An amazing book & weekend update

Sorry I have been MIA lately!! I have been preoccupied by something... what you ask?

Somewhere In Between Us By Mojito Maven!!

Let me say, I don't read. I have never enjoyed reading all that much. I love me some magazines, but never made time for reading. I have read some fabulous books and always say I need to read more but I never make time to do it!

This book had me so wound up, I cried. YES, I cried 3 or 4 times. I guess pregnancy and a good book and some emotional reading = tears from me :) I have to say that my friend MM is so talented and she is a WONDERFUL writer. I don't do book reviews because, well, I don't read :) But this is seriously one of the best things I have ever read. The plot, the characters, the storyline... FABULOUS FABULOUS FABULOUS! All of it!

So if you have time, head on over and check out Somewhere In Between Us! I promise you once you start, you won't be able to stop!!! I am craving that next chapter!

I knew MM was a cool chick, a great friend and one hell of a blogger, but I had no idea she was such a talented and spectacular writer!! Head on over now to check out her blog and her book!

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This weekend we made GREAT headway on Addison's room. My wonderful husband painted and put up chair rail while my mom and I shopped. While on our shopping excursion, we picked up a chandelier for her room. It's gorgeous and looks AWESOME in her room! We also picked up two rugs, neither of which looked good once we got them home! We got her some clothes of course! Her closet is officially RIDICULOUS! But I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mother who is so excited about her first grandchild she can hardly stand it! We also got window treatments for her room! We decided to go with something plain and sweet. Photos to come soon! :) Overall, my weekend was great. Love spending time with my mom!!

This weekend Adam and I will be going to our "Birthing Class." It's from 8:30 am - 5:00 pm! So that means NO sleeping in Saturday and I am not happy about that. But I am excited to learn more about our baby and what's to come with the birth! I am also prepared that I could walk out of the class crying and screaming "I can't do this!!" But I don't have a choice, this precious blessing is coming out one way or another in less than 11 weeks! HOLY COW! We are getting more and more anxious to meet her! We can't wait! I will have PLENTY to say Monday I am sure about all I learn! :) So get ready! ha!

Hope all of your weekends were great and your week is FAB! XOXO!

3rd trimester occurances

Ladies (and maybe a few gentleman)... the time has come... I am officially in my 3rd trimester! YIPPEE! So with this comes MANY new things! For the most part, my pregnancy has been absolutely the closest thing to perfect I could ever have imagined. No sickness, no nausea, none of the HORRID things I had read about. Other than BAD sleepiness the first, oh say, 22 weeks or so, it's been absolutely wonderful! A pure blessing. I know I struggled with my weight at first, but I am embracing my "puffiness" more everyday and I know this sweet little girl I am carrying is all the reason for it! Well, her and a few candy bars and ice cream probably :)

So far I have gained 36 lbs! YEP. I told you that! ha! 36!!!! It's a scary number to me because my original goal was only to gain around 35 total! I still have 11 weeks to go so obviously my goal is out the window. That's ok. I will bounce back in no time! Probably looking like 45-50, but hey, that's ok. It's for a good cause right! however, my Dr does want me to watch it because he doesn't want me to get Preeclampsia. So I am trying to be better about watching what I put in my mouth! I mean hello some of the weight is inevitable, right?

Along with this 36 extra pounds I am carrying is a 3.5 pound baby! YES, I said it! 3.5 POUNDS! At this point she should be around 2-2.5 lbs. But not my big girl :) We got to see her for the last time until her arrival in October, on Tuesday. She did not want us to see her face, she kept her hands up the whole time! But we did get a glimpse of those precious cheeks :)

So along with my journey into the 3rd (and FINAL) trimester, a few things have changed for me! Along with a FAST growing bump (see pic below for proof) here are a few things that are rapidly changing:



