Summer Hummer...

The Country Club Member/Guest tournament is Father's Day weekend every year and it never disappoints! : ) Thankfully, it's as much fun for significant others as it is for the boys playing. This year, Clay invited my dad to be his guest for the tournament and they won their flight! Yay! : ) They also did really well in the shoot-out, just not as well as either of them wanted to... maybe next time! : )

The Friday of the tournament is the big party. So, we took a couple pictures before we left:

Mom LOVES having her picture taken! : )

During the shootout... Dad helping Clay read his line:

Updated belly pictures...

I still feel like my size fluctuates, but the baby belly has definitely not disappeared! : )

22 weeks:


26 weeks:



27 weeks:

Nursery updates...

We still have a good bit to do, and the glider still hasn't come in, but here are some nursery updates! : )

The new, CORRECT hutch!


Asa's name above the crib:


The matching picture frame:


Asa's chair:


Even Reed loves it! : )


His clothes all organized by month! : )

Rib update...

Just a quick little update...

Sweet Baby Asa decided to give mom a break and moved off of my ribs a couple days after I started hurting. So, the pain only lasted about 2 days... thank goodness! I truly didn't know what I was going to do if that lasted for the remainder of my pregnancy! : )

Clay and I were watching TV, he was sitting to the left of me and I was leaned against him. All of a sudden, I felt this SUPER WEIRD sensation and could tell that Asa had moved from right to left. It was so strange! I told Clay about it and didn't really think anything else of it. Suddenly, about 5 minutes later, I realized I wasn't really hurting anymore! I made Clay pause the TV, literally jumped off the couch, moved in all different directions and screamed and jumped up and down with excitement! : ) My ribs still felt a little bruised, but NOTHING like what I had been feeling! So, apparently, instead of kicking my ribs like I thought, Asa had just been sitting on them!

Thanks Baby Asa! : )

Parker's Surprise 30th Birthday Weekend...

Brittney planned Parker's big SURPRISE 30th for months... and it showed! : )
A group of about 20 of us, from all over the place, went to Charlotte for the weekend (June 10-12). A couple of Parker and Brittney's friends recently moved to Charlotte, so Brittney arranged for the two of them to go visit for the weekend. They would be going to dinner, going out, etc. And, all of that was true, she just didn't mention that he'd have lots of other surprise guests to join in on the fun! : )

Hodge, Alli, Clay and I all rode to Charlotte together Friday afternoon. We had dinner reservations at Capital Grill (YUM!) before the big surprise. After dinner, we met up with everyone at Dandelion Market, where Parker & Brittney would be arriving later. It was great catching up with the Milledgville crew and also meeting a lot of Parker and Brittney's Richmond friends!



Brittney was texting with one of the Richmond girls so that we were prepared for Parker's big entrance.
We all waited for him to get in a few steps, screamed SURPRISE and then sang Happy Birthday! Needless to say, he was shocked! : ) It was great!!!





The surprise on Friday night led into a full and great weekend of fun... despite the fact that I couldn't stay out late and missed out on a lot of the fun!

Great job Brittney!!! : ) And, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARKER!!!

I think I have an alien inside my belly...

So, I've had a totally smooth sailing pregnancy up to this point. I've been SO lucky and I am very well aware of that! However, I'm officially starting to wish for the end to come soon!
I'm pretty well convinced that I'm either growing an alien or that my sweet little boy is already a good 10 pounds! Either way... not fun!
Clay and I have been on the go SO much lately, so I have no doubt that has a lot to do with my aches, pains and ailments. I'm at home for the next several weeks, so hopefully my body will get the rest it needs.
I was EXHAUSTED on Sunday when we got home from Charlotte, so I took a long nap. I felt sore on my right side when I woke up, but just assumed I had slept too long on that side. That night, I couldn't sleep... AT ALL! I think I took 4 baths during the night... poor Clay, I'm sure he didn't get much sleep either! I did some research and used some common sense and realized that I had some bruised ribs. Baby Asa has been on my right side for some time now (my belly is lopsided to the right and all of his kicks are on my right side), so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised! : ) Anyway, I painfully waited for 8am to come so that I could call the doctor's office to find out if I could do anything to alleviate the pain. I KNEW exactly what they would say; however, I was hopeful that I was wrong. Nope, I got the ole take Tylenol for the pain, Benadryl to sleep and come in if it gets worse. Well duh! Oh well!
I did all of that and just kept feeling worse and worse. Sweet, sweet Clay worked from home because he was worried about me and wanted to be there in case I had to go to the doctor. So, I sent him out for Benadryl, Gatorade and a thermometer. We never get sick, so we didn't have a thermometer and I was beginning to think I had a fever. Damn.
He got home with the goods and I took my temperature... 101.2. Yup, it's official... fever! No wonder I felt SO terrible! I don't think I've had a fever since I was a kid so I didn't remember how bad it sucks! Clay tells me I'm dramatic all the time (and he's definitely right). I'm a TERRIBLE patient... I still (at 28 years old) want my mommy when I don't feel well! : ) So, he made me take my temperature again almost immediately... just to make sure the thermometer worked. After it came back the same, I thought he conceded. Then, I see him walk into the bathroom, wash off the thermometer and stick it in his mouth! I said, ummm... what exactly are you doing!? : ) He just smiled and after the 5 seconds it took for the thermometer to beep, he just said, nothing! Riiiggghhhttt! : ) So, his temp. came back normal and he officially believed me that I had a fever. Thanks darling! : ) So, I took some Tylenol, stripped down and put a cold compress on my chest. About 30 minutes later, I was sweating my butt off! Mission accomplished!!! Within 2 hours, my temp. was normal and I felt human again! Thank goodness!
My ribs are still bruised, but I'll deal with it. Hopefully I'll catch up with Asa's growth spurt and we'll balance out and everything will be ok! : )

