37+ Weeks

Happy October... and Happy Birth-Month to us!
So, I am exactly 37 weeks and 4 days pregnant today... and for those of you who don't do math that means we have a little less than 3 weeks left! To say that I am unprepared and stressed is an understatement!

Since I last posted we have moved into our new home and we LOVE it! But it is not at all put together or ready for bringing home the baby. Since we are renting and unsure of how long we will be staying, it is hard to decide how to decorate (or make it homey since I'm not claiming to even know how to decorate)! We have been settling in for the past few weeks, but I feel overwhelmed by all of the things that I think should be completed before the baby gets here. I ordered our crib as soon as we moved into our house (I didn't order it earlier because I didn't have my own home to put it in) and I was really looking forward to putting it together and imagining our sweet baby in it. But, due to all of the excitement and imagining I accidentally ordered it to our former rental house in Las Vegas. Oh no! We had one of Gavin's co-workers pick it up and we are currently working on getting to to Atlanta. So thankful for good friends in Las Vegas! 

And, we still don't have a name. Or an idea for a name! AH! Oh well, it will all work out. I can only  be so prepared for something like a baby that will completely change my world in ways I cannot even begin to imagine. I can't wait to meet him and kiss his sweet little face and hands and feet... the same little feet that have been kicking me in the ribs for the past few months! And I'm super excited to be adding pictures of his sweet self on this blog instead of updates on my pregnancy! 

A few Sunday's ago, my girlfriends threw me and baby a shower and it was such a blast! They gave me so many wonderful gifts... our growing family is so blessed to have such an amazing support system of friends and family! Baby got all kinds of new clothes and blankets. And, my aunt and cousins gave us a Pack and Play so if our crib never arrives at least baby has a place to sleep! I loved getting to see some friends that I haven't been able to see in a long time... so good for my heart! A few days after the shower my sweet friend Jessica came to stay the night with us to see our house and hang out before the baby gets here. So crazy to think that something like spending the day with a friend will never be quite as easy again. 

A week ago, Baby Kidd and I were honored at another shower in Peachtree City and it was a blast. I am so overwhelmed by the people in our lives who want to help us out! There are so many things to get for baby and I am so thankful that we have loving people who want to help us out. I really don't know how you could do this without great family and friends! 

Gavin and I also got away for a night in Savannah with another couple. I hadn't been to Savannah since the sixth grade and it was as beautiful as I imagined. A special thanks to Gavin, Alex, and Jennifer for putting up with sight-seeing with this 9 1/2 months pregnant girl- I'm not moving too quickly these days! 

I also packed our bag for the hospital! All of the packing reminded me that I need to get all of our cameras charged and to empty all of the memory cards for the billions of pictures that we will be taking! I feel like I am rambling, and thank you if you have read this far! 

Missing anything? I'm still missing coffee, but I am getting use to decaf now. I still miss sleeping on my back also. 

Movement? Yes, all the time. Gavin even says that baby kicks so hard that he shakes the bed at night. I guess I am used to it because I have been sleeping right through it.  

Cravings? No cravings.

Anything making you sick? No, thankfully!

Gender: Boy!

Symptoms: I have been having the same nausea that I had in the first trimester, but I haven't been sick. The nausea just gets a little old throughout the day.  

Belly Button in or out? Out

Wedding rings on or off? Off... I don't want it to get stuck.

Looking forward to: Getting our house and baby's nursery ready for his arrival. And, I just can't wait to meet him!

Name: Nope!  

31 Weeks

So today I am 31 weeks and I am getting antsy already! I have been feeling really great with the exception of how tired I have felt by the middle of every afternoon. It is crazy how tired I am getting, but if that is that most that I can complain about then I am pretty blessed. We have been really busy trying to figure out what car to drive and where to live. We found and bought an old Volvo and ended up trading it in after only 3 days. We ended up finding a pretty good deal on a VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI and we have really loved owning a diesel!

We are still with Gavin's wonderful, gracious parents right now and will be until the end of the month. It was a pretty stressful ordeal finding a house to live in and I am thankful to the good Lord above for saving me from even one more day of that stress. I am really happy to say that we have found a place to live and we will be moving in at the beginning of September. We sign the lease tomorrow and I am so excited to get settled in and ready for our little man!

