26 Weeks Along!

As of today, I am officially 26 weeks into this pregnancy, and we are really starting to make things happen around here.  First things first, we have chosen his name! Truett Williams Bell is our little guy!  We are so excited to finally be able to call him by name, and somehow it makes me even more anxious to meet him!  Cannot wait to see his face and know his little personality. But I will be patient. :)

In the meantime, we have been busy little worker bees at the Bell house making way for our sweet boy! I have had so much fun thinking about and working on Truett's nursery, and I am so pleased with the way it is coming together.  My precious hubs has already performed many labors of love to prepare for little guy's arrival, and I am so grateful.  Here he is in action...

I have been asked by several people to see some shots of the baby bump.  Well here it is in all of its growing glory!

21 Weeks

23 Weeks

26 Weeks

Truett and I are both growing quite steadily these days, and he is a very active little guy already!  (Fingers crossed that this isn't indicative of his energy level post-birth.. Eek!)  Pregnancy is quite an experience, and although my body hasn't quite taken to it the way I had hoped (healthwise), I know that it is such a special thing and I am trying to appreciate these weeks with my baby boy in my tummy.

A Little Gentleman

We had such a fun Christmas, and I can't wait to share pictures from all of our celebrations.... 

But first I want to document a really big day that we had just before we left town for Christmas!

We are beyond thrilled to announce that baby Bell is a BOY!

It was such a crazy day for us.  I was a nervous wreck all day waiting for the appointment.  I was so excited to know if we were expecting a boy or a girl, but much more than that, I was anxious to see how our baby was growing and developing.  And praise the Lord, our sweet boy looked perfect.  He was measuring right at 18 weeks, and everything was as it should be.  We are beyond grateful.

It was surreal to really see him for the first time.  Austin and I both just sat there in awe.  He was a busy boy with the hiccups, and he was moving and shaking the whole time.  I wasn't able to feel him moving yet at that point, so it was crazy to see all that commotion going on in my belly yet everything still seeming perfectly still.  The sonographer was fabulous and so thorough.  She went system by system so that we could check on every little detail, and all we could think about what was just how amazing our God truly is.  And the next thought was....what are we going to name this little guy?!  This question still remains unanswered, so we have been lovingly calling him B3 (Baby Boy Bell).  We are looking forward to finding just the right  name that we feel really suits our boy.  We will keep you posted.

Sweet little profile!

Amazing to see this view of his little face!

He was tired of having his picture taken by the end of the appointment.

PROUD PARENTS!

Long Time No Blog

It's been a long time. I shouldn't have left you...without a dope beat to step to...step to....step to....

Throwback.  Aaliyah Y2K.

Well guys, I'm here.  It was touch and go there for awhile, but I think I'm going to make it.  I made our (not so) little announcement and then disappeared, but it was really for the best.  You all would have been bored to tears with the details of my daily doings these last couple of months.  I've been struggling with the yucky, pukey part of this baby journey for quite some time now, so if I wasn't at work, I was on the couch or in the bed.  No glamour here.  But I am now 17 weeks along, and things are starting to look up in terms of overall general healthy feelings.  Seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, and hoping to be feeling nice & snazzy again soon!

So although we were working through some yuck, we did pepper in some fun bright spots this fall!

A visit to Baltimore to spend time with some besties...

Can never get enough QT with these precious friends and their sweet, sweet babes!

Austin enjoyed a camping man-cation with some of his dearest dudes...

My parents came over for a weekend for a surprise visit, and they also came to spend Thanksgiving with us because Austin was on call... Unfortunately, we don't have any fun photos from their visits, but we loved having them here!!

We had a visit from my cousin Mendy, her husband Clint, & their sweet 1-year old boys!

And most recently (aka: this weekend) my mother-in-law, aunt-in-law, and sweet sisterlys made the trek over for a girls weekend! Loved every single second!

Now we are all geared up for Christmas and ready to enjoy one of our favorite times of the year!  My dear friend Allison wrote some sweet words on her blog, so I wanted to link it up and echo her sentiments.  She has a better way with words than I.  So much to celebrate this season!

You and Me

And baby makes three!

Coming May 2013.  Stay tuned.

Extra Bits of Summer

Due to my lack of blogging this summer, I have failed to document a few fun things that went on around these parts!

First, a visit from Ma and Pa Bell in June.  We had such a fun time hanging out and eating our way through town! (<-- our favorite activity when we have visitors!)

