What I'm Loving...

There are a lot of things that I am LOVING right now and for the sake of random posting I decided to share some with you:

1.  My HUSBAND is what I'm loving the most!!!  He has been so supportive throughout this pregnancy and has just given me a preview of what a great daddy he will be.  I want to thank him for putting up with me (though I don't think I've been too much of a PREGASAURUS - Martha's word).  He has done so much for me lately, like rub my feet and ankles (cause you know they've been killing me), put up the baby furniture, get me food when I'm hungry and being lazy (which is more often than normal), and just being there for me when my hormones are going crazy and I'm a little emotional from the things that are thrown at me day-to-day.  I LOVE YOU CHANCEY POOH!!!

2.  I'm loving my new little blog Darley's Creative Corner and making things for my friends! I have really enjoyed using my vinyl and paints and trying to come up with new things to make. 

Caycen's Door hanger

my bucket for school and hand sanitizer

UGA colors on a personalized cake carrier

3.  I'm LOVING the weather lately!!! Have I ever told you how much I HATE the cold?? Everyone keeps saying "wait til you get bigger and it gets hotter and you're going to wish it were winter again"... really... no... I don't think so!!! I love being able to go outside with barely anything on and not get those stinkin' chill bumps!!! I have also noticed that I'm in the mood to read when it's warmer outside too.  I will grab a book and go sit on the back porch and read in the sun.  I just love it!

4.  I'm loving getting to know my neighbors! We have lived in our house for almost two years and haven't really gotten to know anyone around us too much.  Recently, I've been talking a lot with one of our neighbors, Brandy, and I realized that we had a LOT in common.  Her and her husband have 2 beautiful little girls and are just the sweetest family ever!!! When I found out that I was pregnant, she was so sweet and left me a little decorated box with cookies in it and a washcloth lollipop was attached!!! It was at my front door when I got home from work one day.  She does a lot of stuff on her cricut as well and is teaching me to sew!!! :) I'm so thankful to have them as neighbors!!!


Aren't they the most adorable little family ever??


5.  I'm loving that I'm learning to sew!  Brandy got my sewing machine working last night and I'm super excited!!! She showed me a few things and I can't wait to get started! I want to be able to do the appliques and all that she's been doing and hopefully make a few things for our little Caycen before he gets here.
Here are some of the things Brandy has been doing that I love and want to learn to do myself:

This one is my favorite! I want to make something like this for Caycen with the snail :)

6.  I'm loving that Caycen is kicking so much! It's such a great feeling and so reassuring.  I know I said in a previous post that I don't like being pregnant like most women say they do, and I'm sticking to that... but if I had to say there was one cool thing about being pregnant, it's definitely feeling the baby kick and move around so much.  I will just sit there and watch my stomach move... it's just amazing!


27 weeks!!!


7.  I'm loving that we are getting the nursery together!!! We only have one piece of furniture to still put together... I'm sure Chance will get it done sometime :)  We have the nursery painted, the crib put up, and the changing table put up.  I'm going to wash the bedding soon and put it on the crib and start washing baby clothes and put those up too.  I can't wait to see it all come together.

crib



changing table


8.  I'm loving that I've been working out more lately... I've been getting on our elliptical and walking the dogs for my exercise.  It's definitely not what I'm used to doing, but it will work until Caycen comes.  Before I was pregnant I ran and did Insanity, but when we started back school it was so hectic opening a new school, that I was just exhausted everyday and wasn't really running like I should.  So when I found out I was pregnant the doctor told me that I probably shouldn't run since I hadn't been doing it consistently for about a month.  Then after that I wasn't working out much at all.. I went on a few walks every now and then, but it wasn't enough.  So, since I have the energy and NEED to be doing something, I've decided to stick to the elliptical and walking the dogs and I feel great!!! It's amazing how much better you feel when you exercise.

9.  I'm loving that my friend and co-worker, Amanda, is having her baby on Monday (unless she comes earlier)!!! I am super excited for her, but I will miss her at work for sure! Ella Kate is going to be beautiful just like her mommy!!!