Luckily we have had some time to spend with friends and family, so the process has not been all chores and stress. We have had time to spend with both of our families, all of our siblings, and quite a few old friends. We still haven't had a chance to escape to my parent's house at Lake Martin yet, but I think we are going to have time now that we have most of our chores out of the way! Gavin and I, along with his parents, flew to Virginia over the weekend for a small family get-together. It was great getting so see family members that we haven't seen in way too long.

I am getting excited for fall, cooler temperatures, seeing my best friends, pumpkin spice lattes, Auburn football, and of course getting to meet our baby boy!

Missing anything? I'm still missing coffee, but I am getting use to decaf now. I still miss sleeping on my back also. 

Movement? Yes, lots! He likes to kick me in the ribs and my bladder. 

Cravings? No cravings.

Anything making you sick? No, thankfully!

Gender: Boy!

Symptoms: None at the moment. 

Belly Button in or out? Out

Wedding rings on or off? Off... I don't want it to get stuck.

Looking forward to: Moving into our own house to settle in and get ready for baby. I also can't wait for fall, seeing my friends from college, and Auburn football.

Name: I have names, Gav has names. We don't like each other's names! Pray for us!

25 Weeks

So much has been happening lately! Since I last posted, we said goodbye to Las Vegas and waved hello Atlanta. We started packing up our house into boxes and it took 3 days to load the Penske rental truck- 3 days!!! I was not able to help lift anything, so we were lucky enough to have our good friends Crystalyn and Erik help us load the truck and clean the house. The first day all of our furniture was packed into the back of the truck which left us camping out in our own house... kind of a neat way to spend our last few nights! It was a long process making sure that everything was packed well. It was a 26 foot truck with a trailer to tow my car home.

We pulled out at 9:15 Sunday morning and headed towards Arizona. We went 700 miles in 12 hours that day. That is an average of 58 miles per hour. Our truck would only go about 30-35 miles per hour up any hill. Oh my.... it was a long trip. All in all, we drove from Las Vegas to Flagstaff to Albuquerque  to Amarillo to Oklahoma City to Little Rock to Memphis to Birmingham and then Atlanta. It was a little over 2,000 miles! I think that it was the third time for each of us to make that drive. The truck was really loud inside and we had to shout to be able to hear each other. I am glad to be done with that truck! We arrived on Tuesday night tired and hungry. Gavin's parents were waiting to welcome us with dinner on the table. It was no nice to be done with driving. We were sad to leave Las Vegas but thankful for traveling mercies, a warm bed and showers.

We had not been home for more than 3 hours before I fell down the stairs. Luckily I didn't hit my belly but I was worried about the baby regardless. The next day (the 4th of July), I called the doctor and they had me go into the hospital for observation to make sure that the baby was okay. Thankfully he was. I learned my lesson and I will now be using handrails!!

It has been really nice to catch up with both of our parents and a few friends just in the short time that we have been home. Gavin has a pretty long commute to work so we use the mornings to search for a good place to live and check craigslist for used cars. So many decisions to make in such a short time!

As of this past Thursday I am 25 weeks. Baby boy has been kicking like crazy. Gavin's parents have even been able to feel him moving! Just before we left Las Vegas I had an appointment where I could see his little face in a 3D ultrasound. Normally he has his hands in front of his face and I was so excited to see his sweet little nose. I tried to upload the picture (and a few others) to this post but my phone is not cooperating. We still don't have a name that we both love and we are still taking suggestions! All in all I have felt great and I really love to feel him kick and watch my belly move... it may be the most amazing this ever! I am going to try to register for baby things this week. I have been putting it off because there are so many things out there that we need that I know so little about. From baby monitors to strollers and car seats to what kind of diapers we want to use it a lot to learn about in such a short time. I think that husband and I will be learning by trial and error and that is terrifying and super exciting all at the same time. 

Missing anything? I think that lately I have missed being able to exercise with a heart rate over 130/130 beats per minute. I also miss coffee! 

Movement? Yes, lots!

Cravings? Pineapple

Anything making you sick? No, thankfully!

