Almost Eight Weeks!

Can you believe it!? Time has gone by so fast with this little one. It's incredible to me how much a little baby can grow and change in such a short time. She's becoming so much more animated and expressive. Smiling has been a common occurrence, and now it's not just when she has gas! Her neck muscles are getting super strong, which is great for Mama and Daddy because wobbly-headed babies kinda freak us out, and tummy time just usually turns into her staring at the pretty, colorful dresser her dad made for her. It's so cool to see her actually starting to recognize and focus on things.

It'll only be a matter of time before this little one is all over the place!

And for that reason, I'm doing everything I can to soak up every moment of this precious time.

Besides the fact that she's adorable, I love this last picture because that quilt was my baby quilt given to me by my great-grandma. I love it and love that I can pass it on to my little boogie!

We left Eva with babysitters (our besties Megan and Eric, who are expecting their own little booboo in February) last Friday and went on our first real date since Eva was born. All I have to say is: Yay for babysitters! It was SO nice to get some good one-on-one time with my wonderful hubby. I think dating after a baby is even more fun because to me it's more special. You really have to plan, which gives you something to look forward to. 

And speaking of things to look forward to, I started my first work project since having Eva and I'm super excited to get back into it. I've revamped my design blog and am excited to be a guest blogger at The Soho later this month. There are a lot of exciting and cool things coming down the pipeline for the design biz, so stay tuned for updates!

All I can say right now is this: life is so good. I have so much to be thankful for. 

Maybe Today...?

"Maybe today!" That seems to be the running theme around here. No baby yet. I've had contractions the last couple nights, but then I fall asleep and they stop. Bummer.

But she's gotta be ready soon! If there's no action by Friday, we'll be inducing at the beginning of next week. I don't know how I feel about that, but at this point, I'm really ready to see her squishy little face, so que sera sera.

Here I am on my due date, last Sunday...

Look how low she is! I mean, I feel like she's just gonna fall out, but then when I think of the logistics, I know it's not very likely to happen like that. 

We're all ready to go; mom's here, laundry is being done in an OCD fashion, meals are planned and prepared...now if only this little one would decide to join the party, we'd be all set!

Lately

I'm playing a bit of catch-up here since Father's Day and our four-year anniversary have passed since my last post...two big days!

First was Father's Day. Brendan insisted that I not make a big deal out of it yet. I think his thoughts are that besides the work put into the nursery and that kind of thing, he hasn't really had to do anything fatherly yet, but I beg to differ. I'm already so proud of the father he will be to our little girl and how super helpful and supportive he's been to his baby's mama. I can't for him to get to hold her (and see how heavy this little booger is that I've been carrying ;).

Not only am I so lucky to have an amazing dad for my little girl, I'm pretty darn lucky to have a great dad myself. Though we live a few states away, I hope he knows how often he is thought of, prayed for, and loved.

Love you, Dad!!

Just a few days after celebrating Father's Day, we celebrated four years of amazing marriage! I know that sounds cheesy, but this is my blog, and I'm preggo, so I'll take license to sappy from time to time. And I feel like now's a good time for it!

It was a completely beautiful night downtown. We hung out at the waterfront for a while and upon my friend Abbie's advice, drove around several cobblestone streets and ate deliciously spicy Thai food at Basil, in hopes that maybe it would help convince Eva that coming into the world would be a super fun thing to do on our anniversary.

Welp, no such luck. My due date's a week and a half away, and I wish I could speed up the clock (the doc said she's in position and could come any day now), but I have to remind myself to just enjoy the calm and quiet now...before everything changes! :)

On the agenda this week: lots of yoga ball bouncing, walking & spicy food. Stay tuned...

Well...

...nothing new really to report. And I don't want to seem whiney, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I'm feeling fat. And tired. And clumsy.

In other news, I've finished up my last two projects until baby gets here...one of which you can see here. 

When I finish a project, I always feel like I'm coming off a design high and if I don't have something to immediately delve back into. I go through a little design withdrawal. So I'll keep up with designerly-type things on my design blog for the weeks to come. 

