24 1/2 Weeks

Wow!  It is hard to believe that I am already 24 1/2 weeks!  6 months sounds better.  Jackson is still kicking a lot.  He kicks a lot more on the weekends.  I guess that is because I am not as stressed and can relax a little more. Last weekend we put some paint samples on the wall and made a decision.  The next step is to paint!  Here are some pictures of the nursery so far. ( Jackson, I promise we will get it painted, so it is not pink and white!)  You can also see the monkeys that we are using to accent. We also bought a rug today (you can't beat $25 for a rug!) I also included a closet picture because this child has so many clothes already!  We have been buying things on sale for next winter.  We have gotten a lot at good prices.  We have also had some good friends give us some things that their boys have outgrown.  Of course, Jackson has gotten some presents already!

Tim and I have both been busy, stressed, and overwhelmed with work.  We usually come home and crash leaving the cleaning and laundry until the weekends.  Spring Break can't get here fast enough!  Unfortunately, we have different Spring Breaks!  We are planning a trip to Charleston the last weekend in March.  This will be our last trip just the two of us before the baby!

Tim fixed his wonderful French toast for breakfast, and then we had Skin's hot dogs for lunch!  My mom made us lots of spaghetti sauce to freeze, so we are eating some leftover lasagna tonight.  Have I told you how much I love my mom's spaghetti sauce?  I have tried to make it, and it does not taste the same! That is one of my favorite things that my mom makes.  I also love her pound cake, stew, and chicken soup.

I have been baking today.  I made a Key Lime Pound Cake from a recipe in Southern Living.  I haven't tried it yet, but it doesn't look bad.  I also made some Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies.  Those are one of my favorite cookies.  My grandmother, Nannie, used to make them.  She also used to make some good Peanut Butter Cookies, and she would leave the peanuts out on some batches because she knew my mom, brother, and I didn't eat the nuts! I didn't know my other grandmother, Ma Ma, as well, but I remember she made the best green beans and cornbread.  Whenever I smell good green beans cooking, I always think of her!

The weather has been wonderful here!  It has been in the 60s and 70s for the past two weeks, and I am loving it!  Spring is right around the corner (hopefully)!  We already have lots of daffodils and other bulbs starting to bloom!  Winter is definitely my least favorite season, so I am hoping it is over, and Spring is here to stay!

                 






 

February

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted.  Things have been super busy here with school, getting stuff ready for the baby, and the class I am taking.  I am thankful for a 4-day weekend even if one of the days is a furlough day!

Jackson Update
I am 23 weeks and Jackson is becoming more active!  I don't feel him that much during the day, but he does like when I sit down to read to my students.  He is also very active when I first lie down at night and whenever I wake up during the night.  We got our chair last weekend, and it has been fun just to sit in it.  We are trying to decide what color to paint the nursery.  We had decided on a khaki color until we brought the chair home, and now we are not so sure.  We also went to a consignment sale last week and got some great deals.  Jackson has a closet full of clothes!

House Update
We have been dealing with bats.  Somehow we have bats living in our wall.  We are lucky they are in the wall and not anywhere else, but we are ready for them to go.  So far, Orkin has collected 14 bats from the house. We are also going to be putting up a railing upstairs and painting the outside of the house.  Unfortunately, we are putting a lot of money into this house that we will never get back out.  Within the next 5 years (hopefully sooner) we would like to have all of our debt (bats and hospital bills don't help that) paid off so that we can sell the house and move into a house that is more in a neighborhood.  Maybe the housing market will improve by then, and if not, then we will just take a loss.  We have had a list of things that we wanted to do to the house and yard, but now our goal is to just maintain the house.

Good News
The good news is the weather.  It has been a gorgeous week with temperatures in the 60s, and it is supposed to be 75 today!  A lot of our bulbs are popping up, and we have a daffodil getting ready to bloom.  I am so ready for spring and summer temperatures.  I would love for it to be 80 degrees all year long!

I will post updated pictures later!   

Baby Shopping

We got up early this morning and took my parents to breakfast at William's Hardware.  Then we headed to Gaffney to shop at the outlets.  We were hoping to find some crib bedding at Pottery Barn.  We found something that we loved, but of course the only quilt there was badly stained.  Tim, being the wonderful husband that he is, called all of the surrounding outlets to see if they had it.  The one in Virginia did, but it would be an additional $20 to ship it. While it was very tempting, I hate to buy something from an outlet without seeing it!  Jackson did end up with some precious clothes from the Carter's outlet.

We headed to Charlotte to the Pottery Barn Kids store.  We got sidetracked by this awesome sale at Gymboree.  Tim found a bathing suit for $1.99!  Again Jackson got some precious clothes.  Papa J (my dad ) even thought they were precious and bought some for Jackson.  We finally made it to PB Kids, and I was not really happy with the bedding we had picked out from the catalog.  It just didn't look the same.  If you know me, then you know that I struggle with making decisions.  We must have stared at the bedding for 30 minutes!  Everyone was frustrated with me!  We ended up getting it, and now that I am home, I like it a whole lot better.

