25 Weeks

Here is my belly picture for this week! Hope you are all having a great week!



Morgan

Honest Scrap - Blog Award

Let me preface this with saying after completely finishing this post, which took me some time, it is a long one. So I was awarded my very first blog award and I want to say thank you to Lyryn from Breaking Through who gave me this award. I never in a million years thought when I started writing this blog that people that didn't know me would be interested in my life and so I was pleasantly surprised when I started getting comments from bloggers I didn't know. Friends of mine had started blogs long before mine and I had been reading blogs long before I started mine but never got what was so big about writing your own. Now I can say it is a great way to journal about your life, your kids, etc and to meet new people which I have now done through the blogging world. So the moral of that story is if your reading and haven't started a blog yet I think you should and if your reading and haven't left a comment to me before and I don't know you please do.

I now have to pass it on to 4 people, but I'm going to pass it on to 7 because it's my blog and I can and there are no rules that say I only have to do 4! (I know I cheated and honestly I want to give it to everyone I read because I wouldn't read their blogs if they weren't good). I even gave reasons as to why I chose these people so you could see I just couldn't not share the award with them too!

Ashley at Wheeler-isms, I literally laugh out loud every time I read her blog.
Amber at Bamber's Blessings, we made a pact to start blogging together. She was afraid she wouldn't have anything to blog about (as was I) but when you have a 2 year old and pregnant with another how is there not something to talk about!
RCL at Soon to be the 4 C's, she's the first one, along with Lyryn who left me the award, to leave me a comment that I didn't know and I now enjoy talking to her through our blogs and emails when we get a chance.
Heather at The Abston Family, this is also a really good friend of mine, who insisted I start a blog after she did as well.
Shannon at The Boland Family, She is also one that insisted almost 2 years ago I start a blog when she did. Hey nothing like getting on the blogging wagon if even a little late.
Amy at The Banaszeks, I'm giving this award to her in hopes that maybe she'll start blogging more! :) I love you Amy! But I know you have plenty to share with us even if it is just a belly photo once a week!
Kara at The Oliver's Journey, this is one of my friends sisters (although I think it's safe to say Kara is a friend of mine too even though I only know her because of her sister) and she is fixing to start IVF, or has actually officially started the process, and to me you just can never have too many people praying for you. Kara, I hope you don't mind me sharing your blog! She is sharing every detail of her experience with us through her blog and everytime she posts I'm just sitting in awe reading everything she's going through and wishing I could make it all go away for her.

Now to accept this award I have to post 10 things about myself you may not know. I think this was really difficult because most everyone that reads my blog knows me personally. So you might know these things but I'm trying to think like everyone reading doesn't know me so I could come up with 10 things!

1. I do not eat seafood of any kind whatsoever! My mom didn't like it and so we never had it growing up but then when my dad would get it, it just never looked good so I had no desire to try it. I guess when I was adult I decided to be brave and try some stuff off of others plates but to this day I still haven't found anything good enough that would make me want to order any type of seafood while I'm out at a restaurant. I know most of you probably think I'm NUTS!!

2. The entire time I was growing up I always wanted to be a lawyer. I said all through elementary school and high school that's what I wanted to do. After high school when I was in college I decided the best way to get my feet wet was to work for one. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there however it made me realize I DID NOT want to be a lawyer! Probably a good thing because I don't know if I would have ever had the patience to go through law school!

3. I've had braces twice! Yes you heard that correctly. Well only on my bottom teeth twice. I got them on top and bottom when I was 14 and didn't have to wear them long. I was good at first about wearing my retainer then quit (obviously way too soon) and my bottom teeth slowly over time went right back to the way they were before. So the year before I got pregnant with Emma I decided I wanted them fixed and had to get them on the bottom all over again. I now have a permanent retainer and hope to NEVER have braces again.

4. Anyone who knows me knows that I am an EXTREME germaphobe! However, after having Emma it has gotten much worse. I feel like it's a good thing to be cautious but there are times (like on vacation when we're staying somewhere other then our house) when I feel like it's a black cloud hanging over me. Maybe it will ease up with time. If not I think anxiety medicine might do the trick! :)

5. I am religious about going to the gym. It does get a little relaxed in the summer but me, my mom and my friend Amy have been working out 3 to 4 times a week for 10 years now. That's a long time and we always meet right after work at the gym during the week. I hadn't realized it had been that long till just now.

6. I have been to St. Lucia, Jamaica, Las Vegas, New York, Orlando, Washington DC and Baltimore (besides the beaches here in AL and FL) and I still think by far my favorite of all is Jamaica. Las Vegas and New York are both tied for 2nd. If you haven't been to any of these places before they are all amazing but if I had to recommend just 1 it would be Jamaica.

7. I LOVE TO SHOP!!! I don't think any explanation is needed there. I don't even have to be going out to get anything particular but could easily shop all day. I just love it!

