Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to our sweet daddies! We love you both and appreciate the lifetime of prayers, encouragement, and support you have given us, mostly importantly modeling to us the Father's love for us as his children.

And also a Happy Father's Day to Robert who gets to have the officially title of "Daddy" is 10 days! Can't wait to see how the Lord uses him in this new role!

Robert S. Adams, Jr., PE

It's official! My smart and dedicated husband is now a Professional Engineer licensed by the State of Alabama. His PE card came in the mail today. We actually found out a couple of weeks ago when he received his letter notifying him that he has passed the PE exam he took back in early April. He told me by texting me the pic below several fridays ago when I was at work. Once I realized what the letter was, I was freaking out trying to scan for the word "passed" in the pic on my iphone and then was so excited to see that he did, indeed, pass.



We're not only so grateful that he passed but also thankful to just know the results. We weren't sure if we'd find out before the baby came since these things can take months to report back. This is a major professional accomplishment for Robert, and it's nice to have it complete before we roll into the stage of parenthood. You have to work under a licensed PE for four years before you are even eligible to take the test. Plus you have to have successfully passed the FE test. Luckily Robert passed the FE right before receiving his undergraduate degree at UA. Just this spring he became eligible to take the PE, and he studied so long and hard and faithfully for months on end to prepare. I'm so grateful the Lord blessed his efforts. Proud of you, Rob!

Ryan's Graduation

My baby brother Ryan graduated high school last week. I was nine was he was born and remember going to the OB appointment with my mom the day we found out he was a boy. It's amazing how time flies when the youngest - who happens to be the tallest - leaves the nest to take off for college. We are so proud of Ryan and the young man he has become and his heart for the Lord. He has lots to look forward to in Tuscaloosa for the next four years, and I know he'll be a great uncle to Trey. I remember when David graduated high school four years ago and I leaned over to Robert and said, "We'll probably have a baby by the time Ryan graduates."And low and behold we almost do!

Ryan's graduation, coupled with the fact of being (and feeling) every bit of 35 weeks pregnant, and that this week UA torn down the dorm I lived in my sophomore year of college, has me feeling a bit old these days.

Nothing like a graduation celebration dinner with the family at Stix to cheer you up. Turns out you get extra food for being pregnant if your Japanese chef is nice, so clearly we should have been hitting that place up for the past eight months.

Here's Ryan getting his diploma from his principal.

We always gave Ryan a hard time because Kyle and I both won the principal's award (or whatever they called it) at Clay-Chalkville our senior years (me mostly for being a nerd; Kyle mostly for being cool, nice, and useful and always helping the administrators with their technology problems). David was just always big man on campus who everyone loved, and so we always told Ryan he had a lot to live up to to uphold the family tradition of being tight with the administration. Turns out he and Mr. Laney are pretty tight. We may have won the award but Ryan somehow gets his principal to pick up his tab at Waffle House as a random act of kindness kinda thing. Go figure. Actually, I probably take a free meal at Waffle House over a dusty award mom has in the attic anyday, so maybe Ryan's on to something.

Here's "Sunshine" (as his friends have been calling him due to the long hair - a reference to that quarterback from California in the movie Remember the Titans) with mom and dad. He says he's keeping it long until his mission trip to Costa Rica this summer so he can get authentic dreds, then he's shaving it off.

And with David, Emily, and Big Mama (I swear Kyle was there - not sure where he was when we took the pic.)

Congrats, Midge! We're proud of you!

Mother's Day

What a special blessing is the gift of a mother! Robert and I are both blessed to have mothers who love the Lord and have faithfully modeled lives dedicated to Jesus for us over the years. What great examples for me as I transition to the role of mother to little Trey.

They are faithful prayer warriors (probably more so than we will ever know), servant-hearted leaders, wonderful hostesses and providers, "keepers of the family" so to speak, gospel-reminders (preaching and living out the gospel to their children and families faithfully), committed to serving the church body, great listeners, and long suffering with our fathers! For which we are all very grateful! :)

I am sure my appreciation for them will increase 100 fold once baby Trey comes and they are my lifelines for the first two weeks. I am so thankful for such family support and their willingness to take time off their jobs to serve us in this way.

But even now and in the previous months of pregenancy they have been so encouraging and supportive. Faithfully praying for Trey's salvation, sending encouraging emails, marveling at the baby God is growing in my womb and reminding us to enjoy each and every stage of the process.

And then of course Robert's mom has spent countless hours of her free time (who really has "free time" when you work fulltime as a nurse/office manager and are also a fulltime wife, mother, grandmother, and daughter?) in her sewing room making Trey's bedding and drapes, monograming blankets and making cute little outfits for him. Not to even mention the dozens of phone calls, emails, and texts to me to discuss fabrics and everything else we've talked about in prepping the nursery along the way.

