It's week 23!!

Week 23 is heeee-eeerrre (I hope you heard me singing that to you)!

This week was another uneventful week - Bailey and I are counting down the days until we close on the house, and hoping all goes well between now and August 15th. I probably should begin packing things while I can still see my feet, but have yet to get started on that. First item on the list would be getting boxes to pack - (thanks to my BFF for being on the lookout for boxes, AND for meeting me last night to bring them to me...I guess I'm out of excuses now :D) Maybe we'll swing by some grocery stores this week. If all else fails, we'll buy some, I just hate spending money on CARDBOARD. So the moral of this story for all who are reading is...if you come across any boxes, let me know :)
 

Last week was pretty slow at work, so I was able to spend time online looking at things for the new house (bedroom suites <or suits, I don't know>, bedding, paint colors, etc) and things for baby Grant's room. I think I've found the bedding, colors, and "theme". I'm pretty excited about it :)

This weekend was fun (totally different than the low-key week we had). On Friday night, we went to the Braves game with two of our friends. Cale gave us tickets in AMAZING seats - seats so good, the only time I had to get up was to go to the restroom, since they brought your food TO you!

 

  

On Saturday we finally got to register - EXHAUSTING, and so many options! We spent 2.5 hours at our first store (Buy Buy Baby). I know they are owned by the same company as Bed Bath and Beyond - and you can totally tell! The set up is the same, and while they do have the major things you need like strollers, cribs, etc., they also have so.much.crap. It's like walking into bed bath and beyond - you know you don't NEED it, but come on - it's on the end cap and it's only 4.99!! We literally registered for anything and everything we saw. After Buy Buy Baby, we registered at Target and Babies R Us. Y'all - just a little inside tip if you're registering in the future - Babies R Us is where it's at! We're actually moving the majority of what we registered for to Babies R Us. Our registry there stays open for 1 year. You get a 15% completion coupon prior to your due date, AND we get 10% back in a gift card for EVERYTHING bought on our registry - how awesome is that? I bought a lumbar support while I was there...went ahead and put that on the registry. $2 back - whoop whoop! :) Bailey and I mayyyyy have 5 cribs on our registry. Whoops. I guess we should decide on which one we actually want, huh? :) Just so. many. options.

Side note - we parked in an "expecting moms" parking spot for the first time. TOTALLY unnecessary - I'm sure there are moms with newborns (or mom's who are 9 months preggs) who could use this more than I could. But it was fun while it lasted :)

Baby Grant's first book!  ;) When I sent my dad this picture, he asked if we had bought Grant's first dart board :D

 

After registering, we had a fun date night at Atlanta Fish Market.

 

 

Y'all - I've been craving some shellfish like you wouldn't believe. But I'm picky about seafood and usually only get it at the beach. But this delightful creation? It was to die for. Lobster, crab, scallops, and shrimp, all sautéed in some buttery deliciousness, then put back into the lobster shell and baked. I'm sure it was extremely healthy for me :) No worries - I had a green smoothie this morning to make up for it. That's how it works, right?

 

Sidebar - while I was perusing all of the ramblings that the internet has to offer last week, I came across this article. Can I just take a minute to brag on my sweet husband (hey, it's my blog, I can do what I want :D)? Do y'all know what a sweet man I'm married to? I knew he was a good guy when we went on our first date. I knew he was a man of strong character throughout our relationship, and a strong man of God when I agreed to marry him. I've loved watching him grow throughout our marriage, and selfishly I've loved the way he's treated/continues to treat me. My love for this guy has only grown deeper over the past 5 and 1/2 months.  I've seen him attend doctor appointment after doctor appointment, cater to the random craving, pick up where I've slacked when I've just been plain exhausted, and work long hours while maintaining his side business, all to make sure our little family is taken care of. Has he complained? Not once. Seriously not even once. The boy has even offered to paint my toes for me when I talk about how I won't be able to see my feet soon! I can't imagine how much more I'll fall in love with him as I watch him become a daddy to baby Grant and our future babies. I said all that to say - thank you, Bailey Garner, for loving me the way you do. Handsome definitely lives at my house.

 

Baby Grant - if you ever read this - know that your daddy is a man you will always be able to look up to. He loves your mama, you, and even Cooper (although he'll never admit it) with the fiercest love possible.

 

OK - sob fest over.

Now onto this week's regularly scheduled programming.

