Family Baby Shower

Last weekend my sister-in-law and my great aunt (Gram's sister) hosted a wonderful baby shower for me and Paul.




There were a lot of people from my family and Paul's that couldn't make it and we missed them being there but had a great time with those who were able to come.








We got a lot of nice things for Gray. My grandparents, aunt and cousins all went in and got us our pack and play. Definitely a necessity and we were so excited to get it! We also got our diaper genie, Gray's first set of bottles, a really nice boppy, and lots of little clothes, sleepers, etc.



My cousin Laura painted this growth chart. I LOVE it and can't wait to hang it in his room.



Paul's parents got Gray these adorable overalls. After I opened them Paul started telling me about how he wore the same ones when he was little and even had a hat to match. The next gift we opened was a matching hat. I'm already loving it but then Paul's mom told me that it was actually Paul's hat from when he was a little boy. It immediately became so much more special.



We sure have been blessed by our showers and we even have two more left-one at Paul's school and my friends are throwing me one next weekend. We are so very thankful!

Maternity Pics

Some of our most favorite, which happens to be a large number...

















Paul and I were so thrilled with how the pictures turned out. I had mixed feelings about doing maternity pictures and definitely didn't want them bad enough to pay a professional photographer. But my friend Lindsey who loves photography, insisted on doing them for us. I am so glad she did because I know we will treasure these forever. There were so many ones that we loved, I decided to make a Shutterfly book because I know when Gray comes, all of our picture frames will be replaced :) We have a couple of them framed for now and we plan on getting one blown up in a canvas and hanging it in the nursery.

We could never thank Lindsey enough for her time and generosity. Can't wait to see her skills at work when our sweet little Gray arrives!

31 weeks

This week Gray is a little over 16 inches long, which means he's grown over a half inch in just a week! He weighs a little over three pounds and my sources say he is about to enter another growth spurt, gaining almost a half a pound every week from here on out. By the looks of my belly, I didn't know the last growth spurt ever stopped. Perhaps mama's just going through a growth spurt. Either way, the comments have not begun to cease by any means. I have to write about a few of them because it's honestly quite entertaining. And if it's funny now, I know it will be funny for me to look back on later.

A week or two ago Paul and I were checking out at the grocery store and the cashier looked at my belly, smiled and then asked me when I was due. When I told her June, I seriously thought she was going to come over the cash register. Her response-"JUNE?! There is no way you are due in June. You are so big. He won't make it that long, there is no way he will make it that long." I'm already stunned at this point but it gets much better. Then she starts telling me how a girl that she works with had a baby a couple of weeks ago and she wasn't "nearly as big as you are". And as if that still wasn't enough, she then starts calling down to all of her other cashier friends and telling them to "look at how huge I was". I felt like I was on display at the Dixie Classic Fair-you know like the shortest woman alive or the half horse, half woman. I honestly should have started asking for a dollar for every person she called to "get a good look at me". Paul and I both never could get any words out. We just stared at her the whole time in disbelief and couldn't seem to come back with anything. When she finally shut up long enough, we started walking out and the sweet little thing had the nerve to say "make sure you bring him in to meet us when he's born". Um, yeah right. Paul and I laughed about it the rest of the day. We just try to go with "bless her heart, she just doesn't know any better" and wait for the next rude person to come along. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard the words "dang", "huge", "are you sure there aren't two in there?" and "JUNE?!", Paul and I would be having some nice date nights. Anywho, I just keep telling myself that my big belly has to mean we have a healthy, growing boy :)

Back to week 31.

