Well, hello blog world. Long time, no see. We have had SO much going on recently, well actually, the past 7 months that I need to catch the blog up. So, here it goes....
As many of you know, our family is growing by 2 feet!!! Max and I are expecting our first little one on March 19, and we couldn't be more excited!! I can't say it was a total surprise, but it definitely happened a lot sooner that we thought. We can't wait to meet our little boy, Cameron Andrew, in March.
We actually found out we were expecting on my birthday, July 9. My friend Mary Elizabeth from Auburn got married that afternoon here in Newnan, so one of her bridesmaids, Whitney, stayed with us so she and I could go to all the wedding activities together. I took the test that morning before I left for my hair and make-up appointment. Max was already awake, and I called him into our room to show him the test. To say we were both shocked and speechless would be an understatement. Like I said, it wasn't completely unplanned, it just happened much quicker than we thought. We didn't say anything to anyone until a few weeks later, but below is our first picture as expectant parents (it is so crazy to say that) the night at Mary Elizabeth and Justin's reception.
We actually left a week later to go on a cruise to the Caribbean. We decided to tell our families after we got back from our cruise so they wouldn't freak out about us being gone. I'll do a whole post about our cruise a little later, but we had a blast. The funny thing is I was so excited to go because it would be our big summer vacation, but when we were there, I got very emotional thinking this would be our last big trip with just the 2 of us. It was bittersweet, but we had an awesome time.
When we got back, we decided to spend the afternoon in Phenix City with Max's family and tell them our big secret, and then we went to my parent's house. I don't have pictures at either house, but both of our families were very excited. Kind of funny story--when we were at my parent's house, my dad was in a little irritable. While we were there, I asked my dad about something at the house that we needed (I don't remember what it was), and I think he was irritable he would have to bring up a piece of furniture from the basement. So, to make him not so irritable, I said, "Oh, one more thing" and he said, "No, no more things." And I told them that I thought they would really want to hear what I had to say. So we told them they would be grandparents. My mom cried and my dad was ecstatic. My sister actually already knew because she had come up to school 2 weeks earlier to help me in my classroom and paint for me, so I had to tell her why I couldn't help her paint.
We went for our first doctor's appointment when I was 9 weeks, on August 15. We got to see where his little brain was and hear his heartbeat. It was definitely a very surreal experience and I did get a little teary eyed. Below are baby's first pictures:
A whole 2.35 cm long!!
I had a relatively good first trimester. I had morning sickness for a few weeks, but only when I would brush my teeth in the morning. I got to where I would wake up and turn on the sink and let the water run without brushing my teeth knowing that the thought of brushing my teeth would make me sick. Sure enough, it did. I then invested in the
Scrubbing Bubbles One Step toilet cleaner to help with the smell of toilet water. I would just push the pedal, and no more toilet water smell, which definitely helped. I also had a LOT of fatigue and tiredness. I'm sure a lot of it was due to pregnancy, but I also just started the school year with a totally new group of kiddos which added to my exhaustion. I came home everyday and fell asleep on the couch, and then Max would wake me up at 9:00 to go to bed in our room.
I went to the doctor every 4 weeks, and everything checked out great. I passed my first glucose test with flying colors.
At 20 weeks, we went back to the doctor to find out if we would get to buy pink or blue. We went to the doctor on Thursday, Nov. 3, and planned to tell our families that Saturday, Nov. 5 with a dinner at our house. Another kind of funny story: Max and I were waiting in the waiting room and I kept saying, "What if they can't find out what it is" and "What if baby doesn't cooperate?" We went back for our ultrasound, and sure enough, baby wasn't cooperating, but the ultrasound tech was great and she kept trying. She looked everywhere else, and measured baby's head, legs, length, and then went back to see what she could see. Baby had it's legs right underneath their bottom, so I thought, "It's a girl because she is sitting so lady-like." Max just laughed, and then the ultrasound tech saw something. Sure enough, our little baby was spread eagle, and you could see EVERYTHING!!! So, IT'S A BOY!! Max and I had talked before hand what we wanted. If I could've picked, I would have picked a boy. Something about the concept of having a "big brother" I really liked, but I just knew it was a girl. Max knew it was a boy all along because his family only makes boys (at least that's what he said, and I think it's true). Max's dad is 1 of 3 boys. Max has a brother, 4 boy cousins, and 1 girl (love you Hollon). When we found out it was a boy, we were very excited. We smiled and laughed the rest of the afternoon. Pictures of our little boy:
He will kill me when he's older for posting this.....
When telling our families, I originally wanted to make a cake and color the inside either pink or blue. But then I saw my friend Meredith's gender reveal idea (who is also expecting a little boy about a month after me), and stole it.
We decided to do a taco night because it could feed a lot of people and was easy to make, and we would then reveal our secret during dessert. Below are pictures from our reveal:
We did get it on video as well, and I'll add that later. I bought 2 dozen cupcakes from Publix, uniced. I tinted the icing blue and made a hole in the top of the cupcake, and then covered the top with white icing so when they pulled it apart/bit into it, they would see what we were having. With Max only having a brother, and me only having a sister, we were excited that one side of our family would get something "different." My family was excited it was a boy as were the McKay's (they also had a gut feeling it was a boy for the same reason Max had).
