Win Some Love!

I have always loved Valentine's Day. Growing up my mom did a great job of making it about family and love, instead of the cheesy romantic side. I never felt pressured to have a Valentine's date, with roses and chocolates because my mom made sure we knew the true meaning of the day. My sister and I would wake up to a card, little present and special breakfast waiting for us. 

I hope that I can instill the same love for the holiday in Anna Grace. You will have to check back on the actual day to see the Valentine's Anna Grace made for her classmates and the ones we picked for her family! We are ordering our cards from Shutterfly this year. After ordering several personalized Christmas gifts, like calendars, notebooks and a photobook, we were so impressed that we will continue to use Shutterfly for all our printing needs! They even have really cute Thank-You notes. We picked these for Anna Grace's birthday party.

Shutterfly is giving away 25 FREE cards to bloggers who share what Valentine's means to them. Click here if you are interested! Don't have a blog? That's ok. Shutterfly is giving me the opportunity to give away an additional 25 FREE cards! This is my very first giveaway and I am very excited! Just leave a comment and one winner will be picked at random on Wednesday at 12:00pm. Good luck!

36 Weeks

The bump is getting bigger and bigger. Apparently, that's supposed to be a good thing. At this point, I'm not so sure I agree. I have been feeling much better than I did with Anna Grace, but it's getting verryy difficult to put on my socks, or tights, pick up things from the floor, get back up if I got down on the floor, and reach the sinks in public places without my belly getting in the way. I started swelling a bit the last few days, but nothing like last time. (Keep your fingers crossed.) Friday, the doc said everything looked great. I am measuring right on track and we should meet Adalyn in the next 28 days! Maybe she will be a smidge early for a nice Valentine's present :)

We have a winner!

Baby Gauntt finally has a name! Our little girl will henceforth be Adalyn Marie! Thank you for all of the votes, even if it didn't help make the decision easier. It seems everyone was as split between the two names as we were. 

We got to see a sonogram on Friday of Miss Adalyn and she is wonderful! They estimated her to be 4lbs and 12 oz and 17 inches! She is still due February 28th and we can't wait to meet her. 

You know you are REALLY pregnant when...

People used to look at you like "Oh! How cute!" and now it's more of a "aww...poor thing!"

You pick your outfits around shoes you don't have to bend over to put on.

Your hubby sets your evening snack on your lap tray. (aka. belly.)

You venture into the Home Depot bathroom because you can't hold it. (Now that's desperate.)

You walk passed the motorized carts at Target contemplating how you get one of those things started. (Twice).

You drop your pen under your desk and you get a new one out of the drawer instead of bending down to get the lost one.

You knock items off of the counter- with your belly.

You ask your husband to stop at Bahama Bucks for a snow cone with no syrup on the coldest day in Texas.

You show up to work with stickers on your shirt because you couldn't see them on the underside of your belly.

You get an EasyFeet from the infomercials so you don't have to bend over to wash your toes. (It is wonderful!)

You ordered 21 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. (They weren't all for me, but no one believed me.)

33 Weeks

Well, I know this picture isn't the best, but I couldn't pass it up because of my shadow. She wasn't looking in the better pictures. I am feeling pretty good, with only a little swelling in the evenings. Aaron has been wonderful and been rubbing my feet any time I need it. I can feel her moving most of the day. She is extra active when I try to lay down for the evening. Surprise, surprise. She has recently started getting the hiccups. Anna Grace used to have the hiccups several times a day but thankfully, it's only usually once. We get to have a sonogram on Friday and see her beautiful face! 

The Monkey

If you haven't met KiKi, he is Anna Grace's favorite stuffed animal. I never toted a stuffed friend, but I had a blanket. I assumed Anna Grace would carry a blankie around too so I purchased several identical blankets that I had planned to be her favorite. Well, mom lesson #1, You don't get to pick their favorites. 

The monkey won, and since he goes EVERYWHERE, he got a little run down. Thankfully, Santa was able to find a few more and the replacement went smoothly. If you are wondering what this has to do with any of the family photos below, it's because once you make it into family photos, you are officially family. So this is KiKi's official family welcoming. 

 Welcome KiKi!

Christmas Pictures

Christmas this year was wonderful! We woke up and had the morning for just the three of us. We opened presents and ate pancakes. Then we got dressed and headed to the Gauntt's for a delicious brunch and more presents! After that, we took a nap, woke up and headed to the Smith's for some barbecue shrimp (i'd had some cravings for these) and even more presents! We are so blessed!

Some of Anna Grace's favorites were her wagon, table and chairs, shopping cart and tea set. Thank you to all our friends and family for a wonderful holiday!

Moving On Up!

We moved Anna Grace into her very own big girl bed this past weekend! Now, if you know me, I am a reader. I read everything I could on what the best protocol for achieving a smooth transition was. We were going to be prepared. The problem with all of that reading though, was each article or book talked about children who LIKED their cribs and did not want to move. Anna Grace has NEVER liked her crib. Was this going to make it better or worse? Would she hop right out and come down the hall in the middle of the night? Would it take even longer to get her to sleep?

Well... it was a success! If I would have known the results we would have just skipped the crib altogether! My child, who has never put herself to sleep, got tucked in under her covers, kissed good night and she told Aaron he could leave! Are you for real?? Was this just first night luck? Nope. She has done this ever since and she is sleeping 11-12 hours a night! Wahoo!! I'll post pictures of her bed later, but right now she is tucked in and "sleeping like a baby". It's about time.