and I think to myself...What a wonderful man!!

It is no surprise I am talking about my fabulous husband, Bill. Although he has been occupied with school, building us a deck, Head Start intro., and thesis work- he still managed to make time to surpise his big ole' wife. I meant to blog about this last week, but let's face it people, when have I ever been on top of anything?!

As most of you know my Mondays and Wednesdays tend to get a little long. I get to work around 7:30 am, work with my lovlies (oh these are my kids, their mischievious grins steer me towards using another descriptive adjective; but I will stick with lovlies for now), finish up with school at 3:30, hang out there until time for practice at 5:00, have practice from 5:30-7:30, then head home around 8ish, only to arrive home at 8:15-8:30ish pm. I used to be able to complete this schedule without loosing an ounce of energy, I think it was the 2 peppermint mochas a day that assisted too. However, once I get home now-a-days I crash hard, which is why many of you have heard me complaining about our gross house. Okay, back on track! Well, I got home last Monday night and walked into the living room expecting to find a paper covered Bill, but he was not on the couch- he was standing at the entry way of our foyer. He told me to close my eyes, because he has to show me something. Now, Bill is a diehard romantic, but he is still so suave about these things.

So he walked me into the guest room and he had moved the furniture out of the office (the new baby's room) and into the guest room. He then opend the office door and had moved the furniture I wanted in the baby's room to its appropriate location. It was awesome, moving is something I never enjoy doing- and now I can't do since no heavy lifting. He rearranged the furniture in both rooms and now it looks fantastic. We still have to get rid of our desk and desk top computer, but other than that- we are ready to move in some baby furniture.

Bill has really gone above and beyond to help tighten up some loose ends around our house before the baby gets here. For example, I wanted a screened in back porch, which he quickly replied, "Did you forget about our dogs?" Then I asked for him to build a covered back deck. He might as well have said, your wish is my command. His parents came in town one weekend and built this beautiful addition to our home.


Before


After


Radly doing his part!


Dummio!!!


Man, I was working so hard watching Bill work I needed a break!


Railings and all!!!!! Isn't it beautiful?!

Bill is such a provider and does whatever he can to make us happy, because let's face it when big ole' prego is happy, everyone is happy!!

We got a heartbeat!

Well, Bill and I had our second doctor's appointment today and it was amazing. I have been saying for weeks, I want to hear the heartbeat so I can have some sort of validation behind my weight gain:), well today my prayers were answered.

After our long waiting room visit, and my downing a pack of POPS cereal, Bill and I were called to the back. It was very pleasing to hear I have only gained 3 pounds my first 11 weeks of pregnancy. As some of you may know there has been talk of me being pregnant with twins. Now, if this is the case we would be more than thrilled- we just want a healthy baby/babies. However, my rapid weight gain has been concerning to me. I just want to make sure I am staying healhty for the baby and everything is happening how it's supposed to. My doctor reassured me I was at a healthy birth weight and my uterus looks like it is the right size to be carrying an 11 week baby (fetus).

Anyways, now to the exciting part, as soon as I was ready to get my appointment started the nurse walked in and said, "Let's hear this baby's heartbeat." It was the most amazing experience that has happened to I think both Bill and I up to this point in our lives. She put her little radio looking thing on my stomach and started to move it around. At first all we could hear was something that sounded like swishing. Then we could hear a louder, slower heartbeat- this one was mine. Suddenly, we heard a mildly loud pulsating beat that was the heartbeat of our baby. The nurse said, "There it is!" Well, I think you can all imagine what I immediately started doing- crying! The nurse moved the radio thingy a little to the left and we could not hear anything. She searched again for a few more seconds, then there was the heartbeat again strong, loud, and healthy.

This was one of the most amazing experiences ever. It was powerful, overwhelming, and breathtaking. I keep looking at my belly and thinking there is actually a little babe in there.

I asked Bill what he was thinking when he heard the heartbeat and he said he fed off of my joy. He described the initial sound as the most powerful experience of his life. He described the feeling as, "That is my baby in there- I can't believe it."

We both left that office on cloud 9. What an amaing day and gift that God blessed us with. I cannot imagine our reactions when we get to see the little butter bean for the first time.

First Baby Shower

There was a full dozen of cookies, but I ate one before we could get a photo op!

Well, with all of the excitement that came along with our Rascal Flatts outing, I totally forgot to blog about my family beach trip. My sister put up a nice picture sildeshow of the trip and somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought the blogging of the trip was taken care of. I mean I am use to Kim doing things for me (sidenote- Kim when are you quitting your job and moving to Auburn to raise my baby?:)

Anyways, while Bill and I were vacationing with my family, my wonderful sister and mom decided to throw me a surprise baby shower. I could not have asked for anything cooler, my family there as guests and my two favorite women as my hosts.


Now, this was not be biggest shower in the world, but there were plenty of gifts and the most amazing little duckling cookies I have ever eaten (I have been craving one ever since). At this shower Bill and I got a lot of gender neutral clothes, some burpe clothes, a blanket, a baby book, a maternity shirt for me, and then the finale. I got the "cadillac" of baby vibrating chairs. It is so cool and weird to actually have baby stuff piling up in our office. I cleaned out the baby's closet this weekend and we will soon start clearing out the room to make way for baby stuff.






I have my second doctor's appointment next Thursday so I will keep everyone posted.

Flatlanta

Well, as some of you know for our 1 year anniversary I got Bill and I tickets to a Rascal Flatts concert. We went this past Friday and it was SOO much fun. I have not been to a concert since my senior year of high school when I went to see Dave Matthews.

Since Bill and I do not get a chance to get out of Auburn much, without having to leave for soccer, we decided to make an evening of it. There is this restaurant in Atlanta called, Fogo De Chao. It is a churrascaria, which comes from the word "churrasco" which means, the Gaucho way of roasting meats over pits of open fire for delicious barbecues, always present at every festive occasion, especially family gatherings. Bill went to a restaurant like this when he was on a mission trip in Brazil and has been in love with them ever since. It is a very cool dining experiencec, I reccommend it for anyone who has not been to one. Well, after stuffing our faces with 12 different types of meat and three plates of mashed potatos (this is like my favorite food as of lately, I have always loved them, but my obsession has been taken to a new level since the pregnancy, we decided to get some dessert. Our waiter asked us what we were celebrating and we told them it was our one year anniversary, so they brought us this...



It was very cool and very nice of them to add this special treat to our night. After, finishing up and sitting in 1 hour of stop and go traffic to get into the concert we arrived to hear the musical stylings of Taylor Swift. She was great, you know Bill and I are not the biggest country fans, but man we loved us some country music on Friday night. Rascal Flatts were awesome! They almost sound better live than on CD. We were sitting in the very back of the amphitheater and we loved our seats, we could see it all. We sang, we danced, and we made fun of the people in front of us. It was a great night. My batteries died in my camera, so I did not get any pictures inside, but this one is from the restaurant.