I have actually been written out of work this week. It's a long, weird story that I'll try to sum up as best as I can. Last summer in Africa I hit my shin really hard on the tile corner of the shower. A day or two later I had the biggest, nastiest bruise on the side of my foot on the same leg. It didn't hurt at all until a couple of days later. Between the bruise and the crazy swelling I got on the plane on the way home, a few people told me they thought it could mean I had a blood clot. I went to the hospital and they ruled that out and said a hematoma had formed from blood that went down my leg from hitting my shin. The doctors said it would just go away. Although the bruise got much better, it never went away completely. There have been days here and there where it has hurt but not consistently enough to worry or do anything about. But the past couple of weeks it's been hurting pretty bad and there is a good size knot there. So I decided to go to the doctor to get it checked out. The doctor thinks that the hematoma never healed the way it should have and that it has turned into a hard mass or scar tissue. He told me I needed to stay off of my feet because it was only going to make it worse. So he wrote me out for this week until I have some tests done and see a podiatrist. I had an ultra-sound done yesterday and haven't heard back from that yet. I should hear from them today and should also get an appointment scheduled with a podiatrist. My doctor made it seem like if there isn't any treatment they can do while I'm pregnant, he would write me out of work for the rest of this year. My back was already killing me and when my foot started hurting bad on top of that, work and being on my feet for 10-12 hours every day really was getting unbearable. So, we'll see what I find out this week. It's been nice to be home though. I can do a few things around the house but as soon as my back starts hurting, I can lay down and get immediate relief. It's been so nice not to feel physically miserable the past two days.

I'll update about my foot and work when I know something.

Nursery, take 2

Despite the many stopping-to-rest-my-back breaks, we got quite a bit done in the nursery last week while we were out on spring break. Our glider came in on Tuesday and I nearly peed my pants when I got the call. I absolutely LOVE it! It is so comfortable and I love how the color turned out with the rest of our stuff. A HUGE thank you again to Mom and Gram for such a generous baby gift to us!!!


It is very subtle, but there is a sweet little gingham pattern in the fabric.


We got most of the bedding put on and in place since getting it at our shower last weekend.


Since we bought the furniture used, we had quite a few places to touch up from two precious boys who used it as a teething tool. We finally got that done too. I'd found someone on Etsy who hand painted letters to match our bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. I was so excited about it until the price added up to total 100 bucks! And that's for a four letter name!! We couldn't justify that so it was off to plan B. We went to AC Moore and Michael's and bought about 6 or 7 different sets of letters, brought them home and decided on the perfect ones and then took the other ones back. Then we took our bedding to Lowes and matched up a paint color and bought a sample size for 3 bucks. The letters had to have three coats of paint but otherwise they were very easy to do and the total cost was just under $20. Way better than 100!


Then I finished organizing and putting away everything that we've gotten from our showers so far.



I just love this shelf, which was also included with the furniture we bought from Lindsey and her hubs. The frame on the top was made by and sent to us from Jonathan and Laura, Paul's brother and his wife. I love anything hand-made and the colors could not be more perfect in the nursery. I just love it and can't wait to see sweet baby boy's hand print in there.


That pretty much made things a wrap until we have an overhead light/fan installed, find a small lamp for the night stand and find and/or hang something on the last empty wall. I'm thinking we will hang a picture or two from our maternity shoot and save the rest for pictures of Gray. Speaking of maternity pics, my friend Lindsey that you hear about quite often, did a maternity photo session with us last week. She has a super fancy camera and a love for photography, both of which have been a huge blessing to the Hicksters. She already has a ton of newborn picture ideas and I CANNOT WAIT for that!! She is working on editing our maternity pictures now so as soon as we get them I'll post our favorites-which from looking at them on her camera, that's going to include approximately 75 pictures ;)

Like with the first round of pictures, these were also taken with my brother's wide angle camera.


You can get a better idea of the actual size of the room in this picture.


Especially considering how small the room is, I am so happy with how it turned out. I find myself wandering in there quite a bit lately. I can't wait to be rocking our sweet little man in that cozy little room. And even feeding and changing dirty diapers at all hours of the night :)

30 weeks!

Only 10-ish more weeks to go! I am feeling super pregnant lately. Gray is getting bigger by the day and he has dropped very low already. The combination of the two is not only making the back pain more unbearable, but sleeping, walking, waddling, going up the stairs, and the rest of the typical daily physical activities are getting harder and harder. Paul and I had a week off last week for spring break. There were a few days when I couldn't get off the couch for more than an hour at a time because my back was killing me. Working a minimum of 50 hours a week for another 10 weeks is going to be interesting. I am hoping the doctors won't make me go that long because honestly, I don't physically see how I can.

