4 Weeks Old!

Where is the time going? Our baby girl turned 4 weeks old today! I can't believe she is growing up so fast. She is such a good baby and makes me so proud to be her Mommy. She has the most adorable smile (which usually leads to poop but that's not the point) and is starting to stay awake for longer periods of time. She has developed a small hatred of the bassinet so she's been sleeping for 4-6 hours at a time in her "Magic Chair" at night so Mommy and Daddy are getting some rest too. She does not like to have her clothes changed and would much prefer to be naked, much to her Father's dismay. Overall she's just the best baby anyone could ask for and we're so happy that she's ours! Since we're not at home this week we couldn't take her picture in her chair so this will have to do. We love you baby girl! Happy 4-Week Birthday!

Road Warrior

Well, we made it to Texas! Allie did wonderfully on the trip making it so easy. The first night we went just past Memphis and stayed in a nasty hotel. Allie took her first trip to Beale street in Memphis when we stopped at BB King's for some barbque. She loved listening to the music and looking at all of the neon lights. We didn't let her taste the BBQ but we thought it was delicious! We got up early the next morning and headed towards Dallas. Allie slept most of the way until she had a giant blowout in the parking lot of the Love's Truck Stop. We changed her diaper, left them a dirty onesie as a memento of our visit and continued on our way. Here's a picture of her post-blowout with a fresh diaper.

We arrived in Dallas about 5pm and Allie was bombarded with family members wanting to hold her and cuddle her. She got to meet so many people for the first time. Grandpa Eddie, Nana Shell, Aunt Kelsey, Aunt Victoria & Uncle Chris were all excited to meet Miss Allie.

She's adjusted well to the time and location change and so far is doing great! I'll post some more pictures later.

3 Weeks Old!

I can't believe Allie is already three weeks old. It's crazy how fast the time is flying by but at the same time, I can't really remember a time when she wasn't a part of our little family. She's been doing really well this week. She's sleeping longer stretches at night, anywhere from four to six hours at a time for the most part. We did a little Christmas shopping yesterday and she does really well riding in the car. She's holding her head up well and is starting to stretch out more, showing off her length. Those newborn clothes and diapers don't have much longer! Our little baby is growing up!

Here are a couple of pics from the weekly photo shoot I torture her with. She's really developing a little personality and starting to smile more!

Happy 3-Week Birthday Alligator! We love you!

Ready to Go

After having breakfast with Santa, we had my company Christmas party to attend that evening. Here's Allie all dressed up and ready to go.

Allie Meets Santa

Nick's Union Hall has a breakfast with Santa every year for all of the member's children. They provide pancakes and sausage and every kid gets a present. It's a really nice event and it seems like all of the kids have a good time. Allie is obviously on the young side but we took her to see Santa anyway. We dressed her up in her Christmas dress and she was definitely the most beautiful little baby at the party!

Here she is in her full Christmas garb upon arriving to the party. The coat is huge but totally adorable!

Modeling her adorable dress. The tights and shoes were gigantic, as was the bow.

Sitting on Santa's lap for the 1st time!

2 Weeks

Today is Allie's 2 Week birthday! Time sure is flying by. I can tell she's getting bigger each day and her little face is starting to fill out. She has a good week for the most part but had a horrible night last night. Hopefully it was a one-time thing and not the early stages of colic. She's become a champion breastfeeder and makes some of the funniest faces. Nick and I just sit and stare at her sometimes and can't believe she's really ours!

Happy 2 Week Birthday baby girl! We love you!

Our Chunky Monkey

Allie had her 2 week appointment today with the doctor. They really just wanted to check that she was back up to her birthweight and that Mommy and Daddy were hanging in there and didn't have any questions. Our chunky monkey weighed in at 8lbs 7oz! She gained a whopping 6.5oz in one week! I guess that eliminates my questions as to if she is getting enough breastmilk to eat. Looks like we won't be in these newborn clothes much longer at this rate!

The Princess Throne

My Mom's sisters all chipped in to get this adorable little rocking chair for Allie as a baby shower gift. It came in the mail yesterday and Daddy put it together for her. It is so cute!

