Sportin' A Bootie

It's 100 degrees outside, but the relief of fall weather and the excitement of a new season of fashion seems to be on everyone's minds... I've heard about "the fall bootie" no less than six times today - and I haven't even opened a magazine yet tonight!



I'm not a fan of the ankle boot look - but I can totally see it working for a few of my friends. Thoughts? Have you found any favorites?

I'll be looking for some new (non-ankle) boots...I'd love to hear your suggestions for those.

Any other fall (and post-baby) shoes I can be looking forward to - cute heels to make up for my summer of flats, perhaps?

The happiest of summers

What a long, quiet summer it's been. Things have been indescribably wonderful in our sweet little household these past few months - remarkably simple and very, very quiet. But I'm back with lots to share, so much to catch up on and a great deal of excitement about the next chapter in our lives!

We're just over the two month mark 'til baby Mac gets here; I'm nearly 31 weeks pregnant and October 17 feels like it's right around the corner. Strange how that happens - all of 2009 seems blurry after we found out we were expecting. And now, all of a sudden, football season and the hope of cooler weather seem to be just ahead. (With that, of course, comes baby time... Wow.)

I'm of two minds about this: On the one hand, when people tell me I'm in the home stretch, I feel grateful and comforted. Only nine-ish weeks left, I can hang! On the other hand, when I'm told that there's plenty of time left, I also feel strangely relieved. There's so much to do - how could we get it all done if we were truly in the "home stretch"??

For an anxious gal like myself, this pregnancy has been unbelievably blessed; I can feel that my tendency to worry and make list upon list of things to do has been lifted. I've been able (miraculously) to take things slowly and enjoy each little step along the way - even the stumbling, blurry-eyed visits to the ladies' room in the pitch black darkness each night.

Baby Mac is already such a part of our thought process, our conversations, our daily lives...I can't imagine how amazing it's going to be to meet him and start the lifelong process of getting to know the little boy who's been performing Riverdance jigs in my stomach all these weeks.

We're over the moon and have been (selfishly) indulging in a long, slow summer - something we've been quite intentional about. Anything unenjoyable or unnecessary has been cut out of our weekend schedules. Spending time together whenever possible (crazy work schedules aside) has been the best gift Bradley could have given me as we prepare for a new, undoubtedly hectic season in our marriage.

My sweet friends Liz, Kristen and Erin are hosting a baby shower for me later this month and I can't wait to see them and celebrate! These three ladies haven't been under one roof since our wedding, so it's a fabulous treat to have time with each of them at once.

I'll be back with more tonight - including pictures! - but I wanted to say hello. (I'm writing this Tuesday evening to hopefully figure out how to have it post on Wednesday...hence the "this evening.")

Things I'm excited to chat about with you:

• Google Maps' street view feature goes to Paris - and makes me relive my summer abroad. Wouldn't that go a little differently now?
• A new season of Mad Men and The Time Traveler's Wife in one weekend - can I handle it?
• To read or not to read: Sneak in The Time Traveler's Wife before or after the movie? The pros and cons are many, friends.
• A birthday, an anniversary and a few summer weddings
• Nursery progress - and the fabric samples dancing through my head at 3am
• Who's afraid of having a baby? Not me. Right?
• The ridiculous pressure that comes with naming your (unborn) bundle o' joy
• Crazy things people say (and probably shouldn't) to pregnant folk
• The type-A personality gives way to a go with the flow girl...you're going to be amazed, y'all!

Back soon!

(Also, I'm in need of a blog facelift...who has recommendations??)

Hello, Loves!!

Hi friends!! How it's been a month since I've written I will never understand...something about days passing more quickly in summer than any time of year. (Of course, counting your life week by week as we pregnant folk are known to do can make a year fly by pretty quickly as well!)

I've thought about writing so many times but haven't put invisible pen to virtual paper for a few reasons - so I just wanted to check in and see how you ladies were doing. (And also because y'all have been sweet enough to check on me and I want you to know that things are going wonderfully!)

In June I instituted an "e-free evenings" policy to see what life would be like without my ever-open laptop habit. It was fantastic! There was more cooking, tackling tasks around the house, reading, relaxing and hanging out with the boys. Not bad for week nights! It definitely makes my evenings feel longer!

I do, however, miss chatting and reading everyone's blogs - so consider this a temporary hiatus! We have lots to share and even more updates to get from y'all...though many of you have been much better about blogging and I get lots of great info from that. (Just not in the evenings!)

Here are the highlights of summer 2009 so far:

• The wedding of our sweet friends Ann and Jon took place on gorgeous Lake Junaluska, NC last weekend. So much fun!

Here we are - Ann and Anne - before her lovely bridesmaids' brunch. Check out the view! If you have to be outside in late June, you should be in the mountains by the lake. Just beautiful!

