34 weeks.

Just six more weeks and we get to meet our little girl! As Mothers Day came and went this past week I thought so much about what it will mean to be a Mother to this sweet daughter of mine. I recognize that I am already providing for her in so many ways right now, and already feel like a Momma. I know that feeling will intensify when she is here and I get to hold her in my arms, and squeeze her tight, and love on her! Since I’m only a soon to be Momma right now I wasn’t really expecting anything this Mother’s Day. One of a million reasons I love my husband, Glenn took me out to an Ihop breakfast on Saturday, bought me a balance ball to stretch my pregnant body, and made a pasta creation dinner for me on Sunday. It was nice to feel appreciated for carrying this baby. 

I am looking more pregnant. For the longest time I thought I was really showing and I guess my belly was more subtle than I thought. Now it’s very obvious. I can’t go anywhere without someone commenting on my baby belly. When we were at Ihop the greeter kept saying to us, ‘you mean table for three’, like he was so clever. People are constantly telling me that I look amazing, from the back I don’t look pregnant at all, that I’m all belly, and it’s all very flattering so thank you. There was only one instance where someone thought the opposite and guessed I was actually more pregnant. A woman in my Pilates class complimented me for still coming at 8 months pregnant, I was only 6 ½ months pregnant at the time. I’m feeling good, and don’t mind that my belly has taken over since it means my baby is healthy and growing. I am really feeling the much more obvious belly. This baby girl is getting heavy and I have to stick pillows underneath my belly to support the weight and be more comfortable. Now that she’s a lot bigger, she is a lot stronger too. Oh my she is strong! Sometimes my belly literally bulges out where she is moving. Now that baby is sticking out further, I drip toothpaste on my shirt practically every time I brush my teeth. I love my stomach at this stage though. I am always trying to figure out what position baby girl is in, sometimes my whole stomach is all lopsided from how she is positioned, and I’m always resting my hands on the top of my belly and rubbing my belly.  

With looking more pregnant comes feeling more pregnant. In the past couple weeks I have had my first experiences with Braxton Hicks contractions. The first time they happened took me by surprise and I thought it was kind of early. The pain wasn’t unbearable but they lasted for a long time and I just need to sit or lay down. The next time I recognized the tightening in my stomach immediately for what it was. I am in awe of my body, how it’s taking care of this baby so far, and now preparing itself for delivery. This is truly what my body was built to do. I am learning to respect that my little pregnant body does have limitations and I can’t do things like I normally would. The dresser flipping business is in full swing, and the other day I spent three hours hunched over sanding. Not my brightest idea considering I could barely move my back afterwards. Now I’m trying to listen to my body, take longer breaks, or quit for the day if necessary. This past weekend we ran a lot of errands, and I was standing and walking around a lot. It was the first time my feet have really been sore, and Glenn thought my ankles were a tiny bit swollen too. I’m just hoping my feet will hold up for the 5k we’re signed up to do in three weeks. A 5k at over 37 weeks, am I crazy?! I will probably be walk/waddling at that point but I’m really motivated to do it even if I’m super slow. I have so much faith in the power of stretching, and that’s when my body feels its best. Glenn will help push me into deeper stretches that I couldn’t do on my own, and always reminds me to breathe. I know he will be an excellent breathing coach when I am in labor. I always sleep so much better on the nights we do our couple stretching. One night Glenn was really sore from running and I offered to help stretch him out as well. His facial expressions looked like he was agony, I think he may have shed a tear, or peed a little in the process, I couldn’t help laughing. I’m also loving and already using my balance ball all the time, I just know we will be best friends the rest of this pregnancy.

 

The only part of this pregnancy I’m uneasy about is the when? I actually asked my Doctor if she would guarantee me that this baby will come on her due date. She basically just laughed at my request and told me all the reasons that’s not a possibility. With all sincerity though, I wasn’t joking. I want this baby girl to come when she feels ready. I want to be flexible when it comes to the labor and delivery, and not be upset if baby girl doesn’t come according to my plans. I just really would love for my Mother to be there. It’s so hard to coordinate when she should fly here from California when babies are so unpredictable, early, on time, late, who knows? Honestly it is stressing me out. It may sound silly but I’m feeling pressure to have her at the ‘right time’ so that my mom doesn’t miss it. Glenn has to constantly remind me that I can’t control the Universe! He has been an amazing comfort, and I’m so grateful for the balance he brings to our marriage and my semi crazy tendencies. I know we will be the perfect team when it comes to raising our daughter!

 

Mother's Day photo shoot at 33 weeks, 3 days.

Puppy Mom and soon to be human Mom!

