Baby Shower #2

We had our 2nd baby shower on Sunday after church. It was super fun and April did a FABULOUS job making it fun for everybody! Our church family has really been put to the test over the past few months - three new babies! Our church is pretty new (5ish years?) and these were the first brand new babies to come! Everybody is super excited and have already fallen in love with Baby London and Baby Micah. And now they are getting their long-awaited baby GIRL in our sweet Brenna. I can only imagine how little I'll see her between everyone passing her around. I wonder if they'll still hold her if she is wearing cloth diapers. I guess we'll see!

Mommy is ready for some food!

Baby London got all dressed up for his girlfriend's shower

Diaper cake!!

We played a few games - and Jonathan even won the one where he had to diaper, dress, and swaddle a baby doll blindfolded. I was so proud!!

Then it was present time! Brenna got her first cloth diaper (which is definitely not her only one now because the ones I ordered are here - more later!), her long-awaited Bumbo seat, clothes, blankets, lotions and bath stuff, a talking toy!, pack-n-play sheets, spoons, hairbows, socks, teething stuff, sleepers, window coverings, a Boppy cover that I LOVE, lots of good bottles, towels, organizing stuff, and a Sesame Street shirt - SO CUTE!! We need a bigger house!!!

Thanks to all the TFC family - we love ya'll!!

Baby Shower #1

Since we were going to be in Bristol for the Thanksgiving weekend anyway, my sister, my mom, and my cousin decided to throw us a baby shower with friends and family in that area. My family is huge (my grandpa had 12 brothers and sisters and most of them had several too...) and it is always so fun for me to get together and see my great-aunts and uncles, aunts and uncles, cousins, and new family members alike! There were lots of people there from my mom's family, some of my aunts and cousins from my dad's family, some friends of my mom's from work that I've known forever and their daughters, some family friends who seem like family, and some of my friends from the good old days of B.Dalton who I don't see nearly enough!!

My Great Aunt Phyllis, My Great Aunt Ann, My Aunt Pat, and my Grandma Abel

My cousin Kris, My Aunt Teresa, My Aunt Sherry, and My Cousin's Daughter Ally

My mom's good work friends Debbie and Shirley with their daughters, Angie and Heather

There is no way to list all of the wonderful things we (and Brenna!) were blessed with on that day. My sister made some awesome cupcakes and we had lots of other great food (including my favorite ham rolls - so yum!)

Brenna got more clothes than she'll know what to do with - Can you say 4 outfits a day? She got a bathtub and some good baby-smelling bath stuff, some books, some hairbows, some grooming stuff (seriously terrified about the nail-clipping), diapers and a genie (that we are going to use for the wipes even when we use our cloth diapers, which will have to be another post), stuff for her stroller and her diaper bag, lots of Target gift cards that we'll put to great use, and a pack-n-play! We also got some really fun handmade stuff from some family members. Jonathan's mom put a new back on his baby quilt and gave it to Brenna. My cousin knitted us a beautiful brown and pink round afghan. My aunt made us an awesome green, pink, and brown quilt. Actually that quilt inspired us to ask her to make all of the bedding - so soon Brenna will have curtains, sheets, a crib bumper, and a crib sheet to match it! It's gorgeous. And to top it all off, I found a lampshade and some wall hangings that match it almost perfectly on sale at Babies R Us online! I can't wait!!

So many gifts!!

Pink, Pink, Pink!!!

His baby quilt - awwww!

So many goodies!!

My aunt's gorgeous quilt!

The loot once we got unpacked at home!

Brenna Jane is a lucky, lucky girl to have so many people who already love her. And we're pretty lucky, too! I can't wait to show you what it looks like when all this stuff is where it belongs. Speaking of which, I should go check on Jonathan's paint job in the nursery! ;)

Snow Day Update

Today is our first official snow day of the school year, so I vowed to use some of my free time to update this blog. I really need to get in the habit now, so that I'll be better at recording things I want to remember about Brenna's first days. I'll start with updating a pregnancy survey so I can be sure to remember this time!
How far along? 33 weeks, 1 day
Total weight gain/loss: about 28 pounds, yuck
Maternity clothes? except around the house - I can still pull off a few of my bigger tshirts
Stretch marks? Let's not go there...
Sleep: It comes and goes - getting rougher though!
Best moment this week: 2 hour delays Monday-Wednesday, 2 hour early release on Thursday, snow day on Friday....extra time to work on baby stuff!
Movement: Like you would not elieve!!!
Food cravings: I seem to want a lot of fruit and chocolate!
Gender: girl
Name: Brenna Jane
Labor Signs: nope
Belly Button in or out? in, but barely!
What I miss: a waistline, sleeping on my stomach, working out (weird, I know!)
Weekly Wisdom: I will never get the feeling of her inside me back, so I might as well enjoy it!
Milestones: We can now say we are having a baby NEXT MONTH (hopefully!)

We are officially one week into the new year, and I realized I need to make some resolutions. So, here they are.
1. Birth a baby and keep her safe, healthy, and happy.
2. Lose the pregnancy weight and the extra ten I was carrying when I got pregnant.
3. Run at least 2 5K races, maybe even the same one I did last year in Greenville? Kelley?
4. Keep my motto that "babies are portable" and not let her limit our family, but instead to include her and provide lots of fun memories for all 3 of us! Okay, okay, she won't remember them, but still...
5. Hear my husband say, "You were right about cloth diapers. They really aren't that bad."
6. Wear pre-pregnancy clothes to the many, many weddings we'll be attending (and in!) this summer!
7. Read through the Daily Bible.
8. Drink more water.

