20 week appointment

Baby is holding it's foot above it's head! Practicing diving.

Baby's hands below it's chin.

We had our 20 week appointment on Monday which went great! The baby is doing so good, growing really fast and everything checked out perfect on the sonogram. I am sad that this is the last picture we will get until the baby is born. I am so ready for this baby to be here. I hate waiting for surprises! So why in the world are we waiting to find the sex of the baby? Torture, we love to torture ourselves! I realized that I am still in week 20, so I will wait to do a survey until tomorrow. But until then, here are two more pictures of baby.

Picture of a foot

Baby looking at us. It's a scary looking picture though. Just a bad shot! Oh well!

Making up with Red Toes

If you noticed my husbands word of advice to other men in my first post today, you will see that he learned not to tell your wife that pregnacy is easy or that it is flying by! My parents brought us our new crib on Friday night and put it together. During the process Brent said to my dad, hey we are really having a baby. It is really hitting me that this is happening! To that, I said... Okay people, it is real to me all day and night long! So to make up for his comments and because he is just sweet to me, Saturday night Brent gave me a pedicure! He did a great job. The funny thing is that he started off by painting like a "man" which means in whatever direction he wants! He painted up and down and left to right all on my toes. He also painted my toes as well as my toenails! After cleaning up his mess he finished really well! Good job honey!! Nothing makes a women feel better than a nice bowl of ice cream and red toe nails!! Okay, well that is what makes me feel good right now! I love you baby! Thanks for making this pregnancy the best possible!! I am truly blessed to be married to my best friend who loves me unconditionally! Even when I complain and have "breakdowns for no reason!" Love you!

Half Way There!!!!!!!

I have been anxiously waiting this day. Well only second to the day we have this baby, but still this is a great milestone for sure. Although I feel more comfortable being pregnant and talking about being pregnant, I still can't wait for the baby to come. I am working hard at savoring each day (but really I just can't wait to meet this baby!!) With tons of help we did finish the babies room (with the expection of needing bedding and curtains and stuff on the wall.) We are going to put the babies name above the Crib, which of course won't happen until the baby comes. I have a shelf I am thinking about putting over the changing table and the rest of the walls I am still thinking and looking. (I do still have 4 very long months left to work it out!) I have posted some pictures of what is completed as of today! Enjoy! Also here is this weeks survey.

1. How far along? 20 weeks (Half way baby!)

2. Maternity clothes - OH YEAH! I had a Sunday Morning breakdown this week because I had no pants that would fit me anymore. My sweet husband had to remind me that this is normal during pregnancy. My clothes will fit again. Maybe they will even be too big! That is my new goal!!

3. Stretch marks - They are coming. I have seen a few that I have been attacking with my cream.

4. Sleep - Depends on the night. The gagging has gotten better at night only because I am drugged out on benadryl.

5. Best moment this week - Each time I get a little nervous that the baby has stopped moving, within minutes I wish I had not said that!! Lots of MOVING! But I like that there is moving because it does remind me that all if A-OKAY!

6. Worst moment - Still doing the throw up stuff after I eat. I hate that feeling of out of control and wishing there was something to dry up my sinus better than what I am taking now.

7. Movement - OH YEAH! BIG TIME MOVER. In fact, I think this child is getting ready for 8-8-08 in Bejing!!

8. Food Cravings - Brewsters Ice Cream!

9. Gender - Can find out Monday.... But we won't!!

10. Wedding rings on or off - Still on during the day and off at night.

11. Weekly wisdom - This advice comes from my husband to other husbands... Never tell your pregnant wife that time is flying by! Brent said this to me on Saturday. Poor thing he said can you believe how fast this time is going by. December will be here before you know it! I asked him to NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN UNTIL HE HAS TO BE THE ONE PREGNANT!!!! So, he did the right thing that any good husband would do... and painted my toenails for church and served me (more so than normal) hand and foot the rest of the weekend! GOOD WISDOM HONEY!

12. Milestones? - We have a nursery!!! I love the colors and the furniture placement. It is feeling more like it will happen soon now! (well not soon enough right?)

Without Friends, the Spears would be LOST plus.. What does it mean to be an AMERICAN?

We want to start by saying a BIG thank you to some very special friends who went over and above the duty of friends to help us out last week with Baby Spears room. Our friend Page, on his way through town, helped move some heavy furniture from the babies room to the new office/guest room. Then the Crawford crew come over on Friday and within an 1 1/2 hours had the entire bedroom painted green! It looks amazing. Finally, Saturday, our friends Brandi and Kevin came over to help us put the furniture back into the babies room! (so they thought) We began the day by going to IHOP for a little breakfast (Brent and Kevin meet with two other guys every other Saturday for an accountability group. Brandi and I just went along and sat at our own table, so not to bother the men!) We had a blast. We came home and began the 30 minutes of moving furniture! (according to Brent we would only need Kevin and Brandi for 30 minutes.... more like 12 hours!...) Brandi and Kevin were amazing! Brandi was able to look in our master bedroom and move furniture around to make the space look better! I love our "new master bedroom so much!" My best friend Jen Jordan in Texas gave me the design idea of how to design the babies room! Without these key people, Brent and I would still be "discussing where the changing table should go!" (you think I'm kidding!)

