Mountain Week

We just got back from spending a week in the mountains with my family!  It was fabulous.  We celebrated our first anniversary while we were there!  It is so hard to believe that an entire year has gone by…but a wonderful first year it was!  We visited Grandfather Winery (where our rehearsal dinner was held) 3 times and Banner Elk Winery once.  We picnicked in Valle Crucis Park.  We shopped in Blowing Rock and Boone…where I purchased Baby Moore his first north face jacket…the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen.  We hiked and picnicked at Linville Falls.  We picnicked and walked across the mile high swinging bridge at Grandfather Mountain.  We dined at Bella’s, the Gamekeeper, the Painted Fish…and of course at the Come Back Shack – twice!  We celebrated my cousin Karen’s marriage with a surprise party.  It was so nice to escape the heat of Charleston for a week.  Jimmy had to head back to work today so it was an extra bad case of the Monday’s around here coming back from a fun vaca and saying goodbye to him for a month!  Here is a photo dump from my phone…

House Swap

Over a year ago, Jimmy and I were talking about selling our house and buying a larger home and his parents were talking about downgrading to less space.  We LOVED our house, but as we were wanting to start a family we really just wanted more space.  His parents casually mentioned that we should arrange to switch homes!  We are actually in neighborhoods right next to each other so each home is the exact location we both wanted to stay in.  We knew that if we did this there would be several upgrades/changes to his parents home we would want as it’s an awesome house, but was built 25 years ago.  Jimmy’s aunt is an architect so she has worked tirelessly on plans for us and Jimmy’s dad is a contractor so he has worked just as hard on finding the right people to do the work.  It has been SO fun to slowly see it coming together after we were talking about it for what seemed like an eternity.  The logistics were stressful, but everything is working out great.  We both packed up and in one day moved our stuff to their house and vice versa.  Jimmy and I are living upstairs in our “old” house while the renovations are being completed.  We are so thankful for his parents!  So…while our life has been packed in boxes for the past couple of months we are very excited to move into our new house in a few short months…hopefully.   So…here’s what we are doing to the house…

• The house is in a flood zone…which in turn means it is elevated.  You originally entered the house on the bottom floor and immediately walked upstairs to the “entry” area.  We are adding front steps, a more prominent front door, and porch. 
• We are enclosing what was once a small screened in porch off of the master bedroom that they never used and it will be the laundry/office.  I am so excited about this!  This is connected to my closet and the bedroom.  Only two steps to put my laundry away.  I will be working from home once the babe arrives so this will also allow me a designated space to work.
• A small portion of a large sun porch/extra living room is being enclosed off of the master bedroom to make another closet which will allow us to each have our own closets.  This will be perfect as Jimmy needs almost as much closet space as I do to store all of his guns/hunting/fishing crap.  He definitely wasn’t getting his fair share at our old house!
• We are knocking out a large wall that ran in between the kitchen/laundry room and dining room.  We are also adding a large bay window off of the kitchen.  This is really opening up the house!
• The kitchen and master bath are completely gutted…so new cabinets/fixtures/tile/shower/tub/sinks/EVERYTHING!
• New siding on the outside.

This is a front view of the new steps, porch, front door as of Friday.  You can see where you originally entered below the porch…this will now be where we enter from the garage and will serve as a mud room.  Many more before/after pics to come.

Needless to say, we are SO EXCITED!  We are HOPING to moving in sometime in September…but we shall see.  I can’t wait to get settled in before the baby arrives!

Wreck!

