NC State Fair - 2010!

Oh man do we love the NC State Fair... the people, the rides, the sounds, but most importantly THE FOOD.  We love it so much that we had to introduce Lacey to it all too!  She was such a trooper driving the long distance with us from Atlanta to NC, but I think she enjoyed herself!

Unfortunately, we chose the last night of the fair to go... so the traffic getting there was unbelievable!  Once parked and inside the fair, we quickly headed to our favorite Corn on the Cob Stand.  This is my dad's favorite spot, so we took a picture to document for him since he's not allowed to go this year.  Next was ribbon fries, blooming onion, fried snickers, root beer, and carmel apples.  YUM!!

I caught Lacey mid bite with her fried snickers, so this picture cracks me up.  Tara finished hers before Lacey and I remember hearing "Come on Lacey keep up" haha and then seeing Lacey dive in to finish her snickers.  I told her I wasn't joking when our family goes to the fair for the food :)

The newest food at the fair this year was the KRISPY KREME BACON CHEESEBURGER! As soon as Kyle heard about this he put it on his list to try.  Overall he said it was delicious, but he wished it had a slice of American cheese on top instead of the nacho cheese.  Either way it sounded gross to the rest of us!!

Since we had eaten so much food, we decided to go on some rides!  First up was the Ferris Wheel, which we had to wait in about a 45 minute line to get into.  It was really fun though.

Here are all the kiddos waiting:

And this was our view from the top:

Tara cannot handle when you get to the top and it just stops.  She was cracking us up with how scared she was, and she would not let go of the center pole!

After that ride, Lacey and Nick decided to go on a real ride so while they waited in line Kyle and Jamie played some games!  Jamie ended up winning the water squirting game and Kyle won the baseball throwing game.  Look at their lovely prizes:

And then we took lots more pictures in between eating pizza, bbq sandwiches and fried Wisconsin cheese sticks:

Our last stop was the NC State Ice Cream stand!  It was delicious as always, and we timed it perfectly with getting to watch the fireworks!

The fair never disappoints, but I think it's always the company we have!  Thank you Tara & Nick for staying in town just for us!  Love going with our family, and am so glad Lacey could join us this year too! 

Registering for Baby!

Last weekend we had THE BEST TIME in Raleigh with our families.  Saturday morning, Lacey and I met my sister, my mom, and Kyle's mom at BabiesRUs to Register!  I fully realize how blessed I am by having a sister of 4 children who knows what to get and what not to get.  I have not been stressed out at all about baby stuff, and I really do have Tara to thank for that!

Here we are scanning away:

I've gotten so many questions about how we are going to decorate!  Unfortunately, I have never been a fan of EVERYTHING PINK.  Kyle and I decided to have the nursery be yellow and green (with pops of pink), and a lot of the things we registered for were pretty neutral as well.  On the other hand I can't WAIT to dress our baby girl in pink outfits all the time and wrap her in pink blankets!  I think I just like the more permanent things (nursery, pac-n-plays, strollers) to be a little less pinky :)

We found so many cute things in BabiesRUs, and the entire process flew by!  It's funny the things that I'm used to seeing with Tara's kids since she's had twins both times... like the double strollers for example.  When I was able to register for a single stroller it felt so little and light!

Here is our group picture at the end.  I was so thankful for everyone that came!

After lunch Tara, Mom, Lacey and I headed over to Moe's for lunch.  We had such a great time catching up and eating some good food!

Lacey and Mom:

Tara and I:

Thank you again Tara, Mom, Lacey and Brenda for joining in the fun!  I had a great time!

Wordless Wednesday: Love my daddy :)

(This was the first time that we got to visit Dad after he completed his stem cell transplant.  I was able to rub his smooth head and catch up with him in person for a couple hours last weekend!  He's up to walking 2 miles a day just with his cane and his attitude is as positive as ever.  Click here if you want to visit his blog.  Love you daddy!)

Truth about wives tales...

We gave some of the wives tales our best shots to figure out the gender before hand... we really did!  My friend at work, Jen, looked up the most common ones and tested them on me every couple weeks.  Things like: how are you carrying, what foods you are craving, the ring test, heartbeat number, etc.  More than anything it cracked us up doing the tests, but unbelievably they all said BOY!

Most of the pregnancy I've been carrying a little lower... BOY

The entire pregnancy I've been craving salty foods... BOY

Swinging my wedding bands on a string over my tummy, always did circles... BOY

The babies heartbeat was low... BOY

SO if you are going off the wives tales, I just wanted to let you know that they did not work for us.  I think we did have every one at work believing I was going to be having a boy though!

Here are Jen and I doing the ring test.  When the ring would just sit there not moving, Lacey would come and be our wind... HILARIOUS.

And some how BOY won out by just a couple votes on our blog poll too... look at the final results!

