Great Week

I hope the weekend is as good as the week. My hubby returns after almost 2 weeks away, my friend who is due 3 weeks away from me is having a girl, our tennis team made it to playoffs, and a good friend revealed she's pregnant. What a fun week of surprises. Hopefully the weekend will continue to be a much fun, my birthday is tomorrow. I kind of have been blowing it off, and it just dawned on me that I'm turning 32.

I came into the office this morning after my docs appointment (all is well). This is what I came into....



How much fun! It's hard to tell b/c of the shadows, but here were thing hanging from the ceiling and my pictures and the doorway was a toilet paper door of streamers...too cute!

Everyone have a great weekend. I hope I do too! No big b-day plans, I've got tennis tomorrow and we are buying a king bed for Scott's graduation and my b-day so we are mattress shopping.

Week 24

Wow, we are 24 weeks today! If I do that math that's 6 months, 4-ish to go! I read somewhere that baby is the size of a small loaf of bread. Intead of a new fruit every week, now they get into groupings. From week 21-24 we were the size of a papaya and the size of a football. Now I guess we are an overinflated football.

I can see little beanette kick and turnover from the outside now. Here's the latest baby bump pic. Goodness I look like big in this pic (not just the belly). Time to start watching what I eat better.

Daddy's Home!

Scott got back yesterday. He's a little jet lagged, but had a great time. Hooray for having daddy home! Little girl Allen is excited too, she's been kicking up a storm.

On another note, here is a funny picture to brighten your day (especially you Scott).

Great weekend

I had a good weekend. Friday night we registered. It was actually quick and painless. Probably because we avoided making a few major decisions. I can't decide between a travel system stroller/car seat or the car seat and easy to use car seat base/snap and go style. Most of my friends have done the snap and go, and most of the reviews talk about how practical and easy it is. I'm a practical girl so that's probably the road I'll take.

Saturday I did MAJOR spring cleaning. A HUGE thanks to my mom who handled the bathroom/chemical cleaning. I don't think the house will ever look this good again. My mom works wonders when it comes to cleaning. I'm hoping the house will stay somewhat clean until the baby comes.

Sunday I had our final tennis match. It looks like our team made playoffs which is really exciting. Our first playoff match would be next Saturday, on my b-day. I think that would actually be a fun birthday. Scott and I can celebrate Saturday night and sunday.

Scott gets back today! I talked to him from the airport last night and he lands around 2:30p. I'M SO EXCITED!!! It'll be great to have him home. The only good part about being so busy at work is that it made the time away from him fly by.

The Case of the Disappearing Belly Button

I'm not quite sure when this happened, but last night I noticed my belly button shrunk. Say BB openings are usually about the size of a dime; my protruding belly seems to have changed mine to roughly the size of a pea.

I think its time to do some belly button research. Does this mean an outie is on the way? Is this shrinking belly button a standard preganancy symptom I never knew about?

Maybe I'll start a belly button watch to go along with my baby bump watch. We hit week 23 yesterday. Wow, how time flies!

Feeling Better

I forgot to say I'm finally feeling better. Barely any coughing!! Hooray. Maybe that's why Little Beannette is so active, no coughing shakes.

Active Little Bean

Work has been so crazy that I've actually contemplated quitting. Scott's company got bought, so that wouldn't be the smartest decision. I can make it through this...I can make it through this.

On a fun note, Little Beannette is moving LIKE CRAZY! I wonder what she's doing in there. Maybe flips from the feel of it. Wonder if she's just having fun or trying to tell me something. It's not contant, but when I feel her it's pretty active. I'm hoping it means she is athletic =) Can't wait for daddy to get home and feel her being so active. Scott is now in Hong Kong. One of his classmates has a tailor over there so he got a suit and some work tops today. Fun!

One other fun note...I'm registering Friday with my mom and my sister!! I went to Babies R Us today and set everything up during my lunch hour. It's more than a little overwhelming! I'm sure I'll make a few other trips too. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!

22 weeks

We are 22 weeks and about the size of a Papaya. There is also a website called www.hisboyscanswim.com which relates the baby to manly items instead of fruit. Week 22 we are a football. I think I'll post that on my door instead.









Here is the latest baby bump pic.





She sure is getting big and loves pushing off my ribs. Isn't it a little early for that? It definitely fun to feel her moving around in there =)

Zzzzzzz....

Yes, I've been a bad blogger, consider the down time my nap. I'm awake...we'll barely. I am on day 11 of being sick. YES, ELEVEN DAYS! I have been pretty miserable, including my work trip to LA. I coughed so violently Tues-Thursday that a few veins in my eyeballs burst. I had VERY red eyes for 2 days. Cough drops only work so well. I finally feel like I'm getting better, only a few coughs an hour vs. one every 2 or 3 seconds.

Scott made it to Shanghai and we've talked a few times via Skype. He's having fun with his classmates and says the city is amazing with great dumplings. Unfortunately the country of china blocks all blogs, so he can't update our travel blog (who ate my little smokies) and he can't read this. Little beanette and I miss him so much, but I can say one good thing is I've been using the entire bed as a pillow mound. The acid reflux I've always had is flaring with the preganancy. The cough drops seems to make it worse. I can't sleep without the cough drops so I've been sleeping sitting up on a pillow mound. Anyone jealous? Let the tougher part of my pregnancy begin.

LA was fine besides the sickness. Idol was a neat experience, but my #1 girl got voted off...Katie. I've lost interest, so I now have gained 2 hours of my life back. (Kit and Holly- Pat was actually on my flight back...what a small world.)

