22 Weeks

We finally picked a name!  We have actually had this name in mind since we found out I was pregnant.  Shortly thereafter, I had a dream that we had a girl named Grayson Ann.  I told Shane my name idea but he said it would be better for a boy.  After doing some research, we discovered that Grayson means "son of a gray haired man".  With Shane being so old (hee hee) we figured it was perfect!  Plus he did not have any former students and I did not have any staff that have worked for me with that name.  We went back and forth on the middle name between Neal and James.  We finally settled on Neal which is my dad, brother and first nephew's middle name.  Since he will be carrying on the Bybee name, we wanted to find a way to honor my family and Neal is a tradition for the male side.  It has been so fun calling him by his name the last few weeks!

Shane and I are looking forward to some R & R this week at a resort off Lake Travis.  Once we get back, the nursery will start coming together!  My parents are coming up before the 4th of July to help Shane paint the room and put the crib together.  Then we can start focusing on buying other furniture and finally getting registered.  I have a book to help me pick some things out that I plan to read this week along with a book on what to do once he finally arrives!  Shane and I realized we might need to read up on that!  :)

We hope you love his name as much as we do!  I am just glad I can start referring to him as Grayson instead of Baby Boy Bybee!!

21 Weeks

Today I am 21 weeks along.  It seems to be going by alot faster and I find myself sort of panicking when I realize how close we are to having a baby boy in the house.  It's a good panic though!  :)

Baby Boy Bybee is the length of a carrot this week.  I am baffled how big he seems to be getting when my belly still seems so small.  I have only gained 4lbs since we originally found out we were pregnant back in March.  In order to stay in shape, I started to swim for 30 minutes at the pool Monday - Thursday with the girl that runs my swim lesson program.  We can usually knock out about 550-600 meters in that short amount of time.  It's not alot, but it keeps us active.

I can feel baby boy moving all the time now.  He is quite the active one.  Shane has yet to really feel him but I know it will happen soon enough.  We went to Barnes & Noble the other day to buy a few books so he can start reading to him.  He wants his boy to enjoy reading as much as he does!  We decided to pass on the literary classics for now and go with your typical Dr. Seuss!

Saturday night Shane took me out for a nice dinner at Kenny's Italian Restaurant in Addison.  (Sidenote: If you have not tried any of the Kenny's Restaurants (Woodfire Grill or Burger Joint) you need to do so.  All 3 restaurants have really great food).  Shane had flowers waiting for me at the restaurant from the florist that did our wedding. We kept the evening pretty low key and opted for some couch time in front of the tv when we got home.  Naturally I snagged a quick photo of us before we left for the night.

As I mentioned last week, we already purchased a few things for the nursery so I thought I would share what I bought.  Some have asked about a color scheme so I thought I would post a picture of the bedding.

The crib was ordered site unseen, aside from seeing it on the web.  No stores seemed to carry it but it had really great reviews, and I know a girl that has it, so I felt comfortable buying it.

I found the bedding at Land of Nod.  I saw it about 2 months ago and absolutely loved it.  Last week I realized they were not selling the quilt online so I had to call some stores in Illinois to track it down.  I think they are about to discontinue it so I am glad I ordered it when I did.  The circles are a combination of blues, greens and some gray so it should match the gray walls pretty well.

I found an alphabet set on Etsy that was really cute and wanted to buy it to hang on the wall over the crib.  It takes about 2-3 months for them to make it so I ordered this last week.  If you know me, you know how much I love letters!

As you can see, we don't necessarily have a theme to the nursery.  I just wanted to create a clean, simple space for Baby Boy Bybee to spend his first year.  Next month we plan to start buying more of the furniture and hopefully get registered for things that we need.  Only 19 weeks to go!

6 Year Anniversary

Today is our 6 Year Anniversary!  I am so lucky that I get to spend the rest of my life with one of the greatest men on earth.  He is going to be an amazing father and I can't wait to see how much he grows as a person once his son is born in just 4 months!

