Introducing...

Caroline is a feminine form of Charles, Zach's (maternal) Grandfather.
Margaret is the name of my (maternal) Grandmother.

We have been wrestling with names for several months and once we finally decided on Caroline, we felt like we didn't want to wait until she was born to announce it.

It was fun to surprise our families with the news they weren't expecting! Christmas presents to our parents were photo albums engraved with her name, along with all of her ultrasound pictures thus far.

Caroline, we can't wait to meet you!

7 year itch is nowhere in sight

I missed the actual date this week- day jobs and work on the house has completely consumed us. But, I thought I would acknowledge it anyways. December of 2002 was when Zach and I started dating. SEVEN years ago!!! I can't believe someone has stuck with me that long! Here is a picture of us from Pi Phi Firedance in November of 2002, when it all started! I feel so blessed to have Zach in my life and I honestly don't know what I would do without him!

23 Weeks

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

22 Week Appointment

No news to report here... Baby girl's heartrate is 157 which is pretty normal for right now... She's gonna be high strung just like her parents! :)

Now, I just have to survive the next 9 days of school so I can relax through the holidays!

22 Week Appointment

We have a 22 week appointment today! I can't wait to see how lil' bit is doing!
This is often how I feel... :)

Funny Commercials

A friend recently posted about her favorite holiday commercials (Target ones with the Spazz Lady), which I love too. It got me thinking about a commercial that has me laughing out loud every time I hear or see it. No matter how many times I've seen it, I still crack up!! Thought I'd follow her lead and share my current favorite... what's yours?

Dogs are humans that walk on 4 legs...

I love dogs. I truly mean it. I love dogs more than people. Ever since I can remember, I have had an obsession with any dog I can get my hands on. My Mom had to teach me how to carry our old schnauzer when I was 3 or 4 since she couldn't keep me away from her! And I have not changed. If you have ever seen me with our current dog Sadie, she is my first child and I am obsessed with her. I cuddle and hug and kiss on her as much as I possibly can. Fast forward to my reason for this post:

One of my best friends from College, Courtney, got a puppy with her boyfriend (now husband) during our junior year. He was a German Shepherd/Lab mix and was so precious! I was so excited to live with them because I got to be Cooper's aunt and spoil him. Cooper would sit on his back legs and put his "arms" around your neck just like a hug. He was the sweetest big dog I've ever known! When you got home, we would whimper and yelp out of sheer excitement. He was a top notch dog.

Cooper got sick this week and didn't make it. He was only around 7 I think. Apparently his kidneys weren't functioning properly and they weren't able to fix it. I am crying some sad tears tonight for my Cooper-Pooper-Scooper, and for Courtney and Dave. Here are a couple of pictures that I still have on my computer. I love you guys and know that I am thinking of and praying for you.

Rest in Peace Cooper Punk Adkins. What a blessing you were in all of our lives.

Time with friends

I got to have lunch with one of my best friends from high school and college over the break while in Dallas. It was great catching up! I don't know why we didn't take a group shot, but I did take a picture of them. Riley joked that he really wanted to be featured in a blog post sometime, so here ya go! Y'all are too cute together! Hopefully we'll get to see you over Christmas!

Nikki & Riley

So thankful to have you as friends!

20 week bump

Zach, the Berry, and Me at 20 weeks :)

Sweet Pea

Hey- it's me... music junkie... I can't look at these pictures without thinking of this song, so I hope you enjoy the first pictures of our sweet pea!

The little stinker kept her legs crossed the entire ultrasound! I am so thankful that our Doctor did an impromptu ultrasound 2 weeks ago! I would have been devastated to have to wait 2 more weeks to find out....

(p.s. The song is called "Sweet Pea" by Amos Lee)

New Layout

I have been planning on going back to my original blog design with the dandilions, but I just haven't had the time.... So, cutest blog on the block layouts will have to do for now!

Cinnamon saves the day!

Warning... possible TMI... Gotta love pregnancy--

Some of you may have noticed my aversion list or heard me talk about toothpaste making me gag and throw up... And this has only started since the 2nd trimester. Silly baby girl!! Already being picky! Brushing my teeth in the morning has become this dreaded activity because it almost always ends up with me gagging and throwing up the nothingness that is in my stomach. Sorry for the TMI, but that's what happens. It's awful.

