6-0

I had a great weekend. It started with the Brad Paisley concert Friday night with Joy and Jessica. It was fun, but most of all we missed our dear friend Katie due to a bad stomach bug Friday night! I hated it for her because we were all going for Katie's birthday and she wasn't even able to go. But, Katie, like I told you today at church...the only thing you missed was the redneck guy with his shirt off, the high school girl screaming bloody murder behind me everytime a new song would come on and end, and the four drunks infront of us dancing around making out with their boyfriends. We will make it up to you promise!!

On Saturday, Steven and I went to the Alabama game and had so much fun being back on campus. However, I will admit that I was a little depressed after leaving the Alpha Chi house recieving many strange stares from girls four to eight years younger than me. I wanted to be like, "hey, little sugar pie...i was in this house for four years too, and just because i'm four or eight (yikes) years older than you doesn't mean that i'm not kinda young and i'm not an alpha chi alumn." okay, maybe i got a little carried away, but the depressing part was not knowing anyone in the house anymore.

Besides my quick run into my old sorority house Steven and I were able to enjoy our walks around campus, had a great time with Lauren and Cameron, and saw a few friends on the way. If I did have one complaint about the game it would definitely be that it was way too hot!! I mean, it wasn't August I know...but it was still mid-80's and when you're in the sun for four hours straight with a living being inside your tummy it's not too pleasant. But, I made it and besides the long game, poor playing, and heat I was proud we came out with a win. I'm so proud of the team for going 6-0 so far this season...as Saban said himself, "The majority of people didn't even believe that we would be 6-0 right now, I didn't even think it, to tell you the truth." Oh, Steven would be so proud that I'm quoting Saban right now...if he only read the blog.

So...belly pics to come. I know I said that last time but really, I will try.

Steven and I enjoying the game
Papa Spray being honored during half time with the 1973 national championship team

Stopping for a quick chat with Sarah and Graham. It was so great to see ya'll!!

Update

I'll first update you on my cold (as if you care:) ). I am feeling MUCH better today but, boy, did it take me a long time to get over that! I still have some sinus pressure that lingers and a cough with nice flim once in a while, but other than that, i'm feeling quite peachy.:) Poor Steven has the virus now and I didn't get much sleep last night with his heavy breathing and coughing...but, I didn't mind because I know how TERRIBLE it feels!
Work has kept me incredibly busy these days. I don't feel like I have much chance to do anything regarding baby registery or shopping for myself...like we have money anyway. I am still enjoying all three of my jobs--yes, you heard right, 3 jobs. And I can't complain because it's pretty easy work most of the time. As my dad always says, "a monkey could do it." Okay, maybe a monkey couldn't sale maternity clothes very well or teach drama or sit at an art gallery for hours. oh, wait! yes, a monkey could probably sit at the art gallery...
We are going to Kelly and Ryan's house tonight to watch the Bama/Georgia game! I love football season and can't wait to finally get to go to a game this year. Steven and I are going to the Kentucky game next weekend--whoo hoo. roll tide! Saban Nation (that is for you, katie and jess). I do love some Bama football though. Who knew! I remember about eight years ago when I stood up in my sorority house to introduce myself and gave the crowd a shy little "war eagle." What was I thinking!! i could have been killed that day or WORSE, shunned by every alpha chi that gave me this big eyed expression of "no, you didn't (in a black girl's voice, of course)."
Okay, I think I have ranted and raved enough for one post. My next post will include some pictures, I promise. My belly has popped out these past few weeks. I'm definitely getting bigger--however, I can't decide which is growing faster. My belly or my *ss!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone! And ROLL TIDE!

