Showered with Love

The past couple of weeks, Charley and I have been blessed with two showers that truly helped get us started to get ready for baby. The sweet girls at the dance studio that I work at surprised me with a small shower! It was so sweet of them and a wonderful little evening of petite fours (my fave!) and cute gifts. :) Last Sunday, my sister-in-laws and dear friends threw an AMAZING baby shower at Julie's house. It was so great to see friends and family and share in the excitement of Fisher. We were so blessed with so many great and much needed gifts! His nursery is starting to fill up, and although there is still LOTS left to get for him, every little bit is a great help.

I can't believe there are only 5 weeks left! Everyone keeps telling us to enjoy this last time together. While we are doing so, I am also starting to feel ready to start this new chapter in our lives. Its hard to grapple my mind around all the changes about to come, and am concerned about how to handle sleep deprivation haha. Yet, I can't wait to see the sweet face of our son and be a family of three! (well four...can't forget our darling Lola!)

Starting this week, I will be going to the doctor every week until delivery, so I'll try to be a better blogger and update our "progress." I have been subbing off and on, and it still surprises me how much I miss working sometimes. I am looking forward to my new full time job that will start soon though! Little Fisher has been QUITE the active kicker, and nothing is better than seeing the look on a person's face when they feel him move! That is truly the best part about pregnancy, and it really makes up for some of the not-so-pleasant things. :) (hehe)

In the meantime, we are dealing with some fun plumbing issues that in turn is getting us brand new carpet in our basement. We are glad this decided to happen before we get a brand new baby! :) We also just celebrated the one year birthday of our precious, wonderful niece Caroline! She is just a light in all our lives and I am looking forward to introducing her to her cousin!

Enjoy some shower pics!

PS - Lots more pics on Facebook, I have trouble posting here!

Charleston, Camera, Childbirth, etc. :)

Last weekend, Chach and I took our last trip (well besides lakehouse weekends) before the baby comes! He had a client getting married in Charleston, so we flew there for the weekend. We actually flew on 9/11, which wasn't too bad since the airport was quiet, albeit they did pat me down as if my big belly was something else. ;) Don't mind the extra security!

Charleston is such a cool city! Charley had never been before, and I wish we had more time to explore the area. The rehearsal dinner was great since it was a low country boil and made up for some crappy airport food we had eaten that day. Our hotel was on the Ashley River, so we got to walk around the marinas and look at all the yachts and saw a dolphin as well. On Saturday, we went to the South Carolina Aquarium. I LOVE aquariums, and of course so does the hubs, and its actually what we did on our first out of town trip together (Chattanooga). Its so fun to just sit and stare at the different fish, and this time was special since we had our own little fish on board (haha). We talked about how neat it'll be to take him to an aquarium one day! That night was the wedding, which was sooo neat because it was on a yacht! The ceremony took place on top of the boat, and then the next two hours we set sail around the Charleston harbor and got to see all the antebellum homes, Fort Sumter in the distance, and other sites. My feet were killing me because I refused to wear my practical shoes, however, I did (at the brides request) do the cupid shuffle with everyone! She was determined to tell our son that he "danced" at her wedding! haha

Since I have just accepted our old camera is going to stay at the lake, before the trip I bought a new one. So glad, and needed, especially since we'll be taking LOTS of pictures in our future.

What else...oh yes, the childbirth class! Well, the first class I found to be oh-s0-amazing. However, the next class almost made me pass out haha. The topic was "pain management" and it started out all great with breathing and visualisation exercises, massages from the hubs, etc. Well then she pulled out the epidural video. Now mind you, I am ALL about getting the epidural and usually don't have a problem with needles if I look away. Well after they showed the process (which truly doesn't look all that bad!) I found myself in a cold sweat, light headed, nauseous, and two seconds away from pulling the nurse over to me! I grabbed Chach and he had me put my legs up and I put my head down and felt better in a minute. Haha hopefully no one noticed!! Luckily I will not have to actually watch my own epidural. :) The class ended with the men wearing the "empathy belly", which I was a big fan of. Chach made sure to rub the belly like I do to mine, although some of the other guys had to cop a feel of the upper female attributes haha.