The highlight of the weekend was our dining experience at Bleu.  Amy & Owen know the chef at this fabulous restaurant, and he gave our whole crew the five-star treatment!  We enjoyed tons of sampling plates, fabulous entrees, and then some yummy dessert.  I truly felt like we got to taste every single thing on the menu, and every morsel was absolutely delish.  And it was such a fun experience! So handy to have family with friends in high places.

This is how we felt when we got back to Amy & Owen's place...

Food: 1. Bells: 0.

And as if one summer visit from the Bells wasn't enough, we got another one last weekend!  But this time...Alex, Lauren, and baby Rooney joined them!  Of course we did a lot more chatting & eating, but this time we got to love on sweet baby girl!

Isn't she an absolute doll?!

Sleeping is her favorite.  Cuddling is our favorite.

Hanging at A & O's, just staring at Rooney girl.

It was so fun having this crew here. Loved every minute.

And speaking of visitors, Amber and Megan (two of my dear, dear friends from college) also made the trek over this summer!  It was so fun having them here and getting to catch up.  Having my old friends come here to our new home does my heart good.  Love these girls so much!

And last but not least, my mom also made a little visit this summer...unfortunately we didn't take a single photo while she was here. But let it be known that she spoiled us rotten.  Cleaned our house, sewed new pillows, stocked our pantry, and treated us to some yummy food.  She is the best.  And not just because of those things...also because when we are together, we do things like this...

Love that lady something fierce.

Finally, the most random thing that happened to us this summer was our little newspaper feature.  Yup, that's right...our home was featured in the local paper.  Our realtor asked if we would mind doing a little interview for the real estate section, and happy to help out, we obliged.  Before we knew it, there was a writer and a photographer headed over.  We were a little shocked when they mentioned a photographer, but we spruced up the house and made ourselves presentable.  Then a few weeks later, we got a bigger surprise.  It wasn't a "little interview"....we were on the front page.  And the centerfold.  Large picture of yours truly and several from inside of our home.  So funny to see ourselves & our little place in the paper.

And that brings us to today... Summer is winding down, and you know what that means-- fall and Razorback season are just around the corner!  We are headed up for the season opener next weekend, and we can't wait.  Woo pig sooie!

Our New Kitchen!

This post is a little late, but I definitely wanted to document some before and after shots of our kitchen remodel.  All in all, the kitchen remodel was completed in under 3 weeks.  We were pleasantly surprised with how quickly the process went, and we are so so pleased with how everything turned out.  Without adding any square footage to our small kitchen, I feel like we have doubled our work space and at least quadrupled our storage space.  Cooking is fun again because I just love being in there!

Here is the original real estate listing photo of the kitchen...

Certain things are clear-- the laundry is in the kitchen, there are very few cabinets, the stove is just sitting there awkwardly by itself, etc.  One other very important detail is less obvious-- only 1 of those drawers actually opens.  We knew something had to be done.

One year later, here is our new kitchen...

I'm in love.

Now I don't have a fish-eye lens to get the full scale of the first photo, but I think we can all appreciate the difference.  More counterspace.  More cabinets.  More light, bright, and happy!!

 Let's do a little more before and after just for kicks.

As it belonged to previous owners.  Their paint colors.  Their stuff.

Wasted space. No storage.

Love our new pantry!

Where oh where has our laundry gone? I'm so glad you asked.  Follow me this way...

We are now the proud owners of an official laundry closet.  Love it.  And it makes way more sense.  No more folding clean shirts and piling them on the...stove? And the best part is that it looks like it has always been this way.  It all works with this charming, old house, and we are so pleased.

Lately

A little bit of this...

Austy boy is officially henceforth an ophthalmologist, so he's getting handy with his lenses.

And, of course, some of this...

It's so so so hot.  A steady supply of YoLo FroYo helps keep us cool.

And a whole lot of this...

Olympic gymnastics.  Love.  My 2-week summer break from work coincides perfectly with this Olympic goodness.  Couldn't be more pleased.

Also, my friend Kayleigh (with whom I get the joy of working daily!) and I were *slightly* hooked on American Idol this past season due to a shared favorite-- Phillip Phillips.  And, as luck would have it, the good ol' American Idol tour came close by while we were off work.  So, of course, we decided to take advantage of a chance to see Phil² live in living color.  Although we watched from nose-bleeding heights, he did not disappoint.  Plus it was a good excuse for a fun little road trip!

Fun fact: Phil²'s single "Home" is the theme song for the women's olympic gymnastics coverage.  I love when my happy things come together.

Go Team USA!