Long Overdue Post

Wow....does it seem like it's been ages since I've added a new post? That's probably because it has been. I'm starting to realize I'm a crappy excuse for a blogger. I mean some of you are updating weekly, if not daily. And I can't seem to manage more than one post per month (and sometimes not even that). Oh well...as Ryan would tell you, our family motto seems to be "better late than never". So even if most of you stopped checking this blog weeks ago, after being disappointed time after time, I'm going to attempt a fresh start. A little to late to be a New Year's resolution, but hey, this is where that family motto comes in handy...

First, a quick update on Baby Griffin. He's doing great...growing and moving all the time! Judging by the time he spends kicking and squirming in my ever-expanding belly, I think we may have quite an active child on our hands in a few months. Which may be a little unsettling for two of the most laid-back parents-to-be the world has ever seen. I mean, our idea of a crazy night out is dinner and a late movie (that's right, the 9pm showing folks), followed by some cuddle time on the couch, before falling asleep to the sound of 11 o'clock reruns of Seinfeld. What on earth will we do with a hyperactive little toddler?? Pray for us people....pray hard :)

This week, we had our 3D/4D sonogram session, which was even more fun because Ryan's parents, my parents and my sister Jen were able to join us. We are so blessed to have such loving families, and I have no doubt this little guy will be the most spoiled child ever known. We'll do our best to keep him "grounded" but with grandparents and aunts/uncles like these, I make no promises. Here are a few sonogram pics and a couple more of my belly (at 30 weeks):

As you might be able to tell, Griffin's already got some chubby little cheeks, and we even saw a double-chin in a few shots - I love chubby babies!

So there's your update....we're gearing up for baby showers (I told you this kid was loved) and I've almost got the nursery completed. Plus, some dear friends of ours gave us a "blessings" shower, which was so special, so I've got plenty of material left for future updates. Check back soon...I'll do my best to post again in the next few days.

December Celebrations

Is it just me, or does the entire month of December seem to fly by quicker each year? This month we celebrated my 29th birthday (the first of many 29th birthdays, I'm sure) by taking a quick "staycation" to the Plano/Frisco area. Each year Ryan's birthday, my birthday and our anniversary come around in the same 4-week period. To adequately celebrate all those momentous occasions, we started planning mini getaways each year....it's been a fun tradition that I hope we'll always continue.

Year 1, we stayed at Southlake Towne Square in the new Hilton and managed to get all our Christmas shopping done in one weekend.

Year 2, we tried out our posh Dallas personas, staying at the ZaZa Hotel in Uptown, riding the old-fashioned street cars, visiting the King Tut exhibit, and eating at a few of the many hoity-toity restaurants in the area.

This year was a little more low-key....we stayed at the Marriott in the Shoppes at Legacy (where the whole wedding party also stayed the weekend of our wedding), ate yummy Campisi's pizza and Original Pancake House goodies, and shopped our feet off at Willow Bend Mall. All in all, a great weekend with the hubby! Who knows how this tradition might evolve as we add Baby Griffin to the mix next year :)

That reminds me, I don't think we've announced it to the cyberworld yet, but we decided to name our little boy GRIFFIN THOMAS (Ryan's Poppa, who passed away this summer, and my dad are both named Tommy, so we loved Thomas for a middle name). We announced the name to our families at Thanksgiving, getting my family to play a game of hangman to guess the name, and having Ryan's family do a little word unscramble with puzzle pieces. It was a lot of fun for everyone, and I think we may have started a new naming tradition for the fams.

Little Griffin is doing great...moving around all the time and getting bigger every day. I'll post another belly pic soon, so everyone can see just how much we've grown :)

We've also been gearing up for Christmas at our house...and thinking about how different things will be this time next year. I can't wait to add our little guy to the festivities! I've always loved Christmas, and I can only imagine the new wonders I will see as I experience this blessed season through a child's eyes.

