Another Great Shower with Great Friends

We are so blessed to have good friends to support and encourage us during this fun time in our lives! Last Friday Juli Fields and Megan Morris hosted a baby shower at Hilltop Grille for the rest of my Athens friends. It was so much fun!

We had cupcakes for dessert (pink and chocolate of course) and they were yummy!















Blane must think I am an accident prone mother to be and gave me an "oopsie bear" that you can use to comfort a minor bump on the baby. As a backup, he gave me pink duct tape for those major accidents. It made for a fun shower gift, but I hope that I never have to use that!



















Megan has become quite the seamstress! She was so sweet to embroider two burp cloths and a receiving blanket for Haley. It was so fun to get stuff with her name on it.



Look at all of the cute little things for Haley. They had the idea to have an ornament theme to the first part of the shower, so it will be really fun each year now to take out those ornaments and remember this shower and my friends. I thought that was a really great idea. Of course Mike will have to be the one placing them on the tree this year or I might topple over and knock down the tree! Kristi put her creative mind to work and created Haley's first tailgate so she is ready for the 2009 football season (or our bowl game in January). Jennifer brought the cutest tummy time mat that was shaped like a cow and is SO soft! I love it. Katie gave us Haley's first jewelry, a bangle bracelet that she can wear for all of the pictures I am sure we will have of the little princess. She even brought a present that Kara picked out herself, a little piggy security blanket with her name embroidered on it. I can even (try to) stay organized with the car seat organizer! Nina gave us some precious black patent shoes that will go perfect with her Christmas dress. There were so many cute things this blog can go on for hours if I name them all and describe how I think Haley will enjoy them!

We are so blessed to have wonderful people in our lives. Thanks to Juli, Megan, Nina, Jennifer, Katie, Kristi, Angela, Renee, and Blane for coming and making it a special day!

Awesome Work Baby Shower

Mandy, Heather, Lauren and Blane hosted a baby shower for me for all of my work friends last Tuesday. It was so perfect!! They had thought of everything. We had great food, great decor, great gifts, and a great time!

 

Wow look at the gifts! Notice the 8x10 photo framed in the background! It was a nice surprise to have a photo of my growing belly framed for me to remember! Thanks guys!

 

I could not believe this cake! Everyone was raving over it. Blane did such an awesome job working with Cecilia's to get it made!

 

A close up...

 

Who else could this be from but Cousin Laurie! The leopard print pea coat, shoes, pants and shirt were the hit of the shower. Everyone loved it. I can't wait to get Haley all decked out in her full outfit!

 

I sure hope Haley is an animal lover because her mama sure is! I got some really cute animal themed gifts, including these baby bull bloomers and a cute little fuzzy one piece suit that was colored like a brown spotted cow. Too cute. Can't wait to get her in these!
I was so proud that Bo wrapped this gift himself (complete in a wrinkled Starbucks bag!) Haley will be so cute in it and will be in 4-H and FFA for sure!

 

Mama and daddy gave me a 12 month photo frame and a Willow Tree carving to put in Haley's room. Can't wait to get some of the first photos in the frame and the carving is already in her room!

 

Blane outdid himself with this tiara! Haley will definitely be a princess and she knows it already!! I still can't believe he was able to find a piggy bank that had a tiara on it too! Too cute!

 

All of my Foundation co-workers pooled together to get a fun bath time collection for Haley. We got two rubber duckies, lotions, powders, a faucet cover, a hooded blanket, diapers, and the tub! It was so neat. Arch couldn't be there, so I took this photo to remind him to sign the card! :)

 

Mom and Pops got us the stroller for Haley. That was such a surprise and we were thrilled to get it. Can't wait to take her for her first "stroll" in it!! I am so glad Mom Judy was able to get off work that day to share in the fun!

Me and all of the gifts! I could not believe how generous everyone was and how many unique gifts we got for Haley to enjoy. Thanks to all for making it such a special day!

 

I was so grateful to have my two moms there with me for the shower! They had a great time and got to meet my co-workers.

 

Playing off the pink and chocolate theme, I decided to create some chocolate favors wrapped in pink and tied with a special note for everyone to take home. Mama helped me in the final preparations (thank you mama!) and we had them ready to go for the shower. Everyone liked them and it certainly was not enough to thank everyone for all of their support in this incredible journey!!

Week 27 (less than 90 days to go!)

