Updates and Such

Good morning friends!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas with friends and family. I know I sure did! I just love going home and spending time with mine and Brandon's family. We are so lucky to have them. Baby Tate fared really well this Christmas, receiving some adorable clothing and gear for his room (which is coming along nicely by the way!) Brandon has been off work since the 20th so he has been really busy finishing the nursery, our office nook, and helping me keep the house clean :) He is SUCH a great husband. 

                          Showing me his stud-finder ;)                          

 I am officially 29 weeks! I really can't believe it! I am so thankful to have made it to this point in pregnancy. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous around the 26th week mark. One of my best friends went into pre-term labor at this point in her pregnancy and it scared the shit out of me, but her and her baby are doing AMAZINGLY. She's the type of person who can handle stressful situations with such a calm that I do not possess. I will never forgot how serious of a situation that was but more importantly, how well her and her husband got along during it and how easy she made it look. (I know there was a lot I didn't see but honestly I can't imagine anyone else handling it better than her!)  ANYways, I really have no complaints about my pregnancy so far. Every once in awhile my back is super achy, but really that's about it. I feel him kick and squirm around all of the time, especially in the evenings. He starts to really move at about 6:30 or 7:00. Brandon has felt him a lot! 

Remembered to snap a photo when I had on my nice clothes! 

So like I said earlier, Brandon has been super productive during his holiday break and has basically finished Tate's room! All we lack is the furniture :)
 Oh yeah, we also FINALLY decided on a full name....
TATE BRANDON JORDAN! TBJ. I love it :)  

Here is a preview!

 And not only has he been working on the baby room, but also our office/den that got new carpet! 

We got rid of the old black desk and Brandon fashioned our computer to fit into the existing built in book shelves. He took the keyboard slide things off the old desk and added them with some leftover wood to the bottom shelf which he raised up so his legs could fit under. Since we got new closest organizers in Tate's room, he used the wood from the old closet shelves and made the CPU stand. Crafty and efficient that boy sure is! Now all we need is a new floor lamp! Can't wait to browse Craigslist! (If you are wondering what the big square looking thing is to the left of the desk, it's a Murphy Bed!) My guess is that in the future this room will become the guest bedroom/playroom. Moving on!

The last few nights have been so great visiting with friends and their loved ones! I got to visit with Hallie, Annie, and Ariel and spend some quality time with Jack :)

  Brandon made fish and chips for our friends Brad and Junko and we got to love on their adorable baby AJ. She opened her Christmas present and loved the bright and colorful books! 

The weekend ended with more friends visiting. I made Chicken Tortilla Soup (Pioneer Woman's recipe; it was delicious! I got her cookbook for Christmas!) Charlotte came over and brought her new puppy Snoop Dogg. Kenzie and him were BFFs by the end of the night! And my pal Liesel came over with her BF Stephen. It was so fun to see everyone! Having people over makes me so happy!

I wish I had gotten to spend more time with my out of town friends but I was happy to at least visit with them for a little while. Jill, Annie, Ariel, and Douglas: I love y'all more then you know! Thank you for all of Tate's gifts. He can't wait to come visit and meet his Aunts and Uncle :) My emotional self misses y'all all of the time! 

To see more photos of our adventures, including the progression of Tate's room, friends visiting, and house updates, please click here

Peace out my friends!

Winter, Winter, Winter, Time

Has anyone ever noticed that there aren't too many songs about the wintertime that aren't related to Christmas songs? I have two close friends who just LOVE the cold, but it is definitely my LEAST favorite season, bleh......ANYWAYS! We have had SO much going on. I hope it's okay if I share everything though photos :) 

We got a new sectional! It's from Big Lots, and it was a great price! We have been talking about getting a new couch for awhile. Although Brandon's old bachelor pad couches were VERY comfortable and quite lived in, they are so old the frames are broken. The slipcovers helped a bit, but it was really just time for a change. We aren't getting rid of them though! (Brandon would never let that happen!) The loveseat is going in our office/den and the sofa into the garage man-cave. ALSO! We are getting new carpet installed on the 21st for the nursery and office! I am SO super excited because the carpet in both of those rooms is just grody. BONUS! Home Depot installs carpet for $37, literally. So it's fairly affordable!

