Oh BOY!!!

Yep............that right.................we're having a little boy! We are thrilled beyond belief! Not that we wouldn't be thrilled if it were a girl, but adding a little boy to the picture makes it feel like the all american family. =) Honestly I would have been happy if it were a boy or a girl, but I know that deep down, even though he would never admit it, Britt wanted a little boy to play ball with and do all of the father son activities. Now Ashlyn and I can have our shopping outings while Britt and the little guy go golfing together. We are ECSTATIC! And Ashlyn, well she's been saying all along that we're having her a baby brother, and she was right! Now she keeps asking when "Zippy" is going to be here. She can't wait to meet her new brother! I've asked her what she thought about names other than Zippy, but she told me, "NO! We're naming him Zippy! That's his name!". All I have to say is BLESS HIS HEART if he gets stuck with Zippy for the rest of his life. =)

The baby measured about a week further along again. On Friday the baby measured 19 weeks and 4 days, so we're at the half way point. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has flown by! Now we have the nursery to decorate, so I'm sure that the next few weeks will go by in the blink of an eye.

WARNING: MAJOR VENT SESSION IN PROGRESS!!!

Let me start off by saying - GET YOUR CRAP TOGETHER PEOPLE!!!! I am referring to my OBGYN office. First off they give me the run around on my blood pressure medicine. Then I have to do a 24 hour urine sample. This means that from my first pee in the morning to my first pee the next morning I have to catch the sample and put it into a gallon jug, store it in the refrigerator (I know.......YUCK!!!), and then bring the sample with me to my next visit. This particular lab only has to be done for people with high blood pressure, and since I have a history of high blood pressure, I was one of the lucky people who get to go through this lovely ordeal! It's not that bad, just more of an inconvenience than anything else, but after you've done it once you don't want to have to do it again. At my last appointment the nurse called me at work after my appointment because she FORGOT to tell me that my 24 hour urine sample came back incomplete...................whatever that means.......................so I would have to do it all over again. And by the way, "we need you to come back and pick up another container and have it sent back to the doctors office before your next appointment so that we can have your results back by your next appointment", which is this Friday. Since I work all the way in Denver I had Mom pick the container up on Friday, did the 24 hour thing on Saturday/Sunday, and had my lovely husband Britt carry my pee back up to the doctor's office this morning for me. Britt calls me this morning and says - "you're not going to be happy about this, but you have to be at the doctor's office no later than 4:30 today to have blood drawn." WHAT!?!?!?! They couldn't find my bloodwork, if they even did it, to go along with the urine sample that has to be sent in to the lab! UUUUGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am FURIOUS!!!! Why did nobody tell me until TODAY that I have to have more blood drawn TODAY????? I have already been poked and prodded about 5 times in the past 3 months from these people! So this week I will have to go to the doctor this afternoon for MORE bloodwork that I didn't even know about, go Thursday to a neurologist for my headaches, and go back to the OBGYN on Friday for my ultrasound. Get it together people!!!!!!!

Pregnancy/Baby Update

I went back to the doctor on Friday. The baby's heart-rate was 140. It's getting a little lower each visit. We find out next Friday what we're having! HOW EXCITING!!!!!! I probably won't be able to sleep the night before due to the anticipation. I can't wait to pick out colors, nursery bedding..................that is if we have a boy. If it's a girl she's going to get shafted because she is going to get all of Ashlyn's hand me downs. The lucky boy will get all new everything! As for the names I think that we finally have them picked out.........for now anyway. They have a great possibility of changing before the baby arrives. =) For a girl - Chesney Adeline (not quite sure of the exact spelling yet) Cody, and for a boy - Walker Reid Cody.

The doctor measured my belly and told me that it was just the right size. Britt and I both chuckled. I told her that it was just funny to me because I feel like a cow. It doesn't help that EVERYONE, whether I know them or not, continue to tell me how big I am. I constantly hear - "That's going to be one big baby!", "Are you sure that there's only 1?", "Are you sure that they don't have your due date wrong?"!!! Now, coming from my friends and family it's ok to hear these comments, but to hear them on a daily basis from strangers and people who hardly know me, well it's really starting to give me a complex! I KNOW THAT I'M BIG! I wasn't this big when I was 6 months pregnant with Ashlyn! Give me a break people! I can't help that I am showing alot sooner since it is my second pregnancy! At least that's what all of the doctors keep telling me, and it makes me feel somewhat better about being so big. =)

This pregnancy has been wonderful besides the dreadful headaches that I've been experiencing. I talked to the doctor again on Friday about the frequent headaches and how terrible they are. She referred me to a neurologist. I have an appointment on November 15th. Hopefully we can find out the cause of these nuisances and help me find a way to keep them at bay. I really don't know why I haven't been referred to a specialist before, especially with my history of headaches the past couple of years. It's about time!