But if you don't hear much from me here, it's probably because I'm trying not get too repetitive with the whole "I feel huge and am ready pop" stuff. 

Anyway, here I am at 34 weeks with my pretty friend Lindsey at her wedding last weekend, a lamp that I love in Eva's nursery (love that it looks like a little lady hat), and Mo. Just keeping the Cuddle Bunny warm for her for a couple weeks. How thoughtful of him. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Brendan and I were walking back home from a friend's house last night and happened to catch a glimpse of this lovely little mama and her two little babies nesting in a beautiful hanging flower basket. The picture looks fake, but I promise it's real! It was such a sweet site and so fitting for this Mother's Day weekend. 

If you're someone who's close to your mom this Mother's Day, count yourself lucky. My mom's nine hours away, but thankfully I was able to spend some great time with her when she came down to Charleston for the shower last weekend, which I promise to post pictures of soon!

Since I'll be a mother myself this year, I'm all the more appreciative for the sacrifices my mom's made for us over the years. And I love this point in my life where my mom can truly be a best friend. If you're a twenty-something girl, you probably know what I mean. All of sudden, mom goes from being someone who's keeping your curfew and what you wear out of the house in check to someone who you can giggle with over a glass of wine. And then all of sudden you find yourself telling her about how you snuck out of the house that once at a little tapas bar in New York. Once that "WHAT!? I can't believe you did that!" quickly wears away, you laugh and she tells you something funny she did when she was that age and you're both just happy to be able to enjoy each other's company.

Mom's are so special.

 I'm so thankful for my mom's creativity, her sense of humor and her friendship.

Happy Mother's Day Mom! I hope your weekend is relaxing and delightful! You deserve it! 

Third Trimester!

So I've been pretty terrible about keeping up lately. Things have been busy busy busy around here. I don't even know where to start.

We've been working like crazy people trying to get the nursery done, which has mostly been lots of painting. Two opposing walls in the nursery have stripes, so that's been fun. And the ceiling needed to be repainted. And pretty much all of the furniture, which includes the dresser/changing table, rocking chair, and a little side table. And let's not even talk about the crib. That's a bit of a sore subject right now. See, when I say "we've been painting" I really mean Brendan and various other helpers. Not me. But Brendan endured a seven-hour stand-off with the crib I used as I baby, first trying to figure out how the heck to put together such a...shall we say..."vintage" piece. Then painting said piece for hours upon hours, meticulously detailing each spindle, trying to get sufficient coverage, only to find that upon drying the perfect shade pealed off like a bad sunburn.

Yikes.

We've surrendered and will be picking up a new crib soon.

We've also been getting a lot done around the rest of the house too. I think Brendan has caught the nesting bug too. We've put up curtains in the living room (finally!!), got some stuff of the walls so it doesn't look like we just moved in, and finished the old gun cabinet turned wine rack we found on the side of the road a looong time ago. We're not done, but are making huge strides and I'm feeling really good about it. I'll get some pics up soon. There are a few other things to get done first, though.

And on a sad note, we had to do something really rough last week. After finding out that our little Gigi has kitty-diabetes, we had to give her away. It was really sad, but we didn't have a choice because with a baby on the way, we don't have the time or money to worry about what treatment entails. And I know she's making plenty of new friends and cuddling with everything she sees at Pet Helpers. They can treat her there and I just know that some rich old lady will adopt her and not worry one bit about paying for her diabetes medicine. And maybe that old lady will even have diabetes too, so they can check their insulin together and be best friends forever.

But enough about that.

Eva is growing like crazy, which means I am too! Thankfully I don't have diabetes (gestational diabetes, that is) and am right on track with everything, but I was shocked that I hadn't gained more weight since my last doctor's appointment because I feel like every morning I wake up and am huge! She's totally popping out and everyone's taken notice. It was a total shocker to read that babies can come as early as 32 weeks and are generally fine. Holy crap...that's in just three weeks! Not that I think she'll make her arrival that early, but I know she'll be here before we know it. I feel like it wasn't long ago that I spent my days hugging the toilet and eating a steady diet of saltines. Now I'm just tired a lot and getting used to jabs in the guts. Things are really starting to sink in.

