Family Time

Last weekend we went up to Oklahoma to visit Brett's younger brother, Jared, and his wife, Bryn. They are expecting a girl in July, and we were so excited to be able to make the trek to get to see their new home and to shower them with gifts.

Also there were Brett's mom, his two other siblings, and our two nieces. Altough we wish we could have stayed longer, we had a fun trip!

The Winters Crew: Kayla, Brett, Mom, Jared, and Cade

The girls: Riley, Kayla, Jessica, Bryn, and Me

Aunt Bryn and Ruby

Bellies: Bryn 33 weeks and me at 25 weeks:)

Jared and Bryn, we can't wait to meet your baby girl!

24

weeks...wow, time seems to be flying by. Of course, I might not feeling these same sentiments when my third trimester and 100+ degree heat coincide. It's really hard to believe we're six months along already, and that our little guy is growing so much (one of my books says he's the size of a half-gallon of milk. Really?). What I find even more incredible and hard to wrap my mind around is that in less than 16 weeks he'll be here! Whoa, we have lots of preparing to do!

My growin' belly: our little fella is sure moving around a lot lately!

It's so cool to feel him kick, twist, etc...we may have a little boxer or soccer player on our hands :)

We bought Jameston's crib and dresser, his bedding (it's called "Monkey Bars" by Carter's...love it!), and paint for the nursery this past weekend. We are painting an armoire and cedar chest that we currently have to match the furniture pieces. I plan on finding some artwork or wall decals of my own (I didn't break down and get the ones from the bedding set!). I feel like we are a little closer to gettin' ready for his arrival in September.I say that because I kinda had a mini panic attack last week. In the midst of what seems like the hundreds of renovations taking place in every other room throughout our house, I was worried we would barely finish those up in time to get started on our baby boy's room.

But I have the best husband in the world!! He knows me all too well and sensed my worrying. We hunkered down and got a lot done throughout the house (and for the nursery) this past weekend. Now, all we need to do is paint, assemble furniture, wash and put away our son's already quickly-growing wardrobe (thanks, Jessica, for the hand-me-downs!), and the list could go on and on.

In other house news, Brett is getting the master bathroom closer to completion. He tiled the shower (again, like the guest shower, I think he did an AWESOME job), and he is putting wood floors in our closet. We repainted the walk-in closet to make it "pop" a little more (it was a drab ivory-yellowish color, ugh!) for when we add the saloon doors to the entrance. You know, renovating has been fun, but it has literally consumed every free weekend we have had. We are ready to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor (before I go into labor!).

Are you kidding?!

Or this post could be aptly named "Hot air, cold water." We have been inundated with home repairs the last couple of weeks, and not just little repairs...very BIG repairs.

Fortunately, Dallas has been blessed with rain and cooler temperatures this Spring, so we did not break down and turn the air conditioner on until the middle of April or so (we are pretty stingy when it comes to energy bills, so this was after we had the heat off since the beginning of March). Well, we found out at that time that our AC system was only blowing out hot air. Ever since we moved into our house about two-and-a-half years ago, we have had problems with the heating and air. Our home warranty plan (Home Warranty of America, we highly recommend going with someone else!) repeatedly just filled the system with freon, and they said it was a condenser/or compressor (can't remember which one now) problem. And that was the extent of the repairs because "they could not guarantee that we had a functioning system when we bought the house." Yep...even a home inspection doesn't stand for much these days.

So, low and behold, when we got someone else to take a look at it this month, they said we needed to replace the entire system, furnace and all. Phew! Were not prepared for that bombshell (or very willing to cough up the money...we thought a European vacation or paying down our mortgage sounded nice :) After a couple of weeks sleeping with the windows open (thank goodness for cooler temps at night), we bit the bullet and had the work done. Alas! I sit here two days later in a much cooler house. This pregnant woman is very happy, although begrudgingly (due to the cost), but happy nevertheless that she doesn't have to sweat it out during the summer heat!

And this morning, what else do we find out?! That our hot water heater was acting up! Not kidding. I guess it's like they say, when it rains it pours. I will be sure to keep y'all posted on the latest of our fun home-ownership frontiers...

Muchas festividades

The last few weekends have been chock-full with lots of traveling but loads of fun! Two weekends ago I flew to Las Vegas on a Thursday night and had a three-day weekend with three of my girlfriends from high school. I had never been to Vegas before, so as you can imagine (for those of you who have been) there was lots of sightseeing/people-watching in store for me! The weather was really nice the entire time we were there, so we were thankful for that.