We also got my old piano moved in, finally! I took lessons for about 10 years, and loved playing this instrument. Although I was never really very good at it, (it helped me for sight reading music while singing; I was in the concert choir at UT my Freshman year!) I am hoping maybe our kids will want to play it. I can still drum out a few fun tunes though :)

I have been spending so much quality time with one of my favorite babies, Jackaroo! He is so sweet! I am so thankful to have him and his mama so close because they are teaching me so much! Hallie isn't scared to let me hold him and feed him, which is so nice, because I am getting so much practice :) 

 

Our new kitten Mr. Grumbles is getting along nicely with our spoiled dog Kenzie! They are both such spoiled little creatures, but we love them so much. Poor Lillian on the on the other hand is not fairing so well. Mr. Grumbles just wants to play, and she just wants to sleep, so it turns into an all out battle. But then SOMETIMES, I see them lying together and she is cleaning him the way she used to clean Simba, I swear it is one of the sweetest things EVER! I love kitties if you can't tell!

 

 

 I have finally started wrapping presents! I decided to use all my gift bags and wrapping paper from last year, and then just use my shopping bags from Publix! (Got the idea from Pinterest) With so much being bought and thrown away, I thought I could play my small part in producing less waste this Christmas season. Being earth-friendly may be a trend, but I'm okay with this trend, because I appreciate the earth and all it does for us! Plus I would love for my kids, and their kids, and even their kids, to enjoy the same earth that I'm enjoying right now :) (Can't do that with trash floating around everywhere now can we?!) 

So I do not have a recent "bump" picture, and this is supposed to suffice for one :) It's one of two baskets and liners I found on CLEARANCE at Restoration Hardware. Of course they were just barely affordable even on clearance (because it's Restoration Hardware) but I just had to have them!...Moving on! I have to admit, I have been lacking in the area of "bump" photos, but I promise to start trying harder! It's just I wear the same thing everyday to work, and it's not the most appealing looking uniform. (i.e. maternity jeans and a long sleeved green t-shirt) soooo I don't dress up that often. Next time I have on some decent clothes I will try to snap a pic! But anywhoo, I am 26 weeks, will be 27 Sunday. Had my latest Nurse Mid-wife appointment this last Monday. All my measurements are normal and the heartbeat sounded good. This coming Monday I go back for the Glucose test. I haven't been craving anything out of the ordinary, but mostly what I really want is either ice-cream or Mexican food. So I have been to Chuy's twice in the past week :) SO GOOD! My back has been super achy lately, especially my lower back, and I think it's because of how I'm sleeping so I may invest in one of those body pillow thingys.....we shall see. But all in all, everything is good! Tate is just a-growin' and I am feeling him move a LOT! He is quite active, especially during the evenings and at night. Let's hope he's not TOO much of a night owl like his dad :) I will leave you with a photo of my Christmas tree :) I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! 

Thank you for reading :)

Bump, Nursery, Name, Kitty

Hello everyone!

So, I am 23 weeks preggars. And I am not one of those girls who take a picture of my growing abdomen every week. Honestly if I thought I were going to do some sort of craft picture project to hang in the nursery with different weeks, what I was craving that week, blah, blah, ect. I MIGHT take photo every week. But the craft projects come and go with me....mostly go. HOWEVER, whenever I DO dress up (which isn't often as I have a job that requires a "uniform" and no life since I can't consume alcoholic beverages) I try to snap a photo. 

