Our First Home

It's hard to believe it's almost time to say goodbye to our first home. We bought this condo in November of 2006, and Derek lived up here by himself for the first few months. Then after our wedding in the summer of 2007, I moved in. It has been the most perfect home for us for the first three years of our marriage. I remember having sticker stock when we were house hunting (apparently the cost of living between Georgia and DC is a little different..who knew?!) and couldn't believe that we were paying SO much for such a small amount of space, but we have LOVED our little condo. It is where we spent our first days as husband and wife...

it's where we decorated our first Christmas tree together...

and started our own little traditions....

it's where Derek built me a set of shelves in our bedroom...

(the white ones)

it's where we survived our first real snow storms together and I learned my husband's true love for all things weather when he created his very own snow gauge...

it's where Derek learned of my love for all things seasonal...

...it's where we built our marriage. We are SO excited about the next chapter of our lives and what the future has in store for us in Biloxi, but for now we are simply enjoying our final days in our first home. And since the movers are scheduled to be here on June 1st & 2nd, we are currently soaking up our remaining hours in our furnished condo. :)

Hope everyone is enjoying a happy & safe Memorial Day weekend! Oh, and in case you didn't see it yesterday...scroll down for pictures from my baby shower last weekend! :)

Showered!

My sweet friends from work hosted my very first baby shower for me last weekend. They did such a good job with the planning and made it such a special day for me! Everything from the decorations (all pink & green to match our baby girl's nursery colors) to the yummy food (I ate SO much!) to the games was just perfect, and the company was even better. :) Here are a few pics from the day....

Yummy food and sweet friends..what more can you ask for?!?!

This isn't a great picture, but this was one of the sweetest gifts we received..a friend of mine at work handmade this nightlight for the nursery. And you might not be able to tell, but it's the perfect shade of pink and green. Can't wait to put this in the nursery when we get to Biloxi!
Our little girl is going to be sporting some very cute outfits! (And please don't mind the weird face I'm making!!)

It truly was such a fun day of celebrating our baby girl! And it doubled the fun to take everything back home and re-open it to show Derek! We were so spoiled! Now we are just SO excited to get to Biloxi and get in our new house so we can start getting ready for this baby! :)

Chick-fil-a Goodness!

If you are a Chick-fil-a connoisseur like we are, listen up!!! Chick-fil-a is coming out with a new spicy chicken sandwich in June, but they are offering free sandwiches ahead of time by reservation only. Derek & I have our reservations placed for June 3rd. :) Go here to make your reservation for a free sandwich today!

Check back in later this week for pictures & details from our baby shower this past weekend! :)

6 months!

How far along: It's hard to believe..but I am officially 6 months along now! To be exact, I am 24 weeks & 3 days.
Weight Gain: I think I'm nearing a total weight gain of almost 10 pounds.
Maternity clothes: Not yet! If I wear pants, a belly band is a MUST. But now that the weather is getting warmer, I am living in dresses & skirts. I can still wear all of my regular dresses & skirts, and they're so much more comfortable!
Sleep: I've had to make the transition to sleeping on my side. I wasn't too thrilled about it at first b/c I'm typically a back sleeper, but I usually fall asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow so I don't have long to be bothered by it!
Movement: Yes! It's so amazing..especially b/c Derek can experience it too!
Food cravings: Nothing really.
Symptoms: None..this pregnancy has been a breeze thus far!
Gender: GIRL!!! :)
What I miss: Nothing..I am really enjoying being pregnant!
Best moment this week: Bringing home the bassinet our baby girl will be sleeping in. :) Derek's uncle built a bassinet from a cherry tree in his backyard for his daughter, and he's making the bassinet a bit of a family tradition. The hope is to have all of the babies born in the family sleep in the bassinet for the first few months of their life, and the babies' names & birthdays will be carved into the bottom of the bassinet. I love the family aspect of the bassinet, and besides that..it's beautiful! It makes it seem so real to have a bassinet in our house..we can't wait to have our baby girl in it!
What I'm looking forward to: My first baby shower tomorrow! My sweet friends that I work with are hosting a shower for me, and I'm so excited!!!
Milestones: I got to celebrate my first Mother's Day this month, which was very special! I don't have a current belly picture, so here's a picture of me from Mother's Day:

Thankful Thursday

Every Thursday is Thankful Thursday in Kindergarten, so I thought I would have a little Thankful Thursday blog-style just for you. :)

First up on the list of things I'm thankful for this Thursday...take a look at all of this love!
Thank you to everyone for thinking of us this past weekend for Derek's graduation. We received countless emails, phone calls, emails, gifts, and facebook messages. We are truly blessed to have such sweet family & friends!