Here's me, my baby belly, and my sweet girls at Fuse last Wednesday. No, they don't always dress like this. It was Old School night. And they look pretty awesome.

Speaking of awesome...I'm gonna go lay on the couch. Good night.

Matthew 6:26

"Consider the birds of the air; they do not sow or store away in barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

{Matthew 6:26}

Breach Inlet, South Carolina

This & That

I feel like we've been super busy lately. Every week, there's practically something going on every night, so it was nice to have a little time this weekend and last to get some things done around the house and spend some time with hub.

Speaking of the hubby, he's been a project fiend lately. He's painted one of the bathrooms, redone what I think used to be a very old gun cabinet but is now repurposed as a wine rack, helped me paint some oars to hang over the couch (sounds cheesy, but they're not), and some other random stuff.

Things at home are moving right along. Before long, it'll be time to tackle Eva's nursery! We were going to start painting this weekend, but I ended up getting the wrong paint (call it pregnancy brain), so that'll have to wait.

When everything's done drying and moved up from the garage, I'll post some pics.

Speaking of pictures, here I am last weekend at 22 weeks, before heading out the Needtobreathe concert (which, by the way, was incredible!). Again, taken with an iPhone camera and edited in Instagram to make its graininess seam purposeful. I realized yesterday that the charger for my Nikon is out in the garage somewhere and I have yet to look for it.

Lately, I've been feeling pretty good. Eva is moving lots and Brendan has felt her tiny little kicks (or punches) twice!

I do find myself getting really tired a lot earlier in the evening than usual, and instead of laying in bed and watching Downton Abbey or Arrested Development re-runs on Netflix for hours, I'm finding that it's really important for me to give in and just go to sleep. Especially since around three or four in the morning, sleep becomes really uncomfortable for me and I usually end up tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable, for like an hour. Just getting me used to getting up for those night-time feedings, I guess.

Anyway, I'm off to get some work done before my mom comes to visit tomorrow! Happy Monday!

Little by little!

Well, things are starting to shape up around here! Slowly, our new house is starting to feel more homey. Obviously, more space means more things to fill it up...and more means, well more. More money to spend, more time to instal. And more is something that we don't necessarily have right now. So the little things get me really excited. And little by little we'll get there!

We've replaced the generic (aka ugly) chandelier in our dining area with this vintage-cool pendant (love the light bulb!), have a lot for the bathrooms, just need to find the time to paint, replace light fixtures and mirrors, etc., and we have curtains for our living room. But those won't go up for about another month when poor little Gigi gets declawed.

That's another story altogether. Last week, I took both cats to get declawed and got a call that Gigi has a mild infection and so her surgery has to be postponed while she's on antibiotics. Have you ever tried to give a cat a pill? Sometimes it's fine, other times it's miserable. And usually she just throws it up. So I'm just praying really hard that these antibiotics will work. Otherwise, I don't know what we're going to do.

If your friends with me on Facebook, you may have seen that I was thinking of giving her away. Well. I don't want to do that. But I can't have her with her claws around the baby. She's just a little too crazy.

In other news, I'm trying to take on a little bit of freelance editing work, so wish me luck on that!

Oh, and it's Leap Year Day! Which means if you're a lady, you can propose to your man. Whatever. Happy Leap Year Day!

Our Little Girl!

Wow. I can't believe we're having a baby girl. Honestly, I've always imagined that my first child would be a girl, but when I actually got pregnant, I didn't want to say that I had a feeling one way or the other because I didn't want to get in the girl (or boy) mindset. Then if my instincts were wrong, I would have to recalibrate my thinking. Not that a boy would have been disappointing at all, it's just once you're in one mode, it's difficult to switch. You know what I mean?

So anyway, we are obviously super, super excited. Here's a little bit about our ultrasound yesterday:

For the first time in all of our appointments, we were fifteen minutes early, which meant we got to go back with our ultrasound tech early too. She was an incredibly nice lady who covered my belly in weird warm jelly and then starting rolling the little thingy around until up popped a head on the screen. I think Brendan and I both were so surprised at how big she is (almost a pound!). Then we saw her face, which was super cool, and honestly super weird. She wiggled around a little bit, then the ultrasound lady pointed out some other parts like legs and arms, which were a little harder to decipher.

