More Gifts for Jackson

And we have received more gifts for Jackson - pictures are below.  Tyler's girlfriend, Jamie gave us more clothes.  I was able to find a great deal of a shelf/organizer at Dirt Cheap in Atmore.  Beth stuck to her word and threw in another item of "red and white" :) along with a really cute bib.  Aunt Toot gave us an outfit, onesies, and a Winnie the Pooh gift set.  I purchased a baby book of sorts today.  My friend Carla in Thomasville (whom I met on the last mission trip to Guatemala) gave us a car seat headrest and a cute lullaby glow worm.  I saved telling about her for last because I have a short story to share.  We arrived home this evening from shopping to find a package at our front door.  I told Ray and I was not expecting anything.  So, I opened the box only to discover the gifts from Carla with a sweet note that says, "I would not take anything for God giving me my son to raise and enjoy.  There is a special bond between a son and his mom.  Enjoy him and love him.  Love, Carla."  I was so excited about the gift and touched by her note and her thinking of us.  Another funny part of this story is that we were in Babies R Us today and I found Ray looking in the toy section (of course) and he had the lullaby glowworm in his hand.  He turned to me and said, "Would it be silly to put this on our registry list?"  I told him that it was already on there.  Little did we know that it was sitting at home on our front step waiting for our return home this afternoon.  Too cool huh?!

Spring Break 2010

Well, spring break 2010 is almost drawing to a close.  For the first time since Ray and I married, I have spent most of the break at home.  I did however get to travel to Atmore and do some visiting.  While in Atmore, Mary Kay and I went to the cooking school at the Wind Creek Casino with mother and Aunt Katie.  Our menu was French Bistro.  I have included pictures below.  That Sunday, Mary Kay and I attended church at First Baptist Goodway and spent most of the day with two of my favorite people, Robert and Cheryl Knowles.  I had not been able to visit with them in probably two years (in other words, too long).  We attended their church service, at lunch with them, and then returned to their home and visited for a couple of hours.  It takes time to do all that catching up.  On Monday, Mary Kay and I had dinner with my friend, mentor, and high school business teacher, Donna Sue Smith.  We spent several hours in the Chili's catching up.  That has become our place to eat when we get together.  I was glad that I got to spend some time visiting with her.  We returned home on Tuesday and I have been spending time with Ray and Queenie getting things done around the house.

Jackson's Progress

Well, another doctor's visit today.  What I didn't tell you about the last visit is that she told me I could slow down on the weight gain.  I was a little befuddled by the comment but didn't ask how much weight I had gained at the point.  So, I agreed and went on with the day.  At my doctor's visit today she told me I had lost 2 pounds...pretty cool huh - Pepcid AC has taken away the urge to eat at crazy times.  Anyway, she measured to see how big Jackson has gotten.  She told me that in the pregnancy we are at 32 weeks but according to his size at the moment, he is at 34 1/2 weeks.  So, my prediction still stands that he is going to be an April baby rather than a May baby.  Now things could change in the coming weeks but I will continue to stand by my prediction!!

Jackson's Newest Gift!

Jackson's Grand-papa came and spent the night with us last night.  We had dinner and visited for a little while before calling it a day.  Both Ray and I have caught whatever this congestion stuff is that is going around so I don't know how much company we really were to him last night.  But I was certainly nice to visit since we didn't get to travel to Louisiana for his birthday this weekend.  Just a little far to travel for a pregnant lady at this time.  We hope to travel over during the summer.  So, during my dad's visit, he brought Jackson a stroller/car seat combo.  That is his and Marguerite's gift to us for Jackson.  It is the exact one that I picked out at Babies R' Us.  I am pretty excited about it.  We laughed because the box it came in was extremely heavy.  And the thought was that I would certainly get a good workout dealing with that that thing on a regular basis.  It was also quite funny watching Ray and my dad try to figure out how to put the stroller together (without looking at the instruction first :) ).  Ray asked, "How many Auburn degrees does it take to put together a baby stroller?"  We laughed and decided between the three of us it took almost 5 college degrees to get the things rolling.  We got it all together and Queenie was able to inspect the carseat but didn't seem interested in going for a drive in the stroller.

The Nursery...in Progress.....

Pictures are below.

We picked up the furniture for Jackson's room over the weekend.  Ray put the crib together while I was away at a conference on Saturday.  Yes, the cabinet started out as red but we turned out nose up at the color so it was quickly changed to blue.  Don't really know what else we are going to do at this point.  It comes together in sections at different times.  We still have a rug to buy, curtains to hang, and many other things before calling the nursery complete.  Also, we let Queenie check out his crib.  We are trying to allow her to check out everything we bring into the house for Jackson.  She was pretty funny.

More Gifts for Little Jackson

I have included some pictures of the things that my brother's girlfriend, Jamie brought for Jackson two weekends ago.  She was so sweet to bring several outfits, a blanket, shoes, and hangers.  We appreciate her thinking about us.  Also, there is a picture of a sippy cup with Roll Tide on it...now I just don't know what to say about that.  Jackson's Aunt and godmother, Beth, from work left that thing in my box at work one day.  She is a huge Alabama fan - which many of my family members will appreciate - and is attempting to corrupt my innocent child...just kidding!  I am afraid to see what other "red and white" items are going to appear at our house for Jackson...I will just have to make sure he as more orange and blue items to wear!  Nonetheless, I certainly enjoyed the laugh and I know when all the other dishes are dirty in the house, we might have to bring that one out for him to use...:)!

