13 Weeks!!

A couple of my friends have included this weekly survey in their blogs throughout their pregnancies and I've always thought it was neat so I decided to borrow it. It should be neat to look back on after little one arrives in August.

How far along? 13 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: Honestly, I'm not sure. I thought I was down a pound at my last appt. on 1/20.

Maternity clothes? Not yet! Yesterday I did pickup like 17 pairs of pants I'm borrowing so that is exciting.

Stretch marks? No, although I'm certain this isn't always going to be the case.

Sleep: Each night I actually dread going to sleep because I'm up 27 times to pee and blow my nose. Who knew all this stuff started so early?

Best moment this week: Seeing our little one on the u/s again at our 1st Trimester screen and being told everything looks great.

Movement: Nope

Food cravings: These change daily. I've been through Lucky Charms already and last night I wanted fried fish (gross) but thankfully didn't give into that one.

Gender: Surprise :)

Labor Signs: No, thank God.

Belly Button in or out? Still in

What I miss: My daily morning coffee and having sweet tea whenever I want it.

What I am looking forward to: Getting started on the nursery.

Weekly Wisdom: Don't wish this time away because it will be over before you know it

Milestones: Hitting the second trimester

Looking in the rearview mirror and embracing the future

Tonight I want to look back at our life together and take a glimpse into what the future holds. As we sat in our beautiful home together today I thought back into our past and some of the things we have accomplished. Overall, while there have been a few bumps in the road it has been a fun journey.

2007~ Our fabulous wedding in St. Thomas and by far one of the best days of both our lives. We could not have asked for a better day with our friends and family who made the trip down to share this special moment with us. As I write this is it almost the end of January which means our 2nd wedding anniversary is coming up quickly. It seems like it was just yesterday we were on the beautiful island of St. Thomas with our feet in the sand.


2008~ On March 1st, 2008 our first child was born. He has four legs, fur, and a tail but we love him all the same. Today Tonka is a healthy 70 pounds and as spoiled as can be and we wouldn't have it any other way.








In 2008, we also moved into our wonderful home. We still have a list a mile long of things we want to do here and there but all in all I'm proud to call it home. In the summer I don't think we ever actually eat inside because the view from our deck is like being on vacation in the mountains. We love everything about it!!





2009~ So, the question is what will 2009 bring our family? Well, for starters it looks like our first two legged addition will be arriving in August :) We are 100% over the moon about this although we haven't asked Tonka how he feels just yet. I'm sure he will be excited as well and we can't wait to see our child grow up around our loving dog child.


The sex, name, and all that jazz will be a surprise to us all in August so stay tuned! Until then I leave you with one of Baby L's first pictures. Apparently, the little one isn't much for posing because I'm pretty sure it was asleep during our u/s today.

So, in review and looking forward everything seems to be falling into place in our little life and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Dog Days of Winter

Tonka and I are spending the day at home together so I thought I would take some time for an impromptu photo shoot.

This is how Tonka felt about it:




Needless to say I didn't get too many good pics. He really just wanted to chew on the stick. Oh well!

Ok, I think I'm pretty much caught up.

I can't believe I took a whole month off from blogging. I'll try to stay caught up for all of 2009.

New Years Eve, Memphis, Beale Street, and the Pirates

12 hours out and back but off to Memphis and the Liberty Bowl we went. It was a fun trip overall even though our Pirates failed to close the deal and bring home the Liberty Bowl trophy. We lost to Kentucky 25-16. First half...fun. Second half...nightmare.

On the way out we stopped in Knoxville for a quick visit to UT's campus where we very sneakily broke into the UT stadium to catch a glimpse. Ok, so maybe the fence was unlocked but who knew?

We then stopped in Nashville but those pics on are Ashlee's camera. We did what I like to call "drive bys" of all the big tourist attractions such as Opryland Hotel, The Grand Ole Opry, LP Stadium, and Broadway. We would stop outside and take pics because everything and I mean everything on our trip was $25.

Then it was on to Memphis, TN or Arkansas since that is where we stayed. We also visited Mississippi while we were there but lo and behold Mississippi doesn't have a welcome to Mississippi sign. Oh well!

Below are just a few of the pics from the trip. I wish I had taken more but once again we were busy and it just flew by.



The ECU band playing before the game at the Liberty Bowl.

Pirate Pride at the Liberty Bowl parade.

This one is pretty self explanatory





Pirates in the street



Elvis's footprints ;)

Memphis's finest

The ducks at The Peabody

The big ole' Mississippi River

I'm not sure exactly how many times we saw this sign but it was a lot.

Ooooh Peyton!

Coming into Knoxville

The big ball in Knoxville

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

So yea I feel like I'm just waking up from a deep sleep because things have been so crazy busy at our house but I'm baaaaack!

Let's see if I can recap. Just after Thanksgiving we went into "prepare for Christmas" mode. I'm usually the one who is done shopping before Thanksgiving but this year I was still shopping on Christmas Eve. Oh dear :( We got it done though and Christmas was a blast.

We did Christmas Eve with my grandparents, dad, stepmom, and my great grandmother who is about to turn 96 years young. The menu consisted of prime rib, green beans, and twice baked potatoes. It was gooood! I'm so blessed to still have my grandparents and my great grandmother in my life. We also gave my great grandma her gift which was a Walmart gift card. She doesn't really need anything except health and beauty stuff and the family goes out shopping for her so we figured she could use it as needed.

The next morning we returned to their house for gifts with the same people minus my great grandma and including my sister. It was fun and as always everyone was waaaay to generous. Steve and I got tons of stuff from china for me to fun yard stuff for him like a rain gauge and a bird feeder. I've put my china away in the cabinet and my set is now complete except for a few accent plates and it only took nearly two years of being married to get it done (with lots of help).

After my grandparents house on Christmas morning it was off to Holly Springs for Lavinder family Christmas. It was really fun watching the kids open their presents. There were elmo guitars to be played and chainsaws worn out. We stayed the night and then headed home late the next day. We are both really excited about doing it next year ;)

Finally, we came home because Steve had invited some friends in from out of town for an oyster roast so there was no after Christmas relaxing to be had for us just more food, family, and friends. This is where things get interesting. The first night they were here I woke up at 12:30 sick as a dog. Yep, the stomach virus. Not exactly fun considering the other circumstances so I called my on call doc and he called in Phenegran. OH.MY.GOD. That is the best stuff on earth and I was pretty much able to enjoy the rest of the weekend after a really looong nap.

And I'm very sad to say I took like zero pics of all of this. So unlike me but seriously between being sick and just feeling like it all flew by it was nuts.