Our Jimmy Kimmel Live Commercial was great. I wish I could show it to you. It's copyrighted material, so I can't post it.

More to come, just wanted to let ya'll know I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

Sick of It

I'm still sick, but feel like I'm close to being on the road to recovery. I head to LA for work tomorrow. We are filming a live commercial that will run at the top of the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on Thursday, 4/15. We are got tickets to catch the American Idol show filming Wed, 4/14. Be on the lookout for me. I think I'll have on a turquoise blue top and grey cardigan (if packing goes as planned). If you are up late Thursday night, be sure to catch our live commercial which airs around 12:05p EST.

The American Idol mentor this week is Adam Lambert, and I'm not a huge fan. At least we'll get to see the contestants and I'm hoping for a surprise performance from someone bigger than Mr. Lambert. One of my favorite groups, Lady Antebellum, is performing while we are there, but it's airing on a later episode. Very exciting.

Sad news is that Scott leaves for his international school trip on Thursday. He heads to Shanghai and Hong Kong. I guess it's fun news too, but tonight is my last night with him for over 13 days. What are his girls gonna do without him for so long?

More to come from Los Angeles...

Sick of Week 21

Well, week 21 started out good. thursday was a rough work day, but ended with a good tennis lesson.

Then it was Friday. Around noon I started getting the "I'm sick funk". You know, the world just kinda seemed hazy. I thought it was allergies, took some Claritin and went to bed early. Now I say I'm sick. It got progressively worse over the weekend. I'm still taking claritin, but the main symptom is a really sore throat and a pesky cough. The coughs are dry and hurt =(

I travel for work on Wed, so I'm hoping for a quick recovery and I'll be souping it up for dinner and getting to bed early. Work travel is taking me to LA which happens to line up with an American Idol filming. I'll try to post more tomorrow on that. My brain is entering "funk" mode again.

It's almost 4p and I think I could easily sleep through the night. zzzzzzzzz... I'll be dreaming of a speedy recovery.

It's A....

What's frilly and pink and so cute you cant think? BABY GIRLS! We are tickled pink to announce that a baby girl Allen is on the way! It turns out the Allens can produce females afterall. Scott was prepared and actually started calling little Bean, Little Beannette about two weeks ago. I thought girl from the beginning, but told myself lately that the chances of us having a boy were just too high. I was 50/50 in the past weeks even though my initial "mommy intuition" said girl.

Scott is going to be the best daddy to a little girl, he just doesn't know it yet. He's only really been exposed to boys, so I think he is a little intimidated. I give her exactly 2 seconds to wrap daddy around her little finger, and that goes for the grandfathers too.

My little niece Maggie (2) is super excited. She's really into babies right now. Tiffany said whenever my name comes up at their house, Maggie says “baby girl, me have baby girl too!” I'm guessing she thinks I'm going to birth a plastic doll baby, just like hers. So cute!

I've already been shopping and thinking of nursery ideas. We are even throwing around names, but I think we'll need to see her before making anything official. I'll save those post topics for a later date when I'm lacking good blogger material.

Hooray for little girls!

Funny Poster

I thought I'd follow up my somber post with a funny one. Tripper gets the credit here (my brother in-law). He snapped this at a pit stop on the way back from Mobile. This was at a Raceway in Auburn, AL. I must say with all my travels, this convenience store was the best I've ever stopped at. they had ANYthing you would want for road trip snacks...I mean anything!



This was a poster on the wall. It just made us laugh.


PS. Good to be home!

Madelyn Mathis Baker- We love you!

We got some sad news last Friday morning. Scott's maternal grandmother, Nonnie, was rushed to the hospital Thursday and they said her chances of surviving were small. We rushed down to Mobile, and we were lucky enough to spend some time with her before she passed Friday evening. Nonnie was an amazing woman and I'm only sorry I didn't know her longer. Here is a pic of Nonnie and her hubby, what a cute couple!



Scott's mom and family are doing okay. The funeral was Monday morning. I married into an amazing family. My in-laws are Gerry and Linda (Nonnie was Linda's mom). Gerry's 2 siblings and mom (Mom Myrt) all drove down from Atlanta at 4am early Monday to make it to the funeral. That's class. I'm a lucky woman to have the Allen's and I know it meant so much to Linda (aka Mama Lin).

The reasons for the gathering were somber, but it was also nice to spend 3 days with Scott's immediate family and the twins.

Nonnie will be missed, but I find comfort that she is with her husband in heaven and they will both be looking out for little Bean!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Scott and I really appreciate it.

The gender reveal was cancelled, but I'll do a blog reveal soon. Trying to play catch up in an already hectic work week.

Any Dreams?

Did any of you have a dream that Little Bean was a girl or a boy? I've heard of one so far, but I'm curious before the reveal if there were any random dreams.

Knowing is half the battle

Keeping the secret for a day and a half is probably harder. Just got back from our ultrasound and check-up. Little bean is doing great and passing all the "tests" with flying colors. The ultrasound tech said Little Bean was one of the most active babies she's seen. We are hoping that means the athletic genes got passed down.

We'll post more this weekend after the reveal, until then I think I'll have to go radio silent to limit the urge to scream from the rooftops whether Little Bean is a he or a she.

talk to ya' later

Tick, Tock

In about an hour we will know what Little bean is. I'm SO anxious and actually a little nervous. Still don't have a good hunch. It changes daily. More to to come...

Official blog poll says 60% girl, 40% boy. Who's right?

Happy Anniversary to Tiffany and Jonathan! Enjoy the beach.