I was at Target last night and thought- what the hay... I'll grab some cinnamon toothpaste and see if it's just maybe the mint flavor baby girl doesn't like.

Close-Up Cinnamon does the trick! (At least this morning) It felt GREAT not to be gagging and my teeth and mouth felt better this morning too. Hallelujah!

It's the little things in life, right?

Muffins

I had a conversation with Zach last night that I really wanted to use the muffin mix we have in the pantry. Milk and hot buttered apple cinnamon muffins for breakfast... MMmmmmm.

This morning at some point, I woke up in a panic and I realize why:

I remembered that I had a dream that we had the baby, and were somewhere in public. Zach let some random lady hold Blueberry (or Pinkberry, per Janet :) and she disappeared. So, I freak out and go looking for her and when I find her, it was too late. She had already baked our baby into muffins.

Hahahahah! I can't stop laughing right now just thinking about it, but it was SO real in my dream. I guess I really wanted some muffins for breakfast this morning. Don't judge a pregnant woman.

Belly Pics

Alright, Alright... I'll post a few pictures of my belly!

Here I am at about 11 weeks with my friend Emily.

Here I am at 13 weeks with my best girlfriends

Here's us at Halloween at 16 weeks

Here I am at 18 weeks... HOLY MOLY!

Blueberry becomes Pinkberry

We had decided a while back that we would (as many of our close friends have done) have the sonographer write down the gender of the baby in a card. Then, the next meal we had together, we would open it together.

So, feeling like I was going to jinx it, I made up a quick card before I left school yesterday... just... in...case. I am so glad I had it! Here are some pictures of the card:
It will be fun to have that in her baby book as a keepsake. I am so excited!

I LOVE our doctor!!!

So we had our 18 week appointment today... no ultrasound in sight, except in 2 weeks.

The baby's heart rate was 152 this time, and we found out last time it was 160! Hmmmm...

The doctor told me to schedule an ultrasound for a week or 2 and I told her I had (in a sad voice). She said,"Are you just dying to know?" We said, "YES!"

So, long story short, she agreed! And....

Goldfish

I had been told I probably wouldn't feel the baby move until closer to 20 weeks, so imagine my surprise this past week when I started to feel a little goldfish swimming around in my belly!

It is really hard to describe what it feels like, but it's not like anything I've ever felt before so I'm pretty sure it's the Blueberry! Pretty cool!

We have our 18 week appointment this coming Monday, which I am very much looking forward to! I'll post any updates about how Blueberry is doing!

Master Bedroom Update

It's not quite finished, but here is an update of the Master Bedroom. There is still some trim-painting and touch-up, but you'll get the idea :)

Before:

What it looks like now:

It feels great to have everything in place... now on to the other bedrooms! (and Nursery... eek!)

Our Halloween Costumes!

We had fun coming up with our Hallween costume this year... I had a maternity shirt that said "future accomplishment" with an arrow pointing to my belly bump. Zach was my Nobel Peace Prize for my "future accomplishment." Ha! We went to a Halloween party on Friday night and won funniest costume! I never win "funniest" anything! :) I was so excited!! But, then our prize was a bottle of vanilla vodka, which I told Zach he had to wait until I could drink it for him to open it!

25 Days and Counting...

My next countdown (now that we have our iPhones- YAY!!)

(* I have not had an ultrasound yet... this is just a picture I found on google images)

Our 20 week ultrasound is when we find out if Blueberry is a boy or girl!!!! November 23rd Ladies and Gents... 25 days!!

I get weekly emails from babycenter.com that tell me how big the baby is and all sorts of things. Sometimes they have these funny sections called Belly Laughs. This is what was in my 16 week email this week:

I chuckled...

Things not to say during your ultrasound
• "Will it still be black and white after it's born?"

• "Is a four-chambered heart a good thing?"

• "Can we see its spleen again?"

• "Oh right, that's the umbilical cord! I thought he was just really well endowed."

• "Is that really a baby?"

Happy Birthday Zach!

Today is Zach's 29th birthday! I couldn't ask for a better husband. No one knows him better than I do, although I wish some people could see what's he's like around the clock... He's an incredible guy--and has the best work ethic I have ever seen, with one of the biggest hearts you could imagine. He does SO much for me, just to make me happy... I thank God for the blessing that he is in my life and I don't know where I would be without him! Just think what an incredible Daddy he is going to be to our little blueberry come April. I can't wait!