We did learn that Allie is currently too small for it when we placed her in it for a picture and she fell over and bonked her head on the armrest. The doctor said she looked fine but to wait until she's bigger to try the chair again. I can't wait until she's big enough to sit and read in her chair.

Thanks to all of Allie's Great Aunts!

Pretty in Purple

People are asking for more pictures so I'll try to take some in the next few days. Here is one I took this morning of Allie relaxing on the couch after a diaper change. We scheduled her newborn pictures to be taken on Monday so we should have some super-cute ones soon!

We had quite the exciting day today. We visited Grandma-ma, Aunt Shelley and the two Debbies at work and then went to pick up a Christmas tree for Daddy's parents. We also took your first trip to Home Depot, Daddy's favorite store! Our toilet has started leaking so we needed a few parts. I'm sure you'll be taking many more trips to Home Depot with Daddy in the future! You got a lot of compliments from the sales people on how cute you are while we were out and about. I'd have to agree!

Tomorrow we go back to the doctor to check your weight. I can tell you're gaining as your cheeks are starting to fill out. I can't wait to hear what the doctor says.

1 Week Old

Today is Allie's 1 week birthday! It has been a wild week so far but definitely one of the best weeks of mine and Nick's lives. We sit and hold her and still can't believe she's all ours. We are truly blessed.

Allie's doctor's appointment went very well yesterday. She did great and won the heart of the nurse right away. She only screamed a little bit during the exam, mostly when the doctor messed with her diaper. She hates when people mess with her diaper! She weighed in at 8 lbs 1/2 oz so she's almost back up to her birth weight. Her jaundice looked good so she doesn't need any further testing on that. We have to go back next week for another weight check but other than that the doctor said she looked perfect!

When she's not eating and sleeping, Allie likes to just stare off into space or look at Mommy and Daddy's faces. She's very alert for a 1-week-old. She's been pretty calm although she seems to get fussy for a few hours in the evenings. Repeating her name over and over seems to calm her down for awhile as does the binky. She's quite the little piggy eating 2 oz every three hours and still wanting more! Our nights haven't been too bad yet. She sleeps soundly between feedings which has been very nice. She likes to lay stomach to stomach and to be held. She's also a fan of the bouncy seat and the boppy. She's still a little unsure about the swing. She gets these adorable little smiles on her face periodically throughout the day and they instantly melt my heart. I couldn't have asked for a cuter baby! We're so lucky to have her in our lives!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Kickin' Back in my Booties

What's the equivalent of Ugg boots for babies? How about these adorable, handmade booties! Aunt Holli works with a very talented woman who made these booties just for Allie. They are so much nicer than socks because they actually stay on her feet. You can tie the bow to tighten or loosen them and they keep her little (who are we kidding, her feet are huge!) feet nice and warm. Allie loves them!

Home Sweet Home

We've been home for about 24 hours now and things are going pretty well. Allie did pretty well throughout the night and let us get a little bit of sleep at least. We ended up having to go to my doctor this morning for an infection and Allie did great in the car and in the office. We have her first pediatrician appointment tomorrow afternoon. We're eager to hear how much our little piggy weighs now. We're still re-learning the breastfeeding thing after her stay in the hospital so that has made for a somewhat trying day but I think it will be well worth it in the end. Hopefully she'll do well again tonight so that we can get some more sleep.

Heading Home - Take 2

Allie was released from the Special Care Nursery yesterday afternoon. Her jaundice levels were continuing to decrease, despite stopping treatment so they let her come home as long as we follow up with the pedi on Wednesday. We were so relieved to hear that she was doing better and that we could finally bring her home for good. Let the parenting adventure begin!

Attention K-Mart Shoppers...

There is an adorable Blue Light Special currently located in the Special Care Nursery. She's 3 days old and a will win your heart in a minute. We think she's totally priceless!

