Baby shower....

My co-workers had a shower for me Wednesday after school.  It was so overwhelming!  I have a TON of pictures to share.

My mom's eyes are closed but this is the only picture I got with her and my grandma.  I'm glad they were able to come.  They loved meeting my co-workers and were overwhelmed by their generosity, as was I.
Mary hand made a bonnet.  It came with a poem about how his bride can use it as something old on his wedding day.  Don't even want to think about that day coming!  It was such a sweet gesture from Mary and it means a lot.  
My first package of diapers!  Reality set in when I opened this up.  I guess I had a shocking look on my face.  They were giving me a hard time about it.  

My good friends Katie and Heather got me this baby album.  It is precious!!
Me with (left to right) a former student and then two of my current students.  They are teachers kids so they were allowed to be at the shower!  For those of you from Hinton, the two middle girls are Taylor and Brendon Barnett, Mark and Linda's daughters.  Mark was the former minister at the Methodist Church in Hinton when I was in Jr. High and High school.  I gave them piano lessons.  Now I have them in class and I work with their mom.  It's a small world.
My neighbors upstairs.  They are all like my mom and take good care of me.  They really took me in my first year and I have been really close to all of them since.  

More of my co-workers.

This is a newborn diaper.  I could NOT believe how tiny it is.  Neither could Clay.
My principal got me these tiny adidas shoes.  They are so sweet!  Clay loves them!
I have seen this outfit several times and I just loved it.  I was so excited to get it.  It looks so warm.  
An up close picture of my baby album.  It has pages for up to 5 years.  I love it!
The faculty as a whole got my the baby bedding and the mobile!  I am SO excited about it.  Here are Clay, mom, and grandma putting it together.  We couldn't wait to see it in the crib.  Of course I sat in the glider and watched them...



Here are all of the gifts!  I am so blessed to work with an amazing group of people.  I love my job and I love the people that I work with and it means so much to me that they put on this wonderful shower.  Clay and I are so blessed!

Nobody does it like Sara Lee.....

Or is it "nobody doesn't like Sara Lee?"  I've always wondered that......

I have had my first real pregnancy craving the past few days.  I say "real" because it is the first time I have just wanted something so bad I had to find it.  I have looked at Crest for Sarah Lee's pecan coffee cake but I could not find it.  My mom use to buy it for us and we would eat it for breakfast.  I searched the breakfast frozen foods section and I could not find it.  Today I ran into Buy For Less to grab a bag of pasta for dinner. I passed by the frozen food section on my way to the register.  Amazingly enough, I saw the coffee cake with the frozen pies and cakes!!  

Clay laughed at me because he said "of course it would be with the desserts it's a cake!"  Well it only made sense to me that since I ate it for breakfast it would be in the breakfast section.  So what does that say about my mom giving it to us for breakfast?  Hmmmm..........   Anyway, I paid $5 for a box with 6 slices.  That should tell you how bad I wanted it.  I hope this craving thing doesn't keep up for the next 2 months.  If so I will be fat and broke!  

It's here!!!

I had a new first in my life last week.  I bid on a diaper bag on Ebay.  I never saw a diaper bag that I was crazy about while I was registering.  I kept thinking about the diaper bag my cousin Tricia had with her son Deegan.  Everytime I saw it I commented on how much I liked it.  I thought if I liked it that much, maybe I should go with one like that.  She has a red Fleurville mothership bag.  She bought hers on Ebay two years ago.  The brand new ones are $150.  I looked online and they don't make the bag in red anymore.  I was nervous about purchasing a used one, but Tricia did and hers turned out just fine.  Well I bid $30 on the same kind of bag and I won it!  I thought that $30 wasn't too much to spend and take a risk.  If it didn't like it I wasted $30, not $150.  Also, the lady said I could return it if it wasn't in good condition like she claimed.  Well the auction ended last Sunday and I have been waiting not so patiently for it all week.  Well it came today!!!  I really like it!  Have a look...but first here is a picture of Tricia's son Deegan at his 2 year old birthday party last weekend with my uncle Stan.  It was all about Thomas the Train.

The black sharpie mark on the bag.  This is the only blemish I can see.  She warned me about this before the purchase.  

Both sides have a velcro case like this for a bottle or whatever else.

Padded shoulder strap

Insulated bottle holder

The original one comes with a changing pad that fits in the back but this one did not.  I'm just fine with the fact that it didn't come used as well.  

I like how the outside has a slick finish so if anything spills on it I can wipe it right off.  I also like the red.  I could have bought a blue or brown one brand new but I feel like we have a lot of blue and brown and red would be different.  Plus I could also use it for the next child whether it was a boy or girl.  Needless to say, I am really excited about it!  I guess I will have to shop on Ebay again sometime. Thanks for helping me find this bag Tricia!!