We just can't seem to stop thinking about our little Christmas present these days! I went to the doctor last week for my 26 week check up. Everything looked good and Haley's heartbeat was strong. I had gained 8 lbs which was unbelievable, but the nurse assured me I was still on track so I calmed down. She said that little Haley was in a rapid growth spurt right now and would gain a lot of weight. Things are going well and we are still gradually cleaning our house and making room for baby! So far we have made $500 in stuff we have sold to go into the "Haley Fund". More pics to come soon from our adventures this weekend selecting a glider/recliner for the room and installing the hutch!

After a true Labor Day, we have a nursery!

Labor Day weekend was extremely busy in the Parsons household. After the football game Saturday, we started our preparation for the painting, construction, and decoration of Haley's room.

Mike began the weekend project with a little sanding of the walls. I was the site supervisor of this project, pointing out all of the holes that needed filling prior to our sanding experience.

Next came the cleaning of the baseboards which was a necessity after living in the house for 6 years!

Then, he started trimming out the baseboards and around all of the windows and doors. He later even steam cleaned the carpet which was really nice!
Then the fun part (at least for those who were viewing and not painting) was the rolling of the walls. It was so fun to see the paint go up. We had a little stress at the end of the project as Mike was wiping the inside of the paint can clean to get enough paint to finish the walls. I know I am very cheap, but we really wanted to only have to buy one gallon!
Andy came to visit us Saturday night. His big project was removing the packaging from the crib and dresser whcih came in shipping boxes. I helped as best I could and couldn't wait for the big reveal. The only thing that you could really see was the dresser which was assembled. The crib was in about 5 different boxes so you couldn't tell a whole lot about it. Andy also helped move out the couch from the room on Sunday. I was excited to get it out of the house and the buyer was pleased to have a nice pull out sofa...a true win-win!
After the room was all painted, we began the crib construction. This was definitely a two person job!
It actually didn't take as long as we thought and I was so happy to be able to help out on something in the room!
Did I mention we had a site supervisor the entire time we were working on the project? Taz kept us on task and pointed out any mistakes from his secure place on the floor.

Yeah! A crib!! After selecting our mattress a few days before, we were anxious to get it in and put the bedding in for the final touches.


We were so excited to get the bedding in for our baby girl!

Here are a couple of views up close. The large stuffed bear was my "Boo Boo". The smaller one was Mike's stuffed bear growing up. The hound dog was also mine. It was really neat to put some of our things in her room!

Mike moved the dresser into the room to its final resting place. We are now just waiting on the hutch to arrive so that we can finish assembling it.

The room was finally complete (well, of course we have more decorating to do, but the hard part is over)!
Mike couldn't resist taking a photo of what Haley's view will be of her new crib and bedding!

And finally, the two proud (and very tired) parents at the conclusion of our Labor Day weekend...

Our first football game of the year to watch the #1 team in the Nation!

What a fun day on Friday! I was the official assistant photographer to RBM Photography at the First Friday breakfast featuring Coach Mark Richt. I thought he was only coming to talk to the group, but realized upon arriving that he was there signing autographs and taking photos. So, of course I had to get my photo with him. He is such a nice guy! My day continued to prove a lot of fun as I went to the luncheon with Mark Richt's wife, Kathryn. The best part of that portion of the day was that I got to go in the suite that UGA VII would be sleeping in that night. We got there before the crowd so we had a private tour! It was a lot of fun!



Saturday morning began fairly early so that we could get a parking spot. We got lucky that there was a spot at Four Towers so that we could take the bus to the stadium and have a ride back (well, that was the plan). We tailgated with some friends and then headed to the bus. I had my bag packed full of bananas, grapes, pop tarts, and was concealing some water bottles. As we entered the gates, the security guards gave me a hard time about all of the food and asked was I diabetic. I looked at my belly and back up at him and replied, "No, I am pregnant". They finally let us in and we were off to the game. As we inched our way through all of the intoxicated, sweaty people, we finally made our way to our seats, way down on row 23. We cheered on the dogs and Haley kicked as it got loud in the stadium.


My trusty fan was no match to the 96 degree heat that was bearing down on us, but I still managed to fake a smile for the photo. In the end, we made it to halftime which I thought was quite an accomplishment and then began our walk back to the car (did I mention earlier that our original plan was to take the bus back for this 2.5 mile walk uphill?) It was really tough and I made it most of the way before giving up and taking Mike up on his offer to go get the car and pick me up. I am glad the Bulldogs won, but it was a rough day in the heat for a pregnant person!

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!