there's a bump!

Yes, the little one growing inside of me is starting to make his or her appearance. There's not much of a bump and I don't have a picture to show you, but my regular clothes were starting to get really uncomfortable.

I tried the Bella Bands a few times, but they didn't really stay put and if my shirt wasn't long enough you could see the band. After church on Sunday, Todd, my mom, his mom, and I got in the car and headed to Charlotte to Destination Maternity. Destination Maternity has all of the major maternity retailers all in one location; A Pea in the Pod, Mimi Maternity, and Motherhood Maternity. Todd went on to the mall to entertain himself while the ladies watched me try on clothes.

Trying on maternity clothes was even more strange than trying on a wedding dress for the first time. We found so many cute things and my mom and I did some serious damage at that store! Since then, I've been in clothes heaven! Maternity clothes are so cute and so comfortable.

I was able to find my usual Seven A-Pocket jeans, but maternity-style, and in my usual size. The legs and booty fit the same, but there's just lots of space for my expanding mid-section.

These are two of my favorite new short sleeved sweaters that I'll likely wear with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath.

I got to try on the little velcro baby bumps to see what the clothes will look like when I'm 7 or 9 months pregnant. That was pretty strange, too. My mom took a picture and I may be able to get my hands on that to show all of you. The other thing I noticed is that when I took the baby bump simulator off, I noticed my tiny bump a lot more! Maternity clothes these days don't hide the bump, the accentuate it so you can have your normal shape and curves, but that the bump looks like a baby bump and not a Christmas diet bump.

I'll be 17 weeks pregnant on Friday. Time is flying! I went to the doctor on Monday for the 16 week appointment and to have the genetic blood test done. I don't know the test results yet, but I'm trying not to really think about it. I didn't have an ultrasound, but I heard the strong heartbeat again and the doctor says that everything is fine.

I am feeling much better during the day (except for the last two days when I've pretty much thrown up all day), but I'm finding that I feel sick right when I lie down to go to sleep. Here's to no more throwing up in 2009!

Todd and I are spending the evening at home with Italian take-out and some movies. I can't think of a better way to spend the evening! Happy New Year, friends.

it was a very merry Christmas!

I've been gone a while, but I have very good reason! My parents, brother, and their dog Beaux arrived on December 23 and I didn't read or write a blog the entire time they were here. They left yesterday and, as usual, the goodbye was tearful.

We had a great Christmas at our house. We went to church on Christmas Eve with my family and Todd's family and then we all came back to our house to eat gumbo. On Christmas morning we woke up and ate breakfast and then opened presents. My family decided to draw names this year so we could all save some money and it was great. My parents and Todd's parents gave us a new hutch for our dining room. My mom got my name and gave me lots of scarves and a beautiful silver tray for my dining table.

Todd gave me the Canon Rebel. I can't wait to figure out how to use it and get ready to take lots of gorgeous photos of our new addition that will arrive in June.


He also gave me the Sonya Renee necklace I've been wanting, some comfy boots, and DVDs.

I gave Todd lots of lawn equipment, some jeans, and the new Gamecock football vault. My brother drew Todd's name and Todd got loaded up with clothes and socks.

We went to see Marley and Me the day after Christmas and I'm not sure I've ever cried so hard in a movie in my life. The only other time I've cried that hard over a story was when I read the book. But I was crying and had to take a couple of those big deep, choking breaths. Great movie. I'm sure I'll watch it every time I see it on TV. There is nothing like the unconditional love that you get from your dog.

happy wedding day, hasel bride!

One of my favorite bloggers is getting married today! I can't believe how fast time flies. It was just a little less than a year ago that her little blog was mentioned on Style Me Pretty and I started reading about her wedding planning process.

Happy wedding day, Hasel Bride! I hope that this "reluctant winter bride" has her "fabulous winter wedding!"

random thoughts on a Friday night

I don't have enough complete thoughts to write a long post. We can all blame it on the pregnancy. I do have lots of little things that I'd like to fill you in on, so here goes...

First... I drove up to Greenville today to have lunch with a high school friend that I hadn't seen in such a long time. It was a lot of fun catching up. She and her husband moved to Greenville three weeks ago and it's great to know that I've got an old friend just a little over an hour away. I love Greenville, too, and I've only been back once since the wedding, so this was a great excuse to get up there for the day.

