Anniversary and Christmas!

Last weekend, before Christmas, Grant took me on a much needed getaway.  I had no idea where we were going, and was fearing it was the "Hunting Camp."  But, I held out hope it would be something more, only because that is a trailer with rats and holes and an outhouse.  I think he just let me believe that because I brought it up and he thought it was funny.  We ended up driving 2 hours north to the Mentone area.  It was actually  Pisgah, AL where there is a wonderful little village called Gorham's Bluff. It is complete with cottages, 13 residents, a lodge with an executive chef and a beautiful views.  (unfortunately, the views were not viewable until Sunday because of the fog).  This spot came highly recommended from several people to him, and we did not want to drive far to other spots I have been wanted to visit, because car rides have not been the best for me.  We had a little white cottage where we relaxed, slept late, watched movies and just got to be together.  It was wonderful because I am unable to do those things at home.  I always find things to do, clean, organize, boss Grant around... So, it was perfect.  Grant cooked crab cakes and salad and it was fabulous.  The second day, we had a totally private dining experience as this was the weekend before the influx of holiday people.  the food was amazing, breakfast has been my favorite. Ash, I wish I could have gotten you the recipe of these little muffins the chef makes. Amazing!  We had little menus each meal, especially for us, how cute.  We walked around grounds and saw the views on Sat as best we could.  Then, Sunday, it was very cold and windy, but beautiful.  

That night when we got back we had our Christmas party with the Coppocks, and left Monday for the lake and to see my parents for a few days.  It was nice.  Mom and I went baby nursery shopping but came up empty.  You all know I can get very specific ideas of what I want and right now is no exception.  I have to find the perfect fabric and chest and bed for the room.  I know the baby bed I want, just the old fashioned looking Jenny lind beds because they are cute and not too modern.  Anyway, we were 0 for 5 by the time we got home.  But that was okay.  Mom and Dad got us several cute little things and our baby bag for Christmas.  It is great. I can't wait to have a baby to go with it! Ha, just kidding.  Although, it is getting all the more real all the time.  Finally, yesterday we spent the day with Grant's family, the Wheelers, his mom's side who lives all in Pleasant Grove.  It was very nice as well. 

 I hope you all had a wonderfully Merry Christmas.  We feel so blessed for Christ and all that he is doing in our lives.  Even through the tough times, and pregnancy struggles that have plagued us both, we find that the birth of Christ and all that Mary and Joseph were forced to endure shows the miracle of all babies!  

And the Baby is...

A GIRL! Eva Grace Coppock.  It is so totally crazy how real it is now!!! I mean I have only seen her once before now and she was the size of a lima bean!  Now she has legs and arms and eyes, and a brain. I could go on. We had about eight family members at the appointment with us and the women in the office thought it was hysterical.  

We were in shock for a while as just Grant and I went in the ultrasound room for the first bit to make sure everything was okay.  Everything looked perfectly healthy.  The technician was incredible, sweet, reassuring and making it seem like it was her first time to do it as well (she had been doing it 28 years!).  So, anyway, Grant kept letting out sighs as she said things that he understood and I didn't, but it was the most incredible experience together.  She was moving a ton, her arms and legs and turning.  I was laughing so hard.  

After she completed the technical items and we heard the healthy heartbeat, Grant went to get the family. All eight of them, plus us makes 10, crowded in and she showed the body and arms and and legs again.  As she got to her bottom, she said now here are the legs. They were indian style but didn't stay that way long because she moved so much. Then she moved her around some and now these are two white lines, which means... And everyone said, "GIRL!" It was so funny.  Debbie, Grant's mom, and my mom were crying and the rest just laughing. I had not a care in the world what the baby would be, and I feel like having two, one of each to start with, would be the only thing better.  I felt so blessed to have such a wonderful family to be there and share the excitement with us.  I have been praying for God's protection and blessing on her so much, it was wonderful to see her at this point, healthy as we can expect.  

As for her name, Grant has been in charge of the girl's name.  I had the boy name picked a long time ago. It will continue to be the name of a boy until we have one as it is Grant's first name and my dad's.  However, his grandmother who is the sweetest and most special woman to him is Eva. She has lived next to him for his whole life and I will go so far as to say Grant is her favorite out of all her grandchildren.  We love family names as they can carry the meaning and blessing of a strong and Godly person on and on.  

It is hard to believe that she is almost five months grown, only four more to go!  Have a wonderul week!