After our fun adventure of moving everything in our house, we ate an awesome lunch and then headed to our first visit to IKEA!! WHAT.... HOW HAVE WE NEVER BEEN TO THAT INCREDIBLE PLACE!!! We went to look for a stand to hold our printer and found a great deal. We will be going back soon to get a whole lot of other stuff too!!

After we left IKEA we went to return our comforter set at Bed Bath and Beyond! Seriously, our plan was not to take all day! Sitting in an hour of traffic did not help at all. We ended up going to Linens and Things to buy our new bedding (which again, like the rest of our day, took forever and had to be ordered from another store in CA!!) While we waited we talk about where we would be eating dinner! MEAL three with Brandi and Kevin! Kevin was really hungry for Japanese food (well Sushi, but since I am pregnant that was out of the question!) I said that I had never had Japanese. Brandi screams "What in the world, are you not an AMERICAN?" I had to think about that one for a second. Does eating Japanese make you an American??? We could not stop laughing at her in LNT!!!! What a day of first it was for us. Setting up our first child's bedroom, going to IKEA and then Japanese steakhouse! COuld this day be any better? WE HAD A BLAST!! The guy who fixed our food was so much fun. We told him it was my first time, which helped a lot. We will be back again for sure. Thanks Brandi and Kevin for such a special day! We love you guys! Also a big thanks to Jen, who in our family is our family doctor, our decorator, blog expert, ebay pal, house cleaning encourager, parenting advice giver, baby advice giver, prayer encourager, major supporter, counseling supervisor and seriously my list could go on and on!! We love us some JEN JORDAN!! (well we happen to be big Jordan family fans!!) But I love you and cherish you more than you know Jen! We need to live next door one day!!

Week 17: DID IT!!

I did it! I had my first official appointment with our midwife this week. Brent and I both love her. She is type of person that shoots straight with you, but at the same time makes you feel so at ease. She also made me feel like I have nothing to worry about. I felt more at ease since Monday night than I have in 17 weeks. I still want to have the baby asap, but am so much more confident in this process. Thank the Lord for great midwives! So here is our next survey!

1. How far along? 17 weeks 2 days

2. Maternity clothes - Still not all the time, but maternity stuff is more comfortable for sure.

3. Stretch marks - Still nothing new!

4. Sleep - This has not gotten any better. In fact, I would say it has gotten worse.

5. Best moment this week - meeting Johnnie (our midwife)

6. Worst moment - Gagging all day and now all night long! This is part of my lack of sleep issue for sure. So bad that I have started throwing up again. (nothing like the first 12 weeks at all, but still discouraging.)

7. Movement - I think so! Tonight during the fireworks for sure was a yes.

8. Food Cravings - English muffins with peanut butter on them. YUM

9. Gender - Still not going to find out! Sorry guys this is not going to change.

10. Wedding rings on or off - Still on during the day and off at night.

11. Weekly wisdom - Nothing new this week.

12. Milestones? - We mapped out the babies room this week. I am sure I will change my mind 20 more times on the arrangement!!

Another Spears Evening!!

I surprised Brent tonight by taking him to see the Braves play the Houston Astros. (I told him a week or so ago that this is what we were going to do! He has been so excited since then!) Brent grew up watching the Astros. In fact tonight he pointed out (with a very boyish type of excitement) that the first base coach was one of his favorite players when he was younger! It was so cute. Anyway, we had an awesome night. In fact we had an awesome day. We went to a great BBQ at a friends house and had A LOT of awesome food and fellowship. But of course it wouldn't be a Spears' evening without drama. Let me say: BRAVES STADIUM PARKING!!! YIKES. We had a great plan to leave and get to the game by 7 so we could park and see the first pitch. We got downtown and found out that all of the parking was taken and the only parking left was going to cost $30.00!!! SERIOUSLY!!! Our tickets together were not even that much!! So we started to search around for cheaper spots, even though we had been told there would be nothing less than $20.00!! Well we did find a great spot. The lady (which Brent kept calling her a him) said she would cut us a deal and let us park in this "parking lot" in between two houses for $15.00. When we gave her/him a look like no thanks, she said, "but for you, I will take $10.00! Excellent! So we pulled in. I was worried about it right away. I asked Brent to pray for our safety as well as our cars safety. I was just about convinced that it would be okay, but decided to ask Brent to ask another parking attendant if it was okay to park where we did! The guy sent Brent to talk to a cop saying that we would park at our own risk!! (CAN I JUST SAY I TOLD YOU SO!!!) The cop and Brent approached the "car parkers" who have now moved to another corner of the street and are acting as if they has never seen us before. The cop told the lady to give us our money back. The lady said "come on man I got bills to pay and all I have on me is 26.00!" I told Brent later, what bills does she have that she only needs $26.00?? Plus what happened to the rest of the money she just collected from the other 8 cars she just parked??? We got our money back and found a local church that was also doing parking, the right way! All in all it was an excellent evening. Well, except that the Braves beat the Astros!! But the fireworks were awesome and we had such a great time!