We’re leaving for Savannah tomorrow morning to celebrate our anniversary. A whole year has flown by. We spent most of the year adjusting to pregnancy, but it has been something that we’ve tackled together.
We don’t have many plans for this weekend. We’re going to do a trolley tour and we have dinner reservations at a couple of restaurants that promise to be amazing. I may spend a lot of time just taking a nap. It doesn’t matter much to me what we do.
It’s just nice to get away, out of town, with my husband. I have a few posts scheduled for this weekend recapping the year and looking back at a year ago.
And because it’s our anniversary and I love an excuse to break out some great images from Kelly Moore Photography, here are some of our engagement photos.
Today marks two years from the day that Todd and I got engaged. I can’t believe it has been two years since that day, nearly four years since our first date, and Sunday will mark one year since our wedding day.
Like all relationships, we’ve had our good days and our not-so-good days. We’re about to welcome our first child into the world together and I’m looking forward to many more “together” moments.
engagement day, April 28, 2007
One of the things about our relationship that I’m most proud of is that the instant I met him, I knew I was going to marry him. I knew my parents would love him. I just knew. This was it. I don’t know how I knew, but it was obvious to me very early on that he was the one for me.
My parents instantly loved him and they tell me on a regular basis how wonderful he is and how lucky I am to have him. They’re exactly right. It had been a long time since my parents really liked a boyfriend and I was so happy to be able to enjoy spending time with all of them together.
The other night, Todd and I were at dinner with my dad at Mr. Friendly’s and one of my exboyfriends walked in. In the four years that Todd and I have been together, this has never happened. We’ve never run into an exboyfriend or exgirlfriend. He came over to the table with his girlfriend and introduced her. Then he hugged me, shook Todd’s hand, and hugged my dad. We talked about my large belly, talked about what they had done that night, said how nice it was to see each other, and then they went to their table and we continued to enjoy our dinner at our table.
When they walked away, my dad said, “Who was that?”
He honestly did not remember who he was. I know that Todd got a ton of satisfaction out of his question, but it really showed me how much my family loves Todd and how they truly thought that all of my other relationships before him were insignificant. It was my Garth Brooks “Unanswered Prayers” moment. It wasn’t completely uncomfortable for me (maybe a little for Todd), but we all realized just how lucky we are when the moment was over. God picked out the perfect person for me and brought us both to the same place at the same time when there were so many other places we could have ended up.
I told Todd later that night how lucky I feel to not have to run the risk of seeing any of his exgirlfriends from college or law school. None of them live in town and it’s just something that has never been an issue. I know a lot of girls have to exchange pleasantries with their husband’s or boyfriend’s exes and I feel so fortunate that I’ve never had to even think about that.
Happy engagement anniversary, TC! I love you!
Anyone else have any awkward encounters with your own ex or your significant other’s ex?
My events are over! (okay, not officially over, but the three that I have left before I go on maternity leave are small and no big deal) I can breathe now! Everything went great and I’m so thankful for all of the volunteers that helped and a couple of my coworkers who did everything in their power to be there to lift heavy things (literally) when I needed them.
My dad was in town this weekend and I had a baby shower hosted by a couple of amazing girls in my Sunday school class on Saturday. My dad and Todd drove me to the shower and I seriously almost burst into tears of relief as I thought about having the two most important, caring, protective men in my life being right there when I’m nearly 34 weeks pregnant and just coming off one of the most challenging weeks of my life. The event was over and I had Todd and my dad in the car with me! sigh
I’m such a big kid and I’ve mentioned this before, but I feel so much relief and comfort when my parents are around. Maybe it’s because they live so far away, but no matter which one of them is visiting or if they’re both visiting, I feel like I can completely relax. My mom was in Denver this weekend visiting my cousin and her 3 month old baby girl for the first time, but it was great having my dad around. He helped Todd put down the massive rug in the nursery and helped us assemble our Graco SweetPeace soothing center (a glorified baby swing).
I am looking forward to both of my parents coming in town for the arrival of Baby Boy and being around to help us with all the little things. I’m sure I’ll be a complete basketcase as soon as they leave!
One year ago this week, I was doing all of the same things I’m doing this week except instead of preparing for a baby I was preparing for our wedding.
Tonight I worked the Etiquette Dinner that I’ve been planning and tomorrow night I’ll do the same thing. On Thursday and Friday I’ll be working on our big golf tournament and kick off party. Last year, I was doing the same exact thing except I was stressed for different reasons.
