Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I love you Mom! :)

*Gender Reveal Party!* Pt. 1

*Thank you so much for all the sweet comments on my blog, facebook, and in person about the news of a girl and her name! I really appreciate it! Also, thanks for reading and following! :)

Gender Reveal Party! Part 1

So, I wanted to do something fun to tell my family what we were having. I know I'm not the first girl to ever get pregnant...nor the last...but I do love hosting and creating a good party; and I just had the itch! :) So, we decided to have a somewhat small that became rather large  cookout on the day we were finding out the gender! This was a big toss-up because our doctor {whom I LOVE} was letting us get a sneak peek at 18 weeks with him doing the ultrasound.  I was so nervous that we were not going to get a good look...but boy was I wrong! She's a little vain already! haha! She was staring into the camera, opening her legs oh-so-good {ha!}, and even moving around so we could see all parts of her! {girl's already got a cute little booty}  To be in that room, holding on to Brian's hands, it was just so surreal.  It's like, "I finally see, more clearly than ever, that a baby girl is growing inside of us because of our love." WOW. Dr. printed us off 12 pictures and we get our video and *hopefully* 3D pics at our 20 weeks scan in a week and a half.

So...on to the party...  We invited some in-town family and in-town friends to come over.  I didn't want anyone to feel like they had to come since it was short notice and in the middle of the week, but to my surprise, everyone we invited came! Can you believe that? We were both so overwhelmed by our friends and family making the time to come celebrate with us.  I just still cannot believe it. So blessed.  My wonderful friend Mary even took pictures of the event for us so we wouldn't have to worry about being behind the camera the whole night!

*Ok, now on to what you really want ~ the pictures! I did not get a pic. of everyone who came {sorry!} but we had around 30 people in our home! :)

My sister got us this frame after we told her we were pregnant. We finally have a good clear picture of Harper's face and body to place in there!

I had bought a gender neutral golf set, and then painted Harper's name on it when we got home from Dr. He loved it.  I also gave him one of those sweet baby cards I've talked about where the baby is writing about the Dad. :)

Banner I made: Boy Or Girl?

another picture of the banner I made with scrapbook paper and my cricut

the voting station I made with cricut letters - guests took out pink or blue M&M's and put them in the jar they predicted. The boy one won!

Pink or blue wreath I made! The theme was pink and blue H's.  Hudson is our boy name.

Part 2 is coming soon with beautiful pictures Mary took for us! You'll see more of how we revealed the gender and name, and my decorations for the party. :)  Hopefully I will get those up on Monday!

Happy Derby weekend and Mother's Day weekend!

It's A ...

GIRL! Hello ruffle butts, big 'ol bows, and curls! :)

We are so excited and just thrilled about KNOWING! Honestly, no one believes me, but we could have cared less what little part we were going to see on the ultra-sound! It was just all so amazing! We got to see her sweet little face staring right at us, her long spine {which looked perfect according to Dr.}, her sweet fingers, toes, and little legs, and...her lady parts spread out to really let us know! HAHA! That's my girl!!

So, last night, we decided to have a small cookout with a few family members and friends.  We weren't sure who to invite, but knew it was going to be during the work week, so we decided against asking anyone to come who was out of town in fear they may 'think' they had to come and it wasn't convenient!  We were SO amazingly overwhelmed by the amount of people who came! I just couldn't believe what wonderful friends and family we have to help make this a big deal for us. :)

Anyways....more on the fabulous Gender Reveal Party is coming soon...but here is a sneak peak of our baby girl and her NAME!  However, before reading the NAME, you MUST {or pretty please!!!} check out this post first. :) Please and Thank You! haha!

****************************************************

Our sweet little girl is named...

Wait, can't read that?!?!?!



Harper Alan

*Photographs courtesy of Mary. You can find some of her work HERE.  Her work will also be featured in my upcoming Gender Reveal Party post.  Yes, that's right, I am spoiled rotten by my photog-friend and had my very own photographer catching the special moments!!

The Name Game :)

Okay...Here Goes...!!!

Before you get to know the names... There are a few rules.  Please don't roll your eyes! People can be harsh and this sensitive girl is even more sensitive with all the extra hormones.

Please raise your right hand and promise to follow these rules:

1. If you don't like the name, DON'T tell me. Or Brian. Lie if you must.  White lies never hurt anyone.
2. Don't tell me a name that would 'sound better' with our last name. We've obviously picked a name we like that we think sounds good together, so don't rain on our parade!!
3. If you know someone with the name, awesome, but we don't need to know.
{these have all happened to people I know, so yes, some people are that rude!!}



So....the girl name I've loved for a very long time - like 3 years.  The boy name we came up with as soon as we found out I was pregnant!


I love names. I mean LOVE names.  I've had a word document with a list of names for about forever! Although Brian has added to this {and more so deleted some of the names}, but most of them stay constant.  It's kind of hard to pick a name when you love so many...but these 2 names were SO easy and quick for us to agree on. I love it!

So...which one is it!?!?  Check back soon to find out!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Weekend Wrap-Up!

