Guess who is a big sister?????

Yes that cute thing is going to be a big sister to what will have to be the cutest baby boy ever!

Her parents are expecting Joshua around Valentines day. Carley was born on Chris's birthday and if Josh is born on Valentines Day then both little ones will have birthdays on holidays!

And yes, this little monkey has hair! and curls! It took several attempts, a failed video and help from others at the baby shower to get a picture of the curls :)

Carley and Mommy in the background

Will not turn her head!

Ahhh there they are!

And she is turning a little blonde too which is surprising as both parents have dark brown hair. Chris's hair may even be black.

The failed video:

She is just too cute!

Pregnancy: Fifth month update

I am not happy with my dr's office. The doctors themselves are fine, as usual its the front office/administration staff that ruins the practice. The doctors appointment took way too long and there was no communication.

They told me last appointment that I had finished my fourth and starting my fifth so approximately four weeks later I should be finishing the fifth month and starting my 6th. This appointment which was 1.10.12, just about four weeks after the one before that, they tell me I am just under 22 weeks. They didn't change my due date, they just told me wrong before. So by my estimation, by the time this airs, I will have just finished my 5th month and entering my 6th.

Food: still limited but I know my boundaries so it isn't so bad. Baby has decided that it doesn't want our normal lunch routine so I am scrounging to figure out what I can eat for lunch. Lunch will become breakfast (don't worry, lunch was oatmeal) which is actually cheaper anyway. Baby does love red meat. You want to feed me something that won't cause any issues? Give me red meat. Steak, a roast, lamb...baby doesn't care it just likes red meat. I think I am low on iron. I don't want to over vitamize the baby by taking iron supplements so I have been playing with eating more broccoli, spinach and of course red meat. I am not craving red meat, its just the one food I can count on keeping down and I notice I don't drink ice water as fast (chewing on ice, wanting ice water is a sign of low iron) as I do when I don't eat red meat. I have actually not had any cravings and I wonder if that it is too early or I am eating eating of the right foods to not have cravings since all a craving is is your body telling you that you are low on something. The baby is an extreme health nut. I do need to improve on my vegetable intake but even outside of the pre-natals I am getting all the nutrients I need.

Sleep: I have noticed that I really need to eat before I go to bed. It makes me sleep deeper and longer and less starving when I get up (I still have to wait to go to work to eat otherwise I am guaranteed to get sick). However, the issue is I tend to fall asleep before I remember to eat again. Weird dreams continue, mostly about work now.

Sick: Still getting sick most mornings. Can't wait for that to end.

Pictures:

I am officially showing. Still very tiny, most of the people I know who are pregnant are about 4-6 weeks behind me and are bigger then I am and not in an unhealthy way from the look at it. I call it the stage where people are still hesitant to ask if you are pregnant but are 85% sure that you are. I am officially out of the "you look like you could lose 5lbs stage" I was stuck in before. The growth did happen almost over night. I know I'm going to pop because my abs and hip area hurt right before. I am also about to lose my innie belly button. I have gained around 15lbs at this point. I am going to beat my mom in lbs but not by much if my food intake doesnt get much better. I am supposed to gain 25-35lbs total. I have noticed my legs, arms and face is getting tinier. People say I look fuller in the face but I don't see it. I see more cheekbones then I ever did before.

I am starting to feel better enough to feel okay about exercising again so I am back at the gym on top of my morning/afternoon walks to walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes or so. I hope to remain as active as I safely can. Will help me not gain unnecessary weight, make birth easier and losing the baby weight easier. Plus it is a great stress reliever.

First Baby Clothes!

I was able to order my first baby clothes the other day!

I got size 6-9 months figuring by the time these teams play the baby will have a better chance of fitting in the clothes. I got our favorite teams and for those of you wondering about what you can get for the baby at the baby shower don't worry! Just because I got these in 6-9 months doesn't mean the baby wont need them in larger or even smaller sizes :)

First up! The best team in the NFL and the only team to beat the cheating Patriots in the Superbowl:

Next up: The team that everyone roots for because they are not a threat to anyone, poor Brian

And because we are in the South and you have to have a favorite college team, we will continue to represent my fathers and grandfathers Alma Mater:

Go Blue is on the bum! How cute is that!!!

What will we do when the Dolphins play the Giants?? The baby will be wearing Michigan :)

Project: Living Room Entertainment center

I don't have a very good before picture but we completed a project the other day. It was a project that was low on our priority list but we had the money and with the baby coming it made sense to do it!

We had our TV in the living room on an old "entertainment center" it was old, heavy and big. Because of the size, shape, etc we needed more wires then necessary. It also made the TV pretty low and made our speakers be in a weird place.

Brian and I have been looking for a new one for several years. We have never been able to find one that we liked or could afford. And then we went to Costco. Found one we both liked for $200 which was in our price range. It was the right color, thinner and allowed us to put the TV up higher and put the speakers in the proper place. Because it is thinner the living room seems much bigger and the baby will have more crawling space when it comes to that. We will also be able to lose some wires which is also another baby proofing aspect I love.