Things are good at home. Ashlyn is loving school. It's so funny that the same girl who would wake up crying and begging not to go to school now wakes up on the weekends crying and begging to GO to school! Too funny how things work out. It was hard on all of us in the beginning, but it was so worth all of the struggles in the morning those first few weeks. I can tell that she has already learned so much. Her teachers are WONDERFUL! I couldn't ask for a better preschool for her!

Ashlyn is looking forward to meeting her baby brother or sister. She went with us to the doctor on Friday and got the hear the baby's heartbeat. She's named the baby Zippy, and that name has stuck for about 5 weeks now, so I have a feeling that no matter if it's a boy or girl and no matter what the real name is, it will be baby Zippy to her. We've even starting referring to it as baby Zippy since we don't know the sex yet.

Can you believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner? Time really does fly! I plan to have all of my Christmas shopping finished up by the beginning of December. Yeah right! I want to go to the Gaffney outlets one weekend and knock out numerous names on my list. If anyone wants to go with me I'd love to have the company. I'll probably leave Ashlyn at home so that we can shop til we drop. These outlets are the best around!

I'll close for now. I better get back to work........uggghhhh! Ta Ta until next time.

Little Bo-Peep

Balloon Fair

My dad took Ashlyn to the balloon fair in Statesville this past weekend.

These are a few pictures from their outing.

Fun at Tweetsie Railroad

Our little pumpkin

Funny family portrait =)

Ashlyn and Carly

On the train at Tweetsie

Ferris Wheel Ride

The beautiful view from the top of the ferris wheel.

Carly and Ashlyn on the horses

The girls with their daddies

Ashlyn and Daddy on the race track

The girls with Jamie and Naynay (Renee)

14-15 WEEKS

I went back to the doctor on Friday. Everything looked great. All of my labs came back with really good results. My blood pressure is still low, which is wonderful. The doctor measured me and said that everything is exactly the size that it should be. It's funny because I feel so much bigger than I should be, but given it's my second child I guess that's to be expected. With Ashlyn I didn't start showing until I was 5 months pregnant. It's a totally different story this time around. I've already gained 15 lbs, and I'm only 3 1/2 months into the pregnancy. I expected the doctor to fuss, but she didn't. She told me that I'll probably gain a good bit of weight in the beginning, and then not gain much at towards the end. I can tell a huge difference already in my appetite from the first trimester to my second. I was eating any and everything in sight a few weeks ago. I'm sure that's a huge reason for the drastic weight gain. Now I get full quicker and don't have a hungry hungry hippo appetite all day long. =) The baby's heart rate was a 152 on Friday. It had dropped from 167 at the first appointment. Maybe this means a little boy???? Who knows. I really and honestly don't care if it's a boy or a girl. A boy would be nice so that we have one of each, but another girl would be lovely too. Then we wouldn't have to buy all new clothes and accesories. Either way we'll be delighted to have another child in the mix. I'm so excited!!!! I'm just ready to find out what it is so that I can start on the nursery and all of that fun stuff! I'm almost tempted to wait until the birth to find out, but I know me, and I can't wait. I'm so impatient when it comes to things like that. I want to know so that all of the planning is already taken care of when he or she arrives. I know that you can go neutral on everything, but what fun is that? I want to go all girly or all boy!

