28 weeks...Doctor update

So we went to the doctor today for my glucose test and 28 week OB check-up. It wasn't bad at all. The drink tasted just like orange soda, with a slightly weird aftertaste. I find out on Thursday what my results are, and crossing my fingers all my sugar/sweets cravings don't mean I have gestetional diabetes.

As far as Brylee, she is looking good. I'm still feeling really good, without any complications. I'm still working full-time, doing all my "normal" job duties of a physical therapist working at a rehab center (meaning being on my feet all day and lifting people, although I am starting to off-load some of the "harder" patients to some of my co-workers). There have been a couple of instances this week when I have needed to get on the floor or look under a wheel chair, and have needed help back up. I'm sure that will only get worse as I continue to grow!

The only abnormal thing that my doctor found is that she told me I was dilated about 1 cm already. She said that could be normal, and some people just dilate early, and stay minimally dilated up until labor. But she wanted to see me next week to re-check and make sure I'm not actually showing any signs of continued dilation or pre-term labor.

My parents are coming in town this weekend to help us work on the nursery, and I'm very excited! My mom and I are going to make most of her bedding this weekend, and my dad and Bryan will assemble her furniture we picked up this week and paint the nusery. I know after having the empty room turn into a nursery this weekend will make it all seem so real! I can't wait.

I'll post belly pics and nursery pics soon!

Rest In Peace, Honda-girl

On August 4, 2010, we finally laid to rest my 1997 Honda Civic. My wonderful parents gave me this car when I was 17, and she has been such a good car for the last11 years! But it was finally time to say goodbye...

...and say hello to my new car!

2008 GMC Acadia

Bryan and I bought our first car last week, which was a much better experience than I anticipated!

Last Wednesday morning I was leaving for work, and my car (Honda) didn't start. Bryan and I had been doing our homework on small to mid-size SUVs the last few weeks, because with a baby on the way, we were looking for something a bit safer for our family. We just weren't anticipating making our decision quite this quickly. After making sure it wasn't just a dead battery, we made the decision that it was going to cost more to get the car fixed than what it was worth. So we headed to a GMC dealership Wednesday afternoon, only anticipating test-driving some used Acadias (which was our front runner at the time for car choices). When we got to the dealership, the Acadias that were advertised on their website had been traded to another dealership earlier that day, but they had ONE used Acadia that had just been traded in that same afternoon (it happened to be the owners mother-in-law's car). The car had not even been detailed or cleaned, but we decided to look at and test drive it anyways. It had all the features we were looking for, however, we still were not planning on making a purchase that same day. As we were starting our "goodbye, we're not going to buy tonight" speech, the manager came to us asking what he needed to do to make a sale tonight. Luckily, Bryan has a good friend with a Chevy dealership in Abilene, who gave us some numbers of what would be a good deal on a 2008 Acadia, and what he could probably get us a used Acadia for. So we basically told the guy he needed to be about $1000 less than what our friend told us was a good deal, and the manager gave us a final sales price of $1200 less than that! I started thinking about how ironic it seemed that on the same day my car of 11 years died this Acadia had been traded in that afternoon, and no one else had even been able to look at it yet because it hadn't even been cleaned or detailed. And with such a good price, I thought to myself, "God, are you putting this opportunity right in front of me that's too good to pass up?" Not that we had been dragging our feet, but we had been talking about buying a new car for months now, but doing nothing about it.

Although it may seem superficial, I really do believe that God situated all the events of Wednesday, August 4, to help us make a decision about retiring my pseudo-unsafe car for our new "family" car! And I LOVE my NEW (used) car!

Oh yeah....I forgot to mention we were in the middle of moving out of our apartment and into our house last week! Needless to say, it was an eventful/busy/fun week! More on the move and our new house later!

Booming Belly

It has been several weeks since I have advertised the size of my growing belly. Here's a quick photo update of the last four weeks.

20 weeks

Comparison of my Ranger's T-shirt at week 12....

....and at week 23!

Man have I grown! I actually had to change shirts from my Ranger's T-shirt (which is still an adult small) to one of Bryan's many Ranger's T-shirts, before we went to the baseball game that night. This shirt was just a little too tight to be comfortable in 100 degree heat!

Bryan felt left out and wanted to pose for a "belly pic"!

We had fun, and the Ranger's won, by the way! First place....Go Rangers!


Week 24

Close-up of last weekend, completing my 24th week!

We spent that Friday evening out on a date...which included spending 3 hours at Buy Buy Baby testing out & finalizing our choices for car seat & stroller, then going to Cheesecake factory for dinner & dessert (Thanks, Mom, for the gift card!)




I also picked out Brylee's nursery fabric this weekend! My good friend, Ashley, went with me to the cutest fabric store in Ft. Worth. I had been having a very hard time finding nursery bedding that was still feminine, but not "girly" or pink, purple, and white. So my mom agreed to help me sew her bedding & curtains, and I'm very excited about what the final product will look like.

We picked out four fabrics, and plan on painting the nursery yellow, which should look great against the dark, espressor furniture we have ordered. I love it!

It's pretty colorful, but I'm going to stick with yellow, green, & brown as our "main" colors, with accents of red & light blue.

We're in the process of moving this week, and by this time next week I will be living in our new house, parking in my own garage, & not having to take my dog out down three flights of stairs in 105 degree heat! I can't wait!

