More Bumps

I have tried to take the time to photograph my belly every week so I can see the slow outward stretch. Here are a few pictures to show the growth. As I expected, he has used up all of the "side to side" room and can only push outward. It is wild to see the change over one month!

week 24

week 25

week 26

week 27

Nursery Beginnings

We have started the work on the nursery, Monty's bathroom, and the "Jill" bedroom attached to the other side.As you can tell from the pictures the previous owners had very pink taste! To be honest- we have avoided going into the room(s) because the previous owners paint choice was so visually offensive. I know they had little girls, but the pink is just overwhelming, especially with nothing in the rooms.

Here are just a few pictures of us "exorcizing" the pink from the house! It took several evenings tape everything off, prime the walls to ensure that pink would not bleed through, and then to cover over with a much lighter and easier color!

 I have happily been dreaming of the wall art, furniture, and bedding- which is all starting to come together now! Monty will have a gender neutral theme so it can be shared for any brothers or sisters that may follow. After finding a piece of wall art on Etsy, I chose the theme "you are my sunshine" from the childhood song. As my mother has brought up, not all the lyrics are happy but the important parts are :) Later Chris brought up the Stevie Wonder song "you are the sunshine of my life". Both songs will have lyrics displayed in the room along with some original family art work seen below.
 
The weekend of my 30th birthday we had his grandparents and his aunts in town and I gave everyone a picture of a sunshine and crayons. They have created the art work that will hang in his bedroom.

Their finished work is seen below in frames. We will post all of their pictures when they are hanging on the wall. Chris and I also colored sunshine pictures for the walls. Monty has a lot of people who love him and that love will be on display around his room!

 Picture to left is from Daddy and on the Right is Mommy :)

We also got some new color up on the wall and built a cabinet to hold some of his items. I was able to find the exact changing table I was going to order online at a consignment shop! Score! So we got that at a reduced price and didn't have to do any assembly!

Below are pictures of the wall, the assembly process of the cabinet, the finished product, and changing table.

 

We have also ordered a glider (you can see the ottoman in the picture below), I have picked out some bedding material (you can see it hanging on the front of the crib), curtains (hanging on the side crib), and I have a few "painting projects" to include the little chair in the corner of the room.

We have done a lot of work in the past few weeks to get ready for his arrival- and we still have so much more to do! Hard to believe he will be here in 12 weeks or less!!

Bump Shots

Many people photograph their bumps week by week. I haven't been that good at the documentation...probably because when you are living it the process seems so much slower!

But I did grab a couple of pictures recently. The first one is around week 20 (might be week 19?!) and the second one is from week 24 (this week).  A lot of change in just a month! Guess Monty took up all the internal space he could and now we are pushing out!

This week we also had the pleasure of watching Monty move without technology. He has been kicking and moving so hard at night that his movements are visible while watching my stomach. It has cut into my desire to eat a full meal in the evenings but it has also been exciting to see he is so active.

Last night we were excited to find out that our friend Stefanie has gone into labor! Her due date passed this weekend so I know she has been so anxious to get her son or daughter here (I can't wait to find out!! I have been voting girl.). She went into the hospital this morning after traffic passed so we are closing in on 24 hours of contractions with no news that baby Sheehan is here!

Also of note- this past weekend Chris and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We spent the weekend in Chicago. Chris was already there for work so he just extended his stay. I joined him on Friday afternoon and we flew home together on Sunday. It was a short trip but it was a fun trip. I will document our Chicago adventure when I get a free moment this weekend (and get a chance to get the pictures off the camera too!). I can't believe it has been 6 years! So much has happened, but wasn't I planning that wedding last month??

IT'S A.....

So last weekend I celebrated my 30th birthday. I was blessed to have multiple days and ways of celebrating the milestone. My parents and sister were able to join me outside of Atlanta. We rented a lake house on Lanier to host a weekend's worth of activities!

On Friday Chris and I had our OB appointment to confirm the gender. That evening we entertained both of our families at the lake house for dinner and dessert. We had cupcakes made with corresponding filling (pink for girl/blue for boy) so when the family broke into the cupcakes they would know if we were having a boy or girl. We were excited to announce that we are having a BOY! We have decided to name him Montgomery Patrick Harris. We will call him Monty.  It has been pointed out that his initials will be MPH (miles per hour) and I hope he chooses to "follow the speed limit" once he is born!

On Saturday, I had friends join the family at the lake house for some hanging out in the sun, playing on the boat, and floating on rafts. It was a great afternoon that lead into a spectacular evening. Chris surprised me with a video of pictures from three "categories" of my life- my childhood/family, my friends, and us as a couple. He followed it up with a speech that left many a person speechless and seeking tissues. I was so lucky to be on the receiving end of the speech :)

 "group" watching the video

 watching the video and Chris giving his speech

In short, it was an amazing weekend that I will remember for the rest of my life. I was so lucky to be able to bring people that I love together to thank them for their love and friendship over the past 30 years. I have been very blessed and look forward to the next chapter of my life- welcoming little Monty into the world!


