A Look Back at 2009

A lot happened around the world this year and for the most part, anyone you ask is happy to say good-bye to 2009. With the economy falling and with the highest foreclosure and unemployment rates in years, it's understandable. Beau and I have been very blessed this year and have been largely unaffected by these crazy changes. In fact, it makes me kind of sad that so many people are ready to bid farewell to this year when it has been the best year of my life. Here is a look back at why I will never forget 2009 and all of it's blessings:

January 17, 2009 - Couples' Shower!

I have already blogged about this but again, we were SO touched that so many of our friends hosted and so many others came to the shower thrown in our honor! We loved every minute of it and it was great to see everyone! It was also the last time Beau and I would be in the Holidays' Corpus Christi home before they sold it :-(Sad face for me but they were thrilled to sell! ;-)

March 21 - 22, 2009 - Bride's Weekend!

Some people may call this a bachelorette party, I call it a Bride's Weekend ;-) Full of manis/pedis, dinner and bottle service, my sisters really know how to throw a party! Definitely one of the highlights of my year!

April 1, 2009 - I was promoted!

At the office, I was promoted to Account Supervisor of The Cheesecake Factory business. April was a great month ;-)

April 8, 2009 - New Homeowners!

Yes, we took a risk in the unstable marketplace and (luckily) came out on top. We found the perfect home for us and we like to think that it was much more affordable than this time last year. As I have blogged before, there are SO many things we love about this house - it's really pretty perfect for our growing family :-)

(picture to come)

April 18, 2009 - We were married!

The best 4 days of my life were in Corpus Christ surrounded by family and friends with a great weekend of events celebrating us! A BIG thank you to my parents for making it all happen - we will never forget it! When can we do it again?

April 20 - 26, 2009 - Honeymoon in Tahiti!

Enough said but you can look back to this post for the details  oh and this one too of why this was the time of our lives and why we WILL be returning!

May 2009 - Andrea passed the Texas Bar!

So proud of Andrea for passing the Texas Bar earlier this year! Not only did she pass the Louisiana Bar the year before but this symbolized Step 1 to get her back to Texas. And now, she is happily living in Austin!!

May 9, 2009 - Dr. Amanda Caldwell

Woo hoo! My sister's years of hard work paid off and she received her Ph.D. is Psychology! We were SO proud! So proud we didn't take any pictures? I need to find those....hmm....

May 17, 2009 - Brinkley joined the family!

Our adorable Brinkley who has brought SO much fun to our lives came home! I can't imagine not having him around to torment Shelby and to be such a cuddly lover for us!

June - October 2009 - Beau was at home!

As you all know, Beau travels for a living for his job. So, when he was at home for most of the summer and into fall, I was thrilled! He became the best House Husband: cooking, cleaning, laundry and sleeping. And let me tell you, he is one hell of a napper. ;-) I loved having him home and it's really hard to have him back on the road now. Boo.

Two things about this picture: 1) We haven't even thought about how we want to decorate our master bedroom, hence the plainness - no judgment, and 2) I hope this captures the beauty of when Beau is home. A face-planted nap with his shoes still on while Shelby sits on his butt like a little guard dog. SO CUTE!! (click to enlarge photo)

October 2009 - We are having a baby!

Baby Reynolds is due June 26, 2010 and we couldn't be happier! Happier? No. More patient? Yes. :) This sono has already been posted but once again, this is at the 12 week appt. Next sonogram will be the second week of February to determine the sex. Can't wait!

December 2009 - A White Christmas!

We have had snow 3 times in December, one of which was on Christmas Eve! It was all really pretty - even when we had to drive in it. It's crazy to think that I had a White Christmas in Corpus Christi (2004) before most people my age ever had one in Dallas!

Happy New Year to you and your family and we can't WAIT for 2010! Hoping it's better than 2009 for all!

Nursery Furniture

Very excited to say that we ordered our baby furniture yesterday! We have done plenty of research, and very similar to the bedding process, this actually went pretty smoothly since I knew what I wanted and was able to quickly narrow down the collections. I am just thrilled! It's all coming together just as I envisioned it :-)

This picture doesn't entirely capture what we ordered. There are actually 2 cribs in this collections and OF COURSE the photo features the other crib. Ours is similar with the straight lines, minus that solid square in front and the back of it is more like the top of the mirror and solid on the sides. That's the best way I can describe it all. As I mentioned, we want something not so baby so that this furniture can grow with our growing child if we want it to. I can see this dresser in a teenager's room, can't you?

