Baby Essentials

Hope these last few HOT days have been treating you well :) Glad we all made it through the "rapture" yesterday - crazy people, huh!? Just makes me laugh.

Well, I had a doctor's appointment Thursday and my updates are that Blake's heartbeat was 156, he's constantly moving around it seems, and I'm up 13 pounds since the beginning of my pregnancy. Praying that I can keep it under 25 pounds all together with 15-16 weeks left. Might be wishful thinking, but it's my goal!

We've made a few purchases this past week that I am beyond excited to receive in the mail/pick up! Let me share a few of them for all the other mommies (and mommies to be) out there ...

1. Moby Wrap - I had been struggling with picking a somewhat fashionable, comfortable, and affordable baby carrier. For all you baby Bjorn lovers (including my awesome sister), I just cannot bring myself to spend $100 on something that doesn't even look that great. It's not UGLY or anything, I just don't love it. I've always seen these Moby Wraps (pictured below) and they look so cute and comfortable. Only thing that stinks about them is that you have to buy them directly from their online store or in specialty shops (not big name places that I could add one to my registry). Needless to say, I'm excited about trying the different options out when it gets here next week!

Of course I went with the black! It has to match everything :)
http://www.mobywrap.com/
Their website explains all the different options for different carrying options that can be done with the wrap - according to age.

2. Crib!
My mom and dad gifted us this beautiful crib! We will be using another bedding set, but this 4-in-1 crib can be converted into a toddler bed, and then a full sized bed later in life which makes us even happier to not have to make another bed purchase for a while.

Babies R Us should be calling us this week to go pick it up :) Thanks again, Mom and Dad!!!

3. His bedding :)
I was told to be patient and wait until showers to get his bedding set, but I am really impatient really want his nursery to be somewhat put together in the next couple weeks. I'm not entirely fond of room decorations/bedding that scream a baby or child lives here (i.e., primary colors, planes, trains, boats, ABCs, sport themes, cartoon characters, or gender specific colors). I want the room to look chic and remain a color that we will not be forced to change if we end up transitioning the nursery to an office or guest room someday.

Here is the set we decided on ...

We only purchased the 4 piece set, which includes the bumper, dust ruffle, fitted sheet, and quilt. I will sit on my hands and wait for any other accessories in the collection :)

4. Maternity scrubs
I had thought that I would make due with what I had, but wearing tops without pockets is really driving me crazy. I splurged on one set of scrubs by Cherokee called flex-i-bles which I hope will be really comfortable (I ordered them on Amazon).
http://www.scrubshopper.com/products/1809-flex-i-bles-maternity-wrap-top I'm sure I won't look as fabulous as the model in the picture does, but Blake is excited about not being squished in my Grey's anatomy tops anymore :)

That concludes my shopping spree for the week! Hope everyone has a blessed week!

22 Weeks :)

I was going to try to update every 4 weeks (so as to not bore my readers with weekly updates on the pregnancy), but there have been a few big changes already since the last update!
*How far along?: 22 Weeks 2 Days
*How big is baby?: Papaya
*Weight Gain: Haven't unloaded the scale from the moving box yet!
*Sex: Sweet baby boy!
*Maternity clothes: Still loving my maternity jean capris!
*Stretch marks: No new ones!
*Sleep: I really like to sleep on my back (I know I'm not supposed to) or my left side
*Symptoms: Sleepy still and let's just leave it at - Blake is definitely not going to go hungry when he gets here!
*Movement: He is moving quite a bit now, early in the morning or later in the evening I can get him to kick my hand back when I press on my tummy :)
*Food cravings: Really anything, still not digging the super sweet stuff!
*Labor signs: Nope
*Belly button in or out: In
*What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy!
*What I'm looking forward to: Decorating his nursery and getting everything unloaded and our house organized! And 4 months from now, he will be in our arms!!!

Almost Done Moving!

I just spent about 6 hours at our old place scrubbing tubs and packing the last boxes of random junk while David was at work. Have I mentioned how much I hate moving? I cannot tell you how we are going to get the storage unit and the apartment moved by Friday before our walk-through when David works every day this week. Looking forward to this all being in hind sight, so I can start organizing stuff and starting on Blake's nursery :)

On that note, I'm sore all over from all the physical activity today - so I'm gonna go relax in the tub! Have a great night everyone!

Brooke

Carrie Grier Lowe 08-02-1984 to 04-27-2011

Many of you saw my facebook post a few days ago when I found out that one of my classmates from Samford lost her life in the tornado a few days ago. Carrie and another classmate, Jennifer Long, were my two closest friends in nursing school - without a doubt. Those girls meant more to me than either one of them probably ever knew. Through the years and distance between states, we had lost touch since I left Samford in 2005 to come back to Atlanta.

I came across an article in the AJC (Atlanta Journal Constitution) on those that lost their lives in the twister. Although it is painfully descriptive, I believe that we should never forget how terrible that day must have been for her. Here is the portion of the article with her story ...

"Back in Pleasant Grove, Jonathan Ford watched from atop the cab of his pickup as his neighbors slowly climbed from the rubble in the silent landscape.

Then, from where Curt and Crystal Grier's house had once stood, two doors down, a voice pleaded: "Please help! Please help! We've got babies stuck!"

The Grier's and brother-in-law Josh Lowe had escaped from the crawl space under their collapsed porch. But the couple's two children, Curt's sister, Carrie Lowe, and her newborn baby, Tucker, remained trapped. All that was left of the house was the brick front steps. Slowly, the men extracted the screaming children from the rubble. But when Jonathan Ford went to help dig, and he reached for Carrie Lowe, hunched over her son's car seat, her body was cold to the touch. The baby was alive, in the seat.

Later, after the rescue crews had come to take away her body, friends marked the spot with a red rag tied to a splintered piece of wood and placed a Bible found in the wreckage on the steps."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42841063/ns/weather

I knew that she had lost her life and that a room collapsed on her, but to read the details about her clutching to her baby in her last moments brings me to tears each time I read it. Selfishly, I think about myself as a soon to be mother and only a month younger than Carrie. I cannot IMAGINE how scared Carrie must have been that day for herself, and her family.

My heart goes out to you, Josh (Carrie's husband), and almost 8 week old, Tucker. Carrie was an AMAZING woman and I am deeply sorry for your loss! May the Lord be with you and surround you and your family during this time. We love you :)

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To look her up on facebook - her name is "Carrie Grier Lowe" from Birmingham, Alabama. Her profile picture is a beautiful black and white photo of her new family.