Cold season

This weekend I came down with a terrible cold! This is my second one during my pregnancy that I have experienced and it's not fun. I'm just hoping that it stays a cold and doesn't turn into a bad sinus infection--I really don't want to take antibiotics during pregnancy even though I know some of them are safe to take.
I think I am getting this terrible sickness from my job with drama kids--where I'm around snotty nose kids Tuesday-Thursday for hours at a time. I even had a little 3 year old cough in my face the other day!! I was like, "Uh, you did NOT just do that!" Steven has reminded me over and over again that I must wash my hands, don't touch my face when i'm around these little poopers, and to use hand sanitizer. But, I guess I have been forgetting.
I started a new job a couple of weeks ago at a maternity store in Birmingham. It used to be called Pickles and Ice cream for those of you familiar with downtown homewood stores, but now is called The Swanky Stork. I have really enjoyed it. Talking to all the pregnant women that come in everyday and buying a few clothes on the side hasn't been all that bad.:) Their clothes are adorable too so it's going to be hard not to spend money. But, i must say, I've done quite well so far. Yes, your welcome Steven.
Not much else has been happening lately. I have done so much better about staying by myself lately--it doesn't mean I don't miss my husband but just that I'm growing some "you know what" I suppose. Steven comes home this Friday!! YAY!! Has it really already been a month??
Our little man has been moving aroud a lot. Hopefully, Steven will get a chance to feel him kicking in a week or so. I love feeling him toss and turn! In the past I have only been able to feel him if I were to sit very still and wait for it. But, now I'm feeling him when I'm in the line to get a sandwich, driving the car, etc. I'm sure some of you mothers are laughing because I know its only going to get worse...and better! Steven and I haven't really gotten a chance to discuss names yet because he has been away but I'll keep you posted on that area. Hopefully, it doesn't take us too long...
Well, i better end this post. The time has come for me to go and blow my nose...

It's a BOY!!!

It's a BOY!!!! We could not be more excited. Steven and I went to the doctor at 9:30 yesterday morning and had to wait in the waiting room for what seemed like hours. After thirty or forty five minutes we were finally ushered into the ultrasound room eager with anticipation. I mean seriously, we both could not talk to each other while waiting because we were so nervous.

FINALLY, we had our little guy on the screen, but still did not know what the sex was. The nurse doing our ultrasound first looked at the head and brain area to see if everything was okay, then went down to the torso (all the while I was thinking, "Okay, can we just get to the crotch already!). But, I was very thankful everything looked perfectly healthy thus far. So, on to the legs... As she was moving down to the legs and feet to check out the toes I heard Steven let out a little gasp. I looked at him and a little smile went across his face as he said, "I think I just saw something." "What!" I said, "You must have seen a penis, if you saw something." And then the nurse says, "Yes, I think I saw something too, let's go check it out." Sure enough there was a little tiny piece of genitalia hanging from the crotch. How Steven saw this I will never know, because it took me like 5 minutes to even see it.

So, needless to say, Steven has still not wiped that big grin off of his face yet. We really went into it thinking it was going to be a girl (because that's what so many people were saying) and this was a fun surprise. Now onto names....

Here are a couple of belly shots of me today because I know some of you wanted to see. I didn't even noticed that I put on a blue sweater today until I was taking the picture. How perfect! I had to take the pictures myself while at work at the art gallery so they are not very good. Also, I thought I would have a way to crop them, but couldn't figure it out. I'm sure it was quite simple. I was praying the whole time that someone would not walk in and see me taking a picture of myself. I don't know how I would have explained that one...

I will attempt at putting up another ultrasound pic soon as well. Thanks for the all the prayers and encouragement! We can't wait to meet this precious little one come February.

24 hours away...

I feel like I'm six years old again waiting for Santa to bring me my favorite barbie dream house! Tomorrow we find out the sex of our baby! Finally!
Steven comes home tonight to be present at the ultra sound. I warned him this past weekend that if the weather from Gustav was still bad in Mississippi on Wednesday when he was coming home, I didn't think I could wait for him on Thursday morning. Luckily, he will be on his way home this afternoon.
I have done okay without Steven this past week and a half. Sure I saw him over the weekend so that took off a lot of alone time, but I feel like I'm getting a little braver day by day. Well, let me clarify that... as long as there is not a scarey American girl doll in my room at night (right, Carla? :) . To make a long story short, I was deathly scared, I mean DEATHLY scared of my American girl doll, Samantha, when I was a little girl. So scared in fact that Carla had to sleep with it in her room every night and my mother threatened to burn it for me. Haha! I guess creative and thesbian-like minds have a wild imagination as a kid. Let's hope I don't have to hide little peter rabbit from the baby when it's born...hopefully it will take after steven in that regard.
Speaking of Steven, he is really enjoying his ER rotation in Jackson and even got to fly in a helicopter this past weekend during an automobile rescue. The only draw back to the program is the fact that it's a four year program instead of a three year--but, i don't think that will be a huge issue to him when its all said and done. He is excited about his next rotations at UAB and Georgia though. I had a great time visiting with my grandmother and Steven this weekend even though I wasn't able to spend too much time with him due to the night shifts. I had to come home earlier than expected because of the hurricane inching it's way towards Miss. I left early Monday morning and spent labor day by myself. But, don't feel too sorry for me. I slept most of the day.
Well, I must admit that I am incredibly impressed with my post length this time. I must be pretty bored... :)

I will try to remember to post tomorrow to let everyone know if it's a BOY or GIRL!! I'm thinking boy, but we'll see....