I had butterflies in my stomach about all the events I was working on and the biggest event of my life: our wedding! I was juggling phone calls with our caterer, the contact at the chapel, and the people at the golf course. I was so worried that something was going to fall through the cracks– and nothing did. I was worried about everything I ate because I needed to fit into my size 4 wedding dress. I was excited about seeing all of my best friends in one location! I was so excited about our Maui honeymoon and couldn’t wait to get some sun and spend time with my new husband.
This week I’m juggling doctor’s appointments, furniture deliveries, a 5 pound baby that kicks all the time, clothes that don’t fit, and conversations with the golf course and 48 student volunteers. I’m worried about everything I eat because I want to satisfy my strong hunger, but keep my little boy healthy. I’m excited about meeting my son for the first time and spending an extended period of time with my parents when they come out to meet the baby. I’m really looking forward to our anniversary trip to Savannah and then our post-baby getaway with my extended family.
History shows that spring is obviously a really busy time for me. I wonder what major life event I’ll be experiencing at this time next year. What is in store for 2010?
Todd, mom, and dad, if you’re reading this, don’t worry. I’m not going to come up with something just to keep things interesting in 2010. I think a “year off” will do us some good.
Totally unrelated, please look at the adorable stationery that arrived today from Ashley Brooke Designs! After the baby comes, I’ll debut the version with his name on it! I’m so excited about it. I can’t wait to start writing baby shower thank you notes on these! (Isn’t Fiona just the cutest thing?)
My major event for the year is next Thursday and Friday and I have two minor events on Monday and Tuesday. It will be a pretty hectic week, so I’m really looking forward to this weekend and getting a chance to do whatever I want and relax.
Todd and I are going to see State of Play tonight. I love Rachel McAdams and I’ve never gotten over my ninth grade crush on Ben Affleck. I’m sure we’ll eat dinner at some cheesy chain restaurant near the movie theater.
We’re having dinner tomorrow night with a couple of friends from Sunday school at Mr. Friendly’s, my favorite restaurant. I’ll probably spend some of the day tomorrow at work either grading papers or working on event day timelines to give to everyone out at the golf course. I only have to work on the weekend about three times a year and I always dread it. I know I’ll feel much better on Monday if I just get it over with this weekend, though.
I had a beautiful lunch shower at the Motor Supply Company today and we had so much fun! I gave the hostesses gift certificates for massages and I’m hopeful they’ll invite me to join them– and I’ll cash in on my prenatal massages! Baby Boy Carroll got some great gifts today! I love it when people give us their favorite baby gift or favorite baby book. Then there are those gifts that we need like the Diaper Champ and the Mobile Activity Mat. We’re getting really close to being all set and ready for a baby!
This post is intended to be an update on how our childbirth classes went, but I have a feeling it’s going to turn into a little more than that.
Todd and I arrived at our all day Saturday childbirth class at the hospital with two pillow and a blanket in tow (for the dreaded lamaze/breathing portion). There were three other young couples in the room and one of the other couples also got the memo about the pillows and blanket. The lovely, sarcastic, and perfectly perfect nurse told us that she doesn’t believe much in that so we should just take the pillows and blanket back to the car. Score! The day started off perfect!
So that’s my lamaze experience. Nothing. No breathing. No “hoo hoo heeeeee”. Nada. Her response was, “that’s why there’s the epidural. If you really want the lamaze I can put you in touch with someone who teaches those, but it’s not me.” I loved her.
The class was very much like any other classroom experience. Lots of Power Point, lots of questions, and a few much too informative videos. I’ve watched “A Baby Story” on TLC a couple of times, but things are often blurry. Nothing was blurred out in this video. And nothing was pretty. These women were completely exposed from head to toe.
Now, I like clothes. I even like hospital gowns if it means that a doctor, an anesthesiologist, two nurses, a scrub tech, and my husband aren’t going to be staring at every inch of me for God knows how long while I scream and sweat and push a baby out. Why weren’t these women wearing their robes?! Do they think it’s organic and natural for a woman to be totally nude?
Seriously, the first question asked after the video by one of the husbands was, “Where are the hospital gowns?!” The second question was, “How can I sign up for a c-section?”
That leads me to my next point. Baby Boy Carroll is still breech and I pray every night that God will let him stay in that position. Please don’t flip, Baby Boy! Keep your c-section criticism to yourself. I want one! The little incision is tiny and no one would ever see it. It’s scheduled. I’m an event planner for crying out loud. I need schedule.
Here’s my rationalization (I’m a pretty irrational person, by the way): I’m going to have some significant recovery either way I go. I’ve heard horror stories about the natural delivery (even with epidural) aftermath. I think no one ever wants to share those stories because they’re afraid that they’ll seem like childbirth wasn’t beautiful.