I love the way the sun is hitting and we look like glowing parents to be.

Soccer throwback.

In an effort to conquer a nasty virus that had overtaken my computer, I did a thorough clean-up of everything that was on there. While doing so I came across some photo gems from the years that I played soccer. I played soccer for 5 years during my elementary school years. To be honest I was never any good. My parents would bribe me with a brand new Barbie if I scored a goal during the game. I never did get that Barbie. When I would play on defense I would actually sit down on the field and pick weed flowers and stick them in my hair. Luckily I got slightly more athletic as I got older, but still just as girly as ever! Glenn was ecstatic to see pictures of me at this age. He said he hopes baby girl is half as cute as I was at this age. He is nice considering one of the photos I straight up vomited before our team photo.

 

1995.




1995. I played with the Hornets for two years. I would get a special ordered trophy with a girl on top. We never lost a game - I'm sure no thanks to my skills, but I loved it! My Daddy is the assistant coach in the yellow.




1996. Pigtail braids and bangs. I pretty much owned this look until I started high school.



1997.



1997.

 

 

Dexter.

Wednesday night I was having unpleasant spasms in my buttocks. Possibly another pregnancy symptom I didn’t know about. We didn’t go to the gym like we normally do for this reason. Instead, I was attempting to remove the nasty virus that had locked down my laptop, Rocky was staring out the window, and Glenn was relaxing on the couch unwinding from work. Rocky barks at something out the window. Not unusual, I don’t even look. Glenn looks up, asks me, where is Lexi? She was sitting right next to me. He suddenly jumps up because he had just seen a small, soaking wet, Lexi-ish type dog sitting on our back patio. The dog had run off to the neighbors back porch, where two neighbor kids had also spotted him, and he was huddled back in a corner, completely terrified, freezing, drenched, dirty, and the saddest little puppy you ever did see. Glenn picks him up and starts to warm him up in a towel and we attempt to feed him and give him some water. He is so tiny but uninterested in eating. He later vomits twice so I think he was just so nervous. The dog has a collar, but no tags. It’s after 7:00 and the front office of our complex is closed so we know he will be spending the night. We bring him inside and Glenn holds puppy no name for a while until we introduce him to Rocky and Lexi. Puppy no name is filthy so Glenn gives all three dogs a bath at once. We all start to become friends and settle in for a family movie night. By this point we had started calling puppy no name Dexter, because seriously a dog needs a real name. Dex was not the best at calming down for a movie. By this point we discovered Dex wasn’t neutered and all he wanted was some sweet lovin from Rocky. Glenn had to restrain Dex in his arms to get him to leave poor Rocky alone. When it came time for bed, Lexi hid under our bed, Rocky attempted to hide under a pile of three blankets, but Dex knew he was there, and we finally had to put Dex in a crate for the night.  

Morning comes. Glenn is able to feed Dex a string cheese, so at least he wouldn’t be starving anymore. I go up to the front office and report our found dog, hoping he belongs to someone in our complex. Of course it wasn’t that easy. He didn’t belong to anyone in the complex across the street either. Dexter where did you come from?! Someone gave you that tag-less collar, horribly home-done haircut, and must be missing you. Dexter spends the day with us and has started to get comfortable in our home, smushing down the throw pillows to lay on like our dogs, cuddling, getting in some good playtime with our puppies, and only occasionally trying to torment Rocky. Progress, but we definitely can’t keep him. Fate intervened. Glenn had talked to our neighbor the night before and asked if he recognized Dex. No, but his poodle Cosmo had just died after ten years of owning him. He said he wasn’t planning on a new dog so soon, but maybe this was fate, and he was willing to take Dex if we couldn’t find the owners. So that night Dex goes to live with John in his new home.  

Morning comes again. Glenn kisses a still in bed me goodbye, and who is he holding in his arms, Dexter! John was worried about leaving him home alone already and asked if he could stay with me and our dogs for the day. Right now I am typing on the couch and have three puppies curled up to me on the couch. I’m feeling the love. I’m grateful for my butt spasms. I think about how we wouldn’t have normally been home, and who knows what would have happened to this sweet little puppy. It breaks my heart to think how long he could have been wandering alone outside. I’m grateful to John for wanting Dexter. I’m sure his Cosmo is enjoying puppy Heaven. Lesson learned: We will be purchasing tags for our puppies currently tag-less collars this weekend. Also, Glenn and I can’t resist rescuing a stray puppy. This is not the first time.

Becoming friends.

Dexter.

We're having a baby next month, hopefully.

Dear Baby D!