My second trimester went very smoothly. I got a lot of my energy back, my morning sickness was gone, and was very much enjoying being pregnant.
Max and I went on the annual Thanksgiving beach trip to Destin with our family friends the Higgins and Fowler's. My family has been friends with the Higgins for 21+ years. Their oldest daughter Katie got married in August 2005, and she and her husband Brian are expecting their 2nd child, little Karleigh Rae exactly a month after our bundle of joy is expected to arrive.
All the girls crafting: Mom, Me, Mrs. Rhonda, and Katie
The day we left--the 2 preggos--Me & Cameron Andrew and Katie & Karleigh Rae
Our annual Thanksgiving trip was wonderful, and we enjoyed spending the week with very dear friends. This year was a little extra adventurous.
First, we were scheduled to arrive in Destin on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Max had to work that weekend, so we left about 4:30 after he got off work. We made it to I-10 and then started having car trouble. We were in my 2000 Honda Civic that my parents bought me when I was 15. It had about 187,000 miles. We were packed FULL. We merged onto I-10 and our car started making a loud, pinking sound. At first, Max thought we had a bad batch of gas because one of his cars had made a similar sound. I, on the other hand, felt very different. Long story short, my dad and sister had to leave Destin to come pick us up in Chipley, Florida off I-10 at 11:00 at night, unloaded our stuff into my mom's car, and had my car towed. We made it to the beach around 12:30 and we were exhausted. We then spent the 2 days deciding what to do with my car. We ended up deciding to sell it to a mechanic for a whopping $350!!!! When we had to go clean it out, I cried (which Max told me ahead of time that if I thought I was going to cry, I didn't need to go, but I told him I would be completely fine...I was wrong. I bawled!!!)
Second, I received a text from my sister on our way down to the beach and heard that our house was a lot less than expected. Tears had already been shed over the status of the house, so we were nervous to see what it was like when we got there. Needless to say, it was rough. We all ended up spending the first 2 days having various repair people come in to fix things in the house: the AC, the dishwasher, etc. We ended up finding somewhere else to stay. Our second house was AMAZING. The only downside was that it wasn't directly on the beach, but it was only a short walk. We spent some of the remainder of the trip finding our house for next year and already booked it. We had an AWESOME time at the beach, and were very sad that it had to end.
When we got home, Max and I had to get our Christmas picture done. I was very bad last year, and we did not send Christmas cards out, but this year, I made sure we did. It was also a way to share our excitement with people we very rarely talk to or hear from.
I am about 24 weeks in this picture
We had a great Christmas, and savored every minute of it being our last Christmas with just the 2 of us. Not that we aren't thrilled to have a little one next Christmas, but like the cruise, it was bittersweet.
December 30 was my last 4-week appointment, and knowing that I was at the home stretch was really starting to freak me out. I took my second glucose test at this appointment and did well. I had also only gained 11 pounds which I was very excited about.
While at the beach, Max and I decided to do some renovations to our house. They are things that I have wanted to do for the past 3 1/2 years, but we have for whatever reason put it off. We decided we wanted to get all new floors for our house: for the cleanliness aspect for a new baby as well as to help up sell our house (which is something we hope to do in the next year if the market turns around). We also decided to have the entire interior of our house painted. The walls have been the same, contractor paint color since Max bought the house in 1997 with the exception of our room, the 1/2 bath downstairs, our dining room and kitchen. I'll have a whole house update in the next week because it looks TOTALLY different.
It is now mid-January, and we cannot believe Cameron will be here in about 9 weeks! AHHHHH!!! We have ordered most of our nursery furniture and his bedding, and picked up his crib and dresser, but it is not yet assembled because our new floors are being installed this week (YAY)!! My dad is building a corner cabinet for Cameron and we still need to buy a rocker for his room. We have a few things for Cameron, but not too much. His nursery is a mess, but hopefully it will look much better in the next few weeks:
We are moving the furniture out of this room to put in storage and have to clean out the closet from when the painters were here. Max tells me it will get done, but I have my doubts....I guess it's good that Cameron won't know any better?
I have about 28 days left of work which is crazy to think!! We took our childbirth class this past Saturday...talk about information overload, but it definitely made me think about a lot. I have always been one of the ones that has wanted to know how soon I could get an epidural, now I'm kind of wanting to see how far I can go on my own. Who knows how I feel when the time actually comes.
At 31 weeks, I am feeling pretty good, but my fatigue is coming back. I am going to the doctor every 2 weeks now, and will do so for the next 5 weeks, and then I'll go every week. I am becoming a little more irritable regarding all that needs to be done. We need to buy our new car, put his nursery together, the flooring installers are coming this week, and there are tons of things I need to get done at work before I leave. I will also be heading to New York next weekend with a friend from work and her 2 girls...last girls trip, but I'm very excited!!
I know this was a VERY long update, but I wanted to update everyone on what has been going on the past 7 months as well as document for myself what my pregnancy has been like. Stay tuned for the house updates as well as how the next 9 weeks go.
