Hot & Sweaty...and BEAUTIFUL

After battling with the weather for a week, Mitch and I were finally able to take our maternity pictures! One of my best friends Brittany Willis is starting to get into photography and wanted to take a few pictures of us. Despite the awful heat and humidity, she did an AMAZING job! I fully recommend her to anyone thinking about getting professional pictures made! Of course, her assistant Lindsay Herring made the shoot that much better! Enjoy!

Emery Update!

This past Thursday, Mitch and I had our 4D ultrasound! I was so excited to finally get to see the little face that's been responsible for turning my belly into a playground for the past 7 months. Just like I expected, she is BEAUTIFUL! I know that to most people, all babies look the same in 4D ultrasounds, but you really can tell her little facial features! She already has the chubbiest cheeks and little button lips! Dr. Garrard gave us a great checkup and both mom and baby are as healthy as can be. I say all this like I'm feeling great but believe me, the pain is there! My biggest complaint is most definitely the pain in my ribs. Since little Emery is breech, her head is jammed up inside my ribcage and pushing everything else up with it. (Trust me, it feels as bad as it sounds) My ribs feel like they have expanded as far as they can possibly go and nothing helps ease this pain. The doctor said the only thing that could help would be an anti inflammatory- which I can't take!! Of course in the end it's all worth it. I'm hoping that when she flips and isn't breech any more, that will help. Lets just pray that little Emery's head finds her way to the exit soon. :)

I found this cute little questionnaire off of a friends blog so I thought I would do it for fun!

How far along are you? 27 Weeks and 5 days! Only 86 days to go!

Maternity clothes? Everyday! And most of them are starting to not fit anymore- when I get home from work, I wear Mitch's XL t-shirts!

Sleep? Getting to sleep is one problem due to my rib pain. I wake up numerous times every night on my back which scares me since you aren't supposed to sleep on your back, and of course I have to pee every hour it seems like- so no, not much sleep. But it has been much better ever since my mom bought me a Snoogle! (my awesome pregnancy pillow!)

Best Moment of the Week? Of course- seeing the sweetest face I've ever witnessed!

Food cravings? Anything and everything. I'm currently on a Momma Goldberg's kick.

Gender? Girl :)

Labor signs? I've been having some little Braxton Hicks contractions but nothing scary...yet.

Belly button? This is sad- Unfortunately I'm still an innie... and very unhappy about it. I wanted to know what it was like to have my belly button 'pop' but Dr. Garrard said that despite how shallow it is, it looks like its too deep to pop out. Fooey!

Stretch marks? Well I thought I was doing good..... until I came to work the other day and my boss happily pointed out to me several faint lines that she saw and continued to take me to her office and give me a TON of lotion to rub in. (For those of you who know my boss, I know you probably see the humor in that!)

What I miss the most? A lot of things, but I miss going out with my girlfriends the most. I never get to go out anymore because I REFUSE to be the pregnant girl at the bar, so I feel out of touch with everyone! But I'm blessed to have girlfriends that plan "pregnant proof" movie nights for me :)

What I'm looking forward to the most? Everything! Even waking up at 3AM to rock her back to sleep!

On a seperate note, I wanted to congratulate two very special people in mine and Mitch's lives- Kayla and Stephen! They just got engaged and I couldn't be happier for them! These are two people that have truly found love with eachother and I know that they will have a long and happy future together. (hopefuly filled with lots of BABIES for Emery to play with!! ) Kayla has alot of exciting things going on and just started a blog so we can read all about it! http://kaylasnewjourney.blogspot.com/

