Time flies!!!

So we are getting down to the wire. It is so hard to think that in just 7 weeks we will meet this little baby that I have been carrying around inside of me.

Some baby/body updates- well I am reluctant to say, but I have gained 35 pounds... and as you know the last few weeks are when you really start "packing on the pounds" so lets just say I presume baby Jax is going to be quite the chunky lil man :D.

I have been having some major swelling here lately in my feet and a tad bit in my hands. My feet are huge right now and I try to prop them up constantly. Yesterday, they we so big that we decided to try to put some ice on them (as Jon's coworker said this helped her daughter). At this point we would have tried anything to get this fat piggies to go down some. So as I'm laid back with my feet propped up, Jon puts the ice on them and then WRAPS them in SERAN WRAP...Hahaha it was priceless. I think I just got it from my Moma as she was a "sweller" as we'll. we shall see.

Baby Jaxson is moving like CRAZY!!!!!!! It is so amazing to sit and watch his little karate moves and to feel him dancing away in there! However it never fails... each time I tell Jon to look, Jaxson stops moving lol. It's pretty funny.

I had my friends baby shower last weekend. It was great and I really enjoyed seeing everyone as it had even forever. My sweet Auburn friends came as well as my great neighborhood friends. Jaxson got a lot of precious goodies and some adorable little outfits. We are so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.

Looking forward to fall and seeing all of the leaves change colors. I love this time of year and this year we have even more to look forward too and be grateful for! Thank you Lord for everything!!!

Goodbye for now... Love!

Wobble Baby...

Sooo! Once again, it's been forever since I have posted! So much has happened in the past month. It is so hard to believe that on Sunday I will only have TEN WEEKS (did you hear me...10!!!) left!! Ahhhh. We are so excited to meet our little guy. It is so amazing knowing that in such a short time we will finally get to meet and love on this little person I have been carrying around with me for the past 9 months.

Work is going great and it is hard to believe that the kids have been back for a month. Time flies. I am having to find a happy medium when it comes to my swollen ankles ;) can't sit for too long, yet can't stand for too long! Also, the kids and teachers are both getting a kick out of my permanent "wobble" ;) when they see me, they automatically start to do the dance... The Wobble *if you are unfamiliar please YouTube this video ;)*

A few weeks ago, I went for my 28 week checkup and everything was great. Baby was measuring right on track and his heartbeat was in the 140's....where it has stayed the entire pregnancy. I made all my upcoming appointments and it was bittersweet knowing that I now start seeing the doctor every 2 weeks. I go back for my 30 week checkup next Thursday, September 27.

Also during this past month, we had our first baby shower!!!!!!! Ahhhhh. It was perfect. My aunt, cousin, and sister in law were amazing hosts and everything was so adorable and nice. Jaxson had a lot of close family and friends there and they showered him with lots of goodies! Jon and I are so blessed and thankful to have such an amazing family!! I was so eager to get home and "play" with all of his new stuff ;) we can't wait to start using everything- thanks again for all of the awesome goodies and kudos to the hosts for such a beautiful shower!! We have our friends shower in two weeks and I am looking forward to seeing everyone as it has been a while since we have all gotten together.


Other big baby news- WE GOT TO SEE HIM TODAY!! We went to Baby Dimensions for his second 4D ultrasound. It had been 14 weeks since we had seen him in 4D and 10 weeks since we had seen him on a regular ultrasound- so needless to say we were BEYOND ready and excited. I loved seeing him and getting to see how much he has changed/developed since last time... He weighted approximately 3.3 pounds and hse said that this is average and he is perfect. At the 20 week US he topped the charts with his weight so we were anxious to see how much he had gotten up to :) We had about 10 family members come up and go with us... they are in love just like we are and it is amazing to see what technology can do!! CANT WAIT TO MEET THIS PRECIOUS GIFT AND LOVE ON HIM!
Also, we have some other exciting non-human baby news :)... LeRoy is going to be a daddy himself. We just found out last weekend when Jon discovered her "under carriage" :) was getting bigger.The lucky lady is named Pia and she is our neighbor up the streets beige British Lab. Her and LeRoy have been best friends for about a year and love to play together. We knew it would be just a matter of time before this happened. Jon thinks she only has a few weeks left before she pops them out... we shall wait and see!

I reckon I have posted enough for now. Hopefully I will remember to post in a few days so the next one won't be as long. XOXO Love you all- B & J (and baby J)

"You're baby is getting HUGE!!!!"

