The Nursery!

Even though we are in a rental, I just had to fix up my baby girl's room! I wanted wall decor/furniture that could also be used when she got a little older. I learned from Braylor's room! I had to completely re-do his room and everything in it when he got his big boy bed. So this time around, I wanted stuff that could transition easily. I found the bedding online. I wanted bedding that was very "girly" with ruffles and all! I wanted a white crib, not the brown one that we used with Braylor. So, we borrowed the bed from Erica. It was her boss's, but she used it for both of her girls, and Allyn Marie used it, too! So it is special! I love hand-me-downs and heirlooms that have a story! By request, I painted the room all by myself (I LOVE to paint! It is very therapeutic!). I ordered the wooden monogram from Etsy, and I spray painted it white. Gaga bought the dresser off of Troy Buy Sell or Trade on Facebook for $30! What a deal! I then painted it with the white chalk paint. I found the perfect canvas/picture from Hobby Lobby, curtains from Target, and we used the same rocking chair that was in Braylor's room. It turned out just like I envisioned!

Gaga also gave us a little white chest of drawers that she had in a closet. It was missing a handle, and we couldn't find any to fit. So she was creative and bought 2 pink knobs to put in each hole. It turned out so cute!

Diapers Galore!

We were given two diaper showers. The first was hosted by the Fourth Grade teachers at EES. I was overwhelmed by all the diapers we received! They filled the closet! They did a great job with the food and decorations. Everything was so cute! I LOVE my fourth grade teachers that I work with! They make going to work everyday bearable!
                             

 The other shower we had was given by our wonderful Wi-Fi Sunday School class! Again, we were so blessed with diapers, wipes, and even some cute outfits! We stashed some more diapers in the closet, and had to even put several packs under the baby bed! We are SO thankful for all the diapers. We should have enough to last the whole first year!

Growing Pains!

This pregnancy was SO different than my first. The day I turned six weeks, I PUKED my guts up! We had eaten Christmas dinner at Gaga's house the day before. It was SO good and I think I ate 3 plates! It ALL came up the next day, though! Christmas morning was awful, too! I don't think I ate anything all day but saltine crackers! From then until about 16 weeks, throwing up was a daily occurrence! Mostly in the mornings, but also at night, too! Thankfully I never vomited in front of my students at school! I threw up one time while they were at PE, and that was it thankfully! I would feel nauseous and would have to snack throughout the day to make me hold it in! The doctor prescribed me Zofran, and I would only take it if I felt like I couldn't stop throwing up....I think I ended up taking it maybe 4 times! It was a wonderful medicine and provided immediate relief! It is also prescribed to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy to help control their vomiting, so it is some good stuff! The bad thing about the Zofran was that it made me constipated! So, the doctor told me to start taking stool softeners, and it ended up that I had to take them the whole nine months along with my prenatal vitamin every night before I went to bed. I also had to change my diet to make sure it included a lot of fiber. (I even drank a whole cup of prune juice while holding my nose! I threw up all night after I drank it! So, no more of that!) At my mid-pregnancy ultrasound, they confirmed it was indeed a girl! The doctor found a small cyst-like spot on the baby's kidney, so I would be rescheduled to come back for another ultrasound at 29 weeks to make sure everything was okay! It was, thankfully, but it was enough to have me worried! When I went to take the glucose test, I FAILED! By 14 points! So, I had to go back for the awful 3 hour test! The drink wasn't so bad, it was the fact that I couldn't eat! AND if I threw up, I would have to start over! I gagged several times, and swallowed my vomit in my mouth so that I would NOT have to do it again! I passed the 3 hour with flying colors, and I got a whole lot of papers graded in the meantime! I had to pee ALL the time, and many days after work, the inside of my legs would be so raw that I would have to come home and waddle around with vaseline on. I had never had that problem before! When I went for my 35/36 week check-up, I just KNEW I was going to be dilated because I had been hurting in my back pretty bad and having Braxton Hicks. I would lay at night with the heating pad on my back because it ached so bad! The doctor checked, and I was NOTHING! No sign of baby girl coming anytime soon! So, she scheduled me to come back in 2 weeks. A day before 38 weeks, and I was barely a centimeter! Dr. Johnston was going out of town, and I was so scared I was going to go into labor without her there. She assured me, however, that she would be back before I was ready to have this baby. When I went back at 39 weeks, 3 days, Dr. Nicholls checked me and I was 3 cm and 60% effaced! After talking it over, we decided to go ahead and induce. My options for Dr. Johnston were August 14 or 18th. My due date was the 16th, so if I waited until the 18th, I would be more likely to go into labor on my own which was fine with me, but Dr. Nicholls encouraged me to go ahead with the 14th, so that's what we did! By delivery, I ended up gaining around 50 pounds! 