Next... I am done with work until January 5! Maybe the only true perk about my job is that I have such a long break over the Christmas holidays. I took today off and I'm taking off Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday until January 5 are paid holidays, though! It's going to be so hard to go back after such a long break, but I'm already so happy and at peace just knowing that the break has begun. I'll spend a good part of it perfecting my syllabus for the surprise class that I'll be teaching next semester. Scary.

Then... Today marks my 15th week of pregnancy. Nothing really exciting to report with that at this time, but I'm excited to have another week under my belt. And I didn't throw up all day! It probably helps that I haven't let myself get hungry at all today. The phenergen keeps me really tired, but it definitely works. I hope that the day will come when I don't have to take medicine that makes me extremely sleep and unbelievably thirsty just to keep my food down. I go back to the doctor on December 29 for my 16 week appointment. It would be nice if I could get another ultrasound at that point to find out the gender of the baby, but I think that's going to have to wait until the 20 week appointment on January 27. I'll keep you all posted.

And... My parents, my brother, and the best golden retriever in the world arrive at our house on Wednesday night. I can't wait for everyone to get here.

Also... My real life friend just started a cute blog called In the Land of Cotton. Isn't that the cutest name? We met in grad school and now we have very similar jobs, so we always have lots to talk about. Go visit her and leave her some love!

Oh, and.... I finally mailed out my Christmas cards. Finally, finally, finally!

Finally... We finally broke down and bought the new sink for our downstairs/guest bathroom. Our current sink has two spiggots. Hot water comes out of one spiggot and cold water comes out of the other. Washing your hands is quite painful. My parents use that bathroom when they stay with us and my poor Dad hates to shave in that sink. So we're going to replace it! We're able to get it the new sink wholesale through my mom's business. When she called to order it we were informed that it had been discontinued three weeks ago, but they would try to find a model on a showroom floor that we could purchase. They found one in Atlanta. I gave them my credit card number and expected to be charged the full $700 for the sink, console, and mirror. Not inexpensive and it's wholesale! So I'm driving down to the Atlanta area on Monday to pick up the sink and mirror and turn around and come right back. The sink will be installed on Tuesday-- just in time for my parents' arrival! So my mom called to let me know the exact amount that had been charged to my credit card and she said that because it was the very last model it had been marked down 60 percent! We paid $241 for our sink, console, mirror, and all the hardware!

Those are the exciting things going on in our house right now. Sorry for the random rambling post!

the dogs have taken over

I was tagged by LyndsAU and Mrs. Jetplane-- but Boudreaux and Fiona were actually tagged.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

So Boudreaux and Fiona are taking over the blog for a few minutes this morning.

1. Boudreaux says, "I am the most defiant dog on the planet. If my mom or dad says, "NO!" I'm going to respond with a bark and get into my play stance with my back end in the air with my tail wagging around. It really makes them mad, but it's so funny!"

2. Fiona says, "When Boudreaux wrestles with me he can get really rough. He is five times my size and just pushes me around. It never really hurts, but I have a really high-pitched voice so I make him think it's hurting me. Then he'll back off and lie down and then I pounce on him. I love to take his big bushy tail and tug on it!"

3. Boudreaux says, "I don't like for Fiona to play with any toys. Mom and Dad keep buying her Fiona-sized toys, but I take them away very quickly. Stuffed toys with squeakers are my favorite, but the squeaker is going to be out of that toy within five minutes of them giving it to me. Then I like to play with the squeaker the way would. After the squeaker comes out, I spend about 20 minutes making sure all of the stuffing comes out of the toy until it's just a shell. They don't buy stuffed toys for me much anymore. I can't figure out why."

4. Fiona says, "I am a true lap dog. I have to be touching you. If you get off the couch I'm going to follow you where ever you go. Then once you sit back down I'm going to get right back in your lap. At night, when you sleep, I'm going to cuddle up next to you, but I'm not happy unless I'm pressed up next to you. My mom doesn't like this because it makes her too hot and she moves me over, but I always go right back."

"And I'm officially ignoring everyone in my family for posting another picture of me in the diaper."

