26 Week Doctor's Appointment

Can I just start by saying that I have NEVER been so excited about going to the doctor as I have been during pregnancy. It is SO FUN and the highlight of my month. :) I just love it because it means I get to hear little man's heartbeat! He is pretty fantastic!

Anyway, December 21st was my 26 week appointment. This was the "fun" appointment where I was supposed to drink the sugary orange drink and take my glucose test (to check for gestational diabetes) an hour later. I had heard horror stories about this sugary drink, so I was DREADING that part of the appointment. I was glad when I found out that Hays would get to come to this appointment with me because it was during his Christmas break from school! At least I'd have my hubby there for moral support as I choked down this drink. :)

When we arrived at the appointment (EARLY for ONCE! Hays picked me up from work earlier than usual for this appointment because it has been snowy/icy in Lexington, but we made it faster than we expected!) I signed in and received my little bottle of "orange goodness"! I had 10 minutes to drink the beverage and then I had to take the bottle back up to the registration desk so they could mark down my time. Exactly 1 hour after I finished the drink I had to have my blood drawn so they could do the test for gestational diabetes. When I sat down beside Hays with my orange drink I told him it was Fanta and he asked if he could have one! Gotta love my hubby! Honestly, the drink wasn't NEARLY as bad as I thought it was going to be. It actually tasted fine until that last sip- I guess it had more sugar than the rest of the bottle. Whew- I did it!

When I finished the drink I returned it to the desk and went to the bathroom to leave my urine sample. I'm sure Hays thought I FELL IN the toilet because I was gone forever! I had some issues and came back to the waiting room giggling! It was one of those days! I did finally get my urine sample completed after having dropped (and retrieved) my first of two urine cups from the toilet! Oh joy! Don't worry....I washed my hands for at least two minutes after that!

Very soon after I returned to the waiting room our name was called and I headed back to the scale. Dum.....dum.....dum!!!!! Now that I only go to the doctor every 4 weeks and I don't own a scale and I can LITERALLY SEE my belly growing every day I get a little nervous about the weigh-in part of the appointment. I stepped on the scale and saw a number that I've never seen before, but it was only 3 pounds higher than my last appointment! Bringing my grand total of pregnancy weight gain to 9 pounds. Doesn't sound so bad, right? Then again....that was BEFORE Christmas and ALL the yummy food and sweets that I have had this week, so who knows what the next appointment will have in store. :) Oh well, all this weight gain is definitely for a good cause! I LOVE YOU BRADY!

After the weigh-in, we headed into the exam room and chatted with the nurse for a bit. She took my blood pressure (which was good: 110/72), asked me the standard questions (any unusual symptoms: bleeding/cramps/etc? to which I said no to all of the above), and handed me some papers to fill out (including the REGISTRATION FORM FOR OUR STAY AT THE HOSPITAL)! How crazy is this!?!?!?!? We are really going to have this baby in a few weeks! It's already time to fill out this paperwork. WOW! She also asked me about the plans for Brady's boy parts- whether or not he would be circumcized. Again....I can't believe it's time to be making THOSE decisions! Wow! Sorry Brady, the answer is YES! I think you will thank me during your years of communal showering in sports locker rooms! ;) Then the nurse handed me a sheet of paper with information about counting kicks. Yes, we are already at that point in the pregnancy! WOW! She said usually this starts at about week 27 but I could go ahead and get started. They said that the goal is to feel 10 "kicks" in 10 hours. The reason they give SO LONG for Brady to get all his kicks in is because babies have times of day when they are resting and times of day when they are active, and to be sure that mommies don't unnecessarily worry themselves it is totally fine if it takes the full 10 hours to get all the kicks in. Well, I don't think I have much to worry about- Brady is a pretty active dude ALL DAY (except during his afternoon nap- how funny?) so he can usually get all 10 kicks in the first hour that I start counting. Lately I've noticed that I must be getting used to some of the kicks because Hays will put his hand on my belly and feel him even when I don't notice that he's kicking. I must be getting used to your little jabs, Brady man! ;)

Then the nurse asked if I had any questions....I know they dread asking first time moms this question because we always have A LOT of questions. Here is a sampling of mine:
-I feel like I'm losing my hair.....when I brush it it comes out in chunks and is all over my bathroom sink! Is this normal? Yes, this is totally normal and is due to hormonal issues. Typically pregnant women notice most of their loss of hair after the baby is born but many can notice it during pregnancy too. There are always cycles of hair growth and release and these are heightened during pregnancy.
-When will I find out about the results of my glucose test? Should I stay away from the Christmas sweetness until I know for sure if I have gestational diabetes? If I have GD, they will know in about a week and give me a call. If I do not have GD then I will not find out until my next appointment. So, no news is good news. They said I did not have to stay away from the sweets until I found out. That I should just assume that I passed! Yay- this is what I was hoping for! :) But I will still feel better once I DON'T hear from them for sure all week!
-Childbirth class- can I sign up for the January session? There are still spots available for the 1/29 class, so we signed up! The class is from 9am-3:30pm, costs $60, and we are to bring 2 pillows to sit on during the class. This should be FUN and make this even MORE real!!! :)
-Hays and EVERYONE I work with has had this head cold that is going around. If (or more likely WHEN) I get it what can I take? There are lots of pregnancy approved drugs that I can take for a cold: Tylenol Cold, Sudafed, Robutussin, Dimatap- whichever closest matches my symptoms. I haven't come down with this cold just yet, but I am so glad I have options in case I do! :)
-Can I hurt him when I move around and bend over? I feel like I might pinch his head or legs between my ribs and hips....is that possible? No, this is not possible. Our bodies are designed (thank you, God) in a way that the baby and the uterus are protected from our other body parts, so even if I bend and stretch and feel like I might be squeezing the baby, I'm not. :) Blunt force trauma (like a car wreck or being punch in the gut) is really the only thing that can hurt the baby or the uterus. Looks like I'm going to have to give up street fighting and wreckless driving......darn it! ;)

After my Q&A session the nurse left and Dr. Schell came in. She let me know that everything looked good: my urine sample, my blood pressure, my weight gain. Then she asked us if we had more questions, so I went over what I had asked the nurse and she agreed with all her answers. Then I climbed up on the exam table and we listened to Brady's heartbeat (which was perfect and beautiful at 145-153 bpm). Dr. Schell even commented at how active Brady was. It was hard to find a heartbeat at first because all we could hear was him flopping around in there. He is always an active little guy, but I guess the sugary orange drink really had him riled up! :) After the heartbeat, which she said was perfect and normal she measured my belly. I had never had this done before, but it is another way of dating a pregnancy. She measured from the top of my uterus (a few inches above my belly button- which is still an "innie" for now) all the way to the bottom of my uterus (a couple inches above my pelvic bone). I measured at exactly 26 cm which is equivalent to 26 weeks gestation. How cool is that?!?!?! Hays and I were amazed! So it looks like everything is right on track!

