Calling All Painters!!

I'm going to call my dad over and see if he can help us with painting Weston's nursery! Grant started taping off the walls last night, and he didn't get very far! He got so frustrated with the entire process that he gave up, and I don't think that I'll be able to get him to do anymore taping. I think I can convince him to do the painting, but it looks like the taping is out. My dad is a perfectionist, as is Grant, so he'll likely get frustrated too, but I'm going to see if he can come help us out next Sunday or the following week sometime. We'll see! Grant really wants me to give up on the stripes, but I have my heart set on them, and I think we can do it...it's just time consuming.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to get the tape on the wall straight? Especially going all the way around the room it's difficult to make sure everything lines up, particularly at the corners.

Goals for the Month

So, I was reading Kari's Blog over at Better Together, and she posted a list of her goals for the month of October. She also did this last month, and she inspired me to do it then, but I got busy doing something else, and I just didn't get around to posting my goals. Well, since it's the 1st of October, I think that I'll post some goals for this month. I definitely have some things that I want to get done, so I'll post them here for some motivation to do them. Then at the end of the month, I'll update you guys on how I did.

1.) Complete ALL of my Christmas Shopping - I'm about 80% done with my Christmas Shopping right now, but I do still have a few things that I need to get and a few people that I need to buy for, so I want to complete all of this by the end of October, so I don't have to worry with it right before the Holidays and when I'm huge! :)

2.) Finish painting and decorating that Nursery - We are well on our way, and we've put together the crib and begun painting. We have to paint the stripes and get the wall decor hung. We will definitely have some things spill into November, but I'd like to have the decorations hung on the wall, the crib in place and all of the stripes completed by the end of the month.

3.) Thank You Cards Written - I have my first Baby Shower on October 24th, and I'd like to have all the Thank You Cards from the shower written by the 31st. It gives me exactly a week to finish them up, so I'm hoping to be able to get that taken care of. It may be a stretch! :)

4.) Finish decorating that bathroom and organize the closets - We need to clean out some closets and hang the decorations for the baby's bathroom. I'd like to finish this in October. We have everything we need, but we just need to get the decorations put up in the bathroom and get everything in its place. We also have some STUFFED closets that we need to clean out and get rid of some stuff.

I think that's enough for this month..that's actually quite a bit to complete this month, so I'll end my list there, and I'll have another list for next month.

Newborn Hat for Weston

I saw this really cute hat on someone's blog...I'm SO sorry, but I don't remember whose blog it came from. If it came from yours, let me know, and I'll give you credit! :)

Anyways, I loved it so much that I had to go and buy one for myself. It came in the mail yesterday, and it is SO cute! I'm loving it! I can't wait to take newborn photos of Weston and have him wear the hat. If you are interested in buying one for your little one, go check out Karenisa's Lily-Lu Shoppe on Etsy. By the way, I just noticed that she is currently closed for a short time due to an overwhelming amount of orders, but just keep checking back, she has some really cute items for babies!

Physical Therapy

So, I mentioned yesterday that I went to Physical Therapy, so I thought I would blog about it today...I was a very active teenager, and I found out shortly after beginning my college career that I had spondylolisthesis. In addition to that, I also had two stress fractures most likely caused from some of my activities in high school, as well as, a disc in between the two fractures that was starting to disintegrate. I was in a lot of pain, and it was frustrating. I wasn't ready for any type of back surgery at my age, so I fought the pain with physical therapy. As my back got stronger, as well as, my core muscles, the pain became very minimal, and I was able to go back to my normal routine.

In the past three-four weeks, I've had a lot of back pain again, and I knew it was related to my preexisting condition. So, I went to the physical therapist yesterday, and I got some exercises that I can do to help me out, as well as, started a prenatal yoga class that she said would help out and got access to the pool that they have at the physical therapists office. So, I'm pretty excited, and she was able to do some exercises to adjust me, because my right hip was lower than my left, and I felt better walking out the door. :)

Also, when I came home I had a gift certificate on the counter for two prenatal massages with my favorite massage therapist. I have the best husband in the world!! So, I made my first appointment for late October before my first shower, so I can feel nice and refreshed for the shower! I can't wait! :)

Breakdown

Edit: I'm feeling much better, and I had a Dunkin Donuts Decaf Latte to make me feel better, and it definitely worked! Cheered me right up! I also went to Physical Therapy today, and it was great, so that made my day wonderful. I'll update you all on Physical Therapy tomorrow!

