sugar and spice...

... and everything nice; that's what little GIRLS are made of!

At our anatomy scan ultrasound last Thursday, we found out we are having a baby girl! More importantly, this tiny human is measuring right on track for her August 10th due date. She looks absolutely perfect, which is the best news we could ever hear. I could have watched her squirm on that screen all day long. We saw her cross her legs and put her hand behind her head, and I just enjoyed seeing her as they measured every little piece of her precious body. How can I love something so much just by a black and white image on a screen? I can't wait to meet her.

Everyone thought she was going to be a boy. I didn't have a "feeling" either way, but we have had SO MANY girls in both of our families recently (and by so many, I mean eight in a row with only one boy in the mix...) that we just assumed it was time for a boy! I saw that she was a girl before the tech said it, and I was surprised that I felt so shocked! I don't think I would have been shocked if she said boy. After that, all I felt was pure excitement and happiness. I have dreamed of having a daughter for as long as I can remember - what girl hasn't? I hope she loves me as much as I love my mom. I also secretly hope she loves horses, although Payton feels MUCH differently :) To think that Snowy could teach my daughter even some of what he taught me brings tears to my eyes. I love that my mom and I will get to share that with her (even if she decides it's not her cup of tea - we've got to try!). Also, my brother never once accepted the fact that he could possibly have a nephew, so I'm absolutely thrilled that I get to give him the niece he wanted. I can't wait to see him as an uncle! As for my dad (you can call him Big G from now on) and Payton, I can't wait to laugh at them as they try not to cry. She's going to steal their hearts from the second she's born, I just know it!

By the way, she does have a name. A really good name. But, we aren't sharing it yet. Sorry!

I will say, though, it seems like everyone else in the world feels bad for us because we're having a girl. I have pretty much only gotten the, "Oh, you're in for a treat! Girls are a handful!" comments. Why do other women feel like they can say anything to pregnant ladies? Just because you had a certain type of child, doesn't mean everyone else will have the same experience. If I wanted your opinion or advice, I'd ask for it. I try not to let it bother me, but I've wanted to slap a lot of people in the last four months. That will probably get worse as the weeks go on...

In other news, we got the official closing date for our new house! Dry wall is up, siding is up, and it's all so exciting (and beautiful). We also put our current house up for rent yesterday - yikes! There is so much going on in our lives right now and I'm trying not to stress about it. Let's just hope it all continues to go smoothly!

Also, Scout is doing much better. We finally figured out that he sliced his chest open on a rolled up pile of old chain link that was buried under a pile of leaves. We had no idea it was there - it must have been there since we moved in. He's been wearing his tshirt to prevent him from messing with the wound, so I think that's helped to heal it. He's going to the vet today to get it checked, but I think we'll get a good report. Poor baby... that was not a fun experience!

house and baby update

The ice and snow may have prevented me from going to work for the last two weeks (#freevacation), but life never stopped moving! Our house is looking amazing - the weather slowed them down a little bit, but I believe our predicted closing date remains the same at this point. We have been able to walk through the house a few times now and it is so much fun to see each room! My favorite "room" is the pantry...

Our pre-drywall orientation is next week, which means the plumbing and electrical will be finished and walls can start going up! I'm sure the builder will just LOVE Payton - I imagine he'll be bringing his tape measure, level, square, and many other tools to make sure everything is perfect. I laugh, but he's pretty nice to have around :)

Here she is, in all her glory!

As for LBC (Little Baby Craddock), he/she is g.r.o.w.i.n.g. People at work are starting to ask me if I'm expecting and claim that they "noticed a few weeks ago." Really? Because I wasn't showing a few weeks ago... rude. Anyways, I definitely look pregnant now. I'm 4 months (or 17 weeks) today. We find out if we are having a boy or a girl in 9 days, 21 hours, and 50 minutes. Or March 12th at 8:45am, whatever. For some reason, we're both feeling girl this week. We've kind of thought boy all along, so I don't know what changed - we're just so excited to finally know!

I'm still feeling great. I'm not sleeping as well as I used to, but I have always slept like a rock so that really isn't so bad. It might have something to do with the fact that I fall asleep on the couch every night for 2 hours before bed. And I definitely have lots of strange dreams! I haven't really had many cravings, but my current favorite food items are pickled jalapenos, pink lemonade, and pineapple (not all together). I really miss sandwiches, but a veggie sub can satisfy that if I'm desperate! Water is my friend. I can absolutely tell if I haven't had enough water because my fingers start to feel swollen and I get a headache. That seems to go away as soon as I drink a glass, but my body definitely tells me when I need it. I'm most excited about feeling baby move here in the next few weeks, and finally being able to call him/her by a (real) name! 

