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Okay, I'm late posting this, but for those of you who don't know...

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My Favorite Things!

One of my favorite blogs, 320 Sycamore is doing a "My Favorite Things" week where she's having guest bloggers list their favorite things. I decided it sounded fun so I thought I'd list my favorite things on my blog! So here it goes! In no particular order....

1. Storytime Series Best Chairs - QUINN

I LOVE my chair (I also have the ottoman!) and as soon as I'm finished having kids, this chair is being recovered and moved to my living room. Seriously...my butt could sit in this chair all day and it would never complain. :) If you're looking for a nursery glider, it IS pricey - but it's totally worth every penny. These chairs are actually made by Lazy Boy so they'll last forever! Moving on...

2. Pottery Barn Simone Duvet

Last year for Christmas, Judd got me the duvet I'd wanted the entire year! I LOVE the colors in it. It's not as soft as I normally like my comforters - but I love it!

3. Nikon D40

I cannot say enough about my camera. I'm no photographer, not even amateur. But I do take pictures of Caroline, family, & random household things quite often. It takes wonderfully crisp pictures in auto mode and with some practice, even more wonderfully crisp pictures in manual mode. You can't beat the colors in your photos!

4. Blackberry Tour

My phone! I have had bad luck with phones in the past, and I've learned that on blackberry has the reliability that I need! I've had the Curve (which I loved!), the Flip (which wasn't my favorite), and now the Tour. The Tour is definitely my favorite! The full QWERTY keyboard is awesome! (The only downside is that on the older models, which I have, the roller ball doesn't actually click so you're constantly wondering if you pushed it hard enough!)

5. Diet Coke

Diet Coke from anywhere (except McDonalds....I hate theirs!) is a surefire way to put me in a better mood! Fountain ones are the best, but a super cold can diet coke poured over ice is also very refreshing!

6. My red dresser...

My mom & dad bought me that bedroom suite from a garage sale when I was moving to Starkville (GO STATE!) when Judd and I first started getting "serious." To say it was a STEAL would be a total understatement. The woman that sold it just wanted to get rid of it so she could redo her bedroom...her husband was not pumped at how much she sold it for! HA! It was painted Benjamin Moore Onyx when we moved to Cleveland, then when we moved out to the country last May, I decided I wanted it red! It adds SO much to my living room. It's my favorite piece in the room, for sure. I love decorating it with the different seasons! :)

7. Tresemme's Fresh Start Dry Shampoo

I adore this stuff. I have naturally oily hair...usually showing oil less than 24 hours after a washing. I've always been SO jealous of the people that didn't have to wash, dry, and style their hair every day. It's just too time consuming. Ha! It's like $5 in most stores and it's worth its weight in gold! :) It's also GREAT for adding volume to already washed hair. Just lift up the hair at the roots and spray! It's teasing in a bottle!

8. Crisco's recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crisco has recipes inside their cartons, and the best one in the box is this one. I use the butter flavor Crisco!


They're SO DARN GOOD. I might need some tonight...

9. DVR

We have DirecTV and DVR. DirecTV isn't necessarily a favorite, but my DVR IS! With a 1 year old (and another on the way) I can never sit and watch an entire show while it's actually playing. We record ALL of our shows, then watch them after Caroline goes to bed! It also means we can watch them days later if we just don't have time for TV some nights. Judd and I both love our DVR!

10. Nintendo Wii

We've had more family fun playing the Wii than I can count. We don't own lots of games, but when we play the ones we have, we always have a good time! MarioKart is probably our favorite. We also really like the sports games that came with the Wii like bowling and boxing. Super fun!! Also, you can download OLD TIMEY nintendo games like "Donkey Kong Country" and "Mario Brothers" and all those old faithfuls. :) Now they have the Xbox Kinect and the Playstation equivalent, but I don't know anything about them. Either way, the "get up and move" type video game thing is really fun and we love it!


Hope you enjoyed reading about my favorite things! Feel free to play along! :)

Update & Belly

I had my last ultrasound for this pregnancy on Wednesday morning. Praise God for a healthy baby! I was so relieved. I wasn't necessarily worried, but there's always that fear in the back of your mind that's preparing you for bad news. Fortunately, everything looks great! Amelia weighs approximately 3lbs 5oz, which is right on track. She's also head down, which I was pretty sure of due to the constant hiccups on my cervix (again, I'm so scientific.) We also FINALLY got a great shot in between her little legs so we know it's a girl now! HA! I was actually worried about that. Everytime we've looked, the cord has been between her legs or she's been positioned in a funny way that made it unsure. We're finally sure it's a girl!

The new tech at my doctor's office is SO sweet. She turned the 3D on the machine and looked at Amelia's face for a good 10 minutes! Seriously...the highlight of my week! I had a 3D u/s with Caroline, but Judd and I felt like that money could be better spent in other places this time. I'm so happy that the tech did that for me! It seems like I haven't really had time to get as excited this time...and seeing her sweet little face turned that whole view around! I can't wait to meet her! In the ultrasound, it really looks as if she has super chubby cheeks. Her mouth was open partly and she had her hand up by her face and wiggled her fingers throughout the whole thing. I was in paradise! :)

I'm having a lot more back pain with Amelia than I did with Caroline. Massage and heat seem to make it ease up a bit. The seat heater in my car is on even when it's 75 degrees outside just because I want the heat on my back and my butt. I know that there are just pains that come with pregnancy, but I had no idea that TAILBONE pain was one of them. I've had it for a few months, and it's officially gotten ridiculous. Hard chairs are the bain of my existence nowadays. I don't know what it feels like to break your tailbone, but it must be excruciating - because mine is just really sore and I'm so frustrated with it that I can't stand it! Ha! So to anyone who has broken their tailbone...you have my sympathy!