8. My cousin who is 9 (I think, I'm horrible at ages of everyone) is also named Morgan. I'm named after my great grandmother and so my uncle decided he wanted to use it since it was a family name as well. I still to this day find it strange but hey to each their own. Needless to say my grandparents refer to me as Morgan #1 or Big Morgan and her as Morgan #2 or Little Morgan.

9. I only paid $100 for my wedding dress! I wish I had a picture to post with it. That was only 6 years ago however, there are no digital prints of our wedding day. Maybe one day I can remember to scan it in and post it. But back to the dress, I found it in Auburn when we were down there for a game and when I tried it on I felt like Cinderella which was exactly how I wanted to feel. But the best part about it was it was only $100. I had went in there looking for one that was $800 but by far liked mine better. I'm sure my parents were happy about this as well, they didn't know it but I had just saved them $700.

10. My feet truly did grow a 1/2 a size after having Emma. People told me they would but I was like there is no way. I used to be a 6 1/2 but now I'm pretty much a 7 across the board. I can only wear a 6 1/2 now if it's made big. I sure hope my feet don't grow another 1/2 size with Brooks!

Gosh that was much harder then I thought it would be. If you are still with me, God love you! Like I said though some of you probably know all this. I was just trying to think like no one knew anything about me! :)

Morgan

Another busy weekend!

We had another wedding this weekend (it was one of Ben's best friends growing up) but this time it was in Huntsville. We left early Saturday morning to meet our friends Shannon and Blake to do some shopping. We went to the new outdoor mall up there called Bridge Street Town Centre, it was really nice. We ate lunch at Ketchup and it was good. Maybe not quite as great as I thought it would be! After lunch we did some more shopping although none of us ended up with anything really but we definitely enjoyed the day. That night was the wedding and it was pretty. The reception was fun as well. It was at a place similar to the McWane Center here in Birmingham. I think everyone enojoyed it. Here are a few pictures, I took my camera but didn't carry it around with me! I think Shannon got a picture of her and Chip, the groom. I didn't take my camera in so I didn't get any pictures once we were there.

Here is me and Ben before the reception.



This is Ben, me, Shannon and Blake before the reception.



Me and Shannon



Here are pregnant bellies! She was smart and wore black, I normally do and don't know why I didn't because I felt huge and to me looked huge!



I hope you all had a great weekend! We are done with weddings for a little while so that's a nice break. But now the baby shower season is upon us!

Morgan

P.S. I might have more pictures to post after Shannon does her post since she did have her camera with her at all times. Also I received my first blog award so I'll be posting about it shortly as well. I was excited!!!

Emma is so sweet...

Emma has been talking about "Baby Brooks" (as she calls him) all week because we started painting his room and she's just fascinated watching. So this week Ben told her she could feel mommy's belly and feel Baby Brooks. She tried and we got the camera out and she ran off. So last night we were going upstairs to see what progress Ben had made and she stopped on the steps turned around and put her hand on my belly and said Baby Brooks moving mommy? It was so cute! I don't know how I'm able to fall more and more in love with her everyday but I am. It TRULY amazes me!

The week is finally coming to an end (thank goodness) and I'm thrilled. We have another wedding this weekend so our weekend is consumed with that. I thought I'd post this picture today I forgot when I posted beach pictures before. I love baby feet though!



Happy Thursday!

Wedding Pictures and 24 Weeks Picture

What a week it has been! As you can tell I'm a little behind in posting. Friday we headed to Florence for one of my best friends wedding. To give you a little background me and Leah (the Bride) have been best friends since 8th grade! The rehearsal was at 6 followed by the dinner and then the wedding was Saturday at 4:30. Everything turned out beautiful, however, I wasn't very good at getting pictures! I was too busy helping with anything and everything they needed. Unfortunately I didn't get any of the bride and groom together! As I post this, they are living it up in Jamaica and have been on my mind all week. I'm so jealous. Hopefully we'll make it back there again one day! (Side note: If you ever can go to Jamaica I highly recommend it.) Anyway here are the very few pictures I got.

Leah (the Bride) - she didn't know I was taking this and I didn't get another one by herself! But you can still see she how beautiful she looked!



Here is myself and Leah!



Her colors were bright pink and green by the way. We started out with bright pink dresses but because me and Amy are pregnant they didn't work so we ended up with green dresses and the guys had bright pink ties. They gave us lots of grief over that too (the men)!

Here is Amy (another one of my best friends) and Leah (the Bride).



This is me and Amy and our pregnant bellies together. I'm due in November and she's due in December, she's just 4 weeks behind me.



And last but not least here is my 24 week belly picture!



Of course I can't end the post without saying that some of our other very best friends are moving back home from Chattanooga. We are beyond excited about this. That is really probably an understatement. Blake and Ben have been friends for years and Blake and Shannon got engaged and married at the same time we did and me and Shannon became instant friends because of it too. They are Emma's godparents and we are so thrilled they are coming back home. Harper and Emma are just 3 months apart so I'm glad they will be able to be the friends we wanted them to be.