Boy or Girl??

This is the question of our lives right now. We find out in less than two weeks what "It" is! Thursday, Sept. 4 to be exact. I haven't bought anything for the baby yet just because I don't know what color to buy--but thankfully we will know soon.

More updates to come very soon...

14 weeks old

Here are a few pictures. Sorry they are so terrible--we don't have a scanner so I had to take them with my camera. ha! I was able to see this little one kick a few times and definitely squirm around. The nurse doing my ultra sound kept saying "My, what an active baby!" I guess it will be pay back from what I did to my own mother as a child.:)

It's little hand waved to us a few times.

Little Peanut update

Thank you to everyone for your sweet messages! It means so much to me when I hear from friends!

I had my first doctor's appoitment today with my new OB here in Birmingham. I really like my doctor a lot and was able to get an ultra sound again and "It" is not really a little peanut anymore. It was so amazing to see all of the features like the toes, fingers, and face--I'm in love! Everything looked great and I will try to put up a picture of the sonogram very soon.

I'm still feeling pretty good and still haven't felt very sick, which I hear is such a blessing. I just returned from a young life camp this past week at sharp top cove in jasper, georgia. I went with our old Bradenton Young Life group and had a blast with all the girls and my good friends, Kelly and Elham who were also leaders with me. I took it pretty easy but did a lot of hiking. It felt good to get a lot of exercise though and hopefully I will keep that up throughout the pregnancy.

Thanks again for all the messages and prayers! Here are a few pics from Sharp top.

It's a...BABY!!

We found out on May 28th that we are going to have a baby! We are absolutely thrilled!! And thanks to Katie Compton continuously reminding me to update my blog, I'm doing it today.

Needless to say, it was a big surprise to us. I got off birth control in January 2007 so that we could try for pregnancy but found that my periods were very irregular (as they always were before birth control). i would sometimes go 75 days without having one so we knew it would be difficult to track temperature, ovulation, etc.

We went to the doctor this past February and he put me on clomid for ovulation purposes. It didn't work out for me to take it until the first of May so I took it for the first time and BAM, we are having a baby! Steven and I know it is in God's perfect timing and are so excited. All last year I prayed for His timing and I am so glad he waited until now to allow us this little miracle. We will be close to home this year and close to family and friends to share this with.

I am a little over 10 weeks. We had a sonogram before I left Bradenton and everything looked great. We saw the little heartbeat and our little peanut, we call IT. I will be glad when we know the sex so we don't have to keep calling it IT, or "the kid" as Steven likes to impersonally called the baby.:)

We will be sure to keep everyone updated and can't wait to post pictures in February. There may even be some belly pictures on the way....on the far off way...right now you would just see my fat bulging over my jeans.

We would appreciate it if you could remember to keep us and our little one in your prayers!

Cardboard Testimonies

If you have the time I hope you can watch this youtube video. My eyes were feeled with tears while watching it and not to mention i love this song. i hope this blesses you as much as it did me!

Cardboard Testimonies

Coming to an end...

It's crazy to think that Steven and I have lived in Bradenton, Florida for almost three years now. Our time here has gone by so fast...and yet slow all at the same time. We are preparing for our move to Birmingham in June. As excited as we are about moving, it will definitely be sad to move from this place. Our first home is so special to me and I will hate to say goodbye. The friends that we have made have been such a blessing---what's so funny is that we haven't made that many good friends here that are our age. Honestly, some of our best friends are 40 year olds.:) I guess not surprising in Florida!

We have LOVED our church here. It has been such a blessing being part of a small church for once in our lives. Sure Steven and I grew up knowing so many people in our home churches that it felt small, but our churches were 1000's of people in and out every year. Christ Presbyterian has close to 400 members and I have loved it! I have probably grown more spiritually here in the last year because of our amazing sunday school class. I'm going to be so sad to leave it! m Our teacher is a true man of God and his spiritual gift is no question, teaching. He speaks straight from scripture, digs deep, and creates challenging learning that I have soaked up like a sponge.

I'm sure I will post before we move, but here are a few pics of our first year in Bradenton. I remember it well...our first night at the beach and the first steps into our new house.
I thank the Lord for His incredible blessings!!

Joy's wedding

Memories...