The best part about this furniture is the height of the dresser/changing table! Sadly, dresser height was our #1 priority so that wouldn't have to hunch over to change diapers so we totally lucked out with this one being the tallest of all! Tall people success! ;)

 (as always, click to enlarge the photo)

The sale price and after-Christmas special of throwing in the conversion kit for free (really?! that's like a $150 value! score) wasn't enough for Mr. Wheeler Dealer over here. He actually asked them to throw in the mattress for free. And while I had my head buried in my hand with embarrassment, the lady actually agreed to knock off almost 50% of the price of the mattress! Ask and you shall receive, I guess. This is exciting b/c it's some super duper #1 rated by consumer reports mattress and nicer than our own. Ha! This had us leaving feeling like we really got ourselves a deal but really what is shows is the amount of mark up they put on things in the first place!

In the coming months, I'm excited for my glider chair to be back in stock so that I can order it and testing out our navy blue paint colors! We are doing navy walls whether it's a boy or girl. (I LOVE navy and pink together and of course navy and baby blue is pretty cool too).Plus, there is a double chair rail in that room so the navy will only be on the bottom so it won't be too much. I can just see it all come together! :-)

Oh, and the jury is still out on the scary gorilla cute monkey.

14 Weeks (or the many faces of baby)

 How your baby's growing:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

I don't buy peaches or lemons but I really thought a peach was the larger of the two. My mom pointed out that we may just be used to Texas peaches down here though ;-)  

Sweet or Scary?

I think I know your answer but let me explain! Ok first, I am 99% sure of how we will decorate the nursery and I assure you it is nothing less than tasteful! We are going with a simple, non-nursery feel so I thought perhaps the one punch of "nursery" that we could throw in is an oversized stuffed animal. And then I saw this! It's too much, isn't it?! When I first spotted it, it was on a top shelf in a dark storage closet at Beau's office today. They are moving offices and trying to get rid of things so we were there to pick up a laser printer and cartridges (something else we don't need). And how random it that they had this?! Anyway, when I first saw it, it looked like a sweet monkey!! We get it home and it looks like a HUGE gorilla!! He's sitting on a queen sized bed mind you (and has breasts larger than the average woman). Yikes. He was free so we can get rid of him but you know giant stuffed animals are expensive!

I wish I had video of Shelby's reaction to this guy. haha!! Scared out of her mind, which may be symbolic of our child's reaction to it :-(

Christmas Recap

What a wonderful week we have had! We hosted Christmas Eve at our house (when did I grow up??) and had Beau's family over for dinner. Everyone chipped in and brought food making the whole thing very easy and very delicious!! I couldn't have asked for more except for better weather for their drive home. While the constant snow that day was SO cool to watch, the weather continued to get worse. Ice covered the roadways, the snow storm made visibility tough, etc. It was a scary time including his brother having to pull his dad's truck back on the road a couple of times. Thank God everyone made it home safely!

First thing Christmas morning we headed to DFW for our flight to Corpus! Beau and my dad surprised my mom and I by flying Beau and I home for Christmas. We were originally not supposed to see them at all, which in my entire lifetime I've never been away from my family for Christmas. I don't really know how I thought that would work. We had a slight flight delay but made it home in time for their annual Christmas Day lunch - AMAZING! My parents continue to out do themselves - how does that even happen?! Hope no one ever expects that of my cooking!

After lunch we opened gifts, which is always a treat. I received much-needed maternity clothes and gift cards for more much-needed maternity clothes ;-) Oh! And I got THESE! (the second pair, that is). I really never dreamed that my Mom Santa would surprise me with these but I'm just thrilled! They are everything I hoped they would be! ;-) But really, my mom and I are so baby-focused right now that I really didn't expect anything non-baby so it was quite the surprise!

