How it flew by take 2..

For some reason my blog page kept messing up, so here we are with a second one.
In March, we dug up the front and back yard, and I mean we dug nice, big trenches in it..lol! My poor husband had to put in the sprinkler system and we had to make sure it was running properly before we could sod our yard. We picked May as our target for sod, and knew the sprinkler system installation would take some time.

Look at those beautiful trenches!

After we completed the sprinkler system, we knew we needed to work on the landscaping of the yard. We recruited my mom, aka the flower lady, to come down and help us me. Randy kinda punted on the flower planting; which was ok with me. Thankfully my mom is super tough, as there's no way I could have done it all by myself in 3 days!!

Prettier patio with the addition of flowers!

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Front garden

Back in February, I told Randy that I needed to go on a vacation. I'm not a presents kinda girl, but I do love traveling/vacations. We debated on what we wanted to do..without spending a ton of money, so we decided a cruise would be our best bet..especially since neither of us had been on one. We took a 7 night cruise with Royal Caribbean to Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We snorkeled in Cayman and Cozumel and enjoyed relaxing on the ship when we weren't docked.

First formal night at dinner

Snorkeling in Cozumel....gorgeous water

We came home on Mother's Day, and it was just a few days later, on May 11th that we received news of a wonderful gift from the Lord...I AM PREGNANT! We had our first ultrasound on May 31st, and by then, the blessing of 1st trimester nausea had already settled in for a long trimester nap.

Our first glance at the newest little Whitehead!

The end of May brought on the sod. May 20th, a huge truck pulled up loaded with our Zoysia grass, and man was it exciting. I know this sounds dorky, but I actually got teary eyed once it all started coming together. It is amazing how much difference some sod makes in your back and front yards.

The summer months brought lots of guests our way. Randy's parents, my aunt and cousins, another cousin and wife, my mom, and my brother and a friend took us through the majority of the summer months. By the time summer was nearing a close, the 1st trimester nausea was ending (thank the Lord), and I was starting to feel halfway normal again. The last weekend of July, I drove to Atlanta for a weekend fitness conference and then spent a few days with family in Augusta. While I was gone, Randy and another guy spent a whole Saturday removing our old back door and frame and replacing it with a new one. This had to be complete before we put in our new flooring.
Yep, we removed the carpet from the 3 bedrooms and replaced it with laminate. The project began a little sooner than Randy wanted but I was in a rush b/c our little baby was on the way and I didn't want to be helping him towards the end of my pregnancy.

By the beginning of September, I was 20 weeks pregnant and we went for our next ultrasound. They tried to determine the gender, but were unable to give us conclusive evidence...we walked away with, " We think it's a girl." We had heard that you should take a babymoon before the baby is born, so R and I decided to take a trip to Hawaii. We were fortunate to use sky miles for our tickets, and we stayed with a friend who lived in Kailua on the island of Oahu. We went to Hawaii without a big agenda..we just wanted to relax and enjoy our last vacation with just the two of us (for a while at least).

Someone loves the thumb!

When in Hawaii, one must eat shave ice

At the Dole plantation

At the end of September, we returned for another ultrasound..this time we received this news:

It's a girl!

Yep, we have a little girl on the way. Of course, I was thrilled, and Randy has definitely warmed up to the idea of having a little girl. We named her Eden Joy, and can't wait until we get to see her in person.
We spent the month of October working on the laminate flooring, and in November we drove to Augusta for my first baby shower and my grandma's 80th birthday party. It was awesome getting to see family members from out of town, and having so many of us together all at one time. The very next week we drove to Mobile for Thanksgiving, where Randy and I took advantage of Black Friday to spend $300 on diapers from Babies R'Us..yikes! Hopefully they will last us a few weeks..lol

December came pretty fast, and I had to get Eden's room ready for her arrival. We've decided to put her in the pack n play in our room for a few weeks, and then we'll probably transition to the crib in her room. R's birthday was the 8th, and I had a baby shower on the 9th and the 10th. B/c it's too hard for me to travel now (my back hurts after about 4 minutes in any vehicle), my mom and youngest brother came down for Cmas.

Enjoying the nice weather

With my little brother

Randy's parents are coming over today to celebrate a late Cmas and so R and his dad can go fishing.
As I type this, I am 22 days from my due date with Eden. Yep, this year has flown by. Soon, our little girl will be here, and our lives will be forever changed. It's scary, yet exciting at the same time. My sister in law Haley is due in 3 days with my nephew James, and our other sister in law Morgan is due to have a C section with our other nephew on March 20th. My cousin Lydia is also pregnant with a little girl and she's due on Feb. 15th. My cousin Amanda got engaged on Cmas Day, so we are also expecting to attend a wedding at the end of 2012. We have a lot to look forward to, and are certain that God's hand is in all of this. Thank you Lord for your blessings..some in disguise and others not so much.

