How far along? 21 weeks

Baby's size? length of a carrot

Weight gain? +1

Sleep? still pretty good- waking up 2-3 alot to go to the bathroom!

Foods I am loving? Peanut Butter, Edy's Pineapple fruit bars. These are like popsicles, but better! soooo good and good for ya!

Foods I am hating? not hating anything at the moment- can tolerate some red meat but still would rather just stay away

Symptoms? some days, he is quiet as a mouse, then sometimes he plays soccer in there!

Gender? Precious little sweet darling boy.

What I miss? Dan took me to Babalu (its amazing- in Fondren. Do yourself a favor and get there.) last night- REALLY wanted a baba-rita

What I'm looking forward to? having the house totally in order so that we can begin the nursery

Emotions? worry... about everything.

Accomplishments? kitchen allllmost done!

So, we began our kitchen remodel with great intentions- we have wanted to do this since we moved in our house 3 yrs ago. Our house was built in 1950. Almost every room in the house has been updated except for the kitchen. It had original metal cabinets and yellow formica counter tops with a yellow (painted) ceiling. To make matters worse, the previous owners of the house attempted a cheap upgrade and painted the cabinets with regular paint. Regular paint does not stick to metal, in case you are wondering. Now, many of my lovely Vietri dishes have little specks of grey paint on the bottoms. So, with the baby coming, we figured its now or never. Well, my heart goes out to anyone that has remodeled a home. I feel like everything in my life is covered in sheet rock dust. It is a disheveling that is like none other. Our appliances are in our dining room, our dishes/pots/pans, etc. are in the nursery. Oh and did I mention half way through our little remodel, our guest bathroom starts leaking. Well, that room was next on the fixer-upper list so we figured what the heck, lets just go ahead and tile the floor while everything is out of there. So, if you are keeping a list, that is FOUR disheveled rooms in a >2,000 sq ft lovely nest.
BUT, we are just around the corner from the finish line at last! We have been incredibly blessed that our fantastic contractor/carpenter/designer/ man of many hats is none other than my own grandfather. He is such a blessing to us. Just having peace of mind that your best interests are at the heart of the person that is working in your home is golden. I am amazed every single day what he is able to accomplish with his own two hands. Incredibly special. Below are some before/after pics.

BEFORE:I did not make it home before the demo began- they had already removed the hanging cabinets. Just imagine the exact same cabinets hanging on the walls where the white spots are.


dividing wall that is now a bar:


notice Grandpaw working hard behind my stove :)!


AFTER: Ok ok, we are hoping to tile the floor/ paint the walls very soon but until this flood goes down and Dan gets a off day- its kinda impossible.







Sorry for such a long post! Happy Hump Day- hope everyone has a good week!

How far along? 19 Weeks

Baby's size? Mango- he sure does feel a lot bigger~

Weight gain? unsure- I have decided to only weigh at Doctor's office so that it is consistent. :)

Sleep? Sleeping OK still. It definitely feels better to sleep on my left side than my right... not sure why?

Foods I am loving? Spaghetti. Not just any spaghetti- my Gram's spaghetti. I want it every single day.

Foods I am hating? getting more tolerant to meat smells- still have no desire to eat red meat. I am starting to think baby Ratliff is going to be a veggie lover.

Symptoms? Feeling little flutters and kicks everyday now. ITS SO AMAZING.

Gender? Precious little sweet darling boy.

What I miss? nothing today!

What I'm looking forward to? seeing his little toes. I think they are going to be cute.

Emotions? Dan felt him for the very first time last night. After several days
of "did you feel that???!!!!, can you feel it??!!!!" and disappointing "no...." I was so excited and a little emotional when he finally said "Oh, my gosh. I.just.felt that."

Accomplishments? The kitchen remodel is nearing the end- YEA!!!

Its Official!

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails~
That's what little BOYS are made of!
We found out yesterday that we are having a baby boy. We are over the moon excited! To see him move and kick and play on the sonogram was a moment that can only be understood by someone that has witnessed it- It is such a moment between you and your creator, its indescribable. He was spinning around and swimming I guess... and he got the hiccups right there on the screen. It was incredible. Then, he stuck out his hand like he was waiving hello.


How far along? 16 weeks

Baby's size? Avocado: 6 ounces, Heartrate 157!

Weight gain? lost 3 pounds

Sleep? Sleeping ok- tossing and turning and bathroom breaks becoming the norm

Foods I am loving? Jelly Beans (thanks Marg!), SNO BIZ- Georgia Peach!

Foods I am hating? Bacon, Smoked foods, Seafood, Red Meat

Symptoms? Starting to feel "big" and round...

Gender? Dreams were spot- on! its a B-O-Y

What I miss? Margaritas, Baileys

What I'm looking forward to? Feeling him- ever since seeing him, its all I can think of!

Emotions? Hmmmm ask Dan :)

Accomplishments? found fabric for the bassinet

How far along? 14 weeks

Baby's size? Size of a Lemon 3.5 inches

Weight gain? at 12 weeks, I was back to normal from what I had lost, now I am thinking +3

Sleep? Sleeping fairly well, now that I am used to getting up a couple times during the night to go to the bathroom.

