Fun in the Snow--and Sun!

At noon on Friday, I was laughing: GPS had closed school early in anticipation of the "wintry mix" headed our way, and all of the local weathermen were telling people to get off the roads immediately. I looked outside my classroom window: sunshine and not a flurry in sight. My haughty Maryland perspective encouraged me to roll my eyes and turn back around to my computer so I could take advantage of the free time to revise our school newspaper's upcoming issue. Two hours later, I turn back around and...it's actually snowing! Like, for real snowing! By the time I drove home, the roads were slick and there was a solid layer of white over all of Chattanooga. Chattanooga got snow--4-5 inches of it! They weren't kidding!

Clay was supposed to be in Sewanee for a Vestry Retreat all weekend and I was supposed to chaperone a sophomore lock-in at school, but instead the city shut-down and everyone enjoyed a quiet, beautiful night at home. Our supper club gathered for a spontaneous potluck--yet another one of the many perks of living in a campus community. So many friends just steps away!

Camden LOVED the snow

Central Campus two days after the "great" snow

This was a big week in other ways, too! First and foremost, cousin Rachel and Joe welcomed baby Joseph on January 27! How cute is this little guy? Rachel had been on hospital bed rest for close to a week when her preeclampsia became so severe that they needed to go ahead and deliver Joseph. Thankfully, he was already a healthy, strong baby. Congrats, new Mom and Dad!

Sweet Baby Joseph

Today is also Catherine Grace's birthday! Happy happy birthday!!!! We love you!!

Speaking of birthdays, we find ourselves getting more and more ready for Baby Gahan's arrival...especially when our family makes it so easy! Look at some of the fun things we have already received in the form of really, really fun care packages!!

This was one of the first gifts that Baby Gahan received, and I treasure it. My parents gave this to us right after we found out we were expecting. Can't wait to hang it in the nursery.
(I can't get this picture to insert vertically for some reason--sorry!)

It wasn't a full week after we found out we were having a boy that a care package with this gift arrived from my parents. This kid play football? No way! If you look closely at the package, it says for ages 4+ but if I were a betting woman, I would guess it will come out of its package WAY earlier than 2014. Thank you, Mom and Dad!

The care package also included two adorable outfits! We love how they sent one that acknowledges Mama and another than honors Daddy.

I have been enjoying this gift from Ellen Robertson for weeks. Every page offers a funny or realistic or heartwarming reflection on what it means to be a mom. Reading one a day will definitely get me through the pregnancy!

The two bunnies from Catherine Grace. Both are ridiculously soft. I liked to hold them when we first received them, but I wasn't the only one--to keep them away from Camden, we have had to put them on the top shelf of a closet where they wait for BG.

One of my old students and XC runners gave this book to me the day after we found out it was a boy. I was so excited to know that we were having a son, but it is students like Mary Holland who also make me so glad I get to leave "my boys" at McC everyday and work with young women. They always amaze me with their love and thoughtfulness.

Brittany brought this all the way back from South Africa. Thanks to her, our kid is well-dressed AND global. She's pretty darn cute, too.

Brittany works at J&J, so thanks to her we are already getting set up with baby products!
They smell so good...

My dear friend and college roommate Kristen sent us this book a couple weeks ago. She said it is one of her daughter's favorites. It is also one of my favorites considering what I found inside...

I literally started crying at the mailbox. Kristen gave us a gift certificate for a baby portrait session. Kristen took our wedding pictures and has since become a well-known and in-demand photographer in the D.C. area. Her pictures are stunning, and it has been a dream of mine since we found out that we were expecting to have her take BG's picture while he is still little. What a gift--and from out of nowhere! Check out her website and blog.

Finally, Clay and I had fun looking at pictures of sunny beaches this week as we researched spring break getaways...and then we did it! We booked one! Jamaica, here we come!
That's right, friends--we are pulling a Michael Scott vacation and going to the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios resort for five night in early April. Please don't think less of us for going this route rather than a more original, more adventurous vacation...we agreed that this normally wouldn't be the place we would go for a "getaway," but this spring break is a little different than most: I will be 7 months pregnant, so the idea of long road trips or scenic day hikes might not be the best plan for now. What DID we want? To be together and relaxed and drinking fun drinks (virgin daiquiris for me, baby!) and eating yummy food and altogether living up life as a couple. I did a fair amount of research, and considering that Jamaica is a direct 2-hour flight from Atlanta and Sandals's all-inclusive package included 11 restaurants and 90-something pools, we kept coming back to this one. After a little price comparison on different travel websites and then a final conversation with a Sandals rep online, we got the best price straight from their website. That was the fun part :-). Buying the maternity bathing suit (which I also got majorly on sale--who wants to buy an expensive maternity swimsuit??) was way less fun. My body she is a'changing--more pictures on that to come in a later post!

OH BOY OH BOY!!!

We're having a BOY!!!! WE ARE THRILLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures of our little man:

Profile Shot

Another Profile. Look at how long his leg is! I can actually feel his kicks now--AMAZING.

His sweet little foot! You can't see much in this picture, but that's his foot in upper right corner of the womb.