First off just want to apologize for not posting in what seems like forever :/ (yikes). My last few weeks of summer were spent doing last minute things that I knew I would not be able to do once school started so blogging took a back seat.

School has started...and so far, I think it is going to be a great year. It is hard to believe that it has really started back and that we are almost in September... DON'T BLINK or life will pass you by!!! One of my sweet rugrats proceeded to raise his hand in the middle of our language arts lesson (I call on him obviously thinking he has a question in regards to the lesson) and while looking at my belly, announces very loudly- "WOW! You're baby has gotten huge!!!!" :D That made me feel real good ha. I will say I was wearing a dress and my bump did look extra large that day.. NEVER a dull moment with a bunch of 10 year olds!!! Here is a picture of me (and Jax) on the first day of school...

We have been busy (as a bee ;)) here lately and it seems we don't ever time to just sit down! Jon had all four of his wisdom teeth extracted last week and has been such a trooper! He has such a high pain tolerance... (Not me ;)!! We wil be spending this weekend relaxing and I know I am looking forward to it... Especially after my first week back! Can not wait to sleep past 5:45!!! Oh- and CAN YOU SAY SWOLLEN ANKLES?? Omg- I hope they go down. My left one is worse than my right and right now it is hard to see them ever being normal again ;/ I guess they are adjusting to 12-13hour work days!! I did start walking last week but took this week off to adjust to being back at work ;) I hope to start back tomorrow.

Hubby has been doing alot of projects around the house here lately!!! He hung the curtains in our bathroom as well as the last mintute stuff in the nursery :D The only things we have to do is install the crown molding, a new ceiling fan, and put his bedding in the crib- I am taking it to the cleaners. SO Basically all the "have to do" stuff is done! I AM AMAZED AT HOW IT TURNED OUT! It is just like we imagined and wanted. SO THANKFUL to Jon for everything he has done!!!! Now all we need is our lil man :D

Speaking of baby J- HE IS ONE ACTIVE little guy!!!! This week, especially Wednesday, he has not stopped moving! It is the most amazing (and weirdest) feeling in this world. I can reach down when he is awake and touch my belly and he will respond. I love it and Jon and I get a kick (no pun intended haha) out of it. We love sitting back and watching him move...one of the sweetest things yet! This Sunday we will be 26 weeks- WOW. That belly is growing an growing :). My next doctors appointment is September 5 and I will take the Glucose Test ;/ wish me luck. Oh and my first baby shower is in 2 weeks YAY! Super excited!!! Here are some random pics from the last few weeks...

Baby Jaxson and I at our 24 week checkup :)

The girls in ATL for Leigh's bachelorette party

Amanda and I in ATL

The new curtains... looking forward to taking a hot bath :) 

 Hope everyone has a good weekend!....until next time XOXO!

You're still the one!

Okay, so it is probably my pregnancy hormones going crazy, but here lately I can not get it off my mind that in just a few (short) months, our lives will no longer be the same. No longer will we be able to do what we want, when we want, how we want. No longer will we be able to just "up and go" as we please. No longer will it just be the 2 (well really 5 if you count the fur-babies, which we do) of us. No longer will we be able to leave the house with just 3 things- my purse, his wallet, and the keys. The thought of it no longer being JUST Jon and I is SUPER scary to me. We have been together for over 9 wonderful years, and I am shaken at the thought of that no longer being the case. I know that we will grow as a family and our love for each other will blossom into something greater, but this whole (new) concept has been weighing heavy on my (heart) mind here lately.

***Funny story (that I am feeling compelled to share and if J knew I was, he would put an end to me): Last night as we were laying bed, something of the above mentioned came up, so I decided to tell Jon my thoughts on this, etc. Would you like to know his response...."It didn't change when we got Max. It didn't change when we got LeRoy." :D BLESS HIM. LOL. He was so serious and it was all I could do not to roll off the bed laughing at this statement. I KNOW that raising animals verses a baby is on two TOTALLY opposite ends of the spectrum... I am guessing that he does not realize this. However, the more I thought about it, the more I got to thinking that..YES even though our lives are about to change tremendously, I WE are going to do the best we can to make sure that it remains the same...if that makes any sense (or is even possible). We are excited and looking forward to this new journey- as a party of 6 :)

I also decided to partake in the "Photo A Day" pictures. I have been seeing people do this (mainly on Instagram) for the past few months, but never participated. I am happy to say that I have done each day as it states. (If you are unfamiliar with this, you take a photo (according to the "rules") each day and post it).