I'll end it there, I hope you are all having a fabulous week!!

Morgan

Happy Friday!

This is just a quick post to let everyone know me and Brooks are doing good. I went for my checkup today, the heartrate sounded great and the doctor is pleased with everything thus far. I have to say it's all flying by. I go back the 13th for my dreaded sugar test. Hopefully that will go well and we've scheduled a 4-D ultrasound for August 28th. I can't wait!

In other news we took the front of Emma's bed off Sunday when we got back from the beach and she's done pretty good. I'm glad we went ahead and did it because they called today to say her new furniture is in which sent me into a panic! Luckily we put off delivery (they wanted to deliver tomorrow) so that bought us a little time. This weekend is busy, busy with a wedding I'm in so there was just no time for furniture being delivered. Also we haven't done the first thing with Brooks room and I'd really like to have it painted before we move her furniture in there for him. So a lot of things to do in the coming weeks for sure but I don't think we ever stop so we should be used to it by now!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and hopefully I'll be back Monday with great pictures from one of my best freinds weddings!

Morgan

Belly pictures...

So some of you have mentioned I should post some pictures of my ever growing belly on here. I finally decided I would attempt to do that. My plan is to try and do it every week from here on out, we'll see if that happens! So here is last week and this weeks pictures. I am 23 weeks today and near the end of my 2nd trimester which is so hard to believe. Brooks is moving quite a bit these days which is always an awesome feeling!

22 weeks



23 weeks



And of course I have to post pictures of Miss Emma Bean!





Happy Wednesday!

Morgan

P.S. I think all my pregnant friends should do this as well no matter how far along you are! :)

Beach Pictures

We left for the beach bright and early on the 4th and came back this past Saturday the 11th. We had a blast and it went by way too fast as usual. Here are some pictures from our trip, there are so many good ones. Hope you enjoy!



Here she is lounging back playing with her camera.



Say cheese daddy...



Here we are sharing our "virgin" pina colada...definitely not the same but it was still good!



Miss Sassy!

















All done with my photo shoot mommy...



There were just way too many good pictures, I haven't even gone through half of them. Once I do I might post more but I figured that for now that was good. We had a great time and so did she as you can tell. The entire way home she kept telling us she wanted to go back to the condo... I told her mommy did too!

Happy Tuesday!

Morgan

Emma can ride her tricycle!!!

For her first birthday, Ben's dad, gave her an Auburn tricycle. It's so cute. Well I found out week before last she can actually ride it now. I had no idea. Of course I am so proud of her! Here are a few pictures of her riding it, this was right after bath one night.





And she's off...





I hope you all had a great 4th! We did, we just got back from a week at the beach so I will be posting lots of pictures this week from our trip.

Morgan

2 Year Checkup...

So yesterday we finally had Emma's 2 year checkup at the doctor. He informed us she was as healthy as can be which we didn't have any doubt about. She however didn't like him at all. He went to check her breathing on her back and her chest and she screamed the whole time. He's so good with kids though he started turning the light off and on in the room to calm her down which it did work a few times so he could hear her breath. After the first few times she wasn't impressed anymore and said turn the light on. We said turn the light on what and she said (while sobbing) turn the light on please. We had to laugh. Then he tried it again a few more times and she said leave it on. We laughed again. When he was finished checking her and telling us she obviously had a GREAT set of lungs, he said there was no need to ask if she was developing and talking normal. He said he was very impressed with her turn the light on please and leave it on and we should be very proud, which we are! This however doesn't even scratch the surface of her ability to talk and communicate. Literally everyday she's saying new things I had no idea she even knew and using them in the right context. I'm always impressed with her and always proud, what mommy isn't! As for her stats, she's 28 lbs (how I'm not sure because she eats very little but this puts her at 75% for weight) and 36 1/2 inches tall (97% for height). She's still so tall which we already knew. We're not sure where she gets it from considering her great grandmother on Ben's side is the tallest female we know of (he informed us it had to do with the females in our family not the males, not sure if would be different if she were a boy). Our doctor just thinks she'll grow all at once and then at 12 plateau. Most of you know though she's consistently been 95%-97% for height though her entire life. I think we've determined she will definitely be taller then me and that's all I wanted! :)

As for pregnancy related news, Ben felt Brooks move last night for the first time. It's always fun that first time you feel your baby move inside or your spouse does. I've actually been feeling him for a while now and in the last few weeks I feel him more frequently during the day. So the saying is true with your 2nd you feel them much sooner. I was around 20 weeks with Emma before I felt her move and 24 weeks before Ben felt her, yesterday I was 20 weeks 6 days and he felt him. Truly amazing!

And what's a post without a picture of our sweet precious girl! Here she is doing her belly shot, even sticking it out for extra effects! Gotta love it! :) I have a belly book where I take a weekly photo of my growing belly, she's very observant and decided to show us hers!