Brandon's Nose and Michelle's Cheeks...

On Tuesday, December 1st we went to See Me 3D and got to see our son! It was the most amazing experience. Once Brandon, his parents and I were settled in the viewing room--a nicely decorated room with 2 easy chairs, a large flat screen TV and a comfy table for us preggos to lie on--the nurse began the ultrasound. We got to see our son's world for 45 minutes and were saying things like, "oh he's got your nose," or "he's got your cheeks". It was wonderful and emotional (in a good way). Enjoy.

Bumpin' and Swingin'...

Nope that's not a new dance style, but I guess if you were to ask our "little man", he'd think it was. I am most definitely feeling our son moving and grooving inside my belly. It is the most amazing feeling and Brandon was able to feel him a couple weeks ago, too. His expression was priceless! I guess the best way to explain how it feels is like big gas bubbles or even large muscle twitches. A couple days ago, though I felt a little arm or leg swish across my belly, I'm not gonna lie, it felt weird and I can't even begin to explain what it feels like!

I absolutely love being pregnant and all the little perks of feeling our son is amazing! The only thing I'm more excited about is actually seeing him and meeting him.

Lot's to Catch Up On...

To start off, Brandon and I found out on Sept. 28th, that we will be welcoming a son into the family! The little guy was very squirmy and shy at first but luckily the ultra sound tech was patient and finally got the view she was looking for (the attache picture is of his adorable baby feet). My suspicions were confirmed (I had always thought the baby was a boy) and like any good mommy-to-be, I went shopping! I didn't break the bank; just purchased a couple cute outfits-one being a mini flight suit (I can't wait to see him in it). Brandon and I are just too excited and can't wait to meet Conner Joseph.

This past weekend, we trekked to Atlanta for a couple days to see our favorite band, U2 in concert. We were surprised and really excited to find that Muse would be opening for them. We got to the hotel and after we were settled went to the CNN building for a tour (we're Fox fans, but it was interesting to see the behind the scenes action). After our tour we cleaned up and headed for our anniversary dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. (We'll be celebrating our 6th anniversary next week.) We both thoroughly enjoyed dinner and as Brandon put it, we had to roll ourselves back to the hotel. The next morning we had time to kill before the evening concert, so Brandon mentioned going furniture shopping for the nursery (because the company we were interested in using only has a showroom in Columbia-but has two in Atlanta). It was a success! We purchased everything we needed for the nursery and an $88 bear (I don't know what I was thinking). We were able to fit the crib in our car and Brandon will have it put together by next week!

We will post pictures of Conner's crib once it's completed!

Any Guesses...

At the end of the month we have another appointment and ultrasound...what's so exciting about this one is we'll get to find out the sex of Baby T (if he/she cooperates)! So my question to you dear reader is what's your guess? Brandon and I have an idea, but we've both had dreams about each gender so as far as I'm concerned your guess is as good as ours. I've posted a current belly picture with this post...so, guess away!

We Have an Avocado...

According to babycenter.com our baby T is about the size of an avocado! My next appointment is this week, but we won't find out the gender of our little guy/girl until next month. I have absolutely no idea what it could be but Brandon and I have narrowed down the names and have a boy's name and a girl's name we really like, but it will stay with us until we're sure the name will work...so don't try to get it out of us, we won't tell until later. Tummy pictures will be posted later, too and let me tell you this tummy is GROWING! I'm hungerier than a bear after hibernation and I'm always eating it seems, but apparently baby T is growing a lot more during this and the coming weeks.

Brandon and I have also decided we want to do a 3D ultrasound later in the pregnancy so we can get a sneak peak at our sweet baby and we'll be sure to post that as well.

Other than that, things have been really quiet here at our house.

Heartbeats...

Wednesday morning, I went for my third (of many to come) appointments at the OB. I was expecting a check-up consisting of questions and answers, but to my surprise it also included a chance to here the baby's heartbeat. I know I won't be able to give the moment justice. But when the white noise was all of a sudden broken by the woosh, woosh, woosh sound I felt my breath leave me. "Holy crap! That's our baby." was all I could think. My eyes got misty because I wished Brandon had been there to hear it, too. It is truly a remarkable sound to hear (as a friend called it) the life of our baby. I was told by a girlfriend that they do that at all the appointments, but I think I'll call ahead any way and see if we could do an encore for Brandon.

