30 down 10 (or so) to go...

Last weekend my good friend, Morgan, and her husband, Brandon came to Nashville for a short visit before heading to Gatlinburg for Spring Break. I hadn't seen her in months, so it was great getting to spend some time with her and have a shopping buddy for the day! Unfortunately, I didn't think until after the fact that I didn't take any pictures. I was so mad because I had intended to at least take one of Morgan and me. There's always next time!

The rest of the week was EXTREMELY tiring. I had a substitute with me all week which meant I did most of the work. And being in a small room full of 8 one and a half to two year olds, that can really stress a pregnant lady out! This past week I really started feeling the backaches and leg pains from bending down and standing up constantly throughout the day, which made it even worse having a sub. People began noticing at the end of the day that I was not walking normally. I was doing a lot more wobbling down the hallways than normal! I've also really started feeling the weight. It's definitely strange to feel so much heavier and off balance than normal.

This weekend we focused on refinishing the dresser for the nursery. This has been a very long process and taken a lot more time than we had expected. However, people tell us that we will always be so proud of it when it is finished. And I'm just excited to be able to bring the style of furniture I want into the room and and it will have been something we did on our own. It's taking so long because we work on it as much as we can stand to on the weekends because when I get home at night during the week it's the last thing I want to do. This weekend we were able to get a majority of it completed. My goal was to finish the entire thing because I am so sick of thinking about it! It's on my mind all of the time. We worked on it until 1:30 in the morning Friday night and then I had a dream about it. I'm just ready for it to be finished because I don't know how much longer I can handle sitting in the floor for longer amounts of time and also the nursery is a disaster zone! Blankets, painting/staining/sanding equipment, and the dresser are consuming the entire room. I'm ready to be able to have the crib assembled which has been sitting in our living room floor still in it's packaging for a few weeks now. So by the time I write my next post, the dresser better be finished or it may not get finished!

This Wednesday is our next doctor's appointment. I can't believe I'm at 30 weeks! It's a scary feeling when you know what is going on every weekend between now and the baby's arrival. And this coming weekend is my Memphis baby shower! I'm so excited! I'm so thankful to be able to have a shower in Memphis since this is where my past is and so many people I care so much about and grew up with are going to be there. I can't wait to see family and "old" friends. It is going to be so much fun! So, next time I will have way more pictures to post and much more entertaining things to write about, but until then here are my belly pics from the past couple of weeks.

~29 Weeks~

~30 Weeks~

28 Weeks

Not much going on around here. This past weekend I reached the 7 month mark and we got our nursery painted (thanks to my dad), so that was really exciting! But it is all still a work in progress, so you will have to hold your horses for pics of Ainsley's room! (There's really not much to see quite yet.) I really just wanted to get these new belly pics up from this past Saturday. It's 9:30 and I'm so tired. It's like the first trimester all over again except Ainsley has grown a lot since then and is taking up more space meaning less "good" night's comfortable sleep for me! Not to mention the head congestion, headaches, coughing thing I have going on right now. So, I've been going to bed pretty early knowing I will be up quite a bit throughout the night. Just getting prepared for what's to come I guess! Goodnight y'all.

7 months, 28 weeks, or 81 days to go

Okay, so here is an early nursery preview...

Mommy Helpline

For all of you Mommy's and Mommy's to Be out there your opinions are needed. I am pretty much done with registering, but there are some items I am unsure of what exactly to get. So if you have a second, I would appreciate you leaving a comment and sharing your recommendations on the things listed below. This would really help me out a lot with making decisions on the items we are still needing to either buy or register for. If there is one thing that has stressed me out the last several weeks it is choosing the right things for Ainsley. So relieve me of this stress, please!

1. Changing table pad- What brand is yours and where did you get it from?

2. Humidifier- Do you have one? Would you recommend getting one?

3. Bottles- What works (or worked) best for your baby?

4. Breast Pump- Okay I know NOTHING about this. They are kinda intimidating...Haha.

What kind did you get? What brand is it? Where did you get it? Do you like/not like it?

5. Crib mattress- This one is probably the most important to me.

What brand is it? Where did you get it? Would you recommend it?

6. Baby monitor- This one is the one I've gone back and forth with the most. I have always

thought I want one that has a video monitor. But they are pretty expensive.

What do you have? Do you like it or wish you had gone with a different one? Is it worth

getting one with video?

7. Pediatrician- We have it narrowed down to 2, both at the same practice. (Thanks Jenny

and Natalie!) But I have no idea what questions to ask when we go interview them pre-baby

to make our decision.

What questions did you ask when you went?

Are there any questions you did not think of to ask at the time, but wish you had?

Okay, I think this about sums it up. Answer any of the questions you can or have opinions about. I am already looking forward to seeing what everyone has to say. Thanks!