And then came the moment of truth. Apparently our little girl is rather limber as her legs were in a scissor split position, making it super easy for the lady to identify that she's a girl. But we didn't get it so quickly. She zoomed in and asked us if we knew what we were looking at. Honestly, I had no idea. I didn't really see any boy parts, but I didn't want to say "Girl!" and then be wrong. When she told us that it was 100% surely a girl, we both were immediately all smiles and giggles. The ultra sound lady hugged us both and then we met with the doctor who told us that everything looked good!

I also gained four pounds since last month which is a relief for me since I had a little freak out last month about still not being able to eat like I thought I should be. I'm also going to try to start walking for at least thirty minutes every day now that my energy is up and I'm getting sick much less.

In other not so happy news, I dropped both of our kitties off to be declawed this morning. It was terrible because they hate the car and I'm pretty sure all three of us were crying on the way there. Then only a few minutes ago, I got a call from the vet saying that Gigi has an infection that she'll have to take antibiotics for three weeks to clear up, and then they'll be able to declaw:( The whole decision has been difficult and I feel so bad to have to do it, but with little Eva on her way and their increasingly worse clawing, it just had to be done. So one will come home tomorrow clawless and the other should be done in three weeks as long as her infection clears up.

Oh man...so much to get done before our little girl gets here. I can't wait!

Monday Miscellany

Happy Monday! This is truly a happy Monday for me because despite the mass amounts of random super bowl food I ate last night, I did not wake up feeling sick! Hooray! I will warn you ahead of time, this will be a random, incoherent post. I just have a lot things floating around in my mind, so welcome to the chaos that are my thoughts.

First, I know it's been a while since I've posted any baby bump pics. I feel like I don't look too much different. I feel a lot bigger, but I think I only look slightly bigger. I was in the fabric store the other day and a lady did comment, which made me feel good because up until now, I've felt like I look more like I've just eaten a big burrito or slung back one too many brewskies than like there's actually a baby in there.

Also, I'm sick of posting things with no visual interest at all, so today I share with you the plans for our second full bath.

Please excuse the low-res image of the vanity...that's really only to help me visualize what the existing vanity will look like painted, something Brendan is less than thrilled about. But I think he'll realize how good it will look when it all comes together. The yellow fabric will be the shower curtain, which I have to order, and I have to order the light fixture, but other than that, we have everything, so we should be able to knock this out soon!

At first I was going for a little more sophisticated design, but then I realized that this will ultimately be a kid's bathroom, so I wanted it to be something gender neutral, bright, and clean. There are sooo many little things to get done around here. I can't wait to see them all come together!

Additionally, I can't wait for watermelon season. I saw this on Pinterest recently and the craving is in full swing. Seriously, how delicious does this look??

And the last thing I can't wait for (well, at least as far as this post is concerned)? Running! I know that's totally weird and random, but lately I've just had these random ridiculous urges to go running and I'm just not so sure that's a good idea right now. I even dream about it. I'm not a huge runner, and would run here and there before getting preggo, but nothing too hardcore. I guess absence makes the heart grow founder.

Welp. This has been sufficiently random. Hope your week's off to a great start!

Morning?

Good morning! I say that like it actually is morning, even though it's 11:45. It still feels like morning to me because if a morning is rough and I have the chance, I try to sleep it all away for like an hour, after which point, I will wake up and be hungry, despite the fact that I was sick just a little earlier. It's kind of like deciding that the day just needs a restart.

I can't do that every day that I'm sick of course, but days when I can I do. And today I slept through something on Hoda and Kathie Lee about a no-bake cookie recipe, which I may have half-dreamed, and woke up reeeally wanting to make the cookies, but now can't find the recipe online:(

Anyway, I don't really have anything new to report on the pregnancy front. Yesterday was the first Monday in three weeks that I haven't been sick and thought this could be the week that breaks the cycle, but then I drank maybe a little too much orange juice this morning and well...it wasn't pretty. I yi yi.

