Thursday, October 29, 2009

Life is Good....but Busy!

Okay I have completely fallen behind on the blogging--I will be better! :) Things have been pretty busy around here since my last post. This past weekend, we traveled up to the Charlottesville area for a birthday-weekend getaway. Ryan turned 29 on Saturday! We had a really great time. We stayed in Orange, VA, at a Holiday Inn Express--it was SO nice! :) Seriously, it was. It had a gorgeous view of the mountains:

Yes, that was from our hotel!

All of the trees were changing colors and it was sooo beautiful. On the way there, we stopped at the Williamsburg Outlets to buy a few items for the baby. It was fun to look through all the baby clothes and actually be able to buy some stuff since we know it's a boy! Once we got to Orange on Friday, we decided to just go eat and get back to the hotel to relax. There's nothing to do in Orange.

Saturday, we went to Montpelier first thing. It was kind of a rainy morning, but it didn't start until after we had already toured the gardens, which was great. After we walked through the gardens, we toured some more and were ready for lunch!

Montpelier--amazing!
The Garden walkway--I wish the archway in the middle was centered...


Trying to look good despite my size :)
We love the self-timer!

After we grabbed some lunch, we headed to a local wine festival that had about 20 different Virginia wineries. Obviously, I did not participate, but Ryan did! It was nothing like the wine festivals that are held in Virginia Beach and Norfolk, but it was something to do, and Ryan bought three bottles when we were done. For dinner that evening, we drove to Culpeper and ate at an Italian restaurant. We capped off the day by going to see a movie, Couples Retreat. We both liked it...very funny.

Sunday was the day to go home, but we had to stop at Carter Mountain Orchard first to pick some apples! We got there pretty early, which was good because by the time we left, the place was packed with people. We picked two full bags of apples, picked out a pumpkin, bought some apple butter and apple crisp mix, and had two apple cider donuts before getting out of there! I looooove this place. It has breathtaking views of the mountains and it's a very fun fall thing to do.

Us at the orchard...not my favorite pic, but whatever :)
View from the orchard.......breathtaking! (or maybe my breath was taken away from all the uphill walking? )


We like apples!

When we drove home on Sunday, we couldn't actually go home because our house was being shown from 2-4. On Monday, our house was being shown again from 1-4. We received a full-price offer on Monday, and then received another on Wednesday! We met with our Realtor, Anna Staylor (who we looooove by the way!), last night and picked one, so....our house is under contract!! Scary, but exciting. If all goes well, we will close on 11/23. Please, please pray that we can possibly find something we love that's in our price range that we can close as quickly on to make it a straight move. I would love to have a house, my new house, to decorate for Christmas and to be able to start on the baby's room. It is also a perfect time for moving because we both have off that Wednesday through Sunday. We are looking at houses with Anna on Saturday morning. There is one that we are interested in that could be a possibility, but we will see what happens Saturday with our search.

I am off to get ready to go to Stephen's to work for a while, then I have a lunch social for my other job at Jason's Deli! Yummmm. I will try to do a baby-related post later on. I am looking forward to what the weekend will bring...wish us luck!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

21 Weeks

I am 21 weeks along this week! I have my monthly checkup tomorrow at 11:15. It will be a routine appointment where they check all my "vitals" and the baby's heartbeat. I'm also going to ask them about a pain I've been having underneath my ribs that has become worse over the past couple of weeks. We shall see......

Here is all of the info about Baby J at 21 weeks:
Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and if you're having a girl, her vagina has begun to form as well.


.......and the belly!


Now on to Gossip Girl, 90210 and maybe a little Melrose. Goodnight!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Brrrrr.....

WOW it is so cold outside! I have actually been looking forward to the cool weather, but it seems like it crept up on me so fast. We traveled to the Outer Banks this weekend for a mini-vacay with my family. My mom rented an oceanfront beach house at a really great out-of-season price. I drove down on Wednesday afternoon, and Ryan drove down from his business trip to DC on Friday. It was a very relaxing! I worked all day on Thursday for Onlineformals from the house. Other than that, all we really did was shop and eat. That's my kind of long weekend! The weather was not-so-hot: cloudy and cool--but it didn't matter. It was just nice to spend time with my family! Here are a couple of pictures of the view from the house and one of the fam:



Me, Dad (you can barely see him--I think he was hiding), Mom, Terry (Mom's friend), Renee, Omi, Opa, and Ry

I made a spaghetti dinner for everyone on Friday night that they seemed to enjoy! This picture was taken as we were all digging in. I love cooking for lots of people but don't get to do that often. It was also a great situation because everyone else did the dishes! We had church this morning and then Ryan and I went to lunch together because no one else from his family attended this morning. For the rest of the afternoon, we watched football and a TV movie. We had a small break in the middle where Ryan had to go to church to play the piano for a special event and I went to the store. I made a reallllly good Shepherd's Pie recipe for dinner. I loved the way it turned out and Ryan even liked it, which is rare! By that I mean rare for a new recipe. Usually when I try new things, he doesn't like them. Click here for the link! If you check it out, I did not make the gravy. It didn't need it.