The whole weekend was just great. We had our Surf Club fix and overall, the weekend was too short. I got to see my sister Amanda one last time before she moves to Columbus, OH. :-( It was good to see her. She plans to come home for the birth of the baby...we will get her home one way or another! Maybe Andrea and I just need to keep having key events happen in our lives to get her back here to visit! :-)

I'm super sad Christmas is over. No more Christmas music and time to put away the decorations. Boo.

Helleau 2nd Trimester!

I woke up like a kid on Christmas morning! I just couldn't wait to read this week's update and see what's going on inside of me! But wait. My book introduced me to the second trimester but Babycenter said I'm in the last week of my first trimester?!  I'm glad they don't teach "pregnancy time" in school - everyone would fail. Ugh. Anyway, see below for this week's update! The rest of the chapter was filled with stretch mark and mammary gland talk. Boo.

So, how is the Reynolds Family celebrating such a milestone? Well, Beau and Brinkley are hunting, I'm cleaning the house and Shelby is sleeping deep under her blanket. I know, I know, enough excitement to go 'round!

New this week:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

Also developing this week: your baby's vocal chords. Because sound can't travel through your uterus (your baby's current habitat), you won't be able to hear any sounds or cries just yet, but oh boy (or girl) — those vocal chords will get a good workout once that baby is born. 

My book tells me we are a peach but the babycenter photo is a shrimp (you are 0-2 babycenter.com), I am changing things up a bit and showing you my non-alien looking baby! We are making progess - your eyes are no longer on the sides of your head!!

Boots with the furrrrr

Beau gave me these for Christmas (he doesn't know it yet) and I just love them with both leggings and jeans. I could wear them every day! [side note: leggings are the new black for me, I am late to the game and just discovered them ...... sooo glad they are in style in time for my pregnancy]...

But are they too similar to these - which I'm hands-down-in-love with AND that also happen to be 50% off??

I didn't think I could fall more deeply in love with boots but I have! I love them all. Tall, short, heels, flat, aaagghhhh! It's overwhelming, especially because Beau tells me that we need baby furniture more than boots. He's so silly. Anyway, I'm not going to get them but a girl can dream...and she does.

Sono #2

Beau and I went for our second sonogram yesterday and it was so exciting! It's amazing how much clearer it was compared to the first sono done at 7 weeks. Here are some of the pics below. We also got a DVD of the baby in motion and the water ballet post below is true! It's so pretty to watch! It looks like the crown to rump length is just under 7 centimeters, or the size of a lime. See, the experts really DO know what they are talking about ;-).

Now I ask you, could this look any less comfortable?! If I was him/her, I would totally turn around and use that weird bump as a pillow. Silly goose. My friends also shared with me that the baby is now peeing on it's own. Yay. BUT, it swallows it. Nay. My confusion is that if I have the means to dispose of it, then there is no need to swallow. I mean, I am in the bathroom 20+ times a day after all. What's 1 or 2 more times? Oh well, it's not my place to argue with God.  

Enjoy my little photos!

Stare Down

These two boys just get each other. When Beau is in the room, Shelby and I are invisible to Brinkley. I suspect this conversation was happening in their heads....

Beau: I love you, Brinkley Bear...

Brinkley: I love you more....

Beau: No, I love you more!...

Brinkley: No, I love you more!...

12 Week Update (or the beginnings of a squirmer)

These weeks are really flying by! I'm still very lucky with little to no nausea. The worst thing is that I can't shake these headaches. The doctor said they are probably caffeine related (have I already told you that?), regardless every morning I feel like I drank a bottle of crown the night before. Not that I've ever done that (I don't really like liquor) but you get the idea. They are intense!

Some days I feel like I really show a lot and then other days (like today), not so much. Beau is starting to see it though - so that's cute (and validating!).

Off to watch "All the President's Men"....Beau and I have come to the conclusion that we could spend the rest of our lives watching movies and seasons of TV series and not see everything. Better get started now! ;-)

Here is the weekly update:

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

I need advice...

I have wanted to get my engagement ring re-sized since last winter when I realized that it almost falls off when my fingers are cold and shrink. Now that I'm ready to take it in, I'm pregnant and Beau tells me not to get it re-sized b/c my fingers will swell and then the ring won't fit at all. And I agree with  him. But it's to the point where it falls completely to the back of my finger and I have to remove it altogether to type. And this scares me b/c I will be in back-to-back meetings before I realize that I left it on my desk. Scary, I know! And you know that feeling when you look down and your ring is gone? That 1/2 a second heart drops to chest moment? I have about 10 of those a day. So, to re-size now or re-size after I'm with child? I don't want to lose it during these winter months but I don't want to be without it when I'm uber-pregnant in the summer. Thoughts?

