Erin and Mark's Wedding!!!

This past weekend was Erin and Mark's wedding in Nashville so get ready for lots of pictures. As usual, I took WAY too many and probably posted too many but I don't want to forget it all!
Thursday night began with Erin's bachelorette party/shower...Nothing too crazy though. She got plenty of cute pajamas!

LeighAnn and Laura
Some of the Nashville girls who threw the shower.
Friday night was the rehearsal...and here are Erin and Mark rehearsing!
Dinner at Monell's afterwards....Nate and Erin waiting to eat the amazing food. Monell's is this cute family-style restaurant in an old brick house-type building. Basically big dining rooms with fireplaces and huge tables...very nice!
Erin, Laura and me at the rehearsal dinner.
Erin greeting a few of the guests as they arrived.
Me, Mary and Erin on the patio before dinner...trying not to freeze as it was a bit cool out.
Mary brought Angelina, her 6-week old little girl!
Laura and Josh at dinner
I believe in this photo Monique was exclaiming "I have arrived back in the South!" after a plate of fried chicken arrived in front of her:)
After the dinner, the girls went back to Erin's place for another shower (for those who weren't there Thursday).
Heather, Monique, Leigh Ann and Mary
Jessica, Erin's friend whom she went to college with
The wedding day: Monique doing Erin's makeup
And Leigh Ann and Erin in the bridal dressing room
My big pregnant self zipping up my super-skinny sister:)
So beautiful!
...the suit only comes out every so often so documentation is a must!
Mary and me and precious Angelina...I have to admit that when Mary told me she was driving down by herself with a 6-week old baby I thought she was in for a stressful weekend (and that maybe, sharing a hotel room with her I would probably be getting ready for what awaits me in a couple months here!) but this baby did not cry ONCE! I'm not even kidding...she was the most laid back, serene baby I have ever seen!
After the wedding, our entire family with all of the "husbands"....although technically Josh is not Laura's husband until May! That's right...another wedding in less than 2 months! Crazy!
Laura and Josh with 2 couples my parents have been friends with for years. They drove up Friday and helped with SO much at the wedding! Gail and Vicky (along with my mom) did the flowers (bridal bouquets and all the decorations...wears me out just thinking about it) and John and Dave helped with everything else needed for setting up and cleaning up. We couldn't have done it without them!
Mark and Erin cutting the cake
Mark, Nate and Ash at the reception
So I realize that I've posted probably too many pictures! Oh well! Overall, the weekend was SO much fun...I got to spend time with my sisters and old friends and family and was so happy to see Erin so happy. Everything went perfectly with the wedding...no glitches at all really! I still cannot believe she planned it all in 2 1/2 months! She and Mark are living it up in California this weekend on their honeymoon!

Pregnancy update!

Like I said before, I won't overpost on the baby-bump shots here but I do want to remember a few of the milestones! I'm 26 1/2 weeks here (yes, I'm counting that half...) and just 1 more week till I am officially in the 3rd trimester! Now that sounds scary! Where did the time go? I still have so much to do! Can I just confess here that I have not purchased one single baby item? Not that my mom and Nate's mom haven't...they will more than make up for my negligence:)

A few of the details before I forget:

• He weighs 1 1/2 pounds.
  
• He has been kicking like crazy the last few weeks. Sometimes I can see my stomach move which is kind of weird but fun at the same time.
• A few nights ago Nate finally felt the real kicks for the first time. Right in my side...I think his little foot was practically in Nate's palm! Crazy! We might have a soccer player on our hands (but doesn't every pregnant woman think that?...)
  
• I had my gestational diabetes test at my last doctor's appointment....which of course I've worried about since I do have a thing for Dairy Queen blizzards, but I passed! Yay!
• I've gained 10 pounds so far....and no matter what anyone tells you it is still a bit disconcerting to see that scale climb each week. Let's just be honest there. But I know it's supposed to happen when you're growing a human:)
  
• Running has been a bit more uncomfortable lately...Some days I feel like I've strapped a 10 pound weight to my stomach area and it is simultaneously pushing on my intestines and bladder with each step I run! Other days though, I feel perfectly fine. I guess it depends on whichever position our little guy is in! I've got to get him used to the running though because hopefully he'll be a champ about riding in the jogging stroller this summer!

That's all I can think of for now; really, I've had a fairly easy pregnancy and have no complaints! I know that the last couple months that might change though. But any and all pregnancy issues seem worth it in the end...I am so excited to meet our little boy! Can these next 3 months just fly by?

It's been awhile...

Since I've posted....it's been a long winter, that's for sure. Let me catch up a bit on what we've been up to...First, we went to Dale Hollow Lake in January to do some hiking. The weather was awesome...at least in the 50's and no rain at all. Very unlike the weeks that followed!
Nate down by the lake at the end of one of the trails.
Molly, Zach and Gracie stopped by for dinner. Isn't she the cutest? I know she and our little guy are bound to be friends!
Nate and some of the guys went to Danny's family's land to do some hunting/guys weekend stuff (whatever that might be) and Lindsey, Katie and I had our own girls' weekend. We went to Huber's Orchard and Winery for a wine tasting (well, I sat that one out:) and lunch.