Lastly, the nursery has been painted! Like I always do, I waxed and waned over color choices..."glacier blue vs. bird's egg vs. ashland gray". Well glacier blue won and its very pretty! My sweet mother-in-law painted for us and it looks great. She'll come back and do the trim tomorrow and then the nursery furniture can be delivered and set-up. Wow only 9 more weeks till he's here!!!

Third Trimester?!

I can't believe its already here! We are on the home stretch till we meet our precious boy. Part of me wants to savor this time of freedom, while the other part cannot simply wait to have him here! I know life will never be the same and sometimes I get anxious about the responsibilities of motherhood...but I'm thrilled to think we are going to have a sweet child of our own. I love him already!

Physically, I have to say I cannot complain at all about how I have been feeling. I do get a tired more easily and my back hurts sometimes, but overall I feel great! I've had to make some emotional adjustments, but those have stemmed from working at a pace of 100mph then suddenly to zero. Its been so strange having a summer with really, not a whole lot to do, and I found myself not really knowing what to do with myself. Haha what a complaint, right?! Luckily, I got certified to substitute teach while my former coworkers were taking a musical to Scotland. So I have been subbing at Shades Valley off and on. Its nice to work part-time, and although I miss the action of the theatre....I know the time my baby in the future will be irreplaceable! Today I subbed for a chemistry class, which I found hilarious because that was my worse subject when I was in high school!

Fisher is just a growing boy. I can already tell he loves food like his Mommy, because he gets so active after a meal. We have our 4/D ultrasound in two weeks, which I cannot wait for! My mom came down last week and we picked out his nursery furniture! Its gorgeous and will be coming in soon. My sweet mother-in-law is also going to paint for us, so hopefully things will be getting set up in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to attach pictures of the furniture and bedding. :)

Chach and I also started our childbirth classes. I thought it might freak me out a little, but truly I left feeling amazed! Its really miraculous what our bodies do to make another human being. It made the whole thing feel more real, and both Charley and I dreamt about our son that night. I woke up more in love with my baby than ever. (Sorry to be all gushy!) haha I mean, in my dream, he didn't cry when I changed his diaper! Haha I know that won't happen all the time. :) We also watched a video of a live, natural birth...which further cemented into my mind my desire for an epidural. hehe

Hopefully I'll have real nursery pics up soon!

Daddy's First Kick

We hit a milestone last night! Charley has been waiting and trying to feel Fisher kick, but to no avail. I on other hand, have been feeling LOTS of movement. Well finally last night, we were reading in bed and I could tell Fisher was doing some of his water ballet. I could see my stomach moving sporadically, so I grabbed Chach's hand and put it on my tummy and finally he felt a little kick! He said that it felt lighter than he thought it would, mostly just my stomach jolting up instead of a direct movement. However, we both know that Fisher is just going to grow bigger and stronger, and soon he'll be using Daddy's hand as a punching glove! (and Mommy's ribs) :) It is the coolest feeling in the world!!!

In other news, we've had the chance to see lots of family this week which is great. Sunday our niece Caroline had her church dedication which was wonderful. Charley's great Aunt Louise turned 90 this week as well and we had a huge Grimes family dinner. Last night I babysat our nephew Hudson and got some good mommy-t0-be training. :) I can't believe we'll have a little boy of our own soon!

Rocky Mountain High

Here is my belated Colorado trip post! So fortunately for Charley and I, we were able to get some last minute (albeit expensive) plane tickets to Denver to join my parents and our long time friends the McClellands at a condo in Keystone, Colorado. We flew out on our one year anniversary and had a great week in the gorgeous Rocky Mountains!

Keystone is a ski resort a little more than an hour away from Denver. Before we left, I made the mistake of googling "pregnancy and altitude" and found out that doctors recommend not going above 8,000 feet above sea level. When pregnant, your body's respiratory and circulatory systems already work harder, and this also happens in high altitude. Well, Keystone sits at approx 9,000 feet. Eek!! So I was a bit nervous about how my body would handle the change, and if it would freak me out. Although I had never had a problem with altitude before...even at 13,000 feet at the top of Mauna Kea in Hawai'i.