We're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate and spending some time at home relaxing over the weekend.  In a couple of weeks we are headed down to Austin to spend a few days at a resort on Lake Travis.  We decided to cut back this year and not take an adventurous anniversary trip since I am 5 months pregnant.  We'll spend some time by the pool reading and relaxing, drive around alittle and try some different restaurants.  It may be our last vacation for quite awhile so we thought we should make the best of it!

Happy Anniversary, Shane!  I love you!!

20 Weeks

It is really hard for me to believe we are halfway there!  In just another 20 weeks we will be able to meet our baby boy!

I am feeling really good now.  No more nausea!  I still get tired from time to time, but I seem to have more energy and make it through the day more easily.  I have started to feel baby boy Bybee move around quite a bit.  He is definitely going to be a soccer player with all of the kicks I have been feeling.  Shane felt a little movement for the first time on Sunday.  He will start to feel him more regularly in the coming weeks though.

I finally started to get things for the nursery.  The crib (thanks mom & dad!), bedding and an alphabet set for the wall have all been ordered.  Over the next couple of months we'll work on getting furniture and a few other decorative items.  Shane hopes to have it painted after we get back from our vacation in early July.  Once some final decisions are made on everything, I'll post some pictures so you can see it coming together.

Aside from baby boy Bybee excitement this past week, we had a few other things that are worth talking about.

Casey
My cousin, Casey, came in town last Tuesday to stay the night with us.  Casey and I are merely 11 days apart (Shane and Casey both have the same birthday - with a 10 year difference).  Over the years we have become pretty close although I only get to see him a couple of times a year since he is stationed in various places.  He joined the Marines after college and has lived all over (San Diego, Corpus Christi, Alexandria, Afghanistan).  Casey even missed our wedding since he was about to ship out to Afghanistan for a 9 month tour.  This visit was great, although sad at the same time.  On Wednesday he left for Japan and we will not get to see him again until 2014.  It is a 2 year term and they will not allow him to come home during that time.  We really enjoyed getting to see him, talk, and catch up on things.  Luckily we'll be able to communicate via email and facebook so he'll get to see pictures of his "nephew" once he arrives.  We will miss him but are so proud of him for defending our country all these years!

Maggie
On Thursday, June 7, Maggie Elizabeth Bruce was born at 10:30am weighing 8 lbs, 4 oz!  Maggie is the daughter of my close friend, Courtney, and her husband Billy.  They already have one of the cutest little girls in the world, baby Emma, who just turned 18 months.  I was able to go up to the hospital and spend alittle time with the family and also see alot of Courtney's family (mom, dad, step-mom and sister) who I have become fairly close to over the years.  I am so happy for Courtney, Billy & Emma on the newest addition to their family!

Ellen
Thursday evening, my close friend, Ellen, and her husband and son came to stay with us for the weekend.  They came up to do some fun things with their son, Ty.  On Friday they went to an aquarium and Legoland in Grapevine, then over to the Dallas Zoo on Saturday.  Although I had to work while they were here, we were still able to spend some quality time together in the evening.  Ellen is due on August 9 with another little boy so the two of us really enjoyed our time on the couch.  We love just sitting around and catching up on life.  John and Shane have become good friends over the years as well.  John is also a teacher and high school soccer coach so they have similar experiences and stories to share.  Ty is the sweetest little boy and we always enjoy getting to see him and spend time with him.  It was sad to see them go on Sunday but we can't wait to meet their little one and have our two boys be so close in age!

Last week was a crazy week but so great at the same time!  I am definitely looking forward to some downtime this week and our 6 year anniversary on Saturday!

19 Weeks

Today I am 19 weeks.  I can start to tell that my belly is growing and even found myself wearing some maternity shorts and shirts over the last few days.