We went to an outlet mall the first day, and I bought a couple of fun things for me. But my most exciting buys were for little Jameston! Brett gave me gift cards to The Children's Place for my birthday in April, and I found two cute sets of slacks and long-sleeve, button-up shirts. One set is for 3-6 months, and the other is for 6-9 months. Oh so cute!

Here's a pic of the little outfits and shoes (and my first Coach purse :)

that I texted Brett while we were there

The dancing fountains at the Bellagio, a must-see while you are in Vegas!

On Friday night, we went out to eat at the fancy steakhouse Stack. Although a bit overpriced (I guess it comes with the territory), the food was pretty good. Afterwards, the gals wanted to hit up a club and go out "Vegas-style" so we headed to Jet, one of the newer clubs in town. Luckily it was at our hotel the Mirage, because I did not last long! I tried to stay up late, but my body would not let me. It was still fun to experience it!

Clarisse, mwah, Sami, and Jessica

On Saturday we went sight-seeing and walked all along the Vegas strip. I would have to say that the Bellagio Hotel was by far my favorite because of the gardens, blown glass ceilings, chocolate fountains, etc., etc.

21 weeks-Thanks, Jess!

Sami, thank you so much for being our guide...we could not have seen as much as we did without you! Here is a pic of her little cutie-pie daughter, Annalise. She's a doll, isn't she?!

That night we headed to the Dave Matthews Band and Jason Mraz concert at MGM Grand. It was awesome. They played for forever!! It was such a fun weekend filled with friends, great food (and buffets, yum), music, and shopping! We have been talking about taking a trip like this for several years now, so it was nice to finally succeed. I would consider this my last hurrah or girls weekend for awhile with parenthood quickly approaching :) Our upcoming hurrah will outdo any other trip or vacation possible!

Brett stayed home that weekend to demolish and rebuild our master bathroom (progress and pictures will be posted later). He figured it would be the best time, so that I would not be around all the sawdust and fumes. What a great husband I have! This a pic from our stay at the Driskill Hotel in Austin this past weekend

Last weekend was one of the busiest we've had in awhile, but it was so worth it. Friday night we saw one of Brett's and my all-time favorite musicians, James Taylor, at Fair Park in Dallas. It was such a fun date-night, and we really enjoyed the show. Mr. Taylor has been on our "Must- See Musicians" list since we have known each other, so I am glad we got to go!

He played about 20-25 songs, a lot of which were his older hits. What a concert!

And Saturday morning we drove to Austin and met up with Brett's parents for lunch before we headed to John and Wendy's wedding. The ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was a blast! We had a great time seeing old faces and friends from Wichita Falls at the festivities, complete with a mariachi band, a photo booth for scrapbook pages, awesome toasts, and great food (of course :) Congrats Mr. and Mrs. John Cluley!

A traditional Mexican wedding dance...so cool!

We stayed at the fancy Driskill Hotel downtown (for little to nothing)

22 weeks, with my handsome hubby by my side.

We thought we'd change up the belly pics a little :)

Oh, and then on Sunday morning I trekked with two girlfriends from Tech to San Antonio to meet our friend (and recent grad-school grad) Kim for lunch. We had a nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant named Aldaco's, overlooking part of San Antonio. After a day full of rain on Saturday, we enjoyed the clear blue skies, company, and yummy food on the patio (and we got so wrapped up in the ambiance we forgot to get a picture :(

What a couple of weekends it has been!

And he will be named...

Jameston Winters. We have already picked out our little fella's first name, even though it will be over four months, if all goes as planned, until we meet him. I have been set on his name for some time now, and I joke with Brett that when I locked in the name Winters, all of my eligible baby names (I had a list) had to make the "does it go well with the last name Winters" cut! I think it goes great, but I may be partial :)

We have chosen this name for several reasons (if you want all the specifics, let me know), but the main reason is that he will be named after my grandfather, James Stewart. My Papa passed away when I was four-years-old, and even though I was young, I still remember sitting on his lap a majority of the time when we were visiting my grandparents. We were partial to each other, maybe because I am the oldest grandchild on my dad's side. He was a wonderful man, and we miss him greatly. I feel honored that our first child's namesake will be after my grandfather.