• I'm 25 weeks along and growing bigger by the moment! Still feeling fabulous, enjoying long Sunday naps after church and trying to stay motivated to work out in the crazy summer heat.
  
• Bradley and I enjoyed a remarkably quiet Fourth of July weekend - no traveling, no stress. Hope you had lots of fun - maybe a few cold beverages, some fireworks and splashing around in a large body of water?

Expect just a smidge more of a hiatus but I'll be back later this month with lots of updates - our anniversary, my birthday, the quickly-approaching due date of Baby Boy Smith.

Also expect more reading and commenting from me - I may not be writing but I promise I'm thinking of y'all and wishing you a fabulous summer!
xoxo,
A.

Happiness is...

• A beautiful family wedding in Charleston!
• A sanctuary full of beaming faces in the oldest (gorgeous!) Baptist church in the South.
• My very first sister-in-law.
• A full, gorgeous week at the beach.
• Shrimp, grits, shrimp and grits, and any other possible seafood combination Charleston has to offer.
• Early morning bike rides (yes, me!) and walks to the ice cream stand. Ahh.
• SPF 70 on my face to stave off sunburn - and it worked!
• Watching Blue play in the waves as he experienced something new - the ocean!
• Being pretty darn convinced that if dogs could grin, he was doing just that the whole time.
• Sipping Sprite on a rooftop deck with my two favorite boys. One furry and one suntanned.
• Feeling our baby boy move for the first time...together. Pretty soon I'll have three favorite boys.
• Waking up by choice or sunshine, not an alarm.
• Crossing the halfway point to meeting baby Grapenut - 20 weeks down, 20 to go!
• Dancing with my husband at two weddings in two weekends.
• Laughing at him for wearing a Friday night suit then two Saturday tuxes in a row - and six days of shorts at the beach in between to "balance it all out."
• Finally coming home to a (relatively) clean house.
• Putting off the unpacking. Why did we bring so much anyway?
• Happy faces to greet me at work; it's nice to be missed!
• So You Think You Can Dance waiting on my DVR.
• Our perma-frigid office feeling just right on a ridiculously hot summer day.
• Closing the laptop for the evening.
• Blue at my feet, pasta on my plate, B home and right next to me.
• Catching up on all the blog reading I've been missing - so glad to be back, friends!! xo

It's a.....

Well, it's about time I shared the news I hyped up last week, don't you think?

Bradley and I went to the doctor on Thursday and were absolutely overcome by the images we got to see from our anatomy scan. Baby's heart (all four chambers!), brain, spine, stomach, kidneys, arms, legs and tiny feet. We got the see a sweet little face and an absolutely precious profile.

We also got to see that we're having a baby BOY!!!! I made her double-check, just to be safe, but the pictures let me know, without question, that I will soon be outnumbered.

I knew I'd be happy to see the ultrasound pictures and I even anticipated a sense of relief from the boy/girl question that everyone asks about. What I didn't anticipate, however, was last Thursday being one of the very happiest days of my life. I could have stayed in that ultrasound room right up 'til October.

Bradley and I were just talking and realized that we'd rather relive those 20 minutes in the ultrasound room than our entire wedding day, wonderful as it was. We're totally entranced by this little miracle - and calling our baby a "he" rather than an "it" has made it all the more exciting.

I have seen our baby's ultrasound video twice since we've come back - once on our laptop, pausing in awe at some of the movements I missed, and once on our big-screen TV. (Our baby won't be that big at any point in his life - talk about a crazy view!)

Thursday's appointment was first thing in the morning - and I don't think I had a coherent, non-baby-related thought until mid-day Friday. I thought knowing our baby's gender would answer one really big question, but instead I feel like it's the start of something much, much bigger. Now I have all the time in the world to wonder what he'll look like, who he'll favor, what he'll do for fun (assuming shopping doesn't top his priority list), if he'll think I'm the lamest, least rough-and-tumble person he's ever met... You get the idea.

You could have knocked me over with a feather, as my sweet friend Kristen says, when they told us it was a boy - but I could not be happier. Now if y'all could just start sharing exactly what little boys do and how I can ensure that I'm not the girl sitting inside in the air conditioned comfort while my three boys (Bradley, baby and Blue) run wild outside.... Any tips are welcome!

The Little Prince has always been a favorite book of mine....and now we're having one! I'm guessing he won't be born bilingual, but we can always get him the English translation... So excited to meet him already!!

Questions

Could you make it tomorrow morning already? I'm too excited to sit still tonight - tomorrow morning we get to see our sweet Grapenut again... And hopefully find out if we're having a boy or a girl!! I can't wait!

Unfortunately, that has seriously detracted from my ability to focus on ANYTHING else this week - and particularly tonight. So instead of stringing words together in sentences, the best I can do for you tonight is ask some questions. I suppose the first question should be: will you indulge me?? Here we go...


