Abby's Pictures

Abby had her picture made with Santa today.  Here it is - she looks so tiny in it!

The photographer who did our maternity pictures a few months ago needed a newborn model for some ideas she had for her portfolio so she came to our house last week and took a few pictures of Abby. If you want to see them, go to http://www.susanpeckphotography.com/, click on the pictures to enter the site, click on Clients, enter Jackson as the password, and click submit. These turned out beautifully! This gallery will only be up through Christmas, so if you want to order any of these you will need to do so by then. You can either order directly through the website or you can email Susan at www.susanpeckphotography.com (you will need to send her the picture number and the size that you want - 8x10s and smaller are $17.50 each).


We also had some pictures taken by the photographer who did our wedding pictures. If you want to see them, go to http://www.tuckerphotography.com/, click on Portraits, then Client Proofs, and enter abigail as the password. If you want to order any of these, call or email Jason Tucker at 615.874.0460/info@tuckerphotography.com.

38 & 39 Weeks

Yup, I'm still pregnant.  I was definitely hoping that last week's was the last bump-date...no such luck.  As of my appointment on Tuesday, I was at 2 cm and 70% effaced.  Apparently, little miss is quite comfortable right where she is.  Any day now...until then, here are the latest 2 pictures of the bump.

38 weeks - 11.21.10

39 weeks - 11.28.10

36 & 37 Weeks

I'm a little behind on the blog, but here are the 36 & 37 week bump pics. 

36 weeks - 11.7.10

37 weeks - 11.14.10

I still need to do a post on my last baby shower as well (it was fabulous) - hopefully, soon.

We went to the doctor today and I'm about 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  Yay for progress (even if it's not much).  We go back on Tuesday since Thanksgiving is Thursday.  Not gonna lie - I'm hoping I'm in the hospital on Thanksgiving, but we'll just have to wait and see I guess.  She'll come when she's good and ready!

Maternity Video

Our fabulous photographer put up a sneak peak video on her website that has more pictures in it if you're interested (I'm in love).  Go to http://www.susanpeckphotography.com/site/#/videos/, click on "A" maternity, enter Jackson (case sensitive) as the password, and click submit (hitting enter doesn't work).  Hopefully, the gallery of pictures will be finished soon so we can see them all a little bigger, but this should hold you over until then!

Baby Shower - 10/9/10

Saturday we had a wonderful shower that was hosted by 7 of Mrs. Martha's friends - we can't thank them enough for everything they did.  Everything was beautiful and Abby got tons of cute stuff and almost all of the big stuff that we need!  We are very thankful to have so many wonderful family and friends to help us prepare for her arrival!  Here are a few pictures from the day.

Clay's mom & I with the hostesses

The food

Sign-in table

Ashley, Madelyn, Mrs. Martha, me & Clay (he came at the beginning and end to say hello and help load everything)

Clay & I with the Diaper Cake

Waiting on everyone to arrive

Opening gifts - Thanks, Ashley, for writing everything down for me!

I had lots of little helpers! :)

Full body bib, hat & booties that were made by one of Mrs. Martha's friends

So cute!

Abby's new wardrobe & suitcase courtesy of her Aunt Ashley & Uncle Will

Madelyn decided those bloomers were really meant for her instead of Abby. :)

Ready for bath-time!

Table of gifts

Maddie helping Uncle Clay clean his plate

The loot

32 Week Bump-date

Here's the official 32 week picture (just to be consistent with the others).

Maternity Sneak Peak

Clay and I had maternity pictures taken yesterday - I am 32 weeks in them.  Stacy gave our session to us as a present shortly after we announced we were pregnant - what a fabulous gift!  Susan Peck of Susan Peck Photography in Mt. Juliet took them for us.  Some were shot at The Factory in Franklin, some were shot in downtown Franklin, and some were shot in an open field across the street from The Factory.  We had so much fun and can't wait to see the rest of them now because Susan was so easy to work with and did a great job - she said it would probably be about 2 weeks!

 

28 Week Bump-Date (about a week or so late) & Abby's Latest Pics

Here's the latest picture of the bump...

28 Weeks - 9/12/10

We also had another ultrasound done last week (probably our very last one) and everything looked perfect.  We had a hard time getting clear pictures of Abby's face because she was head down and facing my back, but below are the few that we did get.  According to the ultrasound, she was about 2 lbs, 12 oz (53%).  I also had my glucose test last week and the results came back normal - yay for no gestational diabetes!