Going on Record....

Jackson's arrival date is May 9 - which is Mother's Day this year.  However, those of you that have had children or know someone who has, recognize that little ones don't always arrive right on target.  They can decide to enter the world early or a little late.  However, I would like to go on record saying that I think that Jackson will arrive on or just before April 30.  I don't think he is going to be a May baby.  I think he is going to decide he wants to be a April baby.  Just wanted to go on record ahead of time.  Now all we have to do is wait to see if my prediction is correct.

Doctor Visit and Indigestion

Well, I am sure that not all of you want to read about my doctor visits and other such not so exciting information but I am including that sort of information so I can remember it years from now.  So, we went to our doctor visit yesterday - which is becoming a routine in my life - and will become more so of a routine now that the visits will come 2 weeks apart instead of 4.  I don't mind so much because everyone is so nice and I really don't have to wait as long as some people do to see their doctor.  On this visit, I had to finally complain to my doctor.  I have been dealing with the leg cramps and the indigestion without much trouble so I haven't mentioned any of it to my doctor.  Well, I had reached my limit on the indigestion that starts after lunch and continues until around 4 am.  She told me what over the counter medicine to get since Tums really weren't doing the job.  And I have to tell you that I took one before dinner last night and I am considering Pepcid AC my miracle drug at the moment.  Boy did that stuff kick in and start to work.  My doctor told me I could take up to 2 a day but I am going to try to survive on just one a day.  Outside of that, the doctor visit went fine.  So, I will be going back in two weeks.  We are approaching our 10th week and counting down.

Special Delivery

I came home from work today to find a package that arrived from South Florida.  Our friends, Chris, Brandy & Cole sent Jackson two outfits.  I have included a picture of the contents of the box.  The outfits are too cute!  Also in the box was a sweet note and two pictures.  The funny part about this package was that there was a gift in the box for Queenie...that would be the zebra you see in the picture.  Queenie went absolutely crazy when she heard it.  She enjoyed tearing off the tissue paper it was wrapped in.  And then she went crazy.  The picture of her is not very clear because I could not get her to be still.  What a huge surprise to come home to today.

Just a quick history for you - Brandy and I became friends when we were in the 2nd grade after my family had move to Lake Wales, Florida.  We lived in Lake Wales for about 18 months before we returned to Atmore.  Brandy and I wrote letters from the time we were in 4th grade until we were seniors in high school.  I was able to travel to South Florida and attend her high school graduation but we lost touch shortly there after for about a year or two.  You know sometimes that is what distance does to friendships if you aren't careful.  Well, we eventually got back in touch and since that time, Ray and I have been able to visit with them when on vacation to Orlando.  Last May, Ray and I sent two nights at Stone Mountain with them while they were on their family vacation.  It has been so much fun to get back in touch over the past few years and I look forward to more vacations that we can take together in the future.  Their package arrived today with the news that they would not get to visit with us this summer while on vacation.  It is sad to watch the economy put a damper on things as simple as family and friend vacations.  Hopefully we will be able to get together with them very soon.  Even across the miles, we appreciate their friendship and their thoughtfulness.

And A Shopping We Will Go....First Official Baby Purchase!

For those of you that know me well, you know that I am not a very good shopper.  I really only enjoy shopping for electronics and cars.  Outside of that, I would prefer to get someone else to do the shopping for me.  So, this past weekend my mother and I set out to shop for our little Baby Jack.  We were determined to set up baby registries at Target and Babies R' Us.  Well, Target was an easy place to start because they do have an electronics department - no I didn't put my wish list of DVDs on the baby registry but I could at least divert from the shopping experience and find some sanity in the electronics department.  So, we got a few things on our list at Target but I still have to go online and possibly add to the list.

Then the day of shopping really got started when we finally found a parking place at Babies R' Us and made our way into the store.  I have a feeling that Saturday is not the best day of the week to visit that zoo...I mean store.  We should have known we were in trouble when we saw all the shopping ladies' family members piled in the area where the gliders were.  All that was missing was the big screen tv and a bar...now that would have completed the picture.  Anyway, mother and I fought our way through the idle buggies in the aisles and the know-it-all mothers giving out their free advice to their new mother friends as to what purchase to make and made our way around the store attempting to make some sort of sounds decisions.  We managed to put about 12 things on the list and I gave up and said I would either go back during the week or do it online.  Thanks to Amanda and her helpful list of favorite items, we were able to get a good start on things.  We did manage to purchase a crib and dresser/changing table to match.  That will probably be the only matching furniture in there.  I am including a picture that I would of the crib but it isn't our crib and bedding.  The crib will not arrive for another week or so.  When we get it put together and set up I will definitely be posting more pictures.  We toyed back and forth with what to do about a crib - we had been offered a crib from a friend, my mother still has my crib from when I was a child, etc. - but we decided to go with purchasing one on our own.  We got a pretty good deal on the one we bought.  So, here we are.  We have made our first official purchase.  I will also be posting pictures soon of some of the clothes and other items we received over the weekend from my brother's girlfriend, Jamie.  Quite a productive weekend if I might add.