Greenville Oaks Baby Shower

More baby showers...yeah! We really are so honored and blessed that we have so many people who are helping us welcome our baby girl into this world. Last Sunday several of our good friends from church threw Brylee a baby shower...and boy (or should I say "girl") it was cute! They used a lot of Brylee's fabric to help decorate. I'll let most of the pictures do the talking.

Most of the hostesses (although a few were missing from this picture). I feel so loved by these ladies, and are blessed by their friendship!

My family who were able to be there. My two lovely grandmothers were able to fly into Dallas for the weekend and be with us at the shower! It is fun to have 4 generations of girls together!

My mother & Bryan's mother

Here are several pictures of the decorations! It was so cute...just my style!

Valinda made this adorable wall art, which uses Brylee's bedding fabric and stained wood letters! We are hanging it above her changing table!

We got so many cute clothes & baby goodies! Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful gifts to help welcome Brylee into this world!

I want to express all my gratitude for all the wonderful gifts! It was overwhelming & so exciting getting ready for Brylee's arrival. We can't believe she will be here in approx 7 weeks!

Nursery Work Weekend

So a couple weeks ago my wonderful parents came to town to help us work on Brylee's room. I had looked for weeks for nursery bedding I liked, and could not find anything. So my mom offered to help me make our own. It turned out wonderful! I'm still working on finishing touches & decorations for the room, but here are some sneak preview pictures of our work weekend and our home-made bedding!

We started Saturday morning around 10 am and worked all day, and then finished up Sunday after church. It was a quick weekend, as my parents had to leave on Sunday evening, but we got a lot done!

Bryan and my dad painted the nursery a bright yellow....not lemon or sunshine yellow, but a deep, pretty yellow. I love the color!

They did a great job!

Horrible picture, I know...but I did help sew all weekend (although my mom was the mastermind behind it all)

My talented mom

Room painted...now furniture assembly time

Changing table with quilt (although not a great picture of the full quilt)

Crib with home-made bumber!

Overall room...I love it!

I have done more since these pictures were taken, but I'm waiting until I've finished the room to post a full "Nursery Picture" blog. Until then, hope you like it as much as I do!

Garnet Hill Baby Shower

Last week my wonderful team at work threw me a baby shower! It was our first "official" baby shower for Brylee, and it was really fun! Here are a few pictures from that afternoon.

The cake was the cutest thing I had ever seen! A sweet sleeping baby made out of fondant...and it tasted DELICIOUS! We had so many goodies from Annie's Bakery!

They made me take a picture, which I wasn't fond of, seeing as how by the end of the work day I'm usually sweaty & dirty (especially since it's been so HOT lately!)

Brylee got some of the cutest outfits! I'm learning that I don't need to buy her anything early on, because friends & co-workers have showered her with cute clothes!

Thanks, Rehab Team, for a great shower!

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!