Decisions have been made!

Yesterday we ordered the furniture for the nursery! After a long debate we finally found something we liked. We ordered the furniture in black and it will be in in 8-12 weeks.The nursery walls are going to be the light blue in his fabric. The circle colors are going to be black, white, green, and the darker blue. We are going to put up the cornice board in between the blue and white colors. Scott will design the circles, choose the colors, and then have decals made. He said he was not going to paint those circles. I mean, he thinks they would be hard.

The nursery walls are going to be the light blue in his fabric. The circle colors are going to be black, white, green, and the darker blue. We are going to put up the cornice board in between the blue and white colors. Scott will design the circles, choose the colors, and then have decals made. He said he was not going to paint those circles. I mean, he thinks they would be hard.

Again, the fabric which is the inspiration for it all. I am not an animal or sports person. No cute little baby stuff for Reece. I cannot wait to see this come together!

33 Reasons

Why it is good to workout while you are pregnant. A friend of mine gave me FitPregnancy magazines when she found out I was expecting. She had these while she was pregnant and really enjoyed them. I was so excited at first that I flew thru them all. The other night I thought I should go back and look at some of them and see what information was now more beneficial to me since I am farther along.

On the front of one of the magazines there was a featured article, 33 reasons you need to exercise now! Since I have been so faithful with my workout regimen I was curious what the 33 reasons were. All of the reasons seemed good enough to me, but there were a few that stood out in my mind.

#1. Labor and delivery may be easier. There is no surprise in my lack of pain tolerance. I really try not to think about this part of the pregnancy. Anything that might help with this process I am willing to try.

#10. You're more likely to avoid a forceps delivery, C-section or other intervention. I know that I do not have control over the delivery process once it comes, but I really don't want a c-section or any intervention method to be used. Yes, I know at that point in time I will just want him out and I won't care how.

#12. You'll get positive attention. So I don't care about the positive attention. What struck me about this one is that people at the gym are impressed to see a pregnant woman exercising. For me, I am just hoping they can tell I am pregnant and not someone with a pudgy tummy. I also know I am impressed myself when I see pregnant women exercising.

#14. Your labor may be shorter. They say your delivery is a lot like your mothers. Well my mom was in labor with me for over 20 hours. I really don't think Scott and tolerate me in pain for 20 hours....or me for that matter.

#20. You'll bounce back faster after delivery. Since I already plan on running a 1/2 marathon in the fall of next year, this one is really important to me.

#23. Your child may have a healthier heart. "The developing babies of prenatal exercisers have more efficient hearts than those of non-exercisers, and this higher cardio fitness level seems to last into the childhood years." Since Scott and I are already placing bets on what sports Reece will be playing this is important for us!

#27. You may be at lower risk for the No. 1 cause of premature birth. Of course we can't wait to meet and hold Reece, however we want him to be full term when he arrives. God does have his own plans, but hopefully prayer and exercise will work.

#30. You look better. Vain I know. "Exercise increases blook flow to your skin, enhancing that pregnancy glow. Plus, when you're calmer and fitter it shows."

While exercising I wear a heart rate monitor to make sure I am not pushing myself too far. I honestly feel so much better after I exercise. I feel like it has helped with my hormones(mood).

Nursery Ideas

Reece's nursery is coming along. By coming along I mean we did manage to clean out the room. We are in the process of cleaning out the closet. Hopefully over Christmas break his room starts coming together a little bit more. Mom is already working on Reece's bedding and I cannot wait to see it!

I have been looking at ideas for the nursery and am having a hard time deciding. The main issue is we want to move back to W-S. So keeping this in mind I don't want to do anything too crazy in his room and turn people off from the house.

Here are some ideas of paint ideas I have found. Keeping in mind we still haven't found any furniture we like. We know it will be dark and modern. I am open for ideas so if you see something you think we might like please don't hesitate to send them my way.

The main pattern in his bedding.

I like the chair rail around the middle of the room with two different wall colors. I cannot decide if the monogram is too feminine.

The stripes on the wall are very simple yet the focal point of the room.

I would use black, white, and green for the stripes.

I LOVE the border around the room. I don't know if I would want to use circles or carry out some of the same shapes from his bedding.

25 weeks and growing

Isn't the picture so much better with the dog that desperately needs a haircut? We are growing it out so she can donate it to locks of love for dogs.
Week: 25 and 1 day

Gender: Boy. Reece Allen Carrigan.

