20 Week Ultrasound

Last Thursday, on April 12th, Will and I had our 20 week appointment.  We were eagerly awaiting this appointment (as usual) and were excited to see him again in an ultrasound.  We hadn't seen him since we found out the sex when I was 15 weeks along.  Again, he had his right hand up by his face the entire time the ultrasound tech, Karen, was taking his measurments.  Some of the time, it looked like he was rubbing his eye and at one point it looked like he was trying to suck his thumb.  I think he was sleeping when Karen starting her prodding.  He didn't want to move as much as usual so it took a while for her to get all the "anatomy test" measurements.  This was fine with us b/c it meant we got more time ooooing and ahhhing over him.  The end result was that his measurements were all "perfect" as both Karen and the doctor told us.  We got to see all four chambers of his little heart, his stomach, his bladder, his kidneys (which we couldn't really see but were assured they were there... we had to take Karen's word on about half the things she pointed out to us; she is amazing on that ultrasound machine...), close ups of his feet and hands, close ups on his lips, the blood flow to and from the ubilical cord.  And we also got further confirmation that he is definitely a boy.

Since about the first week in April I've been feeling him rolling, kicking and moving inside.  I love the sense of relief... not having to wait for my monthly appointment to get confirmation that all is good.  I'm not particularly worried about anything... it's just nice to be able to feel him thriving in there.  We'll see if I say the same thing when he gets to be more than 1 pound (what he is now) and big enough to kick a bit harder.  So far, Will and Mom are the only ones who have felt him but I'm sure it won't be long before I get everyone to feel him.   Ultrasound Pics:

Close up on face :)

Definitely a BOY!

Attempting to suck his thumb

Will said he was "tebowing" in this one... the doc who is from FL thought that was hilarious.

Will thinks his belly looks like his :)  I think he's going to be a spitting image of Will.  So sweet.

This past weekend, I started cleaning out closets and going through boxes in the garage.  Our garage is full of my boxes I never unpacked when I moved to Atlanta.  Really, I should have gotten rid of a bunch of this stuff way before I moved here but I tend to hold on to things until I am absolutely sure I'll never need them again... such as my college text books from 2005 and all my outdated/expired CPA study materials, among a lot of random other things. I was amazed when I realized I have two full boxes of unused/half-used bathroom stuff.  It amazing how much junk you acquire over several years.  Anywho, I'm glad I have motivation to finally sort through it all.  We are getting ready for a community-wide yard-sale.  I think we're going to need our entire yard to display all the junk we're trying to get rid of.  Will and I already decided we'd have a "for free" table to ensure we don't have a bunch of left-overs after the yard sale is over.  Okay so anyways, here are a few pictures of my baby bump from yesterday after I finished my work in the garage:  21 weeks, 5 days:

Easter & Lauren's Baby Shower!!

Since I last wrote, I traveled to Pinehurst for Easter & for Lauren's baby shower and I've had my 20 week ultrasound/appointment.  Lots of catching up to do :)

My long-weekend in Pinehurst was lots of fun!  The weather was AMAZING.  Mom, Dad, Sharon, Harry, April and I decided to go to Stoneybrook at the last minute, which turned out to be a great idea.  John David, Jennifer, Connor and Sadie met us out there and we ran into Sydney too!!  I spent a lot of time playing with Connor and Sadie... and a fair amount of time I spent eating while everyone else enjoyed their cold beverages :)  Here are a few pics from the day:

Mom & April enjoying a beer, Christy enjoying sandwich

Connor & April



April with the babes



Connor & me on the bouncy slide

Jenn, April, me & Sydney with the kids!



Dad and Harry watching the horses go by

Easter day turned out to be another beautiful day.  We spent the day in Grandmother's backyard.  The food was awesome and the kids had some fun hunting easter eggs (even though April and Sharon accidentally hid some of the eggs in poison oak and in prikly rose bushes ahahah... it made for an interesting... and entertaining egg hunt).  And here are some pics from Easter day:

Easter lunch at Grandmother's

Grandmother, Harry & Emily

Sadie, me, Mom, April getting ready to watch the egg hunt

Happy kids counting their eggs

Sweet girl... happy as ever with her basket and eggs. LOVE HER.

