Christmas decorations!

Since we were about to move last Christmas, we didn't decorate the condo, so this is our first married-Christmas-decorating attempt. It mostly involves lights, because I really love Christmas lights.

I do love our stockings on the mantle though! I'm planning to buy one for Caden after Christmas if I can find a good one on sale. I hope I have better luck finding a "C" initial than a "W" - I never could find a W stocking, especially that I liked the stocking part of. So I need to figure out how to put a W on Wade's at some point.

Christmas lights on the banister

Christmas lights by the dining room table

Christmas lights in the sunroom!

And the Christmas tree! I love turning on all these lights every night and having them be the only lights that are on, unless something else is needed in whatever room we're in. It's just so cozy feeling (I would say warm & cozy, but since we're still keeping the thermostat at 63 until Caden comes & we have to bump it up a bit, it's not exactly warm in here :)).

So behind...

So, I guess I wasn't kidding when I titled my last post "beginning a busy fall" - it has definitely been just that so far! On October 9, my sister & Wade's sister threw my first shower. It was very fun and special. I neglected to get any pictures, except Danielle took like 50 of me opening gifts, so I'll spare you a ton of them & just post one :).

Wade & I went to his good friend Jonathan Jakes' wedding the next weekend (once again, no pictures), and then I went on our church's women's retreat the weekend after that (still too lazy to get pictures!). We had a low-key Halloween weekend, and then this past weekend we drove down to Kiawah Island, SC, for the wedding of a good friend of the Tapps' - a girl who is like Wade's sister.

Everything was gorgeous, including the beautiful sunset over the ocean at the golf club where they had the reception.

It was pretty chilly, so I was all bundled up all night. Not the best fashion that way, but I was glad I had brought my leggings & sweater in addition to my dress!

I'm vowing to take more pictures the next 2 weekends at my last 2 showers. Less than 10 weeks until due date :).

Beginning a busy fall

This first weekend of October kicked off a busy fall - so many fun things between now & Thanksgiving - I can't wait! I know it will make the time FLY before Caden gets here.

Yesterday I went up to Raleigh with some of my best friends for Diana's baby shower. She is 3 weeks ahead of me, due on Christmas Day, so we've been swapping belly photos & experiences all along. It is always SO good to see these ladies. God blessed me with really amazing friends from Carolina, that's for sure!

25 weeks

And after the shower, a few of us went to Chapel Hill for part of the UNC vs. ECU football game (thanks to some tickets Jess was given by a doctor she works with). It was fun & nostalgic to go to a football game again for the first time in forever... although our seats were on the sunny side and it was really hot in the sun! So, we stayed for most of the first half, then walked up to the Pit & Student Stores, and I got one belly pic for the road. Evidence of Caden's first trip to Chapel Hill!

23 weeks & we have a name!

I'm 23 weeks today... less than 4 months to go (let's hope)!

A couple weeks ago, we decided on a name for our little man. He's going to be Caden Mitchell Tapp. Caden is a name we just liked - it means "fighter." Mitchell is from Wade's great-grandfather, Ivey Mitchell Wade, whom Wade is named after as well. It means "who is like God?" Tapp means "oaf, clumsy person or simpleton." Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad :). Ha!

Here's me at 23 weeks!

Just this week, I started feeling like the belly was a little bit cumbersome. It started to actually be in the way of me tying my shoes or shaving. But it's still not bad, and I've been sleeping really well, so that's a blessing.

I went to the doctor on Monday and everything still looked good. At my next appointment I have to do the gestational diabetes test (yuck), and then after that I start going every 2 weeks! Crazy how this time is going to fly. I'm just ready for cooler weather - the highs in the 90s have got to stop!

Halfway through!

We've passed the 20-week mark - only another 4.5-ish months til we meet our little boy! I have not been feeling too huge... until I saw the belly pictures after Wade took them today... yikes! This is one of the better ones.

20.5 weeks

Here's the dresser & mirror we got for the nursery! I finished painting it gray, and put the varnish on last night... now our house reeks of varnish, so I hope I'm not causing brain damage to the baby just living here. (The drawers are a little open because the varnish is still drying.) The mirror may stay white, or it may get painted black - not sure yet. It will hang above the dresser, and we'll use the top for the changing table.

This is an incredibly special gift from my Aunt Dale (not a real aunt, but she was my mom's best friend when I was born - my middle name was after her). Mom had saved all different fabrics from the pajamas she made us when we were kids, so that we could have quilts for our children made out of them. So Dale made one for Madelyn, when she was born, out of Hillary's pajamas, and now this is mine from my pajamas! It is so sweet to have the memories of the things mom made and be able to wrap my baby boy up in her love and Dale's loving handiwork.

And Wade wanted me to include a picture of his new passion... he traded all his X-box games for a guitar earlier this summer, and he is teaching himself to play through YouTube videos and online tutorials. I think he has a lot of potential, and is certainly way better than I would be at this point (at any point).

So that's the update... I'm ready for the weather to get cooler - I think that will make everything start feeling closer. The fall will probably fly by - I can already see that our October & November weekends are almost completely booked, and then December will be full as well, and then it will be baby birthday month! We're still deciding on a name - will post it when we know :).

It's a boy!

We went for our 19-week ultrasound yesterday and found out we're having a boy! Wade is over the moon, and I am excited too - a little nervous of how well I'll know how to parent a boy, but then again, how well do I know how to parent anyone? I know Wade will be an awesome boy-dad, and I can't wait to observe lots of father-son moments over the years!



You can see our shy little guy above - he kept putting his hands over his face and turning toward the back, but we did get one shot of his profile. I think he's so cute already :). They said he has long legs (no surprise) and I think he has big hands in these pictures too, so he's all set to be daddy's little basketball player.

They also said I'm measuring a week ahead - I don't think that changes the due date, but maybe it's just because he's tall. We've also made a little more progress on the nursery - finding a great dresser & mirror last weekend for a total of $115! I'm going to paint the dresser a distressed gray, so I'll post pictures when that's done. And my awesome friend Erin is going to sew some curtains - I just need to pick out & mail her some fabric!

Yay - almost halfway through! After seeing these ultrasound pictures, it is so much harder to wait until January to meet our little guy... but hopefully the fall will fly by, and we have plenty to do in the meantime!

15 weeks!

I was 15 weeks yesterday... Wednesday I went to the doctor & heard the heartbeat again - so fun :). The baby had hiccups (the midwife said) while she was listening to the heartbeat. So far everything is going really well. I feel good, Wade's home from grad school and gearing up for CDS to start.

The glider & the crib came in, so the nursery is even starting to take shape!

The glider is so comfortable, and I picked this gray color so it would be neutral (boy or girl) and also could go in another room of our house someday after we don't need a nursery. The crib is a little taller than most of the others I saw, which I figured would be good for tall parents :). It was really easy to put together too.

Me at 15 weeks... whoa, starting to pop out.

Even from the front.

So, August 18 is the big day for the ultrasound and finding out if we're having a boy or girl! I can't believe it's so soon - can't wait!