~34 weeks and the nursery ~

I started scaling back on work this week and it’s been nice to have a week without having to go anywhere/any specific plans or things to do besides deep cleaning the house and catching up on organizing and other chores that have been on a to do list for way too long.  I’m getting tired much more easily now too so it’s been a blessing to be at home and able to rest when I need to… PLUS between my mom being here last week and finalizing everything this week, the nursery is almost complete!  We’re just waiting on the glider to come in, the bumper and crib skirt for the crib, and need to put some pictures in frames!

 the cradle was Patrick's that he slept in when he was baby, and is from his "Aunt" Linda who was the one of the most special people I've ever met.  She always told me that she wanted to see our babies in it some day, and while I hate that she isn't here to see it, I love thinking of her every time I look at it.  We're using it to hold her stuffed animals/toys/etc

 

 bedding!  Still need to get the bumper! 

 

 this corner is just waiting for the glider to come in

 

 her dresser with hanging initials

We had a diaper consultation (oh, the words you never pictured yourself saying…) with Ivy’s Diaper service on Tuesday.  If you have ever considered cloth diapering, I highly recommend talking with them if you are in Charlotte, or looking around your own local area for a service there.  I had never really thought about it until one of my good friends starting using them and after research and speaking to them this week, I honestly can’t imagine why you wouldn’t at least consider it!  The cost compared to buying disposable diapers is basically even  - obviously you save a TON of money if you wash the diapers yourself and don’t use a service but that’s a little too much for this mama to take on ;)  But like I said, it’s an even cost comparison, super convenient, better for the environment, easier on baby’s skin and they are extremely easy to use, not at all like what you would think of as cloth diapers previously with having to pin them on the sides/etc… PLUS the diaper covers are cute J You can cancel the service at any time, there’s no contract so I figured there’s no harm in at least trying it, if we end up not liking it for some reason, we can always stop!

Okay, enough on the diaper tangent!

This was 33 weeks, 1 day - Aubrey's last out of town trip this side of the womb ;) no more traveling for this mama.  But SO, so glad I got to go to Sarah's wedding in NH last weekend - one of the most beautiful wedding's I've been too and such a great time with the girls!

 

I’m still feeling pretty much the same as last week and am basically just in disbelief that we get to meet her so SOON!  Whenever I’m driving/waiting in lines/on planes, really just have any time to daydream during the day I’m thinking about holding her and what wondering what she’ll be like and look like.  I am so excited for holidays this year just thinking about that she’ll get to be with us for my favorite times in the year – fall and Christmas.  6 weeks from today is her due date, I’m getting impatient J

~ Baby Shower ~

32 weeks and 6 days today!  It’s so hard to believe that it’s getting so close!  My doctor told me that you are technically full term at 37 weeks – crossing my fingers that she doesn’t decide to make too early of an appearance – it’s been hard to decide when Patrick should stop traveling for work to make sure he’s in town when Aubrey is born when there is really no way of telling when she’ll actually decide to grace us with her presence!  Everything about this pregnancy has been pretty textbook so far, so hopefully that will continue for the final weeks including coming around her due date!

Last weekend, I had a baby shower in Cary hosted by my sister and two very close family friends.  I was completely overwhelmed beautiful and thoughtful they made everything.  Everything from the flower arrangements to the cupcake frosting, to the yogurt on the covered pretzels was done in mint and lavender (the nursery colors are mint, lavender, and pale grey).  There were so many special touches throughout the shower that just made it incredible:

 

beautiful quilt made with all the fabric swatches being used in the nursery!

 

getting Aubrey set to be a little fashionista ;)

 

 

 such a cute Nana!

 

gift table display - thought this was a great idea - displaying the gifts as they are opened so people can go up to table and see them rather than passing them around after opening (the sign reads Aubrey Grace)

 

 

 Mimosas and Cupcakes with the cutest monogrammed toppers

 

They put together an ice cream bar (obviously they know me and my cravings!) Cutest sign reading "sprinkled with love"

 

opening gifts!

 with the wonderful hostesses!

 with Aunt Ellen :)

 

 

The most special part of the day though, was everyone coming to celebrate our daughter.  It’s so amazing to see how much she is loved already and it meant the world to me to have all of these amazing women there.  We are so, so blessed!

This past week my mom was in town and we basically got the nursery put together!  I love the way it turned out - I'll post pics of it next blog. 

