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! :)

Livin' on a Prayer....

"Ohhhhhhh.......we're half way there!!!! Ohhhhhhhh....livin' on a prayer!!! Take my hand, we'll make it I swear!!! Ohhhhh....livin' on a prayer!"

Usually this Bon Jovi song makes me think of none other than Amy Jones (shout out to our 24 hour Dance Blue marathon in 2006)! But sorry Jones, today this song makes me think of little Brady man! Today I am officially 20 weeks pregnant- half way there to my 40 week due date! Woo Hoo!!!!!

I can't believe this pregnancy is already halfway done. We're on the downhill slope. Whoa! SO much to do in the next 20 weeks, but I am SO excited for March to get here so I can meet our little guy!

I have been feeling Brady more and more this week and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it! He is such an active little guy in the mornings and evenings. I told Hays that he must be like both of us, because he is quiet in the afternoons- I guess he's taking his nap. Like parents like son, I guess! It is the coolest thing in the world to feel him flipping around in there! I just love being his mom!

Hays' iPhone app said that today the baby weighs about 11 ounces and is 8 inches long (about the size of a large banana). No wonder I can feel him! Whoa! I am starting to show more and more every day, and soon I think I might just pass the "she-looks-like-she's-had-too-many-cheeseburgers" look and actually start to look like I'm PREGNANT! I am SO looking forward to that! I have always loved pregnant bellies, they just make me smile! :)

We are excited to be heading home to WKY today to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with Hays' side of the family (complete with a backyard football game)! We aren't able to leave until later this morning because Hays has a football meeting, and we have to leave early in the morning tomorrow to make it back for another football meeting, but 20 hours at home will be worth it to see our family! We love going home! Oh, and lucky for us daylight savings time ends tonight, so technically we get an extra hour at home! :) YAY! Better go get me and Brady ready now! ;)

I can FINALLY feel him!

It has been QUITE a big week for Baby Brady Browning! First, we found out he is a boy last Thursday and have been calling him by his name all week! FUN FUN FUN! Second, I started showing out of nowhere! I begged and begged for the baby bump and I think it's finally starting to appear. I'm loving it! I have even begun wearing maternity pants (3 out of the past 4 days to work)! They are AMAZING! AND.....I finally started feeling Brady kick! It's the craziest thing ever! I am SO IN LOVE with this kid already! :)

On Sunday night Hays and I were sitting on the couch watching TV (like we do 6 nights a week when we're not at a football game!) and all of a sudden my tummy felt odd. It was kind of like a hunger pang or an upset stomach pain, but not quite. I didn't think much of it because I had just eaten not long ago. Well, a couple of minutes later I felt it again, and then again......it wasn't until about the fifth time that I figured it out- I WAS FEELING BRADY MOVING AROUND IN THERE! Ahhh! It was awesome! I was so happy and relieved to finally be feeling him. It's great! I would say now I probably feel him about 20 times a day- he's an active little dude! It's so reassuring to know he's in there happily bouncing around! I love being a mommy to this 9 ounce little guy!