Happenings of May

CLEANING & YARDSALE:  Will and I have made huge efforts to clean out our house since mid-April.  We spent a lot of time getting ready for our neighborhood yardsale the first weekend in May.  It was the first yardsale I've participated in, and in retrospect, it was a lot of effort with little payoff and I don't intend to do it again.  Will and I had so much stuff packed into every corner of the garage and in every nook of every closet in our house.  When I moved in, I didn't take the time to go through all the crap I was bringing along with me and all my 'runover' stuff landed in the garage, where its been since the day I moved in.  It was such a pain in the ass going through it all but, it sure did feel good to dump a lot of it, sell some of it and haul the rest of it away to Goodwill.  Our garage looked decent for about a month but, it's looking pretty horrible again these days... I don't know where other people store all their unused stuff... yes we have some furniture in there we're selling on craigslist and a lot of baby stuff (swings, bouncers, strollers) we're not using yet and don't want in our house but, the "mess" is made up of camping stuff, tools, Christmas decor, boxes of old pictures.  Where do you people store this type of stuff if it's not crammed in your garages?  You must have a better method than we do b/c I know your garages aren't as ridiculous as ours.  I try not to go in there unless I'm taking out the trash b/c I get overwhelmed every time I see it.  I hate it. Help.  Anyway, I didn't get any pics of the actual yardsale but here are some pics the clothes/jewelry I tried selling... funny thing is, none of these clothes sold (and I was practically giving them away).  I made decent $ on the jewelry though.

 SCOTT'S ANTIQUE MARKET
The weekend following the yardsale - Will went to the Darlington nascar race with his dad, Wade, Teddy and some other Rockingham boys.  So, Cindy came for the weekend to shop with me for nursery/baby stuff.  We went to the most amazing market in Atl called Scott's Antique Market.  It's in Atl every 2nd weekend of each month.  We spent hours and hours in there and we found some decor for the nursery that set the tone for the whole room.  We both gasped when we saw this dude's booth and immediately fell in love with almost everything he had.  It was a fun day - here are our purchases... you'll see pics of the complete nursery in a later post...

MOM & APRIL'S VISIT

The following weekend, April and mom came to Atlanta to help me shop for nursery ideas and to build onto the decor I found at Scott's Antique market.  I didn't have a super specific idea of what I wanted the final nursery to look like so the shopping day was interesting to say the least.  I definitely knew what I didn't want and I was so glad to have mom & April there to help me sort through my thoughts and ideas.  They get a lot of credit for being really patient with me as we all worked through what exactly it was I was looking for and for not making me buy stuff just for the sake of making progress (although, April tried to make me buy a crib that was similar to the one I really wanted.  She wasn't happy leaving the store without it even though I ordered the one I wanted online when we got home hahah she wanted me to buy something!).  By the end of the day and 7 hours of shopping later, we came home with only three 1.5 yard pieces of fabric for curtains.  But, that's not to say the weekend wasn't a success.  We all had a better understanding of what direction the nursery was going and we definitely ruled out a lot of options.  I think I learned this method of making decisions from my dad... consider all options, do tons of research, slowly rule out imperfect options until I end up with what I want, knowing there was a flaw in all other options.  It's truly the only way to know you're not missing out on something better.  Or in other words, I take forever to make choices.  :)  But, what's the rush, right? 

I also want to thank my dad for holding down the fort in Pinehurst so mom and April could come for the weekend; it's not often we get to do that.  So here are some pics of the curtains after April and mom MADE them for me... pretty awesome.  (The rug in the pic is one that used to be in Emily's room and mom had in the attic.  It works perfect in the room!)  Thanks mom and April!

See the orange, green and blue fabric laying on the floor...

Final Product - obsessed!

CAROLINA BEACH TRIP
Every year my family goes to Carolina Beach on memorial day weekend.  We drive out on the beach and camp for the whole weekend.  I call it "fancy camping" b/c mom and dad bring their camper, which has a fridge, A/C, water etc.  Dad has a pop-up shower with a hot water adapter thingy; he also sets up a "bathroom" for us with a potty that's easy/clean to use.  And everyone brings food to cook and we eat like kings while we're there.  Eggs & bacon for bfast, tacos for lunch, steak for dinner - you get my drift.  We don't necessarily "rough" it.  Since I was pregnant this year, Will and I opted to get rid of the air mattress that always deflated mid-sleep and we bought new cots.  I slept wonderfully the entire weekend. We had a great time even though it was exceptionally windy and the threat of tropical storm Beryl came strong on Saturday night... it ended up passing by with little harm and left us with an absolute gorgeous Sunday.  Here are some pictures from the weekend.  (Hard to believe there will be a 9 month old on this trip next year... yea that may be interesting but, I'm sure he'll be able to hang... haha I'm sure there are moms reading this right now thinking.. 'yea right').

The last pic here is of me and Will showering in the public outdoor shower before we headed back to Atlanta.  We ran out of water at the campsite so we couldn't shower in the pop up shower... we stunk and couldn't imagine being in the car for 7 hours back to Atlanta feeling disgusting.  So we opted to shower publicly and boy did we feel better afterwards.  April didn't miss the photography opportunity... good times - 

Me & April - love this pic.

Me and the hot husband

April documenting my belly growth :)

Dad fish-frying



The boys eating

April, Mom, Christy

Connor and Aunt Traci became fast friends.

Connor eating some breakfast - he was such a trooper all weekend.

Public display of showering

Welp - that wraps up May... move on to the next blog to read all about June.... :) 

My first blog in 18 weeks - let me update you :)

Ooops....  so maybe I'm not so good at updating my blog.  I would be sitting here for days typing away if I tried to write out the details of the past 18 weeks... since my last post on April 16th, at which point I was 20 weeks along.  I am now 38 weeks - just a few weeks (at most) away from labor.  So I'm going to try to write a little blurb on each major happening since the last time I wrote.    

What have I been doing for the 2nd half of my pregnancy?  I'll start with the second half of April:

April's Birthday Weekend - Surprise!!  April turned 30 this year so we threw her a surprise party at mom and dad's house. As with most surprise parties, it took a lot of lying and fake planning to pull it off.  I have to say April was a hard one to surprise.  She's a planner so it took some convincing to make her stop trying to make her own big plans haha.  The end result was a huge success.  Most of Aprils friends and most of our family were able to make it and everyone had lots of fun!  The party went on into the wee hours...I was impressed with how long I lasted b/c my usual bedtime since I got pregnant is 10 or 11 on the weekends.  And, I was really impressed with how much fun I had completely sober. It was especially entertaining and hilarious to witness and photograph the dance party that took place the last hour of the night... I finally called it quits at some point and arranged for Maurice to cab everyone away.  Here are some pictures from the night:

Teddy and Anna got married the same weekend as April's bday party.  We had so much fun celebrating with them and their families.  I've only met Teddy's family briefly but, I've heard so much about them through Will so I was so happy to finally meet everyone and spend some time hanging out.  Good times.  Here are some pics:

Jill with Teddy's sweet dad, Al

Belly show-down

Teddy & Anna's Entrance :)

So that sums up the second half of April.  I'm going to move on to a few new posts to update you on the activities of May, June and July.  Sorry again for the extreme delay in my posts.  You all know I'm a last minute girl - so since I'm a mere two weeks away from my due date, I figured now's probably a good time to mark this off my to-do list.  :) 

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!!!