What a sound!

PS: I'm including a picture of our sonogram from a few weeks ago. Baby T is the gray "peanut" inside the black "peanut"
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We're EXPECTING!

I know by now a few of you already know about our happy news, but I just wanted to confirm/fill everyone else in, that I am pregnant. We're expecting Baby T around the beginning of February!

Right now, I am having some morning sickness, but thankfully only nausea, I'm starved all the time and I think I could take a nap almost every hour of the day! I had my first appointment yesterday and will have my first UltraSound in July.

Brandon and I are so excited and it took all we had to keep it to ourselves (family and some friends).

From SC to OC...

Four days after Brandon's return home from deployment, we left for a one week trip to California. So, basically he was leaving one desert for another...have to laugh at the irony!

Our first item on the "to do" list was to see our brand new baby niece, Capri. When we arrived at Mama and Papa T's house, Melissa was waiting for us with the sweet bebe. Aaron joined us after work and we all enjoyed a family meal, together.

The following day, Brandon and I met Melissa and Capri in Laguna Hills and explored Balboa Island where we had our first "Balboa Bar". It's an ice cream bar that is freshly dipped into chocolate, then into any topping you'd like. I couldn't decide, so I went with the "everything dip", which included oreos, almonds, and sprinkles (just to name a few), Brandon had the "heath dip" (crunched up Heath bars) and Missy had almonds. It was amazingly delish and very messy, but so worth it! That night, Brandon's extended family came over and a large meal and lots of talking and catching up ensued.

On Saturday, a group (13) of us went to a Dodger's game where our Dodger's played the Giants and won 8 to 0 (sans Manny)! I enjoyed a Dodger Dog after a 13 year hiatus and Brandon got to see some of his great friends from high school, Corey and Scott (and also got to meet Mason, Scott's baby boy). It was a great day and our seats couldn't have been better; we were in the shade the whole day. After the game (and 2 hours of traffic--I really don't miss that part of LA), Brandon and I went to Warehouse Pizza in downtown LaVerne for dinner, where we were able to hang out with some of the Higgins' family and Bree (Corey's gf).

Sunday was Mother's Day and Patty was loving the fact that both her kids (Melissa and Brandon) were able to spend it with her. We started the day with church then enjoyed the day as a family and ate some fabulous ribs. It was a nice relaxing day.

Now, I have to tell you that whenever Brandon and I go west, we must go to In-N-Out. This burger joint is a staple to Southern Californians and in my opinion, once you go In-N-Out; you don't go back. Every other burger is cardboard! So, Joe, Patty, Brandon and I went to our burger mecca and devoured every morsel as we sat at the Cable airport and watched as little planes landed and took off. When we had finished we decided to take in a movie, the new Star Trek. I was very impressed and liked how the characters were the same but in a different "future"...you have to watch it! After the movie we trekked ourselves to Corona to visit with Brandon's aunt and uncle, Candi and Dave, where yet again, we enjoyed a large family dinner.

Tuesday, was date night for us, but beforehand we needed to update Brandon's duds so he'd be California cool. Those of you who follow the show Burn Notice, know that the character, Michael Westen is a snappy dresser. He was our muse for Brandon's shopping spree and if I can brag, I'd say Brandon is well on his way! To accomplish this Brandon, his parents and I went to Victoria Garden's mall. It was a really pretty outdoor mall where we updated B's wardrobe and got some yummy crepes, too. For our date we went to 5 Crowns in Corona del Mar. It was a quaint British looking house set up as a restaurant. The cocktails that began our night were, Brandon's usual Cuba Libre and I had the best Mojito ever! We started with a cheese platter and a ceasar salad which was followed by our entrees. I had Beefsteak Neptune (Butterflied filet with Dungeness crab legs, Yukon gold potato, asparagus and sauce bearnaise) and Brandon had the Rib Eye (A broiled 16 oz. bone-in slice of their slow roasted prime rib, with the crust and a bite of a steak, topped with crispy sweet onions). Ohmygosh, my mouth is watering just thinking of it. The steak was like butter...if you're ever in the area I highly recommend you check out 5 Crowns!