Size: He is now the size of a rutabaga. At approximately 13.5 inches long and over 1.5 lbs he continues to grow. Reece keeps a steady heart beat at 143.

Movement: His moves are much stronger and defiantly more noticeable. I can now feel him during the day. I have also noticed a pattern in his movements. He moves at night when I lay down and in the morning when I wake up. What makes his movement so different this week is that I can feel him kicking and punching(stretching) his arms at the same time. There are kicks in the bottom left side of my stomach and punches in the top right side of my ribs. I have decided that he is laying at an angle and seems to be quite comfortable. The best kick was while I was laying on the sofa with Trixy in my lap. Her bottom was up against my stomach when Reece started kicking. Her little butt would go up in the air. She turned her head around to look at me with this what in the world is going on expression. Next time I hope to be able to record Reece already annoying his older sister.

Clothes: My next door neighbor delivered Christmas early this year. In March she had her last child. Sunday she gave me a rubbermaid and bag full of maternity clothes! I have only gone out and gotten a few things, so she more than tripled my clothing collection:) Right now my biggest problem is finding workout clothes to wear. If you go up a size it is baggy all over except for in the stomach and still seems too short. I found a company that sells maternity workout clothing and was contemplating buying a unitard. But once I really thought about it I decided I didn't want people to stop going to the Y just so they wouldn't run into me.

Exercise: Every time I run I thank God that I am still able to run and be active. I am still running, cycling, lifting weights, and doing the elliptical. Also once a week I do a short prenatal yoga workout I downloaded offline. Which is my exercise for tonight along with some strength training:) A fellow pregnant co-worker asked me yesterday if I was still lifting weights. She said she remembers how her 8 lb. baby would make her arms tremble after holding her so long. So to keep my arms toned for Reece I am still doing my much dreaded exercise....arms!

Interesting facts: #1. Spider veins are continuing to grow on my left leg. When I wear my compression tights to run my veins seem to be better and not as dark.

#2. In case you couldn't tell I am carrying Reece very low. Sometimes when I stand up he is putting so much pressure on my bladder I think I won't be able to make it to the restroom.

#3. My hair is getting thicker. Or I am not shedding as much. Either way it seems to be a bonus right now. I do know that it will fall out after he is born, but I can enjoy it while it lasts.

#4. Scott and I registered Sunday at Babies R Us. We were there for 2.5 hours and completely overwhelmed. I had to call on an expert who was our life saver while registering. Cambria created a registry list for us to follow. Without this Reece would have a stroller, car seat, play yard, and breast pump. Thank you Cambria for all of your help!

And the most annoying toy of the year goes to......

Cookie my playful pup!!!!!!!!

Hailey told me that this was one of her top 3 gifts she wanted for Christmas. So Scott and I wanted to get her this dog. Long story short after buying Hailey's we learned Cassie wanted one also. We couldn't give it to one but not the other. We went back to buy Cassie's dog and saw them on sale. The $60.00 was only $30.00. We bought two dogs and were going to take the first one back.

This time they had the dogs on "try me" mode. This mode is an awaful idea. The *&^%# dogs go off anytime they hear noise or feel any type of movement. We walked through the store with dogs whinning and barking. As if that wasn't bad enough when we got them in the car they didn't STOP.

I was so ill that I climbed to the back to turn the "try me" mode off. Well the dog is packaged so well you can't turn it off without destroying the box. I thought I was going to pull my hair out. What does Scott do? Laughs! He was laughing at me. He said he doesn't understand how I can listen to girls giggle and talk all day but 2 dogs make me want to throw myself out of the car.

Last night I thought I would wrap the kids toys. Do you know even wrapped those *&^%# dogs still make noise? Last night I left them whinning under the tree. I felt bad for my poor two live dogs, but they didn't seem to mind. Then this morning I was by the front door and turned off the lights to the house when I left for work and guess what went off. Yep, two barking dogs.

All I have to say is Hailey and Cassie better love these dogs and play with them all the time.

5 years ago

5 years ago Scott and I vowed to spend the rest of our lives together and to love each other conditionally. Neither one of us can believe how quickly 5 years has gone by. We also cannot believe how much is changing in our lives.

The day I married Scott Allen I thought there was no way I could possibly love him even more than I did at that exact moment. Little did I know. Over the past 5 years, our love for each other has only continued to grow. Now with Reece Allen on the way I have fallen more in love with Scott than I ever thought possible.