We are so thankful for a healthy pregnancy so far and hoping it continues until March! :) Thanks for all the prayers for our family of three!

27 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 27 Weeks

Size of Baby: Brady is the size of a head of cauliflower (16 inches and 2.5 pounds)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Had my doctor's appointment this week......dum dum dum....and I had gained 3 more pounds (current total +9 lbs.)

Maternity Clothes: Mostly wearing maternity clothes, non-maternity shirts are starting to make me look and feel like Gus-Gus from Cinderella! ;)

Movement: Brady is getting strong (or as Hays would like to say "SAVAGE") so his kicks and punches are getting more and more obvious (even from just looking at my belly)! It's wild!

Sleep: I have been sleeping pretty good, I get up at least once a night to potty but can usually go right back to sleep. I have been getting up pretty early and it's hard for me to go back to sleep because that's when Brady likes to be active! But I am doing okay. It's nice being off from work this week because when I can't sleep at night at least I can nap! :)

What I Miss: Putting on my shoes and being able to breathe! It's funny how much difference a few weeks make. Getting ready is starting to become a chore and I'm sure that is going to get worse over the next 13 weeks! ;)

Cravings: Cherry Coke just sounds delightful! I have been sharing sips of Hays' Coke or whatever caffeinated beverage he has been drinking! I figure a SIP doesn't count, right? I think I will add a 2 liter of Cherry Coke to the list of items I want after Brady's delivery....along with a HUGE Jimmy Johns turkey sandwich!

Symptoms: Heartburn is baaaaack! But I am surviving! Brady must be working on some pretty curly hair like his daddy!

Best Moment This Week: Brady's first Christmas! Hays and I spent the holidays at home in Greenville, as always, and it was fabulous! We LOVE home! I can't wait for next year when Brady can REALLY be a part of the fun at Christmas! We will have such a GREAT TIME!

26 Weeks!

Pregnany Highlights

How Far Along: 26 Weeks

Size of Baby: Brady is the size of a cucumber (15 inches, 2.2 pounds)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I will find out for sure on Tuesday, as of my last appointment I had gained 6 pounds, but I am POSITIVE this number has gone WAY up! Oh well, it's for a great cause! ;)

Maternity Clothes: Wearing ALL maternity pants and a mix of maternity and non-maternity tops. I don't know how I will ever say goodbye to the maternity jeans- they are pretty much the best things EVER! :)

Movement: Brady has plans of his own when he wants to be active. Sometimes during the day I will go a few hours and not really notice that he's moving- which scares me and I BEG him to move. Then, once he starts he does NOT let up! I think his favorite movement time is when I get up in the middle of the night to pee (usually about 3AM). When I lay back down he is LOVING LIFE! He bounces around and does flips for the next few minutes. Sometimes it's hard for me to go back to sleep, but sometimes I'm so tired I can sleep through it! The other morning I woke Hays up to feel it and he put his hand across my belly and he could feel Brady from one end of my belly all the way to the other. Little Brady man must be stretched out in there! :)

Sleep: I get up at least once per night- sometimes I can go right back to sleep, sometimes I'm up for a couple of hours. The good news is, I can NAP like it's nobody's business! :) So, when I am not getting a TON of sleep during the nighttime hours, I can make up for it with my 3 hour naps on Friday evenings. Yes, that actually happened! :)

What I Miss: Nothing really- sometimes I will crave Jimmy Johns (ahh...deli meat)! But those cravings are fewer and farther between lately. :)

Cravings: Oh boy! I have a problem! I am ADDICTED to Dairy Queen Reindeer Bites Blizzards! Oh. My. Word. They are UNBELIEVABLE! I may or may not have had FIVE in the last week! That's just ridiculous! It's the perfect mixture of vanilla ice cream, chocolate chunks, caramel chunks, toasted coconut, and graham cracker crust pieces. MMMMMM!
Side note: as I was trying to find this image of the Reindeer Bites Blizzard, I came across the nutrition information. EEK! All I can say is DO NOT look at this. I am disturbed, and now REALLY dreading the scale on Tuesday!!!

Symptoms: The hip and lower back pain still comes and goes, but it seems to have gotten a bit better (must have been that WHOLE 15 minutes of yoga I did last week). LOL! But overall, I am feeling pretty good. I'm not sure what has happened but I can't remember the last time I had heartburn. WOW! I should knock on wood right now! :)

Best Moment This Week: FEELING Brady's heartbeat. Hays' favorite passtime lately is loving on Brady (talking to him to feeling him move)- he loves the baby belly for sure! On Saturday night, he was doing the usual "goodnight Brady" routine and his face lit up and he said "I can feel his heartbeat!" It was SO cool! At first I wasn't convinced that it was Brady's heartbeat, I thought it might be mine. But then I felt it, and it was definitely faster than my heartbeat. :) Awww- Little Brady Man, you make us SO happy....even just feeling your sweet little heart! :)

Weekend At Opryland

One of our Christmas traditions with my mom's side of the family is giving the gift of TIME with each other during the Christmas season! This year, a group of 13 of us (Me, Hays, Mama, Daddy, Rachel, Derek, Judy, Wayne, Nana, Poppy, Jenny, Lauren, and Maddie) headed to Nashville where we met at Sante Fe Steakhouse for lunch. After eating WAY too much, we headed to Opryland Hotel to walk around and see the sights and take pictures. Opryland has always been SO BEAUTIFULLY decorated for Christmas, but I haven't been to see it in many years. I was SO EXCITED to see it! We walked around for a couple of hours and took pictures of all the pretty decorations. One of my goals for this trip was to get a picture for our Christmas card, which means Hays had to pose and smile for DOZENS of shots. Which I'm sure made him very happy! He was a champ though, and we ended up with a good picture for our Christmas card. :)

Here's a sampling of the some of the fun shots we got inside Opryland.

