The bump at 32 weeks

Bailey and the Bouncer

This weekend we (and I do mean Chris with a little of my help) put together baby A's swing, bouncer and diaper genie. Here is a video of Bailey learning the new sights and sounds of the bouncer.

a pregnancy first

Chris and I felt baby A's hiccups last night!! We are so anxious to meet our baby girl... just 8.5 weeks!! She has been moving a lot lately and seems to like kicking me in the ribs, but I don't mind. :) I am going to miss feeling her move inside my belly once she is here but I honestly cannot wait to hold her in my arms!!!

3D ultrasound pictures

Today marks week 31, which means we're officially down to single digits!!! We had our 3D ultrasound this afternoon and it was so much fun! Baby A didn't cooperate very much and decided to sleep through most of the appointment, making it difficult to get a good picture of her entire face. We do have several profile shots which include her foot by her forehead. Apparently she is getting a little squished in there! Here are just a few of the pictures that we have of our sweet baby girl!

Baby A with her foot resting on her forehead!! She has cute little toes though!!

She knew we were trying to wake her up and thought she would show us some attitude by sticking her tongue out at us. ;)

Is that an Archer nose, or what??

She definitely has her daddy's lips, too!!

FL Baby shower and weekend fun

This weekend has been so much fun! I had my last baby shower on Saturday and a lot of my family came into town for the festivities. On Wednesday, my Aunt Sheri and cousins Vanessa, Erin and Morgan drove up from Miami for a small vacay. Aunt Sheri and my mom have been best friends since they were babies. They grew up together in Miami and stayed close even after my mom moved to Ga in highschool. Aunt Sheri and her family mean the world to me and they really are family to me. I wasn't able to see them on Thursday due to my work schedule, but was able to spend all day Friday with them. We all went to see the movie The Switch which was really cute. After the movie Vanessa, Erin, Morgan, Amanda and I went to the beach for a few hours before getting ready for dinner. Throughout the day on Friday the rest of the family arrived. Dinner on friday night was so much fun and full of family, laughter and catching up over Mexican food. Here is the whole gang after dinner...

The Irelands, Archers, Bowers, Nana, Aunt Tara, Aunt Debbie, Shelley Ward and Vanessa Rueda.

Erin, Shelley and me

My wonderful husband :)

"The Kids" : Vanessa, Adriane, Shelley, me, Chris, Amanda, Erin and Morgan

Nana and her girls: Vanessa, Erin, Amanda, Shelley, Nana, me and Morgan

The parents to be with the grandparents to be!!

Saturday was shower day and let me tell you.... it was absolutely wonderful. Aunt Tara and my sister, Amanda threw this shower for me and Baby A. It was held at Another Broken Egg in Sandestin. The food was wonderful and the decorations were so beautiful and fun! Several of mine and Chris' work friends were able to come and two of our church friends came also. I am so blessed to have this group of ladies in my life and am thankful for each and every one of them. Each person holds a special place in my heart and I am blessed to have them in my life. Thank you all for the wonderful gifts you showered me and Baby A with. I am so ready for her to be here so that we can put all of the gifts to use!

My sister-in-law, Adriane and me showing off our baby bumps before the shower. I am 30 weeks and 5 days and Adriane is 26 weeks and 3 days (I'm guessing on the days for her). She is having a BOY and we are so excited for our babies to play together!!

Adriane and me with our mother-in-law, Cheryl

This is my friend Kim, who is due just 4 weeks before me. She does not know what she is having-- I couldn't do it! Chris and I met Kim and her husband, Jordan back in January at church. Jordan is in the Army and we are sad to say that they will be moving on Monday to Washington State. Please pray for them as they drive across the country over the next 6 days with Kim being 35 weeks pregnant. We will miss these two so much, but are looking forward to visiting them on Washington sometime after the kiddos are born! :)

The Premier Rehab girls! Gwen, Lauren, Marie, Bri and Christine are all a part of the company that Chris and I work for. Gwen's husband is the regional manager, Lauren and Christine are physical therapists, and Marie, Bri and I all work the front desk at the therapy clinics in Ft. Walton. I have loved getting to know these ladies over the past year and look forward to many more memories with them!

The OA girls!! Elizabeth, Brandi, and Jeri also work for Premier Rehab and are the ones that I work closely with. We all work in the same clinic and I absolutely love them! Elizabeth and Jeri are physical therapists and Brandi and I work the front desk. I am going to miss seeing these girls on a day to day basis when I leave, but am thankful for the year that I have had working with them. The friendships we have made are special to me and I am so glad they were able to be a part of the shower.

My mom's side of the family- each one traveled a great distance to celebrate baby A and I am so grateful for their love and support. Family has always been important to me and I love these ladies more than they know.

Mom's immediate family: Her mom and sister in the front and Shelley, Amanda and me in the back. We are missing Jessi (Shelley's sister) and her baby girl in this picture. Jessi just had her daughter less than a month ago and they live in Pennsylvania and were unable to make it. We missed you Jess and Ana Lynn!

Dad's family: His sister, Tara and mother Judy. I'm glad dad was there at the end of the shower to be in this picture. It means so much to have these pictures to look back on and remember the wonderful times we have had as a family. Love you all!

This monkey matched the monkey on the invitations!! How adorable is that!??!

Aunt Tara gave me the most beautiful and meaningful bracelet. It has three different jewels on it and each represents my growing family. The bracelet has my birthstone, Christopher's birthstone and Baby A's birthstones on it. It is absolutley gorgeous and every time I look at it I tear up. This time in my life is so special and I am so in love with my husband and our little girl. This bracelet will always be a reminder of how important my family is to me. Thank you Aunt Tara!!

