Kicking off the Holiday season....

Our holidays started with a bang....We had an idea that we wanted to do something very different this year for our Christmas card and still somehow incorporate Liam into the picture. We looked online for a long time for some inspiration and funny enough it was found in pictures done by pregnant women for Halloween. They had painted their round bellies to look like pumpkins and immediately we knew we had to paint my belly somehow for Christmas. With the help of my dear friend Kevin, we were in touch with a wonderful lady named Margee Halsch (www.margeehalsch.com). She's an abstract artist in the area and came highly recommended by Kevin. I gave her a call and she immediately loved our idea and said this would be the first time for her as well using skin as a canvas. We were excited to see what she might come up with! The end result was so perfect....very cute  with 3 snowmen representing Adam, Liam and I. Here's some fun pictures from our day!

Halfway home....

Today Liam is 20 weeks away from coming home.....It has all gone so fast.....I feel like we just found out he was even real and now to feel him kicking and moving just makes me so happy. I lay awake at night now more recently because apparently his clock is already off from ours. But it's worth every sleepless moment....he kicks and moves, responds to my voice and tumbles in my belly like he's doing cartwheels. I don't want this to go too fast because I want to remember every precious kick but I also cannot wait to lay my eyes on his gorgeous face. We have alot to do in the 2nd half of this pregnancy....we still have to find a daycare, a pediatrician, finish the nursery,etc. Most importantly, we have to remember this sweet time in our lives....we've created a life together.... a life that will be with us in 140 days.

An amazing father

When I met Adam, I had never seen him around a child. We were both so young and so immature and to see him grow into the man he is today has been an amazing journey. The day we found out we were pregnant was the start of a spark in him. I have never seen such joy on his face, such warmth in his eyes....he was about to be a father. I get to watch him now as he talks to Liam in my belly.....I can't wait to watch him interact with his son. He's going to be a father that encourages, that his son can be proud to look up to for example, that he can talk to about anything, that will give him the tough love when he needs it, one who will encourage his dreams and be his shoulder to lean on. A father that will teach him to be strong in his faith in God and to not be afraid to share it with the world. And most importantly, he will lead by example of strength in the face of any adversity able to conquer anything that comes his way. He will raise a strong, christian young man that will make amazing strides in the world.
Recently, he's been getting excited about preparing the nursery for Liam's arrival. Here's some pics of our most recent project....Adam repainted an old table that I've had for years....it looks so great now.

It will sit beside the glider and I'm sure will be the perfect place for wonderful books to read to Liam or the perfect little lamp.

Liam's Nursery

We want Liam to have a super happy place to sleep in and play. A place where he can feel soothing when he needs it and joy in his playtime. A place of discovery, laughter, restful sleep and growth. We've decided on all white furniture and beautiful green walls. Adam and I have always been huge fans of animals, nature,etc. but we also didn't want the nursery to be "cheesy" in anyway or too themed. We've had a hard time finding a fun bedding with a modern twist but finally found one recently. We're so excited about the bright colors and the subtle hints at animals.

We have a vision of vintage toys that we're currently on the hunt for and fun little touches to decorate the walls. It's still a work in progress but everyday I walk into his room and dream. I dream of rocking him to sleep at night and singing him lullabies. I dream of first smiles, first steps, playtime with the puppies and watching his eyes light up as he learns all the world around him. I can't wait to welcome our Liam into this little haven cut out in our small place in this world. He is going to be one blessed little boy and we are so blessed to be on this journey to get him here.

The surprise weekend...

Shortly after Adam and I found out that we'd be having a boy...we immediately hopped in the car to drive home to see my family. The original plan was to wait until Thanksgiving but I just couldn't stand the thought of waiting that long. So we piled the dogs in the car and drove the 3 hours to my parents house. As we walked into the house that evening, everyone was so floored to see us-they had no idea at all we'd be coming in for the weekend. Then we gave them gift bags full of goodies to help them figure out the wonderful surprise....
We gave Patrick a neat little book we found:

Inside we wrote Uncle Pat a little letter from his nephew how about excited he was that his cool uncle Pat would be teaching him all the wonderful things that will make mommy cringe. I can't wait to see these two together.....

We also gave Pat a Yankees Pacifier in honor of his favorite baseball team. Daddy and Mama both got bags full of goodies including a picture of our ultrasound with a frame that said "It's a Boy."
We also found these awesome little bibs to keep at Grandpa and Grammie's house.....I just adore how cute daddy is...He was sooooo proud when he found out Liam was being named after him.

 

Drumroll please........

