The Nursery is (nearly) Done!

Remember how I said that our family and friends have been amazing in helping us get ready for Charlie's arrival?  The neighbors are no exception.  We have AMAZING neighbors...and I'm not just gushing because they had a shower for us.  They are literally that fun.  Who else would have a celebration of Michael Jackson's life?  Or SE Bell night at the fair?  Anyway, they went together and gave us a great baby shower!  Check out the pics below:

The neighborhood girls plus our honorary neighbor Rachel!  Jen (on the far right in front), had their new baby girl Samantha 4 days before this picture was taken (congrats Matt and Jen!)!  I know, I know.  It's rude for someone to look that good after having a baby.  First, don't expect this from me...and second, don't expect me to stand next to Jen for a few months. 

Are those Sweet Binney's petit fours?  YES.  Thank you Kate!!  For more on my obsession with these yummy little nuggets, refer to the family baby shower post. 

At the neighborhood Christmas party, everyone placed their bets on the DeWall and Phillips' babies.  We have a winner for the DeWall game and have eliminated several contenders shown below...

In other preparation news, the nursery is really close to being finished!  I'd like to add some shelves on either side of the window, but for all means and purposes, we are basically there!  See below for Charlie's room:

I finally wrote on the chalkboard... :)

Finally, on Friday evening I decided I needed a little downtime on the couch.  Bridget decided she needed some downtime, too and fell asleep snuggling Charlie:

Life is good (for now) as a Phillips' puppy. 

In other Phillips' family news, Alicia (aka Aunt Lulu) has officially begun her service in the Peace Corps in Fiji!  She left Arkansas on Monday (which resulted in some major tears from Cy's mom) and her group left Los Angeles last night.  We can't wait to hear more about her awesome island adventures!  If you're interested, check out her blog: aliciapc.wordpress.com.  As if that isn't enough from Cy's over-achieving siblings, Vill also graduated from Airborne school last week and is officially making his way to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Benning...as a winter Ranger no less.  We are super proud of both of them!   

Until next time!

Meighan and Charlie

The Family Baby Shower, more nursery decor and a Prego PSA

Our growing family has been totally spoiled by friends and family when it comes to baby showers!  Charlie is going to be totally set for the first few years of his life!  This past weekend, my Mom and Cy's Mom, Sister and Grandma (aka MeMaw) hosted a family/family friends baby shower.  It was such a great time!  See below for some pictures:

Cy's sister Stella created the diaper cake shown below with some help from Lynn and Alicia.  Note that the bib on the bottom tier says "Star of Mommy's Blog".  Holla. 
     

Cy's Aunt Pauline also made a diaper wreath!  I can't bring myself to take either apart just yet...

The food selection included petit fours from Sweet Binneys.  You should really consider eating one if you haven't.  And if you don't live here, you should try to convince me to send some to you.  They are that good.  Several posts back, my good friend Kate noted that this blog seemed to be equally devoted to food and Charlie.  Keen observation on her part. 

I couldn't resist posting a picture of the old fashioned rocking horse that Charlie's great MeMaw and PawPaw gave him.  It fits PERFECTLY into the classic toys decor of his nursery and is SO CUTE. 

On Sunday morning, I really wanted to hang the letters in Charlie's nursery.  Hanging the letters of his name was an AWESOME idea until we started hanging the letters of his name.  Dear Pottery Barn Kids, how about making the letters a standard width?  Or maybe making the holes a standard distance from the top of the letter?  Despite a pretty long process complete with the laser level (we are getting tons of use out of the thing), masking tape, thumb tacks and the pink tool kit Dad and Diane gave me for Christmas a few years ago, the project was completed successfully!  Note that Cy literally rolled out of bed and started in on this.  Check out his head wound (aka major bed head).

Ok, last but not least, we need to address the PSA that follows.  Let me be the first to tell you that my belly is big.  I am growing a mega baby after all!  The following is a collection of the best comments I've received to date about the size of my belly and speculation as to the appropriate due date...

A Public Service Announcement: Things you might consider NOT saying to a prego…

At 14 weeks (and still in my regular clothes):
Man: Meighan, is that you?  I barely recognized you!  My goodness you have filled out!  You used to be so petite! 
Me: (crickets…staring in disbelief)

 At 25 weeks:

Another prego: So, when are you due?  This spring?
Me: Nope…June…end of June. 