And my sweet mother has sacrificed her Saturday to come clean my house - all with a joyful heart! (Who does that???) - to help give it a good scrub down before baby comes. Robert was out of town this weekend visiting an old college roommate in Memphis (last man trip for a while), and it was so good to have my mom to keep me company and help me around the house. We laundered all of Trey's clothes which are now hanging so cute and pretty in his armoir and closet. Instead of cleaning, we decided to re-plant the mailbox flowerbed with some beautiful summer blooms since the warm weather had taken its toll on my pansies. They'll always be another day to clean, and I know when that day comes she'll be there to help!

I am so very thankful for our moms!! For these and so many other reasons.

And this Mother's Day I was also thankful for the opportunity to be a mother. And even though Trey's not visible, apparently it's apparent that I'm his mom. Everyone from experienced and seasoned moms and grandmothers at church to the cashier at Publix wished me a happy mother's day this year. Most of them caught me by surprise, but what a sweet gesture nonetheless. I am, technically, a mother....with a whole lot to learn!

April recap

I'm a little behind on blogging the non-pregnancy-related events from April. (Let's face it, these days most of what I, even what we, do is somehow pregnancy-related.) But I wanted to be sure and capture some of the fun memories from this month and the good times we have had with family and friends.

First off, we had a wonderful trip to Lexington, Kentucky to visit Robert's younger sister Liz and her husband Mike.

We managed to halfway surprise Liz with our visit, and she was a great sport about taking two last-minute visitors in stride. It was so fun to see them and celebrate her 27th birthday. We also timed our trip with Keeneland again this year after we had a blast at last year's race. Our betting was definitely off this year, but it was just as fun. And the weather was gorgeous. I love visiting Kentucky in the spring. Everything is is bloom.

This will probably be my last big (six plus hours in the car) trip until baby comes. I like to think that I've gotten pretty good at traveling in long car rides now that I've married into the Adams family, but this time around it was definitely more difficult with an ever-growing baby sloshing around in there and positioning himself on your vital organs without warning and at random intervals in between heated kickboxing sessions.

We also had a great time with my brother David and his girlfriend Emily at A-day in Tuscaloosa.


Emily and David scored us tickets in the Ivory Club courtesy of the generosity of Emily's sweet dad. Let's just say I could get very used to 50-yard-line tickets and buffets that last four quarters.



April also marked my baby brother Ryan (white tux jacket and Bieber hair, center) attending his senior (and hopefully last) prom. Unless he becomes one of those sketchy old graduated guys who gets invited back by the younger girls. Here's hoping he doesn't and instead upholds the family's honor.



Doesn't he look sharp in his tux though?



And of course we had a great time with my immediate and extended family celebrating Easter and Christ's resurrection. For many of my cousins, it was the first time they had seen me (or rather very visible Trey) since we announced our pregnancy at 12 weeks on Christmas Eve. Let's just say I got a few comments about having grown. :) If you missed the customary Summerville family Easter pic, check out the short but sweet Easter post.

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.

And Baby Makes Three

For those of you who don't yet know, we are expecting our first child in July! Baby Adams is **supposed** to make his/her debut July 6, 2011. After telling our family over the Christmas holidays (see the Christmas posts for how we shared the big news) at 12.5 weeks, we broke the news to friends and went "Facebook public" on January 4.

We are excited...nervous...slightly terrified and feeling largely inadequate and unprepared. All reactions I think are probably perfectly normal. It's funny how more real it all seems now that everyone knows. For a while there it was just Robert and mine's big, little, happy secret, which was hard to hide given my nausea, extreme fatigue, and sudden onset of sobriety.

I have a terrible memory, so I started a small pregnancy journal on a post-it note (not joking when I say small) at week 6 when we had our first ultrasound - mainly to chronicle how I was feeling in the first trimester cause goodness knows I won't remember the second time around when I'm trying to compare pregnancies. In the following weeks I added to it with a little more detail about how I was feeling. I'll probably post some very honest thoughts from that on another post. You're welcome to skip that read if it's boring or gross. It's primarily for my institutional family memory.

I do have to say that Facebook is extremely good at making you feel loved and part of community. Anyone who has had a birthday while on Facebook knows this. It's especially true when you post big news like expecting a baby. In all of 30 seconds 15 friends have liked and commented their overjoyedness at your big news. In 24 hours, more than a hundred friends have shared your joy. Definitely helps to get you excited about something that up until that point caused a lot of worry and nausea. :)

The short of it is that Baby A is doing great today at 15 weeks, growing on schedule, and treating mom much more nicely now that the second trimester has come and I have more energy and less nausea. Though I have to say I have been very fortunate to have such minimal morning sickness that seems to render some women incapacitated for three months.

That's all for now. More baby news to come with ultrasound pics, OB appointment stories, and the 411 on the first trimester as I try to catch everyone back up on where we are in this pregnancy.

