Photo shoot with the girls

I just had to share some more of the great pictures Stacey and Holli took at the shower :)

Carson needs an umbrella...

Carson and I spent the past weekend literally being showered with friends, family, and lots of gifts!! We really are SO lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives that care so much :) It's reassuring to know that everyone is there to help and support our new little addition! I was able to spend about 3 1/2 days in Kentucky, which of course is never long enough, and I had a blast! Friday I got to have lunch with my mom, aunt, and grandmother then I got to spend the afternoon playing with little Parker. I am happy to say that he is no longer talking about "putting Carson in the trash can" like I previously reported. haha He was actually very excited to give me

and baby Carson and big squeeze. I never could get Parker to sit still long enough to actually feel Carson moving around in my belly but he did enjoy trying to hear him... Cutest thing ever! Saturday morning when we all woke up after his usual, "Good Morning Ashley!" and "Did you have a good sleep?" he asked, "How is baby Carson this morning?" Ah, he makes my heart melt :)

Saturday was my first big baby shower for the weekend! Hosted by my aunt Larkin, grandmother Ree, and my cousin Brooke. The shower had a rubber ducky theme which made for the cutest decorations ever... I could try to give it justice by telling you about it or I could just show you. I have to give credit to my photographers for the day, Stacey and Holli. Your pictures were amazing girls and I can't wait for you to photograph the little man :)

The cutest diaper cake ever from Granny & Pops!

Our little duck family :)

Mom and I with the hostesses :)

Me and Mimi :)

Me and my brother's girlfriend, Liz! She's such a sweetheart!

Ok I could go on, and on with pictures of the decorations... It looked like a baby shower that would be featured in Southern Living or something! I would have expected nothing less from Ree and Larkin though :) They are the best! Of course with a shower comes gifts... Carson got ALL kinds of neat things! I won't bore you with pictures of me opening EVERY gift so I'll just hit the highlights :)

Carson received so many neat things from everyone! I had a BLAST playing show and tell with James last night :) He loved all of the stuff just as much as I did! He did say however I might have to show him what most of it is used for... haha We both feel so lucky to have such great family and friends! We love them all very much!

Blame it on the belly....

This afternoon Carson and I caused a little commotion at the Target Cafe.... After doing a little shopping I decided I needed some popcorn and a coke. I ordered my stuff then headed over to the fountain drink machine to get my peppy diet coke (There really isn't anything much better). I've got an overflowing bag of popcorn in one hand and I'm trying to do the whole coke thing with the other. There is a lady standing in front of the straw dispenser taking her sweet time so I decide to lean forward to reach around her to grab my straw....About the time I grabbed the straw I realized that something was tipping my coke over. What you ask? That would be my belly. The whole coke spilled ALL over the counter...I'm talking every last drop. I felt SO dumb! I then had to go tell the lady working there that I had just accidentally spilled an entire coke all over her nice clean counter. Sorry! I tried to clean a little of it up but realized I was only making the mess worse when the coke managed to spread under the coffee/cappuccino machine, the coke machine, and the slushy machine. Whoops! So to the poor lady working at Target that had to clean up my monster mess I apologize, I promise from now on I will be more aware of the amount of space this growing belly takes up!

It's finally time!

I am SOOOO excited about my upcoming trip to Kentucky that I've been ready to start packing for about a week now. But of course it was too early! I am happy to say that since I'm leaving on Thursday afternoon it's officially time to get started! Woo Hoo :) I always hate the week leading up to a trip because I get so excited that it's almost here, which seems to make the time just creeeeeeep by. Usually I make "packing" the biggest production (just ask James)....I try on lots of outfit, shoes, jewelry, purse combinations until I get it just right. This process can take a while I have to admit, but it's so fun :) Being pregnant throws a little kink in that whole process. First of all my selection of clothes is much smaller, although I am beginning to feel like I have quite the array of maternity wear. Second, what I pack is extremely important because I can't just borrow something of Mom's if I need to, nothing would fit! And of course we all know that Owensboro doesn't have the selection of maternity wear that I have up here in the big city. If I were to realize I forgot something, or needed a different kind of top I would be out of luck. So, tonight while James is finishing up his final for one of his Masters classes I will be turning my closet upside down and inside out getting packed for Kentucky! I can't wait :)

