25 Weeks

We had a great Labor Day Weekend. We went to Wild Wings and to the Drive baseball game with Brad's parents on Friday night. We had a great time and the weather was great. Saturday marked the official start to college football. Brad and I couldn't decide whether or not to make the trip to Clemson for the day and after a long list of to-do's we decided to stay in town for the day (I promise I was willing and excited to go to the Clemson game but this time Brad actually made the executive decision to stay in town. I think it was a combination of no tickets to the game and thinking about tailgate hopping that did not appeal to him. We will definitely go to a game when we can stay in one spot and spend the whole time at the game!) We started off our day at the gym and then shopped around for paint for the nursery. We also had lunch we Janet at Cracker Barrel and did a little table shopping with her (she has just finished remodeling her kitchen and just needs to complete the look with a new table.) We finished the day with fabric shopping which you all know stresses me out to no end. I have to decide on fabric for the drapes in the baby's room, drapes in our room, fabric for the upholstered headboard we are working on, and for a potential glider we may have made. I have had someone at every single store I have gone to tell me a different type of fabric to use for a glider and for a headboard (I mean shouldn't there be some sort of consesus in the fabric world?) Anyways, fiiiinally after weeks of shopping at Tony's fabric and meeting with Betty who is making my drapes I have purchased fabric for the drapes in the baby's room, some fabric to make a toy bag and liners for toy baskets, some fabric for our drapes and I am about to go meet with the upholstery man to officially choose fabric for the headboard. All I am missing is white burlap for our roman shades in our room but if I can't find them by the end of the day I will use white linen and be happy that all this fabric shopping is finally done! Well sorry for the rant it sure has taken up every single bit of free time I have had since the middle of August. Brad and I spend the rest of Saturday watching football and then having dinner at Larkins (out where we got married..it was beautiful out and there was a wedding and it was perfect) Sunday Brad played golf with Joey Shealy who was in town for the football game and then we had plans to go to our annual visit at the apple festival in Hendersonville, NC. We have been every year since we have been dating and it's just our little way of kicking off the season of fall. We just love it and of course we me being pregnant I had visions of all the food we would consume and let's say we didn't leave without trying it all!
Brad's favorite thing about the apple festival is the apple cider slushy (he had 2!)

Last year I eyed these adorable seasonal signs that are handmade and painted. I literally wanted one for every season but Brad made me choose just one so I opted for the Christmas sign. The lady is painting "The Redd's" on the sign for us and if you can see the little red nose it lights up and it soo cute! I literally wanted a Halloween wreath, a fall sign for the ground and an Easter sign for the mailbox...maybe next year right?!

Here we are with our finished product and our adorable Halloween kit that we will display at Halloween since we are not known for our carving skills! We were full of funnel cakes, fudge, apple turnovers, fries, and pretty much anything else you can think of!

We then headed to Skytop to pick some apples. This is so fun for me because I literally love almost all apples and it's so great to pick a mixture.

Brad's climbing in the tree trying to find us a good one. We weren't too successful to begin with on our search for apples it seemed like more were on the ground than in the trees but I just think we were lazy and didn't venture to find all the good apple trees!

Brad was sampling a jonagold apple which was my favorite from the samplings I tried at the apple festival!

We had a great weekend and spent much of it with Brad's parents so a thanks to them for hanging out with us and having a good time as always!



On to the 25 week survey...Well it looks like the munchkin did not change sizes according to fruit/vege chart. He is still compared to an eggplant this week!

*How far along? 25 weeks

*Total weight gain? 18 pounds (I mean seriously I am supposed to gain a pound a week from here on out but this is getting ridiculous I serioulsy don't like all this weight gain!)

*How big is the baby? 2 pounds 9 inches ~ eggplant size!

*Maternity clothes? I am sporting some capris I bought and the shirt happends to be a great shirt that also works as a maternity shirt. It is so awkward at this point to get ready and go somewhere because my clothes don't fit but since I can't find any maternity shirts I like I have pants and that is about it. I have got to find some shirts sooner or later or I am either going to look like a scrub in workout clothes (which is what I do most of the time now) or I am never going to leave the house (but let's be honest I can't sit still for more than an hour at home!)

*Sleep? Sleep is still going fine...I have been falling asleep much easier than normal and the only weird thing that happend when I am going to sleep or just waking up is that I have this rattling in my chest that feels like wheezing (but apparently the doctor didn't seem concerned as he didn't even listen to my chest at the last visit) so I guess I will not worry either!

*Best moment this week? Getting so much with the nursery accomplished.

*Movement? I would say I was feeling him a good bit more the past few weeks but when he starts moving he's moving all over the place I only wish Brad could feel him!

*Food cravings? I have been enjoying animal crackers a good bit this past week and still just chocolate all the time..I wish a good craving would come on but nothing good to report from this past week.

*What I miss? This past week was pretty normal we went to a friends house for dinner and had quite the busy weekend and I felt great so no complaints here!

*What I am looking forward to? Buying our furniture and starting to research baby products that we would like for the munchkin.
*Milestone? Well my belly is finally harder on up above my belly button. It seems like everyone always wants to pat your stomach around your belly button and it just finally seems that the uterus is big enough (a soccer ball right now) that it's finally causing me to look a little more pregnant and little less like I ate too many donuts!

*Working out? Some days working out is a breeze and other days I literally can't catch my breath I feel like I am working so hard. I am always worried that the baby isn't getting enough oxygen or I am working too hard but I read about all these women who never back off their intensity and say everything is fine so I will just double check with the doctor at my next visit to assure that I am doing no harm. I am working out way less than normal. I get in 4 days a week now whereas before I would work out up to 7 days a week if I didn't have to work but I think my body is enjoying the break especially from the 5:30 wake up calls! (I believe I stopped going to the gym that early in August..that month sure flew by)

*What has been unexpected? Well the craziest change took place this week for me...I have had invisilign since February and was supposed to finish treatment in July to straighten my teeth. Well for a month the orthodontist tried to make some retainers to fix some remaining concerns. Well they only seemed to make matter worse so after telling him how unhappy I was with my treatment (which is soo uncomfortable to me because I never am the type to speak up when I am not satisfied) he was nice but on the verge of I told you you really should have gotten braces from the beginning blah blah he just doesn't like invisilign. He explained my options which were leave with what the computer says is "straight" teeth, pay for another set of invisilign tray (no thanks they didn't work the first time), or let him put braces on me...Oh my gosh I can't believe I did it. But as of a week ago I officially have 10 braces on my top teeth which make a) being pregnant and gaining weight + b) having a metal mouth make you one self conscious person. I feel like I try not to smile and eating is a nightmare, my teeth were so painful for the first 4-5 days that it was all I could think about...Anyways, it was MY decision and I figured if I paid all this money I should be 100% satisfied so I am going to give them a shot but I don't think I will last the full 6 months that he thinks I should need them for so we will see..please don't judge me when you see me or stare or make a comment it is very awkward and I hate them...thank you!

*Names? Haven't even talked about it once this past week other than throwing around middle names for one name we have had from the beginning but no real progress here

*Nursery? Oh how I just love the nursery! Everything about planning his little room makes me soo happy. Brad has painted (pictures to come) and I have literally picked out everything from the wall decorations to the curtains. I just have to decide on the glider and monogram above the crib so I am satisfied with my progress here.

Well I am off to meet with the upholstery man and about to start my 6 days of work before leaving for the beach with my sisters and the munchkins! Ryan's arm is doing much better and I just can't wait to see her and give her a big ole hug! They will be staying with us on Friday night on their way to Hilton Head so hopefully I can get some pictures of their short visit.