This is how it has been worn during this very cold week in Dallas. It's a little gripe but a dilemma nonetheless...

11 Weeks (or how she's already a water ballerina!)

 Are you getting tired of these updates? A part of me feels like this 9+ months will take forever but the other part of me thinks that I can't even keep up with these weekly posts so at this rate, the baby will be here before we know it! I have a sonogram a week from today. I'm excited! Still a little fearful of bad news but for the most part, the fear has subsided. Well, only to be replaced with other fears, like keeping him/her alive when its born and I already know I'm going to worry that he/she isn't breathing during the night. Ugh.

Here is the weekly update from babycenter.com:

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

It's Christmas Time!

Beau and I had a great day yesterday Christmas shopping and picking out things for our Christmas decor! We had a lot of fun and Beau was just thrilled about the 50% off everything sale at Hobby Lobby. Just kidding, but I loved it! We spent forever in there! I feel like one should be careful in Hobby Lobby - too much time and you are bound to start liking things that are NOT your style. Like ceramic dogs and boot-shaped vases. I started thinking like a 70 year old do-it-yourselfer. Many times I had ideas to "create" but Beau quickly brought me back to reality ;-)

Here is our mantle - really the only completed thing in the house....yes, Shelby and Brinkley get their own stockings this year. These pics were taken with my phone so they are blurry but you get the idea...

The tree finally has a spot in the house after SO much back and forth about how the tree is too big and there is no space for it. Ugh. That's what we get for buying this tree last year before we bought the house. It's 6 feet wide in diameter - good grief, what were we thinking?! Anyway, it's up but we were quickly distracted by hot chocolate and movies that we rented. Ornaments are going on today - promise! Here it is - the only place it would fit - right in the middle of EVERYTHING:

I'll post this one but I feel weird about it! I look goofy and I really just look like I've eaten too much ice cream instead of showing! Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving in Austin

So much to update!

I mentioned that we had a fabulous time with my parents, sisters and their boyfriends over the week we were in Austin. Here is a picture of us (sans Rogan who met up with us later) after Thanksgiving lunch at the Austin Club - it was wonderful!

Saturday night we went to Bobby and Holly's wedding. Beau has been friends with them since college and after seven years of dating, they did it! It was a gorgeous wedding! They had it at this tucked away villa in the hill country that looked out over Lake Travis. They definitely get the best wedding location award! :-) Here are some photos - please note, I decided to wear my Thanksgiving outfit b/c the dresses I packed were not sounding fun for an outdoor winter wedding! Regardless, isn't Beau a stunner?!

 

Holly is a beautiful girl anyway but as a bride she was just gorgeous!! This is really the best photo we have of the couple. Beau was distracted by the open bar soon after this was taken and the camera became an afterthought. ;-)

The Welcoming Committee

Aren't they so cute? Wouldn't a nice plant in the corner complete the picture? Let's all just agree now that I would kill the poor thing. Hence, no plants.

A few quick updates

I have SO much to blog about! From Thanksgiving in Austin (simply wonderful) to the first snow today in Dallas (too cool!), we have been busy. But I want to include pictures, which Beau needs to send me. Sooo, another time. But I CAN blog about our 10 week appt! Yes friends, we heard the heartbeat for the very first time this past Monday! I'm thrilled that Beau could be there - he won't be at most of my appts since he travels during the week and can only be there on Fridays. And (of course it would happen this way), my doc's office is closed Fridays. Poo. I won't bore you with the details of the incompetent nurse who fished around in my arm WITH A NEEDLE for my vein only to send me to a different lab. If that doesn't exude confidence, I don't know what does. I digress.....

I am 10 1/2 weeks but here is my 10 week update!

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

P.S. My doctor is the coolest, most relaxed guy in the world. He totally keeps me grounded. Massages? Sure. Headaches? drink a caffeine drink a day if needed.Tequila? Only 1 shot a day...KIDDING. Just making sure you are paying attention ;-)