Happy Halloween!

What a fun Halloween! I started my day with a text from my friend Amanda (who is 41 weeks 2 days pregnant) that said she was in labor! So that was exciting. When I texted her 5 hours after she arrived at the hospital she had already had her epidural and was about 4 cm dialated. I texted her later that afternoon and she was still only at 4 cm, about 12 hours after she arrived at the hospital they decided they would do a C section, and her little girl was delivered later this evening.....all 8 pounds 3 ounces of her! That's a BIG baby for a little person like Amanda! :) I am so proud of her. I know she and Kevin will be GREAT parents!

Hays and I went to church this morning (where I wore my first pair of maternity pants- and they were GLORIOUS)! And then had lunch afterwards at our favorite sandwich place (and one of the only places I can have deli meat for the next few months, because they steam it). After that we came home and rested for a bit before heading to the Lexington Youth Football League championship game for the 7 and 8 year olds! :) It was hilarious! The kids are tiny, but are playing full contact football. 2 LCA coaches and their kids are on the team, so that was why we were there. We had a great time and their team won (yay Steelers!)!

After the game, Hays headed to his football meeting and I headed to Target and Old Navy! I knew Brady needed some Halloween gear for next year and that everything would be on sale today! Check out what I found at Old Navy:

I found a monkey costume that is SOOOO precious, it's furry and warm and will look great on little Brady man next year. It even has a banana in the pocket- too cute!!! Hays loved it too, of course, he LOVES monkeys! So I know he will love our little monkey next year! I also picked up a "My First Halloween" onesie, and pumpkin and skeleton (glow in the dark) outfits. Brady will be STYLIN' next Halloween! :) I can't wait to dress him up and take pictures! Have I mentioned I already love this little dude?!?! Cause I do....A LOT!

After my shopping excursion I picked Hays up from his football meeting and we headed home to hand out candy to our trick or treaters. Trick or Treating was tonight from 6-8 and I was prepared with LOTS of goodies for the kiddos. This year we had Halloween popcorn mini bags and pretzel snack bags- I always try to buy treats that I don't really like so that I don't eat them all before Halloween gets here! :)

I had quite the little set up tonight. Since it was cold outside, I put my ottoman (and eventually chair) in front of the door so I was ready when the trick or treaters came. I would guess we had about 60 tonight, which is less than normal, but it was a CHILLY night. I had a blast anyway!
Overall, we've had a great weekend. Hays' isn't over yet- he's off work the next two days for election day! I am jealous! I guess I shouldn't be because I had a long weekend too, but mine was Thursday and Friday. Back to the grind for me tomorrow!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!!!!

Brayley is a....

BRADY! It's a boy! We are both SO excited about our little dude, and we love him SO MUCH already! We've had a great last few days! On Wednesday night our family came into town so we could all be up and at 'em early for the ultrasound appointment on Thursday! Our appointment was at 9AM and we got called back right on time. Me, Hays, my mom, and his mom went back into the ultrasound room and I asked the ultrasound tech if we could have one more person....she said yes and Rachel got to come back too! It was perfect!

The ultrasound tech was wonderful, I had never had her before, but I LOVED her! She put the wam jelly on my belly and started the ultrasound. It wasn't long until the baby popped up on the screen. Apparently, he was in the breech position because it didn't take her long to find the "money shot" so that we could tell if Brayley was a boy or girl. She put the image up on the screen and said "Well, your baby is in the breech position so we can see what it is. What do you think?" I had NO IDEA, those ultrasound things are kinda hard to see, so I said "Is it a girl?!?!" Sorry Brady, I was WRONG! The ultrasound tech said no, and pointed to his "boy parts". I squealed and we immediately started calling HIM his name: Brady! The rest of the ultrasound was very technical, she was measuring all the parts of his body: his arms, legs, head, etc. to make sure everything was measuring on track. Technically for my ultrasound I was 18 weeks and 5 days, but many of Brady's measurements were more in line with 19 weeks 6 days. So I've got quite the grower in there! :) I am just so glad that he's healthy and doing good. I still can't feel him moving around, but BOY IS HE MOVING! It was so cool to see him flopping around on the ultrasound screen!

Brady's all curled up in the fetal position. His arms are by his face and his legs are crossed in front of him.

Brady's sweet little feet. I'm not usually a big fan of feet, but I will definitely be giving THESE feet lots of kisses! :) You can even see his little toes. I LOVE IT!