Fancy that today is "Something Old" and that I have been having these (hormonal) emotions. I chose to post our very FIRST picture together. I remember it as if it was yesterday...We all went to Red Lobster (my favorite place to eat) to celebrate my 15th (YES, you heard right) Birthday (Jon only 16 himself). My mom, sister, step-dad, and step-brother all joined us and we had a lovely time. So glad my mom snapped this picture of us, because it is still one of my most favorite pictures of us and I love to look back to this point in our lives.

9 years later...he is still the one

Looks like we made it
Look how far we've come my baby
We mighta took the long way
We knew we'd get there someday

They said "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holding on
We're still together still going strong

*You're still the one*
You're still the one I run to
The on that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
*You're still the one*
You're still the one I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

Ain't nothin' better
We beat the odds together
I'm glad we didn't listen
Look at what we would be missin'
They said "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holdin' on
We're still together still goin' strong

*You're still the one*
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
*You're still the one*
You're still the one I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

*You're still the one*
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
*You're still the one*
You're still the one I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

I'm so glad we made it
Look how far we've come my baby

Okay.. so that is it all for now. My pregnancy hormones and I are done being all sappy...until next time! XOXO



22 Weeks

A few updates of our week so far...

Okay. So the yard sale was interesting. This was my very first one and naturally since J has had one back when he was 9 years old- he is a yard sale expert ;). Needless to say that their aren't anymore 'come at the crack of dawn/early bird' yard-salers -like we thought still existed. We woke up before the sun was even awake to finish getting things set up. Three (long) hours later, we FINALLY had our first customer (yay! we honestly thought no one was even going to show up). Jon's face lit up like a kid at the candy store. Once we got through the first customer, they kept rollin' on in. All in all we made a good lil' chunk of change and were able to get rid of unwanted/unneeded items. I'm calling this the 'Baby J fund' as we will put some of this money towards his nursery *which I am oh so excited about getting back to work on.

Much to my surprise, when we woke up Sunday, Jon decided he wanted to get a jump start on the nursery (yay! I was super excited *and surprised) so we took off to the man store (aka:Home Depot) and got what we needed to start the chair rail and wainscoting process.

The plan was to paint the wainscoting (outside) first before putting them on the walls, but considering it was about 135 degrees (seriously it was miserable, I do not see how people work outside in this heat- bless you if you do!!!) outside on Sunday, we opted to cut them to size and put them on the walls first then paint them later. We were able to finish wainscoting one wall yesterday and will continue to work on this throughout the week :). I am so excited and can not thank Jon enough for doing this (& for being SUCH A HARDWORKER)!! Here are a few pics of Step 2...

Also, this week, I had the pleasure of going around to different daycares and checking them out....WOWZERS, can you say extra mortgage payment and/or 3 car payments? I am in the process of researching them and we hope to make a final decision before I start back work (....which is in 2 weeks, AHH- where did my summer go? *this is a whole 'nother blog post in itself!).

My awesome, amazing, talented, beautiful sister came to stay with me on Monday. Let's just say that I was very excited to see her, as it has been a while. We enjoyed having girl time, catching up, staying up late, talking, eating good, and just having that 'sister-time' (if you have a sister, then you know what I am referring to).

 

Anywho, thats all I got for now... I will post again in a few days. Hopefully, we will have made a little more progress on Jax's nursery! Until next time...

Bump This

Before I got pregnant, I had all these GLORIOUS ideas on "bump pictures" that I would do. Designs, layouts, ideas, pins (saved on the Baby Ballard board), etc...WELL hello, wake-up call. In the real world, you do not have time to dress up, stand in front of a 'cutesy' chalkboard sign, and pose for the camera :) Even if you are dressed half-way decent and are on a hot date with your husband, the last thing on your mind is taking pictures of the bump (partly because.. lets face it, half of the time your "pregnancy brain" forgets to do things and you know good and well hubby isn't just going to break out the camera and start snapping pictures!!!). SO I'll take what I can get when I can get it. Here are a collection of random belly shots so far during my pregnancy.

