Golf, Anyone?

So the British Open is less than 48 hours away. I am so pumped. Broadcast coverage begins at 4:00am Thursday morning on ESPN. My alarm will be set for 3:59am. My buddy, Joe Mathias, is doing the same. Yes, I know, we are not normal. The most historical golf tournament at the most historical course, the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, with the best trophy, the Claret Jug...it doesn't get much better than this!

http://www.opengolf.com/en/TheCourse.aspx

http://www.opengolf.com/en/History/ClaretJug.aspx

Week 17

*How far along? 17 weeks

*Total weight gain? 8 pounds
*How big is the baby? sweet potato (about 5 inches and 5 ounces)

*Maternity Clothes? finally made the maternity step. Went to Old Navy and found a pair of jeans for the fall soo comfy...then went to the mall and the only maternity store I could find was called Destination Maternity (seemed expensive for what it was) but I did buy a pair of work pants that I actually wore today...very comfortable but the waist band made me quite hot.

*Sleep? seem to be sleeping a little better maybe only getting up once at night to go to the bathroom now so a little improvement but I STILL cannot master sleeping on my side I wake up flat on my stomach

*Best moment this week? having Brad at the Dr. with me to hear the baby's heart beat and making the next appointment in 3 week to find out baby's sex!

*Movement? not yet...I sure hope I can distinguish the first movement from all of the intestinal problems I have been having

*Food Cravings? I have been back to almost my regular diet this week which makes me so happy. Can tolerate healthy foods at most meals without thinking they are going to "make me feel sick" probably just my body's excuse to opt for something unhealthy. I have eaten a lot of chips and salsa this week (we know if this baby is a Redd he/she is bound to love Mexican)

*Belly Button? no changes

*What I miss? I still miss not feeling 100% me...

*What I am looking forward to? 20 week sonogram...sooo much excitement building...what will the baby be a he/she healthy (please Dear Lord!) and I feel like I am counting down the days as if it was the 3 weeks leading up to Christmas

*Milestone? I wore my first pair of maternity pants

*Is working out harder? I like to document this to look back on. Seems like sometimes at my morning workouts I can't do the elliptical on my normal setting and have to take it down a couple of notches...my legs seem to get more sore from the same exercises I have been doing for months...started back at bootcamp at the gym and it feels amazing...loooove my workouts

*What has been unexpected? Wow who knew gas pain could be so debilitating. I must have spent 3 hours at work pacing back and forth and hurling over into hunched positions to try to relieve this "unknown" pain. Thanks to my sis and a little gasX I started feeling a little better...my poor insides have seen better days

*Names? Oh the name saga continues..thanks to my girls on the boat they loosened Brad up a bit and I think made him come to the good side on some of my favorite names..(hopefully Brad realized that some of his favorite names were not soo cool) --thanks Britt and A-lex...we shall see although we know Brad has 100% turned down my favorite boy name..so onto finding a new fav.

*Nursery? Well since I think it's a boy I am on the lookout for some canoe paddles that I can hang on the wall..so if anyone knows where to find some cute canoe paddles please let me know!

At Dr. appointment this week -Dr. Alt said I was measuring between 17-18 which is right on target for now. She seemed to think the baby was moving around a lot when she was trying to find the heartbeat. Baby's heartbeat was between 159-161 and sounded perfect. She has told me to stop taking my prenatal vitamin for 3 weeks to try to help with some of my stomach problems...of course I was a little apprehensive but that just means I will have to up the intake of all my healthy vitamins via my diet.

We also went on our OB Tour of the Hospital St. Francis Eastside tonight and it was fun to see all those other pregnant ladies out there. Most of the preggos were much further along than me but still was neat to walk around and see everything. It is a really small hospital and the whole 4th floor is dedicated to labor/delivery. After delivery you will be moved to the other side of the semi circle hospital to a mother/infant room (which is new to me because both my sister and sister-in-law both delivered and remained in the same room so I did not realize that this had changed). Apparently the beds are different and so they move you after delivery (sure doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me). There is also a neonatal care unit (NCU) but no neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) so I will pray that the baby does not need any additional care. We saw where to check in and learned about the different procedures for a vaginal birth versus a c-section. It was exciting and a fun end to a Thursday work day.

4th of July at Lake Norman

So one of Christen's best friends Brittany and her husband David bought a lake house on Lake Norman, just north of Charlotte. They decided to have some people up for the 4th so us and a few other couples decided to go up for the weekend. We had an awesome time. We went out on the boat during the day, we took the boat to lunch every day which was pretty cool. We floated in the Relaxation Station. We played games at night, one night until 3:30am. We couldn't get enough of Catch Phrase, even though our team, Late Night Shenanigans, won most of the matches. Haha! It was a very relaxing weekend and we can't wait to go back!

