It's A...(drumroll please)

GIRL!!!!!


Ava Faye Brewer is due March 4, 2010! We chose her name because Ava means "like a bird" or "to fly" and her daddy is a commercial pilot. Faye is my middle name, my mothers middle name, and about 4 distant aunts and great aunts middle name.

She was so active during the ultrasound (in fact, ALL the time!) that we really couldn't get a great profile shot. But she is perfect and healthy and growing right on schedule!

Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes!!!

The Polls are Open!!!

Me at 18 weeks...I have grown a lot since then. I need to take a new picture, I know... :)

Vote now on if we are having a BOY or a GIRL!!! We will find out on Tuesday, October 20th, and will share our news via blogger and Facebook just as soon as our families hear the results!

(By the way, in case you are wondering...I still think girl, Cole still thinks boy...)

Are we having a boy or girl?

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• Girl

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I've been a bad blogger girl...

I know. It's been a while. But life has been a bit crazy. Isn't it always!

So just some updates...

Baby B is getting bigger and bigger, as is my baby belly! People actually can tell now. No more of those looks like "is she pregnant or just tubby?" Which I am so happy about.

My poor pup Wesley got bitten by a snake on Friday night. Let me first just say that he is fine. Or getting there at least. We didn't know at first what was wrong. We got home from a dinner out with the family, let him out to potty, and then after a couple of minutes heard the worst screams and yelps I have ever heard from a dog. He was at the door screaming and we let him in. He would not put any weight on his left leg and wouldn't let us touch it. So we rushed him to the ER Vet, and he told us that he had been bitten by a large snake, and would have to stay overnight so that they could give him IV antibiotics, steroids, and histamines, along with a heaping dose of pain medicine. Poor boy was in so much pain that they had to sedate him. So we picked him up the next day, and took him to our regular vet for a followup. He confirmed that he would be fine, and told us to keep him on the oral antibiotics and the oral pain meds. Come to find out, he had been bitten not once, but twice by a very large snake, most likely a copperhead. OUCH!!! But he is doing great and even tried to chase a cat today while outside on a potty break!
He is such a brave boy, and we are so proud of him!!!

I would like to welcome a new reader, my best friend Whitney!!! Yea!!!

We will soon find out the gender of our baby. I still think it's a girl. Cole still says boy. There is a good dinner riding on it! ;) Let me know your predictions!!! We are taking a tally. So far, most people are siding with me. I felt the baby move today. Actually, I'd been feeling it for about a week, but I wasn't sure until today that what I was feeling was the baby. The feeling woke me up last night, and then today she (or he) was super active!!! That is when I decided that it was, indeed, the baby!

I promise to try to be more diligent about posts...and look for nursery pics in the coming months!!! ;)

Lately....

So it's been a while since I last posted anything. No good reason, really. Just been a little under the weather and out of touch. Oh, and Cole was home after 5 weeks away. That kept me busy! :)

Things have changed a bit in Rachel-land, and I wanted to update my faithful 10 followers. I quit my job. I hate saying that. I resigned my position. That sounds so much better! As many of you know, I was a preschool teacher. And I loved it. But we had already had an outbreak of Swine Flu on campus, and as you may know that is very bad for pregnant women. And I am CMV negative, so that was an added concern. For those of you who don't know, CMV is a virus that most people are exposed to and have developed antibodies to by the time they reach adulthood. 85-95% of adults have had it. But I haven't. Which is actually a really good thing because, since I am also O negative blood type, that means that the blood I donate can be used for cancer patients and newborn babies. But it also means that if I were to get it while pregnant, it could cause a wide and scary range of complications. My boss was very nice about it, and this past Wednesday was my last day. So now I am, not unemployed, but a housewife and future stay-at-home mommy.

Now that is not to say I want to sit around all day and eat bonbons. Actually, I am desperate to find something to do. The problem is that I am limited to what I can do. Working with children is out, since that is why I left in the first place. And retail is out too, because I have a nerve issue, and if I stand for more than 30 minutes, my back and left leg are in excruciating pain. So finding a part time job that requires no standing, and is pretty much temporary since I want to stay home with the baby and is a "low risk" for infection has proven pretty difficult. But I am working on it. I used to be in marketing, so I might try to find something back in that arena...who knows....

