23 Weeks!

Woohoo I'm more than half-way through my pregnancy! Such a good feeling! I had a check-up appt. with my doctor on Wednesday morning. The last couple of appts. have consisted of blood pressure and weight check followed by listening to baby William's heart beat. I've gained 14 pounds since the beginning of my pregnancy and 4  of those pounds lbs. between Thanksgiving and Christmas :) Dr. Gleason said I'm right on track with weight gain. William's heart rate was 140 and he was kicking up a storm while we listened to his heart pound away. He is one active little boy! Every night I sit in our beautiful blue recliner and watch him kick. Here is a belly pic from 23 weeks 3 days:

At my next appt. I will do the glucose test. This consists of me drinking a bottle of sugar water (I've heard the stuff tastes really bad) followed by some lab work to see if I have gestational diabetes. Let's hope I don't because it would be bad news if I had to cut back on carbs and sweets!

Christmas 2011

This year we went to Dothan for Christmas. I left Birmingham Thursday afternoon and Grant arrived in the "Circle City" late Friday evening. For dinner on Thursday, my mom cooked an amazing roast that marinated for a whole week with the most delicious roasted potatoes I've ever put in my mouth. I hope to pick up on her cooking skills one day, but I'm starting to think that at 27 I should already be preparing some basic meals at least....I have a long way to go :)

I absolutely love my parents Christmas decorations. They do such a good job making the house look so festive and beautiful. My mom saved every single ornament we made as children so it's always fun to scan the tree and remember pastimes. She lets my dad decorate the back of the tree that nobody sees :)

 My mom started her caroler collection many years ago, and this year Santa added to one to the group.

 Our family started collecting the Charles Dickens Christmas village when I was in high school. Julie, Mom, and I always had so much fun setting it up together, but now my mom does it solo. 

 Grant says William will be in good shape if my parents treat him HALF as good as they do Abigail. They are slightly obsessed with that dog. 

On Christmas Eve morning, Douglas, Julie, Grant and I went to Northcutt's to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping and then took it easy around the house for the rest of the day. It was nice to have a very low key Christmas weekend. Everything revolved around delicious meals which was just fine with this preggo girl. 

Our family goes to the Christmas Eve church service every year at FUMC. It is such a special family tradition that I look forward to every year. We usually have some sort of soup before heading to the 7pm service. This year my mom made a seafood gumbo that was absolutely delicious. My favorite part of the Christmas Eve service is holding candles while singing Silent Night as the congregation progresses out, pew by pew. As a child, we (me, Julie, and Douglas) usually served as acolytes and servers during this service and I always remember looking out in the congregation and seeing my great-grandmother, "Gamin," with a huge smile on her face. 

 Grant introduced the Shaw family to the Davis family Christmas tradition of egg nog on Christmas Eve. I don't like the stuff, but he sure does!

 Sam is THE cutest person I know! He was very excited about his hat and wanted his picture taken with everyone!

Dressed up before the Christmas Eve service.

Christmas morning, we all woke up around 6:30 to enjoy some coffee and "open" gifts. Santa still visits our house and leaves the presents unwrapped :) William stole the show this year even though he's still in the womb, but we all had a ball putting together his stroller, car seat, and swing. My mom has made more baby clothes than I thought was humanly possible...she is a machine and I love it! He's going to be one well-dressed baby boy. Grant has to come to terms with the reality that William will be wearing aprons and possibly a few "dresses" as an infant. 

 Yes, Grant's PJs are a little small....maybe Santa will bring him some that fit next year!

 They are SO excited about being great-grandparents! Sam practiced steering the stroller around the house!

 Abigail is in for a rude awakening at the end of April!

On Christmas morning we had breakfast at our house and then went to the 11am church service. We went over to Sam and Juleann's house Christmas night to exchange gifts and have our traditional Christmas dinner. That consisted of beef tenderloin, green beans, sweet potato casserole, oyster casserole, citrus rice, and pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream - YUMMY!!! My grandmother prepares for this meal all year long and has probably already started on 2012 Christmas. She also spends hours decorating her dining room table which is clearly worth every second!

 Juleann's big gift this year was an iPhone and Julie's job was to teach her all about it!

 3 Generations of iPhone users!

Sporting our new Christmas clothes!

I cannot believe this was our 3rd Christmas together as a married couple, and next year we will have a BABY and be a family of THREE. 

Tis the Season

This past weekend my parents and brother were in Birmingham for my Dad's annual high school reunion and the Shaw Family Christmas party. We had THE best time visiting with everybody and loved having Douglas stay at our house. He is such an easy house guest and Grant loved the male company. On Saturday, Mom, Julie and I shopped all day and had lunch at Flip Burger at the Summit - so good! We also took a family trip to Pottery Barn Kids to pick out a crib for baby William that Grant's mom has so graciously offered to give to us for Christmas.  Even though she will be in Florida for Christmas this year, her Christmas generosity and presence is certainly felt here in Alabama! Saturday night, my parents went to my Dad's reunion and they treated "the kids" to dinner at Bottega Cafe. We snapped a few pictures at Julie's apartment before heading out.

 My cute parents :) 

 Sibling love

 + Grant

On Sunday, we all attended the service of Lessons and Carols at Trinity United Methodist Church. Grant and I joined Trinity in February and absolutely love it!  It was so powerful to be surrounded by so many others celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.  After church, we went to the Crooks' (Dad's sister's family) house for a brunch and to catch up on life. 

 Mom checking out Sara's carolers collection. Hopefully mine will be that big one day! 

Sunday night, we went to Kelly and Pete Gage's house in Wilsonville, AL for the Shaw Christmas party. Kelly and my Dad are first cousins and they always fight over who was the favorite grandchild because they were both very close to their grandmother, Granny Shaw. I have grown up hearing so many wonderful stories about my great-grandmother. 

Dad and Kelly

I always love getting together with the Shaw family and reminiscing on all the good times we had with those who are no longer with us - My Dad's parents, Jedda and Joe, and my Dad's brother, Uncle Joe.  They were three very special people in my life. This was actually Grant's first time to attend the Shaw family Christmas party and I loved introducing him to everyone, even though they all remember meeting him at the wedding. Kelly put tons of old family photos out around the house, so it was fun showing Grant pictures of my Dad as a little boy and pictures of my grandparents and Uncle Joe whom he never got to meet.

We had delicious gumbo, all kinds of appetizers, and there was a table full of desserts. After mingling for an hour or so, we played Dirty Santa.  (PS- Since Grant misread the email instructions for the Dirty Santa game, we messed up and purchased gifts that were AT LEAST $5 instead of NO MORE THAN $5 - Go figure!)

 Neill, Grant, Douglas and Robert

 Dirty Santa in action

 Julie and Jenny Shaw

My mom probably won't approve of this picture but I thought it was cute :)

William Update:

Baby boy has been kicking up a STORM since last Thursday. Just Wednesday night I told my friend Elaine that I hadn't felt any REAL kicks, only flutters. William must have heard this because he's been a very active little boy since then. Grant has seen and felt the kicks and is in awe of each and every movement. We are so blessed and we continue to pray for good health throughout this pregnancy!