At about 28 weeks and referring to being absent for maternity leave:

Man: Meighan?!  I didn’t know you were still here!  I didn’t even invite you to our meeting!  I thought you were already gone! 
Me: Nope…not due until the end of June.
Man: Wow, I bet I really offended you.

At 31 weeks in a crowded elevator where I know a younger, single guy and no one else:

Young, single guy: So, have you decided if you’ll have the baby naturally or via c-section?
Me: Um…we’ll see.

At 31 weeks and on a Wednesday:
Mom: Wow!  I think your belly has gotten bigger just from Sunday! 
Me: Thanks. 

At 32 weeks:

Man: So…only 2 or 3 more weeks to go, right?!?
Me: Nope…more than 7. 
Man: Awkward pause and silence…

Also at 32+ weeks:

Lady at Casey’s: So when you gonna have that baby?
Me: Oh, about seven more weeks.
Lady: SEVEN WEEKS!?! (with mouth gaping while making a face that suggested horror)

I'll let you guys know about any others I get over the next seven weeks.  They are bound to get better...

Until next time!

Meighan and Charlie

Like Father Like Son: Our First Glimpse at Charlie

The past few days have been literally jam packed with really fun happenings.  Ok, my nesting projects turned out to not be that fun, but everything else was.  More on that and our first look at Charlie later in this post.

First, two of my really good girlfriends planned a shower with friends from work last Saturday at Emily's house.  It was SO fun!  Stacy, Emily and Mallory (I would be remiss if I didn't include Mallory, Emily's 5 year old daughter) planned a great afternoon !  Emily's mom, Ja, was also a major contributor in making the shower a huge success!  They included some of my favorite prego cravings including mini PB&J sandwiches and doubled down on desserts serving both cookies and giant pieces of cake.  I was in heaven and Charlie was totally spoiled!  We are so blessed to have such great friends!  See below for a couple of pictures:

Stacy, Meighan, Mallory and Emily:

Team RESA was well represented (but we really missed JP)!  

Shawna Lewis made AMAZING sugar cookies!

By Saturday night, I was totally wiped out from the events of the day...and hungry.  Which was nothing short of remarkable given the amount of food I consumed at the shower!  I was craving Kraft Mac & Cheese (shapes and spirals to be exact) and Cy happily obliged after a trip to the grocery store for some staples (the mac and cheese and milk):

Yes, there are four boxes...yes, he made them all... and yes, there were (some) leftovers. 

On Sunday I decided to tackle a project that's been in the works in Charlie's nursery for some time now...a painted chalkboard.  It took forever (think days) and involved significant help from Cy and a laser level, but it is finally done!  The black part is actually chalkboard paint that you can write on!

It's blank.  I know.  But given the amount of time it took to paint the thing, I'm a little gun shy about actually writing on it! 

Monday was a HUGE day.  We went for a 3D/4D ultrasound to see how Charlie is doing and it was AMAZING.  Within the first minute, the ultrasound tech began saying things like, "hmmm...looks like a pretty big kid!" and "whoa, that's a long foot!".  Yep, you guess it.  Charlie is BIG.  His fetal measurements came in nearly two weeks ahead of schedule.  Don't worry, I know this doesn't mean he is coming two weeks earlier.  It means he is going to be BIG.  She estimated his weight as well, and while they can be pretty off on that, the system thought he was nearly 4 pounds.  Our baby books say he should be just over 3 pounds!  Cy was SO HAPPY.  Happy enough that on the way out he said, "good job growing him nice and big!"  And he means it.  Me?  I'm a little nervous...

Here are some of our favorites from the ultrasound:

How cute is he?!?  Ever since we found out Charlie was a boy, I've been hope, hope, hoping that he looks EXACTLY like his Dad.  Looks like he is right on track! 

Here is Charlie's mad face:

Here is Cy's mad face:

The same lips and nose for sure!  I can't wait to meet him!  And if he does look just like his Dad, we are going to have one VERY cute little boy...

Until next week!

Meighan and Charlie

Charlie = Frequent Flier and a Baby Shower!

Hey Family and Friends!

We've got lots of updates to share with everyone, as the past two weeks have been really busy...and really fun.

First: Vill (Cy's little brother), is officially a Ranger! Last Thursday - Sunday, we spent the weekend in Columbus, GA to celebrate Vill's graduation from Ranger school. It is a HUGE accomplishment to complete the Ranger program and an even bigger one to complete the program on your first try, without being "recycled" through a phase. Of course, since it's Vill, he finished the whole program on his first attempt!