Here are some pictures of February and March. I thought I would put up some pictures of Wizard of OZ for all to see. Though the play was incredibly successful I could not be more happy that it's over. Now I can focus on the junior high play that is next week--yes, that's right, I have had two plays in less than a month! I guess that explains why I have been sick this week...

The second round of pics are from Joy Ogle's bachelorette weekend in Panama City where I had a wonderful weekend with my girl friends talking in the hot tub, laying out, and embarassing Joy as best we could.

The semester has flown and i can't believe I only have three months until summer time! Not that i'm counting down the days or anything...........yeah right.

Date night!

Steven and I on our date
Steven found his own sandwich shop!


Me and flat stanley

Steven and I went to Orlando this past weekend to see Cirque du solei (hope I spelled that right). It was amazing! It was so wonderful getting away for night, just the two of us, and enjoying a stress free afternoon/night. We got to Orlando Saturday afternoon and hopped straight on the disney monerail and rode to a couple of the resort--the polynesian and the grand floridian. That night we went to downtown disney and ate at the rainforest cafe--a restaurant that i have been wanting to eat at for a while. Then we headed to our show which was incredible and if anyone gets a chance to see it should.

Oh, if you are wondering who flat stanley is (which, kelly, you are the only one who reads this post i think:) ) my nephew, Rowen, sent us this from his class and asked if we would take flat stanley to fun locations and take pictures with him. we can't let our sweet little nephew down!

I love date nights.

Christmas time!

Christmas at the Sprayberry's
Me, dad, and Camille playing around at the Crosby grandparents
With sweet Hudson and Rowen
Family pic with the Crosby's

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families! It was a much needed break for both Steven and I...

Going home during the holidays always makes Steven and I appreciate and miss our families so much more.

Thanksgiving!

Steven and I had a wonderful thanksgiving with our families. It was so good to be in Alabama for a little while and be able to spend some time with all our friends, parents, and siblings (minus Kelly and Ryan). Thursday was a nice reminder to be thankful for what the Lord has given us and I truly cannot thank Him enough! I am amazed by all the blessings upon blessings that He chooses to give to Steven and I. I so often take little things for granted in life...my job, roof over my head, family, friends...and the Lord wants us to be THANKFUL ALWAYS..."Be joyful always, pray continually, give THANKS in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1st Thess. 5:16-18

Speaking of thanks...Steven and I got to go to the Alabama vs. Auburn game. And of course we were not thankful about the outcome. However, it was so great getting to sit with Ben and Katie at the game and actually be at a live football game this year. Wow, was it embarrassing.:) I tried to cheer like crazy anyway.

Here are a few pics from tailgating and the game.

Roll Tide!

Sure, we've only won two games so far this season (against Western Carolina and Vandy I might add)...but it's good to have hope in Bama football again. And sure, we may not win every game this season (which i'm sure we won't) but boy is it fun while it last.

School is going okay, no complaints really. Steven is on a psych rotation right now and finds it to be horribly boring and depressing. Thankfully, my husband won't be a psychiatrist... We start up Young Life again and this year we are doing something a little different.

Young Life is splitting this year between Lakewood Ranch High and Braden River and Steven and I are going to the Braden River High side. One of our good friends, Graham, will be leading that group and we are going to help him. It should be a great year. Nothing else really...

Summer in Alabama

Steven and I have had a wonderful July thus far. It has been so relaxing spending time with the family and seeing friends we rarely see anymore. It makes me sad to think I only have a week and a half left in Bama before we go back to Florida--and it's not Florida which I dread but the stressfulness of work and school. But, I guess I can't complain seeing how my job gives me three months off at a time.

While Steven is doing his family practice clinical rotation in Sylacauga I have been going to Auburn some to hang out with my mom, spending time with Kelly and the boys at the pool, seeing friends in Birmingham, and reading Gone with the Wind and Harry.

Here are a few pics from the month of July.

Spending time with college friends in Birmingham.

Spending time with our wonderful friend Katie and Ben and their sweet little girl, Campbell.

Going to P.F. Changs for my birthday and spending time with our nephews.

Eat, Sleep, and Harry

In honor of Kelly, I have decided to dedicate this post to Harry Potter. On Saturday morning, July 22, Kelly and I drove in from the lake around 7:30 a.m. to go to the Alex City Walmart for what else...the 7th Harry! I finished in two days-- compared to Carla who finished in 7 hours! All in all, I was quite satisified with the book and the ending and felt like J.K. finished it very appropriately.