A Giggle, A Curl...A Sweet Little Girl! First Grade Team Baby Shower

My amazing first grade team hosted my very first baby shower this past Saturday. I was looking forward to this day for so long. They've been working so hard secretly to make this perfect for me and Baby Charlotte. It turned out amazing!

My Mom and Mother-in-law were able to come in town and my sister Katherine and niece Becca drove over from Baytown. It was so special to have some family there. I also invited my closest friends from school. It was a wonderful turn out and I got some really amazing things. It's really making Charlotte's arrival seem real now that I know I will be using these gifts with her. :) Here are some fun pictures from the shower.

Welcome Table with Party Favors

Delicious Food

LOVED this! My friend who hosted had a chalkboard wall in her kitchen so they were able to write this cute quote on the wall... "Charlotte... you will fill our lives with sunshine... And our hearts with LOVE."

They also had set up a "scrapbook station." Every guest would get to fill out and create a pre-made scrapbook page for all of Charlotte's first's. All I have to do is fill it with pictures when she reaches one of her "firsts." There was "First Thanksgiving" "First Christmas" "First Bath" "First Vacation" "First Mother's Day" all the way until her her "First Birthday" What a special gift and cute idea! I can't wait to document her first life :)

My amazing team/hostesses
Corali, Kristi, Jeannette, Me, Cassie & Tori

Charlotte's two Grandmother's were there to help shower her with love :)
My Mother-in-Law and Mama

Me with my cute glass filled with delicious raspberry punch! Mmm!

Opening presents!

One of my favorite gifts was this trunk from my Mama. Inside was filled with blankets, quilts, shoes and clothes that were made for ME by my Grandmother that was given to my Mama at her baby shower when she was expecting me. How special it was to receive all of this and how special it will be for me to use with Charlotte. She has many treasures that will be passed down to her.

All of my presents! Clothes, diapers, toys, Baby Bjorn, Snug-a-bunny Bouncer, bottles, nipples, pacifiers & bows :)

My cute diaper cake that Kristi made! I don't want to take it apart.

Last but not least... another favorite gift! My friend Laura made this adorable wreath to hang on the hospital door to add decor and Charlotte's information when she is born. Later it will hang in her room and maybe be a future bow hanger... until now it's hanging on the crib.

I also wanted to mention that not only did my sweet Mother-in-law and Mama came in town but my wonderful Dad came too! While we were getting ready for the shower and for the weekend my SWEET Dad helped Drew put together the gorgeous crib, changing table, and install/hang the chandelier in the nursery. It's really starting to look like a baby girl's room but I don't want to post any pictures until the room is almost complete. We still have a long way to go... but I'm getting so eager to spend time in there with my precious little angel. I often love to sit in there rocking Lucy imagining rocking Charlotte. Three more months to go.... yippee!!

Second Trimester... Feeling GREAT!!

My second trimester has been a whirwind as well. It's been smooth sailing, no complaints, feeling wonderful and of course... growing :)

I was so relieved to hit the 12 week mark because after 12 weeks my morning sickness and other issues I was having were completely gone. I could now sit back and enjoy watching my belly grow and anticipate the first time feeling her move.

Since we knew it was a girl, it was so fun to begin to call the baby "her" "she" "baby girl" and of course "Charlotte." I began looking at bedding, cribs, changing tables, rocking chairs, and decor to start the process of putting her nursery together. We ordered all of the furniture during this second trimester period and most recently it has arrived and we've began to put it all together. Pictures will be posted once room is completely finished :)

My entire second trimester was during this summer so I couldn't complain on how I was feeling but I did complain of the heat. It was SUPER hot and carrying an extra little body in your body doesn't make it any easier to cool off. I did a lot of swimming and staying in doors catching up on good reads.