Annual Girls' Weekend

Every year since we graduated college, my 6 best friends and I have gotten together for our annual "Girls Weekend." I am proud to say we have made it a priority to make this get together happen for the last 5 years, and have traveled to each others' houses for a weekend of fun, relaxation, and laughter. This year we met at Kathrine's new house in Austin, and had a great time, to say the least. Although we have added babies to the mix, our girls weekends continue to be a good time of re-living our silly college days. We have grown up in certain ways, but when we get together, we have a way of letting loose and being silly! I love it!

We met Friday night at The Oasis for dinner, and had a great time catching up

Saturday morning we headed to the South Congress area to eat and do a little outdoor shopping...we cut our day short because it was SO HOT! With two babies and one in the oven (MY oven!), we decided to head home early and go swimming instead!

Last year we met and we took pictures of the first two pregnant bellies, Jenny and Ashley. This year, we got a picture of the three babies....Jude, Emma, and baby Brylee on the way! Hopefully we'll keep adding to the number each summer as we get together!

That night, my sweet friends suprised me with the cutest baby shower ever! It was an "Around-the-Clock" shower, in which they all gave Brylee gifts that had to do with different times of the day.

7 a.m. Getting Ready to Go & Dress to Impress

Allison gave Brylee the cutest outfit, complete with dress, sweater, shoes, & paci clip!

12 p.m. Lets Eat!

Wendi had a whole basket of meal time essentials!

3 p.m. Time to Play!

Kathrine gave Brylee several toys & books!

6 p.m. Splish-Splash Bath Time

Jenny had a bunch of bath-time goodies!

8 p.m. Night-Night Time for Bed

Brittnie got some paci's and the neatest sound machine that even plays MP3s!

12 a.m. Feeding Time

Ashley wisely gave me a basket of nursing necessities, complete with the cutest home-made burp clothes!

I was overwhelmed and very greatful! It was Brylee's first baby shower, and it got me very excited about all the preparation we get to do for this sweet baby.

We had to head home Sunday, but all planned to see each other again in October at ACU Homecoming!

I LOVE my GIRLS!

Saying Goodbye

This post is a quick tribute to our best friends, Wendi & Wade Holmes, who are in the process of moving away from the Metroplex to Houston. We have had a lot of fun with them over the last two years since we moved back to Dallas, and will really miss them! We're really excited about their new house and new adventures, but will definately feel a hole in our social lives. These are a few pictures of some of our fun times in the DFW area over the last two years with the Holmes!

Our first horse racing experience at Lone Star Park

A trip to Houston for the Rangers vs. Astros baseball series

Texas State Fair

Oh...how we spent MANY days and nights at the Rangers Stadium watching some good baseball (it helps having husbands who are equally Rangers fanatics!)

Our recent quick trip to Abilene for a weekend engagement party

Our Goodbye Dinner at Ashley's house


Wendi & Wade....we love you and will really miss you, but are very happy for you and your move to Houston! (as long as you come back and visit!) Good Luck with all the unpacking!

We're having a GIRL!

So Baby Brokaw is 99.9% a Girl! (at least that is what the sonogram technician told us!) We didn't see the doctor today, but according to the sonogram tech we're having a healthy, growing, baby girl. I'm measuring 19 weeks and 5 days, and according to my due date, I'm 19 weeks and 1 day, so our girl is growing right on schedule. She is approximately 11 ounces, with all of her major functioning parts. The sonogram technician started talking to us very vaguely about what she was seeing, and I told her I was a physical therapist and would love it if she could explain everything more specifically, as I was curious to see all of her growing anatomy. She told us the brain looked great with both hemispheres forming. The heart had all 4 chambers, which was amazing to see it pumping! We could see fluid in both the bladder and the stomach, which meant Baby Brokaw was eating & had good kidney funciton already. The spine looked good, with all four limbs!

Here is our girl's profile, keeping her hand by her mouth

Her little foot...so cute to a new mother to be!

Although this is kind of creepy looking, this is her face looking straight at you

She said the placenta is in front but up high, which is probably why I have only felt her move just a little so far. Baby Brokaw is currently head up, so we're hoping she does summersaults in the next few months before she gets too big to move around. We saw her moving a little today, but she seemed perfectly content chillin' with her feet crossed and her hands up by her face. She just looked so cute!

Hopefully we will have a name picked out soon! Our

plan is to call her by name for a couple of weeks ourselves to make sure it "fits" before the big reveal.

We already can't wait to meet our new baby girl!

Great Wolf Lodge

Every year we get invited to a Summer Regional Meeting with Bryan's company, Edward Jones Investments. It's a good time for the Financial Advisors and their families in our region to get together. The Financial Advisors have to spend part of the weekend in business meetings, but the rest of the time is spent hanging out and at an awards banquet. This year, our Edward Jones region met at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. I wasn't sure how adult-friendly Great Wolf Lodge would be, seeing as how we don't have kids yet, but we had a great time!

I didn't take as many pictures as I would like, but here is a quick snap-shot of our weekend

There were several indoor & outdoor water slides that we enjoyed. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go on water slides, and forgot to ask my doctor before we left. So what else did do, but turn to the world-wide-web to help me out. There was no set in stone answers for water slides like there is for roller-coasters for pregnant women. It basically said to use your best judgement on how rough the slides are, and if there are any signs posted at the slide prohibiting pregnant women, then obviously it's a no go. There was only one slide I was not allowed on, but was able to have fun with the others! Hopefully Baby Brokaw enjoyed her time on the slides & in the sun!


We spent a few hours with some of our friends children in the kiddy-pool. It was so much fun, and made me really excited about taking our baby to the pool next summer!