Then the snow came...and came and came it felt like! It seems like every week we had a good snow (relative to Kentucky at least) and I had a total of 6 snow days throughout the last 4 weeks! Not complaining there!
Nate and I went hiking at Bernheim Forest...so beautiful to hike in the snow!
Sadie enjoyed herself too!
Meanwhile...this is the big project in our house as of late. Finishing the basement! Yes, that is a toilet Nate is sitting on. Steven and Danny came over to help the wall framing process. We're putting in a bedroom, bathroom (hence the toilet) and finished living space. And did I mention that we (or really I) hope this gets accomplished before our little man makes his arrival? Of course I'm not worried...Let's just say I've tried not to bug Nate TOO much about getting it done:)
So that's all for now really. I need to do a post on my growing baby bump and update all that fun pregnancy stuff before I completely forget it!

January so far...

First...Nate turned the big 3-0! Seriously? How are we getting to 30 already here? I mean, it seems like only a brief time ago we were carefree in college! I sometimes wonder where the 20's went and then if I actually think through how much life has changed in the last 8 or 10 years I see how much time has passed. So in this picture, Tom and Nate are testing out his motorized bike...that's right. He attached a motor to it for an easy commute to work in the warmer months of the year. Kind of crazy but with something like 110 miles to the gallon you can't beat that for saving gas! The thing goes like 35 miles per hour! We did have a dinner with friends this night to celebrate Nate's birthday (after the boys took a few turns about the neighborhood, nevermind that it was 20 degrees out) but I didn't get any pictures!
Our first real snow this winter brought me TWO snow days. Not gonna complain there!
We bundles up and took Sadie for a long walk in Cherokee Park. I love how when there is a real snow everyone just leaves work early (or in my case doesn't go at all!) and heads to the parks to sled! Of course this is Louisville so these 5 inches may not seem like much to anyone north of us but I thought it was the perfect amount to enjoy.
And another milestone this week...I'm halfway there at 20 weeks! I promise I will NOT be posting numerous pictures like the one above but I wanted to document the bump that has finally appeared, plus my first day in maternity clothes (at least the pants). And I will never go back! Talk about comfortable! So...I may have had a little meltdown while in the process of shopping for maternity clothes last weekend. I can still button my normal ones but it's so not comfortable! However, I have discovered that any affordable pants out there in maternity land only come in 3 sizes: small, medium and large. Ummm...what happened to real-woman-pant sizes like 4-long or 8-regular? Basically everything I tried on was too short (like in a ridiculous looking way) but if I got a larger (a.k.a. longer) size then it was huge and awkward in other spots. It was a bit discouraging! If I could get away with it, I'd just live in sweatpants but since that is simply not feasible if I want to leave the house, I tried in vain to find good pants.
Luckily, my friend Emily came through (after I called her nearly in tears that I would have to wear highwaters to school and get made fun of by my students:) and she let me borrow ALL of her clothes. (She just had a baby 2 months ago). We are basically the same height/size so it worked perfectly! She actually got good clothes from real maternity stores too that I am too cheap to buy:) Problem solved! I don't know about my other friends who've had kids before but it seems like babies are going to be expensive enough without the stress of buying an entire wardrobe you will only wear a few months! I am all about sharing and any I acquire along the way will gladly be passed on to my sisters or friends who want to borrow them in the future. Okay, enough of my rant about that...I'll try no to let the crazy pregnant thoughts out too many more times:)

I did get to register though which to tell you the truth kind of scared me to death! I normally can't even walk into Babies R Us without panicking, but luckily I had a couple people helping me...
My good friend Annie (whom I taught with last year) and her daughter Hannah (5 months old) came along. Annie just basically pointed out everything I need (knowing that I am a minimalist with bringing any more "stuff" into my house) while I used Hannah to test out car-seats and strollers. What a little trooper she was! We were in that store for hours and she never once got fussy or cried. And neither did I so it turned out to be a somewhat enjoyable time. The only thing about registering for baby stuff is that there are only so many stores that carry that gear (Babies R Us and Target). Nate and I want to do cloth diapers and the only place that sells them appears to be online. If anyone knows of a store where I could get them let me know! Otherwise, we will have to register online for these.
As a side note, Annie has sold me completely on cloth diapers...I was considering them when I first got pregnant, and she has had such success with them that I am all about it. The cloth diapers they make today are SO not like what our parents had to suffer through! They are pretty amazing really and then there's the added benefit of taking care of the environment (or at least not making it worse), saving money and a number of other perks. If you want more info on this subject, check out Annie's blog on the right side of the screen. She's written a ton about it!

Congratulations!

...to Mark and Erin who got engaged on Christmas! I'm so excited for both of my sisters who will be getting married this spring. It's going to be a crazy next few months for our family...Erin and Mark's wedding in March, Laura and Josh's wedding in May, and Nate and I having a baby in late May/early June (since they keep switching my due date on me and all, who knows when!) I'm so happy for Erin and Mark...I couldn't have picked a better guy for her! And I have had high expectations forever about who she would marry:) I could go on about that but I would probably embarrass her so I'll just say that I am happy to see my sister so happy. Mark is perfect for her!