May 2012

 10 Weeks - 11 Weeks -12 weeks

 Anniversary Trip to Myrtle Beach
June 2012

Happy 17 Weeks

Happy 18w5d

July 2012- 21 Weeks
 Daddy J playing around with the camera


That pretty much catches you up to speed on the bump. I do want to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed and loved every minute of this pregnancy (ask me again at 37 weeks when I can't see my feet and you will probably get a different response :) ). We enjoy getting out the heart doppler and hearing his heart beat each night. We enjoy the nightly belly rubs and I enjoy watching Jon talk to him. However, one thing I don't particularly care for are the CONSTANT bathroom breaks I have to take throughout the day and night. Funny story: I had my niece up a few weeks ago (HEY CHLOE!) and it was hilarious because after about my 6th bathroom break for the day, she finally asked me about it. Some of the things she said were: "Aunt Barbie, you go to the bathroom more than anyone I have ever seen!" or "You're pausing the movie AGAIN?" or "Come on, you literally JUST went!" :) Overall, I am super happy with my new belly and love to "feel" him moving inside me. ((Although, I have to admit it is super weird and creepy the first few times this happens.)) I haven't really experienced the "fluttering" that EVERYONE (and their moma) keeps referring to, but when I lay down, I can "feel" him tense up and sometimes "see" him.

Adios for now, hope everyone has an awesome weekend. Will post next week on news from the yard sale :) XOXO

Project Nursery

*Warning: This post tends to be a little long itself... hopefully I can start shortening them :)
Okay, so we have started the awesome process of working on sweet baby J's nursery and I am beyond thrilled and excited!!!! I have been looking forward to this point in pregnancy for quite some time. I like to consider myself a planner (whether my husband would agree or not is a different story :) ), so in my down time (what's that?) over the past year or so I would always find myself just looking at baby stuff and trying to pick out what I would do. Of course I am sure we all know what nursery stuff I started automatically looking at first... GIRL stuff, DUH because it is so much cuter :). When I had all of "her" stuff picked out (I knew everything I would do for "her" -bedding, wall color, decor, rugs, etc) and was bored again I would check out the boy stuff. I never really found boy bedding that made me say "AHHHHHH." I had debated on whether or not to do a themed nursery. I liked a construction (all-boy, tools, saws, hammers, etc) theme as well as a lil' deer/wildlife theme, but I still never REALLY loved it.

Anywho- fast forward to April of this year... I was just a few weeks pregnant and came across some boy bedding that was THE BOMB beautiful. I automatically fell in love with it and knew I could not pass it up. Even though I had NO clue what Baby Ballard was at this point, I still knew it was the deal of a lifetime and I just had to get it. If Baby B was in fact a Barbie Jr, then we would have stored it in the attic until the time came. BUT since Baby B did turn out to be a boy, I was thrilled because I already had the bedding (and some of the other stuff) picked out. Thanks to our awesome friend, Pinterest, I was able to create a "baby board" and whenever I would find something I liked I was able to store it there and check it back out a later date.

In the meantime, I was also anxiously waiting the arrival of Jaxson's furniture. I must say, KUDOS to JcPenny on their awesome delivery times. We ordered it (cleaned out one of the spare bedrooms completely) on a Tuesday and 2 weeks later, that Tuesday, his nursery furniture arrived (AHHHHH). I felt like a kid on Christmas, literally. Just the site of those big cardboard boxes made me grin from ear to ear! As soon as the front door shut behind the last delivery man, I rushed upstairs to check it all out. Of course, I knew I couldn't lift anything or put anything together, but I just had to open the boxes and sneak a peek inside. On all 3 pieces their was no such luck because they were wrapped up like your Grandmother's China in that box so I couldn't see a thing-due to all the bubble wrap and thick plastic wrap. (I am still trying to figure out how people say their furniture got damaged by delivery people :) ). Short story long, as soon as Jon got home that evening, I greeted him at the door with tools in hand and was ready for him to get started :). He was such a good sport and a little later that evening, Jax had his crib up and ready to go. Since we hadn't done his walls yet, we had decided to only put his crib together, this way I could get an idea together and see the color of the furniture in person. Here are a few pictures of the proud papa putting it together.



Getting the crib out -with LeRoy's help :)

Taking all the wrapping off the crib...this took just about as long as it did to put the thing together :)

Almost done with the assembly :)

TA-DA..the finished product! We  love it!
**SPECIAL THANKS to our amazing parents Granny**