This week will be a good one. Ryan's birthday is on Saturday, and we are traveling to Charlottesville for a weekend getaway. We both took Friday off and will basically have most of Thursday off, so I am looking forward to all of that!

On the Baby side of things.......everything is going great! Ryan first saw my stomach move from the baby yesterday morning, and first felt him moving today. I have been trying to get him to feel him for at least a week now but couldn't make it happen. I'm glad he is now able to feel our son moving around! We still haven't decided on a name and have also not decided what to do about moving. Ugh. Soooo stressful..................................

....and on that note--I am going to end this to do a little bit of real estate research with Ry. Wish us luck......
Goodnight from us and our furry baby boy :)

Sunday, October 11, 2009

20 Weeks!

This weekend has been very relaxing! Friday night we went to Babies-R-Us and created our registry for that store. It was VERY fun but also very confusing! There are so many choices for everything! We are also going to have a registry at Target. We'll probably set it up sometime within the next couple of weeks.

Saturday morning, Ryan ran in the "Fun Run" at Haley's school with her. It was really warm outside in the morning, so they were pretty sweaty, but I think they had a good time. Afterwards, we just did a lot of housecleaning inside and out in preparation for the Realtor to come on Sunday. I cooked Chicken and Dumplings for dinner, which were not that great. :( We watched DVR'ed shows for the rest of the night. Since Ryan had been out of town for a couple of days last week, we had a lot to catch up on!

Today we had church in the morning, of course, with lunch afterwards. We both came home to make the "final touches" on our cleaning. The Realtor came over at 3 to discuss selling our home. She showed us how our home compared with others that are on the market or recently sold. The price she gave us for listing our home was much lower than what we expected, so now we can't decide what to do. We have had many discussions lately and were set on moving, but we're not so sure now! We really have no idea what to do. Please pray for us!!

So as of this past Thursday, I am 20 weeks along--half way!! I have felt the baby moving this week, which is a wonderful feeling. I can see my stomach moving every now and then, but Ry has yet to see or feel it! Here is the 20-week info....
Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

Okay, going to watch football now and relax before going back to work tomorrow! Nighty night :)

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Our Baby Boy!!!

So on Monday we found out that the sweet, precious baby growing inside of me is a BOY!!!

I am sooooooooooooooo happy to finally know and sooooooooooooooooo excited to meet him in February/March! Here are a few pictures of our sweet thing:


Our sweet baby Alien :)

Proof that he's a He!

His precious profile. I think his little nose looks more like my nose and his mouth looks like Ryan's.

I am so in love with him already. I cannot wait to have a little Momma's Boy! We both think he will have reddish hair. I'm not sure why--it's just the vision I'm having and Ry agreed. No matter what...I know he will be a loved and spoiled child!

Off to look at baby names..........wish us luck. We're having issues!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

19 Weeks

This weekend was pretty normal and relaxing. I feel like I always say that, but it's usually true! Friday night we mostly relaxed. We did make a quick trip to the baby store to check out a couple of things I had been researching. There's so many choices for everything--it makes it kind of confusing! Saturday we stayed home pretty much all day and cleaned both the inside and outside of our house. I took a bunch of stuff out of cabinets and closets so that when we sell our house, whenever that ends up happening, they won't look so crammed. We had dinner at home last night and watched a movie. This morning we attended church, of course, and then had lunch at Olive Garden. It was good but soooo salty! I went to TJ Maxx afterwards and my shoe broke in the store. I only shopped for a little longer after the shoe broke--then I was over it. I came home after TJ and watched football with Ryan for the rest of the afternoon until we went to Omi's for dinner!

Tomorrow, we find out the sex of our baby. I am nervous and excited at the same time. This ultrasound also checks lots of other things, so of course we are praying that all will be well with the baby. There's no reason to think there would be anything wrong, but you just never know! I'm also hoping the baby doesn't have it's legs crossed. I am ready to find out what it is! I can't believe it's already time to do this. I remember thinking, "Wow, October is sooo far away!" I'm sure when the baby's born I'll look back and say something similar.

Since this is my 19th week of pregnancy, here is all the 19 week info about our sweet Baby J.


For those that may not know (because I wouldn't), it's a mango. :)

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.


Don't be scared, it's just my big ol' belly! Goodnight.....