Huntsville Shower

I had my very first baby shower this past weekend. JoJo (Brian's mom) and 2 of her dear friends threw this shower for me and Baby Hake in Huntsville. It was a tea party so they served all sorts of typical treats - different flavored teas, cucumber sandwiches, mini quiches, peach puffs (of course to represent the Georgia in me!), mini cheesecakes, etc. All of the guests wrote sweet notes to me and Baby Hake filled with encouraging words and advice. I got a lot of wonderful gifts for Baby Hake - a car seat, the Baby Bjorn (Brian is SO very excited about this one!), an umbrella stroller, etc. It was a fabulous shower and I am so thankful to have such a great mother-in-law :)

baby pics of me and Brian

Brian's sweet Grandma Jean & JoJo

still waiting to hear a grandpa name for Brian's dad... for now, we will call him Grandpa til he comes up with one! :)

the 3 lovely hostesses

mommy & daddy-to-be :)

ZTA Love!

I have the most wonderful ZTA family and I truly am so blessed to have these girls in my life. Here is the breakdown:
Mary Morlino Craft - my great grandbig
Lacey Dunlap Amos - my grandbig
Julie Martin Douglass - my Big
me
Kate Medley McGregor - my Little
Whitney Osteen - my grandlittle
Alyssa Thornton - my great grandlittle

I have kept in touch with these girls over the years and it always SO fun to get to see them! Here are a few pics from the past...






I had brunch with Kate and Julie (who is also pregnant, 6 weeks behind me) last weekend here in Atlanta. We ate at J Christopher's (YUM!) and had tons to catch up on. I am so so happy to have these two girls as my Big and Little! ZLAM for sure!!! Here are a few pics from our brunch...

I can't believe it is already 2011

Sorry for being MIA these past few weeks. Getting back in "work mode" after my 2 week Christmas break was very hard. I am now officially 27 weeks (hard to believe!) and feeling pretty good. Although I feel like a beached whale, the doctors assure me that I am right on track with weight gain (and actually a bit low compared to the average at this point in pregnancy) and belly size. Baby Hake is QUITE the kicker these days. He likes to kick at the most inopportune times though - while I'm teaching, when I'm laying down trying to go to sleep, etc. But I can't complain - it's so magical and wonderful, it doesn't bother me one bit.

I will try to catch you up on the past few weeks...

Brian and I had a fun New Years Eve. We went to Fleming's with our best friends - Greyson and Adam. In the pics below, Greyson is 23 weeks pregnant and I am 25 weeks. We will be having 2 very different babies, even though we are both having boys. G/A were both 5 pound babies. I was 8 lbs 15 oz and sweet little Brian was 9 lbs 4 oz. Yikes. So needless to say, Greyson and I are carrying different size baby boys. The four of us had dinner at Fleming's and then came back to our house and played a new game we found (you know Brian and I LOOOOVE games!) called Buzz Word. If you haven't played, it's a must. Surprisingly, Greyson and I were able to stay awake to watch the ball drop!

Brian and I have been taking baby prep classes at Northside Hospital (where I will deliver Baby Hake and where my mom delivered me!) these past few weeks.
The first one we took was Baby Essentials. Even with my 8 years of nannying experience, I still was able to learn a few things from this class - such as circumcision care and umbilical cord care YIKES. Brian learned a lot and I think it was much better coming from an instructor than me! We also took a couples breastfeeding class. Talk about awkward but informative haha. Brian and I were like little school kids in the back giggling and making faces at each other. But as silly as it was, we learned a LOT and gosh I'm grateful I took that class. This past weekend, we took Part 1 (of 2) of Childbirth Prep with Greyson and Adam. It wasn't as bad as I thought - Brian was fearing for his life with "the video" he knew they'd be showing us. But it wasn't that bad and I actually teared up during it! The instructor taught us different breathing techniques, ways Brian can massage me (yes please!), and all about the stages of labor. Next week she'll talk to us more about pain medication (also a big yes please!). I am currently very freaked out about the epidural. Don't get me wrong, I am 100% getting one, I just am concerned about a catheter being threaded into my back (I'm about to pass out just writing this!) and then it being in there for hours as I lay back on it! AHHHHHHH So hopefully, next week's class will calm me down. The only other 2 classes we will be taking are: Infant CPR (a must) and a hospital tour (Brian is excited about this one. He is anxious to learn the route to take me as I'm having contractions, what to expect in the delivery room, where to park his car, etc.). Again, I HIGHLY suggest taking these baby classes - you'd be crazy not to!

