Monday, February 18, 2013

Weeks 25 and 26! Baby shower and Valentines Day :)

25 weeks along and headed home to Alabama for my baby shower!


 These have been a very busy and very exciting past couple of weeks! Paisley is growing bigger and bigger every day, which means my belly is continually expanding! I find myself looking back quite often and thinking "wow, and to think I thought I was big then!" Haha and I know it'll just get more and more unbelievable as time goes on, especially now that I am fixing to enter my final trimester!

At 25 weeks, I flew home for 4 days to spend time with my family, attend my sister's Gender Reveal party (it's a BOY! I cannot WAIT for Paisley to have a handsome little man to play with and grow up best friends with. I am so excited that this summer we will get to have two babies, one of each gender, to play with! How fun!), and to have my baby shower! It was SO FUN! The decorations were super cute, the food was amazing, the gifts were adorable, but the best part was the people! So many people attended. I felt SO loved and special! I kept thinking "I can't believe everyone took the time out of their day to come celebrate with me." I really did feel so honored and blessed. I loved seeing everyone that I have grown up with. Alabama truly is my home and all of my friends there are family to me :) Thank you everyone!! My cousin Amy came up from Birmingham Southern to be there-- I hadn't seen her in 5 years! Even Bryant's Aunt Sherry was able to come from Atlanta to be there with me. And guess what?? They surprised me even more by bringing my mother-in-law Stacy! Sherry picked her up from the airport on her way over. I was SO excited that they could both be there!! Sadly, Stacy was our awesome picture taker... which means we don't have a single picture of her that weekend :( sad day. Here are some pictures she took though:
Cute bunting banner that Carolyn made for Paisley's nursery :) Love it!
Love this diaper cake!
The beautiful hostesses... thank you so much for all you did to make this day special for me! :)
My cute cousin Amy :)
Thanks Aunt Sherry for coming and for bringing Stacy with you :):)
All of my wonderful friends!
GREAT food!
Kristy Blake decorated some cute heart cookies for us... delish!
Opening sweet gifts
The beautiful quilt my grandma made for Paisley, and Paisley's blessing dress from my mom-- we are starting the heirloom dress tradition, so this dress is intended to be passed on to all the baby girls in our family :)
I LOVE all the books with sweet messages written inside!
Lots of cute clothes and other gifts for Paisley. We are so blessed and filled with gratitude!

 I had the best time visiting my family, but I was ready to get home and be with Bryant again! I missed him so much! After flying back to Utah, we have been busy catching up on school work, studying for test (Bryant had 3 last week!), and celebrating our 1.5 year Anniversary and Valentine's Day! Bryant bought my my favorite flowers and surprised me with them as I came out of the testing center. He's a keeper ;)



 On Valentine's Day we celebrated by eating a nice, yummy meal at PF Changs (thanks daddy!) We exchanged gifts: Bryant got me a $40 gift card to Home Depot with printed off plans for the raised garden beds he wants to make for me once we move! I loved it! I thought the gift was SO thoughtful, unique, and something I have really, really been wanting!! I gave him a large mason jar stuffed with tons of little slips of paper, each of which had a reason why I loved him written on it. I told him to keep it in a special place and to go back and read them whenever he needs to be reminded of how much I really love him. I am going to try my very best to always make him feel important, but with our first baby on the way, I know there may be times that, despite my best efforts to love him, I get preoccupied with the baby. I want him to never doubt how much he means to me! Paisley gave us a surprise Valentine's Day gift-- I checked my pregnancy app on my phone, and we just dropped down to double digits until her due date! How exciting!! Definitely made our day :)


As of V-Day, only 99 days until May 24!!

 This week is a fun one! We have Monday (today) off for President's Day, then we go to school on Tuesday and Wednesday, we each have a test to take on Wednesday, and then on Thursday morning we fly to Oklahoma for the weekend! Bryant has an interview at OSU's Medical Center in Tulsa and I decided to tag along haha :) We are flying into Dallas where Bryant's parents are going to pick us up and we will all drive to Tulsa. His dad has some business to do up there, and his mom and I are going to look for potential housing while his dad works and Bryant attends his interview. Then we are driving back to Dallas and visiting with his family for the weekend! It is going to be a blast! We cannot wait :)

So on Friday I hit 26 weeks, the last week of my 6th month and my 2nd trimester! Here;s some 26 week info:

26 weeks... some exciting things happening with baby Paisley! Plus, it's the last week of my second trimester! Time flies!

Total weight gain/loss: 18 lbs!! Yikes!

Maternity clothes? All the time :) They're the best! I just bought a cute maternity dress from Old Navy for only $3.50! Score!

 
Stretch marks?  No ma'am! I doing all I can to avoid them!

 
Sleep: MUCH better lately! I am so grateful! Still have to get up for bathroom breaks often, and it's getting harder to climb out of bed (since I sleep next to the wall so I can't just easily get out), but I am falling asleep a lot better than I was a few weeks ago.


Best moment this week: Watching my belly move as Paisley wiggles around, Bryant putting his ear to my belly and hearing Paisley's faint heart beat, and just being happy to be a mommy :)


Miss Anything? Sleeping on my stomach and eating guacamole!


Movement: All the time! It's no longer just kicks. It's kicks, hiccups, and full body flip flops in there!


Food cravings:  Mashed potatoes... yummm

 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Onions



Labor Signs: Nope.


Belly Button in or out? Half in, half out! Hahaha


Wedding rings on or off? On, but a bit snug


Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy :) 


Looking forward to: Traveling to Tulsa and seeing Bryant's family!


How far along? 26 weeks!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

24 weeks!

Posting this a few days late... but Paisley is 24 weeks along as of Friday! We had an OB appointment today, and we got to hear her heartbeat again :) I get so excited every time we go in. I love hearing her heart beat and knowing that she is growing/progressing as she should. Paisley felt the dopplar and started kicking it! It was very cute and funny. You would be hearing a steady heartbeat and then... THUMP! Made me giggle :):)

 
Total weight gain/loss: 15 1/2 pounds :) That scale just keeps creeping up!

Maternity clothes? Yes ma'am! They are by far the most comfortable things ever. I love them.
 
Stretch marks?  Not yet!

Sleep: Getting a bit better! I still miss sleeping on my stomach though.


Best moment this week: Watching my belly move as Paisley kicked :)

Miss Anything? Sleeping on my stomach, sushi, ranch dressing

Movement: All the time! Some days I get worried because I haven't felt her all day, but I think I am just busy and not paying attention. At night when I lay down I can usually feel her pretty strongly

Food cravings:  Today I want some cake!

 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Onions

Have you started to show yet: Sure have!

Labor Signs: Nope.

Belly Button in or out? Still in :)

Wedding rings on or off? On, but I might consider taking them off soon. They are getting tighter.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy :) As long as the sun is out!

Looking forward to: Going home in two days for my baby shower and seeing all my friends and family!

How far along? 24 weeks!