As promised- a few pics

I finally got around to putting batteries in my camera to take a few pics. Of course I chose the night that I had no makeup on and was hanging out in my loungy clothes, but you get the idea! The nursery is coming along. We're going to Jackson this weekend to pick out a rocking chair, and we're waiting for the armoire and dresser/changer to come in. Then I get to play with curtains and accessories, my favorite part.

I'm feeling pretty good these days. Of course the Mississippi heat isn't easy, but it's hard for everyone! I hate hearing pregnant women complain all the time. Sure it's uncomfortable at times, and I'm sure I will be pretty miserable by the end of the summer and beginning of fall, but hello, look what you get in return! I guess I am a little more grateful after going through a loss, but I just think about how many women would give anything to get to experience the misery I'm going through right now. I have been overdoing it a little lately. I'll think I have all this energy to do stuff and then I have to just crash, ha. We took the youth from our church bowling the other night and I am paying for it now! I used a really light ball, but now my arms and back are sore from the physical activity my body isn't used to. I'm going to take it a little easier from now on.

More pics to come later!

Quick Update

Not a lot of new stuff going on but I still wanted to update. My appointment last week went well. I am finally gaining weight! Seven pounds in one month! Yikes! Gotta lay off the Snickers! My doctor wasn't worried. She said it was perfectly normal and mine just crept up in the same month. Still, it was quite a shock to hear 7 pounds!

We are still working on the nursery. After looking over tons of paint samples, I finally picked out paint, and Cliff is in the process of painting now. We have the crib and bedding in, and are waiting for some of the other furniture to arrive. It is under construction and looks pretty messy right now, but I promise to take a pic when it looks presentable.

And for those who have been asking for me to take a pregnancy pic, I am sorry to be such a slacker! I will post this one of my friend Misti and me from her baby shower Sunday. She is about 10 weeks ahead of me. It scares me to wonder what I will look like in 10 more weeks!

I have a problem.

Let's just get it all out in the open. The cravings have begun. Yesterday I had a normal lunch of a sandwich and potato chips with water to drink. I decide to go out and get a candy bar for a little afternoon pick me up. While I was at it, I got two- one for now, one for tomorrow, I thought. What do you know, before I even realized it, I had eaten 2 regular sized Snickers bars in a row. I'm not talking about the miniatures. These were regulation Snickers. With almonds.

You should know this about me. I haven't allowed myself to eat a regular sized Snickers bar since I was like 17. I've had the miniature ones, and probably ate more of those than a big bar would have equaled, but it was the principle. I have tried to remain on some sort of diet since college. But yesterday, I defied it all by eating who knows how many calories and grams of sugar at one sitting. I just threw the wrapper away and didn't even look at the nutrition facts!

I have vowed to not let this happen again, but I can't promise anything. Luckily, I have a loving and supportive husband who thought it was a great idea for me to eat two candy bars. He wants Amelia to be born chubby. That is fine with me, however I do not want to develop gestational diabetes with this two candy bar habit!

The best part of pregnancy so far

Yesterday I felt Amelia flipping around inside me! It was the craziest feeling. I've been concerned that I haven't been feeling her move yet, but really I think the movements have been so tiny that I haven't really noticed them. Yesterday I was laying on the couch after work when I felt something wiggling in my tummy! I thought it might have been her, but it could have also been mistaken for a hunger pang since it was getting close to dinner time. Then it happened again and again after that. Cliff was asking me to describe how it felt and the best description I have for it is like when you are in a car and you go over a steep hill fast, it's like what happens to your stomach then. Other times I have felt more like a thumping, which is what I think it feels like when she kicks. But yesterday, I think she was flipping around. It was awesome!

I have loved every second of being pregnant so far, with the highlights being the day I found out I was pregnant, the first time we heard the heartbeat, and then finding out she was a girl. But I have to say that actually feeling a little life moving around inside me has to be the best yet! There's nothing like it!

Update on the nursery plans: the crib, changing table and bedding are all on their way. It's so fun getting packages. It feels like getting presents, ha. We are going out of town this weekend for Cliff's dad's wedding, so we won't be able to start on painting and putting stuff together until next weekend. I am ready to turn that guest room into Pink Town!

It's A Girl!

The wait is over! Most of you already know that we are having a girl. We are just thrilled! But I have to tell you about the emotional rollercoaster we went through the day of the big ultrasound. Of course I had been a nervous wreck as I always am before appointments, always dreading bad news. This time I was nervous and anxious to find out the gender. I had been counting down the hours. My appointment was at 9, and at 8:30 I thought, yes, only 30 more minutes. Then my cell phone rings and it's the dr's office telling me that the ultrasound tech has a sick child and wouldn't be coming in that morning. They rescheduled my appointment for the following Monday, but still wanted me to come in at 9 to see my dr. UGH! You would have thought the world had ended! I was crying and carrying on like a 5 year old. I was so disappointed. Plus we were leaving from the appointment to head to the beach and I really wanted to know the gender before going shopping! But I pulled myself together and Cliff and I went to the dr.

Around 9:45, as we were in the waiting room, I saw the tech come in. I took a deep breath when I saw her. Cliff said it was like she was a rockstar or something. I was trying not to get my hopes up, but then she called my name a few minutes later. Shortly after that we were able to see a beautiful healthy girl squirming around on the screen! It was really crazy because I still couldn't feel it, but since then I have felt movement a few times. I'm ready for a good strong kick from her!

After all that drama, we were thrilled to find out that we are having a baby girl and I love to be able to call her a "she" and by her name, which is, by the way, Amelia Kate Furr. Kate is after Cliff's mom, who many of you know passed away 4 years ago. Amelia is her first grandchild and we miss her so much, especially at milestones in our life like this. We are proud to be able to honor her by giving our daughter her middle name.

Now that we know who she is, I'm am busy searching for a crib and preparing her nursery. I will post some before, during and after photos of the project soon! Below are some pics from her ultrasound. The middle one is pictured like she is sitting on the camera, so you see her little booty, and supposedly you can tell she's a girl. It could have been a boy for all I knew! One of my favorites is her sweet little foot!

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.