I still haven't been sick a bit which is SOOOOO nice! I honestly didn't think that it was possible to be pregnant and not have that annoying morning, well I call it ALL DAY, sickness lingering around for 3 months. I have had some really bad headaches, but other than that it's been heaven. The doctor told me that if I was still getting the migraines at my next visit they would put me back on a daily migraine medicine that is ok to take during pregancy. It's just so hard to function when it feels like someone is in your head pounding the crap out of it with a sledge hammer! And what makes it worse is when NO ONE understands what kind of pain I'm in. Britt's getting better about it, but I really do think that most people think that I'm using the headache excuse just to be lazy. It's VERY frustrating! Normally I just break down and cry if and when I'm being blamed for laziness when I've worked all day long with my head pounding and all I want to do is lay down and shut my eyes for a little while. Oh it just pisses me off! Since we're on the subject................I have been extremely emotional throughout the entire pregnancy. I cry at least once every day if not more. There is a blog that I've starting checking on a regular basis. It's a little girl who has a terminal brain tumor. I would always check in weekly on her blog to see if they had posted any recent updates. When I had checked in last week there was some terrible news. That beautiful little 4 year old girl had passed away on October 6th. I was here at work when I read the devistating news. Thank goodness it was on my lunch break because the tears were flowing and wouldn't stop. Please check out her story http://www.smilesforsophie.com/ . Then on Monday when I was driving home from work I heard that Tim McGraw song "If You're Reading This" - Moriah you have this video on your blog. Love the song, but I just started boowhooing on the way home. And you can forget me having a dry eye during Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice. Britt just looks at me like I'm crazy because I'm bawling my eyes out over a stupid tv show. LOL! =)

All in all everything's well. I'm not complaining about anything because life can be much worse! Y'all keep thinking of some cute boy names. We've got the girls name all picked out, but we still haven't settled on a boys name yet. Get your thinking caps on.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

I can't believe that it's already been 2 years since we got married!

We had a great anniversary!

We went to one of my favorite places tonight.......Kobe's. YUM!

Thanks for a great 2 years Honey!!! Love ya!

Ha ha ha

William Tell Overture for Moms with amazing good quality

Too Funny!

"Mommy, this is you and Daddy. I'm at Nana's in this picture." - Ashlyn

What's Wrong With This Picture?????

I'll tell you what's wrong...............I'M ONLY 11-12 WEEKS PREGNANT!!!!!! That's what's wrong! When I went to the doctor 3 weeks ago I had them check REAL GOOD to make sure that we didn't have twins in there. I mean I can't imagine having twins, but at least I would have a reason to already be as big as a barn! I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow for some labs and some routine pregnancy stuff, but I want them to check again to - A) Make sure that I'm not further along than what they say I am and/or B) Check again to make sure that there is only one baby in there. I mean what the heck???

On a brighter note................Ashlyn is ecstatic about having a baby brother or sister. She keeps saying that she wants a brother, but I just have this feeling that it's going to be another girl. I guess we'll find out in 6-8 more weeks. She says that we are going to name the baby Zippy. That's what she keeps calling it! I'm guessing that no matter what the name is, it will be Zippy to her. I'm sure that will be it's nickname.

All in all, everything is great! I haven't been sick a bit! I've been extremely tired, but that's it! I'll update later after my doctor's appointment tomorrow. Ta Ta For Now!

My Sunshine

John Mayer - Comfortable

John Mayer - Comfortable

LOVE LOVE LOVE this song! I still don't quite understand it, but I love the melody! =)

10 Year Reunion

We had such a blast catching up with one another and reminiscing about the past! I LOVE YOU GIRLS!

Ashlyn's first catch

She's a little scared...............Can you tell? ;)

Can you believe this catfish that she caught? WOW!!!

Finally.............some beach pictures!

Madison Elizabeth Coffey

Born August 23, 2007 at 12:24 pm. She weighed 7 lbs and 2 1/2 oz and was 21 inches long. What a beautiful baby girl!

Hallelujah!!!!!

GREAT NEWS.................Ashlyn is FINALLY potty trained. Last Friday she woke up and told my mom that she wanted to wear her panties. Mom told her that she could, but that she had to go on the potty if she needed to use the bathroom or her panties would be ruined. Ashlyn went on the potty ALL DAY LONG. The entire weekend she did not have one accident! I'm so proud of my little girl! Of course at night we've been putting pull-ups on her. She's even been waking up in the morning with a dry pull-up! Isn't it funny how I've been trying and trying to get her to start using the potty and she's been her normal stubborn self up until last Friday. She knew Friday that she was finally ready to use the potty. It's like a switch finally went off in her head. She is so stubborn............will not budge until SHE is ready and willing to do something. Sometimes this trait can drive me absolutely INSANE! Take this morning for example..............I get her out of bed and tell her that she needs to go use the potty before she gets dressed. NOPE! She was bound and determined not to go to the potty simply because I wanted her to. Then I went to brush her teeth and she WOULD NOT open her mouth. She kept covering it with her hand and her lips were sealed tight. I was fuming at this point! I admit that I lost my cool. She got a few spankings, which did not help the situation at all. Now she was screaming and crying along with being difficult. Before I knew it Ashlyn and I were both yelling at each other in the bathroom this morning while Britt was still in the bed asleep. How is it that a 3 year old can cause me to totally lose my sanity, because I'm telling you, I lost it this morning! After this huge battle, in which Ashlyn was the victor, I felt terrible for acting the way that I had. I had let myself get all riled up over nothing. I'm sure that she just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and apparently I did too. I picked her up and hugged her and told her that I was so sorry that Mommy had acted the way she did! She hugged me around the neck so tight. I didn't want to put her down. I just wanted to hold her and comfort her. If she's this stubborn and strongwilled now, I hate to see us in about 10-12 more years when she's a teenager! God help us! ;)

Happy Birthday Ashley!!! Hope you have a good one!