That's right, Allie is back in the hospital. We had to bring her in at 9am this morning for a follow-up biliruben test to check on her jaudice level. Unfortunately her level had jumped from 10.7 at discharge to 18.6 this morning. They decided to admit her to the Special Care Nursery for light therapy. She's under the blue lights and also lays on a bili blanket so that she's getting the light from all sides. It looks like she's relaxing in the sun on a blue beach. They even gave her these adorable sunglasses to protect her eyes from the lights. As of her 10pm feeding, her level had dropped to 16 so we're headed in the right direction. They will draw again in the morning and we're hoping to be released sometime tomorrow.

Apparently she was pre-dispositioned to jaundice because of her differing blood type from mine. I am O+ and she is A+. That is pretty much a set up for jaundice, which is why they brought us back this morning for the test. They couldn't test earlier because the levels increase with time and peak around the 72 hour mark. While we don't like being back in the hospital and cried like babies when we had to give her up in the nursery, we're thankful that the doctors were pro-active in her treatment and didn't just wait for us to go to the pediatrician next week when her levels would have been even higher.


Nick and I are staying at the hospital for the night so that we can be present at all of her feedings. The feeding times are the only times we're allowed to hold her so we didn't want to miss any of them. It's not how we anticipated things going, but at least she's getting better. We should know more in the morning.

Bustin' Out of This Joint

We've been released! We're loading up our things and heading home for the night. Allie does have to come back tomorrow morning to have her jaundice levels re-evaluated, and unfortunately they're saying she will most likely have to be re-admitted but for now we're heading home as a family of three! We had estimated her to be a little bit bigger so she's swimming in her coming home outfit, but she's still the cutest baby I've ever seen!


Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers through this. Please say a prayer for her tonight that her jaundice levels will decrease so that she can stay at home where she belongs.

We can't wait for everyone to meet Miss Allie!

She's Here!

Allison "Allie" Jayne Bryant arrived on Thanksgiving day at 3:22pm. She weighed in at 8lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long. She has dirty blond hair and is just so darn cute! We're still working on uploading pictures and video from today but hope to have some time to work on it tomorrow.

For now, we're remembering all of the things we're thankful for, including our brand new daughter!

Forgot to Update Yesterday

We had an okay doctor's appointment yesterday. Allie looked fabulous on all of her tests. She passed with flying colors! We got to see her face again on the ultrasound and watch her move around. They're estimating her at 7 1/2 pounds which is a lot smaller than Nick and I were guessing.

The doctors still maintain that she's not coming out anytime soon. She had dropped a few weeks ago but has since risen back up in my belly. She's head down but also has a foot up by her head. We're wondering if that foot is getting the way of her dropping again. The doctor suggested I sit on the dryer for awhile to try to get her to shake down a little bit! I'll let you know if I figure out how to get my big booty up onto the dryer. He also said that the 1/2 cm that I was dilated last week was "generous." Way to dash a girl's hopes! They're still not talking induction at this point since she's not really in position and my body's still not ready.

Moral of the story is that Allie is super comfy and not ready to meet us. We go back to the doctor next Tuesday (12/2) for a Biophysical Profile (detailed ultrasound) and then they'll discuss "helping her along" at that point. I think she's holding out until after Thanksgiving so that she gets to eat some good food via placenta vs only getting breast milk if she arrives before. Honestly, I can't blame her for that one. Looks like we're heading for a December baby!

Still nothing...

Just to keep everyone updated, there's still no progress. Nick and I have spent the weekend relaxing around the house and making some really important final preparations. After all, would we really be ready for her to arrive if we hadn't purchased a hairbow that matches her Christmas dress? I don't think so! Now that we have that out of the way, we're ready and she can arrive anytime now.

I decided that Friday was going to be my last day at work. I was very uncomfortable on Friday and thought for sure she was coming this weekend so I opted for that to be my last day. Now I'm kicking myself thinking I should go back tomorrow but I do feel better knowing a decision has been made. Nick got laid off on Friday too so now we're both unemployed and expecting a baby at any time! We think it will be a temporary thing but you never know. At least we know how to keep things interesting. We had planned on him taking some time off when Allie arrived so it's not really that big of a deal.

