13 Weeks

Yes, I am very posed, and yes, we re-took this 10 times. Don't judge.

Size: A peach! The baby's head is now about 1/3 the size of its body (slowly creeping into normalcy). It's about 2.9 inches long.

Major happenings for the baby: The baby has vocal cords, teeth & fingerprints! The intestines are moving from the umbilical cord to the tummy. Weird. I never knew they started there!

Sleep: Getting a little rough. My doctor warned me about sleeping on my back too much, so I've been a little paranoid. I've started using another pillow to anchor my front to try to stay comfortable on my side. Guess I'll need to buy one of those body pillows soon!

Miss Anything: Nothing now!

Food Cravings: All things salty. I know that's contributed to my bloat bump b/c Saturday I really watched what I ate & my belly was barely visible. 

Have you started to show? Still out there about the same. I can only watch my salt intake for so long.

Bellybutton in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Gender Prediction: Still thinking boy, but seeing the heart rate jump up threw me for a loop (yes, I know many boys have high heart rates :))

Looking forward to: Another weekend at home to relax. We're hosting a BBQ fundraiser at the office, but that's over at 2:00 and I'll get to watch my Tigers after that! Oh... and looking forward to celebrating a HUGE accomplishment for Ryan - more dets to come later!

12 Week Appointment

We had our 12 week appointment last Friday, and boy were we anxious. We knew we were just getting out of the "dangerous stage," so needless to say, we were on the edge of our seats until we heard our sweet baby's heartbeat. Take a look at these pictures...

7 weeks

12 weeks



Our baby has gone from a Munk-cocoon to a strapless bra in just 5 weeks. The week-by-week growth really does amaze me. In the 12 week picture, the head is on the left & the body on the right - I told you it has a 1:1 head to body ratio right now! You can actually see some the of the features of the baby in this photo...

The baby is facing straight up & you can see its right eye, nose & mouth. It looks like it has a neck, but I'm not fooled. No babies have necks. Have you ever seen a baby in a turtleneck? That's what I thought.

The baby was moving around like crazy throughout the entire ultrasound. I had a big glass of orange juice that morning & apparently that did the trick. The baby's arms & legs were moving all around & all we could do was sit & stare.

The heart rate moved up to 161 and the tech measured for Downs - all looks great & the baby seems perfectly healthy at this point. What more could we ask for?

That's right... what the heck are we having? The ultrasound tech convinced me that she'll be able to tell at 16 weeks, so we head back on October 18th to get the verdict. 3 & 1/2 weeks - eeks!!! This just got real. Y'all know I'm 100% convinced it's a boy, but everyone isn't, so it's going to be so much fun to reveal the gender once we know for sure!

On another note, Clemson lost a tough one on Saturday, but the Saturday before, we headed up to the game against Furman & were able to hang out with friends & family all weekend.

First, our friends Josh & Leslie flew in from Pittsburgh for a wedding & we got to meet up with them in Greenville for dessert Friday night.

These were taken before the Furman game. I wish I had pictures of everyone we spent time with that weekend!

Can't wait to head back to the Upstate in a couple of weeks for another game & more family time!

12 Weeks

Size: A plum. The baby is about 2.1 inches long & weighs .49 ounces - yay for 1/2 an oz!

Major happenings for the baby: The baby's critical systems are fully formed. It's developing reflexes - if we poke it, the baby will likely move (and no, I can't feel it yet). :) The baby is opening & closing its fingers & toes.

Sleep: Grrrrrreat! (Channeling all tigers this week - let me know if you get this.)

Miss Anything: Zipping my pants... too much to ask?

Food Cravings: Nothing crazy, but I'm still all about starches & salt. If you invite me over for Italian, you'll be my new best friend. 

Have you started to show? Same as last week - not much there when I wake up, but as soon as I eat breakfast, it pops right out. I'm thinking it's mostly still bloating, but there's a little baby showing too :)))

Gender Prediction: Still thinking blue!

Looking forward to: Our 12 week appointment on Friday... at 7:30am. Yikes. Nevertheless, I'm pumped & can't wait to see this sweet baby again!

Big Changes

I put in my resignation last week & today is my last day at my job. Kind of crazy, but I'm so excited. Ryan & I had always planned for me to help him at his agency; we just never anticipated it would happen so soon.

Once we found out we were expecting, our minds started turning & we started budgeting. At first we thought I'd stay at my job until after the baby came, then I'd start helping him out at the agency.

After a lot of thought we realized it would probably be better for me to learn the ropes before I take maternity leave. That way when I'm ready to work again, I can jump back in the saddle with no training and I can work from home.

I feel so blessed to be able to work from home and help my husband out at the same time and major bonus... my new little monkey will be home with me! I can't wait to watch this baby grow over the first year.

I thought people would be really hesitant to the idea of us working together, but everyone has been super supportive. Most everyone has said, "You'll never get this time back. Take advantage of it while you can." I plan to do just that! I'm so thankful Ryan made what seemed like an impossible dream a reality!

Don't worry, I still plan to conquer the world - one agency at a time!