- Harder to shave my legs and pretty much impossible to shave my "whooha"
- Harder to sit down and get up! I need a push and a pull most days!
- My belly is itching like crazy
- I have resorted to biweekly pedicures due to not being able to lift my legs up high enough to do it myself :)
- ALM is kicking me like crazy. It's amazing!
- My tailbone feels like I busted my butt while skating :)
- And my feet have OFFICIALLY begun swelling, however, I am still wearing my heels and wedges :) YEPPERS!
- My emotional craziness just kicked in recently. Mood swings are here and they are rampant!
- Things all over are swelling!
- Finally, people are saying "You're pregnant!??! When are you due?" So they don't just think I am getting chubby anymore :)
- I won't be able to wear my wedding rings too much longer. These phalanges are puffy :)

I won't bore you with more although I could go on for days :) I will leave you with this picture comparison of 25 weeks and 28 weeks. Amazing what has happened to my body in 3 weeks! I will be 29 weeks on Sunday... 11 weeks to go! HOLY BABY BATMAN! This weekend we are painting ALMs room and then we will be in the homestretch of decorating :) YAY! Have a fab weekend girls. XOXO

My husband's a genius!

This past weekend we accomplished several BIG things that I have been wanting done for a while. I painted the master bath (pics to come) while my wonderful, sweet, hard-working husband built Addison's bookcase for her nursery!

The original idea for this bookcase came from Pottery Barn Kids... my mom and I saw it in their catalog about 6 months or so ago and we both fell in love. And with our last name beginning with an "M" and all it just seemed perfect for the nursery! Once we decided to name her Addison we did consider only building half of it so it would make an "A" but ultimately decided I needed more space to put more stuff :) ha!

This is the "Montgomery 4 Shelf Bookcase" from PB

The original bookcase on Pottery Barn's website was $600. It was called the "Montgomery 4 Shelf Bookcase"! I was in love! So I asked Adam if he thought he could build it seeing as how it looked simple enough I was sure he could. And sure enough, he could and DID! And it turned out even better than I had imagined! He worked so hard to get all the measurements perfect and it turned out just that way, PERFECT!

Instead of spending $600 on a PB bookcase, we have a family original that we will have for a long time to come that cost us $160! Thanks go Home Depot for having all the supplies we needed Saturday! :) Big help!

It took Adam about 5 hours to do all the measuring, cutting and building and I was so shocked it all got put together so fast! It is beautiful!

Our next step is to paint it! We will prime it of course then paint it white. That is my plan for now, but seeing as how I change my mind ALL OF THE TIME these days, it could end up another color but quite sure white it is! Time will tell!

Here is Adam's masterpiece. It is wonderful. We put it in her room last night and it fits perfect and looks AWESOME! Now, paint will make it even better, once I decide ha!

Baby Shower Hostess Gifts-HELP!

Requesting advice!!! :)


I have my hometown baby shower in Alabama coming up on August 9th. It's being thrown by 8 hostesses! YEAH that's a lot! But I am so thankful that each of them volunteered to help throw my shower for Addison. I am beyond blessed to have such wonderful friends! I can't wait!


Now here is where your MUCH NEEDED ADVICE comes into play! With 8 hostesses obviously I can't go out and spend a lot on hostess gifts. But I want it to be something cute, unique and fun! I am open to any and all suggestions!! Obviously they are all ladies, but range in age from mid 20's to 60's! These ladies are good people and are doing a lot for me so I want to thank them in a classy, unique way!! Help me come up with a few ideas pretty please :)


I have a few idea floating around in this pregnant mind of mine :) But I want to hear what you ladies have done for your hostesses, gotten as a hostess gift or just what you think would be a great idea!! Thanks for helping this scatter brained pregnant woman out :)

A. Tierney Giveaway Winner

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I had a busy/crazy, but good, weekend. More details on that later! But just so you know what's coming... we finally completed the master bathroom! Whooooo! :) And Adam got Addison's bookcase built and it is BEAUTIFUL!! Pics to come.

Thanks to all 44 of you who entered the A. Tierney giveaway. I wish I could give all 44 of you a cute pink bag!! But hey, if you didn't win, you can still get your very own bag for $15. I used a random number generator to pick the winner. Here is my proof of how I got our wonderful/fabulous winner!

Congratulations to Tara at Jimmy Choos and Tennis Shoes!

