A Very Sick Hubby...

After a weekend of fun in New Orleans, I have a very sick hubby. It started yesterday with a sore throat, and has progressively gotten worse over the day. It sounds like a sinus infection, but with a fever (which worries me). I have him covered in blankets, resting in bed, with a cold wash cloth on his head in hopes of bringing down the fever (yes, despite the blankets). Poor Trav, he's been taking care of me for the last 7 months, it is definitely my turn to take care of him! And to top it off, even Raleigh doesn't look so well. I don't know if he is just feeling back for his Daddy, or if he is sick too. :( My sick boys.

On to happier & more upbeat news... Travis and I will be welcoming our niece Zoey on Wednesday! Craig and Ligia went to their doctor appointment today and the doctor said that he would induce Ligia on Wednesday (39 weeks)! We are so excited for Craig and Ligia and know that they are thrilled to meet their sweet little Zoey. I am so excited to become an Aunt for the first time... what an exciting week this will be! We are hoping that we will be able to stop by the hospital on the way home from work to see them. :)

A Quiet Weekend...

This weekend was a quiet one! Travis left on Friday afternoon to fly to New Orleans for his friend Keith's bachelor party. Being that New Orleans is one of my absolute favorite cities, I was very jealous! I knew that Travis and the boys would have a great time and it would be a fun weekend for them.

I took the opportunity to enjoy a weekend of pampering... a pedicure on Friday and getting my hair colored (with low lights) on Saturday. I spent some of Saturday afternoon shopping for some ADORABLE clothes for Blair at Carter's (in my defense, I had a coupon!) and meeting my whole family for lunch. On Saturday night, I met Cheryl and Courtney for dinner. We had a great time catching up (all three and a half hours of it!) and having some good, quality girl time.

Travis flew home today, and despite a delayed flight and turbulent weather, he made it home in one piece this afternoon. The "kids" and I really missed having him home!

In August, we are planning our first vacation with Blair - to New Orleans. It will be a big Almon family vacation to celebrate Conner's 21st birthday and I am so excited! I haven't been to New Orleans in a couple of years, and it will be so much to go with our family and the newest members. The only part I am not excited about, is the hot and humid August weather... but I am still looking forward to the trip.

I'm off to spend some time with my husband... did I mention how glad I am to have him home?!? :)

30 Week Update

This week I am at 30 weeks, which means that I've got 10 (or hopefully less!) weeks to go! Today I had another doctor appointment to check and see how everything is going. Blair's heart rate sounds great and she continues to be a very active little girl. At my next appointment (in two weeks), we'll get to have an ultrasound to check and see how our little girl is growing. Here are my latest 'stats':

• Total weight gain (since becoming pregnant): 18 pounds
• Waist: 37.5 inches
• Pregnancy cravings: nothing unusual... I eat cereal pretty frequently, I have now become dependent upon a morning glass of chocolate milk - which I lovingly call my "coffee," and pastries (croissants and blueberry muffins to be specific), which sound good on a daily basis.
• Other "fun" symptoms / side effects: I get dehydrated very easily, despite my constant intake of water - which leads to painful charlie horses in the middle of the night (no fun). I have also noticed that I have to move and walk around a lot more frequently, otherwise my whole midsection (pelvis) is very stiff and uncomfortable. This is especially noticeable while I am at work. Heartburn is a daily occurrence and has become the norm. I still eat pretty frequently (5 - 6 times a day) as to avoid nausea.
• Below is an updated belly picture...
  

I recently talked to my employer about my maternity leave... well, it's not really called maternity leave, but short term disability. Lovely. Anyways, my plan is to be home for about 6 weeks, then when I go back to work, I'll decrease my hours to 30 hours per week. This will enable me to get off around 2pm everyday and have time to spend with Blair and Travis (since Trav gets off work at 3pm). I think that this is a great way to balance working, motherhood, and being a wife. Luckily my boss was very understanding (and grateful I was still going to work 5 days a week) and gracious to afford me the reduced schedule. :)

Ok, so it's been over a week since Craig and Ligia's shower and I have pictures to post! Yay! Such a fun shower and so happy for the soon-to-be parents! FYI - the pictures are a little blurry because I took them off of Facebook!

Hope you are having a great week!

Our B... in 3D!!!

Today was a great day... we got to see our little B in a 3D / 4D ultrasound. My parents gave the ultrasound to Travis and I for an early birthday gift. WOW, such a neat experience. Seeing her on a normal 2D ultrasound is no where near as intense and special. The tech was able to tell us that she was already turned head down (which is good) and that she was a big baby! Haha, no suprise there.