Oh by the way....

Our baby boy's name is Cooper Thomas Bryant.  Clay's entire family has the initials "CB": Chuck, Connie, Cale, Clay, Cole and Casper (the dog).  We didn't pick Cooper because it starts with a C, we just liked it and it happened to be a C.  But since it is, we wanted to keep Clay's initials CTB (Clay Timothy Bryant) and he didn't care to use Timothy.  My mom's maiden name is Thomason so that is where Thomas came from.  That way parts of his name come from each side of the family.  So now it is official.  I can quit being indecisive!  Although I want him to stay and cook the full term, we can't wait to meet our little Cooper.  

I actually posted twice in one day!  Don't miss the "nursery update" below for some recent pictures. 

Nursery update....

The crib is in the room.  Some friends of ours from church, Heath and Kristin Lovinggood gave us a diaper changing table/dresser.  At first I was really worried that it wouldn't match.  It had a lot of cherry in it and the crib does not.  However, they are on opposite walls and with the lighting we think it looks fine together.  We bought a bookshelf at Target for $80 and a glider from Toys R' Us for $120 so far we have furnished the room for $200.  We are cheap and really excited about that!  You can see the pack 'n play, car seat, and bassinet in the room which obviously won't be there when the baby comes.  

View from the hallway...

Thanks Heath and Kristin!!!

28 weeks - 7 months  

Does this dress look familiar Mel?  Thanks so much!!

Monthly appointment.....

Tuesday I went for my monthly appointment with Dr. Wilks.  Saturday I will be 28 weeks, or 7 months.  I go back in 3 weeks and then I start going every other week.  She said that I was measuring right on.  I just knew I had gained a TON of weight this month.  I was surprised to just have gained 4 pounds.  That puts my total pregnancy gain to 19 pounds.  I gained 4 pounds last month also so if I continue at that rate I will gain 31 pounds total which I would be happy with.  I have heard you rarely gain in the last month.  I am still feeling good.  The past month I have started waking up in the middle of the night with leg cramps.  I also have noticed spider veins on my ankles.  My mom and grandma both have a lot of spider veins.  When I was telling my mom she said, "You can think your genetics for that."  Dr. Wilks also agreed that it was genetic but she also suggested that I wear support hose or knee highs if I could stand it.  Lets just say I haven't bought any yet.  She said it would be good to wear at night.  Honestly, they aren't too bad and I'm not too worried about it yet.  I got heartburn for the first time last week.  I scared Clay to death!  I woke up at 2 am and I was scared because I had never had a burning feeling in my throat.  I didn't know if I needed to throw up or what was going on.  It is a scary feeling if you have never had it before!!  Clay quickly diagnosed my heartburn.  I took some tums and he propped me up in bed to sleep.  I have got it a few times since, but it is always at night.  Those are the worst symptoms I have had so over all I can't complain!  The baby has found my ribs within the last week.  Dr. Wilks felt his position and said that he is head down, and his feet are on my right side right at my rib cage just as I had suspected.  It is such a weird feeling when he kicks me in the ribs.  I also had my glucose test.  After I left I heard the receptionist telling the lady in front of me (who was to have her test next time) not to eat 2 hours before.  Needless to say, they didn't tell me that.  So, if I get bad results I guess I will have to do the test again.  I really don't want to do that because it made me sick to my stomach.  We are 99.9% sure that we have decided on a name.  We have actually known for awhile but for some reason I am so nervous to make it official.  I have such a time making a decision that I guess I am afraid I will change my mind, even though I am sure that I won't.  Anyway be looking for a post sometime soon to announce the name.  Clay might just do it on his so that I can't go back and change my mind! :)

Trunk or Treat...

Clay and I were John McCain and Sarah Palin at trunk or treat last night.  We were in charge of registration (I called it greeting).  We had families sign up and they were able to request information about our church  and to be contacted.  We had several families that asked to be contacted and for assistance from our church.  We don't have an exact total yet but Clay counted over 250 kids from the community.  That doesn't include their families or anyone from our church who helped out with games, trunks, or food.  Overall it was a great success!  I will let you decide for yourself if my costume was close to the real thing.  

Before leaving for Trunk or Treat....

Sarah was pregnant at this time a year ago....

At the registration table....

Todd and Marlee....

Here are a few pictures of the nursery.  I really wish I would have taken before pictures.  Many of you who follow my blog know what it looked like before.  It was Clay's "game room" and was grey.  

I love the new blinds....

View from the hallway....

I know you are thinking "wow an empty room" but we are so excited to have it painted and cleaned out.  The crib will be moved in this week.  Clay also put together the travel set and the pack 'n play to get the boxes out of the spare bedroom.