Hays and I in front of THE LARGEST tree I've ever seen!
My sweet family and I in front of the poinsetta Christmas Tree!

With the boys this time!

The girls (Judy, Rae, Nana, Me, and Mama) in front of the poinsetta tree!

The boys (Derek, Daddy, Poppy, Wayne, and Hays) in front of the poinsetta tree!

Daddy with his girls! LOVE YOU DADDY!

Hays and I (and Brady) in front of the poinsetta tree!

The girls on one of the bridges at Opryland. We walked around A LOT! ;)

Mama and her girls! LOVE YOU MAMA!!!!

Nana and Poppy with their girls! So sweet!

We had a great time! Merry Christmas everyone! :)

25 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 25 Weeks

Size of Baby: Brady is the size of an eggplant (1.7 lbs. and 9 inches long)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Still at +6 lbs. but I go back to the doctor next Tuesday so I'm guessing this number will go UP some more!

Maternity Clothes: Still wearing ALL maternity pants (it's going to be hard to say goodbye to these in March- seriously!), but most of my dresses, skirts, and shirts are all non-maternity.

Movement: Brady is a mover and a shaker! He seems to be LOVING life in the womb- he moves a lot especially when I am eating!

Sleep: I have been sleeping pretty good, still getting up to potty at least once overnight, but that's to be expected. My hip pain is getting a little better so that's helping with the sleep! :) YAY!

What I Miss: Just some small stuff: deli meat, sleeping on my back, not having to hold my breath when I put on my shoes...

Cravings: Cherry Coke! I really never drank this that much before, but I am a HUGE fan. Everytime Hays gets this I have to have a sip (or fifteen!).

Symptoms: I need to knock on wood right now, but I haven't had heartburn ALL WEEK! Whoa- this is crazy! :)

Best Moment This Week: This weekend we went to Nashville to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family at Opryland Hotel seeing the lights and watching the Rockettes! Hays and I took our Christmas card picture- our first Christmas card picture as a family of three! :) LOVE IT! I am already excited for next year's Christmas card featuring 9 month old Brady!!!

Happy 27th Birthday, Hays!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, sweet, amazing, 27-year-old Baby Daddy! You make me SO happy and I know that I am SO lucky that you chose me to be your wife! Thanks for sharing the last 10.5 years of your life with me and giving me the best gift ever this year (the chance to be a Mama to sweet baby Brady)!

I love you MILLIONS! 53143!

What We've Been Up To....

I have been a BLOG SLACKER lately, and I apologize, but hopefully posting THREE TIMES in one day will make up for it! :) It's been a pretty great couple of weeks in the Browning household. Last week at work was a short one for us both, Hays only had to work Monday and Tuesday and was off Wed-Sun! I had to work Wednesday, but still got a 4 day weekend for Thanksgiving, so that was FABULOUS! Hays had football practice on Wednesday and Friday so we decided not to go home for Thanksgiving this year- it was our first time to stay in Lexington for Turkey Day! We had technically already had Thanksgiving on 11/6 with his mom's side of the family and we got to see lots of my family that weekend too, so that was our early Thanksgiving celebration and I'm okay with that. :)

Hays' parents and sister ended up coming into town on Thanksgiving day (where we had spasagna, not traditional turkey/dressing for dinner) and then headed to the Winstead/Ramsey household for dessert. It was great to see my BFF Lora Lee and her family that night (especially since we were the only ones in our PJs). :)

On Friday we woke up at 2AM and went Black Friday shopping.....wait, that is totally a JOKE! I was having NONE of that black friday nonsense this year! Sorry, Rae- I know you were up with the chickens! ;) We actually slept in and watched TV that morning before heading down to campus to check out Kennedy's Bookstore (where I actually DID do a bit of Christmas Shopping, so that counts as Black Friday shopping, right?). Then we came back home and put on our layers and layers and some MORE layers for Hays' football game that night. It was supposed to be SUPER CHILLY in Hazard, KY for the LCA/Hazard semi-final football game that night. Burrrrrr! We all got ready (and looked like we could go out and play in the snow) and hit the road to Hazard! A "quick" 2.5 hours later we arrived at the football stadium (thank goodness for TomTom or I would still be lost in the mountains)! It was an AWESOME game, and the LCA Eagles played wonderful (especially the defense, if I do say so myself)! :) Unfortunately the Eagles didn't pull off a victory this year and Hazard would be continuing to the state playoffs the next weekend to face Mayfield.

Saturday morning Hays had his last football meeting and the rest of us slept in....again- yay! Once we got up and got moving Hays and his mom decided we should work on the office to nursery transformation. I was less than excited about this, because honestly it looks like a BOMB went off in our office and was overwhelmed by the THOUGHT of getting started on the room. We started simple by cleaning off the top of the desk in the room, then started moving things out of the room to other places in the house, then cleaning out and reorganizing the random assortment of items in the closet. We found some random "treasures" along the way and ended up with A LOT of piles of things that needed to find new homes. We were able to send a stack of items to Helping Through HIM (a goodwill-type establishment at our church), and organize a bunch of other items into piles that would later go into rubbermaid boxes (to be put under beds and in our attic). We definitely put a DENT into the office/nursery transformation and as much as it stressed me out, I am SO GLAD we tackled it.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful, Hays and I stayed around the house on Saturday night after his family left and took it easy! Sunday we went to church, to lunch, and to the movies. It was a pefect Sunday afternoon with my Hubby- the first Sunday afternoon we had spent together since football season started in August! I was a happy wifey! :)

On Monday evening, I hosted my first Thirty-One party! Thirty-One is a cute little company that sells purses/bags/stationary/keychains and other cuteness and most of the items can be monogrammed and personalized. It is precious! A girl that I work with just started selling it and asked me if I wanted to host her first party! I happily obliged and invited all the girls from the marketing department at work. About 10 of us showed up and we had a great time looking through the catalogs and checking out the items Amanda brought! I may or may not have found Brady's future diaper bag:

I ordered the black one with a monogrammed "B" in platinum. That way if I decide I like it as a diaper bag, B is for Brady. And if I don't like it for that it can be a work back and the B can be for Browning. :) Genius, right? I knew there was a method to my madness on this BB thing. ;) I also found some other cute things in the catalog and will post details once I get my order in!

