Our Pea in the Pod: 15 Weeks

Today we are officially 15 weeks with our little Pea in the Pod!  This pregnancy is going by so quickly that we can't believe it.  We are now in the 2nd trimester, and, thankfully, most of the sickness seems to be over!  :)  I am apparently "pregnant enough" that strangers notice now.  Since over the past week, I've had a handful of people we don't know ask when we're due, etc, which is exciting!

Another exciting thing that has happened since our last "Pea in the Pod update," is getting to hear the heartbeat...whenever we want!  We heard the heartbeat at the first doctor's appointment at 9 weeks with no problems, but a great friend in North Carolina shipped her home fetal doppler to me to borrow (thanks, Cassandra!)!  So when we got the home doppler at 13 weeks we were able to find the heartbeat which was awesome!  We don't use the doppler all the time, since overuse is not recommended, but it's SO tempting to listen all the time!

We had another prenatal appointment when I was 13 weeks, and everything was going great!  Now we're just looking forward to our ultrasound on November 14th when we will find out the gender!!

Here are the pictures from the past couple of weeks...

13 Weeks

14 Weeks

15 Weeks

Dawson now likes to be a part

of the belly pictures.  Here we are

at 14 weeks.

And then he wanted to be in today's

15 week picture too!  My sweet boy!

Murder Mystery Party

On Saturday after getting back in town from our trip to Lexington, we attended a Murder Mystery Party.  Our friends, Jenn and Michael, organized the whole thing, and it was GREAT!  The theme was "Murder in the Library," and we were all assigned parts of different storybook characters.  John was Dr. Watson (from Sherlock Holmes), and I was Goldilocks.  A few other guests at the party included: Snow White, the Wicked Witch from Snow White, the Queen of Hearts, Pinocchio, Genie, Aladdin, Robin Hood, Cleopatra, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Dorthy (Wizard of Oz), Huck Finn, Cinderella, Sherlock Holmes, the Mad Hatter, Bashful, and Little Red Riding Hood.  (I know I missed a few!)

It was fun getting together with our friends all dressed in character.  We went through all four acts, and finally discovered who murdered King Henry...and we obviously wouldn't be good investigators because not a single person guessed the correct villain!  :)  We had such a great time, and I'm convinced we will never find another group of friends as fun as these!

If you're wondering what Dawson did while we were partying, he was in group baby sitting with all his friends.  Three ladies who work in our nursery at church, baby sat at one couple's house.  So while we were partying, Dawson got to have fun playing with all his friends too!  It was a win, win! 

Enjoy our pictures below...

Group Photo

Goldilocks and Dr. Watson

A far-away shot so you can see our

full-costumes AND baby!

(14 weeks in this picture)

Our Babymoon

When I was 5 months pregnant with Dawson, John and I decided to take a babymoon-one last trip, just the two of us, before we were a family of three.  We had such a great time on our babymoon to Fort Lauderdale and Miami, that John promised that we would try to take a babymoon while expecting future kids, and of course, I was on board!  About a month ago, we looked at our calendar and realized how busy the months were going to be between November and our Pea in the Pod's arrival in April.  We decided to go ahead and take our babymoon a little early this time!

So last week, we drove to Tennessee to drop Dawson off.  He got to stay with his Nana and Grandad, but he also got to see his Lolly, Pop, Aunt Emmie, Cousin Drew, and Great Mamaw which he was there.  After getting Dawson settled in Tennessee, John and I headed to Lexington, Kentucky.  In April 2007 we went with a big group of friends for AGR's formal to Keeneland in Lexington and had a blast.  Since then we've always wanted to go back to Keeneland, and since they only race there in April and October this worked out perfectly. 

We spent all day at the races on Wednesday and got to see all 9 races.  We won on two races, a whopping $3.20 and then an even bigger win-$5.20!  We thought that was pretty good considering we were only doing bets between ten cents and two dollars.  We were not really there to gamble, but it makes watching the races more fun when you have a horse to cheer for.  There are some little shops at Keeneland also, so in the 35 minutes between each race we browsed the shops.  We came out with matching blue t-shirts for John and Dawson.  They have a horse and jockey and say Keeneland.  I have yet to get a picture, but Dawson is thrilled to have a shirt "just like Daddy."

We also had fun watching the horses in the paddock and all of the festivities between races.  We dressed more casual on Wednesday than last time we went to the races (last time I was decked out-even with a hat), and we were relieved to see that the Fall Match seems to be more casual than Spring.  There were even people there wearing jeans.

After a fun day at Keeneland we headed downtown to DeSha's for a yummy dinner.  The next morning we went to Spalding's Bakery downtown for handmade donuts.  It has been in Lexington since 1929, and the donuts were so good!  We laughed about how we discovered the Dandee Donut Shop in Fort Lauderdale on our last babymoon and at there a few times! 

Thursday we had planned to go back to the races, but it was raining.  We decided to have a relaxing day of shopping.  We went to a couple malls and two Targets (how can we travel to a new city and not visit at least one Target?!) haha!  For dinner we found another good restaurant, Saul Good, and then went to see a movie. 

Our time in Lexington went by very quickly, but by the end of the week we could not wait to get back to see Dawson.  When we picked him up he asked us if we had been "in Tucky watchin' horses?"   So sweet!  Now we're back home, and getting settled back in after being out of town.  I can't believe our babymoon is over, but we had a great time!

At Keeneland in front of the track in between

races.  (14 weeks pregnant).

Spending some time in the paddock checking

out the horses before the next race.

A close race!

The winning ticket!  ($5.20 haha)

Family Palooza

On Saturday, October 8th, we headed over to the Village of Providence for the first ever Family Palooza.  We were not really sure what to expect, but we were not disappointed.  Dawson had a great morning, visiting all the booths.  He made a hacky sack (which he has since destroyed), played with a giant parachute, and made and launched a paper missle, to name a few things.  He was also thrilled that there were two characters there in costume.  We could not keep him away from Louis the Duck and Homer the Pole Cat (the mascot for the Huntsville Stars).  He absolutely could not get enough of them, and he is still talking about Louis and Homer! 

They also had a giant inflatable slide.  At first, I thought it was too big for Dawson, but my big boy climbed right up to the top with no help and slid right down atleast 20 times!  There was also a fire truck and a bubble machine that Dawson enjoyed.  It was a perfect morning to be outside enjoying all this fun!

Not only did we have fun, but after the event I was contact and informed that I won one of the doorprizes...a gift card to Bridge Street!  It couldn't have gotten any better.

Dawson with Lewis the Duck.

He was thrilled when Lewis asked

if he could pick him up.

Dawson kept wandering back over

to Lewis.

Dawson and another little boy

running through the bubbles.

My brave boy coming down the

big slide!

Dawson driving the firetruck while holding the

missle he made.