Month Six and Counting!

I thought you all would enjoy some updated photos of my growing tummy! These were taken right as I was entering the sixth month.


I love these profile pictures. We are going to keep taking those to show the progression!


It is hard not to think about the arrival of little Haley these days. She is so active in my tummy and we have so many exciting things to be thankful about. We are so excited to work on the nursery this weekend. December, please come soon!!

Checking things off the list...

We made some real progress in the past week. Not only did Mike finish the attic (see post below), we had a fun time registering at Babies R Us and Target last weekend. It took a long time considering we entered the store at 10:15 and didn't leave until 1:10! It was a nice treat though when they gave me a white rose when I was exiting that we got to enjoy. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but we are pleased with our selections. Target was much quicker since we had already had a practice run. We were only in there 45 minutes.

Last night, we travelled to Norcross to Georgia Baby and Kids to look at nursery furniture. The crib we previously picked out was recalled, so we were back to square one. We are so happy for that little blessing though because we are much happier with our new set. I am ordering it today and everything except the hutch is in stock so we can pick up when we like. Plus, I sold the sofa that was in Haley's room yesterday so we will be getting it out of there in the next week. Bedding has been ordered online, so hopefully we will be pleased with it and can move forward with picking out a color for the wall and painting Labor Day weekend. Sorry, no pictures of our crib set this time...I am keeping you all in suspense until we get it in the room!

Off to Bainbridge for the weekend. Mom and dad are excited to see me and my rapidly growing belly!

We have shelves!!! And an empty room!!!

PROGRESS!! Mike worked really hard last week getting our attic organized so that we could move our boxes of stuff from Haley's room up to it to make space. This is what the attic looked like before...


During the construction process:

Mike and his trusty drill..


Our wonderful neighbors let us borrow their table saw which made the process much quicker (and cheaper!):


Mike stayed really busy with the project for an entire week working after getting home from an 8 hour day to get the shelves built--




Yeah!! Here are the final results!!


We are so happy that Haley's room is finally empty (well, except the couch that we need to get rid of) and that most of the items that we were getting rid of have either been sold or donated to Goodwill. We can't wait to get to the fun part of decorating her room soon now!

Haley's Room Disaster and a Sweet Surprise from a Friend

We are making progress in Haley's room this week. This weekend we got the closet cleaned out and are proud to say that only her belongings reside there now. We also got the computer armoire moved and have boxed almost everything to go in the attic. Who knew that designing one room would lead us to have to do not only that room, but the guest room, the hall closet (and eventually the kitchen and bath to make room, but let's not go there yet). Mike started in the attic last night building shelves that will house our many papers, holiday decor, etc. He is doing such a good job and I am so thankful that he is so helpful! We can see the end in sight now with a few more hours of hard work. Then we can move on to the fun part of actually getting furniture, painting, and decorating the nursery. Thought you all would appreciate a photo of the madness that was Haley's room (a clean, ready to be moved into photo will come soon)...


On a separate note, I got a sweet little surprise from a very good friend of mine late last week. I get weekly emails about what the baby is the size of each week so that you can put it into perspective. Last week it said she was the size (in length) of a carrot. So, my friend Blane surprised me with this precious little box in the mail...

It's a Girl!! A Little Haley!

There were a lot of surprised people who found out we are having a baby girl this week! The ladies in the doctor's office thought we were throwing a party when we erupted with screams as the ultrasound technician announced we were having a girl. Although those picking "girl" had a significant increase in the last week before the ultrasound, the "boys" still were in the lead. Only two family members, my dad and Andy, were the ones who got it right!

It was so much fun getting to see Baby Haley again. She was very active moving around and it was really sweet to see her keep her little hands near her face as we watched her on the ultrasound. At one point, she event started touching her face! It was so amazing to see.

Mike is a super proud daddy already. He even announced that he will wear pink for what I believe is the first time in his life on the day she is born. Suddenly, all of the pink Georgia stuff is cute to him too. It is so wonderful seeing him so happy.

We were so glad that my mom and pops (Mike's dad) could be there with us for the ultrasound. I was sad my dad and Mom Judy were not able to be with us. Mom Judy plans to come for the 3D ultrasound in September though, so that will be fun!

In all the madness of the week, I even managed to pull one over on the daddy-to-be by throwing him a surprise birthday party Saturday. Even though our birthday was Sunday, I thought Saturday might surprise him and boy did we surprise him! It was fun planning it and seeing everyone as we celebrated his big 3-0!

Exciting times ahead and we prepare for little Haley's arrival!!

Fun Filled Weekend

We went looking for baby furniture this weekend. It was really fun looking at all of the different styles that are available. Boy is it expensive though! We went to Snellville and then to Athens. The place in Athens was having a big annual event with free prizes, raffles, and sales. I used my raffle tickets for a chance to win a crib mattress, a diaper bag or a breast pump. The raffle is next week, so let's hope you hear me yelling from excitement after I win!

We found two sets that we like and will likely mix and match the crib and dresser based on what we like, but here is a photo of one of the ones that is the front runner (although we will get a hutch to go with the dresser also):



Our fun-filled baby weekend continued yesterday as we attempted to continue our cleaning process in the guest room and baby room to prepare it for transition. I had no idea we had so much junk! We had a productive day and I know Mike had to be tired after moving furniture and bending over a million times to pick things up since he won't let me bend over! It was fun though. The night ended with me on 11 Alive Sports Extra. Yes, I was on the sports section of the news. Although I was mad they cut my cameo out, it does show me with the group yelling Go Dawgs, so that was good.

All together though, it was a very productive weekend. Baby Parsons must have agreed since in the middle of the night Saturday, I was awake for about 30 minutes as he/she kicked around in my belly. Fun times!

We can't wait until the appointment Thursday so that we know if it is a boy or girl!!

First Fireworks (well, sort of) for Baby Parsons

We went to Mom and Pops lakehouse for the 4th of July festivities this year. Boy were there some fireworks! It was said that the people across the lake had spent over $5,000 on their display (although it seemed like much more than that) and our immediate neighbors spent $1,000 which they tied together to have a grand finale for our viewing pleasure. It was a big overwhelming seeing all of the fireworks bursting all over the lake for so long, but Baby Parsons was calm and did not seem to be bothered by all of the noise! :)

It was a special treat because Cousin (Aunt) Laurie, Cousin Steve, Aunt Lou and Uncle Chuck came out from Texas to have a mini family reunion. It was so much fun. Cousin (or Aunt as she kept referring to herself all weekend) Laurie and Steve gave us the cutest onesie. It was very thoughtful and we appreciated them thinking of us.



I even showed off my domestic skills by creating some very yummy homemade ice cream which everyone seemed to enjoy very much. It was pretty tasty if I can say so myself (thanks mama for the recipe!)

Regardless, Mike and I are super excited that next year we will have a 6 month old to share the special holiday with family and friends!