Wednesday was our last full day in California and we enjoyed it with Patty and Joe as we explored the Crystal Cathedral, an amazing glass and iron structure used for worship. After this we walked around historic old town Orange County, then joined Melissa, Aaron and Capri for some great Chinese food (there was even a flaming pineapple).

All-in-all, I'd say our trip was never at a lack of things to do or people to see. It was great to catch up with everyone and I wish we all lived closer so we could do this more often. Here's to family and friends!!

Brandon's Home...

May 3rd, Brandon finally landed in the states from his deployment in Southwest Asia! He landed two hours earlier than expected, which meant lots of calling to the other spouses of our squadron. By 9 am we were all at the Passenger Terminal on base, waiting for our loved ones! One of my friends brought the makings for mimosas, which a few of us enjoyed. Around 10am our Lions had landed and the anticipation for the hugging and kissing was quickly dissolved and replaced by the real thing!

I'm so excited my hubby is home! (Big thank you to Deanne for snapping all the great pictures!)

Yesterday, April 4th was the 32nd annual Cooper River Bridge Run. It's a 10k (6.2 miles) race for which people travel from all over the globe to participate. And B was able to participate in the 10k race at their location (they even built a Ravanel Bridge to cross as the finish line) and completed in 55 minutes! We laughed because we figured out that they finished their race before we even started ours...so theoretically they finished before the Kenyans!

Anyway back in Charleston, the day began very early I rolled (reluctantly) out of bed around 4:45 am and donned my running gear and put my hair in the designated pigtails that our group had decided on. A group of us met at Michelle H.'s house where we decided on the caravan and left for downtown Charleston. Once we were parked, we made our ways to the shuttle pick-up location. The shuttles were rows-upon-rows of school buses, it was very well organized and kudos to those who kept all those buses moving. While our driver took us to the start area, us girls tied the ribbons around each other's pigtails. The ribbons were a menagerie of colors and designs from bright pink and white polka dots, neon stripes, yellow flowers to cheetah spots.

When we arrived at the start location and had used the portable facilities we separated into our classes. Jen, Rachel and I were the orange class (aka the walk-joggers). After the national anthem had been played on the trumpet and sung the race began at 8:00 am. The three of us walk-jogged the whole race and stopped periodically to take advantage of photo ops. We did a really good job motivating each other and each person took the lead at some point in the race. We finished really strong on Meeting St. at around 1:43:00 (15 minutes better that my last bridge run).

It was a wonderful time and we eventually met up with our group and then some. Once we had congratulated each other and caught up with others, we walked our tired bodies to Mad River where we enjoyed great food, mimosas and bloody mary's.

I'm a little sore today (the day after) but a good sore. Cheers for next year's bridge run!

I need a hug...

"The kind of hug that you can completely relax into. The kind of hug where you are exactly who you are without any self conscious discomfort. The kind of hug that comes with familiar husband neck smells, synchronized breathing, and maybe a whisper in the ear. The kind of hug that softens everything in the world- that’s the kind of hug I need."

~Joy The Baker

Pictures from Brandon...

Brandon has only been away from me a week and he's already going "gangsta"! That's right, that's a MONEY belt! LOL!

This is of Brandon and his crew.

Kiawah...

I realized in the midst of my belly aching and all around feelings of sorry for myself; I forgot to post our pictures from Kiawah. B and I decided a short but sweet get-away was well deserved for both of us. So we packed our bags and made a reservation at the Sanctuary. Let me tell you off season holidays are the way to go! We booked an ocean front room for December 22nd. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it was to prop our door open and listen to the waves crashing as we ate breakfast or relaxed in bed. Oh that was the life!

These are the views of/from our room:

The view from the Atlantic Room (where we had dinner)



One of two grand staircases in The Sanctuary and pictures of their Christmas decor and view from the lobby

Freshfields:

The Angel Oak: said to be more than 400 years old