Me and Amanda just days before she will be induced.

10. I'm loving Jergens Natural Glow lotion!!! I knew I was white, but when I looked at pictures from my birthday I realized I was GHOSTLY!!!! So I decided to try the Jergens Natural Glow lotion because I heard such great things about it.  After using it once, I'm addicted!  It makes you look a little darker, but slowly.  I don't use it every day, but I use it about every three to four days.  You could use it more to get a darker look if you wanted.  If you're white like me from not being in the sun in forever, you should definitely try it!!!

 

These are just a few of the things I'm loving lately... but there are lots more!!!! My family, my friends, reading, my dogs, my church small group, and most of all my GOD for blessing me with so much!!!! He is so amazing and I'm so thankful to have a God that loves me so much!

Have a wonderful Saturday!!!
~Aimes

Home Improvement

Hey everyone! So, Chance and I have a lot of things we would LIKE to get done before the baby comes.  We are waiting to get our taxes all done and figured out before we do anything.  We have finally finished our taxes, we just need to find out how much we will owe (Chance is on commission so we pay instead of receive money during tax season).  After taxes we want to do a little home improvement.  Here is what's on the list:

1.  Hardwood floors downstairs
2.  New entertainment center
3.  A little more home decor (living room clock and other accessories)
4.  Anything extra we need for the baby room (maybe we will wait and do this after showers and all are done)
5.  We also need a GOOD camera (We are wanting the Nikon D3100)

We, well Chance and Mike, started putting together some of the baby furniture that we received on Wednesday! I'm super excited about it!!! They put together the changing table, which took a good while, and all they have to do now is the chest and the crib.  Here is the process of two handy men putting together baby furniture:

Doesn't it look great??? Now I can't wait to have all the other furniture done and to be able to actually start setting up the room.  Am I a little crazy that I'm wanting to already get things together even though I have a few months left??

Well today was such a beautiful day, so I got some laying out done (in my backyard where nobody could see me! haha!), I washed and put up clothes, watched a couple of my shows, hung out with the neighbors, ate lunch with my wonderful husband, and soon I will be getting ready to go to Cancun for dinner to celebrate a good friend's birthday.  I would say today has been WONDERFUL!!!! I can't WAIT 'til summer!!!!

Oh and go check out the new cake carrier that I did for my winner of the giveaway on my creative blog! She wanted UGA colors (which is great because I don't know if I could stand to do Florida haha JK!!!).  Let me know if you would like to order anything!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!!

~Aimes

GIVEAWAY!!!

Visit Darley's Creative Corner to find out how you can win one of the following products: personalized cake carrier, bucket, wine glass, hand sanitizer, or flower headband.

Journey of Pregnancy - 2nd Trimester

Today is the last day of my 2nd trimester! WOW that went by fast!!! Tomorrow I will be 25 weeks! The 2nd trimester is when I really started to actually feel pregnant... for many reasons.

How I Felt:
During the 2nd trimester I actually started getting some energy back.  It was great, because at school I felt tired all the time early in the pregnancy and just felt like a horrible teacher.  But, I finally got my energy back and could move around a lot more.  Unfortunately, near the ending of my 2nd trimester I started having some lower back pain.  I'm still having the pain but it's off and on.  Some days it hurts all day, some days it only hurts at night, and some days it just hurts in the afternoons.  I feel lucky though because that's all that's hurt SO FAR.

Body:
Well, my pictures will prove how much my body has changed during the 2nd trimester... which is A LOT!!! Everyone still says I don't look 25 weeks pregnant, but I feel like I do.  I think the first week I really started to pop was about week 20.  I have also started to get spider veins in my legs YUCK!!! The doctor says it's probably from standing all day (how can you teach sitting down???). 