Profile

4D face

4D profile - her hand (upside down right above her nose) and knee

(curved in towards her mouth) are in front of her face in this one.

We're getting close to the end which means I now go to the doctor every 2 weeks instead of once/month - good times!

24 Weeks

Sunday marked 24 weeks - that's 6 months - ohmygosh, that sounded really pregnant when I wasn't; it doesn't really anymore!  Anyways, here's the latest picture of the bump. 

We had a doctor's appointment last Thursday and everything looks good.  Abby has a good strong heartbeat and appears to be measuring right on target; however, we'll be better able to tell her size at our appointment next month when we get to have another ultrasound.

Happy 30th!

Today (Friday the 13th) Clay turns 30.  Happy birthday, honey!  I hope you have a wonderful day!

What's in a Name?

Well, yet to be officially named baby girl finally has a name (and, yes, Clay did end up making the final decision).

Abigail "Abby" Marie

Let the monogramming begin (just kidding - kind of)! :)  For those of you that are into that kind of thing, Abigail means of a father's love - I think that may have been one of Clay's deciding factors. :)

*FYI, some of you may have heard me say on multiple occasions that if we chose Abigail we would call her "Abi" (not "Abby."  Well, that changed when I wrote it out for the first time (after Clay picked Abigail for sure) and realized that it didn't look as pretty written out as it sounded in my head. :)  Go figure!

Nursery Update

I finally found curtains that I like and our chair came in (FYI, it's officially the greatest chair ever made!).  Here are the latest nursery pictures (the 4 wall that isn't pictured is an entire wall of closets - nothing fun to see there and hence the crib being in front of the window).

I still have to decide what I want to do on the wall above the changing table and eventually I'll have to decide what to do on top of/above the dresser (the tv is staying until late night feedings cease and then it's finding a new home in the living room - yay for finally being able to get rid of all of our "bubble" tvs). :)  Any suggestions are welcome.

On another note, I told Clay this morning that we HAVE to decide on a name because I'm tired of referring to her as Baby Jackson - people think we're having a boy!  It has been narrowed down to 2 and I told him to just pick one of them (I like both names - and he does as well, but every time I say let's use this one he hesitates so I decided that he could just pick the final name).  So, I'm hoping we'll have an official name some time in the VERY near future!

Nusery Update

The nursery got painted yesterday and I LOVE it.  Here's a sneak peak (it looks a little yellow in the pictures, but it's really green).

20 Week Bump-date & Presents

Here's the 20 week picture - we're 1/2 way there!  That's quite unbelievable to be completely honest!  In the past week or so I've definitely started to feel her kick a LOT.  She seems to be pretty active about 30 minutes after each time I eat and will kick for about 5 -10 minutes (I'm sure she probably does it more, but these are the only times that I can actually feel it and know for sure that it's her).  She's still not quite strong enough for anyone else to feel her kick yet, but I imagine that she will be any day now. 

Yet to be Officially Named Baby Girl also got her 1st presents last week as well.

Aunt Ashley, Uncle Will & Cousin Maddie gave her her first bib, spoons, and baby food (peas to be exact).  Clay and I were there when Maddie ate her first peas so they have all requested that they get to experience baby girls first pea experience (whenever that may be - I estimate somewhere around May or June 2011).

Mimi & Papi (Clay's parents) gave baby girl her 1st sleeper and teether as well as a super cute picture frame.

My grandparents (baby girl's great grandparents) sent her her 1st onesie, socks, baby blanket (2), and her very 1st lovey (it's super soft and I might secretly steal it for myself - just kidding).  They also sent 2 really cute picture frames.

Thanks so much, everyone!  She can't wait to use them all come the end of the year!

**  The painters are coming some time towards the end of this week to paint the nursery.  Once that's done, I'll post some bare-bones pictures to show the furniture and bedding.

10 Years - Really???

I just bought plane tickets to Raleigh for my 10 year reunion.  I can't believe it's been 10 years since I graduated from high school!  While it no longer seems like just yesterday, it definitely doesn't seem like it was 10 years ago by any means!  I guess that's what happens as you get older - the years just seem to pass by more quickly than they did when we were kids.  Crazy!

