19 Weeks...

Get ready for the most anticlimactic pregnancy photo post of all time.

4 Weeks later and I look exactly the same.  Oh well!  I have plenty of time left to get unrecognizably large...it's just funny to compare them side by side.  Btw the newest one is a selfie because by the time Todd gets home from work I am usually in my pajamas already (embarrassing to admit that to the hundreds 4 people that actually read this).  I can feel the baby moving now sometimes...which really exciting!  It started on Monday, the 29th right when I hit 19 weeks but it took me a few days to figure out what was actually happening.  

In other exciting news, we are going in for our big anatomy ultrasound on August 14th.  Can't wait to find out what "it" is!  People keep asking me what I feel like it is but I honestly have no idea.  Any predictions??

Meanwhile...

This past weekend I went on a girls trip to Amelia Island, Florida with all of my friends from college.  It was alot of fun to see everyone and relax by the pool for a few days...and of course I was sans margaritas so I was able to be the DD!

Dinner at Pablo's

Partying like its 1993. Seriously, this DJ had nothing from the 00's.  Chanel asked him to "play something current" and he played Tupac-Changes.  I felt like I was at the 8th grade dance.  But it was fun!

MEANWHILE...the whole time we were gone I had been talking to Todd and he was telling me he was playing video games with his friend and hanging out at the beach and playing golf.  Imagine my surprise when I got home on Sunday and saw this!!!

He started a secret project in the baby room!  I have been pinning pictures of nurseries with board and batten walls for awhile now and everytime I would show it to him he would say something dumb like "looks like too much work" etc etc.  And I wanted him to build a little shelf in that weird nook that we have in between the closet and the wall for books and toys.  Surprise!!  It was apparently all part of his master plan to trick me.  He worked on it all weekend while I was away and did SUCH a good job...I was so excited!  I will post more detail pictures when it gets closer to finished.  We still have to prime and paint but it is going to look so good.

And he didn't stop there...when we built my closet back when we moved in the light switch was underneath the second row of clothes.  So everytime I went in I had to bend over and dig around in my sweaters til I found the secret spot.  Somehow he managed to move it over so its right on the wall when you walk in.  SO COOL!  I have no idea how he did it and no idea that he even knew how to do electrical stuff like this.  But now that I know I have a few more project ideas...jk.  I think this will tide me over for awhile.  Thanks love! You rock!

Big News!

We're back with some big news!  It's time to introduce...

Baby P!  We are using that term until we find out what it is because my mom informed me on the phone the other day that I need to stop calling it "it". oops!  So he/she will be here sometime around December 23, 2013.  Todd and I are so excited and can't wait to find out if he/she is a he or a she!  We should be able to find out sometime in early August.

Early in the morning of Saturday, April 13th (the day of Todd's 30th birthday party)...

For my future child who may read this someday, don't worry you were not an accident.  It just made for a better picture.

I went to the doctor about 2 weeks later and found out I was about 6 weeks pregnant.  Here is Baby P at 6 weeks...

They wanted me to come back 2 weeks later to check everything again because they were confused about the due date and wanted to make sure things were moving along the way they were supposed to so here we are at 8 weeks...

Then, I was having a few complications so I called the doctor and they asked me to come in to check things out.  So here we are around 11 weeks and everything was looking good!

I went back 2 weeks later and we heard the heartbeat in the office.  Then I went back right at 14 weeks before we went on our trip to Mexico and we heard it again.  I got this video to send to Todd since he couldn't make it to that appointment.

I go back on the 17th and hopefully will get a date for our 20 week ultrasound!  We are starting the count at 14 weeks because for about the first 13 I felt pretty terrible and getting camera ready was honestly just way too much work ;)  I am feeling better now and we are enjoying summer and having lots of time to relax and look for nursery ideas on Pinterest. (and by we I mean the baby and myself, believe it or not Todd is not too big on pinning nursery ideas) So here is me at 15 weeks pregnant...

 

I am feeling pretty good these days.  I have been getting a few migraines here and there and having some pain in my lower back when I walk alot but other than that I have more energy than before and I'm not nauseous anymore either.  If you didn't know I was pregnant you probably wouldn't be able to tell by looking at me but my regular pants are very uncomfortable to button.  I have been rocking some maternity jorts (yes I know) or a maxi dress pretty much every day this summer.  I am still a few pounds down in weight from where I started but I'm sure I will start catching up soon now that I am able to eat again!

**Update--I am posting this 3 weeks late because it took me that long to get all the pictures on the computer. Because I am super busy. Or lazy. Whatever.  And also because my friend Sarah was here last week and told me I need to start blogging!  I will try to get an 18 week pic today, and maybe by the time this baby is born I will post that one ;)

Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas at Granny's this year.  Everyone was able to be there and my sister even found a pearl in her fried oyster.  We decided to do a Dirty Santa gift exchange this year...  here are some of the pics I took with our new camera!

Chase and I baked a gingerbread man.

Everyone posing with their White Elephant present...

Jake got an RGIII jersey...Todd was pretty happy about that!

Chase and I also made a "Christmas cake"

Mel was supposed to be in this pic but she ran off right as I was taking it.  

We had a great trip!  Merry Christmas!

Grace

Encouragement for Today

I have been getting these daily devotionals emailed to me for awhile now.  This came to me this morning, just when I needed it the most.  I decided to share it here in case it will help anyone else or incase you might like to go sign up for these daily devotionals.  They are very quick to read and it is uncanny how many seem to come at the most opportune times.

Some of my favorite excerpts from today:

Isaiah 55:8-9 "“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

"Perhaps you feel overwhelmed today. You may be experiencing some sadness, loss or worry. You may find that God has called you to a difficult path. "Surely," you think, "God has an easier road for me to travel."

The truth is, we aren't wise enough to assume another path would be best for us. Maybe the easier road won't make us into the person God intends us to be.

Perhaps the difficult road is a path of grace—protecting us from the worst.

Maybe this road is about learning something new about God or ourselves. Could it be the difficult journey is the path that prepares us for a greater purpose or a greater faith in God?"

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

<3

Mini Makeovers...

I painted our corner hutch...

I found a chandelier at a yardsale I went to with my mom and spray painted it (of course)...

This pic is terrible because it came from my phone but you get the idea...

We found some cabinets at the Habitat for Humanity restore for $50 and painted them and used them to redo our laundry room...yes I realize this before photo is extremely embarrassing.  I have no idea why I cannot get these pictures to go right side up, they were also from a cell phone!

We added some beadboard panels to the doors of the cabinets and added some open shelving in the middle.

Much better!

Thens and Nows

I'm not even going to comment on the length of time in between posts.  All I will say is that one of my goals for this summer was to update the blog and seeing as how school starts in two days I figured I better get on it!  All before/after pics on this blog will hereby be known as then and now pics since I have come to the conclusion that we rarely ever actually finish something!  "After" implies that the project is done and "Now" gives us a little more in-progress wiggle room.  Please forgive the outrageous amount of pictures I'm about to post!

We'll start with the biggest project we've done lately.  We actually HIRED some people to paint the house!!!!  We got rid of "baby poo brown"...

and went with a nice gray with white trim.  Of course in typical Potter fashion, we couldn't actually let someone else do all the work.  We ended up have to rescreen the porch after they finished painting, redo the outside trim molding, and put in a new screen door.

This whole process took about 2 or 3 months.  Todd and I put the screens up one weekend and then waiting another two months until Don and Mary Kay came down to finish the project!

We also repainted the front door...

What do you think?