We still weren't sure what we were going to do for his walls yet, so I began researching this to find something soon because I wanted to start on the fun stuff- the decorating :). I also want (and intend) to have it finished before I go back to work so I can enjoy it. I would find images of walls I liked/paint/etc and show Jon, but he liked NONE of them. THEN FINALLY- I came across an idea (half stripes and half wainscoting) and he liked it just as much as I did (YAY!!! It was about time too because this pregnant woman was getting impatient :) ) So, that weekend, we went to Home Depot and got all the supplies we would need to paint. I had a piece of the bedding with me and was able to match the paint perfectly. Jon came up with the idea of adding the thinner white stripe in between the 2 colors and luckily we already had some of this at home. His awesome Dad came up to help him and they knocked that sucker out. It didn't take them any time to actually paint...the time consuming part was of course measuring out the stripes. Luckily, they had this super cool 'lasering' tool (that I had never even heard of) and it reduced the time spent on measuring tremendously. And later that evening, Step 1 was complete. I am in awe of their work and can not believe how perfectly it matches the bedding. It seriously looks as if they were made for each other and I now consider my husband and father-in-law to be professional stripers (with 1 P...not 2 :) ).

Check out some pictures and see for yourself.

 

    

So, thats where we stand so far. I am in love with it and find myself "magnetized" to his room. We are having our first yard sale this Saturday (yay.. hopefully we will do good- had to get rid of some things/junk to make room for Baby J) so we will not be able to resume Project Nursery until next weekend. That's all for now; thanks for reading!

Virgin Post

SO! Here goes nothing.. This is my first time creating a blog so as the title says, I am a virgin when it comes to blogging. I have been thinking about creating one for quite some time, but kept putting it off. However, since I am expecting Baby Ballard, I figured now is a better time than any...we shall see how it goes and hopefully I can remember to keep it updated.
*Warning: This post will be longer since it is my very first one :)

Ok, so to catch it up to speed with our busy life lets start out with the basics. I have been on summer break now for a few months and although I absolutely LOVE and ADORE my job at Poka, this summer has definitely spoiled me. I DO NOT want to be back on a normal schedule. I so very much enjoy being able to do what I want, when I want, AND dress :) how I want. To be honest, I have gotten bored a lot of the times just sitting at home, but I like the idea of not HAVING to do something each day. Here in the next week or so, I will begin preparing myself to set the alarm (what's that thing?) again and start waking up early so it will not come as such a shock to me on August 13 (students don't start back until the 20th).

A few things that I have enjoyed about this summer has been being able to eat lunch with my husband... wow, I honestly love being able to do that and am going to miss it greatly. Being a teacher, as well as working over an hour from him (and where we live), this is something that I do not have the luxury of doing during the months of August-May. I have also enjoyed being able to drive to Phenix City and hang out with family and friends! And as my husband would say... I have definitely enjoyed sleeping in. I always get up with him in the mornings (light sleeper) while he is getting ready for work, but as soon as that Tundra pulls out the driveway, Max (cat), LeRoy (dog) and myself climb back upstairs and I hit the sack for a few more hours :).

As you know, we are expecting our very first child Mr. Jaxson Brett Ballard on December 3, 2012... AHHHHHHH!! Words can not describe how elated we are about this blessing from above. I am in my second trimester now and will be 22 weeks this Sunday. I was blessed, can I say it again...blessed, with NO morning sickness or anything of the sorts. PRAISE JESUS! I have always heard horror stories about this and it was one of the things I worried about before getting pregnant. I did however, suffer from fatigue. I have a funny (and somewhat redneck) story to share on this: As you all know, I commute about an hour and fifteen minutes to work as we live in Newnan and I teach in Loachapoka (Loach-a-what?...its a super duper small town outside (or in) Auburn, AL..if you blink you will miss it). I was driving home from work back in April, the sun was beaming down on  my little black car, music was playing softly, and this all just made it even harder for me to keep my eyes open. I would find myself having to literally hold my eyes open with a finger just to stay awake. (Another method was constantly changing the radio station and then randomly blaring it). I was already planning to stop at Exit 28 and grab a few things for supper that evening and PTL I made it there without falling asleep at the wheel. As soon as I found a parking spot and put that Honda in "P"- I laid my seat back, locked my doors, and took me about a 20 minute catnap!!!! :) Boy was it needed and when I awoke, I was rejuvenated and went on in to get my groceries and proceed on the rest of my journey home. I never have had to pull over at a grocery store (Ingles to be exact) and nap before, but I guess that's what carrying a little human being inside of you will do!

Jaxson in 3D @ 16 weeks

Look at our sweet baby smiling and check out that teeny tiny foot

Jaxson @ 20 weeks

Baby J and his precious little profile...ahhh

I am going to stop posting now so it doesn't seem like I am writing my life story in this one post :). I will post more tomorrow and am SUPER excited to post some nursery pictures and update you more on our little blessing, Jax! Stay tuned....

Sneak Peek