Last Monday, as I mentioned previously, I was in a wreck.  It really wasn’t that bad, but with the precious cargo in my tum it was a little scary!  I was driving along when I saw a pick-up truck coming towards me losing control into my lane then crashed into the woods on my side of the road.  Needless to say, I had to slam on breaks to not hit him head on and then the car behind me slammed into my back.  Almost instantly I see the guy in the pickup trying to back out of the woods he was crashed into and he took off!!!!  All of his tires on one side were blown out and other front end damage obviously.  He didn’t make it far and was arrested for DUI shortly after once the highway patrol arrived.  I am now sporting a rental while my cars in the shop and dealing with both of the other parties insurance companies as they are trying to come to an agreement as to who will accept what percentage of the responsibility.  YAY.  It definitely created a little anxiety as I was worried about the babe, but according to our ultrasound yesterday afternoon all is WELL!  One bumper down won’t kill us!

July 4th Weekend!

We are 15 weeks today!  I am not going to do my weekly update post since I was late last week.  Hopefully we will have a big gender reveal at the end of this week…YAY!!!

We had a great weekend celebrating our nations birthday! 

Thursday night we started the weekend with dinner at Red Drum.  One of my favs.  It was a last minute decision and turned out to be a fun one.  We ended the night with a drink (Beck’s for me) at Triangle on our way home.  Blurry pic but it’s the only one we took.  We had the tortilla soup as always to start.  For entrees, Jimmy had the grouper and I had the special filet with an enchilada.  It was perfect since the pregnant girl in me couldn’t decide.  We all split the donuts for dessert.  Perfect dinner!

Friday, we headed out on the boat with friends to another friends family house on Goat Island.  We ended the day with mexican…the perfect post boat dinner.  It was a longer day than the preggers would’ve liked, but a fun one indeed.

Saturday, we headed to Folly to spend the day with Brooke, Jeff, Hudson, and Harper.  Jimmy and I picked up breakfast at Lost Dog on our way out…a Folly favorite for sure.  It was SO windy so we didn’t last long on the beach, but spent some time at the pool.  That afternoon, we all went to Isle of Palms to visit with our friends who were in town from Columbia.  It was great to see Tobin and her family even if for a short time.

Jimmy and I ended the day with dinner at The Obstinate Daughter on Sullivan’s Island and gelato at The Bearded Cat.  We had some type of pepper appetizer and a salad to start and the shrimp roll and a pizza for dinner.  This is my second time and I highly recommend.  We were lucky enough to walk in and get a high top in the bar area, but I know their reservations are still hard to come by.  Downstairs for dessert, I had the olive oil with sea salt and pistachio gelatos.  Um…YUM!  The olive oil with sea salt probably sounds gross, but it was so good.  Jimmy wasn’t a fan, though.

Sunday was left for errands, laundry, and a nap!

Lots of sun, food, and relaxing made for a perfect holiday weekend!

Happy July 4th!

How Far Along:  14 weeks 4 days.  A little behind on posting.

Size of Baby:  Approx. 3.5 inches…the size of a lemon!

Maternity Clothes:  The belly is definitely growing quickly!  I went to Target this week to buy a few things, but wasn’t that impressed with their selection.  I did get one of the belly bands, a big shirt, and some pants!

Gender:  TBD.  We have a 3D ultrasound scheduled for July 11th to find out!

Movement:  None yet.  Looking forwards to feeling the kicks.

Sleep:  Have actually been sleeping pretty well this past week…hoping that continues!

Symptoms:  I have felt pretty good this past week.  Other than a 2 day headache from a wreck I was in…more on that to come.  A little back pain.  Still peeing a lot.  Still really hungry. 

What I miss:  Nothing I can think of.  I have still been eating deli meat even though some say to stay away…if I was forgoing sandwiches I would definitely be missing them!

Cravings:  Still no real cravings.  Most days I am really, really hungry but nothing sounds that great. 

Best Moment this Week:  Jimmy got home late Monday night.  YAY!

What I am looking forward to:  A holiday weekend with Jimmy and friends.  Our 2 ultrasounds next week!  A doctor’s office in town (not mine) is giving free ultrasounds next week to help train their techs.  I scheduled an appt. for one there and we have our 3d gender reveal (hopefully) as well.  Can’t wait to see our babe twice in one week!