The graduation ceremony was VERY cool, complete with a Ranger training demonstration and most importantly, Vill receiving his Ranger tab.

Below are a couple of my favorite parts of the demo. See the four little specs below the Blackhawk? Those are people...DANGLING. And the second picture is the end of a water confidence exercise. Vill's phrase for this stuff is "high speed". Um, yes...high speed. Whoa.



Cy had the honor of pinning Vill's tab:

Villard started some early recruiting with Charlie. Yes, that's a Ranger tab velcroed to my belly.

Vill, we are SO proud of you!

We've also been really busy with Charlie preparations and last night, we had our first baby shower!

Tricia, Lori and Jenna hosted a GORGEOUS shower at Tricia and Shawn's house. It was such a great time and we were honestly humbled at the generosity of our friends! I am probably gushing, but honestly, so many traveled long distances to come! Others worked out all types of other logistics to be there and Cy and I couldn't have felt more blessed by them all! We have the BEST friends!! To top it off, Charlie was totally spoiled. Here are a few pictures from the night...I wish I could post them all, but a) there are too many and b) Cy takes an exorbitant number of pictures...especially covert candids... especially when Shawn gives him beer.

Tricia, Lori and Jenna with Cy and I:



Cy and I:

Charlie got his first pieces of Iowa Hawkeye clothing!

As I said, he (we) were totally spoiled and got tons of great gear for Charlie. Thank you so much to everyone! We are completely overwhelmed and consider ourselves really lucky! Now if only we knew what to do with this stuff... :)

Until next week!

Meighan and Charlie

Prego spans the globe...and the Ranger's Lead the Way!

Ok, so it wasn't the globe, but Charlie and I did manage to visit both coasts in the span of one week.  Two weekends ago, I went for a long weekend to see my California family.  Cy was not so sure about dropping me off at the airport!  It was really the first time that Charlie and I have been away from him (at least since I sprouted this basketball under my shirt)!  For the record, Charlie digs flying and kicks a TON during kick off and landing.  My flight got in a little late and my cousin Mike and his son Liam (one of my very best buddies) met me at the airport.  The welcome committee was fantastic, but half of the committee got a little tired on the ride home:

The weekend was so fun and even included grilling pizzas with my cousin Lisa during a downpour.  Lisa never disappoints and the food during the weekend was awesome...including two different kinds of homemade cupcakes!  Below is a picture of sweet baby Reagan, Liam's little sister. 

While I was in California, Kurt, an AWESOME finish carpenter and good friend of my Dad, surprised me by putting up the wainscoting in the nursery!  He did a beautiful job and it was SO fun to come home to the finished project!  I would be remiss if I didn't also mention that while I was in Calfornia, Cy completed a major pantry reorganization project that included adding additional shelves.  It looks great, but he was a little disappointed that I was slightly more enamored by the wainscoting...

Last Thursday and Friday, I flew to Boston for a quick work trip.  Needless to say, I was tired from a bi-coastal week and we took the weekend to relax and catch up on house stuff and errands. 

The painter came today to paint the nursery and it is officially finished!  I am IN LOVE with the wainscoting and the paint color (a faded navy color that changes depending on the light in the room)!  On to bedding!!  We're accenting the colors below with bedding and other furniture that is navy, orange and chocolate brown.  More pictures to come as we complete additional stages of the room, but see below for a few shots of the wainscoting and paint:  

As if major nursery progress weren't enough, I've saved the best news for last.   Lynn (Cy's Mom, aka Grandma) called last night to say that she heard from Cy's little brother Vill yesterday and he completed his Ranger training!  While we already knew it, he really proved that he is SUPER tough and we are so proud of his major accomplishment!  We're headed to Ft. Benning soon to see him officially become a Ranger and receive his tab and can't wait to celebrate with him!  He mentioned in his last letter that he is really looking forward to eating a huge, long dinner.  Um, yes please!  I'm all for that! 

Look for pictures of our trip to Ft. Benning and Uncle Vill, our Ranger, in the next post! 

Until then! 

Meighan and Charlie

 

The Latest: A baptism and prego perks!

Hey Family and Friends!