The rest of my work week was pretty uneventful- it's finally turned into WINTER around here, so the commute into and out of work has been CHILLY! It pretty much just makes me want to come home from work and immediately put on PJs.....so, that's what I do! :) On Friday, Hays left for Bowling Green with Ray, the head coach at LCA, to watch the state playoffs this weekend. So when I got home from work on Friday my intentions were to be super productive early and get in bed early (I'm not a huge fan of being home by myself so sleep is an easy way to take my mind off that). Well, turns out my body had different plans and as soon as I got home from work I collapsed on the couch and slept for 2.5 hours. When I woke up at 8:30 part of me just wanted to go to bed but I decided to bite the bullet and go to the mall. I had some things to take back and some sizes to switch around on some other stuff, now that the mall is open late for the holidays I still had time! I guess most of the Christmas crazies had already left by the time I got there because the mall (and even the parking lot) wasn't bad at ALL! Yay! I was able to finish everything I needed to do in an hour and was back at home ready for bed by 10PM. Success!

Saturday morning I woke up to 2-3 inches of SNOW! It was SOOOO beautiful! I love SNOW and think it makes everything look prettier! It really feels like Christmastime now! :) I was a bit concerned about the roads, because my plan for the day was to go to Louisville for a Christmas party with some of my sorority sisters. My friend Claire and I had planned to ride together and I think we were both a little nervous about the roads but decided a trip to see our friends was worth it! The roads actually ended up not being that bad (my driveway was BY FAR the worst of the conditions), so we made it to Louisville unscathed and in time to watch the UK/UNC game (sad ending to that game, but let's not dwell on that)! Alicia ended up following us to Louisville so we had a safe little caravan on I64! :) We had SO MUCH fun at Amanda's beautiful house and it was AWESOME to see everyone. We ate WAY TOO much yumminess that Amanda fixed for us (can't wait for those recipes!), watched the CATS (OUCH Charlie), played a dirty santa gift game (where I scored some LOVELY earrings), and headed to dinner at 60 West (I'm a BIG FAN and will be back)! I took NO pictures, but Herde tagged be in the one below- thanks Herde!!! It was SO much fun to see everyone and catch up with my girls!

Today Hays and I are probably going to take it easy, that's what Sundays are for! We're probably heading to 11:30 church shortly. We just LOVE our church! And I'm sure an afternoon nap will most likely be in our futures! I wonder if Brady will like lazy Sundays as much as his parents do? I sure hope so! :)

Naming Brady Browning

A lot of people have asked me where we came up with the name Brady. Honestly, it was kind of by chance. We had chosen our name for a girl a long time ago- Bailey (after Hays' grandfather Richard Bailey). I LOVE the way Bailey Browning sounds and the initials BB, so when we started to come up with boy names I was trying to find another B name we liked. I looked through some books and some sites online and finally mentioned "Brady" to Hays. He said "I like it" and that was that. It's been our boy name ever since! :)

We had our names decided since VERY early in our pregnancy, so as soon as we found out this baby was a boy we've been calling him Brady. That's just his name! Since Hays is a football coach a lot of people will assume Brady is either after Tom Brady or Brady Quinn but neither is true. We just like the name! Not that we mind Tom Brady or Brady Quinn (whose real name is actually Brayden...interesting), but they are not the namesakes for our son. :)

So Brady Browning it is! Now for a middle name. This one has proved to be a bit tricky....there are several one syllable names that I like: Graham, Luke, and of course Hays. I just like the way a one syllable middle name sounds- I'm weird, I know! Yesterday, my friend Laura, let me know about the Baby Name Generator that will help you pick a first, middle, or BOTH names for your baby. I was intrigued. So this morning I googled it and plugged in Brady's first and last names and here were the suggestions:

1- Brady Charles Browning

2- Brady River Browning

3- Brady Kendrick Browning

And here are my thoughts:

1- Charles is actually a pretty great one because both Hays and I are mildly obsessed with the name Charlie (mostly thanks to this you tube video), but we will NEVER name our child Charlie/Charles because his last name is BROWNing.....that's just cruel!

2- River....seriously?!? I think this one might be a little too hippy/dippy for us. Sorry beautiful River Phoenix, I just don't think it's going to be THE middle name for our baby Brady! I can' t wait to see Hays' face when I pitch this name. It will be priceless!

3- Kendrick. For some reason with this one all I can think about is NASCAR. Sorry, Daddy (aka Granddaddy/GDaddy), I just don't think we can do that to Brady. :)

So....it looks like the front runner is still Hays. I think Brady Hays Browning is cute (and his namesake is pretty cute too)! ;) Don't you?

24 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 24 Weeks

Size of Baby: Brady is the length of an ear of corn!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 6 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: LOVE them! Still wearing maternity pants always, and a mix of maternity and non-maternity shirts.

Gender: Still a boy! ;)

Movement: Brady usually moves around a lot throughout the day. I don't notice it as much when I am also up moving around, but when I am being still he puts on a SHOW. Lots of my friends have felt him now too, which is so exciting! I love to see the look in their eyes when they feel him- I remember having that same look!!! LOVE IT!

Sleep: I have been sleeping better this week- I still get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but can usually go right back to sleep. My hips haven't been hurting as much either! YAY!

What I Miss: Still miss sleeping on my back- which is odd because I really never slept on my back before I got pregnant. But sometimes in the middle of the night there is nothing I'd rather do than flip over to my back. Weird, huh?

Symptoms: Still having occassional heartburn, but not nearly as often. This has been a pretty good week! :)

Best Moment This Week: Getting our old office/new nursery cleaned out (mostly) and starting to picture what it's going to look like once Brady gets here! It was a lot of work (thanks Grammie for the motivation and help), but is A LOT of fun to envision how different that room will be in just a few months.

23 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 23 Weeks

Size of baby: Brady is the size of a papaya (8.5 inches and 1.2 pounds)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 6 pounds! Woo Hoo!!!!

