Our Baby Boy

So today was the day that we went in for the big ultrasound!! And everything was wonderful. I was excited that my mom got to come with us this time and see how amazing it is to see everything on the screen. He was looking so cute. He was moving around for part of the ultrasound but he must've fallen asleep because she couldn't get him to move over to see his aorta. The technician said it wasn't a huge deal but we could look for it again if the doctor wanted us to which maybe that will just give us another sneak peek at our sweet baby :)

So I guess Dr. Womack will look over everything to make sure it all looks good but the technician said from what she saw everything looked good!

My friend Mallory who works at the Women's Center had me all nervous that they could've been wrong at Hope and that it could be a little girl - this apparently happened to one of her good friends. But we went in and she confirmed within about 10 seconds that we did indeed have a boy and proceeded to print out a few pics for proof. Here are some pictures of our handsome little guy.

the little black spot in the middle is his heart :) so precious.

Now on to what you're really here for....

We have decided on our son's name. Really we decided before we were even pregnant although at that point we weren't quite as settled. As soon as we started trying I had a list of names that I was ready to propose. I would just keep a little note on my phone full of baby names that I heard and liked. Every once in a while I would pull out the names and delete a few that I had changed my mind about or that Brandon didn't like and sometimes he would add a name. We really didn't even toss around that many ideas. I did know that I wanted to use Sheppard in a boy's name and we even thought briefly about it being a first name but it just didn't quite fit.  We basically had gotten set on our boy and our girl name pretty quickly although the girl name we weren't quite sure on. Let's say I was sure - Brandon was not. But her name would've been Reagan Jane.  Maybe we will have a Reagan one day :)

So about a week before our ultrasound Brandon decided maybe we weren't set and then he thought we'd know after we knew if our baby was a boy or girl. And then the day we found out he was a boy, Brandon admitted that we knew the name all along. Then it just became a matter of convincing Brandon to share. At first he wanted to save the name until he was born but then that meant that all my friends couldn't buy cute "G" stuff for our little guy. Since all the ladies at school are having boys, I convinced Brandon that I needed to put our name out there and "claim" it so he finally gave in.  He really gave in quite easily and then I felt a little guilty. But we finally shared it with a few friends and that made it easier to announce. And since today confirmed that our boy is a boy. We shall tell you...

our son's name is.......

Grayson Sheppard Hall

Ultrasound Tomorrow

So I just finished my new nightly routine of a bath before bed and I'm laying in my bed feeling totally relaxed and ready for the week! I hope this snow coming on Wednesday wraps up the winter season and it starts warming up! I'm ready for short sleeves and cute flats!

Anyway - tomorrow is our big ultrasound where they do all the measurements of our baby boy and check to see that everything is growing at a healthy rate.  They will also be confirming that he is in fact a boy :) After that - I will be posting our sweet son's name!! So check back tomorrow for that!

Please pray in agreement with us that everything is healthy with our little guy. Sometimes it's hard to keep that little fear out of the back of your mind. But all that aside I think this appointment is the one that I'm most excited about. Now that I know how amazing it is to see him move around on the ultrasound - I just absolutely can't wait! 

So until tomorrow.... :)

Good Advice, Good Deals, and Saturday Morning Yoga

I didn't expect such a response from yesterday's post!! I'm so thankful for people who love us and read this blog and for such great friends who responded with good advice. I know that the best advice that I've gotten is that I will be the mommy and whatever I feel is best for our family IS best but I still love getting advice from moms who have been there.  Good news is: all of the mommies that I listen to and love and trust will give me advice knowing that I may or may not make decisions differently than they did... and that's ok :)  So thanks to all the moms who care enough to share their experiences and advice!

After some disappointing online shopping yesterday I decided to go to Goodwill.  But first I met my handsome husband for lunch at Golden Corral. Yes, I did say Golden Corral. I've been forcing my asian cravings on him for multiple meals so I decided he deserved to pick where we went for lunch and it wasn't too bad. I basically just had a big veggie plate and a couple of their delicious yeast rolls. It's hard not to overdo it in there!

Anyways - on to Goodwill. I probably tried on close to 40 different things in there. I just kept going back and digging some more. I didn't have anything else to do on my snow day and if you know me - I love a good dig for a good deal. And it paid off!! I found some things that will work as maternity clothes! Sadly - their maternity section was pretty lame and I didn't find anything there but I looked through some of their medium and large clothes and found some cute shirts that will give some tummy room this spring/summer. It is really helpful that the current styles include baggy and flowy stuff.  8 shirts for $30 is a good deal!!!  I also borrowed a few things from my friend Joy that will definitely come in handy :)

Here's a pic of my new "maternity shirts" (ignore the wrinkles)

So, in the middle of posting this I decided that I didn't really want to put on my whole workout outfit and go to mom's to get on the elliptical and instead I decided to look up some youtube prenatal yoga videos!! Much to my surprise - I ended up doing 2 of them for a total of an hour and it was awesome!! I loved how they explained exactly how they were benefiting me and the baby and it really felt good to stretch and challenge myself.  I think they are really good to prepare for birth and I might as well get started now!
The two I watched are here and here. I liked the second one better because you could actually watch her move through the poses rather than just seeing pictures of the poses but I watched the first one first since it had so many views and it was still pretty great. :)
I'm hoping I will continue to do these a couple times a week. It's so nice to have our wii hooked up to our tv so I could just move the coffee table and get started :)

Baby Boy Stuff

So knowing that we're having a boy brings lots of excitement. and a lot of pressure. it's not like people are putting pressure on me but I put it on myself. you see - our sweet boy will be here in July and i'm ready for his room to be put together: everything in its place and everything that he needs (which is a TON of stuff) to all be here and put away in his nursery. I guess you would say i'm impatient.
so instead of driving myself nuts - i've been browsing pinterest and started my amazon registry for all the things little man will need.

Baby needs a lot.... and some of it is so EXPENSIVE.
*Crib: Brandon's amazing aunt Teresa has offered to buy our crib and I am really pumped about that!!
*Stroller/Carseat: the one I want is awesome but it's also expensive
*Bedding: Our nursery colors are gray and yellow and I picked out the bedding I would like to have.
*Breast Pump: I want to breastfeed more than anything. It seems overwhelming when I think about going back to work, because I do want/need to keep working, it will probably be hard to find time to pump. But I am going to do this. Hence - I need to find a great pump. I registered for the medela but my mother-in-law and i are working on this - we may go with a different one
*Baby Monitor: some people say it's ridiculous and we don't need it but after the input of several real-life moms we are going to go with the video :)

**and a lot of other little things...

Things we have...

*a dresser that will also serve as a changing table (thanks to Mrs. Julie)

*cloth diapers: I am buying these little by little and am determined to give them a good try. of course i will gladly take some disposables for all those times when cloth diapers will not be ideal but i really want this to work. and i don't mind laundry or the work that goes along with it. i just hope they work for baby's bottom :)

**and we already have some really cute clothes thanks to my sweet sister and some hand-me-downs

If you want to see some of the stuff I picked out... check it out here...

We (me and the grandmas) are going to the WeeCycle in Boone and the same type of deal in Fayetteville in the next couple weeks so I'm pretty excited about finding some good deals on used stuff. maybe a glider or a baby swing - things that I don't want to spend a LOT of money on but I kind of want.

I've also been looking for good maternity clothes for spring/summer and those are also expensive considering you wear them once - I'm all about hand-me-downs and hopefully I'll find some at these sales :)

obviously showers and all that fun won't come until later so until then - i will be patient.