Roll Tide and Baby Updates...

So, I have to say ROOOOOLL TIDE! 12-0 is still hard to believe, but as I pinch myself it is true!!! As Saban and all the players seem to be in the habit of saying, "I am just happy for the players, and the university and the fans!" How much have we heard that line? I love ALABAMA Football!

So, next week will be another gut wrenching, nail biter, but I will still love it. I will also say for the record, I love being the underdog.  

Now to the baby news, and poll.  Grant and I will find out on Tuesday December 9 what we will have.  I of course just hope for a healthy happy baby!  I do not care what it is.  The large majority of my students, knowing nothing about me or my tendencies during this nauseating four months, think I will have a girl. I think that is just because I am such a girly girl. However, if you would like to make an informed decision, I will tell you what I have felt and eaten and any other information you may find useful.  First, I have not had any specific on going cravings.  I love biscuits in the mornings, cran-apple juice, oranges, peaches, salad with strawberries and pecans, as well as an occasional starburst.  I have had no chocolate or really sweet cravings except for the peaches, which tend to come in heavy syrup in the little plastic containers.  Oh, yes, I did like those decaf granitas from Barneys at the mall for a while.  I have not been able to stomach chicken or steak or Mexican for the past three months, but I could eat chicken in small amounts on a bar-b-que sandwich.  Now, I have been very sick, still feeling some of that each day, but nothing like what I was feeling from about week six to fifteen.  The one time we got an actual heart rate it was about 140 or 145. We have heard it a few more times, but just with a monitor.  I have lost a total of three pounds still, but my belly is just now starting to show a bit.  I do not know how much others were showing at this time, which is 17 weeks, but I'd gladly have the big belly for a less nauseated day!  Right now it is mostly from the belly button down, but all in the front.  I have had some indigestion, sorry for being so honest, but that could be from the bodily changes and may impact your decisions.  Ha, so now. Please cast your votes and I will update this blog on the 9th with the news! Thanks!

Thankful This Holiday Season!

We are very thankful this year! That is right.... AND BABY! We are pregnant. This picture was back in the beginning of September.   I am almost 15 weeks now and have told all my good friends. We did hold off for a long time before telling anyone other than family, but it was all so fun to do.  We first told my parents one day when they were in town and here is a picture of my mom!

After we told them, Lucy was getting ready... yes, she loves pacies already!

I am already thinking about ways to get her ready for this baby. She has had our only attention for the past year and a half. She is always right under our feet and sleeps right beside our bed.  I know she will have to adjust, but I think she will be a great big sister!  

We told Grant's parents on his mother's birthday, so of course we had to bring the cake. I have a picture of it but it simply refuses to load right now. It was so cute, with "Happy Birthday Grandma!" and a stork on it.  Ha, we really surprised them! No one had a clue.  

The reality of everything is that since about the middle of September I have been extremely sick.  There was a period of about five weeks where I seriously didn't know if I would make it to work and home everyday from nausea, vomiting and lack of being able to eat anything.  I am still very driven by cravings and in the moment kind of things, but am feeling a bit better. I can at least actually teach and drive without the constant nauseated feeling.  Even my doctor and her nurse felt really bad for me, and I figure they've seen everything.  

So, it is a good sign to be sick, but I am definitely ready to feel the glory of pregnancy!  Anyway, this is my first blog in a very long time, but this is why! I will update more pics and ultrasounds when we get them in a month. In the mean time, feel free to guess boy or girl! I have no idea, and we don't care, just as long as it is healthy... 

My birthday with my girlfriends!

Georgia Grace Buteau, my friend Erinn's beautiful little girl!

My BIG mistake!

I bought Lucy a new toy today because we realized she has had any toys for months.  Well, I tested the balls at the pet store and settled on this one that did not a high pitched squealing noise.  Apparently, that does not matter in the annoying department.  She loves this thing, but she now chases it everywhere and squeezes and squeezes for minutes on end making a duck like sound that could easily be confused for flagellation.  I know gross right!?  But, it is still kind of funny for the first five minutes or so of watching her tire her jaws on this red rubber ball!

Things are slowly coming together and hopefully our home will be normal again this week!

Lu lu jumping or should I say flying off the pier at the lake.

Lucy's first ride in the new car ( with a seat cover labs are shedding dogs!)