Stay tuned for gender announcement next week! Are you team boy or team girl?

Little Baby Craddock!

I feel like I've been keeping our big, exciting news a secret for an eternity. We found out I am pregnant on December 8th... literally one day after we found the land for our new house. So within a matter of five days, we were not only signing papers to build our brand new house, but we also became parents! I don't think I could ever explain in words how excited we are. Payton and I have been talking about this for years, and it's finally here! It's so surreal. Our tiny human is due August 10, 2015. We close on our house (hopefully) on April 28th, so we should have plenty of time to get settled and FINALLY get a nursery set up! It's basically done in my head, but I'm trying really hard not to buy anything much until we move. We'll see how long that lasts...

I am 12 weeks pregnant today. Overall, I have felt really good! Right around Christmas I was exhausted and a little nauseous, but I absolutely cannot complain. Baby has been very easy on me so far! I'll have to remember to thank him/her when he/she is here and keeping me up all night :) I've been to the doctor a few times, but only have pictures from our first visit when we had an ultrasound. We heard the heartbeat and saw the little peanut - an experience I will never forget! Even though we don't have more pictures to share, we do know that the baby is still doing really well and everything looks great. I don't think I'll have another ultrasound until our anatomy scan in March... where we will find out the gender if he/she cooperates! I have had dreams about a baby boy, but I truly have no feeling about the gender. We will be completely thrilled either way. All I know is that we are so freaking excited to find out what baby is!

Thank you all so much for the congratulations and well wishes. It means so much to us to have the support of our friends and family during this crazy, exciting, beautiful time in our lives! We are more than happy to share some baby cuddles with all of you, come August :)

year one: check.

I haven't blogged in months, mostly because life has just been pleasantly boring. I also haven't quite come to terms with the fact that we've been married for OVER a year now.What? Let's rewind a bit...

October is my favorite month. I love fall colors, clothes, and weather, and I also love that it marks the beginning of holiday season. And now, I have even more to look forward to when October arrives. Our anniversary! We decided to splurge and celebrate our first year of marriage with a trip to Mexico. We booked this trip back in March or April, so we looked forward to it for so long!

We stayed at the Valentin Imperial Maya resort in Riviera Maya. It's an adult only, all inclusive, b-e-a-utiful resort and we enjoyed every minute of our time there. Part of that might have been because they accidentally gave us a swim-up suite (a room that normally costs an additional $100 per night), but the rest of the place was pretty nice too! We arrived before lunch on Friday and met our friends who also decided to celebrate their anniversary at the same place! It was SO nice to see familiar faces when we arrived! We ate at the Japanese restaurant the first night, which is how we discovered just how big the resort was. You see, we got lost. Really lost. The map said the restaurant was "building 13," but it wasn't until we went to the opposite end of the resort that we realized there were 2 "building 13s." Did I mention that it's hot in Mexico? We finally made it and had a yummy Kanki-type meal. We then went to the sports bar where the boys got to play darts and we played drunken Jenga for hours. On Saturday, we went on an excursion to snorkel with sea turtles, ride ATVs, and explore an underground cave called a cenote. Despite the fact that we were in the van for about 2 hours there and back, it was an amazing day. You guys KNOW how I feel about turtles. Oh.My.Gosh. We snorkeled in Akumal Bay and I was beside myself - screaming through my snorkel - when I saw my first turtle. They are huge and adorable and it took everything in me not to hug them. I really didn't want to go to Mexico jail. The best part was when they swam up to the top and poked their heads out of the water. I'm squealing now just thinking about how cute they were! After snorkeling, we went to the jungle where they fed us an authentic Mexican lunch (amazing) and then we went on a lame ATV tour. We had some idiots in our group that made us stop every 2 minutes, so I know it would have been better if they weren't there. Finally, they took us to swim in the cenote. Y'all, pictures can't do it justice. The cave is filled with crystal clear, freezing cold freshwater. We had our snorkel gear on and just floated through the cave looking at the awesome stalagmites. It was like nothing I've ever seen. We got back to our resort and had another yummy meal at the French restaurant before our friends headed home the following day. Our anniversary day was my favorite - minus the sun burn. We spent the day lounging in our quiet little pool and then had dinner at the Italian restaurant. I may or may not have had 1-8 glasses of wine, but I swear it was the best meal I've ever had. Payton keeps making fun of me because I couldn't stop talking about the pizza or the balsamic they put on the caprese salad. Whatever! Balsamic is my jam.

The rest of the week was uneventful, and so incredibly relaxing. The resort also had a Mexican restaurant (one word: churros), an Indonesian restaurant, and two buffets for breakfast and lunch. The food was great overall! The service was fine, but I preferred the service we had at Sandals in Jamaica. As much as we loved this place, Sandals is the way to go. No one bothers you at a Sandals resort, but there are TONS of tour companies at the Valentin. They call your room and try and sell you crap all week long. It's easy to avoid, but still annoying.