Our biggest news this week is that Baby Bybee is officially a BOY!  Shane and I are super excited!  We went to the doctor yesterday and finally had an in depth sonogram.  He is measuring at 10 ounces and right at 19 weeks.  He looks like he is developing properly and seems to be healthy, which is probably the best news to us.  Here are some pictures of Baby Boy Bybee!

Profile of Baby Boy Bybee

Already a thumb sucker!

Baby Bybee's soccer feet!  :)

Confirmation that he is for sure a boy!

We are looking forward to an exciting week of family and friends!  I plan to have more posted on that later this week/weekend.

18 Weeks

First of all I have to apologize for no post on week 17.  I was pretty busy with work and I also got sick last week so I wasn't up for doing much of anything if it didn't seem required. 

We are officially 18 weeks today!  Baby Bybee is the size of a bell pepper this week which seems rather large to me given that my belly has not seemed to grow much.  Other people seem to notice it protruding more but I can't seem to tell a difference. 

I have been feeling alot better despite complete exhaustion.  I am usually in bed around 8:30pm and asleep not too long after that.  Last week I developed some cold/congestion stuff.  I think most of it was allergy related given that I was spending so much time outside training with my staff but some of it was my body telling me to take it easy.  Which I finally did and began to feel alittle more like myself.  The nausea seems to have disappeared for the most part but I still have days where I don't feel my greatest. 

The last couple of weeks have been fairly uneventful aside from work, but I won't bore everyone with those stories.  We have not had much time to focus on baby stuff but hope to start spending more time with it over the next month.  Next Monday we go back to the doctor for a full sonogram where we should find out if this little bambino is for sure a boy.  Shane and I already refer to him as our "son" so hopefully the sono will show the same results.  A few people have already started buying (and making) us some cute baby boy things!

We have had some visitors over the last week and we are looking forward to more next week.  My dad was here last week for a few days and Uncle Bobby came in this weekend to spend a night with us.  Since he moved away 2 years ago we do not get to see him as often as we used to (or would like to).  Next week my cousin, Casey, is coming to stay with us for a night before he flies out to Japan for 2 years.  He is in the Marines and being stationed in Okinawa.  We will definitely be sad that we won't be able to see him until he gets back in 2014.  :(  My best friend, Ellen, and her husband, John, along with their sweet little boy, Ty, are coming June 7 to stay with us for the weekend.  They are coming in town to do some fun things before they welcome a new little boy to their family in August.  I am definitely looking forward to seeing them and spending what time we can together. 

Be on the lookout for our post next week as it should contain some much needed photos of Baby Bybee!!

16 Weeks

Yesterday I was officially 16 weeks (4 months)!  For awhile it seemed like things were progressing slowly but now I feel like time is flying by.  I don't feel like I have changed/grown too much over the last few weeks.  I have only gained a total of 2 lbs since we found out I was pregnant.  I'm sure the nausea and inability to keep food down has contributed to that, but I am definitely eating more now.  :)

Baby Bybee is the size of an avocado this week.  He is growing fingernails and starting to move more, although it may be a couple more weeks before I can feel him.

We have not settled on a name yet.  There is one we like but we are keeping it under wraps for now.  It's so early that we do not want to rule anything out.  We're tossing different names out from time to time to see what feels/sounds right.  So many names are automatically ruled out due to students Shane used to teach or kids that have worked for me in the past.

Shane got me my first Mother's Day gift!  :)  I came home the other day and he asked for me to go into the office.  On the computer was the latest issue of the photoshop software that I use (it was in dire need of an upgrade).  He upgraded it for me and wrapped the computer with pink/blue ribbon (prior to us knowing it may be a boy).  My mom gave me the Willow Tree doll "Cherish" that is of a pregnant lady.  It was also nice to get various texts and messages from friends and family that afternoon.

Other than discussing names every now and then we have not done much baby stuff.  We will probably have more time to focus on it once Shane finishes school and I get the pool up and running.  I can't believe the summer is merely days away!  Hope you are all enjoying the nice weather!