Being in that ultrasound room was a thrilling moment. The ultrasound tech could tell pretty quickly that it was a boy (Clay was proud of that :-)) but we were mostly so happy to hear that Baby G is super healthy and everything (head, spine, heart) looks strong and just as they should be. Then she told me that I was 21 weeks and 2 days along, and I was like, "What? No...I thought I was 20 weeks and 3 days." She said every measurement she took points to a May 31 due date. Our doctor doesn't officially change the date on my chart, but who knows, I might actually get out of the last week of school thanks to this little guy!

Thanks so much for your love and support. We are so grateful to have such great friends and family! Can't wait for him to meet all of you!

We're Halfway There!

20 weeks baby!!!! Right now Baby Gahan is the length of a banana (love all these fruit references) and weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 ounces. I think I have felt the baby moving around, but I am not 100% sure yet--I haven't had a "oh my gosh I just felt a kick" moment, but every once in awhile I feel something...different. We will have ultrasound pictures for you all on Wednesday!

Rachel's Baby Shower!

Clay and I headed down to Birmingham yesterday for Rachel and Joe's baby shower. We are so glad we got to celebrate them and baby Joseph, who is due in mid-March but might be making an earlier appearance if Rachel continues to be confined to bed rest. Rachel was gracious and beautiful as always--we love her. She is going to be an amazing mother. And we also love Carey, Rachel's sister, who is expecting in late July. How fun is all this?

So...I had to get a picture. Rachel (third trimester), me (2nd trimester), and Carey (1st trimester). This wonderful family is going to look very different in just a matter of months! Lots of babies on the way!Catherine, Clay, Carey, and Mark

Sweet brother and sister. Catherine has been so thoughtful and generous to all of us--Clay and I were greeted at the baby shower with a present of our own: a second SUPER soft bunny stuffed animal! She sent us one when we first found out we were expecting, and she told us last night that bunnies are our animal, puppies are Carey and Mark's, and bears are Rachel and Joe's. How thoughtful an idea is that? So now Baby Gahan has TWO amazingly plush stuffed animals to hold.

Here's Joe, the father-to-be, and Catherine...and me smiling at the man I love.

SO CUTE!!!

Another one of me excited about being there--and about seeing lots of fun baby things!

This "Jump & Go" is what Clay and I gave Rachel and Joe--Mom and Dad say Johnny Jump Up was my FAVORITE thing when I was a baby (hang in the doorway and bounce away) so we had to get one for Baby Joe. Plus, how cute is that baby on the box? :-)

January Treats

January NEEDS to be the month for treats, don't you think? It's cold outside, the holidays are over, and for teachers a whole new semester looms ahead. That said, my students are pretty darn awesome and I couldn't be more pumped for the days in the classroom in the coming months. They are fun, fun people--and they are excited about Baby Gahan! So excited, in fact, that this appeared on my desk this morning:What's this, you say? It's a mango. And a mango is supposedly the same size as BG at this moment. I mentioned this offhandedly yesterday when one of my students asked what was happening with the baby's development this week (gotta love being pregnant at an all-girls school--THE BEST place to be pregnant! Everyone is just so thoughtful), and someone anonymously left this for me today. I knew it was going be a good day.

So last week we had two absurd snow days (accumulation=0") so Clay and I lived them up. We watched Alabama take home the national championship, we read a lot, we played with Camden, and we made some yummy tomato basil soup thanks to our favorite Ina Garten's recipe. YUM-O. You all gotta check this one out.

Pre- and Post Blending :-)

We also hosted our fun supper club this month. Every first Tuesday of the month, we get together with four other McC families and enjoy a themed potluck dinner. Here are three of the kiddos watching the Backyardigans (the what? guess I will know these things soon).

I also went wedding dress shopping with my friend Kat. Hooray!

Another treat I love in January is the "This I Believe" challenge I give to my students on their first day back. They have to state a belief in 350-500 words and then record themselves reading it. We start every class for the next two weeks with one of their recordings. Just another reason I look forward to coming to work.

Another treat I gave myself this month was an unlimited pass to North Shore Yoga. I figure I am getting 2 for 1--both I and Baby Gahan LOVE power yoga! Hopefully it might even help with labor?!?
Final treat: M&M's. Now, I have never particularly loved M&M's before, but unfortunately now I find myself having a handful a day. We'll see what my weight gain is next week when we go to the doctor (and find out the gender!! Wednesday!!!), but I have a feeling these little pieces of chocolate bliss are going to help my numbers grow higher. They just taste so darn good, especially frozen! Yum!
Congratulations to my dear college friends Adele and Adam, who welcomed Jackson Reese one week ago. He is precious!!

A Baby Project

Happy New Year All!

Instead of cleaning out the soon-to-be nursery and tidying up the rest of the house, Clay and I decided to get crafty. So today we headed to fabuloso Hobby Lobby and spent way too much time debating exactly which brushes and paint colors to purchase. The one thing we were sure of, though, was that we needed a blank canvas:
All we then knew was that we wanted to make something for the nursery together, a little piece of homemade joy that would make us smile and remember the moments we shared together anticipating this little one's arrival. What to make that look like on canvas, though, was a mystery. So we just started painting...and this is what we ended up with!
It's no Picasso and it's certainly not as good as my mom's paintings, but hey, it's made with love. AND Camden made his mark with a little green paw print in the upper left corner. Pretty cute. Now Clay wants to do three more...maybe we should start cleaning out the soon-to-be nursery first?