So to celebrate our anniversary we headed to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. Friday we slept in and watched the Today show. Once we were ready to get up we headed out for a jog and then I made us banana nut pancakes for breakfast. We packed and then headed up the mountain.

Once we arrived at the Grove Park we headed straight to the spa where we enjoyed a relaxing and wonderful afternoon. Friday evening I was treated to an 80 minute maternity massage. Reece and I both enjoyed the relaxing evening. Reece moved for the whole first half. It made it kind of hard to relax, but I enjoyed every minute.

We found a cozy spot to the right of this photo. There we enjoyed a nap, talk about the future, and reading. For a little bit we enjoyed sitting by the fire reading.

After the massage I met back up with Scott and we headed up to our room. It was after 9 so we decided to order room service and call it an evening. Spending the day together away from phones, computers, dogs, work, and house work was just what we needed!

Saturday we started off the morning with a quick work out at the gym. We needed to burn off a few advanced calories we were about to consume at the breakfast buffet. For breakfast we throughly enjoyed ourselves and the delicious food we ate.

For the first time we skipped the Biltmore Estate. Instead we spent the day shopping at the Biltmore Village and then going to downtown Asheville. Our highlight of the day was the last store we went to, Olive and Kickin'. Here we sampled balsamic vinegars and olive oils. We brought home a traditional balsamic vinegar, jalapeno white balsamic vinegar, tuscan olive oil, and lemon olive oil.

After shopping we went back to our room and got ready for the evening. We had an early dinner seating at 6pm, which worked out perfectly because we skipped lunch. We were so full from breakfast we weren't hungry until dinner anyways. We ate at Sunset Terrace where we enjoyed a delicious meal and wonderful service. Scott got the crab cakes which where made with all crab meat. Oh my they were the best crab cakes we have ever eaten. I had an almond encrusted trout with crab meat on top. For dessert we split pumpkin cheesecake.

We were so full from dinner we needed to walk around the hotel. Lucky for us they had the gingerbread houses stationed all over. Once our tummies weren't so miserable we quickly grabbed two rocking chairs in front of the fireplace and rocked for a while.

There we were entertained by the man that tended to the fire. None of us would want his job, but he certainly did a great job keeping the fire going and entertaining us at the same time.

Now that is a serious flame.

More pictures from Sunday to come in a later post.

What's cookin in the kitchen?

Last week I made portabella mushroom sandwiches. I had no recipe in mind, which is why I was so surprised at how delicious these sandwiches turned out. The best part was they were easy and quick.

I used a grilling skillet to cook the mushroom caps with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I toasted bagel thins while the mushrooms cooked. To the sandwiches I added fresh spinach, pesto, roasted red peppers, and goat cheese. Holy Yum!

While at the grocery store I found sweet potato puffs. I know how much Scott loves sweet potatoes so I thought we would give them a try. I drizzled a little bit of honey and sprinkled cinnamon sugar over them. They were really good, but all they are is sweet potato tater tots.

If you still have not made the pumpkin roll we highly recommend it. We enjoyed a slice and a hot cup of apple cider with mulled spices the other evening.

I tried my hand at making my own peppermint bark. I found a recipe in Health magazine which seemed simple enough, so I thought I would give it a try. Whitney gave me a few tips to use while making the bark which came in handy. The bark is so easy to make and I even had Scott's help.

First melt 1 bag of semi sweet chocolates. Along with the chocolates add a little bit of canola oil and vanilla extract. Then spread the chocolate on wax paper placed on a cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

While the chocolate is firming in the freezer melt 1 bag of white chocolate morsels with canola oil. Add in some crushed up candy canes to the white chocolate.

Pull out the chocolate and pour the white chocolate mixture on top. Sprinkle the remaining crushed candy canes over the white chocolate and place in freezer until completely hard. Once the chocolate is hard you can break up to pieces to get your peppermint bark.

Enjoy!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Last Sunday Scott and I headed up to Motsinger Farm in Sparta in search of the perfect Christmas tree! Last year we had snow while picking out our tree. No snow this year, but it was chilly and a little windy. Perfect weather to walk around the mountain to find the tree for Christmas 2011.

Picking out a Christmas tree with me can be a daunting task. It has to be tall, full, straight, and perfect. So this year Scott decided in order to move along the tree picking process he was going to voice his opinion on the trees. I was really surprised at first, but then he said he didn't want to be there all day finding a tree so he thought he would help me out.

Scott making sure the tree wasn't going to fall off on our way home. I think he tied the tree down for almost 10 minutes. This was going nowhere.

