Highlights

Sorry I have been slacking on blogging (to my 3 loyal readers, ha) but I have been busy. I was not expecting to be busy since I had a 2 and a half week break from school but after a day of laying around and recovering from finals I was on the move again. Just figured I would hit the highlights of this month's events.

1. Joe graduated from Auburn. Can I get a WAR EAGLE from anyone?? Very proud of him.

What a beautiful couple! Have I ever mentioned that I love that my little sister is dating my brother-in-law? Cause I do. I love it, and I love them.

Joe and his proud parents

Aunt Dana and Ali were able to come to graduation on their way to Texas. I'm sure it meant a lot to Joe for them to be there. And honestly, any excuse to visit Auburn is a good one!

Smart boy!

Of course we stopped at SnoBiz. That's a no-brainer.

2. Jen's 21st birthday at the Melting Pot with my family. Good food and good family time. I could eat the dessert plate allll by myself.
3. I (Jess) went to the beach for a long weekend with some girls from school to celebrate the most difficult semester of school being over. It was so fun to be at the beach. Thankfully it was not unbearably hot. The bad thing about going to the beach at the beginning of summer is having no base tan so I had to stay under the umbrella most of the time. I read 2 books in 3 days. I LOVE to read but I had not been able to read for pleasure since the semester started. It was wonderful.

Being at the beach while pregnant is a different experience. I am not one that likes attention but boy can people stare! Honestly, it was like they had never seen a pregnant woman in a tankini. Another difference was noticing all of the babies and toddlers at the beach. I guess it is like when you get engaged you start noticing people's rings. I spent half the time daydreaming about what it will be like taking Parker to the beach. Those scenarios did not include reading 2 books in 3 days so I should probably try to enjoy that as much as possible now! Ben loves the beach so much...he's like a little kid the moment we arrive, so it's not hard to picture Parker excited about it :)

4. My summer classes started today. Yuck. Thankfully I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since I have the other week days off I am able to go back to the daycare and work! I have missed that place and the people in it!

5. We cleaned out Parker's room. Pictures coming soon!

Turner Field > Prom

This weekend was Huntsville High School's prom. Jamie, my youngest sister, is a junior. She decided to skip the prom and take the family to Atlanta for a Braves game instead! It's one of the many reasons I love her. Someone asked her who she was going to prom with and she replied Yunel Escobar. That's my girl. He didn't even know who she was talking about so obviously he wasn't worthy to take her in the first place.

We left for Atlanta early Saturday morning, despite a dreary weather forecast. We were very hopeful that the rain would stay away. We made it to Atlanta, picked up my Aunt Judy and Uncle Nelson and made it to downtown Atlanta in time to meet Jen and Joe for lunch before the game. Our seats were pretty awesome, we were 2 rows from the field right by the bat boy. I love checking out all the different sections in Turner Field, and I am not sure I have a favorite one just yet.

The weather....oh the weather. We were very thankful that the rain held off! There were a few sprinkles in the very beginning but after that the sun was out for most of the game. Again let me say, very thankful for that, BUT totally not prepared for the extreme humidity and direct sunlight. It made me feel huge. And it's not even summer! Oh well, nothing a few waters and frozen lemonade couldn't fix!

We had a great weekend, and Jamie - I hope you enjoyed your prom. I sure did!

p.s. I am almost positive I felt Parker doing the chop with us.

Parker Thomas Calvert

My happy place

I can not even begin to tell you how much I love SnoBiz. Some people like chocolate, some people like ice cream, and others like cake. I like SnoBiz. Thankfully Auburn had 2 locations, but Huntsville has NONE! This is a crime.

Yesterday was the official 20 weeks pregnant date so I decided it would only be appropriate to celebrate. It was also my last day of clinicals for the semester. I will be putting up my scrubs and stethescope until January. What a strange thought! We finished at the hospital a little early so I decided to take advantage of the extra time and take my baby sister along for the ride. As soon as she got out of school we were on our way to Guntersville. It was a beautiful day and the lake looked amazing, but my mind was focused on making it to SnoBiz before it closed!

We arrived!

Round One: Tigers Blood for both of us. Best flavor by far.

Jamie kept on laughing at me because I had a huge grin on my face the whole time.

She was pretty excited as well.

Round Two: Blue Hawaii for me and Watermelon for Jammers. Don't judge, just trying to make the road trip worth it.

Trust me there were no leftovers. It was as wonderful as I had hoped and most definitely worth the drive.

Of course I will take any excuse to hang out with Jamie. Can't wait for summer when all three sisters are reunited!

(please excuse my blue mouth...again, it was worth it)

All grown up

Remember this? Here is maggie at 6 weeks...