The girls at work had made "It's a Girl" and "It's a Boy" signs to hang on my desk!  I do have to say that the pink one matches around here much better than the blue one would have!

 And they all loved seeing the ultrasound shots too!

 

 I do have to document on here though, the ONE test that ended up being right was the Chinese Gender Calculator.  Supposedly it's 90% accurate... if you want to try it out click here.

We are so excited about our little girl!

20 week appointment and gender ultrasound!

Friday was such a fun day!  Around 6:00 am I woke up Kyle up saying "Merry Christmas" (as finding out the gender was like a Christmas present to us)!!  Around 9:00 we got in the car, and immediately looked at each other and screamed.  Kyle officially put in his vote of a boy, and I put in mine of a girl.

The ultrasound was so cool as always-- we could watch our baby all day.  She was so much bigger than last time and moving around like crazy... we have a very active baby!  The sonogram tec said just based off of her "button nose" that she was a girl, and SHE WAS RIGHT!  We were so excited, as we would have been either way, and it was more of a relief to know that she's healthy.  She's actually 5 days ahead of schedule, weighing 14 ounces!  Her heartbeat was 158, which was higher than last time but might have been because I had orange juice before hand!

Here is a picture of her profile and button nose :)  
Plus you can see the umbilical cord (the bubble looking things are part of the cord as well).

The confirming shot showing we have a baby GIRL!  This shot is from underneath her bottom, showing there is nothing manly in between those legs!

Her cute little feet!

And this shot is a little scarier... it's looking at her face straight on (we think it looks a little alien-ish).  There are no signs of a cleft lip and her bone structure seems to be forming perfectly!

We thoroughly enjoyed watching the sonogram tec measure everything and look at the baby so in depth.  My favorite part was seeing her spine so in detail, just amazes me that all of those bones are forming this early!  Kyle's favorite part was watching the blood flow in the umbilical cord.  We saw red and blue which showed the oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood flowing to and from the baby.

Unfortunately because she was moving around so much, our tec couldn't get detailed views of the placenta insertion (small chance that it could be "marginal") and one part of her brain (a blood vessel looked to be on the larger side of normal), so we'll be getting another ultrasound next month to check those two things.   Our doctor did not seem at all worried about either of these, so more than anything we are looking forward to getting another ultrasound!

Thank you all for your comments on our baby girl!!  We couldn't be more thrilled and grateful for all your support!  God is so good!

And the gender of our baby is....

A GIRL!!!!

I'll post pictures and details ON MONDAY-- we are SO excited and blessed to have a healthy little girl on the way!!

Uncle Shuck's Corn Maze!

Last Friday, we had the most fun work outing!  After our company meeting, the marketing department (which is only 4 of us counting our boss, Donna) headed to a delicious lunch at... you guessed it O'CHARLEYS!!  We all love that place, and the soup couldn't have tasted any better!

After lunch, we headed to Uncle Shuck's Corn Maze!  I had been wanting to go to one this year, and it was so much fun. Uncle Shuck's Maze is a 12 acre field of corn that has approximately 4 miles of trails, twisting and turning, and sometimes, coming to a deadend! It was divided into 2 mazes, so we started off with the shorter one first.  Unbelievably both mazes perfectly formed a detailed image of a butterfly!

Luckily they give you a map so you can TRY to navigate.  Lacey and Donna were hysterical with being turned around the entire time... good thing Jen and I are good at directions!  There were 12 checkpoints that you had to find to make sure you were on track, plus they helped you figure out where you were!

There were also "FSI" (Farm Scene Investigation) games near every checkpoint where you could cross off a potential suspect.  Lacey was so gung-ho on "FSI" till half way through when her legs began to get tired and her flannel farmer shirt was getting too hot.  SO funny.

Next we went on the hayride through some more corn and enjoyed sitting for a little while.  Going through those mazes will wear you out!  (I didn't realize how much we walked till I got home and took a 2 hour nap, woke up for dinner, then went back to sleep at 9!)

What a fun day to spend with friends!  We are already looking forward to our next marketing outing!

20 week survey-- HALF WAY THERE!

How Far Along: 20 weeks

(He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

Size of baby: A CANTALOUPE! (6.5 inches long, 10.6 ounces)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 1 more pound this week.  I have officially gained 10 pounds-- ahh!

Gender: We find out this Friday at 9:15 am!  Check on Friday afternoon for a blog post!

Movement: All day everyday!  Kyle's able to feel him/her a ton now-- yeah!!

What I miss: Nothing really.

Sleep: Waking up probably once a night to go pee.  I can always get comfortable on the bed, where the couch is trickier!

Symptoms: BABY BRAIN.  I've always been bad with words but now it's impossible to make sentences without forgetting some words.  Luckily, Kyle and the girls at work can finish my sentences most of the time!  DREAMS are crazy every night -- last week I dreamt I gave birth to a baby octopus... EW! 

