38 weeks

This proved to be the most eventful 2 weeks of pregnancy BY FAR! First we had a trip to the hospital that caught us all off guard. After taking medicine to stop the contractions we were sent home and from that point on its been crazy!! I continued to have contractions just about every night after but they were never the real deal, only enough to drive me crazy. THEN right after this picture was taken I came down with a terrible sinus infection. Sadly I can only take over the counter medicines at this point and therefore recovery has been slow. Feeling like my throat is shutting, as if an elephant is sitting on my forehead and the flood gates in my nose were WIDE open... all not fun at all, AND especially when I am a week away from delivery. BUT... my sweet husband has taken very good care of me and I am very hopeful that I will be 100% by Monday to meet Carter.

WHAT?!?! We really get to meet our son on MONDAY? Man I cannot wait! SO many emotions and the day that felt like it would NEVER get here... will soon come. Oh I am so so so so excited :)

Your baby has really plumped up. He weighs about 6.8 pounds and he's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). He has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold his hand for the first time! His organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.
Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If he's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If he's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time he's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after he's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Project 52: Week 4- The Lion King

I have SO been looking forward to this date night since we booked our tickets back in November. We were completely blessed by an anonymous donation from a church member and decided to use it as a time out for the 2 of us since we hardly ever get to have them! JR had never been to a Broadway play before and my all-time favorite Disney movie is the Lion King- therefore it wasnt a hard decision to go and see it at the DPAC!

It was a lot of fun to get dressed up and have a night out of the house... especially knowing it would be our last before we became a family of 4. Griffin wanted in on the picture taking and I am glad he did because this just might be our last picture of our family of 3!

The show was EXCELLENT! We were both amazed at how cool the costumes were and all the details that went into it. I had to make myself not burst into song the whole way through... love the music :)

Another huge blessing was that Griffin got to hang out with Uncle Phil while we were gone. They have become BIG buddies these days and Griffin didnt even care that we were gone. I love seeing them together... Griffin just laughs at EVERYTHING Phillip does ha!

At intermission, I decided to check and see how he was doing and this was the response I got. FUN TIMES no doubt :)

This will definitely be one of the most memorable date nights this year!

Celebrating Daddy's bday

We had a great time celebrating Daddy on Tuesday! The day started with his favorite... waffles and coffee with his family!

I found this shirt for Griffin to sport in honor of Daddy's day... he looks handsome showing off the brownie on his face from where he licked the spoon, huh? :)

The birthday brownie sundae... he doesnt do cake so I have to get creative!

Griffin was thrilled about one of Daddy's gifts, flashlights! It entertained them for hours ha!

First time playing with a flashlight... its the little things :)

Little Slugger

My bad!

Evidently I have caused some confusion with my last post.. sorry about that! No... Carter isnt coming on Thursday.. or at least not that I know of ha! When I said "We get to celebrate more for his brithday with one last date out before Carter comes on Thursday... more on that to come!... I really meant, "We get to celebrate more for his brithday on Thursday with one last date out before Carter comes (which is in 2 weeks)... more on that to come!"

My bad choice of wording ha.. I can totally see the misunderstanding. I needed to clarify though because I already had people asking AND someone told my Dad that Carter was coming Thursday and he got concerned that he didnt know that!

God knows Carter's bday and we will just wait patiently to see when that is, but all I know right now is that he has a c-section scheduled for Monday, February 7th if he doesnt decide to come before then :)

Hope that clarifies... sorry again for the extra excitement!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today is JR's 29th birthday! Griffin, Carter and I are completely blessed to have the most amazing husband and daddy in the world and we are so thankful to celebrate him today!!!