I think about our trip daily. It was paradise! We couldn't have been more relaxed. I'm sure we won't be able to go on trips like this forever, but I hope we can do something every year to bring us back together and remind us to appreciate each other. I love being married to that man. He truly is the best.

halfway there

I've noticed that I'm not very good at this blogging thing. I want to write good blogs and I want to write more blogs, but I'm not as creative or thoughtful as I thought I was when I started this thing. Oh well, I'm still going to keep up with it as exciting things come to me.
Exactly six months ago today, I posted my 2014 to-do list instead of making New Year's resolutions. I thought it would be fun to look at it halfway into the year to see how I'm doing...

1. Write down a favorite moment from each day in my new Erin Condren planner. It will keep me feeling grateful!
So far, so good! I've written something good about my day, even if it's just one word ("pizza" is a frequent happy word), every single day in my planner. Even when I have bad days, I still find something to be happy about. It's a nice reminder that happiness is a choice, even when it's a difficult choice.

2. Try a new Raleigh area restaurant each month.
This has been so much fun! We have a great list going and hope to continue this for a long time. We've done local Raleigh restaurants every month except May, but neither of us had ever eaten at PF Chang's AND we went to a movie afterwards. We are going to try and go to the Food Truck Rodeo this weekend, so we might count that as our June date. 
January: Casa Carbone
February: Oak City Meatball Shoppe
March: Trophy Brewing Co.
April: Big Ed's at City Market
May: PF Chang's

3. Spend more quality time with Snowball, and get him back into light work.
Although I can't take much credit for this one, it has been a HUGE success! Mom hired an awesome girl at Snowy's farm to start training rides a few times a week since it's so hard for me to get out there regularly, and now she's even taking lessons from her every week! I still cherish every second I spend time with him because they are rare, but it will be so much easier (and more frequent) this summer since I have Fridays off. He's such an amazing animal and he's looking and acting stronger every time I see him. I might be biased, but he's just plain beautiful.

4. Plan a trip for our one year anniversary.
DONE! We jumped right on this one and booked seven nights at the Valentin Imperial Maya resort in Mexico for our anniversary in October. We are SO excited! I think we would have gone back to Jamaica in a heart beat, but we really wanted to try something new. It's all inclusive and beautiful, so I was all in! Oh, and there are tacos.

5. Convince Payton to buy that truck he's been dying for.
DONE. This was probably the first thing we got done this year! I am absolutely loving it, and I know he is too! I don't miss that little red Barbie car at all.

6. See a show or two. Or three. (First up - Les Miserables in February with my mama!!!)
DONE. Well, we saw Les Mis and don't have plans for any other shows YET, but we're always on the look out! It's one of my favorite things to do.

7. Put more effort into hanging out with friends and being more social. I'm so young, but act so old!
I think I've done ok in this area, but it might just be because we have another 748 weddings this summer. I do know that I've had a lot of fun, so I say it's a win!

8. Have a big summer barbecue at our house.
ALMOST THERE. My husband is incredibly talented and he built a brick patio (by himself) in our backyard! I helped like 2%. He's landscaped around it and bought a brand new grill, too! He still has to build furniture for it, but it won't be long before we can have a big party to celebrate it!

9. Finish 4 books. That may seem sad, but I just don't read very often...
I'm currently into two different books, but I know I'll be able to get through four by the end of the summer with all my days at Lake Gaston.

10. Eat less junk food/snack less.
Depends on the day....... But, I have ordered two rounds of Nature Box snacks and I must say they are pretty good! I probably won't do it every month, but I like the service.

11. Floss (almost) every day.
FAILED. Whatever. 

12. Be a more patient, understanding wife and appreciate my husband's talents and efforts more.
I think I'm doing a pretty good job at this? I guess this is something you'd have to ask my darling husband...

13. Take Scout on more walks.
FAILED. Sorry. Payton does it every morning, and I'm just a bad mom.

14. Watch more Netflix. We just started Breaking Bad and I'm in the middle of Revenge.
(and one for good luck)
FAILED. I seriously haven't watched anything on Netflix since I wrote this. I'm waiting for Orange is the New Black to come out this weekend and I'll get back on my game.

15. Take full advantage of our new.......................................... (Lake House)
We've only been three times so far this year, but we are LOVING it and are so excited to spend much more time there this summer! Scout is turning into a lake dog, too! So many fun family memories will be made at that little log cabin.

So, there it is! I guess I still have half of the year to make up for the fails, but I think I've done pretty well! 

Happy June!