How far along: 23 weeks

How big is baby?: Papaya (I don't even know what a papaya looks like, but he's 8 inches and 1.2 lbs)

Baby Activity?: Umm...Grant will be DOUBLE the weight he is now by this time next month! his bones and organs are visible through his skin (weird), but once he starts gaining weight he won't be so ghost like :D

Total weight gain/loss: No doctor appointment this week :)

Maternity clothes: Let's be real..that's all I'm wearing now :)

Sleep: Eh, depends on the night.

Best moment this week: Bailey felt Grant move for the first time on Wednesday night. It was a super faint movement from the outside, but he was able to feel it!

 

Food cravings: Shellfish this week - but that craving was satisfied. I'm still loving my fruit - I got some of the most delicious blackberries at Costco yesterday. They gone. :)

Food aversions: Chicken is slowly working it's way back into my food rotation. Still not my favorite, but I can tolerate it.

Gender: IT'S A BOY (in case you couldn't tell from the entire post dedicated to the topic). Grant Thomas Garner.

Labor signs: Negative, ghost rider

Pregnancy symptoms: Ugh - just swelling!

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach :(

What I am looking forward to: Moving into our house so I can start decorating the nursery!!

Milestones: Same as my favorite moments this week - feeling Grant move :)

Week 22 isn't nearly as exciting...

Y'all. It's week 22. Grant (it's weird that "it" is now a he and has a name - eek!) is now the size of a spaghetti squash and one whole pound! WHAT?

This week wasn't NEARLY as eventful as last - no new contracts on a house and no gender reveals this week. It was still a great week though! Is it sad that I genuinely can't remember what happened last week? That seems like eons ago, and it was just 7 days ago. Is this what they call pregnancy brain? Or maybe it's just my brain getting older. I don't know.

I do know that Friday night Bailey and I had an impromptu date night that consisted of Taco Mac and the grocery store - how romantic is that? :) Saturday we enjoyed a lazy morning listening to the rain pour. I've become a fan of waking up at 7am, going downstairs to watch HGTV on the couch, and falling back asleep for another hour. It's sorta nice, and I plan on enjoying every single ounce of sleep that I can right now! Sunday was church - this is my second week teaching the 8th grade girls Sunday School class. I'm only 1 of 4 teachers, but I'm already loving it! Last week was so intimidating - who knew 20 middle school girls could be so terrifying? This week was much easier, and I'm hoping it gets easier as the weeks go on! I can't wait to build relationships with these girls throughout the next year!

I can't wait for Saturday - Bailey and I are planning on looking at baby furniture and registering! Woot woot! I've been scouring every consumer report, magazine article, and baby/new mama blogs for product reviews & things people can/can't live without. I know it's different for every baby, but I'd hate to ask for things we'll never end up using. I know the majority of people reading this are friends and family who don't have babies (or haven't had baby babies in years :D), but if any of you have any recommendations, feel free to send them my way!


And now for you weekly bumpdate...

How far along: 22 weeks

How big is baby?: Spaghetti Squash (8 inches, 1 lb)

Baby Activity? : Grant now has eyebrows, eyelashes, and possibly even hair (please don't let it be red - sorry, baby)

Total weight gain/loss: No doctor appointment this week :)

Maternity clothes: Let's be real..that's all I'm wearing now :)

Sleep: Eh, depends on the night.

Best moment this week: Figuring out Grant's moving patterns (or at least when I can feel him move). He usually moves after I eat lunch and settle back into my desk around 2:00, and then again around 8:00 when Bailey and I settle down on the couch. Bailey still can't feel him yet, but I love feeling it!

 

Food cravings: Still the same as last week - fruit and pickles! Although last night I really wanted a Krispy Kreme doughnut. My sweet husband left at 7:00 to go pick some up. Have I mentioned how much I love this guy? I laid in bed last night around 10 and had the STRONGEST craving for orange juice - one that had me sitting up in bed ready to go downstairs and get some, before I realized we only had apple juice. Sad day.

Food aversions: Still chicken.

Gender: IT'S A BOY (in case you couldn't tell from the entire post dedicated to the topic). Grant Thomas Garner.

Labor signs: Negative, ghost rider

Pregnancy symptoms: Feet swelling and fatigue. I've had a few random leg cramps at night, but nothing intense.

What I miss: Honestly, not a lot! This second trimester thing is fun. :) Enjoying it as long as I can!

What I am looking forward to: Registering this weekend!

Milestones: Same as my favorite moments this week - feeling Grant move :)

 

Week 21 is Here!