Foods I am loving? Minute Maid Tropical Punch, Orange Juice, Honey Dew Melon, Cheese, Jolly Rancher Popsicles, bread

Foods I am hating? Bacon, ANYTHING even the slightest hint smokey makes me gag, really, any type of smoke is super strong to me- AWFUL!! pretty much any red meat grosses me out, especially when cooking, still dont want to use the kitchen at all.

Symptoms? Nausea, bloating, get ridiculously tired- but getting better... now having a few really good days feeling energetic and excited! Heartburn- hair? already? loosing my train of thought.

Gender? We will find out in 16 days. Very excited. Had another dream 2 nights ago that it was a boy.

What I miss? feeling like the old me... will I ever love tomato sauce again? will I be able to eat freely without worry of heartburn?

What I'm looking forward to? feeling the baby move, getting to see the baby's face, getting the nursery done.

Emotions? slightly emotional- "One Born Every Minute" makes me cry.

Accomplishments? We purchased and put together the baby bed. I will post when I get better pictures. I am so happy with the color- it's pewter. This is crib:

And Baby makes THREE!

I am pregnant and over the moon with joy! I have never seen Daniel so excited- it is really fun to watch. I never imagined he would be so involved, but he is really into it! The rest of our family is really excited also (first grandbaby on both sides!) My little brother was confused at first, but upon hearing that that our sister would be an "aunt" he promptly declared "Oh, I cant wait until Courtney turns into an ant, I'm gonna squish her!!" His latest contribution to the name list is Lemony. "So that if yall have another one, it could be Limony." He says. Yea for the fruit family!

I am just starting to look at nursery stuff and I am overwhelmed at the ugly. I don't understand the whole "theme" thing. There was no "theme" at my wedding and there will be no "theme" in my nursery. Just simple, soothing and gender neutral. Something that begs you to touch it. Is that too much to ask?
Gender neutral- yes. We have decided to find out the sex. Not because I want to, but out of necessity, really. Nothing is gender neutral anymore. Everything is pink or blue- or duck yellow, and I don't want a house full of duck yellow. We would like to have more children and hopefully we will end up with boys and girls. I just think it's an awful waste not to be able to use the big stuff again and again. We are taking a gender poll. We thought it would be a landslide, but so far, it is pretty even! If you would like to contribute to the poll, leave a comment below! I am also having trouble deciding between an iron or wooden crib- there are pretty ones on both sides. Any suggestions? Wish me luck on the nursery search!

I love this guy

So... my little brother, Morgan, is pretty much the coolest kid ever. Like really a kid- he is 9! He is sooo much fun to be around. He is hilarious and says things like "I have a four-dad!" and then he tries to explain:
"You know..... like You, Courtney (my sister), me, and Dan!! (my husband) There are four of us!"
See what I mean? He comes up with all kinds of stuff that he has to explain to us. He really thought for a long time that Dan was his brother because he doesn't remember Dan not being around. And what can I say... we are not really the lovey-dovey smoochy infront of people type of couple.

Anyway, over the Christmas Holidays, Dan and I took Morgan and two of his buddies, Andy and Lane to a movie in Madison. In their words we went to the "greatest restaurant ever and saw the coolest movie everrrrr!!" Chik-fil-a and Gulliver's Travels.
Lane, Morgan, Andy


If you have not been around 9 year olds lately, this is the age where they constantly attempt to out-do one another with stories of things that they have done, even if its completely ridiculous. This provided a lot of entertainment for Dan and I. So we were on our way home and Dan and I are just listening to the convo in the back and all of a sudden we hear:
"oh yea, well this one time, I got SMOKED BY A TRAIN!"
I think that Dan swerved. Wondering if we had little superman in the back I said "Lane, what do you mean?" He calmly explained to me that on a trip, they were standing on a bridge and as the train went underneath, smoke came out of the top of the train and went everywhere.
Its all in the details.

Christmastime is here again... almost!

I cannot wait to really start decorating for Christmas. Daniel doesn't let me put out Christmas stuff until after Thanksgiving but I snuck my red plates into the kitchen already... they are just plain red- that doesn't technically mean Christmas. Does it? Its also time for..... CHRISTMAS CARDS!!! I think this is one of the things I look forward to the most! I display every single one I get and I am so sad when I have to toss them. So you can imagine how excited I was to find out that Shutterfly is giving away free Christmas cards to bloggers!! Isn't that wonderful! I LOVE Shutterfly- and not just because of this, I use them all the time. I even used them to reprint some of my wedding photos and they are so professional and the photos were of really good quality. I have already been looking at some of their Christmas cards like http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/pretty-poinsettia-print-christmas-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93479 and http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/peppermint-gift-wrap-christmas-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93479 so this just makes it even better. It's so nice to be appreciated. Not to mention this is the right time of year to order your personalized calendars, they are great gifts!! http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/desk-calendars