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Sunshine and stuff

This past weekend, Mitch and I went to the beach with two of our very good friends, Kayla and Stephen. Being almost 7 months pregnant, I was a little nervous about how this would play out. I'm a typical 23 year old and it was a little hard adjusting to not being able to do the things that typical 23 year olds do at the beach. You know, the things like going out at night, laying in the sun on the beach for hours all day, or ordering a drink with dinner. Don't get me wrong- I love being pregnant and everything that comes with it, (well, almost everything!) but I did kind of miss being a carefree 23 year old on vacation. Despite all this, I was extremely lucky to be on vacation with 3 of the most helpful people I could have been with. Mitch, Stephen and Kayla took care of everything! They even had a little "pregnant-safe" area set up on the beach because I was so worried about over-heating (since the condo was a good little hike away.... maybe not for you readers, but it was for me and Emery on a hot August afternoon). It was complete with an umbrella, foot rest, cooler full of water and snacks, water spray bottle, and a frozen rag! And just in case you weren't sure- YES, you can get sunburnt under the shade of an umbrella. I must admit at first I was a little weary about taking the trip due to my handicaps, but I'm so glad we went! Mitch and I had the best time and got to enjoy great food, beautiful weather, and awesome friends. See Christen- you can go on vacation pregnant and have a great time! :)


After we returned from our seaside getaway, Mitch's mom and dad came over with chicken and dumplings, hot wings, fried chicken, and squash- I love them! And they brought the disk of our wedding pictures! We finally got to see them after a month of waiting and they turned out BEAUTIFUL! Our photographer, Heath Stone, did an amazing job! He attends our church and I'm so thankful that he was there to make our wedding day so memorable! Check out his website http://www.heathstone.us/.

Unfortunately, I'm incredibly lazy these days and didn't take a single picture at the beach! But I promise to post some wedding pictures soon!

Nursery News!

Last week, my mom and I went to Storkland for my baby registry and picked out my baby bedding. I knew I wanted some form of pink and green but wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for. Most little girl's crib bedding is that really light baby pink. You know, the typical 'It's A Girl' color- which is a little to sweet for me. I wanted more of the dark, or rosey pink that isn't so common. After changing my mind between 3 different patterns I'd been looking at online for the past month, I found something completely different in the store that I LOVE, but was a little disappointed when I realized that they didn't have all of the matching nursery accessories like most of the other patterns in the store. Well, if you know me, then you know that this just simply won't do. I need matching accessories. Today, I scoured the web and finally found the complete nursery collection. So, what did 'Impatient Ida' do? I ordered everything! (Only thanks to my sweet mother and sister who are footing the bill as a baby shower gift.) I swear I'd be lost without these two ladies!


The window valance
(which will look much better on an ivory wall instead of this unmatched green one)



The diaper stacker



The hamper



The rug



And the sweet little lamp

Of course I don't actually get to put them in the nursery until after the baby shower, which seems like an eternity from today- October 3rd couldn't come soon enough! What do y'all think?


August 19th we get to go and have our 4D ultrasound! I'll be 27 weeks and we absolutely can't wait to see her little face, fingers and toes. She's steadily getting much stronger and we think that we have her sleeping pattern down- she's going to be quite the night owl if it stays like this! Keep us in your prayers for a healthy check-up I'll keep everyone posted once we get the ultrasounds!

*SOME* Assembly Required

Two weeks away from my third trimester and little Emery's room is finally starting to look like an actual nursery! This past week, we put together her crib and her dresser. I say "we" like I had a hand in it, but all I really did was sit and watch, and get the boys cookies after they completed a task. Mitch and Stephen did all the real work. (Poor Stephen thought he was coming over to hang out with Mitch but little did he know I was putting him to work on the nursery) The crib went up first and surprisingly took only about 20 minutes. The dresser, on the other hand, was a totally different story. It had more parts and directions than anything I've ever seen. When the box said "Some assembly required", it actually meant "I hope you don't have any more plans because this is going to take you a while." After about 2 hours, they finally had it finished and I have to say, they did a great job! I'm in LOVE with how they both turned out and now I'm more motivated than ever to get the room finished.



The easy part



The finished product!



Tackling the beast.



I thought this was funny. He looked like a little kid in a fort.



Us- 1. Dresser- 0.



Ta-dahhh! We're almost ready for you, Emery!


On another note, today is our 1 month wedding anniversary and I couldn't be any happier. I got to marry my best friend and the more time that goes by, the more in love I fall. God sure is good :)