Hopefully I'll either go into labor before Tuesday or the docs will have some good news for us at our appointment. Crazy Neighbor stopped by today to try to convince me to drink Castor oil. Umm, thanks but no thanks Crazy Neighbor. As much as I want to meet my daughter sooner rather than later, I'm not willing to go that route and generally ignore any "advice" you give me anyways. After all, your name is Crazy Neighbor for a reason.

Come on Allie! We're all waiting for you!

We have progress ladies and gentlemen!

The doctor informed me today that I am all of 1/2 cm dilated! Wahoo! I'm pretty sure she was just lying to me to keep my spirits up but progress is progress I guess and I'll take what I can get. They are not quite prepared to induce because they said my body is not ready and it would likely end in a c-section. They're bringing us in on Tuesday to do a Non-Stress-Test and an ultrasound to make sure that the baby is okay to continue the overdue pregnancy. At that point, they'll discuss a possible induction if the little Gator is still too comfy in there. We're probably looking at the end of next week or the beginning of the following week although they're still thinking we may go into labor on our own before then. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

I'm pretty sure that the blood pressure people smoke crack. We had the same girl that's done it at most of our appointments and I registered a whopping 150/60...not good. I asked the doctor about it and any dangers being overdue might bring so the doctor re-took it. The result: 110/60. Seriously? 40 points in less than ten minutes? Someone is clearly smoking crack. The problem is that we don't know who. The doctor is not worried about it at all so we're choosing to not worry about it either for the time being.

Nick and I are discussing tomorrow being my last day of work. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do but I've already handed over all of my duties to my replacement so I literally just sit there and chat with people all day. It might be nice to have some time off before the baby but I'm afraid it might make me too ancy and that I'll get bored. One can only take so much daytime TV!

I'm still feeling really good, am not uncomfortable and have no major complaints so I should just count my blessings that things are going well. I try to remind myself of this but it's hard because I just can't wait to meet Allie!

39 Weeks!

Since nothing exciting is going on in baby world right now, I thought I'd post a pic of my belly at 39 weeks. It's a little blurry but it's hard to take a picture in the mirror at the correct angle. A lot of people say I look small for 39 weeks but I think I'm huge. I guess we'll see how big the little Princess is whenever she decides to make her appearance! I can't believe we're in our last week!

Still Cookin'

It's taken me a few days to get this posted but our doctor's appointment on Thursday went well. Allie is apparently very comfortable causing the doctor to believe she's not coming out anytime soon. I'm still at 0 cm and am not having any contractions or braxton hicks. My blood pressure was ridiculously low (120/60) compared to the past few weeks but I'm pretty sure it was a mistake. It was a different girl taking it this time and they were very rushed. They say she's on track to be an "average" sized baby, which is somewhere around 7 or 8 pounds. I'm still feeling pretty good for the most part and plan on working until little Miss Allie arrives. The doctor seemed to indicate that they may induce sometime the week of Thanksgiving so she should be here relatively soon!

Couple of Pics

I feel like I'm running out of things to say other than, "No, she's not here yet!" Aunt Joanne sent me some pics of my most recent baby shower so I'll share a few of those:

Preggo Meggo at 36 weeks

Handmade baby blanket from Aunt Mary Ellen

The adorable Miss Cecelia showing off her fabulous dress

Cute little Anna helping me open gifts

Thanks again to everyone for making it such a special day!

38 Weeks & Happy Birthday to Me!

Today marks the 38 week point. I'm still feeling pretty good and have no major complaints, I'm just very eager to meet little Allie! We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and everything still looks good. I lost 3 pounds in a week (not great news but no need to worry) and my blood pressure is holding steady in the 140s. Her heartbeat sounded great and she's still head down. The doctor said I still haven't made any progress but the baby is dropping. He also said that I have what he thinks is a hernia in my groin area. He said it poses no danger to me or the baby during delivery and that it may go away on it's own once she's born. If not, they'll refer me on to a surgeon after her birth to have it repaired. No big deal really.

On a side note, today is my 27th birthday! Nick and I are keeping it low-key as it could be one of our last nights out together before we're parents! We're going to a local Indian restaurant for dinner and then probably back home. Lord knows I can barely stay awake past 9pm so it's not like we can do anything too crazy. I've heard that Indian food can induce labor so we're keeping our fingers crossed that little Miss Allie could be my birthday surprise! What a fantastic surprise that would be!