Maternity Clothes: Love me some maternity jeans! All the pants I wear are maternity, but still wearing a mix of maternity and non-maternity shirts

Gender: Still a boy! :)

Movement: Brady has been SO ACTIVE and I love it! It's my favorite feeling! He has gotten so strong that not only can Hays feel him, but we can also SEE my belly move! It's wild! ;)

Sleep: Sleeping better lately! Yay! I might just have figured out this pillow placement thing! And I'm going to start my prenatal yoga tomorrow- we'll see how that goes! :)

What I miss: This week I have been CRAVING Coca-Cola! Ahhhh- I miss the burn!

Symptoms: Heartburn and hot flashes have been less this week. But I think the tiredness has kicked up a notch. On Wednesday night I took a 3.5 hour nap on the couch, woke up for 30 minutes and then went to bed for the night (and slept 8 hours)! Crazy!

Best Moment This Week: Probably the morning I realized that you could SEE the baby kicking in my belly. I am just amazed that it's already visible this early! I must have a pretty strong little guy (or as Hays would say "savage")!

22 Week Appointment

Today was my 22 week doctor's appointment! It was just a standard appointment, no ultrasound or anything special, so I went by myself. The first thing the nurse did when she called me back was weigh me.....DUM DUM DUM! I had been nervous about this part of the appointment: #1 because I was still in the negatives at my last appointment and I knew that wasn't going to last much longer and #2 I am SO MUCH bigger now than I was then! I was afraid I had gained double digits. Well.....it was CLOSE! I now weigh 6 pounds more than my pre-pregnancy weight (so I gained 7 pounds since my last appointment)! Eek! At first I panicked, but that's what this whole pregnancy thing is about, right? I'm growing a HUMAN, not just eating cheeseburgers! Okay, maybe I'm eating SOME cheeseburgers. ;)

Anyway, once the weighing was complete I left a urine sample and we headed into the exam room for the other usual stuff: blood pressure (normal, 106/78- that's for you Rae) and question-answer time! I love my nurses! I really love my doctor, but my nurses are pretty fantastic too! They don't introduce themselves or wear nametags so I don't know what to call them, but I almost always have the same lady and she's AWESOME! She asked me all the typical questions (any cramping, bleeding, pain, etc.) and I told her everything was normal on my end. Then I proceeded with my crazy list of questions:

- What about my weight gain- should I be panicked? Is this normal? She said yes, this is great and everything is normal. (Dr. Schell told me there would be a "catch up" period from where I lost weight in the beginning- she was NOT lying!)
- Hip and lower back pain during the night and in the AM. She again said this was normal and my body was just adjusting to carrying extra weight and a new body shape. She and Dr. Schell both recommended strategic pillow placement and prenatal yoga workout videos to stregthen the muscles in my back. Interesting! I will need to find one of those! :) She also said I could take Tylenol before bed and that might help keep me comfortable enough that I don't wake up in the middle of the night. We'll just see, now it's not so bad that it's worth taking medicine, but maybe I'll change my tune in a few weeks! ;)
- Stretch marks- how do I prevent them? HAHA- most asked question ever apparently! And there is no solution, some people just get them and some people do not. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one, but who really knows. I am still lathering up on that Palmer's lotion though! ;)
- Hot flashes- am I a crazy person? These are very normal during pregnancy due to the increased hormones in my system. Nothing to worry about.
- Brady's pretty active- should I be counting kicks? Probably too early to do this. Even though I do feel him being active most of the time, there are periods of time where his movements are less obvious because he is still so small. Rather than cause me to panic, they usually wait until 28ish weeks to start counting kicks.
- Childbirth classes- when are they offered? When should I take them? When I asked this question the nurse laughed and said "I was just about to get to this". Apparently I'm a mind reader, or an overly anxious patient! Anyway, the nurse informed me that Lexington OBGYN offers childbirth classes one Saturday a month in the waiting room. In the class they cover signs of real labor vs. fake labor, birthing options, breathing techniques, really it's a little bit of everything. She recommended that I plan to attend in January or February, so I'm going to talk to Hays and set that up for us at my next appointment.

An hour and a half later when I finished all my questions (joking- but I'm sure it felt like it to her). She started talking to me about my next visit. I would be 26.5 weeks pregnant and they wanted to do a glucose test. This is the OH-SO-FUN test where you have to drink the super sweet orange stuff and they test your blood an hour later. This checks for gestational diabetes and I REALLY hope I pass it! If I don't pass there is another (much longer) test (involving more yucky orange stuff) that I would have to do. This appointment/glucose test is Decemeber 21st at 10:50AM. Woo Hoo!!! The good news is Hays will get to go to this appointment with me since he is on Christmas break that week. So I will have some moral support in the waiting room as I chug my orange beverage! :)

Then the nurse left and Dr. Schell came in to address any other questions I had. I briefly went through everything had talked about with the nurse and she agreed with everything she had told me. Then we talked about my 30 week appointment (the appointment after next) where we would be doing another ultrasound to check on my placenta. She said that 30 weeks would be a good time to go in and look at everything again, so I went ahead and made that appointment too- January 18th at 1PM with my normal doctor's appointment immediately following. I am looking forward to that appointment #1 because we can find out about this placenta and if it's anything to be concerned with once and for all and #2 so we can see Brady again! Yippee! :)

The last thing Dr. Schell did was my favorite part- she got out the doppler to listen to Brady's heartbeat. She laughed when she put it on my stomach because she could hear him moving around in there- I told you he was active! I told her that he was showing off! She was able to find the heartbeat in no time and it was beating at a beautiful 138 bpm. I just LOVE that sound. She said that everything sounded great!

We had an awesome appointment overall, just another thing to be thankful for! :)

SO Much To Be Thankful For

WOW- Thanksgiving is almost here! How did that happen so fast?!?! 2010 has just been a whirlwind! Seriously! I must say that I'm kind of excited that time is passing by so quickly, because I am looking forward to SO MUCH in the coming months! I can't wait until our little Brady man is here in March! Hays and I are both SO over-the-moon about him already!

