Weekend in Kentucky

The weekend of April 28th marked the 50th anniversary of the Murray State chapter of Sigma Chi, so Brad and I made a trip up to Kentucky for the celebration.

We arrived late Thursday night at Janine and Josh's house in Marshall Co., and on Friday Brad played in a golf tournament and I met some old girlfriends for lunch and to check out the baby boutiques in Murray.

First order of business was lunch at Dumplins with Jen, Harvey and Brittany. Brit had her little girl Aiden, with her and Jen brought her boy Connor and new baby Wilson. It was great to catch up and hear what everyone has been up to, as well as get the low down on exactly what to expect when Norah arrives.

Me, Connor the flirt and Andrea


Aiden, Brittany, Me, Jen and Andrea


The little photographer Connor met some AOPis at another table, and proceeded to flirt with them during the lunch, as well as take photos of all of the Dumplins patrons. Here's one of his "cute girls"!


After lunch, we went to the Plaid Rabbit to check out some baby clothes since this was a whole new shopping adventure which I had not undertaken yet. I got a few cute little outfits for Norah, as well as introduced to Baby Lulu clothes (my husband and wallet thank you, Brit ;0)

Later that evening, after a reception and ceremony at the fraternity house, we had dinner at The Apple (yummy!) with some of Brad's friends.



What was I thinking marrying this guy!?


Me and Prakop comparing bellies...


Saturday evening was an alumni/active dinner and presentation. There were lots of "old guys" there from the 50s and 60s, which was really sweet to see.

Brothers from when Brad and I were in school


Me and Brad (not too bad for 8 months preggo)


Former Sweethearts of Sigma Chi (I still haven't figured out what we're supposed to do while they are singing ;0)


Brothers and wives


Brothers- Cliffy, Marty, Brad and Owsley

Atlanta Baby Shower!

Sorry- I've been on a blogging hiatus. So much has been going on and I have been exhausted lately. Thank goodness, only eight weeks to go (hopefully sooner, fingers crossed!)

Last weekend (April 18th) my friends Shelley, Tiff and Stephanie threw me and Norah a baby shower at Shelley's house. We had a blast, lots of yummy food AND decorated onsies. I am so thankful for all of my friends' generosity and taking time out of the first beautiful Saturday we've had this spring to celebrate with me.

I had all of my guests write the date and time they thought Norah would be born. Whoever gets closest to her actual time/day of birth will get a little prize from Norah when she's born.

Jen Chapman and her creation.

Liz York's creative muscle has been flexed!

DeLisa, Me and Ruth

Lyndsey & Brie

My lovely hostesses Tiff, Shelley and Steph

Cute little dress from the Giglios

Disney dress that Liz's 5-year-old twins picked out for Norah

The pile o' gifts for Norah

Shell's design

Steph's Baby Mac onsie

Ah, to be thin again ;0(

Janine's gift all the way from KY...

Ducky Towel Wrap

Diaper Cake

The baby "docking station"- AKA Car seat base

Norah's future boyfriend, Owen (Shelley's little guy)

Yummy!!

Nursery Pictures...Still a Work in Progress

Looking in from the door towards the closet that Brad put in (he's so handy).


Close-up of the window treatments


Crib wall


Close up of her name (dark green square with light pink solid border and dark pink dashed border. The letters are light pink and mounted on a brown shelf)



The crib and bedding (minus mattress)


Changing station and hutch



We still need to order the chair, get the mattress and finish the closet so there is a clothes rack and shelves. I can't wait to start filling it with baby stuff ;0)

More Nursery Work...

This weekend, we found the perfect chair for Norah's room. The style is super cute AND super comfy. You'd be surprised how many nursery chairs we sat in this weekend were NOT comfortable, I mean, what's the point of picking an uncomfortable chair to sit in at 2 a.m. feedings? Our new friends at Baby Junction in Acworth were a tremendous help- I highly recommend visiting them if you're in Atlanta.

Here's the chair:


And here's the fabric:


I made Brad go to the fabric store with me (which he NEVER does b/c of the flashbacks he has from the many trips to Lewis Textile with his mom as a little boy) and we picked out a really cute pink, yellow, green and white striped fabric for the curtains. They'll be lined in a pink and white houndstooth. He was really disappointed to learn (as we were leaving) that there was a "customer lounge" with a TV, sports magazines and leather couches (AKA a man-retreat) where he could have sat while I looked at fabric, but I think he enjoys helping pick out stuff for Norah's room.