The Verdict Is In

Here it is - the post you've all been waiting for. Let me first start by apologizing for the fact that all of the pictures are so blurry - apparently it's really hard to take a picture of an ultrasound picture (even with a really great camera), but hopefully you can see our stubborn little one's sweet face. Yes, our child already has a stubborn streak. Our poor ultrasound tech had to poke and prod Baby Jackson (and my completely full bladder) on multiple occasions to get it to show us the goods! I will be completely honest when I say that I was 100% worried that we would be walking out of that appointment without confirmation of what our child was, but in the end it finally gave in and spread it's little legs to reveal the truth! I am thrilled to announce that Clay, our doctor and myself were all 100% wrong (however, just for the record I would have been thrilled to announce if we had been right as well)!

Image found here

We are so excited and can hardly wait for her to get here! But now comes the hard part - because we were so convinced Baby Jackson was a boy we hadn't picked out girl names yet. We have a few ideas, but nothing concrete yet - when we do, I'll be sure to let everyone know! Enjoy her pictures below (and again, I'm sorry they're so blurry - maybe now's a good time to learn how to shoot manually with my DSLR)!

The money shot!

Dear Baby Jackson

Dear Baby Jackson,

Tomorrow is the day we are supposed to find out whether you will be an Aiden or an Abigail, an Isabelle or a Caleb - please, please, please cooperate.  I know this just doesn't seem that important to you, but it is to me and your daddy.  Not because we want you to be one thing or another - we don't -, but because we want to be able to plan for you and make sure that everything is perfect for you when you arrive later this year.  I would hate for you to have a pink and green nursery if you really needed a blue and green one! :)  Thanks so much and we can't wait to see your sweet little outline tomorrow!

Love,

Your mommy & daddy

Boy or Girl - You Decide

Since the big gender reveal is in 2 days (crazy), I thought it would be fun to put up a poll (it's over on the sidebar) to see what you guys think we're having.  Don't worry, after we officially tell our families on Thursday night, I will definitely let everyone else know the official results.

Bump-date

Althought a few days late, here's the latest bump-date.  Baby Jackson is definitely getting bigger!

16 weeks - 6/20/10

P.S. - In case you're counting down (like me), we find out whether baby Jackson is a boy or girl in less than 2 weeks!

Baby Bedding

Because apparently there really are at least 2 people who read this blog (seriously, I'm amazed by this) and they happen to be curious about baby bedding, below is the bedding that I have picked out (and, in the case of the boy bedding, have already bought because I found a deal WAY too good to pass up).  The first is the picture of the bedding I have picked out for if Baby Jackson is a boy.  The second is the bedding if it happens to be a girl.

Image found here

Image found here

Regardless of whether we have a boy or girl, the nursery will be painted some shade of green.  And while the greens in each of these are similar to one another, they are not exactly the same so we'll make that final decision 2 weeks from tomorrow when we find out for sure what we're having. 

We have furniture (kind of)

Clay and I bought the last big piece of furniture for the nursery this weekend (and what some might consider the most important piece) - the glider and ottoman.  Yay!  Now, I've had several people tell me we are doing things really early, but let me just say that I disagree.  For one, I DO NOT plan to be putting together nursery furniture and decorating when I'm 8 months pregnant and so large that I can't see my feet.  Secondly, apparently furniture takes a REALLY long time to come in - everything we've ordered takes at least 10-12 weeks for delivery.  So really, even though we've ordered it all, we won't receive any of it until sometime in August probably (we ordered the crib, changing table, and dresser back at the beginning of May).  If anyone's interested, below are pictures of what we've bought.  In addition to everything below, we also bought the 5 drawer dresser in the same color/collection as the crib and changing table, but I can't find a picture of it online.  We bought the furniture at USA Baby in Franklin and the swivel glider and ottoman at Babies R Us.

Color and Crib(Creations Baby)

Changing Table (Creations Baby) - same color as crib.

Swivel Glider (Babies R Us) - we bought it in a beigy velour (very neutral), not taupe corduroy.

Ottoman (Babies R Us) - same beigy color & fabric as glider.

I can't wait for everything to get here so I can actually start decorating!  August seems so far away...

Our next big purchase is the crib mattress.  Any suggestions on that are greatly welcomed!