This time of year always makes me think about the MANY things I am thankful for. I am blessed with SUCH an amazing family- my parents have been married almost 30 years (their anniversary is 12/12) and they gave me such an amazing childhood and I am still so close to them! I think one of the big reasons that I love holidays so much is because my childhood was FILLED with great holiday memories! I have the best parents ever! They also gave me my favorite (okay.....my only) sister, Rachel! Who I have fought with my entire life, but would do ANYTHING for! She's my total opposite in most ways, but I love her SO much! I hope we are able to give Brady a little brother or sister someday- it really is a relationship like none other. When I was 22 my family expanded when I married my best friend, Hays! He is without question the love of my life, and I am so thankful that God let me meet him when I was so young (4 years old)! I wouldn't have it any other way! My in-laws are A-MAZING, and I am so lucky to have such a great extension to my family. :)

My friends are another extension of my family, and I've been so blessed to have such great friends throughout my life. Many I've known as long as I've known Hays, from our days at the Greenville Public Library, then to Second Baptist Preschool, Greenville Elementary, Muhlenberg South Middle and High Schools. Though many of these friends have since scattered all over the place, I look forward to going home for holidays and seeing them (or at least their families that still live there). Ahhh...home! :) Then we have my "sisters"! Oh, those Alpha Gam girls that I met in college! "How generous is God that he has given me so many women I can call friends. Dear, good, life-enriching women who add flavor, value, delight. I would be the poorer without them!" It is so true! I love my fellow squirrels and the crazy memories we made in college and beyond! ;)

Hays and I are so blessed to be where we are in our lives right now- sometimes we need to pinch ourselves! We love our jobs- I work at Alltech and he is still teaching at Anderson County Middle School and coaching football at LCA! We are mildly obsessed with football this time of year, but it is so much fun! Seeing the person you love so totally IN LOVE with what they do is a really great thing. I am so happy that he loves what he does (because he works REALLY hard at it)! We love our church! Southland is doing some AMAZING things in Lexington! It is such an inspiring church whose leaders have a true heart for loving people and following Jesus. You can't get much better than that! We love our house, it's small but perfect for us! And we LOVE that we are having a baby! I don't think there are many babies in the world that are more wanted than Mr. Brady Browning! We are so happy to be his parents and we can't wait for him to officially join our family in March! ;)

Lord, thank you for all of the amazing blessings in our life. May we never take these for granted and be eternally thankful to you- the giver of ALL that is GOOD!

22 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of baby: Brady is the size of a navel orange

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Still down 1 pound, but we will find out for sure on Tuesday when I go back to the doctor.

Maternity Clothes: Usually all maternity pants, a mix of maternity and normal tops. I wore a pre-pregnancy skirt to work on Thursday....BIG mistake! I couldn't BREATHE!

Gender: It's still a BOY!!! ;)

Movement: I've been feeling the baby a lot more lately! I still just LOVE it! Hays felt him a lot on Thursday night- he was kicking STRONG! He's our little macho man!

Sleep: Not sleeping so great, I just can't seem to get and stay comfortable. I moved to the couch at 4AM on Thursday night. Hopefully those nights are few and far between!

What I miss: Turkey sandwiches from Jimmy Johns, McDonald's coke

Cravings: I've been on a smoothie kick this week! Orange juice, strawberries, a banana, and blueberry yogurt! YUM!

Symptoms: Heartburn, tiredness, HOT FLASHES! (All worth it, Brady- I promise)

Best Moment this week: Being pregnant has brought Hays and I even closer! He's always been a sweet husband, but even more so now. On Monday night I woke up in the middle of the night (shocking!) and I was SO HOT! I threw the covers off me and woke Hays up and said "I'm HOT, can I turn on the fan and turn the heat down?" He immediately snapped out of sleep and said in the most precious tone "You can do whatever you want- I love you!". It was so simple but so sweet! May or may not have made his pregnant wifey cry at 3AM! ;)

Christmas Tree Debacle!

MixMas (the ALL Christmas music radio station) has begun in Lexington!!! It was a happy day when I realized it! Usually it doesn't start until closer to Thanksgiving but it started early this year! It put Alicia and I in the Christmas spirit and we decided to decorate our houses this week! We started at my house, I drug out all the Christmas accessories, put on my favorite Christmas CD (Now That's What I Call Christmas, Volume 2) and we were rocking! We got the tree stand up, all the branches in place and fluffed, all the lights applied and then......dum dum dum....it happened! The tree stand decided it was OVER Christmas and broke! One of the 3 legs holding up the tree completely broke off. Alicia tried to reattach it.....I tried to reattach it! It wasn't going to happen.

Now, normally I wouldn't call myself a resourceful person, but when it comes to Christmas decor (not to mention something she and I had nearly spent an hour on already) I knew that something had to be done to fix this. So I brought out the DUCK TAPE! The answer to all life's problems, right? First I tried to just tape the broken leg back onto the tree stand, well that wasn't working- the tree would just tip over. So then Alicia said jokingly "You should just tape it to the floor!" I laughed at first, but then decided to try it! Sure enough it worked like a charm. A few feet (okay, yards maybe) of duck tape later and we had a functioning tree stand. The problem was it didn't want to stand straight up (at least not for long), so our ingenuity kicked in again and I went to retreive some free weights that Hays had used and stored in the closet. He wasn't going to miss these for a few weeks while I used them to hold up the tree, right? Right! The weights did the trick! And now my Christmas tree could stand on it's own.

Isn't the tree (and the best helper ever, Alicia Faye) beautiful?!?!?

Close up of our "resourcefulness"!

A couple of nights later we headed over to Alicia's apartment to set up her tree. It was a much less eventful evening, as everything on her tree actually worked. But we had a blast (rocked out to some dance party Christmas music, ate some yummy brownies and holiday M&Ms and drank some scrumptious punch)! Look how lovely her tree turned out!

Special thanks to Alicia Faye for all her help with my Christmas tree debacle. I laughed until I cried and definitely made some 2010 holiday memories! :)

Pregnant Women Shouldn't Be Allowed in Sam's Club

I think my title really speaks for itself on this one, but in case you need an example why pregnant women shouldn't be allowed in Sam's Club.....see below:

Yes, that is 3 pounds and 8 ounces of mixed nuts! It might take me the rest of my life to eat 3 pounds of nuts! Seriously!!!!! But they sounded SOOOOO GOOD at the time! Anyone need some nuts?

Is it HOT in here?

