IT'S A....

SWEET BABY GIRL!!

Matthew and I are over the moon excited about our precious baby girl.... To say we were shocked would be a total understatement!  Now that we know it's a she, we cannot wait for this little girl to get here!

We found out Friday, Dec. 23rd with both of our families..minus J and K and Benj and Morgan.. Hate that y'all couldn't be there!  As I said before, my good friend Kelly called Puffy Muffin a couple of days ahead of time to tell them the sex of Baby H.  I could not WAIT to cut into that cake. 

No one expected to see pink.  At dinner, we polled the whole table to see if anyone thought that it was not going to be a boy.  Not a single person raised their hand.  Ha!  Baby Girl you are already full of surprises!   Dad took video of the whole process, but I will have to wait until I get back up to Nash and download it to our computer.  For now, the pics will suffice!

And no...we have not picked a name.  We currently have a Word document with a list of our top picks.  We're going to mull them over for a few days, heck maybe a few weeks... this little girl has got to live with this for the rest of her life! 

I cannot wait to see my sweet husband with this little girl.  No doubt she will be a big daddy's girl :)  After it was all said and done and M and I were falling asleep that night, he looked over at me and said, "I secretly wanted it to be a girl".  Precious.  I love him so much.  So incredibly thankful for my little family.  God has blessed me so much. 

21 Weeks

Absolute favorite!  You can tell M is about to say "GIRL!"

 

Trying to get a better view!

M wanted to be the first person to get clothes for the baby, so he surprised me with a little UK dress!

Christmas posts coming soon!  Probably after the weekend.  Ash and Laura are on their way here from the airport with M to stay for a few days!  Cannot wait!

20 weeks! Halfway There!!

Yesterday I was exactly 20 weeks pregnant!  It's nice to be on the other side of 20, now we're really counting down... We went to get an official anatomy ultrasound yesterday to make sure Little Bean is developing like he/she should.  Happy to report that everything looked great.  It was amazing to be able to see baby's heart (all 4 chambers), aorta, liver, bladder, up close of hands and toes, mouth, etc...  We were still able to avoid finding out the sex...only 3 more days!

I was telling someone at work today that most of the time I hope that the next 20 weeks fly by...then I remember that our "nursery" is currently a pile of unused frames, boxes of winter clothes, and our pieces to Rock Band...  I think I'm going to need all that time to get ready for this baby to get here. :)

Here are my 2 favorite pictures from the ultrasound yesterday.

Baby is limber!  Knee to Nose!

We didn't realize that we were going to get any 4D pictures.  I always kind of thought they were creepy looking.  But this picture changed my mind.  Look how sweet that face is!...With those little hands....

20 weeks.. I put a picture like this in the last post, but with the lighting in this one I think you can see the bump a little better :)

Merry Christmas My Dear!

Matthew and I celebrated our own Christmas last night by driving to Galveston to eat at Willy G's (right on the water) and see a showing of Tuna Christmas (the funniest play ever written).  I had seen Tuna Christmas a couple of years back in Nashville much to the insistence of my parents...I was convinced that there was no way the show was quite as funny as my parents kept saying...but I don't think I have ever laughed that loud at a show.  So, last year, Tuna (the 3rd smallest town in Texas) was playing again in Nashville, but I realized it too late, and the cheapest tickets I could find were $200 each.  I wanted M to see it badly, but not enough to spend that!

When we moved here, I figured that the 2 original guys had to do at least 1 show somewhere close...I was prepared to drive to Dallas...but to my surprise, they were doing a week stint in Galveston, a short 50 minute drive from our house!  Christmas plans sealed, I couldn't wait.

It was nice to get out with M last night and take the time to both get dressed up, enjoy a nice dinner, and stay up later than 9:30 :).  M had already spoiled me enough this weekend by making me homemade chicken parmesan Friday night (which was the first meal he ever cooked for me when we were dating).  Spoiled even more by finally getting me a great steak...something I have been craving for weeks!  Thankfully, Matthew thought that play was hilarious, I hadn't talked it up too much...although I don't really know how you could, it's that funny.

Merry Christmas to my incredible husband!  Next year we will be celebrating our own personal Christmas with 1 more!

20 weeks!

Cast of Tuna

Little Bean at 19 weeks!  My gender is secretly sealed in an envelope...and my parents are dying to know!

18 and 19 weeks and Missing the Magic City

19 weeks today.  Almost halfway!  Another doctor's appointment tomorrow.  Anatomy ultrasound next week.  We are super close to knowing pink or blue....and I can hardly stand it!