Brady's stretching out his arms in there! Looks like a little boxer! :)

Then at the end of the ultrasound, she turned on the 4D one to get us some good pictures. We all just GASPED- it was awesome. You could see everything! It was amazing. He is the MOST HANDSOME baby ever....I am convinced! :)

He's giving us the thumbs up in this one. He's clearly having a GREAT time in there! ;)

Brady's all crunched up! In this one he's kicking himself in the head! Looks like we've got a flexible little guy! Look how you can see his ribs in this one. Just AMAZING!

It looks like he's praying in this one. How sweet!!!

Another picture of Brady all folded up. I love how you can see his little fingers in this one! I love that little hand!!!

He's covering up his face in this one, I guess he was OVER having his picture taken! ;)

We had a WONDERFUL time in the ultrasound room- we were in there for about 45 minutes! After that we went back to the waiting room to tell Daddy and John (Hays' dad) what we were having. We held up a little sign we'd made that said "It's A Boy!" (we had made one for a girl too, just in case)! They were so happy, we were definitely THE PARTY of the waiting room.

About 10 minutes later I got called back to see Dr. Schell. Hays came with me. The first thing they did was weigh me, as always. I had gained 3 pounds since my last appointment (which puts me at a -1 pound gain so far). Then we went into the doctor's office and the nurse took my blood pressure (which was good, 107/72 or something like that) and asked me if there were any changes since my last appointment. A few minutes later Dr. Schell came in and talked to us about the ultrasound. She said everything looked good and I was measuring within 1 week of our projected due date, so that was great! She said Brady looked nice and healthy! Both the ultrasound tech and Dr. Schell mentioned that I had a low lying placenta. She wasn't really concerned about it at this point, but she did say that she will need to check it later on in the pregnancy just to see how it is changing. She said that meant we would probably need to do another ultrasound at about 32 weeks. I am perfectly fine with that! It's a good excuse to see Brady again! I'm not going to let myself panic about that until we know something for sure. I know God will take care of me and little Brady man! ;)

After we left the doctor, the whole crew went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast to celebrate little Brady! We had a great breakfast where I ate WAY too many carbs! ;) I guess that's what Brady was hungry for (I can blame that on him, right?)! ;) It was delicious as always! Then we headed to Target and Babies R Us to do a little shopping. I hadn't let myself buy anything for the baby yet, so I was ready to get some clothes. I found some precious things at both places. I swear, I don't think I will ever buy clothes for myself again. Babies are SO much more fun to shop for! We had a great time!

On Friday we did a little more shopping and discovered a new place called Buy Buy Baby. It is awesome! It's owned by Bed Bath and Beyond and truly has everything you can think of for babies in it. I was SO impressed! That night we went to Corbin, KY to see Hays' football team play. They played great, but didn't come away with a win. Oh well, they get to start the playoffs at home next week and we're excited about that!

Today we woke up and did a little more shopping, ate lunch, and then my parents headed home. Hays and I took a nap this afternoon and watched the UK game. The Kitty Cats didn't come away with a win either. :( Oh well, losses are a little easier to deal with when you are excited about something as cool as a baby.....a Brady Browning baby especially!!!!

Overall we've had a great few days! We are truly such a blessed little family and we are so thankful!

18+ Weeks!

Oh wow! I can hardly believe we are only 1.5 days away from our ultrasound! I think EXCITED might be an understatement for what I am right now. I can't wait! My parents, sister, and in laws will be on their way to Lexington tomorrow evening so they can all be here for the BIG appointment tomorrow. My ultrasound will be at 9AM and the doctor's appointment will immediately follow. :)

I have been told on MULTIPLE occassions that I am to text all my friends/coworkers/family members when we find out what baby Brayley is. Is it weird that I have already drafted the texts and just left out the word "boy" or "girl"? So, I'm a bit of a planner! I can't help myself! I just can't wait to start calling the baby his or her real name (even though everyone swears we will keep "Brayley", I am pretty sure we're sticking with Brady or Bailey)! I also can't wait to feel the baby kick! Carly said it should be happening soon, she started feeling it about 19 weeks! Yay- I'm almost there!!!

Brayley, Hays, and I had a great weekend. Many of our sorority sisters came into town to celebrate the wedding of Chase and "Woody". The wedding was beautiful, and the reception was a blast.....quite the Alpha Gam Reunion! :) Here are some pics:

Hays and I at the reception. Doesn't he look handsome in his tux? He was a great usher! ;)

The couples at our table (Table 15 in the house! Woo Woo!)! Hays and I, Lora and Eli, and Amy and Nick!