On Friday, Jan 7th my entire second grade team from school took me out to Kelly Kakes for a celebratory dinner!
Not sure if I've mentioned it before now, but I LOVE my second grade team. Although I am by far the youngest in the group, they treat me so well and have welcomed me since day one and guided me through my crazy first year of teaching. Needless to say, I would be completely lost without them.
These lovely ladies and I had a delicious dinner (and dessert of course!) together.
They showered me with adorable baby boy gifts and lots of love.

On Saturday, Jan 8th I had a play date with Lydie. Gosh, seeing her makes me miss the days of nannying for her and Hudson. The past few times I've hung out with Lydie, it has been with a group (including her parents, Brian, her brother, Penny, etc) so this time we decided to have a date "just us." I took Lydie out to lunch and then for pedicures. I cannot believe she is already 4. She acts like an 11 year old and we have conversations like we are best friends. Of course, she said a lot of funny things throughout our date, but the best was when she asked if she could be present during Baby Hake's delivery. Here is our convo...
Ellen: Sure! You can come see Baby Hake after he's born, I know your mom would bring you up to the hospital to meet him.
Lydie: No, I want to be there when he comes out of your tummy.
Ellen: What?
Lydie: Yeah, my mom wouldn't let me be there for her 2 babies coming out, so I need to be there for yours.
Ellen: Well, it's kind of an adult thing and Brian and I are going to be the only 2 people in the room when Baby Hake comes out of my tummy.
Lydie: Why?
This conversation continued on for about 5 minutes. Lydie just could not understand my reasoning. I truly think she thinks she will be there for the birth now. Haha!

Snowpocalypse has hit us. It started snowing on Sunday, Jan 9th and today is Tuesday and there is no sign of it disappearing. I am actually off work today (and was off yesterday) because the roads are SO unsafe. We got about 5 inches of snow but now there is an extra 1-2 inches of ICE on TOP of that snow, making it very dangerous to drive on. The weatherman predicts it won't be gone until this weekend! Which sounds great to be off work for an entire week, but you know that we won't go unpunished. That means our school will probably take away our winter break or add on extra days of school in May/June UGH. So as much as I love being off school and having days at home to lounge around in my jammies, I hope we go back to school tomorrow!

Our Last Christmas Sans Children

Well this is our last Christmas without children... sad to see the "just us" go, but super excited for what is in store for our family :) We went to Huntsville the weekend before Christmas to be with Brian's parents, brother & sister-in-law. We had a lot of fun spending time with his side of the family and were glad we were able to visit! We attended our church, North Point Community Church, the Wednesday before Christmas for a "traditional" Christmas Eve service filled with TONS of music, communion and the Christmas story. Baby Hake was jumping all over during the music - he's obviously a fan. Brian and I spent Christmas Eve at my parents house along with: Dad, Mom, Deborah, Mema (dad's mom), Mimi (mom's mom), Aunt Barbara (dad's sister), Amy (Aunt Barbara's daughter), Drew (cousin) & gf, Sydney, Vada and Penny. It was a full house to say the least! But we had some amazingly delicious food: honey baked ham, green beans, my famous "Over the Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese" (as featured on Oprah many years ago), pineapple casserole, rolls, sweet potato casserole and MANY MANY desserts. We opened one gift each (family tradition) on Christmas Eve and then Brian and I returned back to our house to spend Christmas Eve night at home snug in our bed. Christmas morning we returned to my parents' house and began our tradition - we walked down the stairs from oldest to youngest while my dad videotaped, we acted completely surprised that Santa had visited our house, and then we divvied up the gifts to everyone. We opened half our presents then stopped for breakfast intermission (sausage/egg/cheese casserole, hashbrown casserole, upside down pineapple biscuits and fruit medley), only to return to more gifts. While we were eating breakfast it started to snow! This is a HUGE deal for us because the last time it snowed on Christmas Day was in 1993 when I was in 3rd grade!! All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas with Brian's family and with mine. I still cannot believe that this time next year we will have a tiny tot with us on Christmas morning!!!!

24 weeks preg on Christmas Eve
Aunt Deb gave Baby Hake a new toy (we opened this on Christmas Eve)... Penny is a little unsure about all the new things we keep bringing home
My two grandmothers haven't been together in MANY years. Sadly both of my sweet, precious grandfathers have passed away so it was special to have both grandmothers together for Christmas this year. Mema (dad's mom) and Mimi (mom's mom) get along very well and spent a good 2 hours browsing through my mom's copy of our wedding pictures. It was SO sweet!
Penny, Sydney and Vada are all very protective of Baby Hake
4 generations in this picture: Mimi, Mom, me, Baby Hake4 generations in this picture too: Mema, Dad, me, Baby Hake
Christmas breakfast = YUM!!!

Penny & me in the snow
Penny was VERY unsure about the snow

Baby Hake's first snow :)

Our little family of 2 (well 3 including Penny) will soon be expanding!