Chuckles' B-day

Happy birthday to my sweet brother Charles!!! The coming year is going to be a wonderful one! Love you!

Siblings in Print

Birminghamians should check out the July 2008 Portico Weddings magazine to see the beautiful wedding story of my brother, Brian, and his lovely bride, Jen! What a happy day that was!

M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter...

Jacob had the honor of serving as a groomsman in his good friend Tim's wedding in Vicksburg, Mississippi. What a wonderful weekend!

The happy couple, Marla and Tim, at the after-rehearsal luau! Tim's mother had leis made with real flowers flown in from Hawaii for the big event. They were beautiful! They also had a steel drum duo, fun frozen drinks, and trivia games about the couple--a very lively time!

Tim and Jacob became good friends while working together as engineers for FMC, first in College Station while at Texas A&M, and then in Houston.

The beautiful bride with the groomsmen, outside of the Historic Courthouse Museum, where the wedding took place. Marla's mother has given a lot of her time over the years to preserving the Courthouse, and Marla says that since she was a little girl, she has wanted to be married in the historic courtroom. They don't ordinarily allow weddings there anymore, but they made an exception for Tim and Marla.

We had a great time at the reception, too. Tim and Marla had planned so many things to make the evening very personal. My favorite was the song for their first dance. Tim is a talented guitarist and singer, so when he proposed to Marla, he proposed with a song he wrote. He recorded that same song for their first dance. To top it all off, Marla is a very talented dancer (she won Miss Vicksburg with her dancing!), so she taught Tim a beautiful waltz for their big moment. I'm not sure there was a dry (female) eye in the place!

Double Dose of Baby Updates

I got so carried away with our gender discovery of last week that I forgot to post week 18's babycenter.com update. And we've already moved on to week 19 now! So here are both:

Week 18
"Head to rump, your baby is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead."

Week 19
"Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces, and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. The hair on his scalp is sprouting. This is a crucial time for sensory development: Your baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, taking to him, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you."


I appreciate all the information babycenter makes available to expectant moms, but I sure wish they'd get a new fruit/vegetable picker! It seems that we are regularly making one step forward-two steps back progressions in the produce line of development. It's all a bit confusing!

Blue!

Baby Boy Snodgrass has some lovely yellow clothes given him by Miss Anika and Mrs. Vanessa, but thus far, no blue clothes. Well, this weekend solved that! I got to go on a little shopping trip for him at the Vicksburg, MS outlets, while we were there for a wedding and Jacob was busy being a groomsman (that post coming soon!). It was the most fun! A sneak peek at Baby's new wardrobe:





Play clothes (some of these are size 6-9 months, if they look big to you)!







I even got to say to one of the sales clerks, "These are for my son." Ahhhh--what a wonderful sentence!


His beach bum outfit! I can't wait to show him the ocean in this outfit.


And for sleepytime! Won't he be the sweetest?

Yay! Blue clothes!!! Even Jacob thought these shopping results were lots of fun. When we got home from Vicksburg, we took all the clothes back out and looked at them again. He'll be here soon!

The Lowdown on the Ultrasound

Yesterday was so much fun! I keep thinking about our baby boy flipping and spinning and squirming. I didn't expect for the ultrasound to last as long as it did (1.5 hours!), so every minute was a treat. They take pictures and measurements of every little part, and they sent us home with copies of about ten pictures! Here's Baby's body profile--I think he looks so big in this one! And he's waving at you!

We had to ask for this picture of his sweet little facial profile. The ultrasound tech wasn't particularly interested in his face, just his nose bridge and lip and palate, which all looked great. By the way, the ultrasound tech was very nice, but we thought it was pretty funny that she asked me in her quite thick Russian accent, "V'ere are you from? You talk so different. Your accent is so funny!" When I told her Birmingham, Alabama, she just nodded and gave me a quizzical look. I'm not sure she understood me!

Here's the top of Baby's head on the right and then his arm extending right to left. Nice straight bones!

And here you can see his perfect little hand on the upper right:

And, finally, the bottom of his foot, on the far left. The ultrasound also helped me confirm that the tiny little feelings I'm having are in fact Baby's feet and hands--I could watch him kick and punch and feel the softest little prod at the same time.

So we saw...two arms, two legs, ten fingers, ten toes, four heart chambers, all the parts of the brain, and all the other organs and parts, which were each properly sized and developed. Many thanks to God for this healthy baby boy! We also got to see Baby do all kinds of gymnastics. He got going so fast at one point that we could see all the amniotic fluid swirling around him--he'd created his own little whirlpool. And we saw him drinking, scratching his head, and rubbing his face--so cute! I'm not sure whether we'll see Baby again before his birth day, but this time sure was fun!