Here are some belly pics:

14 Weeks

16 weeks

17 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

22 weeks



24 weeks

 Cravings:
Ok, maybe I'm just a boring pregnant person, but I don't feel like I've really had too many cravings.  I think the only thing I crave are things that the doctor says DON'T eat.  I've had some sushi (a few bites, don't worry!), I've still been eating subs from Subway (yes, isn't that crazy, they tell you not to eat deli meat except for Boar's Head because of the way it is stored and it could have bacteria on it - BLAH!), I have coke every now and then, and also at least a piece of chocolate a day.  ONE thing that I have really enjoyed the smell of since I've been pregnant is BEER.  That's so weird of me because I've NEVER liked beer, but recently when I smell it I really want to taste it.  I think this is the only weird thing that I have wanted since being pregnant.  Oh and good news, I ate Chick-fil-a yesterday and actually enjoyed it for the first time since I've been pregnant!!! YAY! I'm so glad that I don't get sick thinking about Chick-fil-a anymore! :)

Best and Worst Moments:
The worst moment has to be when I ALMOST fell in the lunchroom at school one day because some kid spilled applesauce right beside the table and didn't pick it up.  I slipped in the applesauce and grabbed the table and caught myself before I could hit the floor.  That pretty much made my heart stop! It strained my wrist and my back at the same time.  Now I am VERY cautious when walking in the lunchroom every day.

The best moment is easy! It's definitley the first time I felt Caycen move with my hand.  I felt him for the first time moving inside of me at about 17 weeks.  At 19 weeks I was laying down on my bed about to go to sleep, my hands were resting on my stomach, and all of a sudden I felt something kick my hand.  I didn't move or breathe because I wasn't sure if that was actually him or not.  But then about 3 seconds later he kicked again and then another 3 seconds later he kicked AGAIN! I knew that it was him after the third kick.  Chance wasn't there so I called him and started crying and telling him that I felt him with my hand.  Then I ran into Taylor's bedroom to tell her also! I was SUPER excited.  After that night I felt him kick all the time.  Three nights after I felt him the first time, I was laying in bed and he was kicking, so I grabbed Chance's hand and put it on my stomach for him to feel and that was the first time Chance felt him kick.  He was so excited and I knew it wasn't just me anymore!  Now it's to the point where I feel him all the time and can even see him move across my tummy. 

I think the 2nd best moment of the 2nd trimester was probably when we found out that we were having a boy! It was so much fun finding out! If you missed my story on how we find out, check out my earlier posts Baby Boy and Finding Out to see how much fun it was!  I think the greatest part was having our friends and family there to find out with us.  It really meant a lot to see how excited they were for us.

More Fun Stuff:
During the 2nd trimester we picked out the baby bedding and painted the nursery (see my earlier post Planning to see the bedding and wall paint color), we picked out his name, Caycen Edward Darley (see how we made the decision on the post Baby Update), and just today I bought his BABY FURNITURE!!! Yay!!! I can't wait for it to be here and to put it all together up in Caycen's room! Here is a picture of the furniture set we ordered:

Closing Thoughts:
Well, the 2nd trimester went by super fast, a LOT faster than the first trimester.  Being pregnant definitely has gotten better.  I just can't wait to meet our little man!  Caycen is going to be one spoiled youngin!

3rd trimester here we come!!!! :)

God Bless ~ Aimes

Wildlife Expo.

A few weeks ago, Chance and I went to the Wildlife Expo. in Charleston, SC. (Thank you Brooke for inviting us to go!)  We had so much fun and it was nice to just get away and stay in a hotel for the weekend.  On Friday we went to dinner at Amen's downtown and it was pretty good.  Saturday we went to the expo. all day and then went to a friend's house for dinner (homemade lasagna that ROCKED!!!). 

At the expo. we watched the dog jump (dogs jumping into a pool after some type of toy), we sampled food, we saw tons of different vendors, saw lots of animals, and walked around just checking everything out.  SO MUCH FUN!!! I already can't wait to go again next year (hopefully the weather is as nice as it was this year).

here are some pics from our weekend:

Hmm... maybe we'll take Cooper next year to try the dog jump! haha!

~Aimes