So, I had a minor breakdown in my office a few minutes ago, and I'm not sure why...I'll chalk it up to the hormones.

I've had a fairly rough past few days in regards to indigestion. I'm feeling fine, but I have terrible, awful indigestion with everything that I eat. It feels like a burning sensation in my chest, and it's miserable and so uncomfortable! Also, I woke up this morning, and I was super swollen for the first time during the pregnancy. I've been a little swollen, but it was pretty bad this morning. My fingers were sore to bend and my feet felt huge. I couldn't get my rings on my finger, so it's the first time that I've gone without my two bands and engagement ring since we were married. I've got them in my little jewelry pouch, just in case, the swelling goes down, and I can wear them. I don't know why I'm suddenly retaining so much water. I stopped by and checked my blood pressure this morning, and it was low, so I know that's not it. So, anyways, I've been feeling pretty crappy and been bummed about my rings and the indigestion.

Then to top it off, Grant has been away from the house in the evenings for the past two nights, and he'll be gone tonight and tomorrow night too, so I'm alone in the evenings with the dog. Not that I don't love Banks, but he doesn't talk back to me, and he requires a lot more time and energy than Grant does. :) So, I'm a little frustrated that he has been gone so much lately, and I'm hoping next week is better. But I guess because of all of this, I got emotional, and I just started crying in my office. I don't even know why...it's so stupid, and I have no reason to be upset. I'm fine now, and I got over it within seconds, so hopefully, I don't have another breakdown anytime soon.

On a completely random note, my fingers are freezing. I'm not sure if it's because my office is cold, but my fingers, especially on my right hand just won't get warm. I guess maybe it's poor circulation, but I'm not sure. It's so strange!

23 Weeks!

So, I'm 23 weeks, and I've finally decided that I'll post a few belly shots, as well as, take the weekly survey. :) I feel huge in these photos though I know that I'll only get bigger!

How far along? 23 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Not really sure...I haven't weighed myself since last week!
Maternity clothes? Maternity pants only...I am sometimes wearing maternity shirts that aren't huge, but I am still able to wear most of my regular shirts though some are beginning to get short and / or tight.
Stretch marks? Nope...I don't have any yet!
Sleep: Waking up once or twice a night to go to the bathroom, but overall, sleeping fairly well.
Best moment this week: One more week down!!
Movement: Yes! I'm feeling him more and more often, and I love it.
Food cravings: Nothing in particular, though I'm loving Brownies! So bad!!
Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: None...thankfully!
Belly Button in or out? In but getting more shallow
What I am looking forward to: Decorating the Nursery! and my next Dr.'s Appointment.
Weekly Wisdom: I don't really have any...
Milestones: One more week behind me, other than that no big milestones this week!

I feel gigantic in this photo!! This was taken this morning before work, and I was still half asleep. I think Banks was still asleep too! :)

23 Weeks!

Love Dare & Weekend Update

I made the decision to only do the Love Dare on Monday - Friday and skip out on the weekends and see how it goes. It's not that I can't do it over the weekend or don't have time, but I really don't want Grant to know that I'm doing it, so every time I would go to get it out of my bag over the weekend, I felt like I was sneaking around, and he would come around the corner. So, I'm just going to leave the book at the office, and I'm going to do it during the week.

Anyways, Friday's dare went well, and I'm moving on to my second dare today! Today's dare says: In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness. I think that I'm going to iron his pants tonight...I hate ironing clothes, and I rarely do it, so he is very grateful when I do. He has some pants that need to be ironed, so I think that I'll iron those pants today as my gesture of kindness.

We had a busy, fun-filled weekend! We woke at 5:30 AM on Saturday, and we headed to a Vizsla Field Day. Banks was able to run around with other Vizsla's, get in the water and get on some birds. He did so great! We then headed to a friend's house to watch the UGA Game! Yay! We won, but barely squeaked by. On Sunday, Grant went hunting, then he painted our back deck, and we put the crib together! :) Can't wait to show photos of the room in progress...I'm going to take some photos tonight!

Here are two photos of Banks from Field Day...