Vacation Part II - Cruise to Mexico

We boarded the Carnival Triumph around 1:00pm. The ship left the port at 4:00...Bon Voyage! The ship was awesome! Doung, Janet, Christen and I all walked around the ship checking out all the bars, lounges, activity areas, dining rooms, pools, etc. We hung out at the Lido deck where the main pool was for the Sail Away party. There was live music, dancing, kids sliding down the 3-story water slide...it was great! There was also a huge movie screen above the main deck. They had movies playing every night. There is just something about watching a movie under the stars, especially while cruising on a huge ship. We had the 6:00pm seating in the London Dining Room. Both our waiter and assistant waiter were from Indonesia, Wis and Bambang. They were awesome. Every night, we would go to dinner, hit up the casino for a little gambling, then head to the shows in the Rome Lounge. Other activities we did were: play bingo, play trivia (Dad and I even won one of the Sports trivia), listen to karaoke, go to the Newlywed game which was hilarious, layout at the pool, attend the Captain's reception. These are just a few of the things we did. There was always something going on. We had out first stop on Wednesday, Progresso. There was not much here. Mom, Dad and I got off the ship but did not go into town. We just looked around the shops at the port. Christen stayed on the boat to catch some rays. The next stop we had was Thursday, Cozumel. Mom and Dad signed up for an excursion to learn the history of the island. Christen and I decided last minute to rent a Jeep and explore the island. We had the best time. We drove to a couple of beaches, we drove around to the far side of the island and stopped at the cliffs, where the waves crashed. It was so peaceful. We went to a bar on one of the cliffs called Coconuts. We then drove downtown Cozumel and went to Carlos and Charlie's for a drink. It was wild in there. About 3:00, we headed back to the ship. After dinner, we (as usual) went to the casino before the show. Well tonight was a little different. My mom and dad were playing the quarter Wheel of Fortune Slot machine. If you land on the "SPIN" reel, then you get to "Spin the Wheel." It's rare that you land on the "SPIN" reel but my dad hit it and got to spin the wheel. The lowest you could win was 25 quarters and the jackpot number was 1000 quarters. Well, he spun the wheel and the pointer went round and round and started to slow down with the 1000 in site. It ends up landing on the 1000. Just like that, they won $250.00. It was a very happy night for the Redd's. Friday, we spent most of the day at the pool, getting in some activities here and there. We got back to New Orleans about 4:00am the following morning. We got off the ship around 7:15am, hopped back in the car and headed home. It was a great vacation. Christen did so well and didn't complain once about being pregnant. We couldn't have asked for a better time! Here are some pics of our cruise:

Vacation Part I - New Orleans

So Brad's dad, Doug, is attempting to visit all 50 states (his mom, Janet, too but she has more states to cover than his dad). He has been to 43 states. Louisiana is one of the states he is missing so we decided to take a vacation to visit New Orleans and take a cruise out of the New Orleans port. So on June 20, we hopped in the car and headed southwest. After a 10 hour drive, we arrived in the Big Easy! It was H-O-T!!!!!!!!! We got down there around 3:00pm that Saturday. We checked into the Westin on the Mississippi River (the views were beautiful). Then we decided to walk around the city and show my parents the sites and sounds of NoLa. We got the "world famous" beignets from Cafe Du Monde...they were phenomenal. We had some great Jambalya and Gumbo. And we finished the night with a walk down Bourbon St. And you can't walk down Bourbon St without a drink in hand so I (Brad) got a Hurricane, a popular New Orleans drink. Mom had the video camera out getting some great footage of the crazies that roam Bourbon St. We called it a night around 10:00 as we were pretty tired from the long day. Sunday - We went to have lunch with Christen's godfather, Terry. His wife Marion and other family members cooked up some great food: gumbo, shrimp creole, crawfish, crab, roast beef. It was all so good! After spending some time with them, we came back to downtown and walked around some more, we rode a street car up Canal St. We grabbed dinner and then walked down Bourbon St once again. Monday - we bumbed around in the morning and then went to R&O's for lunch. This place has the best sandwich in the world, a roast beef po boy. We all got the roast beef except for mom who got a hamburger. It was great. After lunch we went to one of the local shops downtown and Christen bought her first two baby books, Goodnight NOLA and The Beignet That Almost Got Away. Can't wait to read these to the little munchkin! It was then time for us to head to the cruise terminal to board the ship. Viva La Mexico!

Week 16

*How far along? 16 weeks
*Total weight gain? 6 pounds (thanks a lot carnival cruise!)
*How big is the baby? turnip...well haven't been able to find this in the grocery to take a picture
*Maternity clothes? none yet suprisingly work clothes still fit when I got back from vacation but looking forward to buying some comfy pants soon
*Sleep? sleep was better than ever this past week...thanks to the half of a phenergan I took eacch night just to make sure I wouldn't get sick from the rocking of the boat..I slept great minus the usual bathroom breaks (2-3/night)
*Best moment this week? being on vacation...waking up working out, eating, tanning, eating some more and enjoying entertainment with the Redds
*Movement? none yet but looking forward to it soon!
*Food cravings? celery/salad with oil/vinegar (the way my mom made salads every night growing up but leads to ridiculous heartburn..oops!)...always can eat a homemade waffle or pancake definitely something new to my appetite
*Belly Button? no changes yet
*What I miss? being able to eat healthy all the time if I choose to..sometimes I eat the worst things all day because I think it's the only thing I can eat..can't wait to have my old appetite back
*What I am looking forward to? hopefully feeling the baby move soon..and of course 4th of July weekend at the lake with Britt and Alexis
*Milestone? made it 10.5 hours to New Orleans and on a cruise for 5 days without getting sick..so thankful for how well I felt the whole vacation...it makes me think that some of this nausea must come from waking up and going to walmart for work on a daily basis

Thanks to Alexis she has asked a couple more questions that I thought would be fun to add to the mix!

