Our First Shower

Rose and Blaine threw us our first shower on November 5th, 2011 at Taco Mac in Douglasville. If you ask Candi she will tell you that this was my shower since it consisted of a bar, University of Georgia football on the big screen and cornhole, but I tried to "share" it with her. What guy will honestly admit that someone threw him a shower??

We were blessed to have the company of such great friends who I know for a fact are going to be a huge part of Drew's life and maybe even one or two of them will be a positive role model for her.

We received so many wonderful gifts that we know are going to be so helpful with the upbringing of our wonderful daughter but I still felt like some of my friends still found a way to throw some jabs at me......well placed jabs and they will come back in due time my friend.

In the words of Rose, "It's a what?? Really??" Yes Rose it is called a Bumbo and it is a seat that helps the newborn sit upright. Its okay....I will teach you how to use everything before you babysit for us. There will be a quiz at the end of this as well and if you don't pass then Blaine is in charge!!!

My friends that are parents and even my parents have told me that there is no way that I could ever imagine the amount of joy and happiness that comes along with a child in your life. I feel like I know what that joy is now having nephews and a wonderful little girl like Ansley in my life but there is always the other side of the coin. Its like my own MTV Bio, in the opening credits they always said, " you think you know but you have no idea....". There is no way that I could ever put in words the excitement that we have about this amazing journey we are about to embark on, but we are very glad that Ansley will be there with her every step of the way.

Since the first day I was very excited about having a "Daddy's Little Girl" and it is now official that we are on the proper path to brain washing Drew to think that daddy hung the moon. I totally expect to have many more items along these lines of how much she loves her daddy!!

Between all of the cute bibs, clothing, blankets, bouncer seats, bathing supplies, bumbos, tubes of buttpaste and the amazing amount of gift cards we received among other wonderful gifts nothing seems like they will be more useful than diapers!!! What kind of "shower" is held without diapers?? What kind of "shower" helps create a Diaper King??

Only the kind that is full of amazing people, lots of love and maybe an adult beverage or two. Thanks to all that made this the memorable day that it was, we love each and every one of you.

Surreal just became Real

This past week has been so many things.  To start it off it was the longest start of a week ever.  Our doctor's appointment to find out the sex was on Thursday, October 6th.  The anticipation of waiting for this day made Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday move so slow!  But, finally, the day arrived.

There were lots of thoughts leading up to this day.  Of course, I realized I was pregnant, but the whole thing was a bit surreal.  The baby didn't have an identity yet.  We didn't know the sex so the baby didn't have a name yet.  We had no idea what the room would look like.  There were just so many things that were left unanswered.

On top of all of that, I was secretly a little bit worried b/c I do not feel the baby on a consistent basis.  Everyone was saying that they felt their baby by this time and everything I read referred to it, but it just isn't happening for me.  So I needed the ultrasound to make sure everything was okay.

To add to everything else going on in my mind, Jonathan really wanted a boy and I didn't want him to feel disappointed.  My brother really wanted me to have a girl.  Either way I felt like someone close to me would be disappointed.  Even though I do have to admit that I was more worried about Jonathan's desires.

My mom came down the nite before to go with us.  Jonathan's mom met us at the doctor.  We had arranged for just the two of us to be in the ultrasound room upon first hearing the sex and then Jonathan would go get the mom's.  This plan worked perfectly.

So we went in the room and the lady started looking around and let us know that the baby is indeed a girl!  I, immediately, looked at Jonathan but he seemed to take the information well.  Then the mom's came in and they took all the necessary measurements and checked her heart and kidneys and everything else they do.

Apparently 3 little lines/dots means she is a girl!

Her face

Again her face, but her nose looks huge b/c she has her hand in front of it.

Her profile view

Another declaration of her sex.

I was so relieved to find out that she was measuring in the normal range in every category.  All was well, so now we could just be excited and relish in our little one's new identity that could now start to take form.

From the doctor's appointment, we met Jonathan's dad at Sprayberry's to eat lunch.  It was fantastic as always.  I love the macaroni and cheese there!

From there we went to Babies R Us to finish our registry.  There are so many things to choose from but I think we did okay.  Now we just have to tackle the Wal-Mart one.