Jumping on the Bandwagon

I have an annoying desire to be different - I always have. If everyone goes right, I go left. I think this stems from my hatred for people telling me what to do if they don't have the authority to, so when the iphone 4s came out, I immediately ran in the other direction and straight into the crap-shoot Droid. I've regretted this decision every day. That darn thing can't hold battery life any better than my left foot.

I remember heading off to college & my dad insisted that I get an Apple laptop to take to school. I demanded that I get the University-approved IBM... another mistake. Note to self - listen to the man who knows technology better than most Geek Squad members.

This time I won't be stubborn or hard-headed. I will break down & buy the new iphone 5 with the rest of the world. I'm so pumped to get a phone that won't die by 2:00 (when I've sucked the life out of it playing solitaire & surfing facebook).

I'm due for an upgrade in October & I've heard these go on sale the end of this month. Could this be any more perfect? Anyone else pumped to have more battery life to surf through stranger's meaningless status updates?

11 Weeks

{sorry for the awesome hair & sleepy eyes - Ryan had to leave early for a golf tournament, so this is what you get}

Size: A lime. The baby has about a 1:1 head to body ratio. This really cracks me up.

Major happenings for the baby: Quotes from the bump: "You can't see it, but she's moving fluidly and gracefully in there." That's got to be a joke. No kid of mine is moving gracefully anywhere. "Her skin is see-through, but she's on her way to looking more like a baby." That's reassuring. "Her fingers and toes aren't webbed anymore." Oh, so no more tadpole/frog thingy growing in me. Sweet.

Sleep: Still great!

Miss Anything: Energy... come back to me!

Food Cravings: I had a chili dog at work on Monday. I hate hot dogs & anything to do with them, so this was weird, but strangely exceptional.

Have you started to show? When I wake up there's not much of anything to see, but it grows throughout the day. Right now I'm in the stage where people look at me and think 1 of 3 things:

1. Awwww... she's pregnant.
2. Poor thing. She just had a baby and hasn't lost it yet.
3. She must gain weight in her mid section.

You can kind of see an indention of where my belly button is, but that thing is coming out soon!

Gender Prediction: Boy, boy, boy. All the way.

Looking forward to: A long, fun weekend. I get to see a lot of friends & family this weekend & we FINALLY get to go to a Clemson game!

Kitchen Reveal

Our kitchen is finally finished! Well... almost! With my laundry list of things to do it may never be finished, so I'll let you see what we've done so far.

For a refresher, here was the kitchen before:

And here it is now...



There's still plenty left to do, but a lot of the major stuff is done. What do you think?

Weekend Getaway

Last weekend we set off to Aynor, SC, more specifically, Galivants Ferry, SC for Ryan's cousin's wedding. If you've never been to the Aynor area, let me tell you a little bit about it... fields... land... houses... Bojangles.

I joke, but it really is a beautiful place with tons of open land. In fact, the bride's family owns over 300 acres & they got married on the exact piece of land where they'll build their first home. Presh.

Since we were the only out-of-town guests (no joke) they thoughtfully put us up in the Bed & Breakfast in Aynor. It was absolutely adorable. The Hagood House Inn was a perfect place to spend a weekend. We stayed in a spacious room with a private bathroom than had jam-up herringbone tile floors and a claw-foot tub.

our room

the parlor

The rest of these were taken with my phone, so please forgive me!

the outside dining area where you can eat Sunday buffet or have a wedding for up to 250 guests

it had so many original touches that were fabulous

claw-foot tubs bring back childhood memories!

Ryan chilaxin on his chaise

beautiful light fixtures throughout

On Saturday morning Ryan took off to play a round of golf with the groom. I figured out that the Myrtle Beach outlets were only 35 minutes away, so guess where I went! I did some damage to the bank account, then headed back to Galivants Ferry to get ready for the big shin dig. I have to preface this part by saying I regrettably took zero photos of the ceremony or reception. I hate that so badly because the bride worked so hard on the ceremony site. She drew a lot of inspiration from Pinterest. The isle was topped with 5 chandeliers that had been spray painted white and the isle runner was made of burlap. There was lots of wildflowers & burlap around the reception site. It really was beautiful!

Here are some happy pictures of the couple that I swiped from FB.

We left the reception right around the start of the Clemson game & caught the 1st half on the radio. We made it home in time to watch the 2nd half, but we didn't have to worry about the outcome... God sent us a beautiful sunset to let us know he loves the Clemson Tigers too! (Yes, I know this would make more sense if we hadn't played Auburn & there wasn't blue in the sunset. Don't judge me.)

10 Weeks

Size: A prune (about 1.2 inches)

Major happenings for the baby: It has working arm joints & cartilage & bones are forming. The vital organs are fully developed & are starting to function. The baby has fingernails & hair starting to form & it's swallowing & kicking!

Sleep: Really good right now!

Miss Anything: Feeling normal. I never feel quite right.

Food Cravings: Luckily, these have subsided. I'm still eating a good bit, but I'm not craving anything specific.

Have you started to show? My belly has actually gone down a little (kudos to people that told me it would). Guess the beano worked!

Gender Prediction: Still a boy. A had a dream 2 nights ago about the cutest dark skinned/dark haired little boy! (Clearly this baby didn't take after me!)

Looking forward to: Seeing my family this weekend! We can't go to the Clemson game, so I get to spend all weekend vegging on my parents' couch.