Of course, we could name him James, but I wanted to be all creative and come up with a unique version. So, I thought of all the other names out there that end in "ton" (Ashton, Peyton, Kingston, Colton, the list could go on). Also, I love names that can be abbreviated, so we can call him James for short. I foresee myself singing James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" to him while rocking him to sleep...

Since I came up with the first name (and luckily Brett liked it), he will be deciding our little guy's middle name. Stay tuned for that!

50-Yard Line

Can't believe we are midway through the pregnancy! Here is the 20-week belly shot:

I swear my belly grew even more that day! Or the dress makes it look even more round :)

Over the last few weeks, I have started to feel our little guy move around. It's hard to describe the movements, which I know will become even stronger and more noticeable, but it so cool!

Brett snuck a snapshot in. This was taken the night before we had our sonogram. We were so excited!

Now that we know we're having a boy, I have the desire to talk in sports terms (hence the title :) So, here is a picture of our first official baby boy purchase (we were told by many that we needed to got out and buy something the day we found out our baby's gender):

Even though we are more football and basketball fans, I could not resist! It even has a little baseball on the booty.

How cute!

I saw these and had to get them to give to Brett. I could not help myself with the cute message and the dog bib underneath, since we have two dogs. With Brett, Boomer, and now baby boy Winters on the way, Marlie and I are officially outnumbered. But we don't mind a bit!

Team Pink or Blue? Drum roll please...

We had our much-anticipated 20-week sonogram today, and it was amazing! We found out that we will be welcoming a BABY BOY into the world this September (as long as he stays put 'til then :) The due date was again changed, but this time it was moved up a little, to September 21st. Maybe he'll arrive a little early on Aunt Kayla's birthday! Here are some sonogram pics of our little guy:

Here he is, with both hands up around his face. He looks like he's rubbing his eyes :) I know, buddy, the appointment was early, but here's your chance to show off! I had some decaf coffee this morning, and he sure was active for us (which made the sonogram a little tough for our doctor :)

The entire sonogram was breathtaking! I cried like a baby after seeing our baby boy! It was so neat to see such a tiny little miracle up close...all the systems of the body and how they are functioning. Human life is so remarkable! The last sonogram we had was when he was just 7 weeks (see previous post), and he sure has come a long way since then!

He was face down, and if you look closely, his knees are at the bottom right. He's already praying (or being bashful for the next gender-determining sonogram shot :)

Here is the money shot! It is was easier to make out at the appointment than it is from the picture, but the sonographer made a bold statement saying he's 99.99% sure it's a boy! Now I can call the little one moving around a "he" instead of an "it."

He was smushed up against my side (causing the blurred right eye and side of his body), but here is a great picture of his cute little face! Wow, amazing...

We feel so blessed and beyond excited, so please bear with us and our enthusiasm. Today was truly one of the best days of our lives. Now that we've found out that our first-born will be a boy, we can't wait to meet him!

Bump Watch and Gender Guesses

Here we are at almost 5 months into the pregnancy (wow), and I just started to really show last week. I feel like I've been showing for about a month now, but not everyone would agree with me (hey, I think I know my body best!). I guess I offically "popped," belly button and all, at 18 weeks (Brett gets a chuckle out of that term, which I did not know even existed until I started reading pregnancy books). My doc said that since I am taller and have a long torso the baby has lots of room to stretch out, and that most women do not show until later for their first pregnancy. Well, the day has finally come when my belly broke that barrier. Whoohoo!

14 weeks

I am still wearing most of my usual clothes (barely), with the help of the Bella Band (thanks, Clarisse!), and I am also sporting lots of free-flowing dresses and peasant tops. If I dress the bun just right, people don't look at me strangely now when I say I am expecting. Hooray! I am looking forward to wearing all of the maternity duds that I got from Craigslist and Motherhood.

Sporting the 16-week belly (and a new haircut!)

Here are some pics of the updated belly...at first, it looked like I just finished eating an entire pizza, but now it has started to take shape. Fun stuff! We'll be sure to keep you posted.

Front view (Brett's idea :)

19 weeks

Also, we are only one week away from finding out if our little bambino will be a member of Team Pink or Team Blue! With all the excitement, Brett and I are counting down the days (okay, maybe hours), and I am having a difficult time concentrating and falling asleep at night. Any predictions? I have added a little poll to the top left of this posting...feel free to guess away!

Trilogy...

