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?

Christmas 2009

We Love Texas! Christmas in Texas means several things: insanely good guacamole and Kay's even better cornbread dressing, lots of relaxation, warm(er) weather, friendly people, good movies, clementines and pistachios, and adventures around the Hill Country.Here we are in Gruene, TX, home of one of the oldest dance halls in the lonestar state. Supposedly Lyle Lovett started here.

How cute is this family? Clay, his father Pat, and his mother Kay in front of a blue hole swimming area. The next time we visit Texas when its hot, we're coming back here.

Perfect Swimming Hole

Here we are on Christmas! Catherine, Philip, and Kay sit around the beautiful tree surrounded by presents. Some of my favorite gifts include pearl earrings, a black peacoat, maternity clothing and gummy strawberries (my favorite!), a Brooks Bros. shirt, a couple devotional books, and a cookbook. I am spoiled.

Here we are in Luckenbach, TX, and yes, that is a long horn sporting a saddle. Love it.

On our last day, we decided to drive about two hours to Enchanted Rock, a huge piece of pink granite that offers magnificent views of Hill Country.

Isn't this beautiful? The scenery isn't half bad either.

Here we are--squints and all.

The cutest in-laws ever.

Love this shot of my family heading off into the sunset. Texas, we'll be back!
Then we headed to Louisville for some Dad birthday time! Those two adorable children are my cousin Jennifer's kids. They are PRECIOUS. And they were REALLY excited to celebrate a birthday.

Jameson helped Dad open his cards and presents. He was a big help.

Clay and Julianna

Clay with our current baby, Camden. His world is about to be rocked when we welcome Clara into our lives this June. Speaking of Clara, we went in for a 17-week checkup this morning and all is great! Clay heard his/her heartbeat for the first time (my second) and it was a glorious sound to know that our child is growing stronger with each day. At 17 weeks and 3 days, I have gained 8 total pounds. We find out the sex at our next visit: January 20!!!!! I think it is a boy; Clay guesses a girl. What do you all think?

Clay's Trail 10K

Clay rocked it! Finish time=49 min.

16 Weeks!

Here is a 16 week profile shot of "the belly." I really this this picture doesn't do it justice--it feels MUCH bigger than this :-). One more month until we find out the gender!

Capturing Moments

I just found this quote on another friend's blog. Love it.

"Children are the hands by which we hold heaven."
~Henry Ward Beecher

Whose blog was this? A longlost friend from Virginia who had trouble having children and eventually adopted two beautiful little ones from Ethiopia. Her blog made me think and feel two main things:

1. A talented photographer is worth the price. Second only to precious memories and love, I want nothing more for my child than lots and lots of photographs of his/her childhood. I want to surround our home with them, put a million on the blog, and literally surround my family with images of natural love and beauty. I don't know how I can make this happen, but if I have to drive all the way to Warrenton, Virginia to have my dear friend Kristen capture our family on film, I will. Check out her blog: http://www.kristengardnerblog.com/. She is both an insanely talented photographer AND a beautiful person, friend, and mother. LOVE her...and I love her work.

2. I need to stop worrying and trust that God has a plan. Somehow I found myself all upset last night about how Clay and I were going to have the time and energy to both work full-time and create the type of family and environment we want to give our child...I just don't want to miss a thing. Not one little thing. But I think part of the problem is that I keep hearing that it is going to be "so hard" and "finding a balance is so tough" and "I will feel like I will do everything halfway and nothing well" and all this talk is just making me anxious and nervous and guilty already. But then I come home, rest in Clay's arms, look at Camden's sweet face, and remember that we are so, so lucky. We'll figure this all out. I know it won't always be easy, but I know it will be worth it.

Childcare

I just visited our first childcare possibility and I have to say that I am sad. It was a nice enough place and full of beautiful children and caring adults, but the whole thing just felt...well, sad. And I walked away and thought to myself, "if I have to walk away from here every day after leaving my little one, I think I will cry myself to school every morning and count down the minutes until I get to pick him/her up every afternoon."

I hope and pray that we will have options when it comes to how things are going to work out next August. We have time. But the more I learn about childcare centers, the more I hear about waiting lists and registration fees and priority to some people (not us) and hidden fees and built in pay schedules...and I just want to retreat in my little hole and hold my little one who is currently the size of an apple and 6 months away from being born. I just don't want it to be this way. At least not yet.

So my prayer today (and my prayer every day) includes praying for the hands and hearts of the people who will hold and care for and love our little one while I am at work. I hope we find that person/people, but even though we don't know who they are, I pray for them.

