CoCo & Co

So as I've mentioned before, the gal who helped me with did my nursery, Bekah Bishop Wallace, owns her own little shop in Calabash, NC......CoCo & Company Boutique.   It is an incredibly cute, stylish place with one of a kind items. She is incorporating some new items as well since her return from the Atlanta market and has a great outlook for 2012. More importantly, she is jumping on the blogging train and her new blog is live......

www.cocoandcoboutique.blogspot.com

Her announcement of her new blog on facebook was accompanied with the above video which reminded me of another video that I've always adored:

LOVE.THIS.KID.

Life as we know it....

Life as we know it is 4 days from being TOTALLY different.  I can honestly say that I'm ready and am glad I'm going a little early. The doctor was hoping and praying to get me to 38 weeks and the plan is to have a scheduled c-section this Friday (2/3/12) which puts me at 38w 4d.  Yay!  I've had weekly or less-than-weekly appointments to keep a check on my placenta previa (the reason I'm having a c-section for those that don't know).  It has and continues to be totally asymptomatic and I've felt or experienced nothing out of the ordinary with the condition.  The dang placenta just never moved and is in the way!  Doc wouldn't let me travel after the first full weekend in January so we've been filling our weeks with work, hanging around the house and getting last minute things done.  I'm not very anxious/nervous right now but I imagine that Thursday night will be a restless sleep.  I'm ready to meet the little guy that has taken up so much room in my mid-section lately.  Everything looked good in the last u/s.....big head, good heart rate, measuring around 7lb 11oz and very active.  I've put on 20 lbs exactly and its mostly all belly/baby.  I think my butt got a little bigger but David is smart enough not to mention that if he also thinks that is the case.

38 weeks.....Jackson is as excited as we are to see what's in there!

 This weekend, we ate dinner with Steve & Julia Friday night and came back to the house to relax....I worked all week and was a little worn out.  I also worked Saturday morning and knew that I would be super tired if we did anything more than chill Friday night.  Saturday night we met up with Kelly/Whitney, Jay/Suzanne and eventually Jenna/Cleve for a "last Saturday night" blowout before baby.  I wondered what a 9-month pregnant lady did on her last Saturday night.....we had a great dinner at Carrabas and went to Buffalo Wild Wings so David & Whit could watch the NC State basketball game.  BW's was fun....everyone had a good time and the waitress would giggle at me every time she'd bring another round and my stout water with lemon joined the frosty glasses on her tray.  We stayed out until midnight and left the other folks there.  It was a ton of fun and a great way to spend our Saturday night.  I'm really thankful for our little group of friends around here and can't wait for our little nugget to get to know them.  Sunday we chilled around the house....I had some major cleaning I wanted to do and David had to winterize the jet ski so we got all of that done.  Of course, David and his dad went out to the farm to take care of my jet ski and forgot the key so I loaded up the dogs and took them out for some farm-fun. They wear out as quickly as I do and we came home about an hour later for some PB&J sandwiches for lunch.  I put together a casserole for dinner, worked on gym stuff most of the afternoon, cleaned the floors and picked up before Bekah & Shane came over to share our casserole for dinner.  I love cooking new recipes that I find but I am not one that can eat the same leftovers for 3 or 4 days so it is always nice to have people to share with.  Of course, this time next week, I might relish in the idea of having the same meal 3-4 nights in a row just because I didn't have to work to get it.  :)  Anyways, it was a great weekend and I am looking forward to a good week leading up to the delivery.

BW's "late night"

Sweet Maddie having the time of her life....

My precious babies....their lives' might be a little different but you know I'm still gonna love these hounds. 

I can't get enough of that face....he is such a momma's boy.  

Getting used to less

As in...DOING less.  It is hard.  I was home this weekend while my team was in Maryland for a big meet.  I got text updates throughout every session (5) and could almost picture the exact routine that brought a certain score.  Some scores baffled me, but after talking to either of the coaches there or the kids, I was quickly informed of start values, reasons for such start value, etc.  It was ALMOST like being there.....but not really.  Not at all.  I guess it was good for me because as nervous as I got while being home, I know how anxious I would have been if I'd been there.  I don't get nervous because I think they will hurt themselves or do poorly.....I get nervous because most of our kids work so hard and they get one chance in a meet.  I just want them to succeed so badly that I pace, bite my fingers, have sweaty palms and in general get into my own special meet mode when I'm coaching at a meet.  My blood pressure and stress level during that probably would not be good for this baby I'm cooking.  Funny thing is, I don't think I show my nervousness at meets as parents have mentioned how nervous Louie has looked before but never me!  But I promise you, I get antsy.  Maybe it's because I know EXACTLY how those girls feel.  Anyways......the kids did pretty well this weekend.  It's the beginning of the season and we have a lot of big meets coming up to prepare for.  This weekend will be a good stepping stone for some of our kids and a good learning experience for others.  Some of the high points from the competition:

*April (L9) - All around champion and event finalist of floor
*Gilly (L10) - 2nd Place All Around, 1st on Vault & Beam.  Qualified to Event finals on Vault, Bars & Beam.....at Event finals, played it safe on beam and WON!
*Courtney (L10)- 2nd place on vault.  Qualified to event finals on Bars but was unable to stay in Maryland an extra day to compete.
*Olivia W (L10) - 4th place on beam....for those that might know Olivia and our relationship on beam....this is a major accomplishment....she hit her routine with her layout and scored a 9.0!
*Maya (L7) - All Around Champion
*Ashlyn (L7) - All Around Champion
*Cassey (L7) - All Around Champion
*Eleni (L8) - 2nd place All Around
*Devin (L8) - 3rd place All Around
*Shamonica (L8) - 1st Place Bars

Gilly

So, as you can see, there were some high points at the meet.  I hate I wasn't there but have confidence in these kids' preparation.  It won't be the last meet I miss so I might as well get used to it!  Great Job Flippers!

The Best of 2011

As promised, I wanted to post my favorite pictures of 2011.....this is more for me than it is for my 4 readers because I LOVE looking back on my pictures and being reminded how lucky I am.....