She said her favorite thing on the A. Tierney website was "those bangles are so pretty! what a fun giveaway! I need that tote : )"

I hope you enjoy your tote girl. I was excited to see your name when I was counting! This is perfect for you! Email me with your shipping address and A. Tierney will mail your bag directly to you! Yay!

Happy Monday girls!

Kitchen Makeover

So I have mentioned several times that we are renovating several different things around our house right?

Well we accomplished the kitchen this weekend! (well almost) And I am glad that the painting is done!! 1 project down, 214 to go :)

After 3 trips to Home Depot, one BAD COLOR CHOICE on my part (thank goodness for Behr samples for $5), and a kick ass rug from Crate and Barrel, we finally have a pretty, bright, wonderful kitchen!

Let me first say, we have LOTS of wood paneling in our house! It was built in the 60s and we are left with wood paneling that has been (and will be again) painted :) We started off with Behr Orange Spice, we got a sample, took it home, painted a wall and WOW, NO! That was not the color for our kitchen! So we took the rug back to HD and searched some more.... and settled on Behr Poinsettia. I wasn't so sure about it, but once we got it on the walls, I loved it!

One think I ask you to ignore is the HEINOUS back splash. It's going to be replaced very soon (and I am VERY excited about this) so I will have another before/after then! But for now, it already looks tons better! :)

Here ya go ladies! Mi Casa! (er, the kitchen anyway)

Before pics: The day we closed on the house!

After: Isn't it bright and fun??

And don't forget to sign up for my GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Bringing you... A.Tierney Giveaway

I am so excited to share with you an awesome company called A. Tierney. If you aren't familiar with them, check out their precious collection of belts, hats, hair accessories, baby items, jewelry and lots more! I have two pieces of GREAT news to share with you! They have even been featured in People Magazine!

I am excited to be able to bring you the promotional prices below for their Down East totes! I am actually going to order Addison one and have it monogrammed to carry with us on our travels. At $15 how can I NOT order her one (and maybe me too, along with my mom and some friends???) I will be ordering the Down East Large Tote-Bar Harbor in solid light pink (of course)! I am going to have her name put on it! I can't wait to get it ordered and have it arrive!

Here are a few of my favorite things that they have on their website:

Crisscross Bangle I would love to have one in every color! Featured in People Magazine!

Infant Hat-Ashley Addison will have to have one of these for next summer!

Paisley Headband Pink These are just adorable for summer!

And now for the BEST PART of this post!!! A Tierney and I have partnered together to offer you this ...

FUN SUMMER GIVEAWAY

We are offering one lucky winner this Down East Large Tote-Bar Harbor in pink that I talked about above! Perfect for the beach, an over night stay or for a diaper bag! All you have to do is leave me a comment on my blog telling me your favorite thing on the A.Tierney website! The deadline to enter the giveaway is Friday, July 17, 2009 at 11:59 PM! I will announce the winner Monday, July 20, 2009! GOOD LUCK!

So hurry over and check out their trendy totes along with so many other great items they have and let me know what your favorite is and you will be entered into this fun giveaway! YIPPEE!

Potbelly!

Another Monday that I don't want to be at work! SHOCKER! Every Monday is tough for me, then I get over it and push through the week for another weekend! But I am usually kind of grouchy on Mondays! SUE ME! :)

So this weekend was a productive one for me and Adam! You see... I have a LONG list of "to do's" before Addison arrives. Most of it is house renovation stuff. Nothing huge, but requires money and time and we don't have tons of either! So we take it one project at a time... or at least try to! I am bad to start a project, then start another... only to have two or three projects running at the same time, then suddenly I am OVERWHELMED! Wonder why??

Well this weekend we accomplished two big things on my list:

1. Paint the kitchen!

2. Clean out the flower beds in the front yard to begin landscaping!

Yall seriously... who ever lived in this house before us DID NOT take care of the landscaping so we have LOTS to do, starting with the front! And let me say it won't be a small task considering that our house is so long! I am not attempting to tackle the back yard until next year after my Christmas present arrives (more to come on that later)!

