Name Game...

I guess the first big news to announce is that our lovely daughter has a name. Kelly and I intended to name our baby girl, and then let it be a surprise for all of our friends and family...but we were really torn between two names so we decided to let the GWU swim team take a vote. The two names being voted on were "Riley" and "Avery". Since all 60 swimmers know our baby girl's name it seems only fair to let everyone in on the fun. In the end, Riley won by 3 votes. We're still trying to pick a middle name, but Riley Elizabeth and Riley Kate seem to be the two names we keep coming back to.

Riley seems to be growing very rapidly. As one of my swimmers announced during

practice on Saturday, "Ashley's belly seems to have doubled in size over night." It might be true. I had my first melt down on Saturday trying to get ready to go to the Clemson game. It was 90 degrees outside and I couldn't find anything to wear. None of my clothes fit me anymore. I have one pair of jeans and one pair of black pants, but nothing in the way of shorts (at least none that can button). After trying on about 8 different things that looked horrible, I just sat down on the bed and cried. After having a moment, and accepting the fact that I didn't have a a cute summer-y outfit wear to the game, I threw on a football jersey and a pair of shorts that wouldn't quite button, and we were off :) By the way, there are very few places that

make me quite as happy as Death Valley on gameday. I truly love Tiger football!

The other exciting news is that my mama is coming up from FL to visit for a long weekend this Friday-Sunday. We're really looking forward to spending some time w/ her.

For those of you that have been asking. Here is a belly shot...22 weeks.

Small Happenings....

-Friday night was classified as "date night" and so Kelly and I got dressed up and went to dinner at Copper River Grill. very yummy. Little brother and daddy also won their first football game of this year's high school season 25-14. I made mom call and give us updates on the game.

-Saturday we had our very first swim team Risk night, and pulled out the good old fashion strategy board game. We ended up w/ about 10 Risk players. It was a great time of food, fun, and friendly competition. Kelly and I played at separate tables, and both won our respective games :)

-Sunday was church, and then a swim team cookout at my boss' house. It was really nice to spend time w/ swimmers outside of the pool.

-This morning (Monday) was our first day of practice (4:30 am wakeup!) and I had another OB visit. Everything seems well. My BP was 100/64, I've gained 7 lbs total, and baby had a heartrate of 152. I've been really tired and my lymph nodes are a bit swollen so they went ahead and tested me for mono...just precautionary...but I really don't think I have severe enough symptoms for it to be anything more than simple fatigue. I also have a few red dots on my hand (they have been there for several months, and i can't feel them at all), but the doctor asked that I go visit a dermatologist just to make sure they're not some kind of allergic rash...so I have that appointment next week.

-Kelly has his first ultimate frisbee game of the semester tonight at 8. Dudes and Dolls (the team Kelly started 7 years ago) is still going strong. He's happy he can still run w/ the "young guys".

Baby Nursery...

I think I had my first pregnancy craving...nothing weird like pickles and peanut butter, but I desperately wanted fondue cheese. We had a fondue night a couple of weeks ago w/ some of our good friends, Chris and Megan, and ever since then I'd been practically dying for more fondue cheese. One problem: not one grocery store in Spartanburg, SC carries it at this time of the year. Trust me, I know. 1.5 hours of searching later...no luck.

So...the good news is that we were making a trip to Atlanta this weekend to pick up some nursery furniture from Kelly's aunt and also to attend a shower for one of our friends. AND Publix in Atlanta carries fondue cheese. problem solved. My entire dinner last night was fresh baked bread and fondue cheese :)

Speaking of nursery furniture I thought I'd post an update of the baby's room. We were blessed to be given so much from Kelly's aunt and uncle at such a great price. All of the furniture and bedding was theirs. They also gave us a jogging stroller. Kelly's parents were absolutely wonderful as well for driving to Atlanta to help us load a truck and then back to SC to help us unload (and by "us" i mean Kelly since I was pretty much useless in helping to move furniture). The room still has a ways to go, but I think it's beginning to look like a nursery.

Latest Ultrasound Pictures

Here are a few pictures from yesterday's appointment...

1. She wouldn't turn to the side so this is a head-on shot of her face and belly

2. I love how she's resting on her little hand

3. Close-up of her foot (yay for 5 toes!)

4. A shot from her bottom upwards. Her knees are bent so that's why her legs look a bit funny. As the nurse stated, "Baby has no boy parts. It's a girl!"