Some people are trying to convince me that you will most likely come late. My Mother thinks the world will be celebrating your arrival with fireworks on the 4th of July. I don’t believe them. I am getting a teensy bit impatient to meet you and am optimistic that you will be cooperative and come right on your due date. It’s June, 27 don’t forget ;-) You have been very squirmy lately and I think it’s because you’re just as eager to meet us as we are to meet you. I love feeling you moving around inside me. It’s the most amazing feeling and it excites me each and every time. I can distinguish the differences between you kicking and jabbing, doing little yoga stretches, and your personal favorite, somersaults! Sometimes I think you are going for a record how many times you can roll over without getting dizzy. I have discovered that you, like your Momma, love sugar! Anytime I eat anything sweet you have a crazy burst of energy. You are also quite the night owl. You are always the most active in the evenings and especially when your Momma is trying to sleep. I wonder if this will be a habit of yours after you are born? We are getting more prepared for your arrival. We even have a carseat now, thanks to your GG-MA, and can legally bring you home from the hospital. Your Daddy and I talk about what life will be like when you get here constantly! We love you and can’t wait to meet you.

Love, Your Momma

7 months!

7 months!

6 1/2 months pregnant at prom!

Have I mentioned what an incredibly nice person my husband is recently?! With 5 days to go until prom he volunteers to build the photo backdrop, decorate, and be the karaoke DJ on prom night. He basically saved what would have been a very lame prom. I even helped by glittering 6 of those giant masks.


 

DIY!

When we planned our trip to the Outer Banks, Glenn thought that week was his spring break, it was actually the week after. Lucky mistake, because that meant I got two whole weeks with my husband! Those were by far the easiest and fastest weeks and really helped the countdown to baby! We are addicted to HGTV and DIY network home makeover shows and have been inspired to get our DIY on for quite some time. Now that we finally had the time we spent the week refinishing not one, but two dressers.

Me and the DIY process had a love/hate relationship with each other. I admit that I have expensive taste. I like shopping in actual stores and buying shiny, new, and clean things. I have difficulty looking at Craigslist and people wanting me to pay anything at all for their damaged, disgusting, dirty, old crap. We’re broke though, and I need to suck up my snobby tendencies at times. I wasn’t sure I was a believer in the DIY process either. Sure I like watching professionals work their magic on TV, I read tons of how-to tutorials on Pinterest, my husband builds professional sets for a living, but this was my first time and I doubted. We bought a dresser on Craigslist for $30. It has a charming curvy shape that we loved, but looked like someone threw it out the window, kicked it around for fun, and left it out in the rain. We bought another dresser at The Salvation Army for $40 that had lots of nice detailing, but was so dirty I wasn’t sure I could put my germaphobia aside and actually put my clothes inside. Are these dressers beyond repair?

In the end – it was all love for the DIY! We were so eager to start that we were at the school first thing in the morning to get started. I thought it was pretty ironic that Glenn spent his spring break working in his scene shop every single day just like any other work day. Glenn got to work repairing the ‘hippie dresser’, it really does have these huge wide lady hips, filling in all the cracks, and literally building an entire new corner out of plaster for one of the dressers. I sanded and sanded the blah brown dirty dresser for hours! It was a Zen-calming experience for me. With every circular motion I literally felt the ugly washing away and already saw vast improvement. I felt better as I ripped off the entire backside and underside that was covered in some oily substance and Glenn replaced it with new clean ones. I loved picking out paint colors and new hardware at Lowes. Best part – we 100% agreed on everything. With every little step I could see these dressers transforming and I was excited to go back each day and make more progress. A couple days in, In the middle of painting the insides of the nasty particle board drawers to disguise the ugly I started to waver in my enthusiasm. I was just having an emotional day, had stared at the same thing for too long, and was sore from sitting in the same position too long. I was anxious to get to the fun part, painting the outsides. Once we got the first coats of paint on the dressers I was much happier! Rose dust for baby girl, and Monterey Bay Teal for us, or just pink and blue. My favorite part was when we did the distressing on the dresser for us. I am hooked on the look of a distressed finish, and the dresser really started to look like an expensive piece of furniture at this point. The final touch on baby girl’s dresser – glitter! We bought paint crystals that you mix in with a clear glaze and didn’t skimp on the amount of glitter. I love pink and sparkly, and was so giddy as we painted this on. I love that we’re having a little girl because I need an outlet for all the pink and sparkly that I love. The last and final step was just putting on hardware and placing the drawers back in, simple, easy, task. We go to put the drawers back in and they don’t fit. Not happy as I watched Glenn sand down the sides of our lovingly painted drawers. It was fixed, the drawers now fit, and we can’t stop smiling at the final outcome. The teal and cream combo with distressed finish and perfectly accented hardware give our dresser a Bohemian vibe that I’m in love with. And baby girl’s dresser is whimsical and fun, and looks straight out of a Disney movie.

I was won over by the DIY process. I loved having a project to work on with my husband. I loved getting something I love for less money. For $143 we got two dressers that we are so pleased with. I loved getting a little down and dirty every day. I loved that our visions came to life and it was all because of our hard work, and yeah we’re a little proud! I even have ideas circling around in my mind about starting a dresser flipping venture!

Before.

Before



What was done to this dresser? It needed lots of TLC.

The entire corner was busted and had to be rebuilt from scratch.

I'm not sure Glenn understands why I take pictures of everything.

Already better after a nice sanding.

Painting a creamy color on the insides.

After!



After!



Glitter close up! This was also the hardware that came with the dresser, all we did was spraypaint.



Fox reunion in the Outer Banks.

This blog post would be more aptly named a partial Fox family reunion, Brett and Andrea, Rob and Shannon, you were missed. A couple months ago conversation started swirling around Facebook about a Fox sibling reunion, last week it actually happened. Shauna and Jesse flew from Utah, Bill and Suzanne plus 2/3 daughters drove from Virginia, and Glenn and I plus puppies drove from Durham, and we all stayed in a lovely beach house, less than 200 feet walking distance from the water, for the week.

To be honest this vacation was off to a rough start before we even left home. We budgeted our vacation money, woke up the day before we’re supposed to leave, and see that some stupid company decides to take out an unauthorized payment that completely threw us off. Sunday morning we were super anxious to get on the road, I couldn’t sleep anyway, and we were up at 6:00 getting ready and packing our car to go. About half way there we get a speeding ticket! Really?! The worst part is that this was a speed trap that was impossible to avoid. We were following our GPS, it shows the speed drop from a 65 to a 55, we drop down to 53 because Glenn just saw a cop, cross a bridge and wham we’re being pulled over. What?! The cop tells us we are now in a 35 zone. “When did that happen officer?” “It turns into a 35 as soon as you cross the bridge.” Yep that’s right, before we have a chance to see a sign or have the new speed register on our GPS; barely over the bridge and we get a ticket. To make it worse the officer also takes Glenn’s license while he’s at it saying it’s inactive. Thinking I’m going to have to drive we ask the officer what will happen if he sees Glenn drive away. He says he won’t stop us but if another officer does it could mean prison and all that jazz. So Glenn drives off anyway and I become a speed Nazi the rest of our trip, no joke the speed limit was a 25 forever and you better believe we stayed true to that. Feeling broke, stressed, and like we can’t catch a break when we finally get there it took me a couple days to unwind and start enjoying this vacation. Sunday it was raining all day, not just a light drizzle, but a crazy storm that trapped us inside all day. Glenn and I seriously spent 4 hours watching American Ninja Warrior that night until we fell asleep. Monday it was freezing and no one was up for much. Other than our walk on the beach that morning it was more staying indoors. I was going stir crazy and feeling like this was too similar to my normal everyday life. I received bad news from my OB that I failed my blood glucose test and I’m anemic. I received bad news from Corey and thought we may have to cancel our visit to see him on our return trip home. Trying to coordinate with so many other people’s schedules and interests was difficult, and as much as I love Glenn’s family it’s trickier when it’s not your own, and you still feel like the newbie. I wasn’t happy or having any fun. Glenn told me we aren’t going on vacation again if it stresses me out so much :-( After a much needed heart to heart with my husband things brightened, literally, still cold and hovering around 50 degrees, but the sun graced us with its presence a few hours every day.

Tuesday morning we walked on the beach again with our puppies. We were the early risers of the house and enjoyed some us time each morning. I’m a person that needs routine, and having one each morning really helped me start to calm all my anxious feelings and relax. I loved taking pictures of Glenn running with Rocky and Lexi full speed on the beach completely in their happy place. My favorite was watching as the puppies ran away from the waves as the freezing water brushed against their paws. Rocky enjoyed tasting some of the local cuisine; he had a knack for finding dead crabs, yuck! We teased that these puppies are going to be very disappointed when they resume normal walks around the parking lot of our complex in the mornings. Rain or shine, we were going sightseeing today too. There is something to be said for learned behaviors. All vacations I can remember with my family were jam packed with activities and sightseeing. When you are in a new place that’s just what you do, and setting a schedule for the day is how I know to vacation. Glenn had to remind me that everyone else there was taking a break from something, work, school, watching children, whereas my life is kind of leisurely at the moment already. Sleeping in until noon and chilling all day is a treat for most people, and I can’t be upset if people aren’t up to our plans. I went about the rest of the week with that mindset and not feeling like we needed to coordinate with everyone all the time helped me relax. Knowing it was acceptable to leave and do my own thing on a family vacation and I wasn’t being rude helped me breathe. Still learning life lessons at 24. Anyway– I would be a disappointment to my mother if I didn’t visit the nearby Currituck Lighthouse. We invited everyone to come with us, and everyone was up for it. Turns out we were only a 1.2 mile walk away, and a majority of that could be walked along the water! A nice long walk was just what my little pregnant body needed, and between the lighthouse and walking around the local village we walked about 3.5 miles.

Wednesday was my favorite day. I learned that the Corolla area is best known for the wild horses that run on the beach, and I absolutely had to go see them. Glenn and I went on a date in search of the wild horses, and even though we didn’t see them we had the best time. There is about a ten mile stretch of beach that allows cars on the sand, and we were literally driving just feet away from the water. Talk about the most scenic drive in the entire world! No stop signs or lights, traffic, cops, speed limits, listening to some Chili Peppers, Glenn was practically giddy. We actually drove all the way to Virginia where there are gigantic pillars all the way across the sand into the water because Virginia doesn’t allow cars. We had fun taking pictures touching the beach in two states at once. We stopped at a couple different sand dunes and hiked to the top hoping to find the horses maybe sleeping or running around behind them, but nope turns out they are seasonal. We had a tasty Oreo picnic at the top of a sand dune. We stopped and did a six month baby bump photo shoot and played around balancing on some drift wood. No horses, but I was totally content enjoying the search, scenery, laughing, taking pictures, and having a beach date with my man!

Thursday we had another group outing. We went to Roanoke Island and went on a tour about the Lost Colony that lived there in the 1500’s. Then on the way back we played a round of miniature golf at the sweetest looking golf course you ever did see. Glow stick puppies on the beach that night was by far one of the highlights of the trip for me. We attached glow sticks to Rocky and Lexi and let them run around on the pitch black beach. All you could see was a pink and blue glow bobbing around like crazy. Best idea! We love our playful puppies! We laid in the sand and looked in awe of the stars, you can see so many with an unobstructed view, and watched as the moon rose. The sunrise gets all the attention, but a moon rising is pretty spectacular. We went to karaoke that night, and I watched in moral support as Glenn, Shauna, and Bill dominated the stage. One day I’ll build up the nerve to karaoke and make Glenn the happiest husband.

Friday we woke early to catch a sunrise. Go figure my camera was dead after two pictures :-( It was nice to just hold hands, admire the colors, and watch as the sun rising looked like it was setting the clouds on fire. We were out of the house pretty early and had some time to kill before heading to Virginia Beach to see Corey, who luckily caught a break with his schedule. Shauna and Jesse also had some extra time before their flight so we went to the Wright Brothers museum together. “From Kitty Hawk to the moon in just 66 years” – there’s some history for ya! We drove to Virginia Beach after that and met up with Corey, who got to get off base for the first time, and all this pregnant woman wanted was some curly fries and a milkshake. Luckily he didn’t care and we enjoyed just chatting for a while. Short visit, but Corey’s worth the detour. Then we drove home. All in all, my week vastly improved from its rough start and I wound up with lots of memories, photos, and even some life lessons from our Outer Banks vacation.

Tuna Gorda beach house - Our home for the week.  

Not too shabby of a view from our deck.

Morning run.

"It's very cold, we need our sweaters."

Rocky and Lexi got a little wetter from this wave than they wanted. With a little help from their Daddy ;-)

Running to get dry.

Perhaps my favorite picture from this trip.

Happy puppy :-)

Currituck Lighthouse

This should be an ad for Scion!

Foolish man built his house upon the sand?

Virginia being lame.

Romantic picnic atop a sand dune.

Karate kid.

Falling with style.

Trying to avoid falling, but look at that six month belly!

First and only dip in the ocean.

Really sad puppy.

"I'm a man!"

Those who braved the water.

Warming up!

Swimming lessons. Rocky lives up to his name, he is like a rock in the water, and has never been a good swimmer.



Monument to Virginia Dare, the first child born in the Americas to English parents. Her Grandfather, John White, returned to England when she was two weeks old to retrieve supplies for the struggling colonists. When White was finally able to return three years later on Virginia's birthday, all the colonists were gone. What happened remains a mystery today. Maybe it's my pregnancy emotions but this story is terribly sad!

 

Kinda creepy.

Just playing with glow sticks on the beach.

LOVE.

Monument to Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Rocky flying a plane!