20 weeks!

26 weeks!

36 weeks

38 Weeks

 

39 Weeks, 2 days

 39 weeks, 5 days! Before leaving for the hospital!

 

Foods I craved/loved:

• Cheerios- I ate them every morning before school.
• Chocolate chip muffins and poptarts- I ate them almost every day during the summer.
• Waffles- What I ate everyday the last month or so for breakfast.
• SWEET TEA! I had to have it everyday, especially during the summer! Willy T's was my favorite! I would go to the drive thru just to get tea!
• Willy T's Chicken fingers or chicken sandwich
• Anything with chocolate!!!!
• McDonalds pancakes
• Mexican
• Purple Grapes
• Chocolate chip or M&M cookies
• Cici's Pizza and cinnamon rolls
• Milk- I drank it by the gallons! With my chocolate of course!

Guns or Glitter? Gender Reveal

Thursday, February 20, 2014-  The day we found out the gender. I was 14 weeks and 5 days! I did not believe the tech when she said....

  It's a GIRL! Big Brother Braylor was right all along!

We celebrated with family and a few friends at Country's Barbecue in Troy. To reveal, we had balloons in a box. When we opened the box, blue balloons came flying out, but the one pink balloon stood still. It was fun to play a trick :). We also had a cake that had a pink inside just in case the balloon idea fell through or didn't work right. However, everything turned out PERFECT!                          

When people arrived, they wrote their guess on a sticky note and put it on the poster. Blue for boy or pink for girl. The guesses were about evenly matched. 

While we were waiting for our food, everyone filled out a questionnaire to guess the gender, date, weight, height, and to give ideas on the perfect name. We had fun reading all of the responses! 

 

Big Brother Braylor was so excited! He said the baby in Mommy's tummy was a "guh" all along!

I had so much fun with the decorations!

When 3 became 4!

I found out I was pregnant the the first week in December. I had taken several pregnancy tests that had shown negative at first.  They were the $.99 cheap ones. A few days later, I was emptying the trash and those same pregnancy tests were showing positive. I was like, "What??". (This whole time Brady only knows that they showed negative.) I went to Walmart and bought the dummy proof tests that read either "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant". Sure enough, it said pregnant. I immediately went to Dr. Cotton to confirm . I then wanted a special way to tell Brady. December 13th was a special day. It was the day that he proposed back in 2007, and the day we found out Braylor was a boy back in 2010. Now, on December 13, 2013, he found out we were expecting another child! We went out to eat at Cheddar's in Dothan. I had wrapped up my pregnancy test that read "pregnant", and he opened it. He was excited! We then started brainstorming ways to tell the family. Since Christmas was right around the corner, we decided to announce it by giving them a Christmas ornament that said it on there. They were all SHOCKED! 

Expressions are priceless!

We failed to get a picture of Mimmie, but she was so excited! She actually kept it a secret from Pappy! He was shocked, too!

Due Date: August 16, 2014

Mommy was very nervous about it being around the time that school starts! God had bigger plans than I, and His timing is perfect!

Braylor Turns TWO!

 Our cake! This was actually just the cake topper. The bottom layer of the cake split and crumbled to pieces on the way home from Dothan. Thankfully, we were able to save the top!

 Party Favors!

Hot Diggity Dog Bar!

Table Centerpiece!

Cookies made by Sugar Threads. They were so good!

 

The little table was a hit!

Mickey and Minnie came from Disney World to visit!!!!

Yay! Blowing out the candles!

 SOO tired and fell asleep as soon as he got in the car!