IT'S A....

We are so excited to announce that we are having a baby GIRL!!! We'll post ultrasound pictures as soon as we scan them into the computer :)

Last Weekend Before Life Starts...

I was really looking forward to this weekend b/c it was the first in recent memory that Kelly and I had plans to do nothing. Over the last few months life has taken us to Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and many weekends in Georgia..but there's just something in me that's a homebody at heart. This is also the last weekend before the swimmer's move in and orientation begins. I'm really excited to see all of them again, but it also signals the end of summer :(

Friday night Kel and I met up w/ some college friends and hung out in downtown Greenville. We ate at Sticky Fingers, then walked Falls Park, and ended up at Coffee Underground. I will forever associate Coffee Underground with my college experience...so many weekends were spent sipping coffee and eating dessert at this establishment. I went with the Strawberry Cake...a pretty sure bet. Second only to the Bailey's Cheesecake.

Saturday was fabulously uneventful. First we slept in until 10:45 and then ate a "real" breakfast (bacon, eggs, and toast). Typical breakfast in our house generally consists of cereal, so this was a treat :). Next we decided that since we have to pay HOA dues of $375 a year we might as well use the neighborhood pool so we soaked up the sunshine and immersed ourselves in a good book. I'm currently reading My Sister's Keeper and so far it has exceeded my expectations (I'm only halfway through). The afternoon concluded with a nap (for me), and a good game of Scrabble (which i dominated), and then we curled up and watched a movie. Ahhhh. I love my life.

Today was, once again, a perfect Sunday at NewSpring. The message consisted of many video clips of real life stories of how God has been impacting families in our church. It was so encouraging for me b/c I think it's easy to dwell on all the really cool things God did in the past, but lose sight of the fact that this same God is still active and evident in people's every day lives today. I think we tend to chalk many things up to coincidence instead of recognizing them as a work of God.

So...TRUE STORY... we left church and I was telling Kelly all of this. We decided that we'd cap off our wonderful weekend with a trip to my favorite restaurant...Miyabi Japanese Steakhouse. We come in and get seated next to a large family who is celebrating a daughter's birthday. After we eat, the waiter never brings us our bill so I ask, "Excuse me sir, can we have our check?" ...and he tells me that this family that we're sitting with has picked up our tab. Kelly and I both look totally confused, I'm sure. I finally look up at the father and say "What? Are you serious? Thank you sooo much!" and he walks over to us and shakes our hand and says, "While you guys prayed for your food, God really impressed upon me that I was supposed to pay for your lunch. I definitely want to listen when God speaks." WOW. Seriously?. God is still active and evident in people's every day lives. Thank you sir for this very tangible reminder.

Weekend Recap...

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent our weekend in Georgia visiting some of our best friends and celebrating Quinn's 16th birthday. We had an absolute blast. On Friday night we went to trivia at Blue Moon Pizza with the Reaves' and Ellis'. Our team, "Chuck Norris can touch MC Hammer" got off to a slow start, but had an amazing second half to finish in the top 12 or so. The announcer clearly could not read and continued to announce our team as "Chuck Norris can touch MY MC Hammer" which has totally different connotations, but was pretty funny nonetheless.

On Saturday we met up with the Ellis' to spend the day lounging around the pool at the country club. It was a gorgeous day, and between the diving boards and the kiddle water slide there were many laughs and good memories. I rocked my new preggo bathing suit b/c I don't think I'll ever be one of those women that can wear the skimpy bikini with the protruding round belly. I admire those that can do that, but I don't have that same confidence I suppose.

Saturday night we went to dinner at the Twisted Taco for Quinn's Birthday, and then followed the fam back to Kim and Frank's for dessert and coffee. Every moment we get to spend with family makes me wish that we lived closer to them and that we could do it more often.

Sunday morning we spent at NewSpring...first in service and then volunteering in the nursery. We think volunteering has been really good practice for the days to come (when we can't hand the babies back after an hour and a half). Sunday evening we spent cleaning out the "baby room" closet and attempting to organize our clutter. I'm not exactly sure how we managed to go from a cramped 1 bedroom apartment to a cramped 3 bedroom house. Where did all this junk come from?! Kelly made a run to Goodwill, and it seems that we've made some progress.

Here are some pics from the weekend: