more pictures!

More pictures from the Georgia shower on July 31st!

The future grandmothers!!!!

My mother-in-law Cheryl

my sister, Amanda, and me with our Aunt Tara!!!

The Ireland's and Muchnick's.... best friends:)

Natalie Muchnick.... I love this girl! :)

Natalie made this adorable tutu for our sweet baby girl! I cannot wait to see baby girl wear it!

Sister and me by the adorable and DELICIOUS cake!

Carol and Sara (Chris' cousins) drove down from Charlotte just for the shower. How sweet was that???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY

August 2nd was a big day for our sweet little puppy.... she turned 1 year old yesterday!!! Bailey is by far the best dog and is truly a part of our family. She was our first "child" and I just love her so much! For her birthday she got a new rope and toy, plus some doggie ice cream, which she LOVED. It was a fun treat for her!!

Bailey with her new toys and ice cream!

Her first taste of ice cream....

The ice cream was a hug hit!

Here she is with her new rope

our attempt at a family picture.... gotta love the timer on the camera!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, BAILEY!!!

Weekend of Showers

This weekend was so much fun! Friday afternoon my parents, sister and I drove up to Georgia for a baby shower and a wedding shower. We were able to see a lot of our family and friends who still live in the South Atlanta area. It is always so much fun to go back to my hometown and visit everyone, but it is usually hard to see everyone in one visit. Well, this weekend I had most of my family and friends in one place and I had the best time! Karen, a very close family friend, threw me a wonderful baby shower on Saturday at the Glendalough Manor in Tyrone, Ga. Words cannot express just how much Mrs. Karen means to me and how appreciative I am for all that she has done for me over the years. This baby shower in no exception. I feel overwhelmed with love and support from my family and friends as Chris and I prepare for our baby girl's arrival. Thanks to everyone who was able to be there to help celebrate Baby A.

The yummy red velvet cake and cupcakes!

Me, Dani and Amanda.... Dani is our soon to be cousin!

Corrie Kirk and I go way back... I love this girl so much and wish we lived closer!

Corrie and me with her beautiful daughter Reagan. She just finished eating a yummy cupcake and the proof is all over her sweet little mouth! ;)

My dear old friend Mandie Stallings came to the shower! I also got to meet her 19 month old daughter McKenzie for the first time. (sadly, no picture)

a monkey for our little monkey- thanks Courtney!

Amanda, mom, Mrs. Karen and me after the shower. Thanks again, Mrs. Karen, for all that you did!! It was absolutely wonderful!

On Sunday, August 1, my mom, sister and I threw Dani a bridal shower. She is engaged to my cousin, Eddie and we couldn't be happier for them.

Family shot! Nana, Amanda, Dani, me and Mom!

The beautiful cake

Amanda and me with the bride to be!

Dani cutting the cake

NANA!

Aunt Tara-- we had so much fun with you this weekend!!!!

sisters :)

There are more baby shower pictures to come... I just have to get them from other cameras! :)

Pregnancy update

Here's whats been going on with the belly and the nursery lately:

The belly at 23 weeks 2 days

Last night Christopher and I put the crib together! Well, Chris did most of it, I just handed him screw or two and took pictures. :) It took 30... maybe 45 minutes to assemble and let me tell ya-- it's beautiful!

It's finally out of the box!

Bailey was lying somewhere near the crib the entire time Chris was assembling it. Seriously, it was so precious.... it's like she knows that she will be protecting that area in the future! :)

The finished product!! Isn't it beautiful? (my hubby and pup sure do look proud of their work!)

Told you she loved to be next to the crib...

We don't have a mattress yet but Chris couldn't wait to get the bedding out-- so here is the crib with the bedskirt.

Currently, the crib is sitting caddy cornered in the room. I like it there, but not sure how it will look once we get the rest of the furniture in there. I am just so excited to finally have the crib out of the box and put together. It's all coming together!! :)

This morning we took another belly picture... here I am at 26 weeks and 2 days.

