Welcome Emma Jo!

Chad's cousin, Joey, and his wife, Amber, welcomed a beautiful daughter, Emma Jo, into the world today. Emma is the 1st of 7 babies to be born in the next 6-7 months between our two families. We are so excited and for them and hope Emma and Colton are as close as Joey and Chad were growing up.

A sneak peek at Colton!

Today we went for the optional 3D/4D ultrasound. I had heard mixed reviews from friends and family about whether or not it is worth the money but I couldn't resist the chance to see our little guy and possibly get a sneak peek at his facial features.

First, we did confirm he is in fact a BOY! That was reassuring! Second, he did cooperate a little...it appears that he likes to sleep with his hands and feet at his face! We did at least get to see his profile and I think he is beautiful (not biased though!) We definitely think he has Chad's lips but we aren't sure about the nose. I think the "black eyes" freaked Chad out a little - not sure what he was expecting but it cracked me up! :-)

The sonographer thinks he will be an average size baby which is good and the amniotic fluid was plentiful which is also great.

To view a few more of his pics, go to: http://www.sneakpeekultrasoundco.com/ Then go to "Baby's 1st Web Page" and type the code: r7npfy (it is case sensitive).

Who do you think he looks like??

A Baby Shower for Lacy, Boomer & Riley Grace!

This past weekend I headed to Richmond for the baby shower of my oldest niece, Lacy, her husband, Boomer, and their baby girl on the way, Riley Grace . Lacy and I are only 6 years apart so she is more like my little sister than niece. She and I are actually closer in age than I am to either of my sisters. It is crazy though (and fun!) that we are having a baby about the same time - she is due September 1 so we are a little over 5 weeks apart!

The shower was a lot of fun and absolutely perfect! Although it was a couples shower, I wasn't aware of it until after Chad had booked a plane ticket to head to his parents and the farm on the other side of VA for a weekend of manly farm stuff (like hanging tree stands) so he wasn't able to attend.

Here are a few pics of the weekend! I will post all of them on Facebook later today.

Lacy is 33+ weeks and I'm 28+ weeks in these pics.

As a side note, I had my 28 week appt. today and everything is going great. Colton's heart rate was in the mid-140s. I did the glucose screening for gestational diabetes and will find out the results in a couple of days.

Rounding 3rd base!

Yesterday marked the beginning of our 3rd trimester!! If Colton arrives on time, we only have 12 more weeks - it is really hard for me to believe! I'm hoping the last trimester goes as quickly as the first two. I guess technically he could arrive in 9-13 weeks (or earlier however I would prefer he not come before 37 weeks), only time will tell! Hopefully he will be good to his momma and come at least a little early. :-)

Right now the books say he is about 2 1/2 lbs and about 15 inches long or the size of a head of napa cabbage. His size has not slowed him down, yet, he is one active little guy!

A Baby Party for Colton in NC!

This past weekend my girlfriends, Kim, Hope and Megan, hosted a baby party for Chad, Colton and I in Charlotte, NC. Now, just to be clear, "baby party" is not to be confused with "baby shower" - this was definitely not your traditional shower. Men were invited, there were no baby games and many found a new reason to have a few too many drinks (but I will not mention any names!)

Originally the party was going to be a surprise but about 2 weeks before things got complicated and Kim and Hope decided to tell me since they thought I knew already. I didn't know, but I'm not one for surprises anyway so I'm glad I knew in advance.

The baby party was a blast! It was held at lunch time at a really neat restaurant and then everyone came back to our place for cake, lots of beers, cornhole and boating. The party went until almost midnight! All of our friends from all over NC plus my sister and niece from Richmond, VA were able to join and Megan and her man, Mike, came down from DC. I think there were about 20 of us in all.

My girls did an awesome job with the party...Colton is one lucky little guy to have such amazing "Aunties!"

We received a lot of great gifts and just appreciate that everyone was able to join us to celebrate!

We got some really cute stuff but this onesie from Auntie Kim is hilarious....

Here is a link to all the pics from the party from the photographer, Kim: http://babymeadesparty.shutterfly.com/

Happy 4th of July!

I hope all had a happy and safe 4th of July! Just like every year, we spent our 4th of July at our place on Lake Norman. The weather was perfect so we got to spend a lot of time on the lake relaxin' which is always a delight. I will say though that this 4th of July was much more low key than any of the past. It was pretty much just Chad and I - we did get to see some friends on the lake and a few came over to watch the fireworks from our house but other than that it was just us.

Chad's parents stopped by to see us on Sunday on their way home from Hilton Head. Chad had the opportunity to make them his new found favorite grill special- the "hamdog". The "hamdog" is basically a hamburger in the shape of a hotdog on a hotdog bun. He loves them! I probably prefer a hamburger to a hamdog but it is fun for a change.

While we were in town we did get one thing checked off our "List of things to get done before Colton arrives" - we got a crib and glider for Colton's bedroom at our place in NC. His bed is all ready for him there!

Here is a pic of me at 26 weeks - getting bigger and bigger!