Happy Birthday Honey! I love you with all of my heart. I hope the last year of your 20's marks the best year of your 20's!

Dining Room

Against my anal-retentive tendencies, I am going to post before and after pictures of the dining room. Nothing is set up or on the shelves yet, but I am so excited that we finally have a room that is close to finished. :)

These first 2 pictures are of the dining room when we bought the house:

The next 2 pictures are what I took tonight. The paint definitely looks more green at night. It will be interesting to see what it looks like tomorrow in the sunlight.

Countdown to greatness

We are T-9 days and counting until we get to switch to AT&T and get iPhones. I am seriously accident-prone, so Zach and I have been researching iPhone cases for a while... After several suggestions from friends, we got the most recommendations for the Otterbox cover. Now, I just have to decide which color!!! Green is my fav, but pink comes in a close second... Hmm....

Best Greeting Card... ever!

One of my best friends Emily gave me this... AMAZING and so perfect!

A punch

After a couple of months of analyzing our paint color in the dining room (the light beige we did on most of the house), we decided that it needed a punch of color. There are some beautiful white french doors that open to the backyard, plus our fireplace is white and brightens up the room. I got to thinking that since there is so much natural light, a crystal chandelier, and a lot of bright white paint, it might be good to use a darker color to contrast and make the white pop. I wanted to use a color that is in the same shade family as our kitchen (Silver Sage), but darker. So, I took myself back to Restoration Hardware and found Blue Sage... it's a beautiful color! It looks mostly sage green, but has just a touch of blue undertones. Zach has been finishing the white part and finally got to roll on some of the color last night. Here is a picture from Restoration's website that shows the color--- I'll post one as soon as we finish cutting in.

P.S. Restoration has color swatches, but I have been able to easily match them with Behr's color match machine at Home Depot... just a little money-saving tip!

Oh.My.Gosh!!!!

A shout out once again to my girl, Katie. For those who don't know her, she is an English teacher by day... Marketing genius by night! I'm just kidding... I can tell that she is an English/Writing teacher-- every time she posts about some product, I want to go out and buy it right then! So... without further ado... you MUST go out and get this ice cream... You can click on her name and read about it on her blog... Here is her main description:

"May I introduce... Haagen Dazs "Reserve" Fleur de Sel Caramel ice cream. This is a salty ice cream. Sounds weird, but suspend your disbelief because it is ridiculously delicious. Imagine a creamy caramel ice cream with a hint of saltiness in the actual ice cream. It's salty enough that you can absolutely taste the salt, but it's not overwhelming. There is a caramel ribbon running through the ice cream with even more salt that just makes the caramel flavor come to life. It is intensely delicious. Then, as if that wasn't enough, there are itty bitty chocolate covered caramel candies throughout the ice cream. Like three per spoonful. The caramels are not frozen. They are perfectly soft. It's like a miracle."

All I can say is, "Oh. My. Gosh." It is just unbelievably fantastic! I don't even know how else to describe it!

Happy Dessert eating!

Score

6 months to go!

(April Flower: Sweet Pea)

I looked at the date today and realized
I am exactly 6 months from my due date!!


Monday, April 12th, 2010!


(Or whenever Blueberry decides to show up)

(April Stone: Diamond)

Belly Laughs

Here I am at a Baby Shower this past weekend...
can't really see unless you look reeeeally close!

My Guilty Pleasure

I have a new guilty pleasure... something had to replace Starbucks for the time being! A Pi Phi friend had a posting on her blog back in May when the show first debuted. I hadn't heard of it, so I watched the trailer and was instantly enamored. I couldn't wait to see what else the show had in store for me... Oh, and it hasn't disappointed. Thank you Katie for introducing me to Glee-ful Wednesdays! I absolutely love it!

**Glee is on Wednesday nights at 8pm (central) on Fox... you won't regret it!

Blueberry

I thought I would go ahead and explain Blueberry... I don't like calling the baby an "it" or "he or she"... When I was about 7 weeks along, I read that the baby was about the size of a blueberry. I had just gotten some blueberries (crave fresh fruit like no other!!) at the store, so I put one up to my belly and told Zach we have a blueberry in there! We're just silly like that... And so, until November 23rd, we call the baby Blueberry. (Even though Blueberry's now the size of a Gulf Coast Shrimp!)