Feeling pretty great except that my energy level hasn't really bounced back from 1st trimester misery.  Thankfully I'm awake enough to make it through the day at work, but once I'm home, it's all she wrote.  Weekends I take a nap everyday to try and catch up.  My home was DEEPLY cleaned for the 1st time in a long while...obviously, knowing me, you know that it's not like I hadn't cleaned in 3 months...but this time I really went after it...and it felt so great when we were done.  I think it was the highlight of my weekend :)

We spent Friday night finishing up our shopping at the Galleria (the BIG mall).  Saturday we cleaned and fnished decorating for Christmas...I was on call and didn't get called in.  Another highlight! Sunday was church, small group, and then I took a 2 1/2 hour nap :)

We've officially reserved our parking spot at the airport for Christmas. Lexi has her reservation made as well.   Hoping I can survive the next week and a half. 

Missing the Magic City (Bham) more than usual today.  As I was walking through the OR today, I heard a visiting Sales Rep say, "Well I'm originally from Tuscaloosa"...  I just had to, I couldn't help, so I interrupted their conversation to say, "Roll Tide!"...to which he replied "I heard that!".  It led to a conversation about Birmingham, and I lamented to the whole crew of strangers how my husband and I missed our old home a lot.  As I sit on the couch in my Bama sweatshirt...here are the reasons why today:

1.   Every year while we lived in Birmingham, I would go up to Kristen's school at Christmas to help her 1st grade class decorate gingerbread houses...This event happened to take place last week and of course due to a mere 650 mile separation, I was unable to be there.  Xmas Tradition missed.  Still hoping that there will be another day where we will live within 5 minutes of J, K and Sam :)

2.  Christmas season in Bham also brings Ed and Shawn's Christmas party.  Missing any kind of party at their place is a big disappointment.

3.  Matthew and I started the Christmas tradition every year of going to eat at our favorite Birmingham restaurant, Chez Fon Fon, and then going to the Alabama Theater to see It's a Wonderful Life.  There's no Fon Fon in Houston :(

4.  Swapping creative gifts with Geoff, and our Christmas celebration consisting of take out Little Caesars.

5.  And then there's our sweet dear friends.  You know who you all are.  Hoping to see you soon. 

18 weeks.  Wearing maternity jeans and shirt... Thanks to my good friend Kelly :)

Our UK tree!  We ordered a white tree online and found some blue lights at Wal-Mart.  Perfect edition to our bedroom.  Apparently it was bad luck on Saturday... That's all I can say about it.

After 4 married Christmases, I finally found a place to hang out stockings.  Still not monogrammed...

Bought some new sparkly Gold chargers that I am obsessed with!  Cannot wait to get some Christmas china...but for now our wedding china will do.  And yes, I did set a whole table for 8 even though I still don't have dining room chairs.

19 weeks!

18 Weeks

A lazy weekend was just what M and I needed, and thankfully that was what we got.  Friday night, I willed myself off the couch when M got home to go eat and finally pick out our Christmas tree.  I was still having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit... It had been in the mid 70's all day.  But once we got the ornaments out and put the Christmas music on, I started to get into it.  I was on call Friday night until early Saturday morning, but was fortunately not called in... So we spent the whole evening decorating.

Early Saturday morning I woke Matthew up at 6:15... "Baby wake up!  I just felt the baby move!"  I know, I'm awful to wake up my husband that early, but it was the first time I had felt the baby, and I was just too excited not to share.  Since we were already up, we decided to head out and get some Christmas shopping done before the crowds got too bad.  It was a great decision.  We spent the afternoon at the Russells watching UK beat UNC!!  And the SEC Championship game.  Much needed lazy Saturday.  

Nothing else much going on here.  We're counting down the days until Christmas and finding out what Baby Hardison is!  Our ultrasound is December 19th, but we're going to wait and not find out until we are with our family on Christmas Eve.  Don't know how I'm going to wait 5 days, but my friend Kelly is taking the envelope from me and calling the bakery to get a cake made....I know, a million and one people have done gender reveal cakes in the last couple of years...but ever since I heard of the idea a couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to do that when the time came for us.  So, I don't care that it's "old", I'm incredibly excited about it!  Then we will start the difficult task of cleaning out our catch all room that never became a guest room and will now become the nursery so that our child will actually have a space in this house.  It may take a few weeks :)  Hope everyone has a good week.  At least the hard part (Monday) is over!