Second up on the list...I am so thankful for my upcoming blog makeover!!!! I entered a little giveaway for a free blog makeover over at Moments with my Miracles and won! After you see all of Rachel's great designs at Uniquely Yours, you'll see why I'm so excited about what my blog will look like in the near future!!

And lastly, I'm oh so very, very thankful that tomorrow is finally FRIDAY!! I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend! Check back in soon for a pregnancy update :)

Happy Friday!!

Introducing...Captain Smith, MD!

I am officially a doctor's wife! :) Okay, I guess it's really not all about me...I should have said, Derek has graduated and is now a full-fledged doctor! Oh, and a Captain, too! I'm SO very proud of him!!
We had such a wonderful weekend celebrating, and we couldn't have asked for better weather to do it in! My sister, Derek's sister, and our brother-in-law all flew in on Thursday and we were able to do a little sight-seeing in DC with them on Friday.
Derek & I already have several pics of us in front of the White House...but we figured we needed one with the three of us! :)

I spent Friday night baking some last-minute treats for the party, but fortunately didn't have too much to do since we were having lunch catered by Jason's Deli. We woke up early on Saturday morning and headed into DC with the rest of our family for Derek's ceremony.
After graduation, we headed back to the clubhouse in our neighborhood for a little par-tay complete with some American flag-inspired desserts. :)
And what would be a family gathering without some family photos?!

Derek's fam
And mine!

Thank you to everyone who carved time out of their busy schedules and made the trek to DC to help us celebrate! It meant the world to us to have our families here with us! :)

And I'll leave you with one scary thought....

On Cloud Nine

Life is good right now! We are currently surrounded by our sweet families who are all in town (or arriving later today) to help us celebrate my hubby who will become Captain Smith, MD tomorrow! I could not be more proud of him or more excited to spend time with our families...including my mom & dad who were healthy enough to make the trip--hallelujah!!!

And on top of all of that excitement, I am finally starting to feel my little girl moving around on a more regular basis..and Derek got to feel it last night for the first time! :)

Now I'm off to get some good sisterly bonding in while she helps me bake yummy treats for tomorrow's festivities. I'll be back in a few days with lots of pictures from our fun-filled weekend, but until then...please know that I'll be on:

Did you miss us?!

First order of business is an apology! I'm so sorry that I have dropped the blogging ball. It's hard to believe that 3 weeks have passed since my parents' accident (more on that later...), and life has been a whirlwind ever since! We've been going back and forth between GA and VA, and we've just been going non-stop! (I have a stack of papers a mile high waiting to be graded to prove it!) So I sincerely apologize for my absence in the blogging world...hope you didn't miss us too much! :)

Second order of business is to let you know that we found out about two weeks ago that...

WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!

Derek & I are both so excited! Truthfully, we would have been happy boy or girl...but it's just so fun to finally know! We quickly started our baby registries after we found out b/c I have my first baby shower coming up in about 2 weeks. My sweet friends from work are throwing it for me. :)

Well, I've got to run b/c grading and lesson plans await me, but I will leave you with a sweet photo of our baby girl before I go!
Oh, and one more quick order of business...Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's, especially mine! I love you, Mama!!! Speaking of her, we're trying to decide on what her new name will be when the baby arrives. We're trying to decide between Grammy and Grandmama. We're pretty sure that my dad will be Grandaddy. Since my sister & I call our parents Mama & Daddy, we thought Grandmama & Grandaddy were very fitting. But my mom really likes Grammy...any thoughts? Opinions? Who knew grandparent names would be as hard as baby names?!?!