How it flew by..

It just occurred to me th at it's the end of the year. Geez, where did the time go? It's always good to reflect upon the past year and think about experiences, heartaches, hurts, God moments and blessings. I ended the sentence with blessings b/c I am much more prone to remember the others first.

Randy and I began 2011 by building a brick patio behind our house. Let me just say that it was quite a project...a project that was constructed during one of the coldest months of the year..even down here at the beach. It was very frustrating, and turned out to be much more expensive than we planned, but we love it now.

Here we go!

The finished product! yay

 After the completion of our patio, we had to build a brick walkway throughout the entire backyard which would connect the back house (guest house) to our house and the fence. (Keep in mind our backyard was a bunch of dirt). This took much longer than the patio.
In February we celebrated our 1st anniversary with an evening get away to a bed and breakfast about an hour from our house. We spent the night on Valentines Day, and oddly enough, most restaurants were closed in the town we stayed in b/c it was a Sunday night!! After much frustration, we bought a pizza from Hunt Brothers' (located in the Piggly Wiggly grocery store), and ate chocolate and some pita chips we also purchased. We completed the night by watching Sleepless in Seattle on our laptop since the B&B didn't have a tv or dvd player! It was an evening to remember.

Pathway btwn the houses before the construction

Pathway after construction

Riding bikes at the state park for our anniversary      

    

In February, I was also diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. This was quite a shock since no one else in my family has this problem with their small intestine. After a few weeks of keeping a food diary, I realized that I was lactose intolerant. I also stopped eating foods with gluten and most starches. I also had to give up vegetables such as cauliflower and brussel sprouts. It's been quite a challenge to change my our food lifestyle. I began making breakfast with almond meal, and lunches and dinners without any dairy products. 10 months later, it's still challenging for me, as I was a cheese lover! B/c of the tests I took to diagnose the Chrohn's, I ended up losing 4 pounds..which is a lot for someone who hardly weighs anything to begin with. Packing on the pounds is not something that I can easily do, and it's been quite a battle.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       In March we continued working on our brick pathway, and finally completed it towards the end of April. I can't tell you what a relief it was! It told Randy I never want to do brick work again!! I forgot to mention that we had to put sprinklers in our front and backyard to prepare for the sod that was coming in May. Here's a pic of what our backyard looked like at one time!                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

time is tickin' away

Today we have reached 36 weeks. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has flown by. Of course the first trimester nausea and fatigue seemed like they would never end, and now we've reached the final stretch. 

My sister in law, Haley, is due to give birth to my nephew James next Saturday. We thought he was going to come a week or two ago, but he's still in the womb. His daddy, my brother, wants him to come on a Saturday so he doesn't have to find anyone to work at his gym the next day. I find that quite hilarious, but you can't fault him for hoping. 


As of today, I weigh about 118 pounds. I weighed on Wednesday and was 119, but apparently my weight changes all the time. Honestly, I'm quite pleased that I've gained this much, and have a couple weeks left to gain more. 


Most women who see me like to comment on how small they think I am. I guess they think all pregnant women look huge. I was in JC Penney last week, and the lady that checked me out wanted to know when I was due b/c I was so big! lol.. I was a little surprised at her comment after she told me she gained 55 pounds with her child and I had told her I've gained 17 or 18. 


Apparently Eden puts quite a strain on my back as I can't sit or lay down without major middle back pain. In fact, it's getting worse at night now as I'm tossing and turning about every 45 minute to an hour. I know this b/c I look at the clock each time..ugh! I wish I could sleep standing up as it doesn't bother my back at all!


Because we're only a few weeks away from Eden's arrival and I can't sit in the car for more than like 2 minutes without hurting, my mom and youngest brother are coming down today for Christmas. In fact, they should be here pretty soon. Of course, it's been rainy this week, and now it's turning cold..not much of a beachy weather greeting, but it will have to do. 


I'm past my snack time, and Eden is letting me know. Randy bought us 2 boxes of SEES chocolates and a container of Toffee-ettes. They arrived in the mail today with the package saying Merry Christmas to Alicia Whitehead from Randy Whitehead. My husband is quite intelligent. He bought what he says is a Cmas present for me, but he will certainly benefit from...believe me as he already had a chocolate when they arrived :)


I hope everyone has a relaxed and enjoyable Christmas. I'm looking forward to spending it here at home with my family.