Could we stop talking about Jon and Kate and start thinking about the, you know, eight? Now her brother and sister-in-law, who have appeared on the show babysitting and seeming sweeter than pie, are talking to the media about their impending split and the fact that their family is in shambles. How is this helpful? Who thinks it's doing their family a favor by putting them back on the tabloid covers? Sad...

It's that time again, ladies - wedding season! While I can't squeeze into every cocktail dress I'd love to wear this season, I'm still excited at the possibility of pretty accessories to spice up the two or three maternity dresses I'll be rotating.

I love these! Could I please have 'em?
Maybe a size up for this particular long, pregnant summer?

I'd love to see this light yellow paired with a gorgeous blue cocktail dress. Anyone up for it?

You know I love pink! Too girly? What would you wear these with?

Maybe these?

And these?

Do these shoes remind anyone else of the mid- to late-nineties? Are y'all sporting these and I'm just holding on to an unfair chunkier heel grudge?

Does one really need a satin gala tote? What does J Crew think we'd keep in this??

Wouldn't a pretty clutch suffice?

Would this sink or swim in real life? Picture someone (non-pregnant, of course...) wearing it at a wedding. Do you love it?

Would this?? For a wedding in warm blush or bridal ivory?

(Can you tell I've been visiting J Crew a lot lately?? Can I start getting some free stuff, J Crew?)

One final question, only loosely related to wedding season. The least relevant and most puzzling newlyweds I'm aware of...

My question is simple: Really??

Things I'm Noticing...

1. Warm weather is fabulous...totally worth the winter wait and just as wonderful as I'd hoped it would be. Thank you, sunshine! (I still need a top-secret contraband space heater under my desk at work, but I'll take chilly inside for chilly outside any day!)

2. So You Think You Can Dance is the only reality show I'm PROUD to watch. Now if whatever you people like to call American Idol would hurry on up off the air, I could get my SYTYCD fix ASAP. (That last sentence had three prepositions and two acronyms. What's up, writer girls?)

3. Hording clothes has never been so useful... My J. Crew addiction is finally paying off! At 16 weeks and just a little, um, thick in the waist-al region, I'm having a bit of trouble finding, you know, clothes to wear. Too small for maternity, too large for my favorite summer frocks. What's a girl to do?

Well, I've been sporting the same J. Crew outfits so often lately that I expect my coworkers will go blind any day now from the repetition. Had I never bought two and three of each style, however, I would have significantly fewer choices.

Can I get a shout-out for a-line dresses, empire waists and stretchy fabrics? (And my propensity to stock up when a good sale arrives?)

Take a look at my favorite three ensembles:

The Bella skirt in fog (gray), rhubarb (dark pink) and atlantic (royal blue). I love a creative color name. (And a puffy-ish skirt! Especially since it runs large!) I did forget that the gray, my last and least expensive acquisition of the trio, is a size smaller than the other two to make up for the sizing I just mentioned. So on the way to work today, upon realizing the snugness, I did what any classy lady does - pulled down my tank, unzipped my skirt a smidge and adjusted my cardigan accordingly. Shhh. Don't tell!


I have this dress in wild rose (self-explanatory) and truly appreciate the generous a-line cut. I also have it in white in a size smaller (from when I wised up about the sizing) but, um, that's not a flattering fit any longer. Add a cardigan and I'm off!


I bought this dress in papaya (coral) and black for our honeymoon and have been sporting it with a sleek tank underneath... It's a little longer and more flowy than it looks here - pretty much pajamas masquerading as a dress. (The recurring theme of many of my favorite clothing items!) Again, top it off with a cardigan for inside or a cute necklace for evenings and I'm off!

Are y'all bored yet? Because I'm sure anyone who's seen me lately sure is! I'll take any cute maternity clothing tips y'all have, because I'm fresh out of ideas once my in-between wardrobe stops working!!

4. Speaking of in-between wardrobe choices, I have a rehearsal dinner, post-rehearsal party, wedding brunch and two weddings in May, a rehearsal dinner, bridal brunch and wedding in June and (whew!) just one wedding in July. I've ordered this pretty Juliet cocktail dress from J. Crew for this month in a lovely tea rose. (I had their killer 25% off card so I ordered two sizes before the discount expire; I'll take back whichever doesn't fit when I need it in a few weeks. I keep hearing that I'll be amazed what a few weeks can do to a changing bump!)

I have this Juliet dress in black and love it - so forgiving for delicious shrimp and grits weddings! :) Hopefully I'll just scoot up a size to accomodate the changes between my collarbones and my hip bones....we'll see!



Please share any flowy, empire-waisted, all-around pretty frocks you've found lately! I'd love some inspiration and I have no shortage of occasions for them...though I may have to break down and buy maternity for the June and July events.

Bradley's always hoped I could curb my J. Crew addiction; I guess it just took a baby to do it! Keep me posted on your pretty purchases, even if I can only appreciate from afar this year!