One more major celebration to add to the mix....my sisters, Jennifer and Amy, BOTH graduated from Baylor last weekend!!! What a huge accomplishment! We all headed to Waco to celebrate with them (before Ryan and I continued south to Houston for a friend's wedding), and cheered our hearts out as they walked across that stage. I hope they both know how proud of them we are....Ryan's been a part of the girls' lives since they were in middle school, so I think he's been looking forward to this occasion as much as I have. We loved our time at Baylor and I'm so glad all my sisters got to experience the same thing. Jen & Amy, we love you and can't wait to see what God has in store for you.

Busy Fall - November

Okay, so I'm way behind on my blog posts, so I'm going to start catching up with a quick rundown of our November. This time of year is always crazy for us....and even more so with a baby on the way. So, here we go....

Baby News: First, our BIG news....we confirmed this month that Baby Fitz is a BOY!! We're so excited, and Ryan already has his eye on a miniature Baylor football jersey for the little guy :) I'll be sure to post again when we've decided on a name. Here are two pics from our most recent sonogram, and a couple of pics of my growing belly (at 20 weeks).

Already sucking his little thumb - how cute!

It's hard to really see anything in these, but the one below is pointing out that he is definitely a boy!

In other exciting news, I started feeling little "Trigger" (that's Ryan's nickname for him) start moving around a few weeks ago...what a fun, indescribable feeling! I know there are challenging times to come (with the pregnancy and parenthood), but it's so neat that God gives expecting moms these little miracles along the way!

November 4th: Ryan and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! For those of you keeping score, that's 9 total years together - yea for us! This past year has been filled with blessings, and we've enjoyed a deeper sense of commitment and affection as we learn to abide in our love for each other. Our actual anniversary was on a week night, so we kept it low key and went out for a romantic dinner. It was a great night....Ryan booked me a massage and pedicure later that week, and I gave him a small leather overnight bag (leather is the traditional 3rd anniversary gift) and the tiniest baseball glove I've ever seen, so he could get ready for that first game of catch with Trigger :)

November 8th: Ryan turned the Big 3-0!! That's right, my hubby officially said goodbye to his twenties and embraced a new decade of life. To properly say farewell to his youth, I planned a surprise party, with a few of our close friend and family members. He was definitely surprised (and maybe a little irritated because I had to send him on random errands to keep him out of the house), and the party was a big success. We had a great time, and we're looking forward to many more birthday celebrations in the future.

If you couldn't tell, this was a football themed party, with one Baylor Bears room and one Dallas Cowboys room - Ryan's favorite teams. I made a football shaped cupcake cake (half eaten below) and some special sugar cookies for the occasion:

It's hard to tell in this picture, but I put up some framed shots of Ryan from his days on the junior high and high school football teams - so cute!

Dallas Cowboys: Speaking of football, I don't remember the exact dates, but Ryan and I were thrilled to be invited to several Dallas Cowboys games this fall - not just to see them play in the new stadium, but to see the game from one of the plush suites in the Owners Club!! All I can say is we have some awesome friends!

So that's it for now....I'll fill in more from October as soon as I can find the time. For now, we're looking forward to a great Thanksgiving with my family at the lake, and to cheering on the Baylor Bears with the in-laws at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

A little something to tide you over...

Okay...so I am woefully behind on my blog posts! It's just that SO much has been going on, I haven't had the time to write it all down. So, until I can collect my thoughts and arrange them into the perfect posts, here's a little pregnancy survey I stole from another blog to tide you over:

How far along?: 18 weeks.

Total weight gain: I know most women wouldn't really love fessing up to this, but I think putting it out there for all the world to see may make me think twice before adding that triple dip to my ice cream cone. So here goes...so far...7 pounds....not too bad yet, but we'll see how the next few months go.

How big is baby?: According to my weekly emails - the size of a sweet potato (5.5 inches long)! Still pretty small, but growing every day :)

Maternity clothes?: Yes and no....I've definitely outgrown the slacks I used to wear to work, so those are slowly being replaces with oh-so-comfy stretchy fabric pants. Gotta say - I'm loving them!

Stretch marks?: Not yet - but it's still early.

Sleep?: Great - these cool nights have made it so comfortable to snuggle in for a good night's sleep.

Best moment this week?: Hmmm....the week just started, so we'll see....

Movement?: Nothing I've noticed yet....I'm kind of bummed about that, but hopefully, I'll start having that experience in the next week or two.

