28 Weeks: Hello Third Trimester

It hasn't been long since my last post, so there isn't much new info to share except we officially announced baby girls name and Mac started paining the nursery. He is determined to get it done today so I am pretty excited! Photos to come shortly I presume - sans furniture as that has yet to be decided. Oh! And I am officially in my third trimester. I am so excited. Some times I feel like i have been pregnant for so long and then others I feel like it is just flying by. All I know is I am more than ready and excited to meet our daughter. She is going to be so fabulous.

I can't remember when it happened, or if I already posted it, but Chrissy and I picked a date for the shower too! Meaning, if you would like to be there, please send your mailing address ASAP.

It's all coming together so very nicely now (which is a good thing since we are inside 3 months until her expected arrival). With that, I am going to get our registry started today. Mac and I did some pre-registry shopping together a bit back and took photos of a bunch of stuff we like, so I am going to knock that out while he paints her room.

For those of you who missed it, here is baby girl's name! I absolutely love it. There are a few nicknames being thrown out that I am not so fond of, but I guess I better get used to that ;)

I also got a wonderful surprise int he mail from one of my Chi Omega Alumnae friends. I am sure my expression was priceless when I opened it. I was completely surprised and so obsessed. I am going to have the cutest little legacy on the block!

I guess that's pretty much it. Let's get on to the weekly update.

Baby Mac Has A Name!

As I mentioned in my weekly update, baby girl finally has a name (again). For those of you who do not know, we had completely decided on a fabulous little name but, just a few days after announcing it to the families, found out that everyone else thought it was a fabulous name too ... for their little girls. Sadly, our carefully selected name had sky rocketed to the top of the most popular girl names for 2012. For those of you who aren't currently obsessed with baby names, it was Sophia. And with that, the name went out the window and our search for the perfect name started all over.

We had come up with a short list of names prior to coming up with Sophia, but after deciding on that as her name, neither of the alternates felt right. After weeks of coming up with new name combinations, we finally narrowed it down to a few top favorites once again and on Sunday I made Mac sit down so we could finalize our choice. He is so funny with decisions, we went back and forth for days and hours on end about narrowing it down, but couldn't get to just one. Then, when we decided it was time make the decision, he grabbed the list (3 names with several middle name options for each), went into the other room and, within minutes, came back with the name he wanted - and, luckily, I agreed. 

So, without further ado, our baby girl will be named ...

Photo Challenge Wednesday

Day 20: Tree Topper Rockefeller Tree Topper

Isn't it fabulous? I wish we could go to NY for Christmas!

27 Weeks: 3 More Months!

Sorry for the delay and what will be a very short and sweet post, but with the holidays, things have been so hectic around here. We had friends in town all week and then tons of family friend traditions to keep up with and this mama to be is exhausted! Luckily just 1.5 days of work this week whew!

I will say that I feel like I double in size daily. I know it''s in my head but some days I feel just HUGE! I am trying to enjoy it, because it truly is exciting. But when it is a struggle to zip by booties or pull up pants, I'm not so much loving it. This topic prompted the exploration into both my and Mac's size at birth and I'm hoping for my jeans at 7 lbs versus Mac's 8 lbs 10 oz. However, my sister and his sister were also in the 8's, so ... chances are little miss will follow suite. I'm still crossing my fingers that she takes after mommy, but I do love a chunky baby, so we will see.

All is all a fabulous Christmas with the families. Little miss got tons of cute threads and some other awesome items. And I never thought I would get so excited about a diaper bag, but my mother in law bought me this Petunia Pickle Bottom bag that I have been obsessing over and I am just in heaven. She also got a fabulous princess blanket from my daddy, some cute new shoes (and clothes) from her daddy and grandma (my mother-in-law), and an amazing, hand-made baby blanket from Mac's cousin. She is one lucky (and very loved) little girl.

Speaking of gifts, Mac got me a Canon Rebel T3i. I am over the moon. I am by no means a photographer and don't really have any intentions of making a serious hobby out of it, but I can't wait to start snapping pictures of our precious little one! I played around with it at Christmas today and with the minuscule amount that I know about the camera and photography in general, got some great pictures. So expect lots of fun visuals on the blog soon! Yay. Ok, I am struggling to keep my eyes open and have an early day in the office. On to the weekly update!

Oh - and guess who finally has a name! That's right, we finally picked her name after having to ditch the first one. I am in love with it, and her of course. We are still telling family and friends, but expect the official announcement very shortly! I know you are all just as excited as me. :)

Photo Challenge Wednesday

Day 13: Family

Me, hubby and baby bump ;) at Nicole's dad's bday celebration!

26 Weeks: Lovely Little Lashes

It has been quite the week for baby and me. On Wednesday I had lunch with Chrissy and Brodie  at PF Chang's and did little shopping. I just love spending time with this girl. She is a fabulous mommy and a great friend. I just hope I can be half as awesome as she is! Then that night I headed to the Suns game with Jadiann and, I must say, she scored us some pretty great seats. I am so glad I have been getting to see so much more of her lately. 

Friday night was our Annual Holiday party (relocated to Zach's house while I grow this tiny human) where almost of our closest friends were there to celebrate. We throw two large parties each year, my pink party and the holiday party. It was a bit sad handing over the reigns to Zach this year but it always amazes me how many new friends we add each time. And seeing it from totally sober eyes this time was quite an experience. Haha. But I did put on my big girl pants and stay out until 1:30. I was so proud. but yes, baby and i slept in SO LATE the next morning. 