Gender: Boy!

Symptoms: None at the moment. 

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Looking forward to: Getting to see more friends and family. And also finding a place to live, picking out a new car or two, and getting settled in before the baby gets here.

Name: We have nothing.

22 Weeks

Hey there! Life has been crazy but really exciting. The husband and I have a Las Vegas departure date of July 1st. We will be driving cross country over the long 4th of July weekend. We are planning on staying with his parents until we find a place to buy or rent... whichever we are able to do before the baby arrives. We have been busy packing boxes and getting things ready to leave. I had lunch with my wonderful friends and once co-workers yesterday as a goodbye lunch that turned into a sweet surprise baby shower. I was so blown away by their love for me and my growing family. God blessed me with such wonderful friends and I am going to miss them terribly. This is a picture of all of the amazing things that they gave to Baby Kidd. Forgive the picture quality.

 

Missing anything? I still miss sleeping on my back and my stomach. I miss fitting into normal clothes also! 

Movement? Yes, lots!

Cravings? SUGAR! Lots of sugar!

Anything making you sick? No, thankfully!

Gender: Boy!

Symptoms: I have had some round ligament pain on my right side. I also forgot to mention on my last post that I have an ever-present metallic taste in my mouth... maybe this is the reason that I am always craving something sweet!

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Looking forward to: We are still looking forward to seeing friends and family back in the South and hopefully finding the perfect home to call our own.

Name: We have nothing. We are open to suggestions. Gav's criteria is that our son should have a name that is really uncommon. My criteria is that the name doesn't sound ridiculous (I used to have higher standards, but after talking with Gavin I have realized that they needed to be lowered; he doesn't much care for my long list of 20 names I have already selected). 

20 Weeks

We are half way there! It is hard to believe that we will be meeting our sweet little baby in only 5 more months. It seems so short and it seems forever long! I should back up and say that I have made a few posts that just never made it on here. Our official due date is October 18th. Finding out we were pregnant was so exciting. Gavin was really excited but he agreed to wait until we were 3 months along before we shared the big news. He lasted 6 days before he told his parents and 8 days before he told mine! I loved how excited (could I use that word any more?) he was but it made it so hard to keep it a secret from everybody else in the meantime. I ended up sharing the news with my brother and his fiance after we were only 2 months along because they were trying to schedule their wedding only a few weeks after our due date. I got to tell my sister in person right at 14 weeks and that was really exciting for me. Our friends and family have been really supportive and I am so thankful for all of the prayers.

The baby started kicking last week and I can feel it all the time! It is the craziest feeling! We had our full anatomy check and the baby is growing perfectly at this point and I could not be happier. I told Gavin from the very beginning that I did not want to find out if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl until we get to meet our baby in person. Gav was not happy with this. He was also all but refusing to talk about baby names and kept saying "I can't pick out a name unless I know what we are having." So we made the agreement that we could find out the sex of the baby and he would have to start participating in the naming process. So, yesterday we found out that we are having a baby boy! We had both been very sure that we were going to be having a girl from the very beginning, but neither of us cared either way. I think that we were both surprised to hear the news. I think that it has taken me a little longer to get used to the idea that we are having a boy because I was really sure that we would have a girl. I keep thinking about all of the fun things that we are going to get to do with him. I am praying that everything about this boy is exactly like Gavin (And I know that this means that I will have a really hyper toddler... it will be so much fun)! I really can't wait for October to get here! 

But back to discussing this baby's name... We have nothing! Really, nothing. I don't think that we really like the same names at this point. I like family names and he likes names that no one else has. I know that we will find something perfect though, and I am not in any hurry. 

In other big news, we are being transferred to Atlanta. Gavin is to start working no later than July 1st so that means that we have about 2 to 3 weeks to pack up our lives and head south to stay with Gavin's parents. It is really bittersweet news. I was pretty sure that we would not be getting transfered and I was focusing on having the baby here in Las Vegas. I guess I am learning that since getting pregnant, my intuitions have been seriously wrong. I think that the news started out as more bitter because we are in love with the life that we have out here. We have seriously had the time of our lives and a million great adventures together and with wonderful friends. The more I think about it, the more I realize that being home with our families as we are starting our own family is important to us. We really are blessed with the opportunity to come home and start this chapter with our families. Wow... I am just trying not to think about all of the wonderful, God-sent friends that we have in our lives and the packing and cleaning that are going to have to get done. I am focusing on all of the amazing friends and family that we have back home that we will get to say way more often! 

