Week 24: Family

It was a fun, busy week! I worked on Monday (for Union's Freshman Registration Day) then took the rest of the week off. Mom came up from Atlanta to help Mary move into her first apartment and to help me with a few things around the house, before little Miss Claudia makes her debut! On Friday, I went to Dickson and Saturday we went to Paducah! This is a long post, just fyi! 

How Far Along? 24 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Our scale needs new batteries, so I don't really know! Probably +12 ish.
   

Baby Related Purchases: Little Miss Claudia got a lot of stuff this week! Mom and I registered her for a bunch of things at Babies R Us, we bought adorable material for the curtains in her nursery, and Carol bought her a bunch of precious clothes and shoes that I took home with me from Dickson :-) 

Sleep: Pretty good. This sounds so silly, but I feel like the more I'm up and moving around the better I sleep! There have been a few nights this week (particularly after our shopping day in Memphis) that I've collapsed into bed and slept all the way through the night. The challenge now is getting enough physical exercise without overdoing it...
  

Movement: Austin and I saw her kick my tummy- its the first time both of of us have actually seen her move! It was such an incredible moment. I cried, of course! 

What I miss: Being able to stand on my feet/walk for a long time without my feet getting swollen :-) 

  

Cravings: Today I really wanted Red Robin :-) 

Anything making you queasy or sick: No! 

Gender: Girl!!!

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Stretching, Swollen Feet, Fatigue, 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Worries: I was honestly so busy this week that I didn't have time to worry about Claudia! Especially since the weather is hot, however, I'm just worried that I'm going to try to do too much or I'll get dehydrated or something! Austin bought me a classy water bottle today to carry around with me during these hot summer months! 

Best moments this week: Like I said at the beginning of the post, it was a busy week, but it was filled with wonderful family time. Here is how the week went:

On Saturday evening, Mom came to Jackson from Atlanta for the week! Mary was at a wedding, so she treated Austin and me to an amazing Father's Day Dinner at Outback! Sunday, we went to church and celebrated Father's Day with Austin (so exciting!). Monday, I went to work for Union's New Student Registration Day while Mom helped Mary move a bunch of stuff into her new apartment. The real fun began for me on Tuesday!

After sleeping in and eating a leisurely breakfast, Mom and I headed to Memphis to go shopping! Our first stop was for food, of course! We had a lovely lunch at Macaroni Grill so we could have energy for all of our errands!

I love how close everything is in the Wolfchase Mall area! We went to Babies R Us first to set up Claudia's registry!

It's amazing how many options there are for everything! I've decided that I like more basic, solid colored items for Claudia. All the bibs/paraphernalia with crazy patterns/bright colors are just too much for me! We took our time, though, and really tried to stick to the basics, with a few added luxury items (like the baby wipe warmer :-) ). We just had a blast looking at everything!

Next, we went to Target to buy more belly cream and so I could show her the bigger items (stroller, pack n play, high chair, swing, etc.) that Austin and I registered for there. She loved everything.

Then, we went to Hancock's fabric to look for fabric for Claudia's nursery. Mom is going to make curtains for the windows and a small canopy to go over the crib. We actually found the perfect material!!! I'm saving pictures of it for the blog post I'm planning to do all about her nursery :-) It was even 50% off which made it even better!

We finished off our shopping trip by going to Motherhood Maternity in the mall. I'd actually never been in one before! Unfortunately, they didn't have the items we were looking for in my size, but I did leave with two basic t-shirts and a cute blue and white blouse (which I'm planning to wear on the Fourth of July!). Tired, and with swollen feet, we headed back to Jackson and had a lovely dinner at Cracker Barrel with Mary and Austin. It was a great day :-)

Wednesday was spent mainly running errands and helping Mary with stuff for her apartment! My job was to hang up the clothes in the closet. It was fun organizing them. Now if I could only get motivated to do that in my own closet....

Mom and I did some more shopping in Jackson on Thursday! We found what we needed in Kohl's, were able to order a few more yards of the fabric for Claudia's nursery at the Jackson Hancock's and went to Lowe's. We got 12 bags of mulch to spruce up our flower beds, flowers for our window boxes, and a girly looking flower arrangement for the front porch (Mom said they are Claudia's flowers!)! Our house is going to look so pretty for the rest of the summer and into the fall! Mary hosted us in her cute apartment for dinner. She made taco soup! It was the first meal she's made there. After dinner we just chilled at our house. I baked a bunch of cookies, Mom did some touch-up painting in Claudia's nursery and Mary had a "Once Upon a Time" Marathon.

Friday morning, I got up bright and early with Austin so I could see where he works (before he doesn't work there anymore in 7 days!!). It was actually fun getting to see his commute (he drives a little under 3 hours every day total). He pointed out landmarks along the way. The campus where he works is so beautiful! It really looks like a camp with lots of trees, a bubbling creek and cabins where the guys live. I got to meet several of his coworkers that I hadn't met before and see others that I hadn't seen since Christmas! Most of all, it was cool to see where Austin actually goes to work each day. It isn't a mystery anymore! :-)

So that Austin could actually get some work done, I said my goodbyes (just until the end of the workday) and headed to Dickson. I took Highway 13 in Middle Tennessee through Linden, Lobelville and Buffalo. I had never been any of those places before! It was actually a really pretty, relaxing drive!

In Dickson, I got to spend some quality time with Carol, Arica and Austin's grandparents. It was good to do life together for the day- experiencing and talking about both the joy and the sorrow. That is what being family is all about. I'm so thankful that we are not only family by marriage, but family in Christ as well. Knowing that He has a plan for everything and that He is present for all of it, providing His peace, comfort and strength is so reassuring to me in the midst of any circumstance.

Part of the joy was celebrating Austin's grandfather's 84th Birthday! We ate lunch at Matzatlan then had delicious carrot cake back at the house. Shortly after that, I had to leave to go pick up Austin at work.

We made it back to Jackson just in time to meet the Mayfields at Olive Garden for a delicious dinner. They are such a joy in our lives and it had been too long since we'd all hung out! They came over to our house after dinner, where we showed them Claudia's pink nursery and compared ultrasound photos :-) We can't wait to meet Baby May in just a few short months! Jess and I also took a long anticipated belly picture together.

Claudia is 24 weeks and Baby May is 21 weeks :-) I can't wait for them to meet and be little friends!

On Saturday (yesterday), we went to Paducah for the day to celebrate Grandaddy's 88th Birthday! We ate lunch with him at the nursing home and enjoyed two delicious cakes that Mom and Mary brought from Dumplins here in Jackson! They were beautiful and yummy!

Caramel Cake- Granddaddy's Favorite! 

Chocolate- Yum!!! 

It was so good to see Uncle P, Aunt Sherry, Grandmommy and Granddaddy! We also got to see Uncle Wesley and my cousin, Michael, who drove all the way from near Lexington to attend! It was so special to spend some time with them! :-) Mary was the family photographer for the day and she captured some wonderful family shots! 

Me with the Birthday Boy! 

My precious grandparents! They have been married 61 years! 

4 generations of girls! 

Our little family of 3 :-) 

Cousins! We were only missing Matthew! 

On our way home from Paducah, we stopped in Greenfield to see Granny and Pa! We had a lovely visit and it was so good to see them, even for just a short time! They are so giving and are such a blessing in our lives! Yesterday was also their 56th wedding anniversary :-) Austin and I are so blessed to have such godly examples of marriage in our grandparents. 

We are so thankful for each member of our family that we got to see this week, and for those we didn't! The Lord has blessed us with wonderful families and we can't wait for Claudia to meet everyone!