WHOA! What is going on here?!?!? I am experiencing pregnancy hot flashes! I knew this was a possible side effect of pregnancy, but being as how I am usually SUPER cold-natured I never thought this would happen to me. Boy, was I wrong! This morning (I think it was 45 degrees), I am driving to work in my skirt suit and sweater (I wasn't even wearing my winter coat yet) and I started sweating! I literally had to turn on the A/C! It's November, people! This is just ridiculous! I ended up walking down the hill at work (our parking lot is about 5 minutes away from our building) without my coat on! I was DYING! Luckily, by the time I got inside I was cooled down. I didn't wear my suit jacket all day because I didn't want to THINK about getting hot again. How weird is this? I'm wondering if it's something that will come and go or if I'll be using my A/C again tomorrow morning. Brady must be one HOT little dude! ;) I will keep you posted!

Brady Is SO Loved!

Brady has gotten SO many cute things in the last few weeks, since we found out "it" is actually a HE! He is already such a loved little guy! I just wanted to share some of this preciousness with y'all!

My mom, Brady's "Mama Lu," found 2 books with fun activities for Brady and I to do together, one is for toddlers and one is for preschoolers. We will definitely have to grow into these gifts, but I can't wait to play!!! :)

Hays' cousin, Jennie, and her mom (Hays' aunt) Susanna, found Brady this cute little football outfit. It's called a Cozy Cocoon! It is supposedly the newest way to swaddle and babies just LOVE it! I can't wait to take pics of Brady in this! He will be the perfect little football!!!

My cousin, Jenny, her husband Kelly, and her kids Lauren and Maddie got Brady his first UK apparel: a UK onesie! How cute will this be during March Madness?!?! I can't wait to see little Brady man in this!

Hays' mom, Brady's "Grammie," found this precious little puppy dog outfit and teeny tiny socks for Brady the day we found out he was a boy! It's a gown that can also turn into pants- probably the smartest thing I've ever seen! It has a bib, hat, and little socks. JUST PRECIOUS!

Here's a random assortment of goodies that Hays and I have found for Brady! The little sweatsuit on the left says #1 Draft Pick! :) And Hays found the little plush football (Baby's First Football) that had a rattle in it! The assortment of short sleeve onesies are all sports related too! And of course, I had to buy the I Heart Dad onesie! They BOTH melt my heart!

One of the guys that coaches football with Hays at LCA, Jimmy, got Brady this sweet little sports blanket. It is SO cute and SO soft! :)

This adorable little football ensemble is from Hays' cousin Nathan, his wife Blair, and his kiddos Palmer and Tucker! Won't Brady be cute in his little football overalls!?!?!?

My aunt and uncle, Judy and Wayne, got Brady this sweet Winnie the Pooh teether that you put in the freezer! Oh geez! I guess they know something I don't know about the pains of teething! I'm sure I will find out soon enough! ;)

This is Brady's first concert t-shirt from his Aunt Whitney! He will look like a little rockstar! ;)

Hays' cousin, Carey, her husband Jim, and her boys Drew, Jack, and Sam got Brady these sweet litle gowns and receiving blankets. They have jungle animals on them and are SO soft and precious! :)

One of my good friends from college (and sorority sister!), Sallie, got me the Mom's Survival Guide book (which is AMAZING), and got Brady the pacifier animal (how genius is this?!?) and TINY converse sneakers. I can't even get over how precious these little shoes are! I could just eat them up! :)

And finally, Elizabeth, my boss, won this amazing UK boy wreath at the Holly Day Market silent auction last week! It is made of tiny diapers, a UK burp cloth, UK bib, UK hat, UK bottle, and UK footies! Have you ever seen anything so cute?!?! LOVE IT!

So, can you see how truly adored Brady Browning already is? It's amazing and overwhelming how generous our friends and family have been! I am BLOWN away and incredibly grateful, not just for the goodies, but that Brady will have such amazing people around him throughout his life. He is such a lucky little guy!

21 Weeks- On the Downhill Slope

So this is it, I'm over the hump and rolling down the downhill slope of this pregnancy! Hard to believe that Brady will be here in 19 weeks! :) I have had a great week- I am LOVING the 2nd trimester! And I hope I keep feeling good through Thanksgiving and Christmas! This week I have decided to start keeping track of "pregnancy highlights" week by week. One of the blogs I follow (Kelly's Korner) is 4 days ahead of me in her pregnancy and she does this every week. I think it's a cute idea! Enjoy!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 21 Weeks
Size of baby: Brady is the length of a carrot
Total Weight Gain/Loss: This one is tricky because I don't own a scale (on purpose- lol) but at my last appointment I was down 1 lb from my pre-pregnancy weight (I am sure this will change at my next appointment on 11/23)
Maternity Clothes: Mix of regular and maternity shirts, ALL maternity pants (they are AWESOME) :)
Gender: It's a BOY! Brady!!!
Movement: I've been feeling the baby a lot more lately! It is my favorite thing in the world! He is most active in the morning and evening! I think he likes his afternoon naps!
Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good, but happy to say that I am NO LONGER taking the Phenergan for about a week and a half now! YAY! I hope I don't jinx it! :) I am getting up a couple of times a night to pee, but I go RIGHT back to sleep! YAY!
What I miss: Sleeping on my back (my hips hurt in the morning from switching sides all night long) and DELI MEAT! Oh well, small prices to pay for Baby Brady! ;)
Cravings: Applesauce and Ice Cream (in the past week I have eaten a half gallon of Moose Tracks- eek!)
Symptoms: I've been having heartburn almost daily, but it's not so severe that I take anything for it. I guess Baby Brady is working on growing some hair (isn't that what heartburn means?). :)

Best Moment this week: Friday morning Brady was moving around all over the place, so I made Hays put his hand on my stomach and Hays felt him too! It was awesome! Hays said it was his good luck high five for his game that night! And LCA won, so I guess it worked! Nicely done Brady man! ;)

Last weekend, we traveled to Western Kentucky for Thanksgiving with some of Hays' family. It was a quick trip (we were home for 21 hours I think), but it was FUN! We got to see tons of our family! I didn't take any pictures at Thanksgiving, but several others had their cameras out so once those are posted on Facebook I will move some over. There are TONS of kiddos in Hays' family, so we always have a great time with them! Hays' sister, Whitney, came up from Nashville too! It was AWESOME to see her! She's so much fun! And, she brought treats for me and Brady (the purple shirt in the pictures below is courtesy of Whitney, and the navy shirt in my 20 week picture on my sidebar is from her too)! She also got Brady his first ever concert t-shirt. Follow up post about all of Brady's gear soon! :)

