Gray Days

We've had what feels like the longest winter ever, albeit "winter" is a loose term here in Tennessee. No snow thankfully, but so many dreary, gray and rainy days that I could scream. Today was yet another day of constant rain (seriously, didn't let up for a minute). A coworker told me today that the news said March was colder than November and December of this year. What?!

 All that to say, my mood lately has matched the weather even though there's really no reason to be down. A few things I should be thankful for:
-We just had family in town for Easter weekend which definitely made me happier. (And my maternity wardrobe got a serious upgrade thanks to my mom and mother-in-law, so I now have more than one pair of jeans to get me through this never-ending winter.)
-Deric and I have started geocaching, which is a fun and (most importantly) free way to spend time outside. Never heard of it? Look it up in your area; there are millions of geocaches worldwide. Its like a global treasure hunt!
-Our house is filled to the gills already with baby stuff and we've still got a shower to look forward to. We have incredibly generous friends and family.
-An ultrasound yesterday had our doctor telling us everything looks perfect. Baby boy (yes, still unnamed) is growing like a weed, in the 54% for weight. I'm okay with that as long as he doesn't put on too many pounds before delivery ;) The only bummer is that he decided to nap during the ultrasound with his face buried, so a very blurry side shot is all we walked away with. But seeing this little face--and knowing we'll see him in person in about nine weeks-- really cheers me up!

T-3 months

Approximately three months until baby boy shows up and we've got plenty of things on our to-do list that are nowhere near to being checked off. Think: nursery (which is currently a completely blank slate), registering, health insurance for the babe (although that process has been started), picking out a name, etc. I keep thinking we've got all the time in the world to get these things accomplished, but the weeks are starting to slip away pretty quickly. I've delegated the boring stuff like insurance over to Deric, whose smarter with that than I am anyways, and I've put myself in charge of the fun stuff such as nursery design...and baby announcements. Because what better to do on a Sunday afternoon than peruse cute baby announcements from the comfort of the couch? :)

Here are some designs and inspirations I've found so far, all from Minted. They have no shortage of cute prints for babies and adults alike, and I could probably find a few things I want for each room of the house. But for now, I'll limit myself to baby announcements since there are quite a few other things I should probably be doing right now...like picking out a name.

Hello, Baby board by Ashley. See more modern Minted birth announcements

24 weeks

I feel like I'm finally to that "golden" stage of pregnancy that everyone kept telling me about when I was nauseous and exhausted every day. I've noticed an upswing in energy over the past few weeks and combined with some New Years resolution-y motivation, a lot's been accomplished in this house! Well, it seems that way. Doesn't quite look like much progress yet, but considering the soon-to-be nursery is cleared out and ready to be painted, at least we've made some headway. We attempted registering on Friday afternoon but left after it took us an hour to check off maybe fifteen items from the checklist. (Wedding registry= so much fun. Baby registry= so many questions.) We did pick out a crib though, so there's that. Baby boy will indeed have somewhere to sleep. Oh yeah, no name for the babe yet. We don't even talk about it anymore since we can't think of any even remote possibilities. I just hope that when we meet him, the perfect name miraculously pops into our heads. 

So that's where we're at these days. Nursery preparations, researching cloth diapers and countless other baby paraphernalia, and best of all: feeling (and watching) baby boy kick and roll around almost constantly. We can't wait for the little guy to just get here already!

i'll be in Florida if you need me

...I wish. The rainy, overcast, cold weather we've had this week certainly hasn't helped my vacation withdrawal. I've found myself daydreaming of warm breezes, palm trees and the feeling of sun on my skin as if by pure mental energy alone I could summon the sun to come out and warm things up. No luck so far, but I'll keep trying. It probably doesn't help when I routinely check Lauderdale's weather on my phone only to see that our high of the day is lower than their low. 88 and sunny? Please, who wants that when you can have 43 and rainy?! ;)

70s & sunny

Deric and I spent this past week in Florida (Lauderdale by the Sea, to be exact) with his parents for vacation. We stayed in his grandma's condo which had a decent view of the ocean from the front porch but an awesome view off the balcony. My favorite part of the entire vacation was walking out to the balcony first thing each morning and eating cereal while gazing at blue skies and palm trees. The perfect weather was a bonus, too. High 70s, low 80s in the afternoon = that perfect balance where you don't really feel the weather, ya know? And just warm enough to play in the ocean without freezing to death, although the water itself did take some getting used to. We ate like kings (bring on the seafood!), spent enough time at the pool and/or ocean for me to read all three of the books I brought, went to Ikea twice, played tennis in the mornings and cards at night. Besides the sinus infection Deric developed a few days before we left, it was a really relaxing week. This morning, vacation withdrawal hit when I realized today wouldn't be 70 and sunny, but 40 and rainy. I just keep reminding myself that spring will be here soon enough! But even still, its always good to be home.

view from the balcony, above. i could get used to that.