Tomorrow's our monthly check-in with the doc in two weeks we're finding out if this booger's a boy or girl! I can't wait! There will be so much we (and by we I mostly mean Brendan) can start doing. Painting the nursery, painting the crib, starting the hunt for all the cool things I want to put in there. Poor Brendan. There really is a lot I would love to have done before the baby gets here, not even including the nursery. We have four bathrooms to swap out mirrors and light fixtures in, paint, etc. Not to mention painting our room, the downstairs living room/studio area, putting up more blinds, doing some wainscoting in the dining room....

Ok, my head is spinning now. I think on that note, I'll get back to work. More pics and gender announcement coming soon!!

Little Updates

Well...

• I got my maternity jeans in the mail. One word: disappointment. Really, Old Navy?? That's the size I ordered?? The "baby band" which was disproportionally tight compared to the rest of the sagging "skinny" jeans was so low that they might as well have just been ill-constructed elastic waist jeans that I don't think anyone would be caught dead in. Not to mention that the charcoal cowl neck sweater I also ordered was somehow confused by the same geniuses for a hideously pleated bazar black sweat shirt that looks nothing short of amish. And to add to my madness?? I drive 25 minutes to Mt. Pleasant to return the horrendous items only to be told that they don't accept maternity items in the store.

Thanks. For. Nothin.

• In more uplifting news, since I was at the Towne Centre, I stopped in Pea in a Pod, which I should have done all along, and got some much more satisfactory jeans. Thank ya Jesus for well-fitting preggo jeans.

• Brendan and I went to the wedding of our good friends Jeffery and Ashleigh this weekend and I had Brendan take a baby bump picture before we left, but after further review, I hate it, and therefore will not be sharing. Maybe now that I got some better jeans, I'll post one soon.

• 16 weeks was Sunday...and the roller coaster continues. Many more ups than downs, but still, Monday was rough.

• First house project complete: blinds for the downstairs! Yay! So now when I'm working, I don't share awkward glances with people walking by outside. Next step, blinds for the second and third floor and the bathrooms/half baths!

This is what we're doing in the second floor half bath. I'm still scouting out the mirror, just the version that doesn't cost $300. I know I can find it cheaper. And so the hunt is on.

Mmk, friends. I'm off make brownies for our Code Orange viewing party tonight. What's that, you ask? Elevation Church in Charlotte is hosting a 12-night event where speakers, pastors, and musicians from all over the country (and the world) are taking the stage and our very own Pastor P will be speaking tonight. So if you can, check it out! It's streaming live tonight at 6PM here.

Ciao!

Baby Brain

I'm so, so happy to report that I think I'm finally over the early preggo yuckies! I know I've said that before, but at almost 16 weeks, I feel fairly confident about it now. And now that I've been feeling a lot better, I feel a lot more productive.

Well...until I get wildly distracted by all the cute baby stuff on Pinterest. Here are a few of the little goodies that are biding for my time.

I mean come on. Can you blame me??

In related news, I ordered preggo jeans from the Gap last week which I should be getting next week (dang you, slow free shipping!). I underestimated how difficult it would be to find the perfect jean in my size with the panel that I wanted, but I finally found some skinnies that fit the bill and I'm super excited to get them. Some days I feel fine in my regular jeans, and other days they go unbuttoned post-Thanksgiving style. Yikes.

Anyway, baby M is now the size of an orange, which I can't believe! And we're so excited to see the little booger in our next ultra sound. S/he's gonna be so much bigger than the last time we peaked in and I think it's gonna be a really cool thing to see. It's not that it hasn't felt real up until now. I mean when you're sick and tired all the time, it's pretty real. But I guess all of that has been so distracting. So now, sans sickness, I can just focus on the fact that there's an orange-sized baby in there (almost the size of avocado!).

In addition to focusing on the baby, I can't stop thinking about the house. I've heard about this nesting stuff, but I've definitely underestimated it's power. I don't know why, it makes total sense that someone who does this for a living in other people's homes wouldn't be going crazy at their own- especially if it's a new house with oodles of things to be done anyway.

