Paige's visit and Tummy update

Two weeks since Mom's surgery! Things are getting a little better for her every day, although it is still very painful and hard for her. She is doing a great job with her therapy though. She makes Nolan very proud! :) Thanks for the prayers and keep praying that she progresses well!





While I'm on prayer requests, I need to mention Nolan's Grandad. He's had several medical issues lately and was in ICU at UAB for several days, but is now finally in a regular room. Please pray that he continues to improve and will be able to go home soon.





Paige got to come to Birmingham with Bobby and little Reesey the weekend after mom's surgery. I had a home volleyball tournament that same weekend, so I was not at the house very much. I spent most of it in the gym at Homewood High School! But the little time I got to spend was great! I left my camera with Paige and told her to take some pics while I wasn't there. Reese is getting so big! She is such a sweet-tempered beautiful little baby! And I don't just say that because she is my neice. :)

















Check out mom's sweatshirt she got from Paige. It says "I survived knee surgery!" She was definitely proud to wear it! :)








Reese and her "owl eyes." She always has her eyes WIDE open!








I also got a precious picture of little Reesey hugging her little baby cousin in my belly! (I think this picture is towards the top of the blog) How precious is she.
I also had a small baby shower at school during our professional development day. The school wanted to honor all the pregnant teachers at one time (there are 8 of us!). Here is a picture of the FOUR math teachers who are pregnant, and we are all a month apart starting in November.


And last but not least, my 22 week belly pic! I feel like time is flying by and we still have NOTHING DONE for the baby. We don't even have his name totally picked out. My excuse is that I have to wait until I have two seconds to spare after volleyball season is over, which is just around the corner. Then I have to get crackin!

HALFWAY THERE!!!

Well...I am 20 weeks and 1 day as of today! Yay! Finally in the twenties! I can't believe I'm halfway there! We have not done ONE thing to get ready for the baby, but I'm waiting until volleyball season is over and I can breathe again! Here is 20 week picture. I don't think it looks any different than last week!

I am feeling him kick several times throughout the day, and it's such a neat feeling! He seems to be more active in the mornings and at nights, but not so much during the middle of the day.

This weekend we had so much fun! We went to the Brad Paisley concert Friday night, and despite sitting behind some chain smokers, we had a great time. He put on a great show! Here are some pictures from the concert!

Saturday we slept in to about 9:30 and then went to our Fall church pinic. We had some great food, and the boys had fun throwing the football around. Here some pics of that, and of Ella and Baylee supporting their favorite team!

After the picnic, Nolan and I headed to the lake! This is the last weekend mom will be able to go for a few weeks because of her knee replacement surgery, so it was good to be able to spend that time with her. Her surgery is Monday morning, and she is very nervous about it, so PLEASE PRAY for her! Pray that the surgery will go well, and her recovery will go smooth as well. She is a very active person, so sitting around for several weeks is going to be tough on her!

We had a great time though. As soon as we got there, mom and Nolan fished off the pier for a while. He has gotten her into fishing and she loves it! Then Nolan went out in the canoe to fish, and me and mom went kayaking. We had a GREAT time! We got to watch two deer and a little baby fawn for about 30 minutes! We just kayaked right along the bank, and followed them as they were walking and eating. We even got to see the little fawn nurse off his mama! It was SO CUTE!!!! We thought that was a great adventure, but then as we were kayaking in a different direction we spotted some racoons! And then right behind the big racoon was four BABY racoons! They were the cutest little fuzzballs. We watched them for about 20-30 minutes too. They kept going inside a hole, and then popping back out to check us out. They were seriously the cutest little things! So that was our kayaking adventure. I didn't take my camera, because I was scared that I would drop it in the water, but I wish I had pictures of all those cute animals.

It was great to have this weekend off, but this week will be a busy week! We have volleyball games throughout the week and our home tournament this weekend, so that involves a LOT of time. Paige is coming this weekend to help out when mom comes home from the hospital, so hopefully I will be able to spend some time with them! I'll keep you posted on mom. Again, please please pray for her! Thanks so much!

Its a BOY!!!!

We found out this past Wednesday that we are having a baby boy! We are SO SUPER EXCITED!!! Nolan couldn't wipe the grin off his face the whole rest of the day. The doctor said everything was measuring good, so our little one is healthy so far...thank you for the prayers! Keep them coming! :) We haven't decided on any names yet...it's such a big decision! Here are some ultrasound pictures. I had to include the boy proof...sorry! I just thought it was too cute! There's also one of his leg and foot, and other profile pics that are cute.