Week 14

Tomorrow I celebrate 15 weeks of pregnancy. How am I feeling? Grateful. Grateful. Grateful. I simply can't wait to be a mother. I still can't really believe that Clay and I created a beautiful little one that is currently growing with me. And growing I am...my belly has officially "popped." As my yoga teacher told me this morning, "it looks like more than a beer belly now!" Good thing--I am ready to look as pregnant as I feel. I know I will probably get tired of being pregnant before 40 weeks, but right now I am just so content. I am excited to rest my arms on my belly like I saw Clay's cousin Rachel do this week. I am looking forward to feeling the baby kick (we are a few weeks away from that). I am thankful that my belly growing means our little one is growing. All I pray for these days with regards to "Clara" is that he/she is healthy and protected and getting the nourishment and love she needs. It is crazy to me that he/she will be here in less than 6 months.

All this said, it has been a hard week. Clay's cherished grandmother, Nina, passed away on Tuesday, so we traveled to Birmingham on Thursday to be with family and honor her life. As we said over and over again, it was great to see Clay's family but we of course wished it was under different circumstances. We returned home that night sad.

Clay turned right around and headed to upstate New York for a fun weekend with his dearest college buddies. I hosted some wonderful girlfriends from work to a pizza dinner at our place. Here are some pics from the last few weeks. I promise--profile pictures are forthcoming!

The cookies we made Mom and Dad to inform them that BG (Baby Gahan) was on his/her way in June 2010!

The grandfather-to-be!

My Dad, Mom, dear family friend Lynne, and Aunt Gege on the night we surprised them!

The picture I included in the XC Team Slideshow to tell the runners that I was pregnant!

With Brittany before the duPont Manual Class of 1999 10-year reunion

At the reunion. Man, was it fun. Man, am I glad that it is over!

It snowed in Chattanooga! It melted by 11 a.m. but we got a pic before it totally disappeared.

Ok, so this swanky background clearly isn't our apartment, but these are 4 of the 5 friends I hosted for dinner last night. I am not sure who the girl on the very right is...

Sweet Katie, Regan, and Heather

Thanks to our wedding Christmas shower, we love getting decked out for the holidays!

I love this picture because just as I was about to take it, Camden walked right up and posed for the camera. He never does that! Gosh, I love our dog. He really is the best dog ever.

The place setting for the pizza party

We are ready for fun friends and yummy pizza!

Clara could be a boy...

My sister wisely suggested I clarify two items in my last post:

1.) We do not yet know whether Baby Gahan is a boy or girl. We will find out mid-January (20 weeks) and will definitely let you know! FYI: Clay thinks it is a girl and I think it is a boy. Any bets?

2.) We are NOT naming this precious little one Clara. That has been our code name for her/him since it is a combination of "Clay" and "Sara." As for names, Clay and I have had a couple funny conversations so far (imagine lots of tragic literary names like Ophelia and Phaeacia coming into play) but haven't yet hit upon any names we both love. We both want the name to have meaning and significance to us and our families, but we haven't found "the name" yet.

13 weeks

So I could try to go back and catalogue everything that has led us up to this point, but I would rather just apologize for taking some time off from the beloved blog and then pick right back up today, Dec. 2. So here we go!!

I am 13.5 weeks along today, 4 days from officially being in the 2nd trimester. Hallelujah. I am so grateful that we are pretty much "safe" in terms of the chance of miscarriage. I heard the baby's heartbeat a week ago today, and it was one of the most magical sounds I have ever heard. That and Clay's "I do" are my top 2--both changed my life from that moment forward. And I thank God for both.

Right now, "Clara" (Clay + Sara) weighs about an ounce, is the size of a medium shrimp (babycenter.com's description) or a peach (What to Expect When You Are Expecting's description), and not only has fingers and toes but also has fingerprints. She can curl her toes, making sucking noices with her mouth, and move around at her leisure--and move around she does! I haven't felt anything yet, but at both 8 and 12 weeks, our doctor told us that our baby was very active in the womb! We've got an athlete on our hands!

I am starting to feel much better, too. I honestly just didn't feel like myself for the past 8 weeks. I was constantly uninterested in the sight of food, but as soon as I ate, I always felt much better--so I was eating literally every 2 hours. I craved pizza and cheddar Goldfish and SunChips (??) and salad couldn't look less appealing. I was also really tired all the time, often falling asleep not long after dinner. Now I have worked out the diet kinks a bit more and feel much more energized, although my workouts aren't nearly as hard and intense as they were before. But that's okay--I am so amazed that my body is creating a new life that I have such a new respect for it. I am not worrying about my fitness level or endurance at this point. Instead, I am thinking about Clara. For some miraculous reason, Clay and I were entrusted with this little one, and I am not about to take her for granted. I am eager to experience the process of creating new life, loving her long before I ever meet her. She is already at the top of our priority list, and if I have learned anything from the incredible parents around us, I have a feeling this is where she will stay. Welcome to our sweet little family, Clara. We can't wait to meet you.