She spent most of the session with her little arms and hands in front of her face. Travis and I say she has "performance anxiety." Everytime we try to let people feel her kick / move, she gets very still, though when it's just me and Blair, she wiggles and moves non-stop! Today was no exception. One arm/hand was blocking her face most of the time, but every peek we could get of her face was more amazing than the one before it. Just as all parents feel that their child /children are the most beautiful, perfect, etc - we are no different. She's absolutely beautiful... seeing her move, play with her toes, hide her face- leave us breathless. She's definitely got Travis' lips!

We have pictures, a DVD and a CD of all of the pictures (so we can make countless copies... check).

Doing the 3D/4D ultrasounds between 28-32 weeks is the optimal time because the baby has 'fattened' up and there is still enough amniotic fluid to produce a good image (before the baby gets too big). Being at 30 weeks was a great time for us to go, plus it really gives you a second wind to get through the last 10 or so weeks. It also makes me wish Blair was here RIGHT NOW! I'm 75% through with the pregnancy... she'll be here in no time!

Below are just some of the adorable pictures of our sweet little B.

This past Monday night was our last birthing class. As much as I enjoyed the classes, we will be glad to have our Monday nights free again. I found out that we can choose Blair's outfit for her hospital picture (you know, important stuff!) and we got a chance to tour Memorial Hermann's labor and delivery floor. Boy does seeing it all make it real (not that the last 30 weeks of changes and lovely pregnancy side effects didn't make it seem real)! It's really neat to think that in just a short amount of time we'll be heading to the hospital to welcome our little girl.

Speaking of little girls, our friends Brent and Shelly welcomed their little girl, Henley, this past Tuesday. Congratulations! We can't wait to meet her! :)

This past week we received the invitations to our showers. We are so very excited to see our friends and family and celebrate Blair's upcoming arrival! Thank you to our gracious friends and family for hosting!!!

Craig and Ligia's Shower!

This past weekend we co-hosted Craig and Ligia's baby shower at our house. We shopped, cleaned, and prepped the house (and food) on Friday. Saturday morning Travis and I got up and began getting everthing ready. Conner helped me prepare the food, while Mom got the decor all ready. Our theme was animals, to match Baby Zoey's room. Mom made an adorable cake and cupcakes, and Conner and I made the rest of the food; chicken salad on croissants, ham & cheese sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit salad, shrimp cocktail, mixed veggies with dip, and bagel chips and chive cream cheese dip. YUM.

Our close family and friends came to help us celebrate the impending arrival of Craig and Ligia's daughter Zoey. We are so lucky to have such amazing people come from all over to attend the shower. Allyson and Richard even drove in from San Antonio! A big thank you to everyone that came to the shower (and those that couldn't stay for the shower, but dropped off gifts!)!!!

Ligia has felt Zoey drop, so we think she'll be here soon, despite her due date being February 9th! Tomorrow Ligia goes back to the doctor, so we are hoping to get an update on how Zoey is doing!

Tomorrow, Travis is off work and he is taking me to lunch! Yay! Then we have our last childbirth class tomorrow night...

I will post picture from the shower in the next days (Mom and Ligia borrowed my camera for the pictures). :)

28 Weeks

I have been meaning to blog every day this week, but work has been crazy busy and I am usually in bed pretty early these days. On Tuesday, I went to bed at 7:30pm and slept until 6am. Yeah, it's like that.

Monday night we had our second childbirth class. Nothing too exciting (or graphic). We are looking forward to next week's class (which also happens to be the last class) because we get to tour the hospital where we will have Blair. Yay!

Tuesday we went to my doctor appointment... not much to report. Our appointments are pretty boring, but that is good! I have gained a total of 16 lbs (since becoming pregnant), which I think most of it is in the tummy. Blair continues to move a lot! She is always moving and reminding me (like I could forget!) that she is there. Travis and I continue to read to her at nights, which is a family activity. Raleigh and Kingsley even like the stories!

With only a couple more months until Blair's long awaited arrival, we've been busy getting her room ready, planning showers, and nesting. We put together her bookcase and have already started filling it with all kinds of books. The only "big" thing left to get is a glider, which we are hoping to purchase in the next couple of weeks. Then we'll need to actually hang things on her walls... but I am waiting to do that until we get all of the big furniture. I can't wait to post pictures, you are going to love it. Or in the very least, think it's cute! :)

This weekend we are hosting a shower for my brother Craig and his girlfriend Ligia at our home. Their daughter, Zoey, will be arriving VERY soon. We are so excited to not only see close family and friends this weekend, but to welcome our first niece! First time aunt/uncle and first time parents in 2011... what a year for Travis and I!

