I passed!

Yesterday I had a check-up appt. with my OB, which also involved my one hour glucose screening test. Blood pressure, weight gain (17lbs!), and William's heartbeat are all right where they need to be - Praise the Lord for that! I was instructed to call the nurse today to find out my fate regarding my carb/sweet intake for the next 12 weeks and I'm thrilled to announce I PASSED the glucose test. For all my high school friends out there, I had the same feeling as I did standing outside Mr. Jenne's door looking at my Chemistry test score. My number needed to be below 135 and I scored an 85, which according to nurse Daphne is excellent. Such. A. Relief. If you know me well, you know I don't go a day without sweets.

In other news, Grant and I attended UAB's "New Life Series" course this past Saturday and learned a TON of very useful information. Topics included anything from timing contractions, epidurals, labor process (yikes!), relaxation strategies, swaddling your infant, mommy recovery following birth (yikes again!), to breastfeeding. Needless to say, Grant and I were WIDE-eyed for a solid 8 hours, but walked away feeling much more educated!

This past Sunday evening, our crib and dresser/changing table were delivered from PBK. We are absolutely thrilled with both and can't wait for my parents to bring up the bedding from Dothan when they are in Birmingham this weekend. William and Mommy are really growing!

Weekend with my College Girls

This past weekend I had the best time hanging out with my BSC girls! It would've felt like the old days if we could've gone back to the KD house after dinner on Saturday night. I dropped Grant off at Jenny and George's house so the boys could watch football and Miss America while we went to Cocina Superior for a girls dinner on Saturday evening. Elaine and Sara Katherine joined us there.

As they enjoyed tasty margaritas, we had a great time laughing and venting about the latest happenings in our lives. I wanted a 'rita SO bad but I fought the temptation and enjoyed my water. On Sunday, Kat (another close sorority sister from college) stopped off in Birmingham on her way to Huntsville to meet her new niece, and I got to catch up with her over lunch. I really miss Kori, Steph, and Kat living in Birmingham, but it makes it even more fun when we all get together! Sunday afternoon, Jenny and Kori came to the rescue and helped me register at Babies R Us! Words cannot express how much I appreciate their help. Kori is an aunt to 3 little ones and Jenny has been surrounded by newborns lately because several of the Nelson's best friends have had babies in the past couple of months. I ended the long weekend with an afternoon stroll with Elaine on the Lakeshore Trail. It was the perfect ending to a fun weekend!

26 weeks

I've been noticing this little pregnancy questionnaire on several of the blogs I follow so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's mainly for me to remember what life was like at this point in my pregnancy.

How far along: 26 weeks

Size of baby: Almost 2 pounds and about the size of an English hothouse cucumber. I know....I'd never heard of this either. Check it out here: http://www.babycenter.com/slideshow-baby-size?slideNumber=24

Total weight gain/loss: 14 pounds and counting

Maternity clothes: I can only wear maternity pants (they are the best!) but still wear some of my pre-pregnancy tops. I've decided I'm pregnant during the best time of year because I can cover up my growing belly with jackets, bulky sweaters, and by layering. I'm not the type to flaunt the belly so this has worked out quite nice for me :) I have 4 pairs of maternity work pants that I rotate and occasionally I dress it up and wear a maternity dress to work.

Movement: Little William is very active, especially in the morning as I'm driving to work and at night from 6 - 10pm. Occasionally I'll wake up at night and he'll be kicking away. The kicks are becoming more and more intense. Sometimes I think he is turning circles in my stomach because I'll feel a strong pulling sensation and then see my stomach roll. It's fascinating. I'm pretty much obsessed with watching him bounce around in there!

Gender: BOY!

Sleep: I've had no problems with sleep until this past week. The past several nights, I've tossed and turned all night. It's very frustrating because I'm exhausted and just can't fall asleep! Hearing my alarm in the morning after a restless night of sleep is quite disheartening. I'm really hoping this improves because I'm not a pleasant person to be around unless I get at least 7 hours of sleep.

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach and back. Whenever I lay on my back, my heart starts to race and I feel very jumpy. Apparently it's a common pregnancy symptom. Pre-pregnancy, I pretty much ONLY slept on my stomach, so it's been different sleeping on my side.

Cravings: Nothing really. I think I'm hungrier but no real cravings.

Symptoms: I go to the bathroom about 4,516 times a day and apparently have developed insomnia. Again, NOTHING I can't handle and still feeling so incredibly fortunate for such an easy pregnancy.

Best moment this week: Someone at work asked how far along I was and I told her and she said, "OMG Caroline your going to be holding that baby boy before you know it." It seems like time is CREEPING by so it made me happy to hear this mother of 3 tell me William is just right around the corner.

Least favorite moment this week: Having to get up and excuse myself from a meeting to use the restroom. William is really doing a number on my bladder!!

What I am looking forward to: Grant and I are going to an all day class, "New Life Series," at the UAB Women and Infants Center (where I'm going to deliver) on Saturday. We are very excited to find out more about the labor and delivery process, I think? We may leave terrified but it'll be good for us :)

And I'll close with a belly pic at 26 weeks:

Happy New Year!

We rung in the new year with a fabulous weekend in Birmingham with Grant's mom. She arrived in town late Friday evening and we kicked off the weekend with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Cocina Superior. On Saturday, we woke up early to clean up the house before a potential buyer came to check out our pad. It was a great reason to get a head start on the day and to hit the Summit before it got too crowded. Of course, we went straight to our new favorite store, Pottery Barn Kids, to pick out our changing table. We ended up getting a dresser instead of an actual changing table so we can get more use out of it down the road. We purchased a changing table topper to go on the dresser and it really hit me at that point just how soon our baby will be here! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the entire day.

After roaming about in PBK for a while, we had a light lunch at Urban Cookhouse because we had early NYE dinner plans. Grant's mom wanted to see what "A Pea in the Pod" (maternity store) was all about so I took her in there and left with a couple of new outfits in hand ;) I think she enjoyed helping me pick out some fashionable maternity clothes since she is the mother of 2 boys so it was a lot of fun! Grant was feeling a little neglected, so our next stop was to the big & tall store at Brookwood. He's been wanting some new jeans for 2 years and for some reason we haven't found any he likes.  It's amazing just how difficult it is for him to find clothes that fit, so finding a pair of jeans that he liked AND that fit was a pretty big deal....I know, pretty lame.

On NYE, we had an early dinner at Bottega Cafe, and it was delicious...definitely the best meal I've had there even though I've only been a few times. Thankfully, we went at 5:30 to beat the crowd and we got there just in time because we were seated at the last available table.  Nothing like getting home at 7pm on New Years Eve. In true lame style, we spent that night taking down Christmas decorations and I was asleep by 10:30. I would blame it on being pregnant, but I was asleep last year by 10. On Sunday, we took Grant's mom to our church, Trinity United Methodist Church, and then drove around town looking at houses all afternoon.  Grant's mom enjoyed seeing the parts of Birmingham that she had never seen before.  Sunday night, Grant prepared a wonderful meal - steaks, hoppin' john, baked potatoes, salad, and my contribution was a fudge pie with vanilla ice cream! It was the perfect meal to start the new year! After dinner we "skyped" with Greg, Dana, Payton and Finley which was really fun! Payton sure knows how to "ham" it up when she's on camera and always puts on quite a show for us!

Well...that sums up our New Year's weekend. Grant and I are so excited for everything 2012 has in store for our growing family. We have no idea how much our life is going to change in just 15 weeks but we do know that we are ready for this precious gift from God to be here!

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!