29 years (for me) and almost 29 weeks (for baby)!

I am not very good at keeping up with this! I am really trying to remember to keep at it, but things have been crazy! I thought since it is my birthday, I will make an effort today. Happy Birthday to me! I just got some pretty flowers from my wonderful husband (that thought today was the 31st this morning). They even have mini snickers in the vase - just what I need!

Lisa's wedding reception is tomorrow night, so I am heading back to Austin this afternoon to help get that all set up. It should be fun! I am hoping it is not really hot and humid. The heat is torture on me and especially my feet and ankles. At least my feet and ankle swelling goes down if I go in the A/C for awhile.

I got a letter from the clinic saying I passed my gestational diabetes test and my hemoglobin test, so all is going well so far. This baby is definitely growing and kicking and moving like crazy. I have my next appointment on August 13th and after that I start going in every two weeks. I think at 36 weeks I start going every week. Eleven or so more weeks and we will find out what the little one is! Then I can FINALLY go shopping for all those cute little outfits.

My Grandma is back in the hospital again. She was able to live at the Cedars for 4 days and was pretty happy about it. She had a stroke Tuesday morning and so far has not regained her speech or movement on her left side. So far she has not really showed any improvement, but she has not really gotten any worse either. The doctors told my Mom and Dad that she could still snap out of it, so I guess we will wait and see.

Trying to catch up.....

Well, I haven't been very good at updating this, it just slips my mind all of the time! But after a few reminders from Mikayla, I am updating it today.

We got back a week ago from Reno, NV, it was a good time and the wedding was perfect. Lisa and Taylor looked so pretty in their matching dresses. Taylor had some issues with the sand in her shoes, so she stopped midway down the "aisle" to try to clean them out and then realized she had sand on her hands too. Lisa and Dad ended up going around her to keep the ceremony going. They did break the record with a 4 1/2 minute ceremony! The pictures turned out really good, now they have the fun part of deciding what to order.

It is a good thing there is little humidity in Reno, because I don't think I could have handled the 100+ degree temperatures if it was Minnesota! The sky was a little smoky from the fires in California and a couple of the days it smelled like a campfire every time you went outside, but the day of the wedding it seemed to be a little clearer out than the other days.

I had another Dr appointment last week and had to drink the yummy orange mixture to test for gestational diabetes (Yuck!), seems the test must have come back ok because I haven't heard anything yet. The baby is growing just fine and I have gained another 4 pounds. I should be gaining about a pound a week for the rest of the pregnancy - yikes! That is another 12-13 pounds!

We celebrated my Dad's birthday last night. He is officially a senior citizen! Grandma Snider took us all out for pizza at Steve's. Grandma did not get moved into the Cedars this weekend as planned, but it sounds like she should be able to move shortly. I think she is in pretty good spirits about it, considering she is getting out of St. Mark's, which she hates.

I also found out a week or two ago that my friend Sarah is expecting her second baby in February. Congratulations Sarah and Steve!

One more picture of Lisa and Brian. I have more I will try to put on sometime today or tomorrow.

Lisa's Bachelorette Party

We celebrated Lisa's last night out on Saturday night in Austin. We all had a great time and everyone had a safe and sober ride home (yeah, that was me!). I made it all night with them, although I did have my pregnant side-kick Mel to keep me company towards the end.

So they all survived a night a drinking with the girls and I survived a night of hanging out with a bunch of drunk girls!

Kelly & Amy - Our TP Dress Models

Runaway Brides.....

The drinking part of the wedding party...

You might be a redneck if......

You choose to "hunt" fish with a bow and arrow instead of a fishing pole. I just had to share this picture of Chad on one of his fishing excursions. This would be one reason to hope for a girl, although he could probably convert her to a redneck fisherman too!

So I came up with another girl name because Chad decided he didn't really like Ashlyn. I like Alexa or Alexis. My cousin Tony has a little girl named Lexi and my cousin Matt has a son named Alex (technically that is his middle name, but that is what they are going by). So I don't know if it would be too confusing to add another similar name to the bunch. I guess I have plenty of time to decide though!

20 days to go for Lisa's wedding! I can't wait for the vacation time and the wedding!

22 Weeks, 1 Day

Well, we had another ultrasound on Monday. The baby is doing good and measuring a little bit big (Already?), but my due date is still October 23rd. We did not find out if the little one is a boy or girl. I guess you have to let Daddy have his way once in a while. So I guess we wait until October to find out if the name will be Carter or Ashlyn. I keep dreaming that it is a boy, but they say you usually have the opposite, so will Maddie, Taylor and Abbie have another little girl to play with?

I also had an appointment with my Doctor on Monday and found out I gained A LOT of weight. She said it was ok, unless I gain the same this month. So I am up a total of 15 pounds - with hopefully only 10-15 to go. They say the baby will almost double in size the next few weeks, so lets hope that is the only weight I gain! Otherwise I guess it is diet time! Boo!

20 Weeks, 1 Day

Time is flying! I can't believe I am already half-way there, yet I still have so much left! So my belly is growing, I feel huge. I think this picture was taken at a bad angle - because I look huge! My wonderful husband is out fishing, again, so I had to take the picture myself.

The baby weighs about a pound and is measures about 8 inches. My ultrasound is scheduled for June 16th, so we should be able to get a good look at the baby. We are still going to wait until birth to find out what we will be naming the baby......unless Chad changes his mind by then.

I can feel the baby move quite a bit now, especially when I go to bed. I hope that is not a sign for what will come once the baby is here!

One year later....

We survived our first year of marriage. They say that the first year is the hardest, so we should have it pretty good from now on! :) Chad also did a good job on sending me a huge bouquet of flowers to work today, they are so pretty!

Now I wish I could go on another honeymoon! I am ready for another vacation, but I will just have to wait for Lisa's wedding. We leave for Reno, NV in 37 days!