Whew! We had a busy weekend...but it was super fun! We also got to enjoy 2 1/2 days of NO RAIN! That's huge apparently...

Friday we started out at my school's Spring Carnival! It was so fun! My sister and her husband brought the boys and my friends Allison and Yancey brought their daughter, Nola, out there, too!  I did the cake walk with Colby, but we didn't win a cake! He did have a lot of fun doing all the games! 

Colby!

our friend, Maegan's, new baby, Collins

Afterwards, we went to Harry's with some of the girls I teach with.

Saturday we started the day off bright and early at 4:30am!! We drove up to Louisville for the Mini-Marathon Brian was running in.  He was so excited ~ his very first one! He's been training since the new year and I was happy to see his hard work pay off! Funny thing is we started this off both trying to run...but I was always so tired...soon after we found out I was pregnant!  Hubby finished 8 minutes under his goal and he was really happy! I cheered on the sidelines for him!

Nick, Jordan, Brian, and Scott before the race

Brian is in the green hat

the group afterwards...looking good!

Afterwards, we went to McDonald's for my 18th week treat, and then drove home.  He layed down for a bit and I sat outside for about an hour.  Then we were off to our next event, Whitney's wedding! It was a beautiful wedding and her dress was gorgeous. I will have to steal a pic off of FB to show...none of mine turned out since it was dark in the reception hall. Their reception was at Embassy Suites - the same as ours.  As soon as we walked in, B started talking about how happy it made it and talked about different aspects from our wedding. I thought it was sweet. :)  He appeased me by dancing to a few songs and 2 slow songs {YAY!} until I knew his achy legs couldn't take it anymore.

us

Amanda & Philip

Everyone was enjoying their yummy drinks, so hubby was getting me sprite's with fruit in it.  Nick got in on the fun and added a large 'fruit medley' to my Sprite Cocktail :)

Then we went downtown for about an hour to celebrate our friend's 30th birthday! 

All in all, it was a great weekend, but it was nice on Sunday to go to church and lunch with the family and then come home and sit around {after we cleaned the house, ha!}. 

Hope you had a good weekend, too!

18 Week Update

Whoops! I kind of skipped the 17 week photo, but I haven't changed too much in the past 2 weeks. 

18 weeks down!!

Highlights:

Size: Baby is the size of a sweet potato! That's kind of big! I wanted to hold one but when I went to get into the pantry, it had grown those 'roots' and it grossed me out. :)





Gender & Name: We don't know yet....but on Tuesday we *hopefully* will!!! I think one gender and hubby thinks the other.  We don't care which one it is one bit, I am just praying for health! Name will be coming soon since we've had them picked out for forever!

Movement: Baby is able to: yawn, hiccup, roll, twist, kick, punch, suck, and swallow. I think I've felt the baby move a little on my right side, but I am still not sure if that is what it is! *I thought it was cool that during the 17th week baby formed his/her fingerprints and toeprints! How neat!!!

Energy:  My energy is picking back up.  We've been testing all week at school, so I've been on my feet walking in circles for about 2-2 1/2 hours at a time...so that has made me tired, but for the most part, I feel much better.

Sickness: It's been a week and 3 days since my last "sicky", so I am FINALLY hoping it has come to an end. :)  During the 17th week, I started not being able to open the fridge again, but I am just spraying Lysol into it before I open and it's better now.

Weight & Maternity Clothes: I'm up about +3 lbs from my start weight.  I was slightly obsessing over getting on the scale every morning when I woke up, so I'm decided to weigh only once through each week now.  I'm in to pretty much only maternity pants, but wearing some regular tops, some larger tops, and some maternity tops.  I'm trying to fit into some of my summery flowy dresses...but it seems the 'girls' have gotten too big to be able to squeeze into a XS or S dress. :) Hey, I'm not complaining...what a good perk for once in my life! HAHA

Cravings & Aversions:  I'm not really craving anything.  I've been eating a lot of candy lately, but I think that is due to my Easter basket. :)  I haven't had any caffeine since I found out {16 weeks ago!}, but today at lunch I had one small 'shot' of my Dad's coke and I said, "ahhh, heaven"; which then Colby quickly drank a sip of G-Daddy's coke and repeated my phrase. Ha!  Aversions are still Mexican food {SO SAD} and the fixing of any meat.

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Haven't linked up in a while...so I'm linking with Jaime today for WILW!

I'm Loving...
that I went to the grocery last night for the first time in 14 weeks and made it through without getting sick! YAY!

I'm Loving...
that I'm feeling a good peace about being pregnant.  I haven't felt that yet, and my fears are *starting* to get less and less with worry. Thank you Lord for putting Your hands on me and baby!

I'm Loving...
that although we haven't seen a day without tornado warnings in almost a week and a half, my family is all safe! I'm also loving that today during state testing we had to stop and go into 'severe weather mode' and my kids were wonderful!! They were scared but they were so quiet and patience and listened so well to me when I told them it would be okay!

I'm Loving...