32/33 weeks update:

Total Weight Gain: 29 lbs - and feeling every. single. one of them... she is HEAVY (Or my ass is, not exactly sure.. probably both!)

Maternity Clothes: still a combo of maternity and normal clothes in larger sizes

Stretch Marks: No, thankfully!

Sleep: not fabulous - waking up a lot, and it's hard to roll myself out of bed when getting up in the middle of the night

Exercise: I think that I'm pretty much done with running until after baby - really just my knees are, I went last night and my body was not very happy with me... so I guess it's walking and the eliptical for the next seven-ish weeks :( 

Best Moment of the Week: Baby shower and having mom around to get organized...feeling MUCH better!  Oh, and the AMAZING fall-ish feeling weather today :)

Miss Anything: Sushi, wine/beer/champagne and being able to tie my shoes without a stomach being in the way

Movement: constantly!

Food Cravings: Nothing new. 

Symptoms: less heartburn (YAY!) more looking like I've swallowed a  basketball, getting out of breath quicker, and headaches - which I think was also due to the crazy heat last weekend.

Looking forward to: my friend Sarah's wedding in NH this weekend and getting to see a bunch of college friends!

 

~Nesting and a Babymoon~

For anyone who isn’t aware, “nesting” is part of pregnancy, meaning you get in psycho cleaning/organizing moods as you prepare your home for baby.

I think we’ve been a little too focused on nesting in the rest of the house and not as much for the baby:

Thus far since moving back, we’ve done some major landscaping, lowered the roof on the front porch, redone the smaller back deck off the kitchen, put new floors in the laundry room/walk in pantry, put up crown molding and ceiling fan in the nursery, repainted three rooms, had our dining room set restained, installed a security system, put in a doggie door for Sadie lady, and are almost finished having the downstairs bathroom completely renovated….

And no, the crib is not put together, I don’t have a dresser or glider for the baby room yet, and haven’t even BEGUN organizing her things.  Thank God my mom is coming for a few days next week to help me out…. Sigh.

We did go on a little weekend getaway/babymoon (I wonder when babymoon's started becoming popular and who coined that term??) to Asheville last weekend which was so much fun and much needed.  We haven’t really had any time to ourselves in the past few months between the move and traveling/house projects etc.  So we packed Sadie and our things for the weekend and stayed at the Aloft downtown which is the most dog friendly place  I’ve  ever stayed.  They have dog water bowls in the lobby and brought her a dog bed and treats to the room!  It’s a great hotel to stay at with no dogs too – perfect location! 

We ate a LOT and worked off some of what we ate hiking both days.  The weather was gorgeous, we got use our new camera a bit, and overall just got to relax and enjoy J

The first day we went to Dupont National Forest where there are  numerous waterfalls and trails, and a swimming hole that was Sadie's favorite part, naturally  It's also where they filmed the Hunger Games which is pretty cool (Or the part of me that is still a teenager and loves the Hunger Games does anyway...ha)

 

 

 

 

  

 

such a pretty pup :)

 

Before we headed back on Sunday, we hiked to the place we got engaged, the Frying Pan Tower.  It used to be used a fireman lookout but now is just a place where you can climb up and have an amazing view from the top.  Either it's shakier/scarier than I remember or I'm just more of a scaredy-cat these days (probably the latter).  We tried to get Sadie to climb up it with us too, but she froze halfway up the first flight of stairs, poor thing... not a fan a heights!

 



 

 

 31 weeks :)

 day we got engaged 3.5 years ago (right) and now! 

 

 

Views from the top of the tower:



 

 

 

 

~ the Final Quarter begins... 30 weeks! ~

It’s been a HECTIC  past few weeks!  My little sis got married, we went to Austin for our good friends Rachel and Joe’s wedding, getting the condo ready for a new tenant, and have finished up some house renovations and begun the bathroom renovation on the house…. I’m starting to feel a little panicked as I haven’t really had any time to work on the nursery/should probably be reading more baby books/etc… but I still have 10 weeks give or take, so hopefully I’ll get it together!

I kind of wanted to wait to blog about Ellen and Rachel’s wedding until we get pictures back because they were both so incredibly beautiful and my iphone photos don’t do them justice.  But for the time being, I have to say that the fact that I was obviously completely sober and still had a BLAST should speak for itself as to how much fun they both were!

 SO adorable and so happy!

 

Sadie got festive for Ellen's wedding too :)

 With the beautiful bride!

 

Joe and Rach's get-away mode of transportation - love it!