*Is working out harder? haven't noticed that anything has gotten harder...I avoid harder workouts like boot camp because I know that it pushes me to a level that where I can hardly breathe and am not good at taking it easy so I have avoided that class for the most part..but I attend all my other classes regularly just noticed that it's harder getting up to go the the gym than it was before!

*What has been unexpected in pregnancy? first, I thought I would be hugging the toilet a lot more than I have (haven't thrown up once)...didn't realize how pregnancy affected your bowels and how painful and miserable a pregnant girl's life can be sometimes...and third I guess I thought I would be thinking about being pregnant 24/7 but sometimes when I am feeling great I completely forget that I am even pregnant and then I remember and smile : )

*Have you thought of any names? Ohhh the name saga..well it was fun at first until Brad and I decided to not like the same names and now I like to refer to the baby by the names I like and he doesn't get a kick out of that at all..so hopefully we can put our heads together and come up with some good names

Nursery updates? Well I think I have envisioned exactly how the nursery will look for boy or girl so I just can't wait to find out so I can go to work!...We did get out first baby gift this past week which was from my godfather (Uncle Terry) and Aunt Marion and it's a beautiful fleur-di-lis embroidered bib that I just love! We also bought out first 2 books for the baby which we can't wait to read!

Well we will be updating pictures of our trip soon and we leave for the Lake on Friday to go visit the Dixons at their new home and get to visit with Alexis and Michael as well...can't wait!

End of week 14

Well this was a long but pretty good week...I worked 6 10 hour days in a row had Tuesday off and then worked 2 more..so needless to say I can't wait for vacation to start!
We got to babysit Carter (21/2) and Blair (almost 6 months) while parents Chris and Camille were out shopping for their new home..the kids were soo precious! I got to feed Blair and Carter ate her lunchable and yogurt...Blair sat in her bumbo seat like a little angel and Carter watched the Backyardigans and Yo Gabba Gabba and loved running around the house with Brad...fun evening....
Wednesday it was back to work for me and just wasn't feeling quite right all day...I decided no subway for lunch and was craving some cool ranch doritos (side note..I normally would eat some form of baked lays every day with my lunch but since being prego the thought of chips (other than tostitos used for dips) has disgusted me..I hate the smell the thought of the crunch oh I just have not even wanted to look at them..soo needless to say I ordered a turkey sub and got some doritos and my break at 4ish went fine...well around 6:15 I got sooo sick I had to run to the bathroom and this wave of sickness swept over me...I ended up taking off my button up in the pharmacy bathroom and had broken out in a rash and was overheated..returned to work and just never felt quite right..then I got home and poor Brad had to deal with me..I decided I wanted a homemade waffle..Brad informed me we didn't have eggs..I thought homemade pancakes would do..oh wait pancake mix gone..so I said fruity pebbles would do...crumbs left...so how about a eggo ? only one left ....at this point none of these things even sound good I am just thinking of wanting to put something on my upset stomach..so I ask brad if he would go to Huddle House to get me a homemade waffle..(of course being as nice as Brad is and trying to get me to feel better he says he will but I feel bad and change my mind) I choose an eggo and pack of cheese grits...oh the joys of pregnancy when nothing sounds good!

I woke up Thursday still feeling terrible..I got the the gym at 6 before work and think that will do the trick but of course it doesn't...Corinne recommends I get some Tums so I start chewing up tums like candy...nothing...so I am at work counting down the hours till vacation with a sour stomach...I survived and finally made it home around 7:30 pm...woke up Friday and sour stomach seems to have subsided (thank goodness because I think I had convinced myself that I had listeria from the subway meat)

Friday was a great day started with body combat at the gym and searched around for some goodies at Target and finally bought a non two piece bathing suit and am interested to see if I wear it on the cruise and how I feel about it...got my hair and nails done went to see Janet's kitchen after being demolished as she is in the midst of a remodel and finished the day off by begging Brad to go to Chilis since it was the ONLY thing that I could eat (poor Brad never an easy meal with me!) but as luck has it Lauren and Tyler decided to go there too so we got to enjoy a great dinner catching up with them before we both leave for our vacations tomorrow!

I noticed recently that I have the linea nigra (a dark line that runs up your stomach..how crazy)..I also have the mask of pregnancy I think is what they call it where my whole complexion is just a nightmare...I have dark patches on my face in weird places and especially above my upper lip and it's driving me crazy...Lauren has suggested a Mary Kay complexion blender and I am currently trying it out!

Well can't wait to be in New Orleans tomorrow...be back soon!