I (Brandon) even snaps a photo when I don't dress up! (This picture was taken because a friend demanded I send her baby bump pics-*coughingsoundjess*.....and I was already in my PJ's, apologies)

So at 22 weeks I have been feeling him move, A LOT! According to my baby app Sprout, what I'm mostly feeling is him twisting or turning or moving upside down. He's not big enough for me to feel his kicks quite yet. The twisting or turning movement I'm feeling right now is quite an odd feeling. It comes and goes at different times and can be described as a "popping" feeling, or a slight "swoosh" in my belly.....it is making this pregnancy/baby thing feel SO much more real! To be honest, I sometimes still feel way too young to be bringing another life into this world. I just think about how different mine and Brandon's lives will be and how so much will change. But the more I contemplate on these facts, the more I realize that there is no time like the present. Life is a gift and we are never guaranteed a tomorrow, so why not go ahead a be a mama now?! Hopefully those "motherly instincts" that I've only ever felt around animals will reveal themselves by the time Baby J arrives :)

.......Moving on, we have picked out name! Well, a first name at least.....Tate. Brandon came up with it! He has a co-worker who has a teenaged son named Tate. He came home from work one morning and said "How about Tate"....and I replied "I love it!" So that was easy. But we have not decided on a middle name.....any suggestions would be great :) We have had several friends comment on how Tate Jordan sounds like a quarterback's name....which I guess it kinda does. But I'd be okay with it sounding like a musicians name too ;)

......More baby news.....we (Brandon) have began to remodel the baby's room. I will share a few before photos, and only a couple after. It is for sure a work in progress at the moment, but the way Brandon normally works on projects is "full speed ahead" so it shouldn't take very long! Here is a list of things we (Brandon) are doing to the room:

-Replacing the carpet

-Adding board and batten

-Painting, 3 different colors

-Replacing the ceiling fan

-Replacing the base board

-Adding crown molding

-Replacing the blinds

Whew! But with Brandon doing all of this on his own, it will be much more affordable. It is so great to have a handy husband who is good with his hands ;) 

So these three are what the room looked like "before". I am only going to share one photo of the progress Brandon has made, so as to not give to much away! But you definitely get an idea of what it will eventually look like :)

 

 

AHHH! I love it! This is starting to be SOOO exciting! Baby Tate is already so blessed. 

ANNDD finally, the last news I have to share is that we decided to get another kitty. Yes we realize we are having a baby in 4 months, however, we have been a 2 cat family for so long! We all really miss Simba, including poor LillyAnn, and we realized she had also gotten used to having another kitty around, so we decided to take Mr. Grumbles from our friends Kurt and Grace. They already have one kitty who was way too stressed out by this kitten, so they decided giving him up was for the best. 

He is the sweetest kitten and so very playful. Kenzie and him are already BFF's and Lilly is slowing starting to come around to him. We know we will love him like we loved Simba, but no kitty we ever be able to replace our Simba buddy. 

I think that's all folks! Apologies for the very long post, I'm still very new to the blogging world :) 

Until next time! 

NIKI

 

Tom Foolery

Hello friends!

I was trying to think of some good titles for this post....Tom Foolery, Hoodwinked, Trickery, ect. This is because Brandon TOTALLY had me fooled about the gender of Baby J. He was the only person who knew after our anatomy ultrasound last Tuesday, just because if anyone else knew, we would tell everyone and there would be no point in having people over to reveal the gender.

Here is a good example of how I felt after opening that box. Seriously though, he left pictures of GIRL nursery color schemes up on our iPad. He knew I would probably think "Ha! I knew it, we are SO having a girl!" Because he and the rest of our family and friends know I may just be the most gullible person in the world. 

 So here I am thinking "Yay, I can't wait to see pink balloons!"

  

And then I realize, WELP, I have a baby with a weiner! Holy Shite! Hah. Anyways, I am still trying to wrap my head around this fact, but really I am starting to think of all the ways a boy may be a tad easier on me in the long run.....they are cheaper for sure, have less of an attitude (whew, I was a little girl brat child so this is a super important one!), they don't mind being dirty and playing outside, and honestly, if we have a healthy, happy child, I think my life will be complete :) I feel like Brandon is going to be SUCH a great Dad to a boy. With that being said, I will leave you with a photo montage (I don't know what this words means, just FYI) of our day last Sunday. It was absolutely wonderful celebrating with our family and friends, eating Jett's Pizza, and enjoying Baby Jack and Baby A.J. :) Next time, I promise to get more photos of Baby A.J. because she is SUCH a cutie pie. Thank you to everyone who came. Just showing up for us really shows how much you care and is honestly the best gift Brandon and I could ask for. Can't wait to celebrate again :) 

Beautiful Sister

Beautiful niece Lexie and adorable Baby Jack!