Upon arrival, its hard not to get swept up in the sheer beauty and massiveness of the Rocky Mountains. Everything in Colorado feels so clean and healthy. This was a nice distraction to the altitude change! I did feel winded and light-headed a lot easier, especially the first two days, but once I convinced myself all the blood vessels in my body wouldn't burst, it was smooth sailing. :)

Everyday, the guys (Hugh, my dad, and Chach) went out and fly-fished the various rivers and lakes in the area. The gals (Linda, mom, and myself) went out to little ski towns and shopped! In fact, due to a nice outlet mall, we got Fisher outfitted for the first three months of his life....including an adorable onesie with a fish on it that says "nice catch." :) At night, we would all join up for a nice dinner. Charley and I also made sure to get some alone time by walking to a romantic dinner one night. It was a relaxing trip for myself and a fishing success for the hubs...and great quality time with friends and family!

We LOVE Colorado, the way the mountains thrust into the sky, how crisp the air feels, and the abundant beauty that constantly surrounds you. In fact, everytime we visit, we talk about how we'd like to move there. Don't worry though folks....our jobs, family, and fear of long winters, will keep us in Alabama indefinitely! :)

Our First Anniversary and a "Surprise" Trip!

All last week, Charley and I had been wracking our brains for a plan for our one year anniversary. We wanted to do something special, and I had been begging all summer for us to take some sort of vacation. Vacation was definitely not in the cards for the time being, because Charley had the trial of his lifetime set to begin on July 20. We couldn't think of anywhere to go after the trial as well, since I would be nearing the 3rd trimester...and tropical vacays don't sound as good when you are large and in charge and can't drink. So it was on the backburner...or so we thought.

The Thursday before our anniversary, I had made reservations at Bottega for us and figured we'd do a nice dinner that Saturday. I was planning on going shopping that afternoon, but knew that Charley had already been to a jewelry store but didn't find anything reasonable, and had no more time to shop with his busy schedule of pretrial depositions. Suddenly I realized I had two missed calls from my hubs and a voicemail. The news on the message made my draw drop!! The trial of the decade had been postponed by the judge till DECEMBER!! We knew immediately what we were going to do. My parents and their best friends had access to a condo in Keystone, Colorado that next week and had invited us a long time ago to join them, but with the trial we figured it couldn't happen. My dad and I immediately got on every airfare website we could find. What a perfect 1st anniversary "paper" gift....plane tickets!

The Saturday before we flew out we had a nice Italian dinner at home and pulled out the top tier of our wedding cake. It fared pretty well and tasted not too bad. We toasted with our silver champagne flutes, used our monogrammed cake cutters; I wore my tiara and Charley wore a green shirt to represent one of our wedding colors. It was a nice ritual and good distraction from Lola not being there with us (I had to drop her off at the boarders a day early and was a bit teary about it haha). On our actual anniversary we flew out to Colorado! So thankful for the way things just tend to work out. :)

I'll post more about the trip later, since this post is already long. To end things, I just want to get a bit sappy for a moment. Our wedding day was truly the best fairy tale day! I love my husband more everyday, and we feel so blessed to have found each other. Especially now that our family is growing. I spent the last couple of weeks finalizing our wedding photo orders (nothing inspires me like a deadline) :) and its been so nice to look back at that magical day. Here are some of my favorite shots:

Happy Birthday America!

For the July 4th weekend, we went down to our lake house with my brother Jason, his wife Courtney, their ADORABLE daughter Caroline, and their two sweet pups Link and Zelda. We had such a great time hanging out, cooking yummy meals, watching redneck fireworks, sitting by the dock, etc. Caroline is seriously the best baby ever and Courtney gave me a crash course on some mommy tips while the boys went fishing. It was so nice spending time with family! Here are some pictures courtesy of the Lil Z's:



Future Miss America