Blessings all around!

For those of you who don't know, Cliff will be starting a new job this summer! He is leaving Brookhaven High to come to Co-Lin as the boys/girls assistant basketball coach and an English instructor. As much as he loved BHS, this will be a better situation for our family, and for him personally and professionally. Basically, he will get to coach more, teach less, make more money and be home more often! Sounds like a no-brainer! He is excited for this new opportunity and we are thankful that God has blessed us with this at just the right time in our lives.

We are now a week away from knowing if we are having a boy or a girl! Patience is definitely not one of my strong points, so I am just dying to know! It doesn't help that we are leaving from my doctor's appointment heading to Destin for a few days of beach relaxation. Now I have 2 things to count down. We are going with our friends Chad and Anna, and I have been looking forward to this for months! I am calling it a babymoon just because it's more fun to say than vacation. For those not familiar with the term (Cliff thinks I made it up as an excuse for a vaca), it just means a last trip for a couple before the little one arrives. I might try to throw together one more babymoon before November, ha. I love going places! It probably won't help our bank account for me to be going to the land of outlet malls and cute boutiques the day that I find out the sex of our baby. I might get a little out of control. Anna will be my shopping partner and I'm sure she'll egg me on. This could be dangerous!

Today marks 16 weeks. I still haven't felt any movement yet, but according to the books, I should start feeling something soon. Can't wait for that! I have picked out names, paint samples, and a few options for furniture and bedding, so now we just need to find out who we are shopping for and I can get started on the nursery.

I'm sure I'll send out a mass text message to all who might be interested on Wednesday to share our news, but since we are leaving for the beach, I probably won't have time to update the blog. If I don't have your cell number, you will just have to wait until we get back! Ok, maybe I'll run home and update before we head out. We'll see if Cliff allows me time to do that. He can be a time nazi about trips sometimes. Looking forward to sharing the excitement!

Mother's Day

This year Mother's Day took on a whole new meaning. Of course, I don't have a child in my arms yet, but I definitely feel like a mother already. Let's see, I don't get to eat and drink all my usual favorites, I can't diet and work out like crazy to get ready for bathing suit season, I never get a full night's rest because of constant trips to the bathroom during the night, I can't pop an Ibuprofen (or 3) every time I have an ache, my body is doing new weird things every week... so, yeah, I think I qualify for at least a card or something! Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I've embraced every moment of pregnancy so far and look forward to more discomfort and weirdness in the next few months! I'm so excited to go through the same things women have been going through since beginning of time. I am now "in the club."

Cliff took the hints from my sister and honored me well yesterday. He gave me a beautiful orchid and wrote me a sweet note that included a silly haiku- very Cliff-like. I think his juniors must be doing haikus right now or something.

We are just over 2 weeks away from knowing if it's a boy or girl! The suspense is killing me! We already have names picked out, and I will be sharing our choice as soon as we know the gender. I don't want to suscept myself to any more scrutiny or ridicule than I have to if you hate our baby names! So I'll just narrow it down to the one sex. And only positive comments please! We love the names, so if you don't, please don't tell us, ha. And now I've scared some of you into wondering what the heck we are going to name our kid if I am already anticipating you not liking it. Don't worry, they are normal names- no Apple or Zaquisha or anything like that!

I'm excited to hear feedback from our friends and family who enjoy the blog. Like I mentioned earlier, I wanted to have a record of this pregnancy for the baby book, but I also enjoy sharing updates with all of you. I probably won't update until I have more news to tell. I'd love to blog every day, but just don't have that much excitement in our lives. I'll definitely be sharing our big news on the 28th! Until next time, thanks for the prayers and keep them coming!

Here is the heartfelt haiku my husband wrote me in honor of Mother's Day:

Awesomness you are

Baby Mama you will be

Food aversions suck.

No need to remind me of how lucky I am to be married to such a romantic guy! Ha ha.