This weekend has been full of interesting and emotional experiences as well. Saturday morning we posted our pregnancy news on the almighty Facebook- which if you have an account then you know makes your news official to the world. Below are the pictures we used to share the news with the online friends.We were overwhelmed with "likes" and well wishes!

Last night, Chris was the officiant of a wedding for two friends- Natalie and Ryan. He is very modest about the whole thing, but he did an AMAZING job. He kept the tone serious yet funny- which is exactly what the couple was looking to achieve. He used "interview" questions to create a poem about the couple, reflected on the high and low points that can come with a marriage, and cleverly opened the floor for them to exchange the vows which they had written. I have some video of this event which I will try to add in later (currently the technology is not allowing me access!). I was very proud of him :) Two weekends in a row giving speeches with the WOW factor!


Today we participated in a satellite 5k in honor of my cousin, Lauryn. There is a race held in Pittsburgh in her honor, but since we are no where near the area we made our own race closer to home. It was more emotional than I expected it to be and I was glad that I completed the miles with Chris. Here are some pictures of us after we finished.

countdown to gender reveal....

So this week I was able to feel the baby kick on the OTHER side of my stomach. It requires much patience (as this is clearly not a muscle I can control), but the jolts of energy into my hand are powerful! I was excited to share this news with Chris and told him that with enough patience, I was pretty sure he would get a kick or two this weekend.

Sure enough he got a couple swift kicks into his hand this morning. He thought he had felt the baby move earlier, but I am pretty sure the ones this mornings are the ones he will remember.
We have also been preparing for learning the sex of little peanut. We have looked at all the wives tales but it comes out pretty even in the end. The truth will be revealed on Friday!

In the meantime, here are some of the old wives tales we have found and the "answers" so that you can decide for yourself... is peanut a boy or a girl?

Gender string test with rings- Boy
Carrying high or low-  Boy (low)
Chinese gender chart- Girl
Chris's weight- Boy (gained weight at start) or Girl (but has lost that and is maintaining)
Alicia's hair growing and strong or frail and breaking- Boy (long and strong)
Craving sweet or sour- Both
Alicia's nails growing or breaking- Boy (growing)
Morning sickness- Girl (morning, afternoon, and evening have all be accounted for!)
Baby's heart rate- Girl (high)

Kicks and Pics

 I had our "August" appointment a couple of weeks ago. While the doctor still declares it is too early to determine the sex of the baby, all of our reading states otherwise. While we didn't learn anything of note in that area- my blood work and weight looked good and baby has a nice heart beat to indicate good health (actually the heart rate indicates it is a girl- if you believe in those old wives tales!).

We also got some nice pictures of peanut in 2D and 3D to enjoy.  You can see the little details of the face starting to appear. In the last picture you can even see peanut putting hand to mouth. That one has to be my favorite.

I have also started to feel the baby move a bit. Well it started out as a bit and now it is a lot. I haven't picked out a rhyme or reason for the movement at this point, but during the last ultra sound I can confirm there is a lot of movement that I still don't even feel yet (so maybe there is a pattern- or maybe I should refer to the baby as a jumping bean).

When I first became aware of it I was working on the computer. I had been feeling the movement for some time, but I needed to become aware of what was happening. Since then I have been more mindful of the swishes in my belly.

I recently went to a baby shower for my friend Stefanie. It was exciting to see her get the final details together for becoming a mommy. It was very real to me that soon I will need to have a shower to celebrate the upcoming birth of our peanut and to help us get our nursery in order. As of now it is still a storage room and is still a horrible shade of pink. I look forward to that changing!

Summer Conculsion

We have finally started to settle into our home and I look forward to returning to work tomorrow. We have had an eventful final month of summer with moving, a week in Hilton Head, and a week with my nephew Luke visiting.
Hilton Head was a great trip yet again. Chris and I enjoyed the time with our families very much as well as time alone. That week always goes by so quickly! We were actually so busy that we didn't really take time for pictures. How weird of us? I guess our memories will have to get us by till next year!

This past week I got to play "mom" to little Luke while my sister Anna was at a continuing education class in Indianapolis and brother-in -law Alex was flying planes in central USA. It was a busy week but a fun week. I did capture a lot of THIS trip though! 

We went to Monkey Joe's and had a BLAST. I have to remember this gem for the future. Inexpensive and wore-him-out!  When we first arrived he was not too sure about this place, but after Lee Lee acted a fool with him, it became an amazing place to play.

We went to the Aquarium the next morning. It was fun to look at fish for about 30 minutes but afterwards we became much more interested in the little children around us. The fish became much less entertaining at that point! 

We also did a lot of fun things around the house. This is a sample of our good time!

the power went out- playing with chris' head lamp

bubbles outside- trying to figure out how to get the wand in without wanting any help while a lawn mower distracts us!

playing catch with uncle chris- i have some speed in my first pitch ;)

Since Luke has left the house has been much quieter and cleaner, but it was a great preparation for the fun that is coming our way! I know Anna and Alex missed their baby boy so much, but I loved having the one on one time with him :)