Such a creative gift from Aunt Sheri, Vanessa, Erin and Morgan. I pulled this out of the clothes hamper they gave to us.

Aunt Mandie stocked Baby A's closet with lots of BAMA clothes for her first football season!!

Baby A's first swimsuit!!! Thanks for the beach bucket full of swimsuits, sunglasses and cover ups, Shelley!!!

The daddy to be was showered with gifts, too!!

The oh so creative diaper cake from Aunt Sheri, Vanessa, Erin and Morgan. I LOVE IT!!

After the shower we loaded up the cars and all of the family came back to mine and Chris' house to see our house and the nursery. We unloaded the gifts and hung out talking for a while. Amanda and Shelley went through our baby names book and had everyone trying to guess baby A's name. Chris and I are holding strong and refused to give in to the pressure. Sorry guys!

Saturday night we all went to dinner at McGuires to celebrate my cousin Shelley graduating Sonography school. We are all so proud of her and the hard work and dedication that she put into school. She is FINISHED!!! Congratulations, Shell!!! We love you!

The balloon guy at McGuires made Shelley a special lady bug graduation hat!

Morgan got a penguin and Erin got a flower!

Shelley surprised when her dessert came out and we all sang to her!! Even the booth full of guys behind us joined in the song!

The last "kids" picture before we all said goodbye.

I know this post was super long, and thanks to those who stuck through it to the end. As I said before, this weekend was so much fun and we made so many memories together. I love my family and friends and am thankful for all of you!!

excitement

I am getting so excited about baby girl A being here in 10 weeks (give or take) that I thought I would share my excitement with you. I know it's selfish, but it's pretty much all that I think about right now. I am so anxious to meet and hold her! I hear that the third trimester seems to creep by as you get closer to the due date and I'm hoping that's just not going to be the case. I still have a few more weeks of work left. Official last day is September 10!!! I'm definitely in the nesting phase but feel like I don't really get to "nest" due to work- by the time I get home I'm too exhausted to do anything. I will say that the nursery is starting to come together. My dad and I went shopping for a bookcase this past Saturday while Chris stayed home to finish stripping the paint off of the dresser. We found the perfect bookcase at Target (best store EVER!!) and am surprised at how well it matches the crib. I am anxious for the dresser to be finished so that I can begin to put away all of the beautiful clothes baby A has received from all of you. The room is in DESPERATE need of organization, but that will come in time. Our matress should be here tomorrow which means that I can FINALLY put the bedding on the crib... making the nursery just a little more complete.

Since this is my first pregnancy I am really curious how the whole birth story is going to play out. I find myself always wondering if baby girl will come early, late or on time. How long will I be in labor? Who will she look like? Will she have any hair on her head? (I'm guessing NO). These are just some of the questions I am constantly asking myself. I know that ten weeks isn't a long time, but to me, right now, it seems like an eternity! I am so excited to meet her and can't wait for October to be here.

I'll leave you with something that made me smile this week: Chris was talking to Baby A and feeling her move when he looked at me and said "I can't wait for her to be here". There is just something so sweet about seeing how excited he is about the arrival of our little girl. It makes me so happy to hear him make comments such as that. I know he is going to be a terrific father and the love he has for her will only multiply once he meets her.

Valentin Imperial Maya- Cancun

On August 5th Christopher and I flew to the Rivieria Maya with three other couples from his grad school class. We went to an all inclusive resort called Valentin Imperial Maya. It was absolutely beautiful! The resort was huge and had 6 or 7 restaurants open for dinner. There was a beach and several pools with swim up bars. This place was wonderful! The other couples includes Chris and Courtney Shields, Alex and Jessica Volfson and Libby Schleisman and her fiance Jake. Chris, Alex, Jess and Libby were all in my Chris' PT class at MCG. Each couple lives in a different state. We all came from Texas, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina so it was great being able to catch up over a long and relaxing weekend.

Our first group picture- just a few hours after we arrived in Cancun on Thursday

Dinner at the French restaurant, night one. Alex tried to be artistic and got the twig from the centerpiece in the picture.

Friday, our first full day in Mexico. We spent most of the day on the beach then went to the pool for the afternoon. We all were fried by the end of the day. OOPS!

Dinner at the Indonesian restaurant

The boys.... Chris and Alex goofing off like normal!

The Chris'

Paradise

Chris, Chris, Libby and Courtney went for a sail on the Hobie.

Libby, Chris and me hanging out by the swim up bar

Chris and Courtney Shields

Libby, Courtney, Jess and me at the Japanese Restaurant on Saturday night....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COURTNEY!!!

me and my love

Aren't they handsome??

This is where we spent all day on Saturday and Sunday... on the beach and in the shade!

Alex, Jess, me and Chris

Our last night. Dinner at the Italian restaurant- not sure about the art about our heads...

Baby A's first trip to Mexico!!! :)

Me and Libby!

Courtney, Chris, Chris, Jake and Libby in the courtyard on our last night in Mexico.

Belly Picture of the week: 28 weeks 6 days

Monday morning waiting for our ride back to the airport.... so sad.

Our last picture in Mexico. :(

This was a much needed break for all of us and mine and Chris' last vacation before our baby girl comes. The weather was beautiful, with only two rain showers each lasting maybe ten minutes. This was a great start to our annual DPT class reunions!