Well here she is now, all grown up. Maggie turned 6 months on Wednesday. To celebrate we spent extra time in the backyard with her that night. We figured we better acknowledge her birthdays now because soon Maggie will not be the center of attention at our house anymore. I sure hope she handles that alright...but no use worrying about that now!
Maggie loves her frisbees. She will chase after a ball if it's there but she really loves her frisbees. The moment we let her outside she will go stand by her frisbee and look at us like "Hurry up, I'm ready!"
She also loves climbing on top of the table. Putting toys and drinks on the table is no longer safe...

She can also jump really high! This is fun to do outside, but not so fun when you are trying to walk through the front door with groceries. We are working on it.
I know Maggie loves me, but she ADORES Ben. She even knows about what time he comes home from work because she will go sit and look out the front door. She will follow him throughout the house and if he makes her stay out of the room he is in she just sits outside the door until he comes out. It's so cute. Maggie is not always pleased that I get a kiss before she gets attention when he comes home from work but that's just something she will have to get used to.
Since the weather is warmer we have made the habit of going outside when Ben gets home from work. Ben plays fetch with Maggie while I get to be lazy in the hammock and look up at this...
...not a bad situation in my opinion. Happy half bday Maggie!

Best Purchase Ever

I am at the awkward stage of too small for maternity clothes but too big for regular clothes. Since it is much easier and more comfortable to wear clothes that are bigger than smaller, Ben and I headed to a maternity clothes store to check it out. First thing we saw............BRAVES TSHIRTS! It's like the store was saying "I know you are uneasy about coming in the store, here is something to make the transition a little easier for you." Not only is it one comfortable tshirt, but it has plenty of room to grow. Just in time for Opening Day!



*sorry for the awkward hand placement. I'm not good with pictures by myself...



Here we have Maggie and Molly enjoying their Easter treats together. We kept Molly for the weekend so my parents could keep their house clean and dog hair free for the big family Easter lunch. Despite a very unfortunate 4:45am wake up call from Molly getting sick all over our carpet, we had a good time with the dogs.

It was a beautiful Easter! We enjoyed a wonderful church service and an amazing lunch with family. We ended the day with a walk around UAH campus. It's no Auburn, but it's only 30 seconds away from the house. I had a great time walking with Ben and Maggie and the weather was perfect. I almost forgot about the tests coming up this week. Almost.

Baby Thoughts

Today I am officially 17 weeks along. That's almost halfway!! How scary and exciting at the same time. Over the past weeks I have had a few random baby thoughts that I wanted to share. There are several people reading this who live across the country and are not here to experience this with us on a day to day basis so this is me keeping you informed. But since we all know I am not great at keeping up with blogging it would be much easier if you moved closer to Huntsville. For example, not Arizona....just a thought :)

Let the random thoughts begin:

- I was told there was a burst of energy that accompanied the 2nd trimester. Still waiting for that. School is wearing me out, especially these early morning clinicals. It's mainly the feeling of never being finished that makes me so tired. I may be finished with class or clinical for the day but there is always a stack of projects and studying to do. Yuck. So bring on the energy boost...I need you!

- VERY THANKFUL that the nausea and vomiting from the 1st trimester is over. The term morning sickness is very misleading. It's more like morning/afternoon/night sickness. One sweet, older man at the hospital said "Sweetheart, I have cancer and you look like you feel worse than I do." Granted I was horrified that I was obviously sick in front of him but he was so wonderful. He started to call me into his room because he "needed help" but really he wanted to give me a chance to sit down. I was more than happy to hang out with him and he wanted company. It was a perfect arrangement for both of us. Things like that are why I love nursing.

- Babies-R-Us is an overwhelming place. No need to elaborate on that. It just scares me.

- I can't wait to see Ben as a dad. He is going to be fantastic. And I can't wait to see our parents as grandparents. Very YOUNG grandparents of course. And our siblings as aunts and an uncle. Everyone is so excited!

- Ready for warm weather so I can stop trying to fit into my jeans. Using a rubber band as an expander is not ideal. This is exciting though! It makes the pregnancy much more real!

-I love going to the doctor appointments. Even the 5 minute ones. Hearing the heart beat gets me every time. What a beautiful process. Our next appointment is tomorrow morning!

- We have decided to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. At first I guessed a girl, and Ben is convinced it is a boy. We will find out soon! Of course we would be thrilled either way. We are prepared with a name for either one.

-I do feel more prepared to decorate if we are having a boy. Having an excuse to use a lot of blue in a room is a dream come true for me. Of course some version of these pictures will be included in the room. We have to let him know what is right from the beginning.

Let the brainwashing begin...