Catch-up.

I feel like a lot went on during my little blogging hiatus so I'm going to try to remember what I can. 

In house news:  It does not seem like much has happened.  It is very true what everyone told me - things really slow down once you get to the inside.  Paint is completely done as of today, they just finished the final coat.  After a quick trip to Raleigh Friday afternoon, all granite is picked out.  The cabinets are completely done - painted and glazed.  Bathroom cabinets are stained.  All tile including shower is done.  The back porch is finished with the exception of the door.  I think that is everything.  The electricians just started today and they put ceiling fans up upstairs, Mallory's room and in the nursery.  I will take pictures tomorrow & post soon. 

Family news:  Labor Day weekend we went to Kure Beach.  My mother-in-law's, mother-in-law owns a house there and can I just say that I'm in love.  I don't think I've ever been to Kure Beach before, but it was fabulous.  The house was in a small development and I'm mad at myself for not taking pictures.  It was within short walking distance of a lake, two pools and the ocean.  We had a great time and really enjoyed the weekend.  We went to a locally owned doughnut shop and icecream shop.  The doughnuts were sooo good.  I believe that shop was called Ricks.  I am ready to go back.  We also went to the Fort Fisher Aquarium and it was really nice.  The coolest thing was an Albino Alligator...I actually took a pic of that!

The week after Labor Day, Mallory started pre-school.  The DAY before school started, she took a nasty fall down Granny's front porch steps and hit concrete face first.  This was definitely the worst she has ever been hurt and it broke my heart to see her face so scratched up.  I was embarassed to send her to school like that, but she is a toddler and accidents do happen.  Granny felt terrible, but there is no one that could be any more attentive than Granny is to Mallory.  She just took off running down the steps and she couldn't catch her.  Luckily, it healed very quickly and there are no scars. 

First day of the 2 year old class

Preschool is going great this year.  Every morning Mallory goes right in her class and I can barely get a goodbye out of her, she is too busy playing. 

Friday before last, Patrick woke up saying he didn't feel quite right.  He mentioned that his lips felt swollen, but I couldn't really tell any difference so neither of us thought much of it.  On his way to work, he stopped to get a drink and realized he couldn't drink out of a bottle, only out of a straw.  Throughout the day, numbness continued on one whole side of his face along with a headache.  Him being the stubborn man that he is, would not listen to me and go on to the doctor...because you know he was working of course and he could not leave work.  (That's the way he looks at it anyway).  That night while out to dinner for Ms. Leslie's birthday, two nurses there confirmed that he had Bell's Palsy.  While it was a relief to know that it was nothing more serious (like a stroke!), I still did not understand why he did not go to the doctor.  He finally went to Urgent Care two days later on that Sunday afternoon and got two prescriptions.  Ten days later, it is not much better at all.  He is sick of it.  He can't taste anything and half of his face is paralyzed.  They can't tell you when it will get better...could be two weeks or two years.  Fun times.  We pray it goes away soon!

That same weekend, we went to Mallory's bestie Tyler Kate's Minnie Mouse birthday party.  Mallory loved the Minnie ears and the cupcakes.  She still wears the Minnie ears around the house :)

These two girls love each other, they run & hug every time they see one another.

The next day we had my birthday celebration.  I turned 31...which was worse than turning 30.  We celebrated at my parent's house with the usual of my mom's homemade egg rolls and steak.  It was DELISH and I thought I was going to make myself sick from eating so many.

Patrick got me these:

Love them but OUCH they kill my feet.  Apparently they run small??  I am still wearing them a lot (with lots of bandaids on my feet) in hopes they will stretch or I will be one sad girl.  I also racked up with the Pioneer Womans Cookbook, the cutest chevron vase, a glass tray that I can't wait to use in my new bathroom, cash, & giftcards to TJ Maxx, Highland Furniture, Old Navy & Target.  Not bad for turning 31!  My co-workers took me out to lunch last Monday on my actual birthday and then my friends took me out to lunch the next day at the Peach House.  It ended up being a great 3 day celebration. 

I mentioned above, that I took a quick trip to Raleigh on Friday to pick out granite.  I stopped in Crabtree just long enough to pick up Mallory a Halloween costume.  She is going to be a peacock this year.  When I showed her, she seemed less than thrilled but I thought it was adorable.  The matching tights were all sold out, but I found some silver sparkly tights at Baby Gap that will work & she has silver sparkly Toms that she can wear too.  Hopefully, I can find enough creativity in myself to make her some type of headband and she will be set!   

I think that pretty much sums up our month.  It's been pretty eventful and not over yet!

Mama's little puppy.

After about three weeks without internet, and way too many calls to Century Link (they would not believe me when I told them our modem was struck by lightning because the power light would still come on), we are finally back up and running! 

For some reason these days, Mallory's favorite thing to do is pretend like she is a puppy.  It is so funny.  She plays the part very well complete with walking on all fours, hanging her tongue out, panting, fetching, barking & even licking me or anyone else!  She also wants me to be 'Mama Puppy'.  'Mama Puppy' is wore out from playing this game so much today!  The girl is obsessed with dogs & could play 'puppy' all day long.  See below for proof.  The whole time she has her tongue out she is panting by the way.  I don't know how her mouth doesn't dry out!