Halloween 2008

Nick and I kind of skipped Halloween in our neighborhood this year. We did pass out candy for about an hour but closed up shop early and headed over to Holli and Brian's house for a Halloween party. Shelley brought the boys over and we got to meet some of Holli & Brian's neighbors. It was a fun night and a good break from the craziness that future Halloween's might entail. The boys looked so cute in their costumes and have grown up so much since last year!

Halloween 2007 : Carson, Cole, Cameron

2008 Cameron as a three-eyed monster:

2008 Carson as an elephant:

2008 Cole as a dragon:

Surprise Shower

My work threw me a surprise baby shower on Friday and totally had me fooled. They had sent out an email saying we were having a chili day for Halloween (which is not unusual) and I fell for it hook, line & sinker. I walked into the break room to find the whole company there. It was so sweet of them! They all chipped in to buy Allie a couple of adorable outfits, and the kids chair that matches her bedding. It is so cute!

My two friends at work, Susie & Stephanie also made the absolute cutest diaper cake I've ever seen. It totally puts all of the ones I've made in the past to shame. I'm definitely going to have to step up my game for the next one.

I don't think any people from work read my blog but if you do, thank you so much for your kindness!

Happy 97th Grandpa!

The birthday boy!

My Grandpa Whalen turned the big 9-7 this weekend. Everyone knows you can't let a big event like that go by without a party! The family gathered at Grandpa's community to celebrate. All I can say is that I hope I'm still in as good of shape as he is when I'm 97!

Ready to blow out the candles. Thank goodness they went for the number candles instead of 97 of them!

Grandpa with some of his girls: Joyce, Cecelia, Janice, Joanne, Grandpa & Julie

Kelsey, Marshall and Nick enjoying the festivities.

Natalie and Cecelia in town for the celebration. Isn't she the cutest baby?

Happy 97th Birthday Grandpa! We wish you a fabulous year and many more to come!

All Showered Out

I had my final baby shower last Saturday hosted by my wonderful Whalen Aunts. Everything was beautiful and it was so good to see my Mom's sisters again. Aunt Kelsey, Julie, Janice, Natalie and baby Cecelia came in from out of town to help us celebrate! Allie got some cute toys and tons of adorable clothes! She's going to be one stylish little girl. I don't have any pictures yet but hope to get some soon.

A big thank you to all of you for making the day so special for me!

Some Finishing Touches

Allie's room is just about complete at this point. We hung some picture frames over her dresser last night. Currently they house pictures of the disgustingly adorable couple that came with the frames but we're hoping to have some equally disgusting adorable professional newborn photos taken of her after her arrival to replace that couple with. We still need to add the changing table attachment and the changing table pad to the top of the dresser to make it complete.

My Dad sent me this needle-point that my Mom had made for me as a child. I was able to paint the frame white and add the ribbon as a mat so that it would match Miss Allie's room. I realize it still says "Megan" on it, but I risked ruining the entire thing to try to remove that part so we'll just deal with it. After all, she is only a baby and probably won't notice the discrepancy between the picture and her name, right?

Wednesday night we put together the closet shelving unit after a 2 hour fiasco with Target. We really just needed some extra storage since her room is so tiny and thought this would work well in her closet until there is enough space to move it out into her room one day. I still need to purchase a few more bins and bring her books up from the basement but it should be finished soon!

We're super pleased with how her room turned out. Now all we need is Allie-gator to arrive!

At least we know where we're going now

Nick and I had our 36 week appointment yesterday and Miss Allie got a great report. Her heartbeat sounded great, I'm not dilated at all yet, she's head down and on track to be approximately a 7-7.5 pounder when she's born. It was a fabulous afternoon!

We got home and did a little bit of work around the house, including putting the finishing touches on the nursery. We finished hanging pictures around 7:00pm, ate dinner and started watching some TV.