Able to go for a 7-8 foot tree this year.  Loving the extra height!

If this isn't a face saying, "I can't wait for Christmas"..I don't know what is.

18 weeks. 

A Very Thankful Thanksgiving

When you live 800 miles away from your family, you begin to appreciate family gatherings even more...which is saying a lot, because I'm pretty much obsessed with my family.  So a month ago, after Matthew and I dropped Geoff off at the airport  (me in tears), Matthew very strongly suggested that we take the plunge, buy the plane tickets, and make it for Thanksgiving with both of our families.  One of the million reasons I'm INCREDIBLY thankful for my sweet husband. 

We flew out VERY early Thursday morning...woke up at 3:30am.  Flew into Louisville, rented a car at the airport and drove to Cinci to make it just in time for Thanksgiving lunch with the Smith fam.  We spent Thursday and Friday in Cinci....hit up the mall for some Black Friday shopping, watched LSU kill Arkansas, ate our traditional Friday night Abuelos, played multiple board games, and formed new memories that we will talk about for years to come.  So very blessed.

Newest addition.  Katherine and Ben's sweet Baby Barrett!

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without these people.  Also, check out the newly engaged Andrew and Keela to the left of the picture!  Hooray!

I'm pretty much the cutest thing ever!

Lexi found a new best bud in Uncle Grady.

We then spent the better part of an hour playing with Ashley's Ipad...

I literally cannot look at this picture without busting out laughing...Favorite picture ever.

  Saturday morning we woke up early again to head to Lexington to spend time with Matthew's parents and Benjamin and Morgan.  We got there in time for breakfast and spent the day watching football.... AKA... Watching our Cats WIN!  We had tickets to the game, but decided last minute to stay at the house instead (we're convinced that if we had gone we would have lost again like we did 4 years ago when we were there).  I absolutely couldn't believe it...but we'll take it.  The streak is over!

Saturday night after a dinner of Joe B's, we headed to Rupp to watch the Cats take on the Portland Pilots.  Morgan had never been to Rupp, so we were all excited to be there for her first UK basketball experience.  Sunday morning we went to church at Southside, ate lunch and headed to Nashville to catch our returning flight to Houston...much to my displeasure.  We did get to see precious Maddie Clendenin before we left Nash... I can't believe she is already a month old!  Cannot wait for Maddie and Baby Hardison to best friends!

17 weeks!

Sweet Maddie.  Absolutely perfect. 

It was the best weekend.  A lot to be thankful for....4 weeks til Christmas!

Pregnancy Diaries #3

This is the post I wrote when I was 9 weeks pregnant.  Unfortunately, I'm feeling worse today than I  was I was feeling on that day.  Currently unsure if it is a virus or Baby H has decided to make sure we're all aware that he/she is still around.  I've been holed up in bed since midday on Friday.  As long as I'm better before Thursday, I'm ok.  We're also keeping watch on our 1st child (Lexi) since we just gave her a sedative.  We got them from the vet to give it to her before we take her on the plane Thursday (yes, we're paying money to fly our dog...long story that basically ends with we love her too much to have her boarded).. Anyway, the vet suggested that we try out the medicine early to see how she reacts to it.  We're now 2 hours in and haven't seen an ounce of difference.  2 minutes ago she was jumping up and down in front of the refrigerator begging for a piece of ice.  I'm thinking we might need to call the vet and ask her if we can up the dosage.  All that said...here's the old post!

October 2, 2011

Today I am 9 weeks pregnant....and homesick.  Oh, and remember that time I said I hadn't been sick?  I take it all back.  It hasn't been Zofran worthy, but it's definitely been enough to make me feel miserable about 40% of the time.   It hits most of the time in the afternoons.  I feel fine all day at work, which is a huge blessing, but once I'm home I start to feel super queasy.  Only managed to "get sick" once...hoping it never happens again.  Although that one time, I actually did feel better afterwards. 

 

I have very weird food aversions.  Mexican is a big no-no, which is a shame considering it's definitely one of my favorite types of food.  Seafood sounds absolutely disgusting, the thought of eating anything combining cheese and bread has me considering heading to the bathroom to upchuck, and eggs...gross.  Ice cream is my new favorite food.  Why it couldn't have been smoothies or something a little healthier is beyond me.  