A few nights ago I woke up at 4 a.m. pondering what in the world I'm going to do in the bathroom upstairs, which I want to be able to transition into a gender-neutral kids' bathroom, and fabric for euro pillows in our bedroom. Those things along with a million others have definitely been keeping me up at night. And also the whole sleeping on your side thing. Which, for the record, I hate. And yes, I have a body pillow. It just annoys me.

Anyway, when I told Brendan that all of the house stuff must be finished before the baby gets here, he laughed. Whatever. We've got time ;)

Happy Birthday B!!

Today's my sweet hubby's birthday! Have I mentioned how great he is??

Brendan, I am so proud of you. Thank you for being such a sweet, loving husband.

Thank you for getting up out of a sound sleep the other night to get me cheese and crackers. Thank you for making good decisions for us and our family, even when it's not easy.

Thank you for your level-headedness when I'm scatterbrained.

Thank you for not taking things so seriously.

Thank you for cleaning the kitty litter since I can't right now.

Thank you for not being mad at me when I leave the dishes in the sink for too long.

Thank you for being understanding and allowing me to follow my dreams, even when the start is slow.

Thank you for being my baby daddy and the man I can't wait to raise this kid with.

I love you and I can't wait to see what this year holds for us.

Happy Birthday!

Weekend Recap

What a weekend! After the big announcement in Friday, it's been nice to be open about the baby news. I've gotten a lot of "I knew something was up when you were sick that one time and then you were still sick weeks later."

Thankfully, (and hopefully!!) the first trimester sickies are on their way out because today I'm eleven weeks! Only two more weeks to go and then starts the supposedly glorious second trimester. I'm definitely looking forward to it. The last few days have been pretty good. Mostly I've just been horribly tired. I think sleeping on my side will take some major getting used to and having to get up to pee in the middle of the night is definitely a new thing too. While four-hour naps in the middle of the day do have their benefits, I'll be happy when I can get through the day without dragging so much.

I know what you're thinking. Wait until the baby comes, then you'll really know what it's like to be tired. Well you're right. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

In other news, I had a glorious taco the other day from Taco Spot in West Ashley. Why would I even bother telling you about this taco? Well if you knew how very badly I wanted a hardshell taco with ground beef, shredded (not melted) cheese, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream, you would understand what a big deal this taco was.

In addition to eating glorious tacos, we also had a blast at the James Island Festival of Lights with some awesome friends and I think we finally have an idea of what we're going to do with our downstairs living room. Yay!

Well, I'm sure that's all the excitement you can handle in one post. So ta ta friends! Hope you had a great weekend!

We're back!!

Wow. Almost a whole year since I've blogged here. I kind of don't even know where to start. You may have been keeping up with me on my design blog, Amen Style, which is an offshoot of my design biz, Amen {Inspired} Design. I guess that's a good place to start.

Since last February our lives seem to have completely changed in every way. It's been crazy/exciting/nerve-wracking/amazing. All at the same time.

So here goes:

• April 2011: Brendan resigned his position in accounting after three and a half years to take a full-time position at NewSpring Church where he is in charge of outreach, care, next steps (ownership class, baptism, etc.) and groups. Obviously it was a huge change and a big decision for both of us, but it has been one of the best things we've done and I couldn't be more proud of him. He's gotten some amazing opportunities already and I can only imagine what the future holds. Plus his co-workers are pretty much the coolest.

• June 2011: After three years in the publishing industry, I stepped down to pursue a career as a full-time designer. Yes, it was a huge leap of faith and a decision that many in this economy wouldn't consider. But, I couldn't be happier.

I really came to the realization that it's what I needed to be doing full-time when I was working on a pretty big project for a client in Maryland. There was no way for me to juggle doing design work, which is my real passion, and working in publishing. It was great run and I had the opportunity to work on some really cool projects in publishing, but that ship has sailed, and I feel so blessed to be able to be doing something now that I truly love. Starting a business isn't for the faint of heart, but the pay off is sweet!