5. Boudreaux says, "There's a little dance I do every time I get a big treat. I take it into the living room and toss it in the air and hop all around it. It brings the house down every time. I also like socks. I get the lid off of the hamper and find my mom's socks and walk around with them hanging out of my mouth. Then they chase me around until I let go of them. Here's a picture of my Dad chasing me through the park a couple of years ago."

6. Boudreaux says, "My mom likes to sing and dance around the house. It gets me so excited that I can't stand it. I always hop up on her and bark. I'm just trying to sing along. She likes to sing and dance while she cooks, but she doesn't like me in the kitchen when she cooks. Rules schmules!"

a whole week!

Can you believe an entire week has gone by since I last posted? Does anyone even miss me?

Work has been crazy, I've been sick (as usual), and, like many of you, I've been overwhelmed with Christmas fun and frenzy.

A quick update on life... I am 14 weeks pregnant today. I'm so happy to be at week 14, but I was seriously hoping that I'd wake up this morning and feel 100% better. It hasn't happened yet. Maybe at 15 weeks things will get better. I sure hope so because my family is driving all the way from Dallas to be with us for at least a week and I want to feel top notch. If I don't feel great it'll be just fine because I can't think of anyone I'd rather be sick around than my mom. I think every girl on here would agree.

I'm not showing yet. I actually weighed less this morning than I've weighed in months-- thanks to all the throwing up I've been doing, I'm sure. I feel a tightness in my lower belly and I know it's the little baby in there, but no one knows I'm pregnant just from looking at me. I'm definitely not glowing either. I look like a 15 year old. I weigh what I weighed when I was a teenager and my face looks like it did when I was a teenager. NOTE: All of this whining doesn't mean that I'm ungrateful for the exciting things that are happening right now. I'm just venting and being honest.

I'm about to finish addressing our Christmas cards that the lovely Nina designed and had printed for us. I'll post the final card after we mail them out, but this is the little "mock up" version that doesn't include our real names that Nina so sweetly made for blog purposes only.

Isn't it adorable? And the real version is even cuter!

Newlywed Stilettos tagged me to complete this fun Candy Cane survey. It's all about Christmas and I love it. I'm sitting here waiting for my cake to finish baking before I pop the breadsticks in the oven. My students will be here in a little over an hour.

So...here are the questions and my answers:

1. What is your favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Vacation and Home Alone

2. Favorite Christmas Song? What Child is This? (or Greensleeves)... it's so haunting and beautiful and we actually used Greensleeves in our wedding prelude

3. Favorite Holiday Memory? When we got our puppy, Gretel, when I was 5. Santa brought her to us. (pictured below in the bathroom right after we got the puppy!)

4. What kind of cookie/treat do you like to make? Sausage balls!

5. Have you ever made an igloo? Like a real igloo? No, but I'm jealous of anyone that has.

6. Do you love Starbucks? Yep, pretty much. I don't go there anymore now that I'm pregnant and have sworn off caffeine.

7. What makes the perfect Snowman? Accessories! A bow tie, mittens, a cap. He has to become your snowman.

9. Best gift you have ever received? Todd. :) We got together right before Christmas in 2005.

10. What is the snowman's name on Rudolph? Sam, I believe. We just watched this a few nights ago. I've stocked up on children's Christmas movies for my future little one.

11.Silver or Gold? I like the color silver.

12. What is your favorite Christmas decoration? Nutcrackers and the tree

13. What's your Christmas decorating style? Classic, but with fun, bright colors. I use pink, green, purple, and blue.

14. Do you hang stockings? Yes. I can't wait to hang the new stockings and then still use my stocking from when I was a little girl on Christmas morning.

15. How many days do you celebrate Christmas? From Thanksgiving until December 26

16. What was your favorite ornament on the tree as a child? There's this tiny little handmade stocking ornament that was my mom's when she was a little girl and it always makes me cry when I see it on the tree. It just reminds me of simpler times and what Christmas really means.

17. Where will you be spending this Christmas? In Columbia in our house. :) Both of our families will be with us.

clark w. griswold, jr.

Or almost...

Yes, that's my Dad's head on Chevy Chase's body. While working the Holiday Market Preview Party last night, I got an email from him with this attached. Hilarious.

thank you!