Linville Falls and the 4th of July

Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. I'll try to fill you in on all of the adventures in the past 2 weeks.
Last Sunday we decided to go to Linville Falls. We debated on taking Ashlyn plus the dogs. I knew that Nate and Layla would really enjoy the water so we decide on taking both of them. I didn't want to take one and not the other. They are together all of the time, so it just wouldn't be fair to leave one behind. You know me.........the dog lover! =) We picked up some lunch on the way and had a picnic. So far we were having a great time. After we ate we started up the mountain. Britt had the dogs and I had Ashlyn. The first part of the trail was great. I thought to myself that this was going to be a piece of cake. Yeah right! Britt goes on up with the dogs because they had so much energy and needed to get some of it out. They were practically pulling Britt up the mountain. The walk up the mountain was now turning into a hike. Climbing across rocks and roots and trees. I had to carry Ashlyn up to the top of the falls.......she's not big at all, and thank goodness she's not because I don't think I could have made it up if she weighed 5 more pounds. We got up to the top and the view was beautiful. Now it was time to venture down the mountain to the bottom of the falls. I had to carry her back down. On the way to the bottom of the falls, the path was even worse. There were roots and rocks everywhere that you had to climb across and just watch your footing so carefully to make sure that you didn't slip and fall. After what felt like an eternity we made it. The dogs were swimming around. Ashlyn was playing on the rocks.......with me right behind her watching her EVERY move. It was wonderful, and best of all, I had finally met up with Britt and now HE could carry her back up the mountain. I didn't know what I was going to do if I got down to the bottom and he wasn't there. It was hard enough walking down the mountain with here. I couldn't even imagine the hike back up! Rebecca was walking across the rocks to get closer to the falls and stepped right across a RATTLESNAKE! Yikes! Thank goodness it didn't go after anyone! That was very frightening! After playing around it was time to head home. I took Nate, Stephen's dad took Layla, and Britt had Ashlyn. Piece of cake...........not really! Nate was literally dragging me up the mountain. Ashlyn was screaming and crying for me to carry her. It was a nightmare. Britt takes Nate and Layla and gives Ashlyn to me for me to lug up the mountain. My legs were shaking, my heart was pounding, I was sweating terribly..........I literally thought that I was going to fall over right then and there. This was not my kind of fun! We eventually came to a solid walking path. Halellujah! I made it! As we were driving home Britt said "That was fun!"?????? It was fun while we were eating lunch and once we got to the bottom of the mountain, but the rest of the day was not FUN at all for me! I felt like I was going to die. That is not FUN! Needless to say..........we will not be going back any time soon with Ashlyn and/or both of the dogs. I don't mind taking her to the mountains on a nice walking trail, but no more hikes up a mountain until she can walk it on her own.
For the 4th we went over to Sherry's cabin on Lake Norman. They always have a big 4th of July cookout. I hadn't been in a few years. It brought back so many old memories. I remember growing up and having the church get togethers at that cabin. Ashley and Kellie, I know that y'all have some good memories to look back on from that cabin. Those were the good ole days! Ashlyn played on the beach, rode in the boat (that was her favorite part of the day), and went fishing. And by the way, she caught more fish than anybody else. She caught 2 fish within the first 10 minutes. Her first catch was a small brim. Then she caught a pretty good size catfish. She was beaming with excitement! Too bad her daddy wasn't there to see her catch her first fish. He worked during the day and then came to meet us that evening for the fireworks. I'll have to post the picture of her and her fish later. I forgot my camera so Sherry and Cami took some pictures for me. I can't wait to see them! After playing on the lake all day we drove over to Kellie's mom's house to watch the fireworks from there. They were spectacular! Ashlyn missed the majority of them. She was out like a light after playing all day long at the lake. We finally go home close to midnight. I think that I slept the best that night than I have slept in a very long time! What a week!