On Saturday evening when we got back to Greenville and I got to see my Dad's mom and sister (Mammaw Opie and Lisa). It was great to catch up with them. Then Mama showed me a fun thing she found in my closet: THE GATOR!
Hays had actually bought me this gator back in 2004! Every year in college, my best friend Lora Lee would invite us to the Farm Machinery Show in Louisville with her family. We always had a great time, so we looked forward to it every year! Well, in 2004 it happened to be on Valentine's Day weekend!!! So Hays and I celebrated Valentine's Day early and his gift to me that year was a little dog riding this John Deere gator and flowers! Get it? Farm Machinery Show.....so he got me a GATOR! He's a clever one! Anyway, we decided that not only was this a cute VDay gift, but someday our babies could play with it! We were right! 7 years later our little boy will be able to play with it! :) We were so excited that Mama found the gator! :)

On Sunday morning, we had to leave early so that Hays could get back to Lexington for his football meeting. We ended up leaving around 10AM, which worked out perfect because I got to see Rae when she got home from work at 8AM (she works third shift at the hospital as a nurse) and we got to see my parents and my mom's parents before they all went to church. We had a little mini photo session!

Mama and Daddy (aka. Mama Lu and Granddaddy/G-Daddy) are lovin' the baby bump! It really is crazy how much Brady grew in one week! Okay...maybe it had something to do with the ice cream. ;)

You can REALLY see the bump here! Me with my Baby Daddy and best husband ever! ;)

I love this picture of me with Popy and Nana! No one in the world loves babies as much as my Poppy!!!!

Aren't they a cute couple? I just love them!

Photo session continues with my Aunt Judy and Mama! Aren't they cute in their matching pink?

On Monday night this week I did a little baby shopping after work! I went to Baby's Room, a cute baby and kid's furniture store. There are SO MANY OPTIONS! Geez! I don't know how we will ever make a decision! Tuesday, I had dinner with some of my Alpha Gam girls! We went to The Pub and The Orange Leaf and had an awesome time! I love these girls and even though we don't see each other a lot every time we meet up it's like we never left the sorority house! Those are best kind of friends! :) Shout out to the Orange Leaf- the new frozen yogurt place in Lexington! It is SO yummy! Hays and I are going back tonight! :)

Wednesday night, Hays and I made our way to Lawrenceburg to visit Kevin, Amanda, and their new baby Isla! We absolutely love this couple and spent TONS of weekends there a few football seasons ago when Hays and Kevin both coached the Anderson County High School Bearcats football team! Now that he coaches in Lexington, we don't get to go by and see them as much and I miss them terribly! They had their baby Isla on Halloween which is SO FITTING for this couple- Halloween is their favorite holiday and they always throw a huge Halloween party! This year was no exception, they just threw the party a little early. Unfortunately we didn't make it this year, because their party fell on the final weekend of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. :( Oh well, I'm sure next year's party will be even better because it will be Isla's birthday! She is an ANGEL baby! I'm not kidding. She was perfect! Amanda is really trying to implement Baby Wise, which I keep hearing is amazing! I hope that Hays and I are able to follow it just as they have, because it really is amazing how scheduled and well-adjusted Isla is already at just 10 days old! :)

Here is Daddy Kevie and his tiny Baby Isla! She looks so TINY in his arms, but she weighs 8 pounds 6 ounces! :) She's precious and he is SO happy- can't you tell?!?! :)

Here is Mama Mandy and Baby Isla. She's bouncing her in this picture. Amanda is a ROCKSTAR and ran with Isla the whole time she was pregnant! When she was 8.5 months pregnant she went for a 3 mile run! She is amazing! Needless to say, Isla really likes to be bounced! :) (Side note, my camera has been doing weird things and was deciding to act up when I took these pictures at Kevin and Amanda's- I think it has something to do with the lighting but I am NOT happy! I think Hays and I might have to invest in a nice camera before Brady comes.....maybe that will be our Christmas present to each other! Anyone have any suggestions for good cameras?)

The beautiful, happy family!

Isla started crying so Mandy had to give her some kisses! SO SWEET!

Hays did a great job holding sweet baby Isla! He's a pro already! :)

She's a good sleeper! She was totally at peace in his arms. Melts my heart!!!!!!

These are pics of Isla on my lap! She was so precious. I let her lay there and squirm around for several minutes. She kept putting herself right back to sleep. She was just precious!

Back to sleep!

We had an awesome time seeing baby Isla! It had been a LONG time since I had held a newborn baby! She was a joy and made me so excited for March to get here! Kevin and Amanda have never seemed happier and are truly adjusting perfectly to parenthood. It was a breath of fresh air to get to hang out with them and their sweet little family!

On Thursday night I went to the Holly Day Market Preview Party with some girls from work. It is a fun event put on by the Lexington Junior League every year. I had never been but I really enjoyed it and even got some Christmas shopping started! Yay! They were playing Christmas music and everything smelled like Cinnamon! It was fabulous! AND, yesterday I found out that Mixmas started in Lexington (94.5 FM)! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas music!!! It might just be time to put up my Christmas tree and start wrapping presents! :)

Friday night was (of course) football night! It was round 2 of the playoffs and LCA played Raceland! I was really nervous before the game for some reason and I think Brady was too because he was kicking a LOT! He must want to be a kicker! ;) The game got off to a great start and really wasn't much of a game at all because we played GREAT. The clock ran the entire 4th quarter and we ended up winning 48-8! Hays' defense was AWESOME and Brady and I were very proud of him! So was Ray Graham (the head coach at LCA), after the game in the huddle he had all the players shout "War Eagle" at Hays for a job well done! It was pretty cool! :)

So that was our week! It's been a pretty fun and eventful one! I think Hays and I might get out and play tonight! I definitely want him to try The Orange Leaf and maybe we will check out Buy Buy Baby while we're out! Of course, some of this weekend will be dedicated to football. We play Fairview in the 3rd round of the playoffs at HOME next week, so Hays will have some film to break down. Go Eagles! :)