I also have an idea for a home business up my sleeve. It was something I was going to start after the baby arrived, but since this has happened, I figure now is the perfect time to just take a deep breath and go for it. Cole is a little more reluctant than I am. He doesn't understand the potential. Let's just say this is more a "girl" thing... :) More to come on that in a few weeks!

We are really enjoying our kitchen! It's so nice to have it back. I still have a few more boxes to unpack, but most everything is in and works great!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend...and GO HOGS!!!! ;)

The Big Reveal!

You have waited a long time, so without further ado, I give you...OUR NEW KITCHEN!!!!

Okay, first, I thought I would remind everyone of what our kitchen looked like before our big project...

This is looking into the kitchen from the dining room.

Here is the view coming in from the living room.

And here is the view coming in from the garage.



These pictures are a bit out of order...sorry...

This is the hole where our new built in wine rack (that is still being built) will go into.

This was my gift to my husband for being so patient and letting me do pretty much whatever I wanted to our house. :) It is a flip down flat screen TV that is also a Radio, CD player, and DVD player.

Here is the view looking into the kitchen from the dining room.

Here is the new sink area. I love my faucet!!!

Our pullouts in the new pantry cabinets...speaking of...

Here are the new pantry cabinets on either side of the refrigerator. They are great!!!

Here is the kitchen as you walk into the room from the garage. It hardly looks like the same house!!! It is just lovely now! I am so happy! It's been a long road, but I am glad we did it!!! We still have to put in the hardware, but other than that, and some more flooring in the bathrooms, we are done!!! Yea!!!!

It's been 10 Days...

So I thought I might bring an update to the table. My house is DONE! Okay, almost DONE!!! We still have to do the floors in the bathrooms, and lots of trim work. The wine rack in the kitchen is still being built, and I have some painting to do, but other than those minor things, it is DONE!!! I am so happy, you have NO IDEA! (Well, if you have lived without a kitchen for 3 months or more, than (then?) you do.

I will post picture later, but for now I have a much more important something to tell all of you...well, ask all of you. It is a prayer request for a sweet family that I went to high school with. Jason and Katie, and Jason's sister Shannon all went to Arkansas Baptist, which is where I also attended high school. Jason and Katie were high school sweethearts who got married, and they have a beautiful son, Zach. Now I am not close with their family, and if it wasn't for Facebook and Blogs, I would never have known this was going on. But Katie and Jason were expecting their first daughter, Baby Reese, in a few weeks. But two days ago she had to have an emergency C-Section. When Reese was born, she wasn't breathing, and was put in NICU with no brain activity, according to Shannon. Last night, they took her off of the machines and she went to be with the Lord. I know that this is a heartbreaking experience for anyone to go through, and being pregnant myself, I can't imagine what it is like to have this little miricle inside of you for 9 months and then not get to watch her grow up. It is heartwentching. I just ask that you pray for Katie, Jason, Shannon and the rest of their families. They need all of the prayers and comfort they can get. The good news is that Katie and Jason both love the Lord as evident by their strength and encouraging and uplifting words, even at such a heartbreaking time. If you follow Kelly's Korner, then you have been reading some about them. Please pray....


See you soon...and I promise I will post pictures of the house! It's clean right now because I hosted Bunko last night, so I need to take pictures now before it gets messy again!!!

Rachel

Just a plain ole' update...

Hi blogger buds! Hope all is going well in your world on this beautiful Monday! Just wanted to say hi. Not much really to talk about...

Oh, except I changed my mind on my baby furniture. Now I am really not one to change my mind. Not at all. Once I get an idea in my head, I stick to it like contact cement! But.... I went to a store that carried the brand of baby furniture that we were going to order, and while they didn't carry that particular set (they said it was special for military), I did get a chance to look at other furniture from this company. And it was okay. But not as well made as I would have liked. Especially since we were going to be paying over $1000.00 for it!!! But they had this beautiful set there, and for about the same price, it is solid hardwood, dovetailed drawers, just really well made, beautiful furniture. So this is my new decision. And I like being able to touch it before buying it.




Also, I am hosting Bunko next week at my house. Which is almost done. But I am worried how it's going to get finished, painted, cleaned, and decorated by next Thursday! Ahhh!!! Deep breathes! Please pray for my sanity...speaking of, I found my car tags! Praise the Lord!!!

And today is my birthday. Sigh...another year older. Bummer. Oh well...happens to everyone I suppose!!!

Have a great day!!!