Mama Carly and I. She is 6 weeks in front of me in her pregnancy! Doesn't she look great?!? :)

Sarah, Carly, Meagan, and I. How beautiful are my friends?!?!

We had a great weekend! I am counting down the days to the next Alpha Gam reunion! ;)

10/28 is almost here!!!!!!!

Ohmygoodness!!!!!!!! So, we have had the ultrasound scheduled for Thursday, October 28th for several weeks now. It seemed SO far away at the time, I NEVER thought it would actually get there. Now, here we are ONE WEEK AWAY! I am so excited! I can't wait to find out if "Brayley" is a Bailey or a Brady! :) :) :) We are just so excited either way!

I have had ultrasounds before (one at 6 weeks, one at 7 weeks, and one at 11 weeks), but Hays has never been there for one and I've never been able to see much of anything (except with the 11 week one where I could see legs kicking around- which was pretty AWESOME)! So we are SUPER excited for next Thursday! I was telling Carly today that I wish I had an ultrasound machine in my house, but I'm pretty sure if I did I would NEVER LEAVE! It's just the coolest thing ever to see! And, I'm still not feeling the baby move around or kick at all, so it's surreal to see it on the screen when I can't feel it at all! WILD!

On Saturday, I will be 18 weeks pregnant- wow this has gone by FAST! I am loving it though and having SO MUCH FUN with it now that I'm not feeling like poo all the time. Yay for the end of morning/all day sickness! :) Still not much of a baby bump, but I did break down and buy the "Belly Band" which is an elastic band that goes around your pants so you can leave them unbuttoned so they are more comfortable, and the band holds up your pants and covers the unbuttoned part. It's pretty genius! Most of my pants still fit, but there are a couple (jeans especially) that just aren't worth wearing WITHOUT the belly band!

Life is good in the Browning household, we're just counting down the days until we can see little "Brayley"! :)

Apples, and Pumpkins, and Turnips?????- OH MY!

WOW- the weeks are going by so fast! This is crazy! Tomorrow I will be 17 weeks pregnant (Brayley will be the size of a turnip) and in LESS THAN 2 WEEKS we find out what Baby Brayley is......a Brady or a Bailey! :) We could not be more excited! Hays is just really excited to see the baby on an ultrasound, so far he's just seen the pictures that I bring home- he hasn't seen it live and he CAN'T WAIT! It will be fun! Our families are coming into town for it too! We are all so excited to see Baby Browning!

So....first item of BIG NEWS in the Browning household is that the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are OVER! I survive....or shall I say WE survived! I took off work on Monday and Friday, so having a 3 day work week was a nice way to ease back into life after the Alltech Games. Also BIG NEWS this week...I found my camera cord! See older posts below for some updates and added pictures since the cord was MIA for weeks! I found it a couple nights ago in our kitchen junk drawer- of course!!!! Oh well, it's back, so the pictures are in FULL SWING this week!

A couple of weeks ago Hays and I went to Boys Orchard in Versailles to pick out pumpkins. I had never been to Boyds Orchard but knew they had apples and pumpkins so I was excited when Hays told me he wanted to go. We had such a great day! Check out our pictures:
As soon as you get there you see pumpkins everywhere and this HUGE chair in the front...so we had to get our pictures!Then there is a big gift shop area where you can buy food (fresh apples, preserves, carmel apples, candles, really a little bit of everything)! They also have concessions that smelled delicious (even to me)! Then on the back side of the gift shop there is a little bit of everything: lots of picnic tables, a hayride/trainride thing, a bunch of hay bails set up like a mountain, a kids play area with a blow up train tunnel, and A PETTING ZOO! I was elated! We, of course, had to be children. Here's some pictures from the petting zoo:

Hays the Bull:

Me, the sheep (BAAAAAAAAA):
Hays with the llamas:
Me with one of the goats (these were THE CLEANEST goats I have EVER seen- they were awesome! I wanted to take this guy home with me! Look how he's leaning into the picture. Precious!):Then it was time to pick out our pumpkins. If you know me, you know I can be quite particular. Hays and I pulled around our little red wagon for a while before we were able to pick out the perfect pumpkins. We knew we wanted three: a daddy pumpkin, a mama pumpkin, and a baby Brayley pumpkin. I think the ones we picked out turned out perfect!!!
Baby Brayley pumpkin was almost actual size, so I had to get a picture with him or her next to my belly!
A few days later we finally got around to painting the pumpkins to look like Daddy, Mama, and Brayley. I couldn't bring myself to carve the pumpkins for a couple of reasons: #1- they are US, not just pumpkins, these are me, Hays, and Brayley.....I can't take a KNIFE to them....EEK! and #2 because with all the pregnancy nausea I've been having I didn't exactly think scooping out the pumpkin guts and smelling that smell and feeling that goupiness would be a great move! :) SOOO....we opted to paint. I think they turned out great! Hays painted Daddy (obviously) and I painted Mama and Brayley. :)
Here is the finished product on our front stoop (with the mum and pumpkin sign from John and Karen). Doesn't our little pumpkin family look cute?
So that's about all that's new in the Browning household. I am still feeling good and waiting on that Baby Bump! My cousin, Lauren, has stayed with us this week- she is in town visiting her boyfriend Thad that goes to UK. We have had a good week. I drove her around campus one night to show her the sorority houses. Awwww...miss those days!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us- Rachel and Derek are coming into town this afternoon to stay this weekend. They are going to Big Blue Madness tonight and the UK football game tomorrow. My Alpha Gam girls are also coming in tonight for a Keeneland day on Saturday and brunch at Ramsey's on Sunday. So it will be a fun weekend! Can't wait!!!!

Whoa....15 weeks 2 days ALREADY!

I'm REALLY sorry for being a blog slacker...AGAIN! It's been 2 weeks since my last post....my apologies. I have a good excuse, though, it's THE ALLTECH FEI WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES....and I work for Alltech! Woo Hoo! The last 10 days have been a whirlwind, that have consisted of me working shifts at the Kentucky Horse Park, at Alltech HQ, and in my "home office" (ie. bed). :) The Alltech Games will be over with on Sunday (10/10/10), so we're in the home stretch. Yay! I am actually working from home today, technically I am "off", but I have to work on our timesheets today so that the marketing department can get paid on Friday...that's pretty important when people are working 80+ hours a week, right!?!?!

Anyway, I KNOW you aren't reading this to hear about my work schedule...you want to hear about BABY BROWNING. And who can blame you?!?! I am officially 15 weeks 2 days pregnant. Baby "Brayley" Browning is the size of an apple, orange, or avacado (depending on which book you read). I happen to like apple the best, so that's the one I'm going with. I am still not showing at all which makes me a little sad....I am SO ready for a baby bump. I apologize for the lack of week by week pictures on the sidebar (I have pictures, I just STILL can't find my camera cord). Ugh! I might have to break down and buy another. Boo!

Anyway, I'm feeling good and baby seems to be doing good too! Knock on wood....I haven't taken my Phenergan the last 2 nights and haven't really been sick, so YAY...maybe the morning/noon/night sickness is FINALLY over. I REALLY hope so! I had a doctor's appointment last week (when I was 14 weeks 5 days pregnant). They did not do an ultrasound, but I did get to hear the heartbeat with the doppler thingy. OH. MY. GOODNESS. It is the BEST sound EVER! I am SO in love.....seriously! To be honest, it sounds a bit like a dog barking (which I know is a weird comparison and doesn't mean I love baby any less, but it REALLY does). The heart was beating at 140 beats a minute which is apparently "perfect". YAY! Also at the appointment Dr. Schell did all the usual stuff: urine sample, blood pressure (normal), weight (up 2 lbs., but still down 4 lbs. total), and Q&A session.

I had lots of questions for Dr. Schell AS ALWAYS. First of all she told me it was totally normal that I wasn't showing yet, the baby is still really low and it might not start to move up and out until around my next appointment (when I will be 19 weeks). She also said it's totally normal that I haven't felt the baby kick yet. I am reading a lot of other blogs with girls who are around my same stage in pregnancy and some of them have already felt the baby, so I was a little worried that I haven't already- but apparently, it's totally normal not to feel the baby until 17-20 weeks, so I've still got some time. She advised that I get a flu shot, which is great because this week I found out they are giving out free ones at Alltech at the end of October, so that works great. I'm sure I asked lots more questions too, but I can't really remember.....pregnancy brain. :)

John and Karen came up to Lexington this weekend for Hays' football game on Friday night (where we BEAT Nicholas County- yay Hays)! On Saturday when I was working at the Alltech Games they got out and bought a yellow mum and Halloween sign for our front yard. I hadn't had a chance to get any mums yet, so now my house officially looks like fall (I will post pics when my silly camera cord stops hiding). Yay! It was great to see them, as always!

That's about all that's going on in our world. I am seriously going to try to do better about this posting stuff! Promise! ;)