Love is Patient

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
- Ephesians 4:2 NIV

Back in March-April of last year, our Sunday School class at church watched Fireproof and decided to take on the Love Dare. Our Sunday School class consists mostly of young, married couples, so it was a great exercise as a group. Though Grant and I weren't married, we had gone to the movie theater to see Fireproof, and we both really enjoyed it. Grant bought me the DVD as soon as it came out on video. We participated in the Sunday School class, but I have to admit that we failed at completing the 40-Day Love Dare. We started, and we got through the first 20-25 days; however, we weren't married, and at times it was directed towards married couples, and it didn't apply to our relationship. Also, simply put, we got busy...the wedding was a few weeks away, and we were busy with work, last minute wedding plans and finishing up the semester of school, so we just stopped.

After the wedding, and I had time to stop and think about it, I felt like we had failed. We have a great relationship, and we were / are getting along great, but we had committed to doing this, and we didn't finish, and I was disappointed in myself. So, I decided to start from the beginning and do it again. I'm not telling Grant that I'm doing it, but I started today. I read the assignment, and I'm ready for the challenge to actually complete the entire 40 days! I should be finished with this assignment on November 4th. Even though it's a daily exercise, I won't post about my progress daily, but I'll post about how things are going on a regular basis, so I have the accountability from you all. I think I might even go home and watch the movie this weekend for a little added motivation! :) Though we have a great relationship, I can only hope that this exercise will improve our relationship even more, and we will become stronger as a couple. I'll keep you all posted.

Here is today's dare:
The first part of this dare is fairly simple. Although love is communicated in a number of ways, our words often reflect the condition of our heart. For the next day, resolve to demonstrate patience and to say nothing negative to your spouse at all. If the temptation arises, choose not to say anything. It's better to hold your tongue than to say something you'll regret.

This one should be pretty easy...Wish me luck!! :)

Keep Your Fingers Crossed...

...that I make it home this evening!! I'm in Mississippi, and I'm heading back towards Atlanta around 2:00 PM, so I'm going to be driving I-20 all the way! I know that I-20 is still closed due to flooding, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's open by the time I come through. If it's not open, I'll have to take the detour, and I heard that the detour had a very large delay, approximately 4 hours this morning. I'm going to be coming home later in the evening, but I still anticipate that I'll have delays even if I-20 is back open. I'm just anxious to make it home safe and sound and spend the night in the bed with my wonderful husband and see my sweet dog, Banks! It's been a long week, and it's only Wednesday. I don't sleep well in hotels, so I haven't slept well, and I'm tired. It's also been raining in Mississippi, so that's not a whole lot of fun! Anyways, I'm so ready to get back home to Athens! Hope everyone is safe throughout Atlanta!

22 Weeks!!

So, I'm technically not 22 Weeks until tomorrow, but I'll be tied up in meetings all day out in Mississippi tomorrow, so I thought that I would go ahead and post my 22 week update today! :)

How far along? 22 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +10 lbs.
Maternity clothes? Maternity pants only...I am sometimes wearing maternity shirts that aren't huge, but I am still able to wear most of my regular shirts though some are beginning to get short and / or tight.
Stretch marks? Nope...I don't have any yet! Still applying Belly Butter twice daily to help prevent them completely. I'll keep my fingers crossed!
Sleep: Waking up once or twice a night to go to the bathroom, but overall, sleeping fairly well.
Best moment this week: Painting the first two coats of blue in the nursery and repainting the ceiling...now to move onto the stripes! :)
Movement: Yes! I'm feeling him more and more often, and I love it.
Food cravings: Mexican sometimes, and I craved Chicken Pot Pie last week.
Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: None...thankfully!
Belly Button in or out? In
What I am looking forward to: Decorating the Nursery! and my next Dr.'s Appointment.
Weekly Wisdom: I don't really have any...
Milestones: Again, painting the first two coat's of blue on the wall and getting some items ready for his arrival! :)

Also, I bought Weston an outfit that I love, and he is going to wear it for Easter next year. It's super cute, and I'm so excited about it. It came in the mail late last week, and I absolutely love it. What do you guys think? This is a picture of the one that was listed to buy, but I obviously got it with Weston's name on it. :)
It's cute, isn't it? Let me just tell you...he is going to be so spoiled! :) He is the first grandchild on both sides of our family, so he'll definitely be getting all that he wants! Ha-Ha!