I also took a trip for work to NYC for a week to study at the Reading Insitute at Teacher's College, Columbia University. Going 20 weeks pregnant to NYC... I wouldn't recommend but it was a life changing experience. It also led me up to the east coast closer to my BFF Gina who had just moved to Charlottesville, VA. Since she is pregnant as well and I've been missing her so much, I flew from NYC to VA for a few days to visit, see her new home and city and of course... talk BABY TALK! We had so much fun and I will forever remember that special trip of visiting her. She has been my bestest friend since our freshman year in high school. We've shared everything together! From living in the same neighborhood, making the cheerleading squad together after our freshman year, both pledging Tri Delt in college and then planning our weddings pretty close to one another... we are now sharing the most amazing experience of all... Motherhood! I was completely thrilled when she returned from her long trip to Europe with her hubby that they were expecting as well and not only that 5 WEEKS after me!!! At the time of visiting her, we didn't know what she was having but now we know... and we have one more thing to share... we will have two beautiful girls that will hopefully grow up to be best friends as well.

20 Weeks and 16 Weeks

Once I came back to Texas I was able to go and visit my oldest friend that I've known. Mary and I have been friends since we were going into the first grade. She lived across the street from me growing up and she is almost like a sister. We've gone from being childhood friends, to planning our weddings together, to now motherhood. She just had her first baby July 3rd and it was a beautiful baby girl. Noelle Elizabeth Frady. I spent two days visiting her and we had so much fun reminicing our childhood and imagining our little girls one day playing with our dolls while we watch :)

Meeting Noelle for the first time... she was only 2 weeks old

Her precious little expressions... or as Mary calls it, "talking to the angels" :)

After literally traveling and being away from home for 3 weeks, I was due for my 4th doctors appt. This was supposed to be my 20 week appt where they go over all of the organs, body systems, check gender again, and make sure everything is forming correctly. Since I had been traveling, this was technically 22 weeks for me. The appt was on July 16th. Everything was perfect! It was an *extra* special appt again because not only did Drew come but my Mom was able to come and see Charlotte moving on the screen. We were so thrilled to see our baby girl for the 4th time and hear her beautiful little heart beating.

22 Weeks, our little Charlotte

Around 18 weeks, I felt Charlotte kick and move for the first time it wasn't very strong and no one could feel it but me but as the weeks have continued I have felt her even more. She is now kicking daily and Drew felt her for the first time after returning from my traveling. My other family members have also started to feel her kick. I just fall in love with her even more every time I feel her.

As summer is coming to an end, so is my second trimester. I had my last appt (5th in my pregnancy) last week on August 14th (and last appt during 2nd trimester!) It was my glucose appt where I had to drink a sugary mixture to test my blood sugar levels for gestational diabetes. Luckily, I passed and can continue to eat dessert & sweets. Did I mention that I constantly crave desserts & sweets??? They are my new best friends! But in moderation of course :)

I will now be entering in my third and last trimester next week! I cannot believe how fast it has flown by. I will now go to the doctor every two weeks up until the last month when I will go every week. School begins next Monday and I just had my very first baby shower on Saturday (more later on it!) Fun and exciting times are ahead but I always want to remember these last 6 months because they truly have been life changing and the most amazing experience of my life. Only 3 more months until our sweet little girl will be here. We can't wait!!

Growing... Growing... and Growing!

Weeks 10-16

Weeks 18-22



Weeks 23-26

IT'S A....

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!

Lucy's going to have a little SISTER in November!

My doctor appt to find out the gender was my 3rd appt. It was on June 4th and I was 16 weeks pregnant. We were really fortunate to have a doctor that does a gender test at 16 weeks, instead of the typical 20 week appt. I had previously had dreams that it was a girl but I wasn't trusting them because I just felt like it was too good to be true. I have ALWAYS wanted a daughter but I knew Drew had always wanted a son. We would have been happy with anything as long as it was healthy.

One dream in particular that I had was a "gender revealing" party at our house. In the dream the way we announced to our guests that it was a girl was I had tied a pink bow around Lucy's neck and let her run out into the crowd at our house. So I knew it was the perfect thing to do to announce our wonderful news of our expecting DAUGHTER!