I have SO many plans while I'm in town I can't even say what I'm most excited about! It all starts with a BIG hug from Mom and Dad at the airport Thursday night, a much needed hair cut on Friday, lunch with Mom and Ree, a bowling charity event with the fam., getting to meet my brother's new girlfriend, getting that "reallllllllly tight hug" Parker's been telling me and Carson about, UK basketball, TWO baby showers, and of course getting to see all of my family and friends :) I only wish I could bring James and Chloe with me. I always feel sooo guilty when I get to go home to visit and he doesn't. He has to stay in Minnesota and work....blah :( At least we get to go home together in a couple weeks to see his family and friends for ANOTHER shower! Yay!

I hoping all of this traveling doesn't make me too awfully uncomfortable. This belly is starting to become quite "large and in charge". It's to the point where it's making everything a little more difficult. I do see lots of trips to the airplane bathroom in my near future.... When we go home Easter weekend we are driving, so that will be an entire blog post in itself I'm sure. Good thing James is patient.

On a totally random side note: All of the snow in our front yard is gone! Now that is something to be excited about! The last two days our temps have been in the upper 50's which have allowed me to open up the windows and get some fresh air! I just LOVE it.... Can't wait for spring :)

Can't Stop 'Till You Get Enough...

So I totally can NOT stop looking at Carson's little chubby face! I feel like I look at his new picture a million times a day. He's already SO cute and I'm just dying to meet him! After our families have gotten a chance to check out Carson's picture several people seem to think he already looks like me. Granny says it's because of the chubby cheeks, and Mimi says James was a pretty small baby. I don't have a copy of one of James' baby pictures to show you but I will be sure to get one when we go home in April so we can compare. I do however have a 2 month old picture of myself for now. I need to find our first pictures from the hospital and see what we think. I'll work on this in the coming weeks. In the meantime....

So what do you think... Any resemblance? I see the cheek thing but that's about it!

Since Carson is a little bigger than the average 28 week old, and I'm really close to that 7th month mark, I figured I'd go ahead and tell you about what's going on with our little man during next few weeks :)

According to thebump.com Carson is approximately the size of a squash...whatever that means. That's like saying he's the size of a pumpkin... Every pumpkin is a different size. I like this comparison better: At 29 weeks Carson is about the length of a loaf of bread. Wow! Crazy... That's actually something I can imagine holding in my arms and carrying around. Oh, I just can't wait! Thebump.com says that the average baby at 29 weeks weighs 2.5-3.8 lbs and we already know Carson is 3.2 lbs... So he's definitely on the larger end of that scale :) And, I've also read that during the 7th month of pregnancy Mommy can expect increased heartburn, which of course has already started like clockwork everyday around 3:00pm, along with rapid weight gain. Yay for me! I don't feel like I have began to "rapidly" gain weight just yet. I think so far I have gained about 15 lbs so I'm a little nervous to see whats going to happen to this number in the coming weeks. Carson on the other hand is growing in all good ways of course! He's now able to suck on his own... watch out boobs! haha His little brain is also controlling his breathing and body temperature. His energy is surging as well, which I can feel for sure. I've noticed a major increase in movement in just the last few days. He's settling into a sleep and waking cycles, which right now see to be normal. I don't ever feel him at night so maybe that means he's already sleeping through the night? haha Don't worry... I'm not actually believing what I'm saying, just trying to make myself think maybe he'll be a good sleeper. haha A mommy can only wish.... All five of Carson's senses are working now too and I've read that 9 out of 10 babies that are born at this age can survive, which is comforting to know :)

Carson is also to the stage where he might be hiccuping! It's described as feeling like butterflies in your stomach. They say this is caused by him practicing his breathing. I guess he's been slacking because I haven't felt this yet! Carson, your first lesson from Mommy: Practice makes perfect! I just read a LOVELY bit of information that I probably could have done without... haha Carson has starting peeing in his amniotic sac. Gross to think about, even more gross to know that he actually is swallowing some of it with the amniotic fluid (don't worry, apparently it's sterile). Oh little Carson, Daddy has a lot to teach you about your bathroom habits. haha

I also want to take a quick minute to say that everyone should keep Holli and Brad in your thoughts over the next few days :) They will find out their big news on Friday so we are all keeping our fingers crossed and Carson and I are sending all of our baby thoughts their way :) Good luck you too! We love you!