After I eat, I'm supposed to do a kick count. Allie is supposed to move at least 10 times in the 2 hours following my meal. I laid down to start counting and got nothing. That's right, nothing at all. No movements, twitches, rolls, kicks. Nothing. The more I thought about it, the last time I remembered feeling her move was at the doctor's office around 4:00pm.

I tried not to freak out and started using some of the "tricks" I've noticed that never fail to get her moving. I drank a glass of ice cold water. Nothing. I drank a glass of apple juice. Nothing. I poked her in the butt. Nothing. I rolled to my other side. Nothing. I used the restroom. Nothing. I ate a granola bar. Nothing. She had NEVER not moved for that long. She loves the evenings and is usually going crazy. It was now 10pm and I was terrified.

We called the doctor and they told us to head to the hospital immediately to me monitored. We live almost an hour away from the hospital so we didn't arrive until 11pm. I swear it was the longest hour of my life. They hooked us up to the monitors and there was her little heart, just beating away like nothing had ever happened. It was truly the sweetest sound I've ever heard and both Nick and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. She still wasn't really moving too much so they had me drink an additional 1 liter of ice cold water in 30 minutes. That must have done the trick (FINALLY!) because she woke up and decided to have a little dance party. I was so relieved.

They did pick up some contractions on the monitors as well but didn't seem concerned. Probably just braxton hicks brought on by stress. They went away after some time and I couldn't feel them anyway so it wasn't a big deal for me.

We were released from the hospital about 1:00am with a clean bill of health for myself and the little Stinker. They said they don't know why she would be so still for so long but that if it happens again to come back in immediately. We got in the car and headed home. Allie kicked and rolled the whole way home and I swear hasn't stopped since! Looks like we may have a little trouble maker on our hands in a few weeks.

It was quite possibly one of the longest nights of my life but hey, at least we know where we're going now!

One Month!

Today marks one month from little Miss Allie's due date. Although we technically have 4 1/2 weeks left, it seems totally surreal to be this close. Overall I'm feeling really well and am hoping for the best at this week's appointment. I can't believe it's almost November!

More Progress

We hung the letters in Allie's room last night. I think they're adorable but I might be a little bit biased since I bought / made them. I'm still on the hunt for a few picture frames and need to re-paint the one frame that I screwed up and then we should be just about finished. Only 5 more weeks!

She passed!

Allie passed the non-stress test this morning with flying colors. The doctor said she was moving all around, even when I'm not feeling it. Apparently she is getting bigger and doesn't have quite as much room to really make her kicks and punches count. They also said that she should be sleeping for longer periods of time so there would be longer gaps between the times that I feel her. Nice of them to tell me this now! Could they not have shared this information at my last appointment, before I freaked out??? I felt kind of stupid for calling but at least we know that she is fine and can relax for a little while.

She was being a little stinker and wouldn't stay on the monitors for the continuous 20 minutes that they needed but she still passed. The nurse kept saying that we were going to have our hands full when she arrives because she'll be going a mile a minute! I'll take a mile a minute over not feeling her move ANY day.

Non-Stress Test Today

I have been summonsed to the doctor's office today at 11am for a Non-Stress Test. I've noticed that Allie hasn't been moving quite as much this week and started to become somewhat worried last night. She's passing her kick tests (at least 10 kicks in the two hours following each meal) but isn't moving as much between these times. The doctor said it could just be that the movements are not as pronounced because she is getting bigger and doesn't have enough space to move around but it doesn't hurt to check.

I'm positive that everything is okay but it can't hurt to have her checked out. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers today!

Couple More Pics

We added the butterflies and the beautiful glider to Allie's room this weekend. I absolutely love her room. It has become, by far, my favorite room in the house. I spend a few minutes every morning or evening just sitting in the glider and looking around. It's just so peaceful.

We have a little bit more work to do but are getting close to being done!

Not good, not bad

I'd been dreading our appointment this week for the past few days. I just had a gut feeling that something wasn't right although I couldn't exactly put my finger on what it was. The good, make that GREAT, news is that Allie looked wonderful! She's growing right on schedule and is moving and kicking normally. Her little heartbeat was perfect as well.