In the words of my doctor this week, I'm "over halfway done with this journey, but the fun is just beginning". I say it every week, and I'll probably continue to say it - these weeks are FLYING by :)

This week definitely goes down as one for the record books! Bailey and I get an email every morning from our realtor showing new homes on the market in our target area and price range. We got an email Sunday morning when we were in Alabama. I found a house I loved and woke him up to look at it - I don't think he loved that, since it was 6:00 in the morning. However, he did like the house. I immediately emailed our realtor (who is ah-maaazing, by the way) and asked her to set up a showing on Monday night. Bailey and I fell in love with the house, and submitted an offer immediately! Long story short, we were under contract by Wednesday. It's so nice to finally have an offer accepted on a house - we've lost so many good houses because we've dragged our feet on making a decision. Even though we're not far removed from that situation, and could find ourselves back in that same place, I'm so glad we passed on the other houses :) This is a house I can truly see our little family growing into. PS...it even has a doggy door - it was MEANT for Cooper. Of course, I hate the doggy door, and it'll be gone soon enough :)

So after the whirlwind of the first half of the week, I only had to wait 48 more hours until our NEXT exciting part of the week - yes, the part I've been counting down to for the last 6 weeks - the gender ultrasound appointment! I didn't think I'd be able to sleep on Thursday night, I was so excited! Lucky for me, I was also exhausted and passed out immediately - surprised? :) Bailey and I had our appointment at 8:30. I literally kept hitting him on the knee in the waiting room and whispering "CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING?" I was terrified that the baby wouldn't cooperate and that the ultrasound tech wouldn't be able to see the gender. So of course, I took matters into my own hands. I stopped by Chick-fil-A for a sweet tea to get that baby moving! Of course, we had to wait until the end of the ultrasound to find out the gender - the tech had to make sure the baby was healthy. Which was hard for her to do, since the baby LOVES sweet tea and would NOT stop wiggling. Whoops... I don't drink sweet tea super often during this pregnancy, but now that I've seen how the baby actually reacts? I think we should proooobably stop with it completely! After finding out we have a perfectly healthy baby so far, we found out we have a perfectly healthy baby BOY! Bailey was literally doing a happy dance in the chair. I cried. Don't get me wrong - I am pumped we're having a boy! I've said my whole life I wanted a boy first to look out for his little brothers or sisters. But so many people had told me they thought it was a girl - I had psyched myself into thinking it was a girl. I was just a little disappointed that I was wrong. And this pregnant chick handles disappointment by crying. I mean, WHAT DO I DO WITH A BOY? After the initial shock wore off, excitement set in. I loved watching Bailey all weekend - I don't think the smile has been wiped off of his face.

side note, baby G - I am so thrilled you are a boy. don't mistake my initial shock for sadness :) you'll learn quickly - i cry at almost everything, whether i'm pregnant or not. 

After the appointment, I had to go back to work. I sent the ultrasounds home with Bailey, because there was no way I could be trusted to keep the secret if I had the physical evidence. And we had to keep it a secret until 4:00 on Saturday when we told our families! That was the hardest part. I'm glad that I took off a 1/2 day on Friday...I was able to go in and get some work done, then leave before I spilled the beans :)

Saturday rolled around - as busy as we were preparing for our families, it was still the longest.day.ever. We knew once our families got here, it would be impossible to make it through a meal and not spill the beans. So we went ahead and did the reveal before supper. Don't get me wrong - I love gender reveal parties and am sure that they are fun with a big crowd. But I LOVED just doing it with our parents. It was such a special and sweet time. It was so sweet seeing how excited each of our parents were, and I'm so glad we were able to share our good news with the most special people in our lives. I can't believe we forgot to get a group picture, but I'm fairly certain our families were split down the middle as to if it was a boy or a girl.  We popped a black balloon to reveal the gender....

...and as you all know, it's a boy!

Bailey and I finally decided on a name last week - just in the nick of time. Grant Thomas Garner. I hope it's a manly enough name and inspires him to do great things :) Bailey and I both just like the name Grant, and Thomas is my daddy's first name. Choosing a baby name is hard work!

Here are more pictures from the party - Thank you to my sweet dad and sister in law for documenting the afternoon for us :)

 

And now for the Week 21 Bumpdate and Update :)

How far along: 21 weeks

How big is baby?: Banana (7 inches, 11 oz)

Total weight gain/loss: I've gained 2 lbs in the past 3 weeks...I'm ok with that!

Maternity clothes: Let's be real..that's all I'm wearing now :)

Sleep: Like a rock - still having super vivid dreams! The night before we found out the gender, I had a dream that we were in the ultrasound room and found out it was a boy. I cried, and to try to console me, Bailey kept telling me it was a girl - she was just giving a thumbs up between her legs! Like I said - SUPER vivid.