Our Chubby Little Boy

What an exciting morning! James and I had our 28 week appointment today! At our last check-up (18 weeks) they said my placenta wasn't quite low enough so they wanted to schedule another ultrasound at 28 weeks to make sure it dropped down, or something like that. Well, after today's ultrasound all is well for my placenta :) That however, is not the exciting part.... Seeing Carson of course was what we really excited about! In case you have forgotten Carson was labeled as "hard headed" after our 18 week ultrasound because he just didn't want to cooperate. He was covering his face while the tech tried to get a 3D picture.
Well...Here we are 10 weeks later and our little man hasn't changed a bit. Still wouldn't cooperate! His head was laying directly on top of my placenta so the tech ended up having to do an internal ultrasound to even be able to see the placenta. And, to top it all off he had his little hands all over his face again! haha I guess I shouldn't have expected much else from someone with Fiorella blood :) I told dad I think he got it from his side of the family and he says laughing, "No, he gets that from the Harper's I'm sure..." Which of course proves the point even more that we are so hard headed we can't admit we are hard headed. haha

Carson at 28 weeks 2 days

Is he adorable or what?!?! We are so in love with his little face! The ultrasound tech told us he was a little bigger than most babies his age. He is a little over 3 lbs and in the 70th percentile. I don't totally understand the whole percentile thing but she also explained it by saying that if he were 29 weeks gestation, instead of 28 he'd be average size. So he's measuring about a week larger right now. Does that mean that I will go into labor a week early? No, just that he might be a little chubby! Yay :) Who doesn't love a chubby baby!

A funny story about the ultrasound... During the 3D/4D ultrasound we are getting to see "live footage" of what's going on inside the womb, crazy right? Well, while we are watching we of course see right away that he's got that one hand covering up half of his little chubby face. He then proceeds to move the other hand closer to his face, spread out his little fingers, open his mouth, and then cover his entire face. It was literally like he had both hands spread open as big as he could, and then put them on his face. It was hilarious! He then moved his left hand back down but was still only willing to show us half of his face. What a stinker!

Another exciting piece of information we learned during the ultrasound was that Carson has some hair! We were able to see a bright white little dusting of hair on his head during the regular black/white ultrasound! James is still hoping it's nice and thick like mine...Maybe it's a good sign that he's already got some! haha

From now on we will have check-ups every two weeks so we go back again March 24, then again April 8th :) What a busy month we have coming up!! We shouldn't be getting any more ultrasounds though :( Unless they think something might be wrong, or if Carson really starts to get big they'll do another one to check his measurements. Both of which I'm hoping don't happen so if all goes well the next time we see our little man will be actually in person... not on a screen! Ohmygosh I just can't wait :)

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

It's amazing how the choices and decisions you make change when you start thinking as a "family" instead of an individual, or a couple. From little decisions to big decisions they all impact your whole family's life...not just yours. I guess this is one of the first lessons you learn as the parents-to-be. It seems like every decision we make will impact Carson's little life. This is a scary thought for sure! I don't think we ever gave our parents enough credit for making all of our choices for us for SO many years. So, Mom, Dad, Gary, and Pam... We thank you! Anytime you're missing making those tough decisions feel free to make some for us!! haha I'm sure in the coming months you will be getting many phone calls that sound something like, "Help! We don't know what to do!" We are SO lucky to have such a wonderful support system all around us to help... Can't imagine what we'd do without you all :)

I feel so very lucky to have James in my life as well. What an amazing dad he is going to be. He always stays so calm and cool about everything...I honestly don't understand how he does it. I envy that about him. I'm counting on him to keep me from going crazy...haha With all of the choices and decisions that come with parenting at least their is one thing I never have to question...our relationship. It couldn't be any stronger. What more can you ask for as you are about to jump into a totally new life? The funny thing about the choices you make in life is that you can never really know if it was the right one. You can always say, "What if..." One thing I do know for certain is that marrying James was the best decision I ever made.

When you look at your life, the greatest happiness's are family happiness's.

-Joyce Brothers