13 Weeks

We had our appointment today! The kids were testing all day today, and I was so bored, so time went by so slowly!! We finally got to see the doctor (she had an emergency, so she was backed up) and we were the last appointment. I really like the doctor- she is very nice.

She put the Doppler up to my belly and we heard a very strong (and loud) heartbeat! It was pretty cool! She said I am measuring right for about 13 weeks, so my due date is still April 12th as of right now... (And that means there's a good chance there's just one baby in there! Phew!)

That's really all there is to report! It was a fairly quick appointment once we got to see her. I scheduled my next appointment and then my 20 week ultrasound when we get to find out the gender. Mark your calenders ladies and gents... November 23rd is the big day!!! I CANNOT wait!!!

I'll continue to keep you posted... maybe if you're lucky I'll post a belly pic. I'm not showing yet, but I guess it's good to get an early pic before this little one starts to grow!

Thanks for your love and support!

Faith Like a Child

I had a parent conference today with a parent who has 4 girls. She is a very strong Christian (which I find a lot of in Beaumont) and talked about how she has raised her girls. Wonderful, wonderful woman. The daughter I have in class is the youngest and the most difficult... Sweet and a pleaser, but when she's not happy with you, you know it. (I just gave my Dad the biggest laugh of his life)

We talked with her for several minutes about the challenges we are having with her daughter, but also with her strengths and how she can use them to benefit her in the long run. Her daughter has a severe case of dyslexia, but like I said earlier, is very strong-willed. She agreed with us and told us that they pray together in the car every morning on the way to school. My student said, "Thank you God for giving me dyslexia because if I didn't have it, I wouldn't be a conqueror."

Wow- that is amazing. God only gives you challenges that he knows you can handle. A 9 year old gets that...

So excited I can hardly stand it!

Our first doctor's appointment is today at 3:30... I am so excited I can hardly stand it... Yesterday and today have felt like years... I am praying for good news that our baby is growing and healthy... 13 weeks down, 27 (or so) to go!!

Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of...

Join us in celebrating the newest member of the
Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2032!
Coming April 2010...

Pablo Picasso

Kitchen

The kitchen is primed and partially painted!!! Zach had a heck of a labor day weekend... He's my hero. Almost there... Not sure when it will be COMPLETELY finished, but at least there's progress!!

EXCITED!!

Anxious?

So are you anxious to see the house finished? Me too! :) Staining the floors was great, however it never goes as you would like for it to! We didn't have time for the 2nd coat of sealer to dry before we were moving our stuff in. So, we have to do that one room at a time. Awesome, huh? Ehh, it's not that bad. We've had to deal with worse.

So, my apologies for not posting anything yet...

A) The floors aren't done

B) The painting is not done

C) Our stuff is still everywhere!!

Once we finish the painting, (we now have a few free weekends coming up!) I'll finish putting everything in its place and you'll get a full slideshow!

In the meantime, I'll give you a couple of teaser pictures... Here is the dining room before and after painting... we haven't finished painting the fireplace, but you get the idea.

BEFORE- we had just taken down the wallpaper over the paneling...

AFTER: Painted the walls, stained the concrete, exchanged fixtures with another room, and painted (primed) the fireplace.

Helloooo...

So the move went...well, not smoothly... but it happened. We are just so ready to be unpacked and settled... and we're getting there. I am "unofficially" going back to school this week to get ready for the school year, although I don't have to report until the 13th.

Our friends Tyan and John welomed baby Jack into the world on Sunday- two weeks early! But, he is just precious!! Only 6 lbs. 1 oz now, he could've been a really big baby had he been on time! :)

As I unpack the house, I listen to music on iTunes and Pandora... here's a song I really love lately. When things get stressful (such as moving) and they don't go the way you planned (like moving), it's nice to sit down and remember it's time to lay your troubles down at God's feet. Hope you enjoy the video...

Sneak Peek!!!

Ok, Ok... I know you want to see what on earth we are doing to our house... So, I'll give you a sneak peek. We move our furniture in this weekend, so I'll post some befores and afters once everything is settled and unpacked! Here's your teaser in the meantime...

The first picture is of the master bedroom...
Here it is now... Hasn't been sealed yet, but you get the picture.
Here is the living room before.... I wish you could fully see the curtains in all of their glory...
Here it is now... Still needs to be sealed, and we have only primered the entry, but you can see the beige color on the living room walls.

I can't wait until it has furniture in it!!!!