Back to the real world…and I’m not sure I’m ready. Am I the only one who feels like they need a vacation after their vacation? And sometimes its harder going back to work when you’ve been off for a week than just any ole weekend.

Jeremy and I on the beach around dusk.
We had a really good time in Florida last week. My in-laws took me and Jeremy, his sister, Kara and her boyfriend, Shelby, and their brother Andrew and his girlfriend, Kara. There were 8 of us all together. J’s parents had rented us a beach house right on the water outside of Destin. Even though weather reports showed Hurricane Fay was headed straight for us, we didn’t even get a drop of rain. We had blue skies the whole time.



My round belly got a nice tan. I got some relaxing afternoons reading and laying out by the waves. I still got to run/walk almost every morning. It was actually nice to go to bed pretty early and wake up early to exercise and have a tiny bit of coffee. I also liked not having to put on much make up or fix my hair because I was gonna be at the beach all day. We ate sandwiches for lunch and cooked most of our dinners. We went out to eat twice and then I enjoyed having a reason to dress up and eat with everyone. Here’s a pic of J and I out to dinner.
Boy oh boy, I hope this baby is a boy! I say that because:
1. Our cousin, Catherine, her sister was told several times she was having a boy and just found out that he’s a SHE! Read about it here.
2. I bought lots of boy stuff at the outlet malls in Destin!
I had been planning this shopping trip since I knew we were preggars and since I found out lil peanut’s gender. I knew there were some good outlets in Destin. They are great for baby clothes! I shopped from about 10 am to 4ish pm one afternoon and even shopped some more a few days later. I outshopped the 2 Karas. (My sis-in-law and my bro-in-law’s girlfriend both are named Kara.) I found my main purchases came from the Carter’s outlet (they have the cutest little infant clothes). I liked Osh Kosh, Baby Gap, and Children’s Place (usually CP isn’t my favorite, but they had some cute stuff and good deals). J’s mom was so kind to humor me and go along for the baby shopping ride. It was the first real time I got to shop for him. I quit going thru the baby section and even avoided kid’s stores for the two years we were trying for this babe. So it was rather strange and exciting to get to do it for myself and not just someone else’s baby shower. J and I even went to Build A Bear and built a stuffed dog for Jonah. He had a cowboy hat and boots on. So cute.




We've got a swimsuit all ready for Grandma Woody's pool next summer!

My little Gap baby!
We had a great week in Destin and headed back early Saturday morning just as Fay was beginning to cause a little bit of wind and rain. We drove out of that within a hour. So we were so lucky and have absolutely no complaints about a great week. My hubby got to go deep sea fishing, golfing and play in the sand (yes, watching those boys play on the beach really clued me into what having a baby boy will be like). I got to shop, read, relax, sleep, exercise, and lay out. So thank you Clay and Barbara for taking us all for a wonderful week! You guys were so gracious and we had a great time getting to hang out with the whole family. Here’s a really good pic of them I snagged on our last night of eating out.

I will not officially be back in the real world until Tuesday when I go back to work. For now, my Monday will be spent cleaning up my disaster of a house and trying to get us back in working order. I gotta buy groceries and all that fun stuff. 
Wow! Look at that belly! 18 weeks 4 days!
Take a blurry look at my tan! ha!
I have my next drs appt Tuesday for my ‘big’ ultrasound. Since I already know the gender it’s not quite as exciting as it could be, but now I’m just praying that what we’ve been told twice is correct. If not, no big deal. We’ll figure it out, I mean seriously, waaayyyy worse things could happen. I’m just praying for an everything-looks-great report. I guess I had been kinda worrying that he wasn’t moving around in there. I don’t think I realize that what I feel is movement sometimes. I’ll be laying still and not paying attention and something will twinge and kinda roll bubbly around in the low parts of my abdomen and I won’t even realize that could be it until its over. Then it won’t happen again for another day or so. During the first u/s I had at 15 weeks 2 days, she said he was foot-down breach and was kicking! I feel that sometimes because it’s a very specific pressure that you don’t usually feel until your baby is heavy and my peanut is too young to be that heavy. I was born feet first! Not rump first breach, but toes first breach. I don’t think they let you do that anymore. Its my understanding that in that case you usually get a C-section. Is that right?

My puppy (on the right) and her buddy, Rusty, are sad to have to say goodbye until J and I have to go out out of town again. They love to play!