We have been to the doc twice now.  First appointment there was nothing much going on.  But the second time we got to see Baby H, although at first I couldn't see him/her and thought to myself that I was barren.  But then the ultrasound tech steadied enough that we could see the heartbeat... coolest thing I have ever seen.  Baby H measured a little behind what we were thinking for due date... I'm somewhere between 9 weeks today and Thursday.  She said that next time we'll have a better idea.  We have another appointment in a little over a week.  Our doc's office has an ultrasound machine in house, so we get an ultrasound everytime for free if we want,  why not?!  

We have the option to find out the sex now if we wanted to.  Matthew's job is fortunately and unfortunately related to this kind of thing.   We could run a genetic test at his work for free and find out boy/girl.  But, I think I've decided to wait a few more weeks until I feel like I'm out of the miscarriage window.   Thankfully I don't have to sit in Matthew's conferences at work where they discuss certain cases/patients who have suffered from various/rare genetic conditions.  Sorry, honey, but I actually DON'T want to hear about your day!  

We had an exciting weekend getting to tell our parents about the baby.  To say my parents were shocked would be an understatement.  Their reaction was pretty priceless.   Some of Matthew's family said they say it coming, J and K, but it was still somewhat of a surprise I think :)  I will post the videos we took of how we spilt the beans at some point. 

Let’s talk about how incredible my husband is for a minute.  He deserves some recognition for being a total champ so far.  There have been weekends where I couldn’t get enough energy to do the laundry, and you could forget the bathrooms…but he has been so helpful.  Multiple times I’ve looked up at him with tears of exhaustion and said, “I’m sorry, I feel like I’m a deadbeat of a wife”.  To which he sweetly replies, “I don’t think it’s lazy that you’re tired from carrying around another human being!”  I really could not ask for a better partner.  All I have to do is barely get out the word nauseated and he’s already headed to the kitchen to get Sprite and crackers.  I can already tell he’s going to be the most incredibly father.

I'm currently sitting in the Atlanta airport on the way back from Benj and Morgan's fabulous wedding weekend bemoaning the fact that I'm about to leave the South, my home, and head back into the extreme heat of Houston.   Visiting with family this weekend made both of us a little more homesick, me especially...stupid hormones.   But it's alright, in 31 weeks we will be close to bringing our CHILD into this world.   I can't really complain, except for the fact that the Chinese place down the terminal is close to making me lose my lunch :) 

15 weeks

I was 15 weeks pregnant on Monday.  I would have posted then or yesterday, but I was busy doing my civic duty by serving my community on a JURY!  That's right.  Lived here less than 5 months, already called in for jury duty...not just called, but selected.  12 people out of 80+.  At first I was a little annoyed that I was already getting asked to serve...until I figured out that work was still going to pay me for the days missed, and I got to sleep in 2 hours later.  I sort of hoped our trial would last a tad bit longer!

Nothing much else going on here.  Doctor's appointment is next week, and then we are headed to Cinci/Lexington for Thanksgiving!  Could NOT be more ready.  I'll take a 3 day week this week and next week thank you very much!  So much to be thankful for already :)  Other highlights: they are putting up a Christmas tree stand right next to our town center, which is a half mile down the road from us...exciting!  Also, our Christmas radio station just popped up onto our XM radio a couple of days ago.  Looking forward to cranking it up as soon as we are back in town!  Lowlights:  It's mid 80's here today, ugh.  I have only been able to wear boots once.  And I'm dying to make white chili again, even though it's hot.  I'm considering doing it anyway. 

Still feeling great, although I keep waiting for that energy level to go back up that people keep talking about in their 2nd trimester...Hasn't happened for me yet.  I MISSED the entirety of the UK-Kansas game last night, because I couldn't keep my eyes open another second...the WHOLE game.  Bummer.   But that's alright because in a little over a week, we'll be seeing our Cats play live in Rupp!   Seriously Thanksgiving...get here already. 

15 weeks wearing the same outfit so I can compare from week to week.  Definitely starting to show.

15 weeks.

She's been having sympathy fatigue so Mom doesn't feel left out :)

And...Another reason I have the best husband in the entire world?  He made this for me this past weekend.  A homemade chocolate chess pecan pie....he also made his own whipped cream.  He's incredible. 

Pregnancy Diaries #2- Family Reveal!

Once M and I found out we were pregnant we tried to think of creative ways to tell our families.  We knew that we had to do it in person, and it just so happened that Benj and Morgan's wedding fell when we were 9 weeks pregnant...long enough that we felt comfortable telling family. 