& since it has been so long since I have taken or posted any pictures of my first baby, I decided to take some today.  Love, love, love her dress she wore today.  It is Matilda Jane, so cute! 

This girl does love her dog.  She doesn't care for Riley, she says he is 'daddy's dog' & calls Bella 'my dog'.  When I took this pic, she was saying, 'I love you' to Bella over & over.

Very sweet :)

10 Weeks

Baby's the size of a prune!


Now, she's about 1.2 inches long and weighs about .14 ounces. Her body length will almost double in the next three weeks.






How far along? 10 weeks and 1 day


Total weight gain/loss: None so far.  Which is a miracle.  At this point with Mallory, I'm pretty sure I had gained at least 10 pounds.  Crazy, I know.  Thank God this pregnancy is different so far because I'm not sure my body could stand to gain 60 pounds again!

Maternity clothes? I've worn maternity jeans twice.  Not because I need to, just because they are so darn comfy at this point ;-)

Sleep: Good right now.  I'm savoring being able to sleep on my stomach a while longer, it's my favorite position and I know that will be ending soon.

Best moment this week: Really coming out and telling everyone and anyone about this pregnancy.  It's no secret anymore!

Movement: Not yet.

Food cravings: I used to have to have coffee first thing in the morning, now I don't care for it so much.  I want a BIG, cold glass of OJ, LOTS of fruit and last weekend I think I ate more collards than I have in my entire life, ha!

Gender: Not sure yet but I am thinking it's a boy since this pregnancy seems to be different than my last with the weight gain.  Also I did this gender predictor chart and it says boy.  Call me crazy, but this was right with Mallory and I tested 10 other friends as well.  It claims to have a 90% accuracy rate and it was right for 9 out of 10 of my friends!

Labor Signs: No thank you.

Belly Button in or out? It's in for now, hope it stays that way for a while.

What I miss: Drinking sangria with the rest of my family.

What I am looking forward to: Gender ultrasound.  My next appt is Oct 12 and then I am thinking in another 4 weeks after that appt will be my big ultrasound.

Weekly Wisdom: Stay well hydrated.  I started feeling really bad last night and then realized I had hardly drank anything all day.  I'm really good about drinking lots and lots of water while I'm at work, but when I'm home and busy with Mallory it seems to slip my mind.

Milestones: Hearing the hearbeat with the doppler at my next appt.

Big News!

August 15th was an exciting and surprising day for us. 

I just had this feeling all day and sure enough when I got home this is what happened:

Surprise for us!!  But we are thrilled about it.  We saw the baby and heard the hearbeat for the first time yesterday.  It was just as amazing as seeing the first one.  It is so hard for me to believe that there is something living inside of me like that because I literally have no pregnancy symptoms.  It was the same way with Mallory.  My due date is April 22nd (my baby brother's birthday).  Everything looked great yesterday and I was measuring right on track at 8 weeks and 3 days.  I am very thankful that this baby will be here before summer, and hope that that will save me from the extreme swelling that I had with Mallory. 

I haven't posted in a while because our laptop got struck by lightning so I have no home computer now.  Then a week later, my beloved cell phone died for good.  The very next day, I got a new phone but still no computer.  Hopefully soon.  & then I can go back to posting regularly :)      

Irene & other things.

Well, last weekend was absolutely no fun at all.  We had Hurricane Irene visiting Eastern NC Friday night until very late Saturday night.  Even though it was only a Category 1, it was one of the worst storms I can ever remember.  I do believe we had winds at 100+mph for what seemed like a very long time.  Our power went out early Saturday morning, but thankfully we had a generator that ran our AC, TV and fridge.  This is what we spent all day doing.  See how massive that storm was?! 

By the time Sunday rolled around, I was dying to get out of the house so we rode around our neighborhood to view some of the damages.  The utility companies were hard at work trying to restore power for everyone.  

Some areas had flooding.

This is what pretty much all the roads looked like.  It was & still is very sad.  We are so fortunate that we got power back Sunday around lunch, but there are STILL people that have no power.  Not to mention, some people lost their houses and/or vehicles.  We are extremely blessed that we had no damage.

My parents backyard:

Moving on to more positive things, the painters have been working hard this week.  Here are a few of the rooms they have done:

Living room in Amazing Gray which I think is pretty amazing.  I am so glad that I didn't let our builder talk me out of using this color.  He has even admitted that every time he sees it, he likes it a little more.

More Amazing Gray

Dining room in French Roast

Mallory's room in Antiguan Sky

Master in Quietude

Once again...Amazing Gray & Moderate White

Bonus room in Backdrop

Surprisingly, I love every single color.  That is nothing short of a miracle, folks!  I spent countless hours looking over paint colors, wondering if the rooms would flow, wondering if there was enough color or too much color.  Ahhh...you can drive yourself crazy with the the insane number of colors there are out there, but for right this minute I am completely satisfied with my choices.