This appt was *extra* special because Drew had not been able to come to the other two appts. Since we had decided to find out the sex that day, he HAD to come! After the routine part of the appt of weight, blood pressure, taking more blood for the rest of the genetic testing, hearing the heartbeat again (which was again very high... 163), it was FINALLY time to go to the ultrasound room. Drew and I were on pins and needles with excitment! I laid down on the table and the technician asked me what I thought the baby was. I told her I had dreamed it was a girl. She asked Drew and he just said he wanted the baby to be healthy and didn't have a preference. After looking at the baby move for awhile on the screen she says, "Well... you're dreams are coming true... It's a GIRL!"

I started crying right away and Drew just squeezed my hand. I couldn't believe it. Right then and there we decided we were going with the name we had chosen if it was a girl. We can't wait to meet Charlotte Grace Dueitt this coming November.

16 Weeks... It's a GIRL!

First Trimester... Nausea, Burps, Exhaustion..OH MY!

My first trimester was completely by the books. I was extremely nauseated ALL THE TIME! I would wake up and feel sick to my stomach. No food sounded appetizing and not to mention I kept burping these awful manly burps. What in the world was going on with my body??

I also was extremely tired all the time. Since this was the end of March/beginning of April, I was trying to wrap up the end of the year with my first graders. There were times when I would just lay my head down and my kids would ask me, "Mrs. Dueitt, did you not get a good night's sleep last night?" It was really cute. I didn't want to tell them yet because it was still very early. It wasn't until the beginning of May when I started showing a small bump that one of my student's asked me, "Are you having a baby????" I figured I couldn't hide it from them anymore. After telling them, literally every day they'd say things like, "Oh you're eating grapes as a snack... now you're baby is eating grapes!" They also had a running competition to see who could guess what it was, boy or girl. I wasn't finding out until summer so I kept telling them, "you'll find out soon when school starts in August...."

Because of my nausea and not wanting to eat ANYTHING but fruit, fruit & more fruit... cheeze-it's, pickles and drink anything citrus like orange juice, I lost almost 8 pounds. I was getting a little worried by my doctor reassure me everything was just perfect.

I had my second doctor's appt at the end of April. Because I had decided to do genetic testing and rule out any kind of worry, I was able to get another sonogram! We still didn't know what our little sweet pea was yet but it was amazing to get to see the baby again.

On May 3rd, we decided to tell the world (including FB world), that we were expecting a little miracle. We posted the picture above with, "Every good and perfect gift is from above"-James 1:17

Drew and I are blessed to announce this Thanksgiving we will be expecting our first little sweet pea!"

I finished up the school year the last week of June and was so happy to finally be reaching the 2nd trimester point. I was ready to be done with all of the sickness (it has mostly tapered off). I also was anticipating the date of June 4th when we would find out if sweet pea was a BOY or GIRL???



We're PREGNANT!

I wanted to document my pregnancy as much as possible on our blog but time has just slipped away. Let's go back a few months so I can share with you our wonderful EXPANDING news :)

On March 24 (Lucy's 3rd Birthday) I was at home and I had a feeling that morning that I could POSSIBLY be pregnant. I had taken pregnancy tests before and they had come out negative, but I decided to take one anyway because of this gut feeling I had AND... it was POSITIVE! I took 4 more later that day just to be sure. :)

Drew and I had been planning to try soon for a baby and this was definitely earlier than we had expected but nonetheless, we were THRILLED to be expecting our first little sweet pea in November.

I told my parents right away but we wanted to wait to tell anyone else until I had gone to the doctor for the confirmation. Since this was a Saturday I had to wait until Monday to call my doctor. It was the LONGEST weekend of my life. After going to the doctor on Wednesday of that week and we had the confirmation that we were definitly having a baby, I was already 6 weeks pregnant!

I made a copy of the sonogram. Drew and I wanted to surprise his parents (since this was their FIRST grandbaby). I put the copy of the sonogram in a cute little picture frame that had baby booties on the bottom and wrapped it up. We drove to Corpus that Friday after work and as soon as we arrived I told them we had a present for them and it was from Lucy. After opening the bag, they were completely surprised and filled with excitement! They even made the comment, "Lucy's going to be a big sister!" We soon after called Drew's sister, Codi, and my sister's, Amy & Katherine to spread the news. We were waiting to tell all of our friends though until my second doctor appt 4 weeks later just to be on the safe side.

Our sweet little miracle... due November 18, 2012