I think those are some lofty goals. Pretty much all I care about is number 1, but the rest would sure make me a more pleasant mommy! All this baby talk has inspired me to go work on her nursery, but maybe later I'll post about our baby shower in Bristol.....and soon I'll be able to post about our church shower and our shower with Jonathan's family. For now, here's the two of us:

Baby Brenna

Our baby has a name! I guess you already figured that out by the title of the post. We've actually had her name picked out for quite awhile, but for some reason it was kind of fun to not really make a huge announcement. But, here it is anyway.

Sprout will be named Brenna Jane Halsey. We had quite a list of girl names, but we also had a lot of requirements for a name. Jonathan was adament that her name not end with a long e sound. Halsey is kind of a hard name to get to "flow" with names, so that with a little tricky. I have loved the name Brynlee forever, but as you can see, it breaks the long e rule. So I mentioned the name Brenna. My friend Kelley has a friend named Brenna, and I always thought that was a beautiful name. I never really realized how close it was to my favorite name, Brynlee, until we really started getting serious. It soon became one of our top 3. Our top 3 were Brenna, Ashlyn, and Hannah. Hannah got ousted after Jonathan remembered it was his coworker Tim's daughter's name. Also Hannah Halsey is a little sing-songy for our taste. So that left us with Brenna and Ashlyn. We kept going back to Brenna, so we knew that was it. It's beautiful and feminine and perfect for our little angel! Jane is my middle name, my mom's middle name, my cousin's middle name, my great aunt's middle name, and my great-grandma's middle name. We think it flows well with Brenna before it and Halsey after it. Brenna Jane Halsey. My daughter. I love it!

Jonathan googled "Brenna" to make sure nothing terrible came up. Here is what he got.

Pefect, right? I've found several meaning for the name "Brenna". It means sword, which means she'll be a fighter I'm sure. It is the feminine form of "Brennan" which means prince. So I'm going to say this makes Brenna mean princess. I've also read that it means raven or black-haired. Urbandictionary.com says it means "one who dances in cages". I don't think urbandictionary has any credibility.

So, it looks like come February (please not March!) we are going to have us a little dark-haired princess. However, Jonathan and I both had blonde hair at birth. We saw no hair on her 4D ultrasound. So I guess we'll find out!

Same Survey, Different Day

I've composed about 3 blog posts in my head lately, but I really can't remember any of them. So, here is the same survey I did about 9 weeks ago....so you can see how much has changed!

How far along? 26 weeks, 2 days
How much weight gain? about 18 pounds, yuck!
Is your bellybutton in? yes, but not nearly as "innie" as it used to be
Wearing maternity clothes? you betcha - love the shirts, hate the pants!
Cravings or aversions? not really, just getting tired of food
Signs and symptoms? heartburn - I bet this baby comes out with a ponytail!
Feeling baby move? Oh yes, she apparently enjoyed the kickboxing moves I taught her at the beginning of the pregnancy!
Pregnancy milestones? We are 5 days away from the 3rd trimester - WOOHOO!
Upcoming appointments? December 3 - the yucky glucose test one!
Name? Yep, about 99% sure of one!!

I'll update more next week - after our first shower!! SO FUN!!!

Viability

We are officially passed the 24 week pregnant mark. This is super exciting because it means Sprout could live outside of me if something unexpected happen. We are still awaiting an uneventful last 15.5 weeks, but knowing this does bring some sort of relief....and a little awe! I think it's finally clicked with me that a human is living inside me. It could be the constant kicks, punches, and bladder stomping that I feel, especially at night. Maybe it's the crib and cradle that have found homes in our house. But whatever it is, has finally brought a little realization to this mommy.

I'm so ready to meet this little acrobat and learn all about her personality. I wonder if she will be laid back like her daddy or wound-up like her mommy. I wonder if she will be a good singer like her daddy or tone-deaf like her mommy. I wonder what she'll look like, what her voice will sound like, what she'll be good at, what will make her laugh. I wonder what it's like to love somebody as much as I know I'll love her. I am doing a lot of wondering right now.....

Things I've Learned in the Past 6 Weeks..

Okay, so my class this year is really sweet. They are really polite. I really enjoy my days with them. But, oh my gosh, they remember nothing from kindergarten, first, or second grade. I'm talking laugh out loud ridiculously sad answers. We do five Daily History questions each morning that they have to answer without multiple choice answers to pick from. I thought you might want to know some things that you may have forgotten since your days in the third grade...

*George Bush invented the water clock.

*The Nile River is in China.

*No wait, it's in Virginia.

*The James River, on the other hand, was the most famous river in Ancient China.

*Our current president is Abraham Obama. Yes, I'm serious.

*Who helped women get the right to vote? Why, it was "heven". Yep, heaven. I have no clue.

*Helen Keller and Susan B. Anthony helped the slaves on the Underground Railroad.

*Abraham Lincoln was a woman.

*Nevermind, he was our first president.

*We live on the north coast of America.

*Rome and Pompey are states in America.

*Michigan is the country that is under our country.

*The first six words of the Pledge are "United States of America".

*The capital of Virginia is George Washington.

That's all I can remember for now, but I'll be sure to update later when I remember some others. My kids and I had a "come to Jesus" meeting yesterday about their ridiculous answers. And yes, I did tell them that when they didn't pay attention it made me want to cry, and crying was bad for the baby. So sue me. ;)