Happy Birthday, Joey and a LITTLE nursery work

Joey is 32 today! It is hard to believe that he was only 27 on our first date. Joey hates having his picture on the blog, so I won't put any birthday pictures up. Ralph, Andrew and I planned a scavenger hunt all over our house this morning for him to find his presents. He also took the day off of work, and now we are about to go out for a fancy dinner.

A couple of nights ago, I finally got motivated to work a little in our nursery. I washed all of the clothes that we had for Andrew. I used Dreft, and now the clothes smell like a sweet, baby boy. Out of the thousands of baskets of laundry that I will do for my children in my lifetime, here is the first:
I should have taken a "before" shot of this closet. Previously, it was our winter coats, halloween costumes, old bridesmaid dresses, etc. closet. It was where we put everything that didn't really belong in our closet. So, most of the time "working in the nursery" was really spent cleaning out the closet. Here is how it looks now.

To me, Andrew's socks are some of the cutest things that I have ever seen. They are just so tiny. Here is his sock drawer so far.

Congratulations, Steve and Olivia!

After 1 year and 8 months of dating, my brother asked Olivia to marry him on Friday night! I will start with the picture that everyone wants to see--THE RING! The ring was custom made for Olivia. One stone was my grandmother's, one stone was her grandmother's, and Steve bought one stone. I love how the stones represent the joining of the two families, while the new stone represents their new life together! Here is how it happened! Steve and Olivia met at the Wynlakes Country Club in Montgomery at a dinner. Therfore, Steve really wanted the proposal to take place in the room where he first met her. To get her to go to the country club, he told Olivia that they had to go to an event for his fraternity, Sigma Nu. The club worked so well with Steve and even created fake signs for the event.

Once Oliva walked into the room for what she thought was the Sigma Nu event, there were candles, rose petals, pictures, and music playing their song, "Georgia On My Mind." Joey and I both took the day off on Friday to pick up the rented candleabras (sp?), to spend the day with Steve, and to set the room up with my mom. Being the engineer that he is, any candle that was even SLIGHTLY leaning drove Joey crazy. Here he is making sure that everything is perfect.

My mom and Joey pose about an hour before Steve pops the question!

This was one of the many pictures set up on the tables. This one is my favorite.

Here is the finished room. It was beautiful in person, and the music playing made it even better. After taking this picture, we went to hide in the car to spy on them coming to the country club!

Here they are walking into the club. Olivia has on the orange dress, Steve has on the khaki suit, and I do not know who that is in the black suit.

After the proposal, Steve and Oliva went to her mom's house to show her the ring. Olivia did not know, but Steve had also planned a surprise engagement party. I did a terrible job of taking pictures at the party, and this is one of the few that I got. There was a professional photographer at both the engagement and the party, so I will get more soon.

Congratulations to the happy couple! We love you both, and we cannot wait for the big day!

A-Day Game (a week late:)

Joey took Cole to the A-Day game with my dad this year. Before he left our house, Cole kept telling us that he really needed his helmet to go to the game. Joey tried to explain to him that he was just going to be watching big boys play. Joey said that Cole did a great job at the game, but he was very frustrated that no one would let him in the game. I asked him if he had a good time and he kept saying, "Yes, but no one ever let me play on the field!" Ha ha...he's so cute, and becoming such a big boy!

23 weeks pregnant with a flipping, kicking, dancing, little man:)

We are now 23 weeks pregnant! I love feeling Andrew kick and move all of the time. He is a wild man! I thought it would hurt when he started really moving around, and maybe it will once he gets bigger. Right now, I think it is one the most amazing feelings in the world. It comforts me to know that he is moving and doing what he is supposed to be doing. Andrew is now larger than one pound. He is able to hear what is going on around him, and forming taste buds this week. His lungs are continuing to strengthen this week. He basically consumes my thoughts and the conversations that Joey and I have. We can't wait to meet our little man:)

Joey and I are both very busy with work. He is going to have to go to Germany sometime in the near future for an upcoming project. At least he will just be gone a week. Earlier in the month he was making me very nervous with talk of us MOVING to Germany for a couple of years. Thankfully, it looks like he will just be making a few trips. If I were not pregnant, I would be going with him. I took a huge test today for an additional teaching certification. I have been studying for it during all of my free time, so I am very excited to be finished with it. I think Joey is thrilled for me to not be worrying about it and unable to do anything with him because I was always studying. I will not find out the results of my test until around Thanksgiving. I kept telling myself that I would start working on the nursery as soon as I finished my test, so I guess that time has come! I will post pictures soon--right now it is just an empty room, so there is nothing to post. I just laugh when people ask me if we have finished the nursery....haven't even started!

As far as the pregnancy, I still feel WONDERFUL. I don't have any trouble sleeping. I feel full of energy, and excited about our future. I occasionally have painful leg cramps at night that I have read are very normal. My heartburn is much better, and only bothers me about once a week now. Overall, I can't complain! I have been diagnosed with marginal previa, also called placenta previa.

http://www.justmommies.com/articles/placenta_previa.shtml

Dr. Myers feels confident that it will resolve itself by the third trimester. If it does not, I will have to have a C-section, but we still have such a long way to go that I am not worrying about it. The good news is that now we get an ultrasound every month to check my progress, so I get to see my little man even more!

Nephews, First Baby Shower, & 22 Week "Bump"

We have been very busy the last several weeks. I am studying for a large test that I have coming up, and Joey has been working 12 hour days. Finally, I sat down and downloaded pictures, so I hope that you enjoy them. The first two are of John Marshall from Easter weekend in Wetumpka.

We had an Easter egg hunt for Cade and Cole at Aunt Debbie's house. Cole found the special egg!

My mom visited my classroom this week and read a story.

We had our first baby shower at my school.

I was overwhelmed by all of the wonderful presents.

Here are some of the great gifts that we received from my co-workers and family. I teach at the best school in the world!

My family in Virginia sent this robe, and we LOVE it!

Here is my bump at 22 weeks. I am now big enough that strangers come up to me and ask when I am due. I felt Andrew kick for the first time on Sunday night. I was laying in bed watching televison, and I felt four distinct kicks. Joey put his hand on my stomach, but Andrew did not kick anymore. I did not feel anything last night, but hopefully I will tonight!

Quick post from an undedicated blogger:(

Happy Easter!I will post soon about our last doctor's appointment. I have cute ultrasound pictures to put up as well. All of Andrew's organs were perfect, and he is very healthy...more to come later!