Here’s the thing…. a baby is beautiful. Why does childbirth have to be beautiful?
We also toured the hospital after all the videos were over. It was a very informative day. Possibly the funniest part of the day was when the nurse showed us the labor and delivery room and told us that some moms want to see the baby coming out. (WHY?!) She told us that one option was to request “a meerow.” (A mirror) Then she kept saying it. “A lot of couples like this big standing meerow because the mom can see everything while she’s pushing.” Todd and I don’t have a lot of tolerance for bad grammar or mispronounced words, so we just cringed every time she said it.
Good news: I have a baby shower/luncheon tomorrow with some of my coworkers at one of my favorite Columbia restaurants. It’ll be nice to get out of the office and get away from golf tournament and party planning for a couple of hours to watch some of my favorite people drink yummy lunch cocktails!
This year, on American Idol they’ve introduced a fourth judge. And I happen to love her. Kara DioGuardi brings a lot to the judge’s table with her real knowledge of music, star quality, and her ability to recognize a talented person when she sees him or her. She’s also gorgeous (and she reminds me of one of our favorite bloggers, Nina).
Over the past few weeks, as the end of the show gets closer, the judges have less and less time to give their critiques. It takes a good bit longer for four judges to state their opinion, so the producers were rushing them along when it came time to critique the last two or three contestants.
Last night, Ryan said that the judges would be working in teams of two; Randy and Kara would critique one contestant then Paula and Simon would critique the next. And they would rotate. Personally, I don’t like this method because I always want to know what Simon has to say. Honestly, I think everyone except Paula always has something constructive and valid to say. I’m also tired of Paula rolling her eyes every time Kara speaks. She seems a little territorial.
I personally like American Idol better with three judges– I just think that Paula should be the one to take a hike.
I want to know what you think. Are there too many judges? Did you like the way they set it up last night? Are Nina and I the only ones that like Kara?
We’re off to church, so I don’t have time for a full post about how special today is, but wanted to let you all listen (if you want to) to my one of my favorite songs that our choir sings. {My parents’ choir in Dallas also sings this and my sweet mother knows how much I love this song. She called me from choir rehearsal a few weeks ago so I could listen in on the phone.}
I’m not sure if my blog gives this away or not, but I’m kind of jaded and pessimistic about some things. Pregnancy is one of those things. Maybe it’s because I spent 18 weeks of my life either throwing up or trying not to throw up 24 hours a day. I loved this baby from the moment I found out about him, but it’s hard to see the beauty in pregnancy when your experience is so bad.
I’ve been pretty realistic about pregnancy and I’ve approached it with no expectations. I’m planning on doing the same thing with childbirth and motherhood. A lot of people have shared their opinions and advice with me. There are a lot of people whose opinions I value and others that I just don’t…
Try this method, don’t try that method, you have to breastfeed, breastfeeding destroys your boobs, you need a detailed birth plan, throw the birth plan out the window because it won’t matter anyway, don’t resign yourself to a C-section, try to get the baby to flip on your own, epidurals are huge no-nos… blah, blah, BLAH!
It all begins to sound like a broken record and a whole bunch if gibberish. My mother had two healthy babies and had two C-sections. For a long time, that was the only “birth story” I’d ever heard. I don’t have negative opinions about C-sections. A lot of my friends and family members ended up having to be induced and then ended up having C-sections after many many hours of labor. Lots of healthy babies there, too.
I’ve approached baby reading cautiously and taken it all with a grain of salt. (I hate that expression) I will definitely be listening to my pediatrician and taking his or her advice, but with so many differing opinions, too much reading can lead to a lot of confusion.
Tomorrow we’re going to our childbirth class. We chose to knock it all out in one Saturday rather than attend five different nightly sessions over five weeks. We may not come back after lunch if we think it’s a bunch of phooey anyway.
I may get some hate mail for saying this, but I just don’t think that learning how to breathe during a class when I’m not experiencing severe discomfort and the worst pain of my life will be beneficial to me when I’m actually going through it. I don’t think I’ll remember a thing about lamaze in those moments! And I’m fairly certain that anyone that tries to tell me how to breathe will get a fist to the face. We almost didn’t sign up for the classes at all, but I decided we needed to in order to feel like I covered all the bases.
The one thing I’m looking forward to about tomorrow is the part where we get the tour of “The Stork’s Nest” (where the babies are born) and the part where they tell us about anesthesia. God bless anesthesia.
ETA: I forgot to mention that I asked my doctor what on Earth a birth plan actually is and she said, “Don’t worry about it. You’re definitely not a birth plan kind of girl.” Told you so!
engagement day, April 28, 2007