Cravings: A really good Italian meal sounds heavenly right now!  My appetite has REALLY increased this week.  My stomach growls as soon as I wake up, and I'm eating normal size meals (which is so different than what I've been able to do the past 5 months) and am still hungry afterwords!

Best Moment this week: Kyle feeling the baby all the time, it's just so cool.  I love that when I get home Kyle always gives me a kiss, then leans down and gives the baby a kiss.  Without a doubt, he loves to watch my stomach grow.

What we are looking forward to: THIS WEEKEND!!  Friday we find out the sex!  SATURDAY we get to register, see our families (haven't seen dad since he graduated from his transplant class), AND go to the NC State fair!!  I seriously can't wait!

And here is my "Wordless Wednesday" picture for the day... I CAN'T SEE MY FEET!

(It's been this way for a little while now... what's different this week is that my stomach is starting to push out everywhere around my ribs.  So I have these dents where my ribs are... weird looking!)

Okay you officially have 2 more days to vote on the gender.  So far the girl vote is winning out, but it's pretty close.  We've added a poll for y'all to take (on our sidebar to the right)!  POLL AWAY!

And I have to document... both Kyle and I this entire time have voted BOY! But for some reason this week we both have a feeling that it's a GIRL! (obviously we have no clue!)

Big Peach Fall 5 Miler

Last Saturday morning, Kyle woke up and ran in the Big Peach 5 Miler.  As most of you know, he's training for a half marathon in mid November, so this was a perfect way to work on speed since 5 miles to him is "just going out for a little" (can you imagine?  I sure can't.  I try to run a mile and die).  He did great, with no leg cramps -- YES!

He ended up beating his goal for time, and gained some confidence for his race in November. I am so proud of him for training for this... especially since all the weight he's losing I seem to be finding :)

Really really hope that our baby has his legs :) 

ASU Homecoming 2010!

Two weekends ago, we made the trip up to Boone, NC for ASU's Homecoming game.  October is our favorite time to head up to the mountains as the leaves are changing and the weather is perfect!  Our friends Chris and Kathleen came and stayed at the cabin with us, and we had so much fun with them and their new puppy, Finn.

We went for a hike on Saturday morning to wear out the dogs since they would be inside for the rest of the day.  The leaves were beautiful so we took some family pictures!

Chris, Kathleen, and Finn:

The dogs had so much fun running around together.  Finn followed Tyson, too cute!
Next was lunch at the cabin where we grilled out hamburgers and bbq chicken.  Cory and Mada met us there (since we were playing Elon - Cory's alma mater) and we had a great time catching up with them!

Cory was able to get 2 tickets in the Elon section, and then our friend Fowler was able to get 2 tickets in the ASU section.  The student section was packed so we all sat together in the Elon section... but still cheered for App :)

This was our view!  Look at all that burgendy Elon pride!

Chris and Kathleen:

Cory and Mada:

Kyle and I:

We met up with Rach and Mike during halftime and got to see Gunny for a little bit.  Can't believe how big he is!!

He slept on Kyle for a while!

After the game (which App won by the way!) Chris, Kathleen, Kyle and I headed to Black Cat, the guys favorite Mexican restaurant in Boone.  It was absolutely delicious! 

We slept in on Sunday, cleaned the cabin, then headed back to ATL.  Weekends are always too short but we had a wonderful time up there as always!  Thanks for coming with us Chris and Kathleen, hope to do it again soon!

Uh oh... the meatloaf

Kyle and I have been really trying hard lately to stick to our budget and cook more meals in.  The money that we've saved in the past couple weeks has been a huge motivation to keep it up!  I just love crock pot meals and how we can eat immediately when we get home from work.

A couple mornings ago, Kyle and I got our meatloaf all ready for the crock pot!  (I have no clue if I even like meatloaf but it has sounded so good so I thought we'd give it a try).  I didn't have any beef, so we defrosted turkey, and mixed in the chopped up onions, breadcrumbs, ketchup, cheese, etc.  We turned the timer on low for 8 hours... although I knew we wouldn't be home before 10 hours but that's okay it would stay warm.

I got home about 5 minutes before Kyle, enough to gag multiple times trying to get this rock onto a plate to show him.  Seriously I had to breathe through my nose because the smell was making me sick!  You ready for this?

I waited our on our porch with "it" until Kyle pulled up.  He was on the phone but was cracking me up with his facial expressions.  We laughed on the porch for a couple minutes before opening all the windows and lighting candles inside to get rid of the smell!

Well we tried right?

 

Oh my gosh it was literally pumpkin orange inside!!!

Luckily La Parilla is just 2 minutes down the road, so Kyle quickly got back in his car and picked up that for us.  Out of all the new recipes we try one of them was bound not to work!!  Oh well, it was truly hilarious.