Of symptoms...pregnancy symptoms, to be exact. Sorry to disappoint those who were looking at the blog based on the subject and who may have gotten their hopes up on some talk of a Sci-Fi movie or the latest must-have reads. I'm not a creative writer, so it's the least I could do to lure readers in.

Although I've lucked out on the morning sickness/nausea front, I have still experienced my fair share of symptoms that go along with being preggo. My top three (not my favorite three, just the three that seem to keep reappearing) are: allergies, headaches, and heartburn (oh-my!). Now, these are by no way new to me or my body, but they have definitely been amplified over the last several months. Being a native Texan, and living in Dallas now for almost three years, allergies are apparent and come with the territory. So, I didn't expect them to disappear. However, my books tell me that with pregnancy, women fall into three categories when it comes to their allergies: 1/3 will improve, 1/3 will stay the same, and the other third will get worse. Guess which group I'm in! Well, I tried to tough it out and not take anything at first (I'm an anti-medication kinda girl...or maybe just cheap), but when my sleep and work were being interrupted, I had to break down. Needless to say, Zyrtec has been a must-have the last couple of weeks!

To go along with the sniffles and congestion, my head has been feeling the pain. My doctor said headaches are most common in the second trimester, mostly due to hormones...but I have diagnosed mine as allergy-related (I hope my self-diagnosis makes all of my med-school and doctor friends laugh :) I have heard for some time now that Tylenol is about the only thing you can take during pregnancy...wrong. I still have not buckled under the headache pressure, but when I do, I'll let you know the remedy. And the third symptom I have been blessed with is...dun, dun dun: heartburn. I won't go into the details, but those who know me well know that I have had an issue with acid reflux for several years (it usually came down to me either A) eating my lunch too quickly at work, or B) eating and then hunching over books or a computer during grad school). And I hear it only gets worse in the third trimester! Goodness...

With more exciting (and probably less TMI) news, I went to the doctor last week for our 16-week check up. Everything is looking great! My doctor tried to play her hand in gender prediction, but she ended up canceling out any guess. She said, based on my symptoms (i.e., hunger, lack of morning sickness, etc.), she would guess we are having a boy. Then, she listened to the baby's heartbeat (ah, breath-taking), and changed her mind saying based on the rate, she would say it's a girl. She didn't tell me the reading, but at our 10-week check, we heard the heartbeat and it registered at 140 bpm (smack-dab in the middle). So, I am just as neutral as I've been...I guess I don't have the best maternal instinct. I hope I do, just not when it comes to my own body!

I digress, but the most exciting news is that we go in on May 4th to find out if we're having a little Brett or Courtney. That day couldn't get here any sooner!

March Celebrations!

We traveled the last two weekends in March to take part in great get-togethers for loved ones and their special occasions. Two weeks ago my friend Lindi and I drove to Abilene for our gal pal, Wendy's, baby shower. She and her husband, RJ, will be welcoming a little girl into the world sometime in May. How exciting!

It was a wonderful shower, with fantastic food and fun games (the ones that Wendy allowed :) We had so much fun showering them with gifts and cute outfits (so precious) and helping them get a little more prepared for when their baby girl gets here. Awwww....here is a picture of her sweet nursery. The last weekend we drove to Boerne (north of San Antonio) for Brett's grandmother, GiGi's, 90th birthday celebration. It was so much fun!

Here's a shot of our niece, Riley (drool and all), during our road trip! She sang most of the time that she was awake, which helped keep us awake. What a cutie-pie!

Over fifty people from across the country (Texas mainly, California, Oklahoma, and Illinois) came in for the special occasion. We had a great time watching old family videos (tape reel and projector screen included), hearing about special memories and stories of GiGi, visiting with family and friends and, of course, eating great food!

A picture of the Winters crew...Brett (looking off) and me, Jared and Bryn (they are having a girl in July!), Cade and Jessica, with their girls Ruby and Riley, Will Ed and Cynthia (a.k.a., Papa and Granny), and the guest of honor GiGi, Gussie Turnbough, at the bottom/center of the picture. We were without Kayla, who is in American Samoa. We miss you, Kayla!

It was such a nice time, and we were so happy to be there. With six children, 20 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren (and four more on the way!), GiGi has been a big influence in everyone's lives. As a wonderful mother/grandmother/great-grandmother, Christian, artist, singer, cook, story-teller (the list could go on and on!), she is one special person and an inspiration to many.