Showered with Love

This Tuesday (11/25) will be Debbie's third "1-week" checkup. She's now 38 weeks! It's just amazing how the time has passed so quickly. Ask her, and honestly I think you'd get the same response. Two more days at work and she'll be off for the rest of the year and into 2009. She's so excited about that, and the fact that we'll have a new addition to the family! The past few weeks have been very exciting. We've been so lucky to be showered with gifts from all of our family and friends. I've posted a few pictures from the shower at Jake and Allison's house. I'll put more pictures up soon, but these can get you started.



Three more days until Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for, and I'm really just starting to learn and experience how lucky and blessed we really are. The baby could come any day now, so we'll just let her decide when she's ready to come out and play.

A beautiful spread... Lori's bacon cheese dip, Mom's fruit plate, and Molly's glass plates


Debbie and Beth posing their bellies to the camera

Deb, Andrea, and Nini hanging on the couches

Debbie testing out Kate Scot's new stroller!

Lori, Allison, Beth, Krisin, and Molly... thank you for hosting such an awesome shower!

The Nursery

With only 8 weeks to go until the due date, the nursery is finally ready. Special thanks to Alan and Amanda Cook for giving us their awesome crib, changing table, and all of Courtney's clothes that are now too big for her! We've included some pictures below so you can see how the room looks.

Out on the town!

Tonight Debbie went out on the town with two of her best friends, Molly and Lori. They got all dressed up and went out to dinner at a restaurant called Ocean, in 5 Points South, near downtown Birmingham. Who knows what else they might get into while they're out on the town? You can tell from this picture that Debbie still has her spunk and charisma, even after working all day, and carrying our baby girl around in her belly.

--- Molly, Debbie, and Lori, ready for a night on the town ---

23 Weeks and Really Kickin'

Last Thursday Debbie went for a checkup appointment and everything looked awesome. We feel so lucky that things seem to be progressing wonderfully. Sorry we haven't updated the blog lately, but we'll try to do better from here on out.

The title of this post is quite truthful. As Debbie lays down to sleep most every night she is greeted with random kicks from the little one. This has just started to become very noticeable over the past week or two. It's such an amazing thing to feel! We've been trying to read to her every night just for fun and because people say that they can really hear you talking to them.

Debbie went to the store this week and bought her first maternity clothes! I told her that she's finally accepted the belly emergence, and that's the first step. I've posted a couple of pictures of her in one of her new purchases. Plus, since everyone's been screaming for a picture of the belly, I've thrown one of those in there too... until Debbie reads this and makes me take it down. We'll see. I think it's pretty cool.

I've also included a snapshot of the first three outfits in the closet for our baby girl. I'm sure you'll know which one is my favorite, and I'm sure you'll be able to figure out which ones came from her two wonderful sets of excited grandparents!

-- This lovely outfit is from my parents --

-- This hot number is from Debbie's parents --

-- And this one is probably my favorite --

Thanks again to everyone for all of your comments and emails with support in our new parenting endeavor. December 8th will be here before we know it!

More to come...

Here are the long awaited pictures of Debbie that I mentioned earlier:

Anatomy Scan Videos

Yesterday we had an awesome visit to the doctor. Debbie had her anatomy scan and everything seems to be progressing according to schedule. We saw the detailed facial features, measured the skull, looked at the nose and mouth, examined the spinal cord, all four chambers of the heart, and even the kidneys. They measured the arms and legs and checked for proper bloodflow through the umbilical cord and into the baby. We confirmed from every possible angle that we definitely have a baby girl growing in there. We are so blessed that everything seems to be going so well. I brought a VHS tape (I know, so outdated!) for the ultrasound machine and we were able to record most of what the lady was doing as we watched the monitor during the scan. This was so cool, and I was able to capture the video to my computer and chop it up into two sections so that you can see most of it. Each video is about 3 or 4 minutes.


PART 1: Includes the Face, Profile, Right/Left Arms, Spine, and Heart

PART 2: Includes 4D face images, some full body shots, and confirmation that we have a girl!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

That's right it's (semi) official. We've got a baby girl brewing in Debbie's belly. These pictures are proof of that. Now keep in mind that these were taken on June 24th when Debbie was approximately 16 weeks pregnant. That's the very start of the window of when you are able to tell what's in there. The official anatomy scan next week should provide the icing on the cake. I would say we're 99.7% sure that we're having a baby girl. Immediately, I'm more nervous.

The second picture is a great shot of her first elegant wave to the camera. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of those in the future. Daddy's Little Girl...

First Ultrasound Pictures of Baby Hayes

These were taken at Baptist Shelby Hospital on May 19th, when Debbie was 11 weeks pregnant. At this time we still did not know if we had a boy or a girl, but as you can see from that third picture, we knew the baby had the Hayes hiney.