Enough about big mama. Gray weighs about three pounds this week and is about 15 and a half inches long. His movement is beginning to be uncomfortable at times. Like when his sweet little feet are mashing into my ribs. Bless his heart though, with me being so short it's not like he has a ton of room in there. And even when it hurts, I still delight in his movement SO much! I still can't wait to get in bed at night and wait for him to start bustin a move. Based on his movements and being able to have a good idea of what body parts are digging into me, it seems as though he is head down already but I guess I won't know that for sure until I go back to the doctor in three weeks. I never got a call about my glucose test, so praise God for no gestational diabetes!

Here's mama at 30 weeks

Shower #2

We headed to Sneads Ferry over the weekend for a shower at Paul's parents house. My mom and Gram went with us, which made our little road trip even more fun. There were a lot of older women at the shower that have known Paul since he was little and have had a lot of influence on his life. Most of them I either know or had met at our wedding shower three years ago. We had a delicious brunch and a wonderful time visiting with everybody.



My cousin lives in Wilmington so since she was so close, she decided to come to this shower rather than my family one that is here next weekend. I hadn't seen her since January so I was happy to get to spend some time with her too. I sure hated not seeing our precious godson though.


Paul's mom's best friend is an excellent baker and made my favorite, coconut cake, with the most adorable elephant on top.


It's not often that my family and Paul's gets to be together but those times sure are special!


Gray got a lot of really nice things. Paul's parents ordered our bedding a long time ago and we got to see it when we were there in January but I was soooo excited to see it again and be able to bring it home!



My mom has been knitting away since the day she found out we were having a baby. I'd gotten a sneak peak of one blanket that she started on before we knew we were having a boy. Other than that though, she has been very secretive about what she's been working on. I was hoping we'd get something she made at this shower. We got the finished blanket that we'd peaked at before...


It is so beautiful and special to me. I have watched my mom knit blankets for most of my friends for years now and dreamed of the day she'd be knitting for my kids. That day is here and y'all, it is so, so special. On top of the blanket she made these stuffed animals.



I opened them one by one and just couldn't believe my eyes. She's never made anything like this before so I wasn't expecting anything like this. These are our four favorite African animals. It's just amazing to me that someone can HAND make this kind of stuff. I could never put into words how much I treasure these already. The thought, love and time that I know went into making these is so precious to me. It was hard not to cry like a baby in front of everyone at the shower!

We also got a lot of diapers, wipes, really cute clothes and some needed items off of our registry. The shower was so much fun and we were blessed by everyone's company and generosity with their gifts. My family is doing a shower next weekend so we already have another one to look forward to!

Have I mentioned how BLESSED we are?

Week 29

Weighing in at almost three pounds, Gray is now a little over 15 inches long. His brain is growing a lot these days, which means his head is too. His lungs are continuing to mature and his bones are getting stronger. Get this crazy fact-every day about 200 milligrams of calcium is being deposited into his skeleton. Good thing this big mama has been drinking lots of milk lately.

I went to the doctor on Friday for my monthly check-up and glucose test. The juice for the glucose test wasn't nearly as bad as everyone told me it would be. Matter of fact, I thought it pretty much tasted like normal fruit punch. They said unless I failed the first screening, I wouldn't hear anything back from them. I haven't heard anything back from them yet, so I'll take that as a good sign. The doctor told me she was pretty certain the back pain I'm having is from my sciatic nerve. And like I was told when I went last Monday, there isn't anything they can do for it other than recommend massage therapy and/or a chiropractor. I plan on getting as much rest as possible while we're out for spring break this week, hoping that will help get me through three more weeks of work until I go back to the doctor. Everything else checked out good at my appointment. I had gained a few more pounds in the last month putting me at 23 so far. Yikes! That is really close to what I wanted to gain total and I still have a ways to go. I guess that bowl of ice cream I had yesterday means I'm not stressing out too much about it ;)

No picture to go with week 29 but just imagine me bigger than I was at 28 because I swear I'm growing by the day!

We got our glider in yesterday so hopefully by the end of this week I can get a few pics up of the nursery.