The bad news is that my blood pressure had more than creeped up. It wasn't into the worry zone quite yet but it was 2 points below the worry zone. I told the doctor about the anxiety I'd been feeling all week over the appointment so they re-checked my blood pressure again before I left. Same result. That result bought me a repeat visit with the nurse at 8:30am this morning to be re-checked. Not exactly my idea of fun but way better than bed rest!

The good news is that my blood pressure was down slightly this morning and was good enough to earn me a free pass to my next appointment in 2 weeks. I guess they're not too concerned which was a huge relief for me. After the next appointment, we'll start going every week for the 4 weeks until she's born.

Overall, I'm feeling good and not showing any signs of true high blood pressure. I'm hoping to get back on the low-sodium train and drink more water so as to avoid a repeat performance next time.

Only 6 more weeks to Allie!

The Name Game

In other Neptune-related news, we're about 99.9% sure we've decided on a name. Looks like it's going to be Allison Jayne and we'll be calling her Allie. I bought the letters to hang over her crib and glued the ribbon on last night. We're hoping to add them to the wall sometime this week.

Only 6 1/2 more weeks to go before little Allie's arrival!

Making Progress

We're making progress on the room! Grandma-ma bought Neptune's bedding for her as a shower gift so we were able to put it in her crib last night. It is so stinkin' cute that I can't stop looking at the pictures! I absolutely love it!

Casey came over yesterday afternoon and helped Nick move the dresser into her room. It looks really good and makes the room feel more complete.


We're working on some finding some decorations and are waiting for the glider (thanks Shelley & Holli!) and a few other decorations to arrive in a few weeks to finish the room. We also need to find somewhere to put all of these shower gifts! I need to take a class on baby room organization or something because right now they're all piled in the corner.

We get more and more excited as her room gets closer to being completed. It makes it feel a lot more "real" to sit in her room and imagine what she'll be like one day.

Thank you to all of you who have helped with the room. We think it's turning out wonderfully!

Exciting Weekend!

We had a very busy but exciting weekend. Friday night I met up with the girls from my soccer team for dinner and a baby shower at Abuelo's. I hadn't seen any of the girls since I had to quit playing at 6 weeks pregnant so it was wonderful to see everyone again and catch up. I don't think I realized just how much I've missed those girls. We had so much fun laughing and talking and catching up on each others' lives. I can't wait to start playing again after Neptune arrives!

Little Miss Neptune loves Mexican food so she was in total heaven all night! The girls were very generous and gave Neptune loads of toys, gear and bath items. Daddy was very pleased to see the Ohio State blanket when I got home!

Thank you ladies for being such great friends! I can't wait to join you back out on the field!

Nick's family threw me a shower on Saturday afternoon. The theme was the Secret Garden, just like Neptune's bedding. If you've ever been to a Bryant party, you know they know how to do it up right! Everything was adorable from the flowers in teapots on the tables to the butterflies and flowers hanging from the ceiling. They really went out of their way to make everything perfect for me and for Neptune. The food was fantastic and the baby carriage cake was this amazing strawberry cake with strawberry filling. So good! The generosity of everyone there was truly touching. Neptune received so many gifts they took up a good portion of Tracy's dining room! I had such a great time yesterday sorting through everything and playing with all of the fun stuff. I didn't take very many pictures but will post some as soon as I start to get them from other people.

A big thank you to Mike and Tracy for hosting the shower in their new home. I know how much work you guys put into getting the house ready in time. Everything was beautiful! Thank you also to the ladies in the family for making my day so special. Nick and I both really appreciate all you do for us!

Couple of Pics

We're making progress on the nursery. We didn't get quite as far as we had hoped to last night but we did get the crib assembled. It was a very weird feeling to be putting together a crib for OUR daughter. I kept walking back into the room and looking at it throughout the evening. I love the crib and definitely feel like we made the right decision!

Nick has done a fantastic job on the room. It looks totally different than it did when we bought the house. He truly is very talented and worked hard to make sure everything is perfect for his little girl. I can't wait to see the room evolve even more as we continue to add more items.

Before pictures:

bright yellow walls, ugly brown doors / baseboards

After pictures:

new crib, green walls, white doors / baseboards