My husband.  For many reasons of course, but most of all, being my husband and putting me first!

I'm Also Loving that he will be running in his first mini-marathon on Saturday!! Good Luck!

Lastly... I'm Loving...

That I can FEEL baby H!!!!!! And that we get to find out if baby H is a boy or girl on Tuesday!!!



Hope you're having a good Wednesday!
{And I'm also loving new followers! Leave me a comment with your blog address...I'd love to visit you!}

Easter Sunday!

Our Easter Sunday didn't start with your typical Sunrise Service.  We actually went on Friday night to church {through the tornado touchdown and all!}.  Our church is pretty large and asked regular attendees to think about going to another service so it would open up some free spaces on Sunday...so we went.

My Mom and Dad had lots of my Dad's side over for Easter Lunch.  It has been pouring here and we were really keeping our fingers crossed for a dry day since there were so many people coming over! Luckily, it rained a lot through the night and morning, but dried up just in time for the entire afternoon to be enjoyable!

We started with a massive Easter egg hunt in the backyard for the 3 boys.  Cameron was sound asleep upstairs not knowing what he was missing! :)  Jackson and Caleb were so sweet with Colby and helped him find a few of the eggs the men hid!

got a little excited and was trying to pick up all the Easter baskets!

Jackson was the winner of the BIG egg!

Colby...look up in the tree!

Colby, Caleb, and Jackson

Afterwards we enjoyed Easter lunch outside! It was so good! I just love comfort food!! It seemed like we had all my favorite things: honey-baked ham, deviled eggs, pasta salad, scalloped potatoes, fruit salad, green beans, hashbrown casserole, 7 layer salad, and more! And oh the desserts!! I helped myself to 2 different desserts! My sister's delicious homemade chocolate cheesecake and Hope's Strawberry stuff!  Me and baby were enjoying the food Sunday!! :)

he loves smiling!

It was so fun to get everyone together and hang out.  Us 'kids' aren't the kids anymore though!  There used to be 5 of us cousins who were the kids...but that's quickly changing! Jackson is in 2nd grade, Caleb in K, and Colby and Cameron are growing up too! Next Easter we'll have baby H to join in on the mix! Seems so weird...which I think it does to everyone else since they kept saying, "I can't believe you are going to have a baby!"  Believe me, I sometimes can't believe it either!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday and remember how blessed we are that He rose from the tomb for each one of us no matter what we've done!! WOW! Gives me chills!

*Future* Easter Traditions

I'm not much on decorating for every season (except Christmas!!) but I have put up just a few Easter decorations.  My regular table decoration has transformed into grass and Easter eggs, and I have a few things here and there.

I'm very excited to *hopefully* get an Easter basket on sale for my baby for next year! I know I want to put the name or the initials {HAB} on the liner.  Here's a few of the ones I found and liked:

And look at what happens after you plant these jelly beans from C Jane Blog.  What an adorable idea! How exciting for a kid! I can't wait to do that in a few years, along with making Resurrection Eggs.

What's your traditions for your kids?!

Happy Easter!

Knocked-Up and 28 :)

Like the title? That's what my little hubby is really liking to say right now. :)  He likes the fact that we are only a year apart for about 2 months until he turns the big 3-0!

We celebrated my birthday with my parents and sister's family on Sunday.  With her husband working nights during the week and having 2 kids, it was just easier! For everyone in my family, they pick out where they want to eat.  But for me, I always have Mom cook and Dad grill steaks...because that is really my favorite! Sometimes we get to sit out on the deck...but Sunday the wind was a little too chilly!

Mom is making Easter dinner, too, so I only asked for a scaled-back version of my favorites since I knew I'd be getting them a week later!

So...Dad grilled Critchfield steaks {yum!}, and Mom made: scalloped potatoes, green beans, pasta salad, corn on the cob, and cheesy bread.  And for dessert...homemade Strawberry Cheesecake!! Yummy! My favorite!

Colby kept telling everyone he was at a 'birthday party' and 'where's the cake'! He likes to help open all the gifts and then move you right along into the cake! No more slow birthday parties in this family!!

how cute is that cheese?!

helping me read my 'favorite aunt award' card

my little guys :)

cheesecake! yummy

me and the 'rents

granddaddy...read his funny comment, here

baby daddy and me :)

On Tuesday I had life group and the girls surprised me with the best tasting cookie-cake ever! I wish I could share the picture...but it will come in a later post...

Wednesday Brian and I spent the afternoon and evening just spending time together.  He's been training for a mini-marathon so runs for what seems like forever and doesn't get home until about 7 each night. Then I'm ready for bed around 8:30 {ok, well, I just don't feel like talking at that time, ha!}, so he decided to skip running so we could have time together! I was really craving Olive Garden and it did NOT disappoint!! We haven't been there in about 3 years...but I think we'll be going back soon! 

{Hubby got me a camera that is so cool and high-tech that I can't figure it out just quite yet! ha! I was excited because my old camera stunk and wanted a better and faster sharing one for when baby comes!}

It was a great birthday! :) Cheers to another year of life!