Relaxation

This weekend was much needed! I needed my girls! I love spending time with my closest girlfirends....just relaxing! Last summer...I saw them all a ton....4 of us got married which means countless showers, luncheons and no RELAXING! This weekend we all were able to relax together and catch up. Saturday, we all went to Kimberly's parents home to swim and get some sun. I think it is safe to say that everyone feels prettier tan....which helps with the expanding belly! That night, we all went to dinner at Chuck's. SO GOOD! I am so lucky and blessed to have such great friends that I can depend on and go through all life's ups and downs with....mainly ups!

Sunday, we celebrated Carson at The University Club. Crystal and Cyndee hosted a shower for Kimberly for her family and friends from Centerville and Tuscaloosa. She got a ton of wonderful and much needed gifts. One that I can't wait to see work is The Magic Blanket...Have any of you used this before? Carson will be here so soon! At the shower, there was a pool to guess the day, weight, length, time, etc. My guess was for August 2nd....we will see :) (And, of course, I forgot the camera!)

Half Way!

I am officially 20 weeks tomorrow....HALF WAY! I have my ultrasound on Wednesday and I cannot wait to see the baby! I wish you could get an ultrasound at every appointment. As you all know, We are not finding out the gender until the baby's Birthday! Believe me, this is getting harder and harder the closer I get to Wednesday. But I know once I get through the appointment, I won't think twice about it. I just have to get through the appointment!

Zach and I have been talking so much about how fast time has gone, but how much we want November to get here faster! Luckily, we have a lot of things going on in the next 4 1/2 months to keep us distracted....buying a house (prayers PLEASE!), Baby Carson arriving (CANNOT WAIT!), Football Season (ROLL TIDE!), Our 1st Anniversary, Baby Showers....time is going to fly...it always does!

But, we made it half way!

A Wonderful Weekend!

For my birthday from my parents, we went to see Jersey Boys....as you all know because I haven't stopped talking about it since probably February! Before the show, we went to lunch at Osteria in Virgina Highlands. I love this place! They have such good pizza....but not New York style but healthier with olive oil and gorgonzola cheese, whole tomatoes and much more....SO GOOD!

Here is Zach on his 1st Father's Day. I made him a coffee mug at All Fired Up! I love love love that place. So many fun things I want to do once the baby arrives! My mom got him a kids golf set...like Father, like baby :) He is so cute!

Happy Father's Day!

I am so beyond blessed to have Zach as my husband and the father of our growing little one. He is constantly touching my tummy and talking to the baby. I can only imagine him once the baby does arrives....which he wishes was last week! I say be patient...November will come faster than you think.

Zach...I love you so much and Happy Father's Day!

And I have a pretty amazing dad, too. Happy Father's Day DAD!

Sweet Summertime

I must say, that I have really enjoyed my summer so far. My days consist of Pool and Park....all week...which has really helped with the tanning :) And I love being outside! One thing that I have realized though being around pools all summer is how important it is to me to have our baby in the pool as soon as possible. Swimming has always been a huge part of my life and I hope it can also be for the baby. Of course, when I brought this up to Zach, telling him how I can't wait to get the baby in the pool and teach him/her how to swim early....he freaked out! He said if we have a boy....that our son WILL NOT be a swimmer! I quickly told him that there is a huge difference in teaching our child a life safety skill and our son wearing a tiny speedo. MEN! Another thing that I have realized being by the pool is that my leg hair has not grown at all! I shaved Saturday before heading to the pool and seriously have not since....love that part of this whole preggo thing :)

This week, my parents are renovating their kitchen...very exciting! To stay out of the way, Zach and I have been staying the week with Cory and Kimberly. I absolutely love the fact that they live so close! We enjoy spending time with them whenever we can. And I can't wait to have our babies grow up together! Oh they are going to be so cute! Growing up, my extended family lived across the country, so having family close is so special to me.

Zach and I also have found a house we really like. We are going to look at a couple more though tomorrow before settling on our choice. We will see!

Finally, Jersey Boys is here! I am so excited to see the show on Saturday!

Naive

Okay...so I think I was a little bit naive to the way I will be feeling, physically and emotionally, after I have the baby....and attending the wonderful Miley concert. The more I got to thinking about it...I really can't imagine leaving the baby...even if he/she would be sleeping during that time. Plus, who knows how everything is going to play out with the birth. So...no Miley for me this year...maybe her next tour...I am sure this won't be her last.