We are thankful to God for the opportunity and privilege to be parents and for this special life. We pray he will claim Baby A for his own and use him/her in a mighty way for the advancement of his kingdom. Trusting in his promises, we know there are good things to come! :)

Adams Christmas 2010

The Sunday after Christmas we traveled to South Carolina for Christmas with Robert's family. I'm so glad we got a family photo. Sometimes we forget to do those when we all get together, and it's not very often we can round us all up in the same city! This was our first Christmas with our new nephew Tate. He has grown and changed so much since his birth in August.

His sweet big sister Tess actually had a visit to the emergency room Christmas Eve night after a rough fall from a bar stool that knocked out her front teeth and knocked some others loose. Needless to say, the family had quite an eventful Christmas Eve in the hospital, but Tess had a successful surgery and great check up appointment with her pediatric dentist. By Sunday, she was still a little swollen from all the trauma, but you can see from the pic above all her Christmas presents were helping her to feel much better.

Big brother Tallon got a present from Mimi and Pop that was almost as big as he is! He had lots of fun driving his remote control truck in the snow all weekend.

We also got to share the news with Pop and Mimi that they were going to have another grandbaby. We surprised them with a photo calendar like we did with my parents. Not sure if they suspected or not, but I definitely know Liz had a great inclination I was preggers. She and Mike stayed with us for Thanksgiving and I took a ridiculous four hour nap that day. Definitely not normal for me!

Tess loved the purse Mimi gave her.

Poor Tate fell asleep during all the festivities.

With Baby A at just over 12 weeks.

Summerville Christmas 2010

Christmas day we spent with my parents at their home in Clay and were surprised that morning by a fairly significant snow fall. I can't remember the last time I experienced a white Christmas morning in Alabama, if ever. It was beautiful. We took a nice walk to take in the view before Kyle, Allison, and Isabella came over that afternoon to open presents.

Ryan made his famous snow ice cream!

Dad's gift to mom this year was a new ring. She loved it.

Once Isabella arrived we had tons of fun playing with her toys. I think the pic below is so funny with dad holding up her compact mirror so she can put on her fake lipstick.

Between Cooper, Oscar, and Buddy, the house was definitely for the dogs! Oscar survived the weather by sitting on a heating blanket all day!

Isabella loves giving hugs, and passing out Dad's famous popcorn.

Haskew Christmas Eve 2010

This year was our year to stay in Birmingham for Christmas, so we were able to go to my Big Mama's house for her annual Christmas Eve shindig. All my cousins and family on my mom's side were able to come, and it was great to see everyone.

Big Mama was so glad my Aunt Cathy was able to come this year. You'll see she made a very special appearance....

Kyle and Alison had a special Christmas costume for Buddy. Poor guy couldn't sneak up on anyone all night. You could hear him coming from a mile away with all those jingle bells! As Kyle's dog (though Isabella claims he is her dog!), Buddy is the newest addition to the family, and everyone loves him.

Robert helped Dad fry a turkey to go with our cutomary ham, cocktail shrimp, and all the fixings! The shrimp is one of the traditions my Big Daddy started years ago for this family event. I remember going to their house with Kyle when we were little to help them peel the gazillion pounds he always bought and prepared. This year Robert and I handled the shrimp, and six pounds just covered what we needed for the crowd. So thankful to Robert, Dave, and Ryan for helping me peel shrimp for what seemed like all afternoon. I forgot how much work that was and what a labor of love my Big Daddy performed each year for us to prepare so much shrimp.

Presley is growing into such a big girl!

Maddie, Joseph, and Hannah...with Christian and Victoria below.

Even Santa made a surprise visit! Aunt Cathy did such a great job as Santa. I even believed it was the real deal! It was so hard not to with her great belly laugh and enthusiam. Since Victoria was little, her dad Clay always played Santa on Christmas Eve. She is getting old enough to recognize her dad, so this year we needed a less noticable Santa. Aunt Cathy was perfect!

The kids were so excited to get their gifts from Santa.

LOVE the Price family! Can't believe how grown up the boys are.

Victoria and Robert during our Dirty Santa game - another Christmas Eve tradition.

I swear there is a picture just like this of David from Christmas Eve two years ago and he is playing with one of Victoria's barbie dolls.

Of course, the best part of Christmas Eve for us this year was being able to tell my mom and dad that they will be grandparents in July 2011! We made a customzied family photo calendar for them. This is something I give my dad each year, so it wasn't out of the ordinary, only this time our ultrasound picture of Baby Adams was the photo for the month of July since Baby A is due July 6. I would say we did pretty well with the surprise, though mom definitely already had a hunch we were expecting. My brothers were so cute at how excited they got about being uncles, and Big Mama is excited to welcome her 10th great-grandchild into the family this summer. It was great to be able to share the news with all my cousins and extended family too. Below is the photo we used of Baby A for the calendar - at 10.5 weeks. He/she is now 15 weeks! More Baby news to come in a future post. Must finishing posting all of Christmas and Julia's wedding first!