Food cravings?: It might be that Halloween just passed, but my sweet tooth is back with a vengeance! Lately I've been enjoying some dark chocolate truffles...a gift from my sweet MIL :)

Belly button in or out?: I've always had an "outie", but it looks the same to me right now.

What I miss: Being able to go days on end without feeling like I'm going to gag for no reason - sigh...

What I'm looking forward to: Our next ultrasound in two weeks - it will be so fun to see our little one again!

Milestone: Does outgrowing pants count? :(

Rainy Days

As anyone living in Texas knows, we have been hit with quite a rainy season this fall. Mind you, I'm not complaining...I actually love rainy days. The overcast sky, the big dark clouds, and the distant rumble of thunder. I find this weather refreshing and comforting. While these rainy days may keep us indoors a little more often than we'd like on these cool autumn days, we haven't let them slow us down a bit. Last weekend was full of family fun...despite the rain.

We kicked the weekend off with a surprise birthday party for Ryan's sister, Blair, on Friday night. Her sweetie, Stephen, planned the whole thing, and she was definitely surprised. We all had our near misses as we talked with her throughout the day, but thankfully, no one spilled the beans before the party. She was serenaded by our waiters at the Mexican restaurant (and made to wear the ever-fashionable sombrero), and we even had a delicious birthday cake inspired by our beloved Baylor green and gold. Great job Stephen!

The in-laws were in town for the party, so they stayed with us, and my mom-in-law and I treated ourselves to a mani/pedi session Saturday morning before heading to Waco for the Baylor game.

Of course, as soon as we got settled in our seats at the stadium, the rain decided to make an appearance once again. We were caught in quite a downpour, but we were well prepared with hoodies, panchos, and plastic seats cushions. Luckily, the rain let up after a while and Baylor went on to win its third game of the season. Go Bears!! All in all, a great weekend!

Happy Fall Y'all!

It's officially fall at our house! This is hands-down my favorite time of the year! I love the cool weather, throwing open the windows (and reducing the A/C bill at the same time), decorating with pumpkins, wearing cute sweaters, and spending our Saturdays returning to our beloved Baylor for football games and good times with old friends. I love the family gatherings that always happen this time of year and making the first hot chocolate batch of the year. I know some of you out there are summer lovers, or spring aficianados, but in my opinion, you just can't beat the autumn season.

Despite what Ryan may think, I even enjoy those lazy Saturdays that come along every once in a while when we spend all day snuggled up on the couch, watching college football, and consuming enormous amounts of chips and queso, pizza, and Dr. Pepper.

The fall is always busy for us, as I'm sure it is for many of you, and this year is no different. I'm pretty sure every weekend from here till Christmas is booked with football games, weddings, family reunions, and holidays. So far, we've already made it to two Baylor home games and will be heading back to Waco tomorrow for another game. We were pretty disappointed to hear that our star quarterback may be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, but we'll be there to cheer on the team no matter what!

Here's a sample of us decked out in our game day gear - I also love that every football season gives me a good excuse to buy new outfits for the games :)

Things are going well with Baby Fitz too - I'm feeling much better these days and I got to see the baby on another ultrasound a few weeks ago. Our little one is apparently quite an athlete already - he or she was bouncing around and waving at me the whole time :)

Our Little Lime

After weeks of impatient blog silence, Ryan and I have some very exciting news to share....a little Baby Fitz is on the way! Our bundle of joy should be arriving on April 3, 2010, and we're thrilled! According to the weekly baby emails I get, Baby Fitz is about the size of a lime right now (which might explain the title to this post to those of you who were wondering).

I have to admit, we've been hoping for a baby for a few months, but we're still having a hard time believing this is really happening...maybe that's why God gives you nine months to get ready :)

It's such a surreal feeling to know the Lord is stitching together a little person inside me right now. I had my 12 week check-up today and got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time - wow! What an amazing Creator we love and serve. I feel so blessed to be a part of His plan for this new life.

I'm sure I'll have lots of exciting baby posts in the future...but for now, enjoy our little one's first picture (from the 8 week sonogram):