Be looking for a before and after pic of the kitchen and the house so far... we have painted things outside and made it more OUR home! These posts will hopefully come this week!

But getting back to the title of this post... I officially look like a potbelly pig! Let me say, I am carrying VERY HIGH! I don't have one of those cute basketball bumps like you see some people with! I went from not showing much to POTBELLY! But I am embracing it and I realize it's only going to get more potbelly-like!

I leave you with... MY POTBELLY!

Hard workin' man

So my sweet sweet husband worked really hard last night to get Addison's bed and changing table put together! And he did an awesome job! I didn't ever blog about the HELL we went through getting her bed and changing table and I won't bore you with it but let me break it down for you quickly!

Note: We ordered it from a company called Million Dollar Baby but Cymax is the store that actually sells it and then it ships from Million Dollar Baby!

Ok, here we go...

June 8th - My precious mother ordered the bed and changing table for us as a gift to Addison! We got free shipping and no sales tax and we were pumped at the price we got it!

June 9th - It ships. Dream come true right?

June 15th - Delivered to us. One piece on the bed and one piece on the changing table were damaged! I call immediately that night to let them know and get everything resolved and was told new pieces would be shipped within two days ... so I thought!

June 22nd - I call back and was told nothing had been done and that they didn't have all the info they needed from me! IMAGINE THE ANGER!

June 24th - I called everyday until I got someone that would actually do something on the phone!

June 30th - Our replacement parts arrive... and the leg is broken off the bed piece and the changing table piece is brown! ANGRY PHONE CALLS WERE MADE AND EMAILS WERE SENT!

July 2nd - Receive email that the new parts are being shipped again and are on their way! Even get an estimated arrival date for 7/6.

July 6th - NO PARTS!

July 8th - Parts at last! And they aren't broken!! Finally my blood pressure can go back down!

Her bedding was ordered June 29th and arrived July 3rd... now that's good service!

I am keeping her bedding and such a surprise but I will tell you that we went with a light/bright pink, sage/olive green, and yellow scheme! Adam will be building a piece for her room, so that's a secret too for now! But once it's all finished I will share it with you girls! I can't wait!

Here are a few pics of Adam and my furbabies getting to work!

Dansby and Daizy really wanted to help their dad!

Getting a little jealous already that he doesn't get all the attention!!

And then I leave you with this... Adam had to go get a mattress cover/pad for Addison's bed and he knew I REALLY wanted this for her... so he picked it up while he was out! How precious is he?

Cheekiest

I swear by, and wear them every day... even now that I am almost 7 months pregnant!

What am I talking about... none other than Victoria's Secret Cheekiest lace-trim thong! It is absolutely amazing. I am going to guess that I have probably around 30 pair!! And I get news ones pretty dang often! They are so comfortable it's ridiculous. I forget I have them on sometimes!

I am such a freak about panty lines so I always wear thongs! And these are so clean and stretch and DO NOT SQUEEZE THE LOVE HANDLES (that my friends, is the most important part)!
They look good under everything and they come in the most fun colors and prints! And if you buy now, they are 5 for $25. You can't beat that at VS!

People ask me often, what kind of panties will you wear when you get bigger... well I am not small these days and I am still rockin' these and will til the end!! Did I mention how stretchy they are?? :)

So if you are looking for some good thongs for summer, or whenever, I swear by these! They will not disappoint!



What are your favorite thongs? Am I missing out on something EVEN better??

Baby Registry Chaos

Good morning ladies!

Sorry for my absence but I took a little break from the WWW over the long weekend! We had some very good friends come in town for the 4th and I am just catching up on my rest! I will have pics from our wonderful weekend coming soon!

So Thursday when I got off of work, Adam and I went to register for our sweet little one! I was so excited I could hardly stand it!

We first went to Target! And can I just say how disappointed I was in Target's baby selection. Adam and I decided not to register for any clothing, we only wanted to register for essentials; things that we NEED! Well, they just didn't have much that I wanted or needed, so our registering there was quick and simple!