I'm going to be extremely brave and post my ACTUAL BELLY on here. I definitely feel larger this time than I did with Caroline. I feel now like I did at full term with her.




I'll be 31 weeks on Monday (which seems utterly unreal) and that just totally blows my mind. I'm nervous to be a mom to two kids under two years old! The closer it gets, the more nervous I get! More than anything though, I'm excited for Caroline and Amelia to have each other. I know I've said this a million times...but my sister keeps me sane! I hope Caroline and Amelia are as close as we are one day. :)

Well, I've put enough randomness in this post! We're anxiously awaiting the arrival of my niece Hannah! My guess is Saturday or Sunday. Judd thinks Audra will be at least 40 weeks. He's so encouraging. Whenever she gets here, we'll be so thrilled to have another little girl in the family! Y'all have a great weekend!!

50 Free Christmas Cards to Bloggers!

So I'm super pumped about my Christmas cards this year. For starters, Shutterfly is giving away 50 free cards to bloggers!! Um, I'll totally take it - especially since I was going to be getting them anyway. Last year I didn't really go for the Christmas look on my cards because we used a picture from Thanksgiving and the oranges in our picture really clashed with the red and green on the cards. I figure we'll do the same thing this year, but I'm going to pick out my favorites from all categories. I like The Family Ornaments, The Family Wall, Peppermint Bliss.

Those are my favorites...but they'll all depend on whether or not we get more than 1 good picture to put on the cards! HA! I can't believe that Christmas is around the corner. I think it's 47 days away! HOW CRAZY?! Anyway, if you want to participate in their 50 free cards (for bloggers only!) then click here!

And don't be a scrooge...Christmas is getting close!

Almost 30 Week Belly Pic!

I'll be 30 weeks on Monday! :) I'm definitely feeling bigger this pregnancy than I did last pregnancy!


29 1/2 wks with Caroline!


29 1/2 wks with Amelia!

Nursery Updates!

So after my rant the other day about how I've done nothing for Amelia's room, I motivated myself enough to get something done! Judd had Tuesday off of work because it rained so much, so we spent most of the day putting stuff in the attic, taking the guest bed down, and moving furniture. When we finally moved all the "baby" furniture from Caroline's room, she wasn't left with very much! We borrowed an extra crib, so we had to swap them out and to get the white one through the doorway it had to be taken apart. Anyway...poor Amelia has a blue nursery. But the guest room was already blue, and neither of us felt like painting it. Isn't that sad? Even when I thought about painting it, I couldn't come up with a color that I liked. So...here it is!



(We'll be using a breathable bumper for the first few months, but I've got the pretty one on there for now!)


We're hoping to build a bookcase instead of the cubby thing and it will go further down the wall. (It won't fit under the window.)


This is the bookcase we're hoping to build. The directions are on Knock Off Wood and
it would give us more space for books and knick knacks. :)


A before shot of the room. We had already taken the bed down.

Now the queen bed (which had planned to store) is in Caroline's room turned sideways, like a daybed. Her room was so bare without the chair, ottoman, diaper changer, and cubby thing that we HAD to put something in there! I'm happy though, because I really hated losing my guest bed! We're planning on adding some things to Caroline's room soon. Amelia's room still needs things on the wall and I'm covering her lampshades in a different fabric so there is still work that needs to be done in her room. But we've at least made a huge dent!

BUSY!

We've obviously been enjoying our time with Judd because we have now been out of town for 5 weekends in a row! Most of the trips were because we were shopping for a new car! My car was starting to feel very cramped when we traveled home so we decided to look for something with a little more trunk space. After WEEKS of searching and headaches, we finally found one! We're now the proud owners of a Ford Expedition. It has lots of cool features and when the 3rd row seat is down flat, there is a TON of storage!! The gas mileage has been even better than we expected. We're so happy with our new car!



We also went to our niece, Davis' birthday party. It was at Holley Farm in the Tupelo area. Caroline had an absolute BLAST. She played and played to her heart's content. She adored the "slide" and forced poor Judd to walk up that hill about 50 times. He got his exercise while I...umm...snapped pictures at the bottom. Hey, I'm pregnant! HA!


The birthday girl!



TIRED girl at the end of the birthday party!

Besides that, Judd has been working and getting off around 6pm...you can close your mouth! It's been wonderful! He's also had the last couple of Saturdays off. I haven't known what to do with myself. HA! It's been so great having him at home with us so much. They are only going to work about 2 more weeks and then they'll be off until JANUARY!!!! That's great since we haven't done one.single.thing. for this new baby girl coming into our family. We're talking, the room is still a junk room. Not painted, not even a color picked out. Nothing. I've got to get started!

I'm 29 weeks today and feeling pretty great except for this recent back and pelvis pain. Other than that, I feel great! My sweet family threw us a family baby shower and Amelia got lots of sweet outfits to call her own. She also got a BEAUTIFUL handknit baby blanket and booties made by my wonderful Deda. Such a precious keepsake. Caroline has a pink one, now Amelia has a white one with pink ribbon. SO soft and something to be cherished! Amelia got so many cute outfits!! So exciting to think that we're adding another baby to our family.

I've gotten 6 Christmas presents purchased so far...and I'm super proud of that. I'm never this far ahead! My tree is going up in 2 weeks...I do not care if it is early! Don't be a scrooge. :) Well I guess that's all the news I have!

We have our last ultrasound next Wednesday....pray for a healthy baby...preferably one that's still a girl since we just got lots more pink! ;) Have a blessed day!