I am always emotional at weddings, but watching your little sister come down the aisle… it took all I had to hold it together!  Plus, she looked absolutely perfect, the exact picture of what I imagined her looking like on her wedding day.  At she and Rachel’s weddings, it struck me (like it always does when I’m a bridesmaid)  while standing up at the alter as they took their vows how incredibly special it is to be a part of someone’s wedding day.  To stand by your close friend or sister’s side and get to witness that incredible moment as they get married is truly awesome.  (Plus, my friends have good taste - I adore all the grooms of the weddings I’ve ever been in, and it’s so exciting to see them and their reactions during the ceremony!)

Anyway, like I said, more to come on the specifics of the wedding once I can document with pics.

In baby news…

I’m 30 weeks today (took this pic last Thursday) !!  It’s sooooo soon, I can’t believe how fast the pregnancy has gone by!

Total Weight Gain: 23 lbs…  ugh.  Totally normal, but ugh.

Maternity Clothes: still a combo of maternity and normal clothes in larger sizes

Stretch Marks: Not yet.   I have recently started to see that linea nigra (the dark vertical line under the belly button caused by pregnancy hormones… weird)

 Belly Button in or out:  In still… but definitely more flat.

Rings on or off:  On… have to use soap some days to get them on, but they’re on!

Sleep: the Snoogle preggo pillow has continued to make sleep a million times better… it does create a fortress around me, so I don’t know how much Patrick loves it, but… it’s amazing. 

Best Moment of the Week: getting to see all of my family at Ben and Ellen's wedding and all of our Austin friends last weekend!

Miss Anything: Sushi and vino… same old, same old

Movement: tons… you can see my stomach moving so much more now, it’s crazy.

Food Cravings: not really any cravings, just not really wanting a lot at the moment I guess because it’s hot and I feel full really easily since she’s gotten so big.   Lots of smoothies at the moment

Symptoms: heartburn, starting to tire more easily again, and there is one area in my back that kills me by the end of the day

Exercise: running/walking and weights.  Also started some rowing at the gym since I feel like I’ve gained some in my arms.

Happy or Moody: UMMMMM  I could say mostly happy, but… I think it’s more accurate to say 50/50 on this one right now. 

Looking forward to: Going to Ashville next weekend, just Patrick and I and Sadie.  We haven’t had hardly any time between him traveling so much for work and everything else going on, so I’m so excited to get away for a few days.

 

 

~ this old house ~

It’s been awhile, but I’ve been busy making this old house our home ... again J

We are SO, SO happy to be back in Charlotte and in our house! And we jumped right in with the projects, natch. We took the bar out of the man cave and made it into an office area for Patrick since we’ll need the old office for a guest room as the old guest room becomes the nursery. This called for new paint and carpet in the guest room and new paint/closet shelving, a ceiling fan, and crown molding in Aubreys room. I'll put up photos of that soon with other nursery stuff.

Our biggest project since moving in has been tackling the backyard though. There was ivy completely overgrowing the patio as well as the rest of the yard. So we uprooted all of the crap everywhere and planted shrubs surrounding the patio/mulched. We also added a walkway down the other side of the patio to the yard, planted a weeping cherry tree, put up our birdhouse FINALLY (we bought it three years ago!) and basically just revamped the whole look of the yard. I’m kicking myself for not getting “before” pictures, but the important thing is, it looks amazing now.

we have literally 200 of these bricks in our backyard now... I swear they prob weigh 20 lbs each so you can imagine how long it took to get them all from Lowe's, in the car, back home..

but it's worth having a decent looking backyard now!

 

 

of course, a certain someone loves the ivy :)

 

I don’t know if it’s because I’m pregnant and get tired more easily or if it’s because he’s just a work horse, but Patrick is literally a machine when it comes to house projects… he will literally just work for 6, 7, 8 hours straight… it’s insane! It also helped that we got to employ my parents for a weekend with house/yard help (which I’m sure is the one thing they didn’t miss when we lived in TX, ha!)  We're still working on some little things like changing light fixtures and such and getting ready to start remodeling a bathroom and putting new floors in the laundry room... I definitely missed house projects!

