharing this with the women in my life and the children I came to love long before I knew them and now I am experiencing it myself. God is good! Of course, in typical Red fashion, I prayed that I would never begrudge feeling the baby kick me and that I would retain this joy...even in my last month at 3am when I'm exhausted and can't get comfortable enough to sleep. :)

First Belly Shots

This morning before we headed off to church David snapped a few pictures of my rapidly expanding midsection...


We're at 20 weeks tomorrow and I can't believe how big I am already. This baby really popped out sometime in the last week, but I feel bigger and bigger every day so I can't pinpoint exactly when this happened. I guess it was Wednesday that David came home and really noticed my belly for the first time. :) I am still convinced I won't have that adorable basketball belly, but I'm pleased that I at least look pregnant now.

Ahhh...Diet Coke

Those of you who know me well know that I LOVE me some Diet Coke. If it was available in IV form and I could still taste it, I'd be permanently hooked up. ;) I had a brief period in college where Diet Pepsi rocked my world, but those days were numbered and haven't been seen in over a decade.

I am such a snob when it comes to my Diet Coke. When I go to a restaurant that only serves Pepsi products, they automatically go down a notch. Could be great food, but without Diet Coke it just isn't a quality dining experience. When I'm in David's hometown, all the restaurants serve Pepsi products - yuck! I'll stick to Lemonade or Water, thank you very much. And all Diet Coke is not treated equally either. The best Diet Cokes in Atlanta come from one of 2 places - Chick-Fil-A (and bonus for them - they have caffeine free on tap!) and Zaxby's. I'm told the reason their Diet Coke is so unbelievable is because they actually follow the coke recipe - what a novel concept. The worst Diet Cokes hands down are from McDonald's and gas stations/convenience store fountains...probably because they are cheap and water down their mix.

Anyway, during this pregnancy (and in 2 week increments for the years we TTC) I have given up Diet Coke. I know I don't have to, but we both thought cutting out the caffeine and the nutra sweet from my diet during pregnancy would be a good idea so I've made the sacrifice. Hey, David is 100% responsible for the cat litter, so we're both making sacrifices. ;) Well the last few days I'd been seriously craving a diet coke. I made it through Tuesday, but yesterday I was out and about and I caved. I hit the CFA closest to my house and got myself a large diet coke. Sweet nectar - I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout the day.

There isn't really a point to this rant, I just wanted to share and give some props for my favorite drug of choice, Diet Coke.

Latest Baby Pictures

We got to see the baby again today! We thought this would be our last ultrasound, but the Doctor couldn't get a good enough view of the heart so he offered for us to come back in 4 weeks for another peak, which of course we agreed to.  :)  Once again our little bean was super active and crazy in there, so we didn't get a ton of great pictures but we did get a few keepers.  Hope you enjoy looking at our little guy or girl (and no we didn't find out!!)...

Baby Bilbo's face smiling at usBaby with an open mouth...he/she looked like they were waving at us with their mouth open, (perhaps saying "Hi Mom & Dad!!") but we didn't get a good picture of that.Baby's spine - so cool!!
Precious profile, can't wait to meet this little one!

Baby Update

I went to the doctor yesterday for my regular 4 week followup. Once again baby & I got a great report. My weight gain and vitals and baby's growth and heartbeat are all right on track - couldn't ask for more than that! We have our mid term ultrasound on Monday and we're looking forward to seeing the baby for what will probably be our last time before we meet in person.

Since my Dr was out on an emergency C-section, I saw the midwife and she couldn't tell me anything in addition to what I'm already doing to help my headaches. (For those curious, what I'm already doing is trying tylenol - which works about as well as taking a tic tac, I've tried a little caffeine a few times, I'm regularly get lots of sleep, I tried chocolate, I'm taking my allergy meds, nothing makes a dent...) It's been almost 4 weeks and while most days it's just a dull ache, it does affect my ability to be on the computer for more than an hour at a time (sometimes less) and some days it's downright debilitating. With lots of photo editing to do from John & Shannon's wedding in May as well as the prospect of trying to sell my photos this has been an issue. I'm hoping to get the wedding pictures done today so I can send them off to J&S...I am thrilled with how well they have come out and I can't wait to share them with them!!

Other than that, we've been working on our registries and organizing all the stuff we already have for our little one. It's exciting to know we'll soon get to use all of this stuff we've been collecting for so long! I've been organizing the house too trying to make room and sense of all of our stuff and purging what I can. I finally sat down a few weeks ago and made a master list of everything that needs to get done before the baby comes (that I know of now anyway!) It could be daunting, but we have plenty of time, so I know we'll get it all done. Next big job is to get the bookshelves installed in the basement. We're hoping to have the contractor do that in July so when David's folks are here in August they can paint them for us. ;) Once those are done we'll be able to move forward with alot of the moving & reorganizing I need to do. Exciting stuff!

Baby Update

We got to see our baby again today! He/She was wide awake (thanks to the OJ I downed before the appt - LOL) though not thrilled to have their space intruded on. Little arms and legs were moving and kicking and we even saw him/her roll over. Very cool! Heartbeat was strong, the baby was very mobile, and the measurements were right on track, so all is good! We didn't get alot of good pictures because the little one was so hopped up on sugar (perhaps I had a little too much OJ... ;) but we did get these 2. Hope you like them.

Baby Bilbo's Profile, Arm & HandBaby Bilbo's Profile

Our next appointment will be at 19 weeks (end of June). We've decided not to find out the sex of the baby, so it will just be a progress check. I know some people will be disappointed and some will think we're crazy, but we really don't care what this baby is and don't really feel the need to know. I'm not sure I'll feel that way next time, so we just decided to wait and we're excited about it. ;)

And yesterday, Deborah had her baby! Our nephew shares a birthday with my brother Mark. ;) Grady Wilkes Chastain was born at 6:32 am on May 18...8 lb 8 oz, 21 inches long. They are home now and doing well after a fast delivery. We'll get to meet him at the end of July when the Bilbos gather in Northern AL and we can't wait! ;)