You are the love of my life and I continue to be blown away with how God continues to bless me being your wife. I couldnt imagine going through this life with anyone but you and I cant wait to celebrate many more years of YOU! I could have never imagined that when you became my 16 year old boyfriend that we would be here now... I am so thankful! Your love for Christ and passion to share Him with others carries over into every area of your life. You are truly a "family man" and I couldnt be more grateful for the love you show me and our boys. I simply cant thank God enough for you... and I love you more and more every day :) Love, Your Bride

Daddy- Thank you for being my hero. I wuv you Daddy, Griffin




We get to celebrate more for his brithday on Thursday with one last date out before Carter comes in 2 weeks... more on that to come! Until then, we hope you have an incredible day sweetie! We love you so much and HAPPY BIRTHDAY :) :) :)

Carter update

We went to the doctor today and there was no change since when we left the hospital Saturday night. I am still 1cm and having contractions at random but not in labor. He said that I could carry on with activity as usual and Carter will simply come when he is ready. At this point he is full-term and therefore OKAY to come!!

I am feeling okay. Lots of pressure still and more and more contractions, especially at night, that are just enough to annoy me. I have finally caught up from the exhaustion from our late night and have found a new burst of energy which I am thankful for so that I can get all of those things crossed off the "to do" list!!

For now we will just wait patiently and see when his birthday is supposed to be! Daddy is shooting for tomorrow so they can be birthday twins :)

A bit of excitement

Yesterday was an eventful day to say the least. My sweet friend Amy surprised me by coming in town and took me to get a pedicure! On our way home at about 4pm, I started feeling not so well. Carter was EXTREMELY active and was causing me to be nauseous. I came home and kept having tons of pressure and so I just stayed seated. After dinner by 8:00pm, I started to realize that my uncomfort might actually be contractions and decided to start timing them since they were getting worse. Sure enough, they were coming every 5 minutes and I decided to call my doctor at 9pm. He said I needed to come in and be checked so we RUSHED to get our bags packed, something that was on my to do list for this week but wasnt done yet! I was SO thankful to have Amy here to not only help us get ready to leave but also stay with Griffin while we were at the hospital. I continued the contractions the 30 minute drive there and by the time they had me hooked up to the monitors they were 3-4 min apart and measuring between 70-100 (100 being the highest I could see... at least on the charts). Anyways, after being checked I was only 1 cm dialated and they decided that since I was not quite full-term yet (2 days shy of 37 weeks) that they needed to see if they could stop the labor. They gave me a shot and hooked me to an IV for fluids and proceeded to watch us until 2:30am. My contractions finally stopped after 2 1/2 hrs and they discharged me.

I wasnt sure whether to be bummed or excited ha! I definitely was in denial that anything could really be happening that soon, and of course the planner in me said, "Its not Feb 7th yet, and I have too much to do!" Once we got in the car and was on the way there though, I got excited about the thought of getting to meet Carter and was a little sad I had to continue to wait. I am so thankful though that he gets to finish being crafted a little longer, as I would have hated for him to have any complications because of being born too early.

Now the hard part is just literally MAKING myself not do anything. I finally caught up on my rest after staying home from church today but am already finding it hard not to be up and doing things around the house... not to mention chasing around Mr. G. I appreciate your prayers during this time as I really hope nothing else crazy happens until February 7th... and that I can be resting until then. Praying for no more surprises and that he and I both safely arrive at the hospital in 2 weeks.

Celebrating Carter with sweet friends!

I was so grateful for my sweet friends here in Wake Forest who honored Carter and I today! I have truly been blessed by friends who are more like family here over the last 4 years. It was fun to just sit around and have girl chat time with my dearest girls...

refreshing to just share mom stories and laugh together!!

My lovely hostesses, Christina and Haley

And this little stinker surprised me and came in from TN! Love you Ames... even though you are still in big trouble :)

the adorably decorated cupcakes

My favorite sisters- Maisy and Lily

Carter's nursery

I have been working hard all week to turn Griffin's old room into Carter's nursery! I couldnt quite justify buying all new bedding AND totally changing everything (1. b/c of $ and 2. b/c I honestly dont like anything out there better!). I did however make a few changes, as you will remember this was Griffin's nursery when he was born.

I was so excited to add an end table beside the rocker so that I could have a place for things during the late night feedings. Susu also made a fabulous blanket for his carseat so he can stay extra warm! And as you can tell he isnt hurting for clothes either... thanks to big brother and a few new additions as well!

Some personalized things too that I love! The bottom right picture is hard to see but its a frame I made that I will put his newborn picture in and there is a spot for his birth stats as well.

I sure hope he likes everything!!! :)