• November 2011: We bought our first house! Yes, leaving the little bubble that is Daniel Island was a little bittersweet, but we always knew that as far buying goes, we'd have to look elsewhere. And so we did, and now we're in a truly beautiful three-story row-house style townhome in West Ashley. There were so many little details that just came together in the process and I think we're still pinching ourselves because it seems too good to be true sometimes! The thought of buying a house was always just very daunting to me and to now have gone through it and be in a home of our own is something I'm very, very thankful for. Not to mention it's only six minutes from Brendan's office. Yay!

We have all of our major stuff unpacked and are now in the process of getting blinds (a big necessity!) and figuring out where to hang stuff, what to paint...you know. The fun stuff.

So eight months ago, Brendan and I have both changed careers, and bought a house. But those aren't the only changes around here. By this time next year, we'll be enjoying a whole new slew of changes in our lives becaaaauuuse......

Oh my gosh, it feels so surreal to even be typing this. I still can't even believe it!

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!

OMG!!!

Ok, is it just me, or does it look like it's smiling and waving at us??

I'm not going to lie. For about the whole first year we were married and I thought I was pregnant every month. So when that first pink line showed up faintly on the stick I was in shock. It was on a Sunday morning and since Sunday is technically a work day for B now, he was already at church and I just had a feeling that I should take a test that morning. Sure enough, it was positive and I will never forget the surreal feeling I had as I stared at the little window on the test. I'm pretty sure I cried and I know I laughed.

It was all I could do to hurry up and get ready to make it to church in time to snag Brendan away for a few seconds to tell him. We were both giggly and all smiles that morning and the days to follow.

We kept it to ourselves for a little while, but we knew we couldn't keep it from our friends David and Hillary for long. We usually have wine night with them about once a week and let's be honest, the only possible explanation for me to sit it out would be because there's a baby in there! So the fateful wine night came that I busted out the lemon-lime soda water and broke the news. There was a lot of screaming.

Then were the families. I really, really, really wanted to be able to tell them in person. I knew we'd see them the week before Thanksgiving in Raleigh, but that was weeks away and one day I was talking to my mom and I just told her. Again, lots of screaming. And crying and laughing.

And since then, we've just sort of been telling people here and there and now making the big cyber-announcement!

Here are a few FAQs about Baby M:

• Was baby a surprise? Mmmm.....
• Are you guys super pumped about baby? YES!!
• Are you going to find out if baby's a he or a she? Definitely. I like green and yellow as much as the next guy, but there's no way we could wait.
• Do you have an inkling about gender? Well, my first thought was boy, but there are some pretty strong persuasions for girl, so we'll just have to wait until we find out in February.
• Names?? We're pretty solid on names, but I'm not sure if we'll divulge them before that grand arrival.
• How far along are you and when are you due? I'm almost 11 weeks and am due on July eighth, which pretty cool because that's my Grandma Martha's birthday and if it's just a few days early could be on my brother Brian's birthday.
• Have you been getting morning sickness? Yes. Yes. Yes. Morning sickness is a lie, really. Because it's not just in the morning. Oddly, it seems to be worse in the beginning of the week and then taper off. It started right at six weeks and has been pretty consistent, with the exception of our Thanksgiving trip to New York- thank God!! Vacation during the first trimester- rookie mistake.
• Any cravings? Not really. More like a lot of things I don't wait. It's gotten better, but on a bad day, meat, cheese, hot stuff, forget it. I'm actually down a few pounds, but the doc says it's not uncommon and I'll make up for it next trimester.
• Nursery plans? Well...of course there are all kinds of things swirling through my head, but until we know if baby's a boy or girl, I don't really have any solid plans. But you know I'll share them when I do.

I'll be checking in much more frequently now to document this whole crazy experience so check back soon! I promise it won't be a year again till I post!

Inspiration

Pretty Cool

When I was in college and living in Charlotte, I went to a church called Elevation. It was such an incredible part of my life then and has continued to make such a huge difference in that city. They recently made a documentary about how the church started and their story and it's super inspiring and also really cool to be able to remember some of the things they talk about from when I was there. Check it out!

http://www.elevationexperience.com/

Isaiah 43