In baby news, I’m pretty sure I’m getting bigger by the day ;) I have my diabetes test at my appointment this Friday, so I told myself I’m not eating ice cream this week… which is killing me. It’s only been three days… and it’s killing me. I think that’s a sign of a dependency problem :/

Also, today we had our 4D ultrasound and it was so incredible… I am just amazed at what technology can capture! I’m sure most people don’t really care about our ultrasound photos, but I just can’t get over how much you can see… we’re thinking she definitely inherited the “Boyle” nose and it’s kind of amazing to see something that resembles you, even if it’s just slightly and in an ultrasound! She has her right hand up by her face and is constantly moving it, waving, covering her eyes,

As Patrick says, she’s already the cutest little girl in town! no biased Dad here ;)

until next time ~ xoxo

~ What's in a name? ~

As soon as we found out we were pregnant, we had a baby boy name all picked out but…. The girls names were a little more tricky!  It seems like we disagreed on more girls names, and the ones we agreed on were either too popular or we knew someone who’d recently used it, etc…  I also really wanted to find a name that started with a vowel because I love alliteration with our last name (kinda ridiculous I know, but I just like it, what can I say?)

However, we finally decided!  I cannot, cannot wait to get a few things monogrammed!  And the final verdict is:

Aubrey Grace Agnew

It’s been so fun to actually use her name while talking to and about her now!

21 week update:

Total Weight Gain:  still don’t weigh myself often due to broken scale – I think around 15 lbs?

Maternity Clothes:  mostly maxi dresses

Stretch Marks:  Not so far!  I’m slathering on lotion every day – I’m not sure if it really makes any difference, but at least I can say I did what I could J

Sleep:  ehhh… it’s okay.  SO looking forward to moving into our new house and getting our king sized bed though… I think my constant moving around/waking up to pee is affecting Patrick’s sleep too, poor guy.

Best Moment of the Week:  being in Wilmington for Memorial Day.   I just love everything about that place.
Miss Anything:  Sushi and raw fish… we were at dinner with friends this weekend and the tuna tartare looked AMAZING…

Movement:  yes, alllll the time and I LOVE it.  Best thing about pregnancy hands down.

Food Cravings:  fruit and ice cream… also loving peanut butter anything currently – peanut butter cups, peanut butter toast, peanut butter pie… any and all of it

Symptoms:  I’ve had a little less of the hands/feet falling asleep, but have started to have some heartburn and indigestion… which I’ve never had before ever, I didn’t even know what it was at first actually, lol.

Exercise:    Still running, although it’s getting harder, and walking.  Also keeping up with weights

Happy or Moody:  Happy, happy, happy J

Looking forward to:  Seeing my Austin friends at a Bachelorette party this weekend!! And moving back to our Charlotte house next week, getting started on the nursery…  Sooo much to look forward to.

 

 

~Sissy's Bachelorette in Asheville~

Well, our little one is already a fan of girls trips apparently – I felt her kick for the first time in our hotel in Asheville for my little sissy’s Bachelorette!  Such an incredible feeling!  Since then, she’s been super active, moving around all the time and doing little baby kicks whenever I’m sitting/laying down for an extended  period of time.  Patrick got to feel her yesterday too, which was pretty awesome… although he says he’s still waiting for the “kung fu karate kicks” lol.

our group Saturday night!

 

I’d only been to downtown Asheville once – the night after we got engaged for dinner.  It was a lot of fun to get to spend time with my sis and her friends and celebrate with shopping, some seriously AMAZING food, and just some good girl time!  For anyone heading there in the near future, I highly recommend:

Zambra – Spanish style restaurant – all tapas with a really fun drink menu.  We sat in this really great corner booth that was full of colored pillows to lean against while eating.

 

 

Curate – great lunch or afternoon snack spot – also tapas – we were on a girl trip and we LOVE all  tapas food, what can I say?  The bartender made me a great mocktail mojito and my sister loved her real cocktail as well.

Posana –  go here for brunch – the menu is entirely gluten free and you would never know… the bellini's looked delish and my decaf mocha was perfect… as was the fried chicken on top of cheesy grits… YUM.

Finally, do a factory tour of French Broad Chocolates – it really is so neat to hear this Asheville couple’s story of how they went from dropping out of law school to Costa Rica, learned the chocolate business, and are now Asheville’s premier chocolatiers – and yes you get to do a tasting ;)  Then head four blocks back into downtown to visit their chocolate bar…. An absolutely adorable little bar with a menu consisting entirely of chocolate, wine, desserts… in other words, it’s heaven.  It’s also crowded, expect to wait.  But the dark chocolate crème brulee is totally worth it!

 

~ Cutest little bachelorette ever ~