The Set-Up: Luckily for both of us both of our dad's birthdays fell within a couple of weeks of the wedding, a good excuse to have them open a gift....My parents were coming to the wedding already because my dad was officiating the ceremony.  We decided to tell my parents on Friday, the day before the wedding, while we were at my grandparents house.   We designed a t-shirt online for dad that on the front had a check mark and written beside it "Have a Grandkid".  And on the back it said, "Mission Accomplished May 2012."  It took them a little while to get it...most likely because they were pretty shocked to hear that sort of news!  But it was incredibly fun!

For Matthew's family, we decided to wrap up a frame with the picture of the ultrasound in it.  M was actually at Wal-Mart with his brothers and dad the day of the wedding, and I reminded him that we needed a frame for the ultrasound.  So he picked one up, and while they were checking out M's dad tried to pay for it. Ha.  M, however, insisted that he needed to pay for it.  We decided to wait until after the wedding to tell M's family, we wanted the day to be completely about Morgan and Benj and did not want to take anything away from them.  So before bed, M and I persistently asked everyone if we could meet and talk about Christmas schedules.  David at first thought that he was just getting the frame that he had tried to pay for earlier in the day...until he looked a little closer at what was inside of it!

For my siblings, I had decided that I would wait and tell them in person the next weekend when I came up to surprise all of them for little Matthew's play.  Dad knew all of this of course.. but Mom didn't really understand why I was waiting to tell Ash and Buddy when everyone else in the family knew.  Thankfully, Ashley's birthday had been about 2 weeks beforehand so in her birthday card I wrote a note and then had a big arrow to point to the back of the card that said, "Surprise, You're going to be an AUNT!".  Her reaction was by far the best.  We couldn't have had more fun telling our families our big news! 

Pregnancy Diaries #1

I mentioned before that I had written a post or two while we were keeping our secret under wraps...  Here is the post I wrote when I was 6 weeks pregnant!  Also, I hope to upload the videos of telling our family in the next couple of days!

Today, I am 6 weeks pregnant.  I know, since when did I get old enough to carry another human being inside of me??  Most of the time I think it's completely strange, aside from the fact that I think it's incredibly awesome.  I tell Matthew that most days I don't feel pregnant.  Miscounting that I make multiple trips to the restroom, I'm all of sudden clumsy and tired.  Plus this enhanced sense of smell thing has totally wigged me out.  There are just certain things you don't want to smell, especially when you're a nurse...trust me on this.  

I guess I will eventually post this on the blog when our big secret is finally out.  I just wanted to keep an account of the pregnancy, mostly for me, but I figure Baby H might eventually think it's cool to read this, or he/she (But I really think it's a He) will most likely think it's embarrassing...  Now, I'm thinking how weird it is that I will soon have a child that I will be able to embarass at some point down the road...

I'm feeling pretty good.  A couple of days after we found out, I noticed that I was slightly more tired.  Nothing major, I was just asleep within minutes of crawling into bed at night, whereas it used to take 30 minutes or so.  The last two days have been a different story.  Yesterday, I told Matthew that I was feeling more tired than usual.  An exhausted feeling that I have really never felt, and that only women who have had babies could probably understand.  Today, I was tired after being up about an hour, and as soon as we got home from church, I was asleep within minutes, and didn't wake up for 2.5 hours. 

 

I'm still feeling nervous that this pregnancy may not "stick".  I know, worrying about it doesn't help anything, and I'm sure the stress is not good for me or the baby.   You would think being a nurse, I would be slightly more calm, but I think the extra knowledge makes a lifetime worrier go from bad to worse.   I'm so irrationally superstitious that I won't even write down the due date in my calendar!   I told Matthew today that I was a little nervous because I hadn't started feeling really sick yet, and that in my book it said that most women if they get sick, will start to feel bad around week 6.  It also said that women who were really sick were less likely to miscarry... After reading that, my mind was in overdrive.  M said that I was the only person he knew that would actually worry about not getting sick during pregnancy.  He's probably right... I'm certifiably crazy.

The mood swings have been interesting.  Some days I'm so incredibly excited, and then other days I tell Matthew that I feel a bit sad that "our time" is coming to a close.  It won't be just us two for a long time.  I suppose that sounds selfish, but I figure I can blame part of it on the hormones, or all of it :)   Of course our lives are going to be turned upside down, but I've never heard anyone say it wasn't worth it.   Either way, God has blessed us tremendously.  We have the privilege of soon becoming parents... how awesome is that?