This weekend was very busy. I had a volleyball tournament until about 9:00 Friday night, so Nolan headed to the lake to spend time with my family, actually I think he spent most of his time with the fish! I woke up early Saturday and headed back to the volleyball tournament and got back around 6:00. So now I am just procrastinating grading TONS of projects and test papers...boo! Nolan got back from the lake late Saturday night, so he had a great weekend! Sunday, the plans are to go to church, then come home and grade, grade, grade! I know that sounds SO exciting! But that's the life of a teacher/volleyball coach.

I'm looking forward to next weekend off of volleyball. Me and Nolan are going to a Brad Paisley concert Friday night, and then our Fall church picnic on Saturday! That should be fun! Hopefully I'll be good and take some pictures!

Here is my 19 week belly pic. I am growing! :) I took this on a full belly, so it may be a little bigger because of that!

3 more days!

Well...here is my 18 week belly pic. I feel like I'm getting bigger every week, but I know that I have a long way to go! We have our appointment on Wednesday at 3: 00 to get the ultrasound, so hopefully little peanut will cooperate and turn the right direction so we can see if its a boy or girl! We are SO EXCITED to find out either way! After that we can start really planning! :)

We had a great weekend this weekend. I was off from volleyball so Friday after I got out of practice, Nolan and I headed to the lake! Mom and Dad went to Paige's for the weekend, so it was just us. Nolan had a blast fishing about 95% of the time we were there, and I had a great time just relaxing. I slept in Saturday, went for an hour and a half long kayak ride, laid out in the sun (really the shade since it was overcast) and cooked and watched TV. I LOVE to relax since I don't get much of that these days during volleyball season. Then Saturday night, we went over to our friend's house from church, Ethan and Keri Southern, and watched the Auburn game on the big screen with a group of our friends. Despite the loss, it was still fun! :)

The sad note came on Sunday when I attended the funeral of one of my mom's really good friends' husband, who died suddenly on Thursday of a heart attack. He was a really great man who deeply loved his family. Please pray for Denni Stewart and her four children he left behind.

I will post again after Wednesday to reveal if our little one is a boy or girl. Please pray that everything else they check for at this appointment goes well. Thanks!

Off weekend!!!

I had an off weekend from volleyball and it was WONDERFUL!!!! We went to Jasper on Friday and stayed there for the weekend. Nolan's birthday is today, so it worked out well that we could spend the weekend with his fam. It was so relaxing!!! We got there Friday around 4:30 or so and hung out with his family. His mom grilled out hambugers and we had a yummy meal that hit the spot. I was able to sleep in on Saturday (and Nolan's old room is the BEST ROOM EVER to sleep in because it has no windows and is totally black in there!). Nolan got up around 8:30 and went out to the hunting land with his dad and they rode four-wheelers for about 60 miles total! He absolutely loved that. They were able to check on the land and even saw a few deer. Meanwhile, I went for a nice 45 min walk in the beautiful sunshine. I was even able to ride the four wheeler for about 30 seconds, which was fun! Nolans WHOLE family came over for a late lunch on Saturday. We had the most steaks you've ever seen. (and if you know all the boys in Nolan's fam, you would understand why they need so much meat! haha!) Nolan's mom also fixed the most AMAZING mashed potatoes with cheese and all sort of other stuff in them and they were SO GOOD! I probably ate about 5 helpings of those throughout the whole weekend! She also fixed fried okra, green beans, squash, pasta salad, homemade rolls, and some yummy desserts. She is a wonderful cook! After that, Nolan and the boys went back out to the wilderness to do some "shootin" while I stayed in and relaxed on the lazy boy and watched TV. Then we all gathered around the TV to watch the pitiful 3-2 Auburn victory. Oh well... a win is a win! :) Sunday was church, then out to eat again with the entire Williams clan and we hung around before heading back to Bham. The weekends really do fly by too fast!

Tonight my parents took me, Nolan, Jordan, and Leah out to P.F.Chang's (a Chinese restaurant that is one of our favorites). Jordan's bday is tomorrow so we were celebrating for both of them. We had an amazing meal and it was good to be able to hang out with my fam for a while. Here are some pics of the weekend and tonight.

I meant to take another belly pic, but I forgot, so I will put another one soon. My ultrasound is Wednesday, the 24th, which is when we get to find out if little peanut is a boy or girl!!! :) We are so excited!!! Truly we will be happy either way. Mom's latest questionairre says its a boy, but she does a new one about every other day, which always gives her different answers. Basically, we have figured out its a 50-50 shot! :) Check for the boy/girl post next week! :)

Also, on a super-exciting note, Kiera had her baby! Tyler Dawson Keen was born on Sept. 11th! He is so precious and I am so excited for her! Her and David will make WONDERFUL parents! Love yall! :)