Baby Snodgrass is...

a BOY!!! We are thrilled! In our first peek of him, he was standing on his head--a sure sign of the Snodgrass genes, as all of Jacob's family members can still stand on their heads!

All of Baby's parts look just perfect--I'll post the ultrasound pictures tonight. We are so very thankful our baby boy is healthy!

Growing!

I haven't posted a tummy picture in a while, and my tummy was pretty busy growing this past week, so here's an update:

Jacob and I decided to have a relaxed, DC-based weekend this weekend, since we've been doing so much travelling lately and have so much more coming up. So, on Friday night, we had dinner at a great restaurant in our neighborhood that does authentic Mexican food, tapas style. So authentic that Jacob was inspired to order the grasshopper taco!!! I had heard that they were good, so I thought it was worth a shot (for him--I wasn't going anywhere near those things!). Well, the taco arrived and Jacob was really surprised to find that the filling was a bunch of whole, sauteed grasshoppers. He had thought this was going to be like a crab taco or something, where the meat is out of the shell. He still ate every bite, though he admitted it was not the best! Everything else was delicious!!



Yesterday we got really productive and set out at 9 AM to do our every other week grocery stock-up and Target run in Virginia. At Target, we decided it might be time to investigate all the baby gear--such fun! I think we've figured out we need a jogger stroller to navigate the uneven city sidewalks and curbs, and we're probably going to do one of those "travel systems" where the baby carrier snaps in and out of the car seat frame and in and out of the stroller frame. Any feedback from young moms out there? (Side note: Lately, the men and women who work the door at our apartment have noticed that I'm expecting, and have gotten really excited about having a baby in the building. I'm not sure I ever pictured myself before as taking my first baby down the elevator and through the lobby and out to the city park to play, but I'm so excited at the prospect now!)

We spent the afternoon at a hotel pool, where you can buy a day pass. It ended up being fun, but began with quite a production that's a whole 'nother story!

I better go get ready for church now--happy Sunday, everyone!

161 Days 'til B-Day!

We've hit 17 weeks now! Here's what's happening this week:

"Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop."

Next Wednesday is the big anatomical check ultrasound. We can't wait to see how Baby Snodgrass has grown since I last saw him/her! I have a feeling we'll see a lot more movement than that one little wave I got last time. And if Baby cooperates, we'll find out pink or blue!

Independence Day

I just love three day weekends, especially when we get to take a mini-vacation. They are just so refreshing! For the Fourth of July, we went straight to Logan Martin Lake to enjoy the holiday with my family. It was a very short trip, since we flew in on Friday and out on Sunday, but we enjoyed every minute of it.


Here's some of the family that came to the lake on the Fourth of July. We got to see parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmothers. You may think it seems like a big group, but as my Mama said when counting plates, "Do we really only have fifteen people here?" (And I think she was under by one or two.) Big families are such fun!

We had a delicious shrimp boil, made by my Daddy!

And then we enjoyed the annual reading of the Declaration of Independence. This year it was Jacob's turn to do the reading, and he knocked it out of the park!

It was lots of fun getting to hang out with my brother Charles and sister-in-law Kimberly. We were missing my brother Brian and sister-in-law Jen, though!

On Saturday, Jacob did some serious skiing! Last summer was his first time to slalom, but he got right back into the swing of it and stayed up a LONG time. We went 'round and 'round our slough!




Saturday night we got to meet my cousin David's lovely fiancee, Brittany, but I forgot my camera!

On Sunday, it was time to return to the District. It was a short trip, but wonderful!

*All the good photos in this post are courtesy of Uncle Kent, the fabulous photographer--thank you!*

4 Down, 5 To Go

This week's babycenter.com update is lots of fun!

"Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length . Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too."

We've got some growing to do! Hope everyone has a happy and restful 4th of July!

Not Yet...

I had told a few folks that we may have a boy/girl announcement today, but no such luck. Another few weeks of waiting!

Windy City Weekend

I spent a fun-filled weekend in Chicago, as a guest for my dear law school friend Anika's bridal shower. Her bridesmaids threw a tea party at the Drake Hotel--quite the experience! Thank you for including me!

All the girls, enjoying flavored teas, tea sandwiches, and scones:

With the beautiful bride:

Vanessa kindly allowed me to be her houseguest for the weekend, and I had such a good time catching up with her and her husband, Erik.

Vanessa gave Anika the cutest cow creamer--the milk comes out the cow's nose!





Law school friends!

While in Chicago, I also got to see Lauren and Collin. We met for lunch at a true Chicago deep dish pizza place.

They were so sweet to make time to see me on their 5th wedding anniversary! Congratulations, Hansens!



I had such a great time, but really missed Jacob. I was looking forward to getting home to see him, and he made my return even brighter--he had cleaned the entire apartment and done all the laundry! I sure am a lucky girl!