Carrying on....I am 18 weeks today and feeling every bit of it! I have had random pains in my right hip...the baby is mainly on the right side. My back gets sore or tired much faster. Also, not sure if this is normal, but my chest is extremely tight when I first wake up every morning...it takes 3 or 4 deep breaths to feel better. I have been using a pillow under my knees or in between my knees while sleeping which really helps. Positive things are that I sleep all through the night, every night now! And I now have an excuse to eat my favorite sweets! I think the baby likes them because it has been moving a ton....like Mother, like baby :)

I finally bought a bathing suit that I think is pretty cute, considering the slim pickings. I also bought a Baby Book that I absolutely love. I can't wait to start filling it in!

Saturday....10 AM

Saturday morning at 10am tickets go on sale for the Miley Cyrus concert here in Atlanta....I know I know....you say SERIOUSLY! And I say YES! I know I am 23...almost 24....almost a MOM....actually I will be a mom once the concert gets here....but I LOVE HER! So Kaitlin and I will be trying our hardest to get tickets....I don't even care where...just as long as I am there!

Sweet!

I seriously cannot get enough sweets lately! I guess you could call it cravings...but it stretches far beyond ice cream or a candy bar. Everytime I see something sweet....I want it. I am trying to find some healthier alternatives to getting all the sweets to try and trick myself. I got fat free fudge bars, chocolate rice cakes (so not chocolate), but sometimes it just doesn't do the trick :)I have a stash of gobstoppers in the car for my rides to and from work. Lucky for me, I love fruits and they do the trick a lot of the time.

Another sweet thing I just realized is that I haven't bought one piece of maternity clothing yet! My mom got me some capris, Chrysti and Kimberly have let me borrow clothes and I have a handful of shirts or dresses that I can still wear. Only thing that I will probably be purchasing in the near future is a bathing suit. I feel fine right now in my normal 2 pieces...but I am sure it won't last long!

Last thing....please keep me and Zach in your prayers. We have begun the house hunting process. We are so ready to get back to "real life" and getting back to living the way we used to. As appreciative as we are for everything we have been provided, I think it is only natural to feel this way. So many prayers are needed!

Parenting Test Part 2

Ok..so the parenting test didn't really work out like I thought it would. But my sister commented so we will play the game with hers.

Scenario:

You put your one and two year old down for a nap. The younger one is in a pack and play and the older is in a toddler bed. After a little while you stand outside the door to make sure they have gone to sleep but you still hear little noises so you open the door to tell them to lay down. But when you open the door, you find both kids in the pack and play, neither have a diaper on and there is poop EVERYWHERE!!!! What do you do?

Solution:

I don't think I would do this with my kids but definitely with yours....I would have to start by stop laughing hysterically (I don't think I would think it was funny with my own). Then I would take both of them to the bath, clean up the poop, seriously disinfect everything, and then I would never put them in the same room at the same time for a nap again :)

How did you solve the problem?

16 Week Appointment

Today, we met with Dr. Pohl for our 16 week appointment. Seemed to me like kind of a waste, but I was excited to hear the heartbeat again. The heart rate was in the low 140s. Dr. said everything was going great. I asked a lot of questions this time around though about labor, rules on the day of delivery, classes to take to prepare myself as much as I can, and much more.

No other news other than that. Here is an updated baby belly photo though :

Moms...don't forget to post a comment with a scenario...and make it funny!

Parenting Test

Every morning on the way to work, I listen to The Bert Show on Q100. One of their producers, Tracy, is 8 months pregnant with her first and expecting at the end of this month. This morning, the hosts played a little game with Tracy to test how well she would be as a parent and dealing with tough situations she might face in the future.

The game was to have listeners call in with funny stories or situations they have been in with their kids. Tracy then had to listen to the situation and assess how she would deal with and solve the situation. Then the listener would let her know how they dealt with the situation and see if she answered as a great parent would. Some of the stories were so funny. Some called in and asked how she would deal with a child going into a store and wanting everything in sight. Another called in and told about how her son would always scream Boobies when he saw bras and then try to lift up his mom's shirt to show her boobies....How would you deal with that?

So I thought it would be fun to play the game here on the blog...You readers being the callers and me being new mom Tracy. So here is how it works.....leave a comment with your tough kid situations or funny stories (don't leave how you solved the problem yet)...and we will see how I would deal with them....hopefully I will learn some good tricks for my future crazy situations :)

Back to Berry

This past weekend, Zach and I headed back to Berry for Carson and Kimberly's Baby Shower hosted by Zelda's sisters. She got a lot of really great things and the cutest outfits for Carson. I can't wait for him to arrive...only 2 months left!

Zelda did an awesome job with Carson's diaper bags!

So talented....We should see if she can joggle 4 babies at Christmas!
What a beauty!

After the shower, we had a big lunch back at the house. I had to take more pictures of the babies....They are sooo cute and Tucker has gotten SO big!CAUGHT!