I have to take a moment to declare how much I love Jonathan.  I have no idea why I was so worried about how he would react to a girl.  Even though it wasn't exactly what he wanted, he has taken the news wonderfully.  He looks at all these 'Daddy's little girl' clothes and has started calling her by her name.  He never showed a second of disappointment.  I guess this is the kind of news that is win/win.  Regardless of what the outcome is, it still great news.

The Biggest Day of Our Lives

The biggest day of our lives is right around the corner and it kind of feels like Christmas Eve. There are so many emotions and thoughts running through both of our heads tonight. We are very excited to be finding out the sex of our child and working out the last few details for the time being. Getting to finally decide on a name, completing our registry and getting ready to wrap up the second have of this pregnancy is just an awesome feeling. Hands down the best part of tomorrow is that we have both grandmothers going with us to find. There is no better feeling than for both of us to have our mothers with us as we get the answer that we have been seeking for weeks.

Thank you Aunt Tessa!

We just want to thank Tessa for giving us the first gift for our baby.  This child will be very lucky to have her in his/her life.

Baby's 1st book!

Baby's first item

So here is the first item that has entered our house for the baby...

I bought it for the cost of shipping only through a special that one of the many pregnancy newsletters had.  It is a sling for carrying baby (as shown in picture).  This thing seems quite confusing and I don't have a baby to practice it on.  I, briefly, thought of trying to get Gracie to comply but her puppy body just isn't the right shape.  Oh well, we will figure it out when the time comes.

Also, I had a doctor's visit on the 9th.  All looks well.  I always hold my breath while my doc is looking for the heartbeat.  It is just one of those things...I can't see, hear, or feel this baby yet, so I need the reassurance that he/she is still there.  The most exciting thing that I learned on this visit was that our next ultrasound will be on October 6th and that is the day we will know if we are having a boy or a girl.  I cannot wait!

Trip to Folly Beach!

Over Labor Day weekend, we traveled with three other couples to Folly Beach, SC.  This is our 2nd year returning to this area.  I love its local vibe and how everything is walking distance away.  This is the trip that Jonathan was referring to in an earlier post.  And even though we did not have a physical baby with us this year, it was quite surreal to think that next year the two of us would be three.  Craziness...

However, here are some highlights from the trip:

The beach chased us away each day.  It is crazy how high the tides get on this coast.  Much different than the gulf.

Jonathan, Ansley, & Dustin are playing in the sand.  Ansley LOVES the sand.  Soon, she will have a playmate when we go to the beach!

Jonathan & I

The Schularick family

TJ & Kathleen

Dave & Amanda

So next year's trip will be completely different, but I can't wait to experience it!

Trip to Babies R Us

Candi and I had some time to kill yesterday before trivia so we went to walk around Babies R Us and gather some ideas of things that we would like. We started by looking at baby monitors and of course I go straight for mac daddy one with the seven inch flat screen color TV to watch my babies every move. That was shortly followed by Candi shooting me down to a black and white tube TV ....I guess we will call that a compromise.

The next stop was bottles and food storage containers which seems like it would be pretty straight forward but was any but that. So that brings up the question of what types of bottles to use and how many do you need? Daddy likes a six pack so that should be good enough for baby right? I thought that but then I saw a bottle drying rack that has spots for eight bottles so maybe baby and I jump it to a twelve pack. This is by far the most complex and confusing riddle that I have tried to figure out in years.

If that wasn't hard enough then we looked at strollers, pack and plays, swings, rockers, bouncy chairs, diaper bags, carrying devices for Carlos and diapers. There are so many different things to look at and decide on and we have only made one decision and that was on the stroller. It was the one that I blogged about earlier.

My amazing sister has offered a car seat and stroller combination that way we will have one in each vehicle without have to deal with any crazy switching when we are in a hurry. My wonderful friend Mindy has also offered up a swing that my god son used so there is another decision made.

As for the rest of it I am at a loss and so thankful that we saw that they offer a class called Gearing Up For Baby. We will be attending this class about a week before we find out if our boys name is good or if I have to start deciding on a girls name.

Even though this may be the most confusing thing that we have been through we just cant wait for the endless rewards that we will receive once this bundle of joy joins us in February.