My dad hitting up Jett's pizza at 1:00 p.m. on the dot :)

Baby AJ checking out Baby Jack :)

Everyone loved holding Baby Jack and Baby AJ!

Until next posting friends, take it easy!

NIKI

SUSPENSE!!! Ready, Set, GO!

Mornin' friends! As most of you now know, we (or Brandon) know the sex of Baby J! We are having friends and family over THIS Sunday to reveal the gender to everyone! (Including me!) I can't believe I am waiting to find out, the suspense is killing me! I still think and feel girl. I am trying to pry it out of Brandon, but he's so good at keeping a poker face. So I guess let the countdown to Sunday begin!

The ultrasound went really well yesterday. My mom was able to go with us which was exciting. Baby J wasn't in the best position to see the face or even a profile of the face, but we did get a few good shots. The best pictures we got yesterday were of the spine and feet! Those feet looked really long and narrow....hmmmm, does not describe my feet at all. The pictures of the spine honestly reminded me of a dinosaur, I don't know why, maybe because I talk about reptiles all the time at work, but Baby J was looking rather animal-y yesterday to me! Another discovery we made from this ultrasound was that the nose is rather large....I kinda hope I imagined that image in my head ;) Here are the sonograms from yesterday: 

Another adventure for Brandon this past weekend was going deep sea fishing for the first time! He got to go with a bunch of guys from work that go every year. They left out from the beaches of Panama City and went about 70 miles into the gulf. They caught a BUNCH of fish! Enough for us to turn on our deep freezer for the first time :) I am super pumped because I LOVE fresh fish and am so happy to know Brandon is the one who caught what we will be eating for the next year! Not to brag on him or anything but he did catch the two largest fish. A 25 lb. King Mackerel and a 21 lb. Grouper.....not too bad for his first time!

Here is a photo of the whole group and their very large bounty of fish!

 

The last fish on your left is the Mackerel B caught!

Well folks, this may be the last blog post until next week! This weekend is going to be a little nuts as my park is having it's like 10th annual Barfield Halloween Bash. This includes the Old Scream Road Haunted Hayride, the Not-So-Haunted Trail, and the huge carnival with games, prizes, and food. My co-workers and I plan and put together the hayride for the Not-So-Haunted Trail. It's for younger kids, and is based on a children's book. The book basically comes to life along the trail with real live  characters, props, lights, and decorations all along the trail. All the while you and your family get to enjoy a hayride as well :) Do I sound like an advertisement?! For $3.00/person it is probably one of the cheapest Halloween events you can attend, not to mention the quality of the event. So if you have little ones, bring them out to Barfield Friday or Saturday night from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

If you decide to come, look for the owl on the Not-So-Haunted Trail ;)

Thanks for reading friends! 

Niki

Refresher....Catch Up....Summary....Synopsis!

I have decided to begin blogging again! (Not that I really started blogging in the first place!) 

But I figured now is as good of a time as any to begin updating our family and friends on our past year and what we have in store for our future!

The first big news that everyone knows by now but I must mention is that we are having a baby! 

Baby J at 13 weeks during our first u/s

Baby J is due March 17th, 2013 making me 18 weeks....19 tomorrow! Sometimes I am still in shock and honestly can't believe I am having a baby. I know my life is about to change big time. For those that know me well, they know I am not really a baby person. I never really have been. I LOVE kids and playing with them, but as far as babies go, I had just never really spent anytime around them. I grew up with a group of really close girlfriends who ALL babysat, but it was just not something I ever did. Nor did I ever have any younger siblings, plus if you know my parents, you know they aren't baby people either....But all that is about to change and wouldn't you know it, I am starting to become a baby person! I have been so lucky because two very close friends have had babies in the past 5 months and I am one proud Auntie! 

 

Alyssa Jayden Smith, healthy baby born in mid-June.

Jack Gladstone Barrett, born August 24th at 28 weeks!

 

 

 

 

 

I am so happy and proud of my two friends, Junko and Hallie. These are some of the strongest women I know and have truly been an inspiration to me as I continue on with my own pregnancy and delivery.