Once home and the tree up we started transforming our home. We put the tree in a new location in hopes that not being beside the fireplace means it wouldn't dry out as quickly. This year we have a few new decorations that I cannot wait to share with you. Some are pretty and some have a lot of meaning behind them.

TaDa

Reece's first Christmas ornament. I call him my little monkey because of how much he moves around. I found this ornament and had to buy it for him. So while we still have a few more months until we meet him, every time I look at the tree I think of him.

A Moravian star finally! Growing up every Christmas we put a Moravian star outside our front door. Being from W-S it is very common to see these hanging from homes at Christmas. I have wanted to put one up for years, but had not found the perfect star to hand inside our house. While in Old Salem with my family Ashley and I both feel in love with the same star and bought matching ones.

Banister in entry hallway.

23 weeks

No awkward picture of me standing in the hallway this time.

Name: Reece Allen Carrigan

Movement: Reece has been moving a lot during the day. I can feel his little kicks and movements in the middle of class. It takes all I have to not put my hand on my stomach and wait for the next movement. (This is what I do at home.) I still will lay in bed in the mornings until he stops moving. I know one day I will get tired of having him move, but right now every time feels like the first time. Scott is able to feel him move now. There are sometimes when Reece will stop moving while Scott's hand is on my stomach. Once Scott's hand moves then Reece will start moving agin. I find great humor in this, but Scott gets a little aggravated.

Clothing: Maternity pants are the BEST thing in the world! They are so comfortable, I would wear pants like this even after Reece comes along. I kept all of my pants that I was wearing before I lost a lot of weight and am still able to fit into those for right now. At the rate my stomach keeps growing I don't know how much longer they will last. Workout clothing I have decided they need to make for pregnant ladies. I don't want to be the lady at the gym whose stomach is peeking out from underneath the top that is way too short. Bathing suit, Yuck. Scott and I are celebrating our 5 year anniversary on Friday at the Grove Park Spa. I will be wearing a one piece don't worry. But this bathing suit is one that I have already this could be scary.

Emotions: I must brag on myself for this one. I would say that I am more hormonally normal pregnant than I am on non pregnant. Not much makes me cry. Well unless you count a really sweet Christmas commercial about a Solider watching his daughter walk and wish him Merry Christmas through some electronic device. After finding out Scott and I were expecting I fell in love with him even more. Now watching him wait for Reece to move, smile when his name is mentioned, or ask how Reece is doing, makes me fall in love with him all over again.

Next week I have my 24 week appt. and I will have more to update.

An afternoon in Old Salem

For me Old Salem is a childhood memory. I remember going there on field trips in elementary school and going with my family. One of my fondest memories was the candle tea at Christmas time. As a family we decided to do the candle tea after we ran the Mistletoe. After standing in line for 40 minutes we learned we had another 1 hour and 30 min. wait. We all decided that we would rather walk thru the shops, visit the bakery, and take pictures than stand in line for over 2 hours.

We did not regret our decision and had just as much fun walking around the town and having our own family photo session. Next year we might try to show up a little bit earlier to hopefully beat the rush. But until next year we have a lot of memories from Saturday's visit to Old Salem.

Ahhhhh. The best bakery for sugar cake, sugar cookies, and lovefeast buns.

Mom and Chris really enjoyed the longhorn player.

Building in Old Salem.
So nothing has changed. I cannot tell you how many pictures we have of Ashley doing this while trying to take pictures. Some things never change. She does make picture taking quite comical.
My sisters and I.

Do you even need to guess?

There are really no words.

What is one of your favorite family Christmas memories?

Mistletoe Run

Saturday, Scott, Mom, Chris, Ashley, Roo, Cambria, Brandon, Josh, and Diane ran the 5k Mistletoe run in W-S. This was mine and Scott's last run until Reece comes along. It was a great race to end 2011. The run was very chilly, but not quite as cold as last year. For the 5k there were over 1,900 runners.

For the first time Scott and I ran the whole race together and finished in 28:09. It was really fun to run together and cross the finish line together. We cheered on the rest of our family and friends as they came across the line! Unfortunately a faulty camera means no finish line photos.

After everyone was finished we headed to Midtown Cafe & Dessertery where we enjoyed a delicious breakfast. After breakfast we got cleaned up and headed to Old Salem for the day.

Ummm....can you tell the sun was a little bright?

Family photo. This was also Roo's first 5k!

Next year Reece will be dressed up and in a stroller for the run.