We ended the day with dinner at The Orient in downtown Greenville.  We were all exhausted, but Jackson got lots of stuff.  I am so glad that my mom and dad got to go with us.  I can't wait to paint the nursery and get everything ready!

It's A BOY!

February 1, 2011

We went for the ultrasound on Tuesday!  It was so amazing to see our little baby!  I am so glad that my mom and Tim were there too. We saw little feet, legs, and arms.  Everything looks great!  The lady doing the ultrasound had to make the baby cooperate, so we could find out what it was.  She pushed down on my stomach, and the baby would move around.  Then we saw that the baby is definitely a boy! We were so excited!  Mom and I spent the afternoon shopping for cute boy clothes (Tim had to stay at home and deal with the painter and the stove repair guy.)  Then we went out to dinner with my parents and Brent and Whitney.  I chose to go to Grace's ( I have had a thing for chicken clubs lately!).


We are so excited about our little guy, Jackson Raymond.  We are heading to Charlotte on Saturday to buy the bedding and get more cute clothes!  Here are some pictures from the ultrasound.

Introducing Jackson

 

He is looking at us!

January 31, 2011

     Tomorrow is the big day!  I am so excited and nervous that I can't sleep!  We find out if Baby VH is a girl or a boy tomorrow morning (if Baby VH cooperates). Tim and my mom are both going to the ultrasound too. I feel like once we know, it will make everything seem more real.  I am really excited about getting to see the baby.  During my last couple of visits, I have gotten to hear the heart beat, but I haven't gotten to see the baby since it was 8 weeks.  Of course, we just want to make sure the baby is healthy.

     Today author, Lester Laminack, came to school.  It was interesting to see him work with a group of students and then debrief about the lesson.  He is always humorous, and apparently Baby VH liked him too.  He/she was kicking up a storm while he was talking.

I will post tomorrow afternoon with pictures and the exciting news!

Halfway There!

I am 20 weeks today, so we are halfway there!  We find out if Baby VH is a boy or girl one week from today! I am finally getting some of my energy back!  It is nice not being exhausted all of time!  I still feel the baby move but not as much as last week, and I haven't felt any official kicking yet!  We are so excited about getting to see the baby next week.  It has been 12 weeks (13 next week) since I have had an ultrasound!  It is probably a good thing that I don't know what the baby is yet, because I would have already spent a fortune! Everything is either pink or blue.  They just don't make a lot of baby stuff that is not gender specific! Next time post it will be to let everyone know if we are going to have a Brooklyn or a Jackson!

Is it really almost over?

I have to admit that even though I got bored, I really did enjoy having all of last week off of school! (By the way, our deck is still covered in snow. We still had a lot in our backyard yesterday, but most of it melted today!) Friday was a furlough day anyway, so we just have 4 days to make up at some point. I have missed my kids though, and I am longing to be back on a routine. Of course I know I will be exhausted and overwhelmed on Tuesday.

Tim and I had a great Saturday. We started off with a wonderful breakfast at William's Hardware. They have the best pancakes, and you can't beat the prices! We get two cups of coffee, an order of pancakes, an order of French toast, and a plate with bacon, eggs, home fries, and biscuit for under $15. Then we went to Old Navy and bought some baby clothes. They were on sale and then an extra 40% off, so you can't pass up blue jeans for $2. We also went to Babies-r-Us to try out strollers. We actually practiced opening and folding the stroller, and putting the car seat back in the stroller. That helped us make our decision on which one we wanted. We had kind of already picked it out based on Consumer Reports, but this made it easy. We also went to Buy Buy Baby and to the mall. You could tell that everyone had been snowed in, because everywhere was packed! Tim is a good sport about looking at all the baby stuff, so I am very grateful that he puts up with me and the fact that I could probably go to those baby stores everyday and find something new to look at!

Baby News
We have picked out new bedding for the baby. The other ones I absolutely fell in love with, but I cannot bring myself to pay over $400 for baby bedding. (That could buy a lot of diapers!) I am kind of picky about this. A lot of people like to decorate with bedding that has lots of cute little animals all over it or Winnie the Pooh or something. That is all you kind find at Babies-r-Us, Target, or Buy Buy Baby. I just want something different that I won't get tired of. (I mean this is all about me, right?) I have finally found some things that I like at Pottery Barn, and those sets are actually not any more expensive than the ones at Babies-r-Us. Then we will have to buy a rug and some curtains!


Here is what we like for a baby girl. We will paint the room a pale green color and use cupcakes as accents. Tim bought me some cupcake canvas paintings a couple of years ago that would look cute. I also have the stuffed cat and the book If You Give a Cat a Cupcake.



Here is what we like for a baby boy. We will paint the walls some sort of blue. Then we will use monkeys as accents. ( I know monkeys are a type of cute little animal, but they are not all over everything!).

I am almost 19 weeks. I think that I can sometimes feel the baby move especially at night. Usually it is like a little flutter even though last night I think I felt a kick. Of course, it might not be anything at all. I can't wait until I can really start feeling the baby move. Two more weeks until we find out if Baby VH is a girl or boy!