Then it was off to Babies R Us! Can I just say how IN LOVE with this store I am! I mean everything from their customer service to their selection in all things baby is amazing! We have bought clothes from there like crazy. I guess before I got pregnant I thought maybe Babies R Us would be an expensive place, but it's not at all. And they have some of the cutest, sweetest things!

I consulted some of my friends: Tracy, Erin and Emily about what all to register for and what was a waste of my time! These girls have been absolutely amazing through my pregnancy. I know I can always count on them for advice, baby related or not! Thanks girls. Love you!

When we got to Babies R Us, and got the registry gun, I went CRAZY! :) I had to stop and map our a route for us because I was getting very overwhelmed! I thought I would break down in there but I didn't! I kept my cool and I was like a kid in a candy store! I have to say it was WAY more fun than registering for our wedding! We registered for a lot in there because for 12 months after Addison is born, we get 10% off of whatever wasn't purchased for us!

Here are some of the things we registered for and why!

We already have the Fisher-Price My Little Lamb Infant Seat (thanks to my precious mom!) so we just needed to get us a handy swing!



Fisher-Price Smart Stages 3-in-1 Swing & Rocker - We played with several rockers and swings and this seemed to be the best from what we could tell in the store! It swings very lightly for new babies and then when she is older it comes off the swing and it's a rocking chair!

Fisher-Price Precious Planet Jumperoo - I have heard GREAT things about this! So, we had to register for one. obviously she won't need it for a little while but will be GREAT to have!

Graco Pack N Play - Elyse - I was a little disappointed in the style of Pack N Plays they had! We settled for the polka dot one! This is the only thing we registered for that was really "girly." We are trying to be smart just in case our next little one is a boy :)

Maclaren Volo Stroller - Coffee - This is for when she is older and we just need to grab and go! Great reviews!

BabyBjorn Baby Carrier Original - City Black - Adam and I will be sharing this!! I have heard this is a necessity!
Chicco Cortina Travel System Stroller - Discovery - We rolled a couple around that we like but we settled on this one. It's dark grey and lime green. So pretty and great for a boy or girl, although Adam said she might look a little "butch" in it! I about DIED!

Medela Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump - Shoulder Bag - I am going to try my best to breast feed and if it takes we will go back and get this at 10% off. I have heard this is the best brand!

Graco iMonitor Vibe 2 Parent Monitor - We decided against the video monitor. If we get one we will be thrilled, but they were a bit pricier so we went with the Graco one!

Fisher-Price Precious Planet All Around Musical Playtime Gym - Perfect to keep her busy and content!!

Obviously we registered for lots more (80 something total items I think), but these were the things we got suggestions on and after reading reviews, we were satisfied and excited to get them!

Other things we have decided on and registered for:

- Pampers

- Dr Brown's and Playtex bottles

- Similac formula once I stop breastfeeding

I am open to any advice on adding anything to my registry!! Suggestions???

I don't think your ready... for this BELLY!

So ladies...today I am 25.5 weeks pregnant! CRAZY right? It feels like just the other day that I found out I was pregnant!


So far this journey has been AMAZING! Once I finally got over the fact that I was "getting fat" I started embracing my new body and loving every second of it! I haven't had one single second of sickness and other than being really tired until about 19 or 20 weeks, it has been perfection!!



I had a Dr appt yesterday and he said everything was great! We talked about my weight gain! So far, I have gained 30 lbs (tough to admit) but he thinks I am retaining lots of fluid so that might have something to do with that number. Nothing to be afraid of, I assured him I would watch my salt intake. It's so hard for me. He told me he would like to keep me between 40-45 lbs gained so I really have to watch it these next 14.5 weeks! But I am not worried! It will all come off QUICKLY! Rest assured! :)



I feel so blessed to be able to carry this child that God has so graciously given us and we are so anxious to meet her, but we are also enjoying our last months as "just the two of us!"



I have lots of updates on the house etc that I will blog about over the next week or so! Lots of pics to be included that I still have to take :)



But for today, here is my 25 week pic :) This belly is growing and I am finally starting to look pregnant! :) WHEW!