27th Birthday

Despite a rainy day, I had such a wonderful birthday last week - made special by the kindness of so many friends and family who went out of their way to make me feel loved. It's always such a treat to get all the sweet text messages , voicemails, facebook walls posts, tweets, calls, and, yes, even birthday songs. Thank you all!

(And, no, I didn't wear that hideous "27th birthday" t-shirt, but apparently people do because I found it available for purchase online. Thought I would throw it in for laughs since I failed to take any pics of birthday events.)

I actually was out of the office for a conference all day on my birthday, so it was nice to get a change of routine. The Alabama Association of Nonprofits held its annual Nonprofit Summit conference on March 9 at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center. The keynotes and sessions I attended were very well done, and my supervisor also presented on taking your stewardship/donor relations program to the next level.

After work, Trey and I got in a quick workout at the gym before cleaning up so Robert could take us out for a birthday dinner. We dinned at Fire, a new restaurant in Mountain Brook. I had purchased a Posh Birmingham (like Groupon) certificate a few weeks earlier, so we definitely put that to good use. The shrimp and grits I had were amazing. Robert had the fillet with hollandaise sauce. Both were excellent. (For more details see the Dining Local section of my blog.)

After a nice, leisurely dinner (I love taking the time to talk with my husband over dinner. It seems we rarely do that at home.), we headed to Bottega Cafe for coffee and dessert. Actually, I got the chai tea and we split the chocolate terrine. Perfect on a rainy night.

The next evening my parents had us out to their house for my birthday dinner with my grandmother and brothers. Ryan made his delicious chicken alfredo and mom made her broccoli salad which I love. Big Mama even made some soup for Robert and I, as well as Kyle, to take home for food for the week. So thoughtful. I commented on these cute potted yellow violas and dwarf irises mom had potted and displayed on her porch by the door. They ended up being my birthday gift and look great on my sunporch, officially welcoming spring. Dad also gave me a pack of diapers! So cute. We definitely needed to grow our collection.

Everyone at work was so kind on my birthday also, surprising me with balloons for my office and a birthday lunch out. My sister-in-law mailed me a super cute watch and ring, and Julia mailed a precious maternity top from Gap. (Maternity shirts are kind of our running joke since Julia mailed me a top from Target several years ago for my birthday that happened to be maternity - when I wasn't pregnant. It was super cute, but at least now she technically got it right!)

Thanks for all the birthday love, friends and family! Makes turning 27 not bad at all! Except if someone makes me wear that hideous shirt.

23 week appointment update

Last Thursday I had my 23 week doctor's appointment. We were so thankful that Trey was doing well and growing on schedule. He weighed in at 1.1 lbs. He was hiding his face (positioned face down, facing my back) but we were able to get the few ultrasound pics above. The first two are close ups of his face. The third confirms he is definitely a boy, which Robert asked that I have double checked!

I weighed in at 135 pounds -13 pounds over pre-pregnancy weight (122) and seven pounds over the total six pounds I had gained four weeks ago when I weighed 128 at 18 weeks. It's crazy to me I only gained 6 pounds in the first 18 weeks and then more than doubled that in the last four weeks from weeks 18 to 23. I guess we're both getting bigger, but they said it was all on schedule. So if they're happy, I'm happy.

My next appointment is scheduled for April 7, when they will do my glucose test and Rh blood test at 27 weeks. We will have another ultrasound then, and they said it would be the perfect time to do the 4D ultrasound since babies apparently look best on 4D between 28 and 30 weeks, when they're getting fat on the face and "chubbing up" (my words, not the doctor's) but aren't so big they can't be coaxed to move around the womb in order to get nice diverse photos from all angles.