If there is some of the houndstooth fabric leftover, I think I'll make Lila a bed in Norah's room. Brad has it in his mind that she'll want to sleep in there to "protect" her little sister. He also saw a little sign at the fabric store that said "Sisters make the best friends" that he wanted to get to hang over Lila's bed.

All of the fabric is cut, I just need to break out the sewing machine.

I can't wait to post the finished pictures...

Beba's SURPRISE Fiesta

Whew! Being a liar is tough work! I am proud to say that we successfully pulled off the Brenda McDonald Birthday Weekend Extravagnza and it was a hit! Lyndsey, Paul, Brad and I have been planning Brenda's 60th birthday weekend since October and this weekend went beautifully and relatively smooth.

Friday began with a surprise dinner by Master Chef Jules at Chez McDonald. Brenda thought she was meeting us for dinner at a local restaurant because Lynds had to work on Saturday (her actual birthday). Little did she know that we had arranged for her sisters and niece to surprise her and have a relaxed dinner at our house. The Kentucky crew got stuck in traffic in Chattanooga, so we spent the evning concocting one lie after another to stall Paul and Brenda. When they finally arrived, the Ky. crew was just around the corner. While we were upstairs looking at Norah's room, they snuck in the back door, up the stairs and surprised her. It was priceless.

On Saturday, the girls went shopping at Phipps and "waited" for Lynds to get called into work. She was "called in" around 2 p.m. (from my cell phone in the same store- LOL!). At 2:30, I had to leave for a "meeting at Tech". We rendez-voused back at my house to haul our liquor, cake, etc. down to Taqueria Del Sol for her surprise party. The rest of the group (the sisters, guest of honor, McKenzie, Brad & Paul) were meeting me later for a launch and tasting party for Taqueria's catering arm (wink, wink).

Around 6:30, we were joined by 75 of her closest teacher friends, church small group and the rest of her family. Around 7:15, the guest of honor's entourage pulled into the parking lot and walked with me to the party. As we turned the corner, we were met with 75 people staring at us and yelling "surprise"! The look on her face was priceless as it registered that this was no "tasting", but rather a party for her! The night was spent watching the slideshow of her life, eating the yummy Taqueria food and drinking tasty margaritas (virgin for me, of course).

Sunday, the entire McIntyre side of the family came back to our house for brunch before heading back to Kentucky & Tennessee. At this point, we were exhausted, but the work was well worth it!

Me & Lynds Plotting...


Lynds and the belly with legs...


The birthday girl sees everyone and is a little confused...


It sinks in that she knows these people...


I think she's gonna have a heart attack!


She still can't believe it!


Brad, Me and Baby Norah


The 60 pinata and a matching mustache..


The "twins" Judy and Brenda (same birthday, different year)


The McIntyre siblings
Rick, Bubby, John John & Scott
Patti, Beba and Judy

Just call me Donatella (Versace, that is)

As you know, I am tall. And even when I'm not pregnant, I struggle to find pants that are long enough for my legs (I know, real tough problem to have is what my short sistas are thinking). However, I have discovered that a 34+ inseam and a baby belly just doesn't make for fun times at the maternity stores.

I have basically lived in dresses and my old pants unzipped with a Bella band (the greatest invention EVER). A few weekends ago, I finally broke down and went looking for maternity work pants. Big mistake. The day ended at store #5 with me in tears. So Brad asked whether I could rig something up with my handy sewing machine. I swear, sometimes the man is a genius (I said SOMETIMES...;0)

The next day, I sat down with a pair of pants, the machine and a bella band. After 30 minutes of blood, sweat and tears (and maybe a few curse words), I had created something great...





I cut the top off the pants just below where my belly starts, and up around over my butt in the back. Then, I sewed a Bella band to the top of the pants so I can wear the band up or down. I have done several pairs of work pants, and compared to the one pair of maternity work pants I have purchased, these puppies rock! Here's a pair of jeans that I did this past weekend:



I am thinking about selling my services to other soon-to-be mommies who are also struggling to find maternity pants...maybe I can become independently wealthy providing this service to my fellow preggos. At least I have pants to wear to work now...

24 weeks and SNOW!

Here are some more pictures I took on Sunday at almost 24 weeks. We had a really good snowfall (well, by Georgia standards) so Brad spent the day working on Norah's room. It's starting to come together...slowly.

Here are the pictures...





And here are some pictures of the snow. We had about two hours of constant snowfall and had a pretty good accumulation. However, it started raining shortly after, so it all melted pretty quickly.