Saturday was Taylor and Vantine's oldest son, Caleb's, birthday. Speaking of great moms ... that girl rocked the party games. Due to rain, the park party was moved indoors and Vantine had 15 or so little children running around her house, plus all their parents and a few of our friends. It was quite an event and she (and Taylor too) pulled it off like a pro. Later that night we picked up Amanda and Glass from the airport and they will be staying with us all week. Mac transformed our currently empty nursery into a pretty great little guest bedroom for them and the house is all picked up and decorated. I know it's silly, but little things like that make me oh so happy. :) And I am so happy to have them here! Our first official house guests since getting this place all to ourselves. I feel like such a grown up. Which I guess is about time since this little one will be here faster than we know it. I just wish I had planned my PTO better, instead of the random days I took off the past few weeks I could have used a fe days this week to hang with them instead of going to work.

As you can see, a busy, busy week for the Mac Family, but you know I love staying busy - so I am happier than ever of course. Now ... on to the weekly update!

Photo Challenge Wednesday

Props to me! It appears I was able to get another whole week under my belt with this photo challenge. I'm not sure I'm  fan of each day's challenge as I seem to be seeking out photos or opportunities just for the sake of completing the day's photo goal. Oh well, at least it adds a little variety to my Instagram stream I guess, right? So, without further ado. Here are this weeks photos. For a refresher, visit last week's blog to see the full list of photo challenges.

Day 6: Shopping

Since I don't make a habit of having photographic evidence of the money I spend (like it's going out of style), here are my latest documented purchases. Baby clothes, shoes and Birchbox - what more could a girl want?!

25 Weeks: Sugar & Spice (Ultrasound Photos Too!)

Well this week started off with some bad news. The name we had decided on soared to the top of the 2012 most popular names list so it's officially out. :( While it wasn't the name I always thought I would give to my little girl, I really loved it. Normally I wouldn't care and just go with what I want anyway; however, I have no desire to have 10 other little girls in her class with the same name. It's funny, we had narrowed our long list to the top three and made a decision from there so I had originally thought we would just go with one of those, but now they don't seem good enough, so the hunt starts again. We have another list started but it's even harder making a decision the second tie around. Have a suggestion? :) Leave it in the comments below. At this point we can use all the help we can get. Thinks pretty and classic.

One win this week though, was all the painting that got done in the downstairs of our house! Just two more walls of our tan color and we can move onto the reddish brown accents walls. WooHoo! It's been quite some time in the making and there will still be lots of work to do to the house once this phase of painting is done, but I am elated. I can't describer the overwhelming joy I get walking into my house now. I think I mentioned it in the last blog, but it is so nice to have each room picked up and put together. My kitchen, , living room and dining rooms haven't been this consistently clean since I moved in with Mac (and whatever roommates were with us at the time) and I can hardly wait to get rid of the excess furniture in the remaining rooms and have them follow suit. We may have a few items up for grabs here shortly for those that are interested, so keep your ears open. 

Speaking of that, if anyone wants a nice 60" flat screen TV (similar to this one) let me know. Well on to the bump!

Photo Challenge Wednesday

For months I have watched friend after friend slowly jump on the photo-a-day trend. I didn't really understand it much until I looked through my Instagram and realized I have very little variety in my pictures lately. So, here I am hoping on the trend. I figured, instead of just limiting the fun to Instagram and an occasional Facebook share, why not incorporate a weekly round up of photos on here to breathe a little extra life into the blog. I hope to get more creative as the challenges go on and add a few fun photos here and there to spice it up, but for now it's probably best I follow the KISS method and just try to keep up with it. So, here it goes ...

The Challenge

24 Weeks: Look ... A Bump!

It's finally here! The baby bump that is. It's been slowly making an appearance for the past few weeks, but there is no denying it now. While many of my clothes stopped fitting, making it very difficult to get dressed these days, I couldn't be happier. Now it's pretty apparent that I am pregnant so my self conscious thoughts of, "does everyone just think I am a little chunky?" can be subsided. There is no mistaking it now. Well at least not to me.

For those of you who do not know, we have had roommates non stop since graduating college. Yes, even after getting married. Don't get me wrong, we had some fabulous roommates along the way, but the more times I come home to my house the way I left it in the morning, the happier I get. I admittedly slacked majorly on the cleaning responsibilities around the house because it would just get so frustrating to clean a room and the very next day it is a mess again - I gave up very quickly. But now, when I clean a room I know it is more than likely going to stay that way (with the occasional poke in the side to my loving husband). My downstairs has never been more consistently cleaner than it is now and it makes me so happy. To add to this happiness, husband is finishing painting the living room, family room, entry way and upstairs hallway this weekend. My house is finally becoming a home and just in time for our next (permanent) roommates arrival at the end of March. 

On a side note, I pretty much have at least one day off of work a week for the rest of the year and this girl plans to do some major purging, organizing and decorating during those quite days home all by myself. If any of my stay-at-home mommy friends wants to drag me out to the real world for a breakfast or lunch date text. Plus, I could use some help figuring out how the heck to decorate these newly painted and organized rooms! There is so much to this grown up stuff ... heehee. 

Pictures of my shiny, newly painted rooms to come. yay! But for now, here's the weekly update. I did have my last bi-weekly ultrasound, but (how is this for lazy) the photos are downstairs and I haven't snapped digitals of them just yet, so we will postpone until next week or a follow-up post.