I absolutely LOVE feeling Asa move and kick! It never, ever gets old! Every time it happens, I get giddy and think it's just as cool the millionth time! That being said, I truly don't know if this is an actual baby doing this kicking and moving! These movements are SO strong and hard that I just can't believe that Asa is only 26 weeks! It's insane!!! I tried taking a video of his activity earlier today, but it just doesn't do it justice! I'm not supposed to start kick-counts until about week 28, but I downloaded an app for it on my iPhone, so I thought I'd try it out. The counter starts at an hour and you touch the screen every time you feel movement. You're supposed to feel 10 in an hour. I felt 21 in 4 minutes! Yup, I think I'll have a VERY active little boy on my hands... Lord help me! : )

Love is in the air...

Kauleen's getting married! : )
My mom, Brandy and I hosted Kauleen's first Bridal Shower at Mom's house on June 5th! We had so much fun brainstorming, etc. and pulling it all together!
Kauleen and David are honeymooning in France (insert ridiculous amounts of jealousy here), so we decided to give the shower a little French flair!

Audrey is the official photographer of all events, so she has better (and more) pictures, but these will do for now! : )

The shower was at 3 in the afternoon and we spent the entire morning getting ready. Turns out, being on your feet all day during a Georgia summer when you're 6 months pregnant isn't the best idea! Oops! : ) I had a cute little dress and shoes to wear for the shower, but my knees, calves, ankles and feet were SO swollen that I couldn't wear any of it! Oh well, on to Plan B! : )

B and I before the guests started arriving:


Here are some of the pictures of food and decor from the shower:

The entry/favor table:
Boxes of macaroons (I tried to assemble them to look like the Eiffel Tower... tried being the operative word!)

The "Wish Jar"- Everyone wrote a little wish or piece of advice for Kauleen and David's marriage.

We had LOTS of food...

And, lots of great gifts! : )

Kathy, Kauleen, Karen and Grandma Leininger (however, she's Flo to me! :) )

Kicking back a little after the guests left... excuse the grocery store feet! : )

I love girly days and showers are always great for that! : ) Lots of pink, fun food and drinks, presents, friends you don't see often enough, etc. So, thanks for getting married Kauleen! :)

We're all SO excited for you guys!

Nursery madness...

Cleaning out a room is messy! Yup, that sounds ridiculous! : ) My mom says that "It gets worse before it gets better" ALL THE TIME! So, I've tried this line on Clay... he doesn't really buy it! : )
Another messy thing... getting nursery furniture! Nursery furniture is for tiny, little people; however, the boxes and pieces are far from it! Getting this furniture didn't just destroy one room, it destroyed the entire house!!! It's all back to normal now though and our nursery is well on it's way to being ready for sweet Baby Asa! : )



The picture below is of the entire room after we got everything put together and the bedding put into the crib! We still have a long way to go, but it's getting there!!! : )
The pictures will come down and the guitar that hasn't been played in at least 5 years will be moved out. We decided not to paint the room or change things too much since we'll be putting our house on the market soon. So, "all" this nursery work may be for nothing if our house sells and we have to move into temporary housing while our new house is being built! AGH! : )



Our crib and sweet blue, white and red bedding! : ) And, the ADORABLE little lamb that Mrs. Schickner gave us for Asa! We love it and can't wait for him to snuggle with it! : )



The nursery will sort-of have a vintage airplane theme, so we got some old toy airplanes for the dresser. Also, the dresser will have a hutch above it...
We spent over an hour putting the hutch together only to discover that it was for the single dresser and we have the double dresser... oops!
And, notice the super cute personalized piggy bank!? It was a sweet gift from Aunt Kris! : ) We've already started filling it up (that's a whole other story)! : )



Additional changes that will be made:
-the hutch will be added to the dresser and it will also serve as the changing station (who knows when that will show up!?)
-the glider should come in about 3-5 weeks!!! YAY!
-I ordered these cute block letters (that spell Asa) that will sit on a picture ledge above/behind the crib
-I also ordered a hanging picture frame that matches the block letters... man, Etsy is T-R-O-U-B-L-E! : )
-We want to get a white shaggy rug to lay down in the middle of the room
-We got the cute little Pottery Barn chair that Asa can sit in when he gets here! : ) It's red and says Asa in white

Hmmm... I think that's all we've done so far. I'm sure there will be a few little touches that will be added here and there though (even if Clay objects)! : )