I have really been feeling great these past few weeks. I am still able to run (on a treadmill considering it's in the upper 90's now) but some days it's pretty uncomfortable because baby A will get real low and put a lot of pressure on my lower abdomen- so on those days I will get on the elliptical. Though I have been exercising throughout my pregnancy one thing I did quit doing was abdominal strengthening. Literally, I haven't done a sit-up or crunches since I was about 12 weeks pregnant. I didn't think it was ok to do those and I feared I was squishing the baby. Silly, I know. So, when my personal physical therapist (AKA: my sweet husband) found out that I was not strengthening the muscles that will be used MOST during labor and delivery he quickly put me on a strict muscle strengthening regime. I hate it, but I know he is right- it will benefit me in the long run.

Like I said before, I have been feeling really great lately. However, week 26 seems to have brought on a new level of exhaustion with it. I can't figure out why, but I have been so incredibly tired this week. I'm afraid it will only get worse the closer I get to the end of the pregnancy. Speaking of which, I'm almost in my third trimester! I cannot believe it!!! We are so excited to meet our little girl in just 14 weeks, give or take a few!

Other things happening with the pregnancy?

1. My face has been in a constant state of "break outs" since day one.

2. My belly button is getting flatter and flatter by the day.

3. I'm definitely starting to get the dark line down the middle of my lower abdomen. (It's technical term is "Linea Nigra")

4. I am LOVING the snoogle Chris got me for mother's day. The added belly support it gives me during the night is much needed.

Next OB appointment is Friday July 30... it's a big one. I'll be getting tested for gestational diabetes and receiving a shot due to my negative blood time. Please pray that all tests come back negative for gestational diabetes!

The past few weeks

Life has been pretty busy these past few weeks between work, the nursery and visiting with friends and family that I haven't posted much lately. SO- this post is a compilation of all that has gone on. Let's go back to June 22-23rd. (Yes, I know that was a month ago- I'm sorry for the delay!) Our friends Luke and Ali were in the area on a business trip and we were able to meet them at AJ's for dinner one night. We had such a great time catching up and eating seafood. This was the first time we have seen them since November when their second daughter, Savannah, was born. They are such great friends and even though we live 4 hours apart we are all able to keep our friendship strong.

July 10th began the Muchnick's vacation down in Navarre. On there way down they stopped by to visit and see our house and the nursery. The next day, Chris and I went out to Navarre and spent the day with all of the Muchnick's (minus Mr. Dan) on the beach or in the pool. We had such a great time catching up with everyone and finally getting to meet baby Grace. The Muchnick's and the Ireland's go WAY back... in fact, Chris and Paul have been best friends since the 4th grade. Most of you know that Chris, Paul and I went to Landmark and then on to Samford where I met Natalie. Fast forward to the spring of our Freshman year of college and Chris and I set Paul and Natalie up on a group date. After several years of dating Paul and Natalie got engaged just a few short weeks after Chris and me. They got married in August of 2007 and Chris and I were married in December 2007. We all wound up in Augusta, GA where Chris and Paul went through PT school. Chris graduated from MCG in 2009 and began working for Premier Rehab, a part of PT Solutions.... and Paul just recently graduated from MCG in May 2010 and is now working for PT Solutions also. These boys do everything together. ANYWAYS- now that I've told you our history, here we are on the balcony overlooking the beach on July 11 in Navarre.

This past weekend Chris, Bailey and I went up to Birmingham to visit family and friends. We stayed with Chris' brother Justin and his wife Adriane- who are expecting a boy in November!!- and had a wonderful time just hanging out and catching up. I absolutely love that Adriane and I are pregnant at the same time. It's so great going through this exciting time together and I cannot wait for our little one's to play! Bailey and their dog, Piper had a blast playing together and I do believe that Bailey was depressed when we left Piper to come back home last night. While in Birmingham we were able to visit with Luke and Ali and their sweet little girls. It was so fun watching their oldest, Mae, play with Bailey. Bailey did so great with the girls and it was very encouraging for us to know that when our daughter arrives that Bailey will be gentle with her! Savannah, 8 months old, loved Bailey, too.

On Sunday, we went to visit Samantha and Steven in there new house. Samantha was in Chris' PT class in Augusta and she and her husband now live in the Birmingham area while he completes his residency. It was fun seeing them and catching up. I'm glad we are able to keep in touch with friends from PT school. Chris' class was like one big happy family and the fact that we all stay in touch is fun.

Didn't mean for this post to be so long, but wanted to catch you all up on our lives lately. We are getting close to putting the crib together. Hopefully by the end of this week we will have it out of the box and put together. I will keep you posted! OH! and I'm 26 weeks today!!!