Continuing construction

So, right now I am hold up in my bedroom with no t.v. because our countertops are being put in, and I have no living room or den , and the t.v. is not working (who knows why).  So, I thought I would update progress. Our house is almost on the downhill side of remodeling.  I will say I will never do this again. If you have an option of fixing and then moving in, DO IT!  We now have floors down, and tile down, cabinets painted, and a laundry that is almost ready to go, minus a washer and dryer and actually underground plumbing.  It is really neat to see the progress and to appreciate what you have when you do work yourself.  I will add some pics of our progress after this post. 

I also kept my friends little girl and little boy this morning. We went walking and then I played with Julia (see picture) and then I kept JT while Mary and Julia went to the park.  It was fun, and I loved it when Julia said my name!! It was more like Tissin, but what the hey. It was my name :)

More later.

My girl, Lucy smiling for the camera

Phone blogging

Sent from my iPhone

Our Lucy, sleeping as always.

She slept this way for at least 3 hours the other day... 

4th of July at Lake Martin

Okay, so we go to the lake every year on the fourth. But this one was the most different by far.  Now that my parents live there, we always have things going on, like chores and new "Stafford" activities. My parents have started going to Niffers a local restraunt for bingo night and trivia night. My mom won bingo once and took home $425 dollars, then we won trivia one night too, but you just get $40 off your bill on that night. So, on Friday morning we had to take part in the boat parade!  yes, pontoons, sailboats, wood boats, canoes all join in a Sandy Creek 4th of July parade. Every family who enters has to decorate their boat however they want. Well, we just went tacky! Flagged everything, even Lucy and rode in the parade.  One boat was called the Boat from Iwojima, and they had this really long flag pole, I think from their yard, and whenever they passed someone who out on the deck, they would pretend to be raising it like the memorial in DC of the men raising the flag!  There was a paradise boat playing Jimmy Buffet and then our neighbors just had a boat of girls with green crowns and white gloves calling themselves the sweet potato girls.  We didn't win anything for the parade but we were still in it.  

We shot fireworks that night and then the next day was sod day. Yes, my husband, brother, his friend Kyle, and my nephew Austin laid sod all day long.  I just laid out and watched, but it sure looked like tough work. 

Now I am home and back in my nightmare of a house. But hopefully in two weeks we will be better than before!

Construction

Okay, so this is my first attempt at blogging, and I do not doubt for one minute that anyone will ever find it useful, insightful, or even eventful to view the happenings of my life, my home or my work.  But, here goes... About a week ago we started construction on our house.  It is a great idea before you start tearing out tile, covering you life in plastic and living in a haze of dust that begins to cloud your sinuses and your vision, but soon enough, we were too far to turn back. So, those of you know me, realize that this is as close to a nightmare as I can get. I do not like things messy, dirty, out of place or even yes, somtimes control!  However, with several different people including my father jumping in to help us, we have already seen a huge change in the structure and appearance of our house.  Many lessons already learned, one being if you are hesitant to hire someone, or have heard that they are difficult, DON'T HIRE THEM!  And then if you have a good feeling about someone, you will get what you need from them in the end, which makes the process much more pleasant.  

Grant and I have made many important decisions together in our year and half of marriage, singularly our promise of marriage to one another, but in this short but draining remodeling project, we have had some difficult ones as well; like which tile to use, which tile man to use, what kind of floors we want and how much to spend on certain things.  Sometimes him doing the physical work and me being the go-between of him, my dad, the people we hire to do work and all the other normal life things like work, food and the dog. Oh yes, Lucy. She has been quite disturbed by our progress.  Not a barker, Lucy decides to start growling at our tile man one day. Something she has never done.  She will occasionally bark if she is at the back door or if the FedEx man drops off a package and rings the door bell, but never unrelenting, howling barking.  She would pace at night thinking some of these intruders still lurked around that she may have to attack.  Yeah, right!  I think she will be the most relieved when all of this is over.  So far, we have ripped out a pantry and a wall, put up a new wall and moved a doorway, installed a new shower, retiled both bathrooms and had a privacy fence put up.  We are only half way, maybe. We still have to have carpet and tile ripped up in the back of the house, new hardwoods put in, a shower door installed, new counter tops cut and installed, a butler's pantry put in, paint the kitchen and bathrooms and finally, clean out all of my junk and make our big back storage closet a laundry room. That might be my favorite part when all is said and done because going outside to begin, switch and haul in laundry lost it luster about 4 years ago!  

So, I will keep posted, what our progress is, and then, when all is said and done I will post finished product pictures!

Whew.