Before:

You can barely see it....I told you my before picture stinks, I forgot to take one lol

After:

I love it and outside of the living room being a mess, I consider this room done minus some pictures that need to be hung somewhere

2012 Recap

As usual, the recap of the last year. It is a bit late but I am still not feeling to great with the pregnancy so I have to wait until I can sit up for a bit so I can blog. This year was a huge year.

January 2012:

We most importantly moved in New Years Day. I started trying to get the house in order. The guest room has actually not been changed that much since we moved in. I was also still working out.

February 2012:

Work through me a bridal shower since I technically wasn't a "Carter" at this point. :) February had lots of wedding planning.

March 2012:

Got married and officially became a "Carter" :) We continued to try and make our house a home. We put up paintings in the guest room and master bedroom and were still awaiting our wonderful blinds.

April 2012:

We started planning the back splash over the stove in the Kitchen. Still one of my favorite projects. Created a personal "To Do" list. Most of the stuff actually got done. I still have to finish typing the recipes, finish the scrap book and finish the wedding albums. And I got my IUD taken out so when it came to actually trying to have a child, if we needed infertility treatments we wouldn't have to wait any longer because I will have been off birth control for awhile. And we had a family of geese move in!

May 2012:

We finished the garage floor. The baby geese were murdered :( I hosted my first party at the house, a wine tasting which went great. The electric fence for Benjamin and Bailey were put in. Brian and I were revamping finances (something we are always doing).

June 2012:

Took pre-pregnancy photos. Planned the dream honeymoon which has become a dream 5 or even 10 year anniversary trip. Finished the back splash in the kitchen. I also took pictures of some of the rooms in the house. We also painted the Nursery and Dining Room.

July 2012:

My parents FINALLY moved down! I got some much needed time with the furry people :) With the family, came the furniture which finished a lot of the rooms in the house.

August 2012:

I went down to Charleston to help my parents get settled in. I did my first oil painting which turned out well and will be in the nursery if we ever get it hung. We finally got the roof fixed. This is about the time I stopped going to the gym as much.  Hind sight will explain why :)

September 2012:

Our labor day vacation was a lot of fun with my parents and we got a lot of work done. Dentist appointments for the both of us, carpets/tile/wood being cleaned, blinds put up in the garage, and mock Turkey Day with Mom and Dad. I also started getting weird dreams.

October 2012:

We got the easement sodded. Brian his wisdom teeth taken out. Hurricane Sandy came and went without much damage here but made us glad Mom and Dad weren't still in Connecticut.

November: 2012:

I was finally able to announce that I was not only 2 months pregnant but I was finished with my third month month as well. In October i found out I was exactly 8 weeks pregnant which means I probably conceived in August sometime. My first trimester was extremely rough and has gotten slightly better. I also went down to visit Mom and Dad in Charleston and saw Drayton Hall and of course celebrated Thanksgiving.

December 2012:

We got the fan up in the nursery, master bedroom painted, Christmas in Myrtle Beach, finished my 4th month, saw Tran Siberian Orchestra and the Basset Hound Waddle.

And that was 2012!

I did notice I generally havent blogged all that much this past year. It especially took a nose dive when i got pregnant. That is one thing I am going to try and do a better job of in 2013. Do more blogging and not just about the baby

Yard work :)

We have three holly trees that need to be moved because builders put them in horrible spots. On Christmas day my parents helped us move the one in the worst spot.  Here are some pictures of that! Pictures to keep track of the accomplishments but also to prove that the tree is within our property so if/when the lots next to ours get built on we can prove those trees are ours and on our property. We plan to have the three holly trees in a row as a make shift fence/border down our  property line on the left side.

Holly Tree:

The stick with the orange tag on it shows where our property line is

We also planted our Christmas tree. The Blue Tip Juniper. We planted this in the same spot on the right side. We plan to plant more Blue Tip Junipers down the line to create a similar fence/border on that side. Blue Tip Junipers will get to be 8-12 ft tall and 8-10 feet wide. Perfect for outside borders. I am glad to have it outside. When we opened up the container there were tons of ants in it! And we found a creepy crawly slimy white thing that just lost its exoskeleton. Yuck!

Here is our first Christmas tree:

Wooden pole in the left corner is the property line

Christmas 2012

Yes I am still here :) Still plugging away.

Christmas was wonderful this year for the most part. My brother ended up in the hospital from having too much fun celebrating the end of the world and didn't get discharged until Christmas Eve. From what he remembers he didn't even get that much of a chance to celebrate either :-\. He is fine, had a seizure and fortunately that is all. No tumors or anything to cause it. But he of course didn't make it the Christmas. We missed him but did feel better that he was at least out of the hospital.

So things I want to remember about this Christmas? Mom and Dad coming up. The wonderful steak we ate for Christmas Eve (baby loves him/her some red meat). The amazing lamb dinner we had for Christmas. My parents getting us the Soda Stream which is great but that just means we are drinking more soda then before :-\ lol. And mom and dad got me  a sewing machine and all the necessities so I can begin quilting, etc.

On to pictures :)

Our Juniper Blue Tip Christmas tree

The first Christmas Tree (obviously fake) Brian got me

Christmas table settings

Eggnog cheesecake that tastes like bacon :-\