Best moment this week: So many wonderful moments this week - definitely the 36 hours between when we found out the gender on Friday morning, and telling our families on Saturday night!

 

Food cravings: Fruit. and Fruit Loops. and Pickles. But not together, because that's just werid.

Food aversions: Still chicken.

Gender: IT'S A BOY (in case you couldn't tell from the entire post dedicated to the topic). Grant Thomas Garner.

Labor signs: Negative, ghost rider

Pregnancy symptoms: A little feet swelling if I stand too long, and just getting tired in the early evening.

What I miss: Honestly, not a lot! This second trimester thing is fun. :) Enjoying it as long as I can!

What I am looking forward to: Planning Mr. Garner's nursery :)

Milestones: Definitely felt the baby move laying in bed on Friday night...I thought it may have been a fluke, until I felt it again Saturday night and last night. Let's see if he keeps it up!

Week 20

“Ohhh…we’re halfway there. Ohhhh…living on a prayer.” These are the words I’ve been singing every time I think of how far we’ve come (and how far we still have to go :D). Thank you, Bon Jovi.

This last week was a busy week! (side note – I just realize that I always talk about the week prior to the actual week it is. Maybe I should have done this blog at the end of every week instead of the beginning. Oh well. Too late now!) We left on Thursday evening for Alabama, which means Bailey and I had to get all of our errands/chores/work done by Wednesday!

Alabama selfie - can you tell he loves me?

We left Thursday night for Alabama for the 4^th of July. I hope Mr. Garner was proud of me – I only had to stop ONCE for a bathroom break there, and ONCE on the way back :D We had a great time seeing family, playing golf (Bailey), and shopping (me, of course :D). There are so many cute baby things out – it’s probably a good thing that we don’t  find out the gender until this weekend! Case in point, this super soft pink piggy blank. There's a soft spot in my heart for cute farm animals.

This week is just filled with keeping myself busy until Friday. I’ve tried to make plans every night after work this week, so that the week doesn’t drag by any more than it has to! We find out Friday morning at 8:30, and then I have to keep it a surprise until Saturday at 4:00 – HOW WILL THIS WORK?

 I told Bailey on our drive home yesterday – it’s crazy to think that this baby is already a he or a she – we just don’t know yet! We were able to come up with a few boy and girl names yesterday (Bailey hates it when I pin him in the car during conversations, but hey, it usually works!). Hopefully we’ll finalize the name within a couple of days after finding out the gender…we need to maximize our monogram time! I have the same feeling about picking out a name as I do buying a house – we want to do it as soon as possible. But there’s no huge rush. As long as we pick a name before we sign the birth certificate, I’m ok :)

Speaking of the house hunt – we looked at another house tonight. We put in an offer on the spot - we LOVED it. Say a prayer that they accept our offer :)  We are more than ready to start this moving process! Well, Bailey’s ready to start the moving process. I’m ready to start the nursery decorating process :D

 Here we go with the routine... you know the drill :D (my apologies for the end of the day 8:30pm picture)

How far along: 20 weeks

How big is baby?: I’m growing a little mango this week – 6.5 inches and 10 oz. 

Total weight gain/loss: No doctor's appointment this week, so no update on the weight gain (whew).

Maternity clothes: Oh maternity clothes are fabulous J I’m still wearing a few of my normal clothes, but not very many! Dresses and stretchy skirts have become my new BFFs.

Sleep:Still sleeping pretty well – trying to train myself to sleep on my side!

Best moment this week: Oh man, I don’t know. Last week was a pretty great week. I think the fact that we moved into the single digit countdown to gender reveal was probably my favoriteJ

Food cravings: My appetite has kind of decreased in the last week or two. I still get hungry every 2-3 hours, but not much sounds good to me (besides my normal fruit cravings). I did really want a cheeseburger on Friday. So I got a cheeseburger (sorry dad, it was just one).  

Food aversions: Still chicken.

Gender: FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY. Can you tell I’m excited?

Labor signs: I feel like this is a silly question until at least 35 weeks (or so I hope)

Pregnancy symptoms: A little bit of swelling in my ankles (cankles are not attractive), a leg cramp or two randomly, and just plain tired. I’m just thankful that the tiredness doesn’t hit me until closer to the end of the day!

What I miss: Honestly, not a lot! This second trimester thing is fun. :) Enjoying it as long as I can!

What I am looking forward to: July 11th - boy or girl!?

Milestones: hmmm..I'm not sure we crossed any huge milestones off of our list this week.