This past week we were hit with some cold weather! All week it has been in the 30's... luckily we haven't had any freezes (like last year), but it sure is cold in the mornings and at night! And I was just starting to get used to the mild winter...

Last Friday, LSU played in the Cotton Bowl vs Texas A&M. We started off a little shaky, but after the Aggies' adrenaline wore off, the Tigers handled business. We had a viewing party at Christopher's house and I am pretty sure the neighbors were none too pleased with the loud LSU fans. What can I say? We love LSU football... love purple, live gold!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us, so I need to get into bed. Will try and blog after Craig and Ligia's shower!

Childbirth Classes - 1 down, 2 to go!

Last night, Travis and I attended the first of three childbirth classes offered by our doctor's office. We go back next Monday night, then the Monday after that and we are done... pros at this whole childbirthing thing. Ok, that's a joke, but it's good to have a little preview of what's coming our way for labor and delivery. I will say that the video we watched documented three different women in their labor and delivery process. Nice, and I appreciated the variety of perspective, but all three women were going at it - sans epidural or any pain medication. While it was not entirely graphic, I felt that the only thing missing was a leather strap to bite down on. The group did get a chuckle when the Nurse Practitioner asked who was planning on delivering "naturally" and not one person raised their hand.

I've said it before and I will say it again... I am no one's hero. Bring on the epidural, pain meds, and vodka (for after the delivery, of course). I'm ready.

Enjoying this amazing thunderstorm right now... so grateful that I was able to get home from work before it started!

Oh! Just a quick note... the garage got a major clean-out this weekend! I did the supervising and Travis did the heavy leg work. The garage looks so much better and this weekend we are going to go through a bunch of boxes of paperbooks to donate to Katy Budget books. This will free up even more space... yay! :)

2011 - A new year... a new page!

Happy New Year!!! We hope y'all had a fun and safe NYE! Travis and celebrated with a NYE lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Tony Mandolas (who catered our wedding). Their food is soooo delicious. They are moving to a temporary location next week until their new location is finished. If you are ever looking for a great seafood restaurant to go to, definitely give them a try, we highly recommend them!

Travis and I spent the evening in the comforts of the Wright home, with scotch (for Travis) and an ice cold coke (for me)! Not the most exciting New Year's we've had, but nothing beats a night in with your best friend, no matter what day of year it is.

Our family has a long standing tradition of eating a "good luck" meal on New Year's Day... today was no exception. The menu included ham, macaroni and cheese, spinach (sauteed for me, a salad for Travis), black eyed peas and cornbread. Yes, clearly I was raised in the south (I would eat cornbread with just about every meal!)! Haha. We are hoping for another wonderful year of luck, prosperity, and good fortune (and a little wealth never hurts!).

Today we got around to taking down the Christmas tree and decorations... luckily it didn't take as long to take down, as they do to put up. Tomorrow, we plan on cleaning out the garage! Well, at least getting started on it. We have quite the task ahead of us, but with Craig and Ligia's baby shower only 2 weeks away (we are co-hosting at our home!), it needs to be done. We are looking forward welcoming our first niece, Zoey, in early February. I know Craig and Ligia are so excited and it will be wonderful for Blair to have a cousin so close in age, just as Travis's sister Loren and their cousin Katie are.

Two little granddaughters in just two months... my parents are thrilled (especially my Mom- who is looking forward to adding to the 'female' numbers... she is terribly outnumbered!). That being said, EVERYONE in our family is extrememly thrilled. Blair will be the first grandchild for Travis' parents, so it is a very exciting time for all of us.

86 days to go... time is beginning to pass much quicker as I enter into the third trimester. I am starting to understand why they say the second trimester is your honeymoon trimester. I am so lucky to have Travis who has made the experience much more comfortable and comforting. He participates in it all... nursery decisions, making sure I take care of myself and take my prenatals, never telling me "no"- no matter how ridiculous I sound, and going to all of my doctor appointments. I couldn't be more grateful for my wonderful husband and the amazing partner he is and that we are on this journey together.

Just wanted to remind you all that LSU (ranked 11th) plays in the Cotton Bowl against Texas A&M (ranked 17th) this Friday night (January 7th at 7pm). Let's GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous 2011; from our growing family to yours!!! :)