*Don't miss my post below. It's new too! *

Dr. Visit and 26/27 Weeks

I never did a 26 week post...surprise surprise. But I really didn't have that much to say! I had a doctor's appointment this past Wednesday, so I figure I'd wait to share about that. I did the "dreaded" glucose test at this last visit. And honestly it really wasn't that bad. Luckily, they had the orange and fruit punch flavors of drinks to choose from and I heard recently the fruit punch is better so that's what I went with. And it really wasn't all that bad. The worst parts were having to drink it pretty quickly and then have my blood drawn. I made Brantley go to hold my hand! What I didn't know is that you don't get the results back right away. I was expecting to know before I left if I have Gestational Diabetes or not. They told me I should hear something by Friday, but that no phone call is good news. And fortunately I never received a phone call so I guess I'm in the clear. Other than that my blood pressure is good, Ainsley's heart rate was between 150-155, and I've gained a total of 13 pounds (7 lbs. since my last appointment four weeks ago). I'm now really starting to feel the baby weight take over! Everything is looking great. I'm fortunate to have had a really easy going pregnancy thus far which makes me nervous of what's to come. Also in the past couple of weeks I've been feeling Ainsley move more (still mostly at night) and I've even been seeing her move some. Weird but wonderful all at the same time. When it starts happening I just want to sit there and stare at my stomach not knowing when it will happen again. But it's just so amazing! In other (still baby related news) we FINALLY got started on the nursery this weekend. I was so excited because I have been creating images in my mind of how I want it to look for a while now and it is finally on it's way. This weekend Brantley and I refinished an end table that is going to go next to the glider. Also our crib came in so we went to pick that up. Next weekend we will paint the room (well my dad is going to help out with that because he is an "expert painter") and start refinishing a dresser that we will use as the changing table. I will update you with pics of the nursery once I feel most of it is complete. I would rather wait until you can see the final product!

26 Weeks

27 Weeks

100 Days

I just got on to check on my blog and noticed my ticker says, "You have (about) 100 days to go!" I just had to point this out (mainly for myself). I can't decide which sounds shorter: I am 26 weeks, I am 6 and 1/2 months, or I have 100 days left to go? Hmmm...

Sorry for the boring post, but I just got a little excited when I saw this.

Well, that's all folks!

What's in a name?

It's another snowy day here in Nashville. I wasn't really expecting it to turn into anything when I went to bed last night. But I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up, looked out the window, checked my email, and saw in the subject line from the school director: We will be closed today. It has been nice to have another day to recoup from wedding weekend (which I will update you with later).

Onto the title of this post:

Well, Brantley and I have pretty much decided on a name for our precious baby girl! As I have been telling A LOT of people this past week, "We are 99.9999999% sure." Haha. It's been hard not to tell anyone who has asked because we weren't necessarily keeping it a secret, but I also wasn't out there just "telling the world" either. You see, I get extremely nervous making something so permanent, well, so permanent. But we have been using this name ever since we found out we are having a girl back in December and it's pretty much stuck. So ladies (and any of you gentlemen that happen to be reading this) the name we have chosen for our daughter is...

~Ainsley Sue Pearce~

Questions we have been getting when telling people this name.

Well, for those who have never heard the name "Ainsley" before they tend repeat it back to make sure they understand what we are saying! Haha. It's okay. When we put this name on our list 6 months ago, or so, I kinda thought it was a tad bit difficult to pronounce. But now I don't think twice about it and it just seems right.

Where did we get the name "Ainsley" from?

Believe it or not, this was the only one Brantley came up with that I actually really liked and we added it to our short list of names. He got it from one of his favorite television shows (one I don't care anything about). He really liked the name and asked me what I thought. I know of one other "Ainsley" and a few people I have told have also known of someone with this name. We wanted something that sounded traditional but was uncommon and this seemed to fit. We also think it flows better with the middle name we had already chosen. I felt when putting these two names together it made it sound somewhat southern and girly compared to our other choices of names and I really liked this. So, this is the name we chose to start calling baby girl and it has stuck!

*Take note that she is NOT being named after someone from a t.v. show. Brantley just heard the name when watching it and really liked it and asked me what I thought.

What about the middle name?

This was a given to Brantley and me. We always said if we have a girl we will use the name "Sue" in some way. For those of you who do not know, Brantley's mom passed away when he was 9 years old. Fortunately, over the years, he has been able to keep a good close relationship with her side of the family who lives out in West Texas. And because of that I have also been able to get to know them over the last 8 years we have been together. They hold such a special place in our hearts. So we decided to use "Sue" as her middle name in honor of both Brantley's mother, "Suzan", and his grandmother (Suzan's mom), "Sue". I was so happy to be able to give our little girl a name that is so special and meaningful. It's just perfect!

So, there you have it! We are so excited to meet this little girl of ours. Now that wedding weekend has come to an end, we are going to start focusing on getting what we need done around here to prepare for Ainsley. I've already gotten the crib bedding, but am waiting until I get a lot more done to post pics of all of it as it comes together. I have pretty much planned out the next 15 weekends (assuming she gives us 15 more weeks) to make sure everything gets done. But I am looking forward to all of it! As I'm finishing up this post I am feeling her start to squirm around. I love feeling her move more now and it's just going to become even more often in the coming weeks! So far this is definitely the most wonderful part of pregnancy. Hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!

25 Weeks

25 Weeks

Wedding Shower and 6 Months

Last Saturday was Michael and Emily's wedding shower in Memphis. (Also, I hit my 6 month mark that day! Whoohoo!) The shower turned out really great thanks to family and good friends who put it together for them. Since Memphis is where Michael and I grew up it was nice to be able to have a shower for them there with the people we care about have known for so many years. They showed how much they care for Michael showering he and Emily with so many wonderful things they can use to start a new home and life together. It was actually kind of overwhelming for us because most of the people that came we have not seen in a long time. So to try to talk to everyone was kind of difficult, but it was so great to see their faces. Thank you to all that helped with giving Michael and Emily such a nice day. Up next: Wedding Day! Only 2 days away. I cannot believe it! I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow and then an even busier, but wondeful, day Saturday. Next post my little brother will be a married man and I will have so much to share! Until then...

Happy Bride and Groom

Kelsey, Me (24 weeks), and Emily

What a great idea!

Mmmm....

Snack time!

What's inside!?

These two gotta have good coffee mugs.

You know you went to Highland St. C of C when...you get one of these!

Mine is hanging in my dining room.

One of their place settings and their toasting glasses for the wedding.

Emily had an iPhoto book made for Michael as a gift from when they got engaged. They also made one to include their engagement pictures. They turned out so good!

The Gifts