Carter enthralled by my belly... so sweet

Emily having some fun :)

Later that afternoon, I went to Lauren's baby shower where I got to see Lauren, Bekah, Brittany, Jocelyn, Megan T, Emily & Lindsay!  It was awesome to see the girls and SO SO SO good to see both Lauren and Emily's baby bump.  I am thrilled to be pregnant the same time as two of my great friends!  When the shower was over, I had a hard time saying bye to Lauren, knowing the next time I'll get to see her will be after both our babies are born!  Crazy!  Here are a few pics from the shower.

Me & Lauren!



Bellies:  Lauren @27wks, Christy @20wks, Emily @12wks



Lauren, Christy, Emily

Shopping Spree Glee

I just recently became somewhat motivated to start (when I say start, I just mean "thinking about") decorating the baby nursery and preparing for his arrival.  Until the past week or so, the idea of all the preparation and figuring out how and where to start has been overwhelming. 

I decided the first place to start is to find an inspirational piece of decor to base the nursery on and go from there.  And since Will was out of town at Teddy's bachelor party this past weekend, I decided it was the perfect weekend to find that inspiration.  It worked out great because Oni and I spent the weekend with Jill and Matt up in Suwanee and Jill said she was up for shopping around with me.  I'm so glad Jill was able to join me because I'm not familiar with the Suwanee area and she knew all the best places to go.  I told her all the things that were on my shopping list (inspiration for the nursery, maturnity clothes, running shoes, a few things for Will) and she created a master plan for getting everything in.  Jill basically chauffeured me around for a solid 8 hours.  I don't think she was expecting me to last that long but I was on a mission.  THANK YOU Jill for being such a great friend and for making it such a great day for me!!

Ok, so we didn't find inspiration for the nursery but I wasn't disappointed.  I'm not rushing the decorating; I know it will come together (meaning, I know Mom and April who know my taste and are the Queens of decorating ideas will come to my rescue... :) hint hint ). We went to a handful of furniture stores but, none of them had many baby/nursery items.

Matt's mom, Jane, recommended a place called Kids to Kids - a second-hand kids store.  We had no idea what to expect but, it turned out to be an awesome store.  They had all kinds of useful stuff but, since I still don't know what I really want and need, I just ended up buying a bunch of clothes.  Each piece was $1.50 to $4.50 (with the exception of my Harley Davidson purchase - my high ticket item at $8.00) and hardly looked used.  Picking out clothes for him was exciting.  I was trying to imagine what he was going to look like and how he was going to fit in the clothes.  It made me want him here right now.  Look at my purchases!!!

Rockstar onesie, 3-piece elephant outfit with hoodie, Mommy's Monster outfit

My FAVORITES!  Sweet sleeping gowns I scored for $2.50 each

Frog onesies

Sleeping bag outfit and Bear Bibs

A bit tacky but, I couldn't pass this one up for Will's sake - Harley Davidson

9 month overalls!!! And a sweet sleeping Giraffe who plays soothing music.

After this successful stop, we headed to Khols and Macy's where I found a bunch of reasonably priced maturnity clothes.  Although I hate spending money on maturnity wear, I'm glad I'll have plenty of options that fit and are comfortable so I won't have to dread getting ready for work anymore.  I also found a really cute "date" shirt and a classy looking church dress.

Our last stop was the wonderful world of Costco, where Jill and Matt do all their grocery shopping. The primary reason for this stop was to get steaks for dinner but, since Costco offers all things imaginable, I also bought more baby clothes and a gorgeous hydrangea plant to replace the dead bush in our front yard.  Mom and I agreed this purchase probably marks the beginning of my nesting phase.  That plant has been dead since I moved in with Will; why do I care to replace it now?  Yes, indeed, I'm starting to "nest".  When I got home from Jill's today, I felt a major urge to purge all things unnecessary from my house.  I started by stripping my closet of my old clothes I've been hanging onto for years.  It felt so good to rip them from their hangers.  I've never been so decisive about getting rid of stuff... I'm quite the hoarder.  It's just a start; I still have to get to Will's side of the closet, my bathroom drawers, the garage (UGH), and all the storage closets in my house.  The house is going to be much healthier once I nest the hell out of it.  Anyway, here are the pictures of the clothes I bought at Costco.  Both of these purchases were for Will's benefit b/c he loves camouflage and monkeys.



Camo outfit - shirt says "Boys Rock"



Monkey outfit

Will's friend from Francis Marion who was also celebrating Teddy's bachelor party this weekend gave us these two super cute sporty outfits.  Looks like he's already ready to shoot some hoops.  Will has pants that look just like these...  already like dad (or at least that's how I imagine him).



So Cute!!!