A few weeks ago, I was pulling into Hy-Vee on a super busy Sunday afternoon.  It was freezing cold, snowing and I was determined to get in and out at the store.  The parking lot was packed...and then I saw it.  The golden ticket...parking for new and expectant mothers!  The fine people at Hy-Vee have included not one, but two spots for us.  I felt a little guilty because I'm not a total whale yet (but making progress) and would hate for a prego that is further along to lose out.  But if I kept acting like that, I'd only park in the prego spot for a couple of weeks!  I took the opportunity to park there that day and managed to snag the spot for a second time yesterday.  I was so excited about it that I took a picture and sent it to Cy...

Ok, on to much more spectacular items.  Our really good friends Curtis and Amber asked us to be the godparents of their sweet baby girl, Adalynn.  Curtis and I have been friends for literally our entire lives.  When I was 9 months old, I started at in-home daycare with Curtis' mom.  The two of us have been best buddies since then (picture us on the first day of kindergarten posing in front of the school bus.  Nice bike shorts, Curtis).  We've been through a lot...I once launched a Fisher Price cash register at him.  He deserved it and we've since moved on.  Anyway, Cy and I were beyond honored and thrilled to be part of their special day!  Congrats to Curtis who was also baptized!  Below are a few pictures from the weekend's festivities.

Curtis, Amber and Adalynn:


Proud Godparents!

Cy was getting some good practice, but was a little nervous to hold such a tiny baby at first! 

Charlie and Adalynn are going to repeat the friendship that Curtis and I began so long ago!  Curtis is almost exactly 6 months older than I am and depending on when Charlie arrives, he and Adalynn will be almost exactly 6 months apart as well! 

Have a wonderful week! 

Pregnant in Vegas...

Yes, that's where all the pregnant girls go to get away.  You didn't know that?  Ok, maybe not.  But truthfully, we booked the trip a LONG time ago and it meant one last chance to see Garth Brooks perform before Charlie arrives!  If you and I aren't well acquainted, that's one thing you'll learn quickly.  I love country music and Garth Brooks is near the very top of my list.  Cy totally indulges my obsession with seeing him live because a.) Vegas is fun and b).  The show really is the best we've ever seen.  

It was VERY awkward to be pregnant in Vegas.  It was obvious from the get-go that I had a shortage of skin tight mini dresses.  Amen.  I've never felt so out of place as I did when walking into the hotel late Friday night in the midst of the club going girls, and I've never been so glad for my out of place status! 

Our room was awesome!  We were upgraded because they didn't have anymore non-smoking rooms in the level (cheapest) we had booked.  We ended up on the 52nd floor overlooking the strip and the mountains:

So what is there to do in Vegas when you're pregnant and your hubby is super indulgent?  Eat, sleep and shop!  Here are a few highlights...

Saturday night we had dinner at a pizza place in the hotel and Cy was starving.  Additionally, lately all I want is to have a few bites of several things.  This resulted in us ordering a meal so large that the girl at the counter said, "...and how many place settings?"  Yep, just two, thanks.  The server came out and seriously thought he was at the wrong table.  Nice.  Here's a shot of our spread...

Feel free to count.  Yes, there are four meals there.  And an appetizer.

On Sunday, we ate at THE MOST amazing restaurant for brunch.  I told Cy I was really upset that we'd never eaten there before and requested to only eat there for the remainder of the trip.  What was this miraculous place?  A restaurant dedicated to chocolate.  Here is a shot of my apple cinnamon white chocolate truffle french toast:

Seriously, how happy do I look?  Ha!  It came with a side of melted white chocolate to drizzle like syrup. The best was when Cy's skillet scramble came out with a side of melted milk chocolate.  Seriously.  I would post that picture, but I think you guys get the point.  The waitress actually brought me a spoon to eat the milk chocolate.  In return, I requested that Cy give her a huge tip.

Sunday was another glorious day of shopping and napping.  Vegas can be relaxing when you aren't pounding cocktails and staying out all night!  I had some great luck on the Wheel (Wheel of Fortune that is) that I parlayed (like my Vegas terminology?) that into lots of fun on the Roulette wheel.  Cy was against Roulette for all of 30 seconds until we started winning.  Within 4 minutes we were up a couple hundred dollars due to betting on Charlie's due date!  Like any responsible parents would, we cashed out immediately and spent the winnings shopping. 

Ok, so what about Garth?  He was AWESOME!  This was by far the best concert and we had ridiculous seats in the fifth row. 

It was a wonderful and much needed weekend away!

Until next time! 

The Phillips Family