Thanks for all of your help and advice yesterday on what I should fix for my students when they come for supper. While I love to cook, I've gone ahead and ordered two lasagnas from one of my favorite restaurants in town, a Carnegie Deli cheesecake, and breadsticks. I'll go ahead and make the salad if I have to!

I'm so excited to share my big wedding album with all of you! Kelly Moore posted pages of it on her blog a few days ago and I am so excited and so pleased with it. The pictures were beautiful on their own, but seeing them so creatively designed brings them back to life. I can't wait to have it on our coffee table. Now we just need to get a coffee table.

Here are a few of the pages from the album. You can click on Kelly's entry to see more if you're interested.

domestic help!

I need help from my friends in the blogosphere. I am fixing supper for my students on Friday night and a couple of months ago I had some really high hopes for this meal. A couple of months ago I was able to smell food without getting sick, too.

I'm pretty sure my students are hoping for mashed potatoes (Katie Lee Joel's recipe is my new favorite) and other comfort side dishes like macaroni and cheese. I'm fine with making all of the sides, but I don't feel like making a meat for 16 people. I love meatloaf, but it takes a really long time to make and my pregnant self doesn't feel like standing in my kitchen for three hours while I prepare it. Are 18 year olds afraid of meatloaf?

I also considered just picking up a couple of huge frozen lasagnas and making that with garlic bread and a salad. I know they won't be too picky and who doesn't love lasagna?

So what do y'all think? What should I make for these home cookin' deprived kids?

Mrs. Newlywed asked in her comment on my previous post if she could see the front of the painting over our mantle. Here it is. Excuse the bad crop job.

deadlines...

This week is going to be crazy. The Junior League Holiday Market kicks off tomorrow with the Preview Party. So Todd's going to put on his tux, I'm going to put on the only semi-formal that fits right now (my black taffeta DVF wrap dress), and I'm going to work the party while he shops and eats yummy food.

I have another event for work on Thursday night and then I'm hosting all 16 of my students in our home for dinner on Friday night for our end-of-semester supper. I would like for my Christmas tree to be completely decorated by the time the students come on Friday. My dad was in town for a night right before we left to drive to Louisiana for Thanksgiving. He went ahead and put the tree up for me, so it's standing. All I have to do is put all of the ornaments on it before Friday night.

This is a picture of one side of our living room. The tree (not pictured) is standing in the corner with the two windows. Hopefully I'll be done decorating the tree tonight and can post a picture of the tree tomorrow.

I had my 12 week visit to the doctor this morning. I'm actually 12 weeks and 6 days pregnant. I had an oh-so-fun exam and got to hear the heartbeat again. This time it was 175. Mr. Bean is working hard in there! I don't go back to the doctor until December 29 and at that time they'll do all the scary testing. When that's over I'm hopeful that my mind will be at ease.

I have to give a shout out to my best friend, Catherine, who just started her blog. She's been lurking for a while and now she has started her own blog. Visit her at destinesia.

excuse me?

This weekend, while in Louisiana with my family, my pregnant cousin, my aunt, my mom, and I went to the children's shop where my cousin is registered before her baby shower on Saturday. I had fun looking around at all the little girl and boy things. It's fun not knowing what we're having because I can still wonder if we need the pink ruffles or the blue stripes. My cousin also gave me some good pointers on products since she has already done all of the research.

While browsing around the store, I saw these:

Let's start praying for a little girl! I'm obviously kidding, but this does frighten me a little bit.

cutest. dog. ever.

I just had to show all of you what Erin Vey posted on her blog today. Before we adopted Fiona, I wanted to get a Goldendoodle to be a companion for Boudreaux. You get the love and goofiness of the Golden Retriever without all the shedding.

Meet Rudy. A 12 week old Goldendoodle.

I'm finally getting around to posting an update on the Erin Vey photo contest. Fiona and I were not the winners, but we were runners up with a few other dogs and their owners.

Erin Vey emailed me after announcing the winner to let me know that the winner and his owner live in Charlotte and that we were welcome to drive up to Charlotte when she comes and have a little photo session at that time. I'll be super-pregnant then, but I won't be able to resist having Fiona's little mug captured by a real photographer! Besides, Charlotte is only a little over an hour away.