I think that that is all of the news that I have to share right now. I will add some pictures once I download them. 

Missing anything? Sleeping on my stomach or back. I am not suppose to, but I still wake up on my back sometimes. Well, I am doing my best! 

Movement? Yes, lots!

Cravings? SUGAR! I wasn't much of a sugar person before I got pregnant but I crave it all the time now. I also miss coffee... so bad! And sushi! Basically anything that I am not suppose to have it what I am wanting right now!

Anything making you sick? No, thankfully!

Gender: Boy!

Symptoms: I have had some round ligament pain (the ligament that holds the uterus in place), but only on the right side. If I sleep with pillows propped just right then I am able to get comfortable. 

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Looking forward to: Finding the perfect name and starting to buy our sweet boy some cute things (You know, like overalls and a wedding outfit for his uncle's wedding!). 

Easter Weekend

I truly love Easter weekend and the weather has been absolutely beautiful here is Las Vegas. Husband and I are planning to attend the 6 am sunrise service and then enjoy a nice lunch before he heads off to work in the afternoon. I have spent a little bit of time thinking about our Easter menu this year. It is hard to plan a holiday menu for 2, but I am hopeful that we will be home in Georgia soon so I want to embrace the challenge. I can't help but think of Easter with my parents with a table full of delicious foods. My dad always cooks the most delicious lamb and my mom has beautiful and colorful sides to go with it. So not only am I making this meal for 2, but my main critic is a committed vegan. I am back to eating meat, but I don't think I will be eating lamb any time in the near future. So what to cook? I did some internet surfin' to try to find vegan friendly some ideas that also felt "springy." And I found a vegan recipe for Carrot Cake. Nothing says spring to me like some fresh carrot cake. What are your plans for this Easter weekend? Any traditional Easter dishes at your house? No matter your plans, the important thing to remember is the very precious reason that we have an Easter to celebrate. God is so good and his love endures forever! Happy Easter Y'all!

I'm Back

I'm back! I love reading other people's blogs, and Gavin and I do some amazing things in our lives that I am ashamed at my lack of posting for the last year! So, this is me trying to get better at this. In the past year we celebrated our one year anniversary, hiked the tallest waterfall in the US, enjoyed a Highline "festival" in Moab, Utah, bought, sailed, and sold a sailboat, celebrated the weddings of a few dear friends, made new friends, and spent some quality time with old friends and family. God is good and has most certainly blessed us.

I can also report that I got a job... that I recently quit! I was working for a methadone clinic as a counselor for opiate addicted patients. I was incredibly challenging and yet so rewarding at the same time. Although I only spent about 5 months there I feel that I made some amazing friendships with my co-workers and learned so much about human compassion and God's inspiring ability to heal lives. I was working from 5 am to 1 pm and that coincided with Gavin's shift from 6 am to 2 pm. We decided that it was time to part ways with my job when Gavin's hours at work changed and we became ships passing in the night (or rather, mid-afternoon). It was really a challenge for us to go from so much quality time together down to essentially only 6-8 hours of time together per week. We decided that this was not what we wanted and made the change. I miss my co-workers although I only quit working about a week ago. Now on to whatever God has in store for my career.

We were able to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with our families at home and we had another Christmas out here in Las Vegas. Gavin had to work, but it was nice to celebrate together as a family of 2. We went home for a wedding in February, but other than that we have not had much time to spend with our families lately. We are planning on spending some time in Atlanta and Lake Martin around mid-April. I need some time with my mom, my grandmothers, and some of my girlfriends. A girl needs that, ya know? I am really looking forward to that trip and praying for good weather so that maybe my dad will take us out on the boat.

I think that that is about all that I have to update on off the top of my head. I am looking forward to spending more time with my wonderful husband and really jumping back into crafting that I have missed so dearly!

God is good, all the time.