I'm back after a whirlwind 2 weekends of travel around one huge announcement. Adam and I were blessed to have an early screening ultrasound at 16 weeks...we were so excited to finally see our little peanut for longer than 5 seconds. It was 40 minutes of pure joy! I've never been more overwhelmed with emotion than I was that day...nervous about possible defects but peanut was perfect. The greatest surprise of all was the moment that the technician said "do you want to know the sex?" We didn't think we'd be able to find out so early and we were holding out until Thanksgiving time to find out and tell everyone. Of course!!! Of course we want to know!
Immediately without even a wince she said "You've definitely got a little boy there!" A BOY???? oh my! Everyone was so convinced it was a girl.....I've never been so amazed and happy and scared all at once. Katie was with us again that day and immediately gave me the cutest little boy onesie out of her purse. What a moment!!! We sat together holding hands for the next 30 minutes in awe of our son. To be able to finally say those words is amazing....God is sooooo good and he has blessed us with a little boy! We watched him dance around my belly...we saw his strong hands, his itty bitty nose, his pouty bottom lip...our son is beautiful.
We have decided to name him William Brafman Phillips and we'll call him Liam for short.
William is my father's name and Brafman is a middle name passed from Adam's grandfather onto him and now onto Liam.
I can't wait to meet you baby boy....You're going to be so handsome....just like your daddy!
I love you Liam!

Dear Prudence......

We've been crazy busy the past few weeks but this week was quite the exciting one! On Monday, we were able to finally hear our sweet baby's heartbeat....It was such a gift! Dr. Wilson said that Peanut sounded strong at 150 beats per minute.....as soon as she put the dopplar on my belly we instantly heard the most beautiful song I've ever heard and then within an instant it was over.....But I will never, ever forget that melody, that beat, that gorgeous sound.... the first time I heard the life beating in my child. Amazing!
I've also starting feeling our little Peanut start to move in my belly. The best way I know how to describe it to everyone when they ask is it feels like Pop Rocks candy going off in my belly......Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop......Peanut seems to favor the left side and we've also noticed our little Peanut is becoming quite the music connoisseur.
On Tuesday, I was in my boss's office working on a project with her and as always we were listening to her Ipod. My boss has great taste in music...Elton John, Janis Joplin, DMB, Lenny Kravitz, The Stones....just to name a few. But I noticed that our little Peanut has become quite the fan of the Beatles. Whenever a Beatles song comes on, my belly gets super active and as soon as its over the baby is done dancing. It happened 2 days in a row and I just had to tell Adam about our child's growing great taste in awesome music. Music is a HUGE part of our lives....most of our relationship has been spent at concerts for dates, listening to old vinyl, etc. I came home that day to dinner cooking, pumpkin scented oil burning throughout the house and one of our favorite Beatles vinyls playing on the record player. Adam couldn't wait to see if our little Peanut was ready to dance at home too as much as they had at work. Peanut didn't let us down....as we got settled for the night, he/she settled right into the soothing tunes of John, Paul, Ringo and George. If this is a sign of things to come, we're gonna have one awesome little tot on our hands. We can't wait to show our little music lover the ways of the world and most of all introduce them to the wonders of music. One Beatles song in particular seemed to stand out for our little Peanut.....no matter boy or girl, we can't for them to come out and play........

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won't you come out to play

Dear Prudence open up your eyes
Dear Prudence see the sunny skies
The wind is low the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?

Look around round round
Look around round round
Oh look around

Dear Prudence let me see you smile
Dear Prudence like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see you smile again
Dear Prudence won't you let me see you smile?

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won't you come out to play

What a weekend....Part 3

I can't fully tell the rest of my story properly only because I don't have all my pics back yet from my b-day weekend but I'll stop keeping everyone in suspense. So, Mama said we had to get going immediately...I thought something is up here but I kept my mouth shut! We got back to the house where Daddy and Adam were waiting to watch me drool over all my new preggers clothes and suddenly I get a phone call. It was my sister-in-law Katie....."what are you doing?" of course I answer back with all the news about my exciting day...until she says, "why don't you take a look outside the window of the house!!!" Standing outside were my 3 gorgeous sister-in-laws, Maddie, Izzy and Katie (whom might I add were "supposed" to be out of town)....next to the most awesome antique car I'd ever seen with a chauffered driver. I screamed, freaked out, asked all kinds of questions.....turns out, Mama and Daddy knew the whole time....they were taking pics like I was at the prom....and Adam was saying over and over...go, get out there, they are waiting for you....mind you, I had not even taken a shower yet that day, flip flops, grungy jeans and ponytail. They were there to wisk me away....we hopped in the car and off we went....our cute little driver, Mark, from Barcelona, was there to take us to our destination in a 1969 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow....All I could say was "who did this?" over and over and it turns out Adam had been planning this for months.....what an amazing surprise! He got me good! We arrived shortly at our destination....a day of mani/pedi's with my 3 favorite girls at Polish Nail Bar! How great was this!!!
I thought this has to be it....but no, the girls put me back in the car and said Mark is taking you to your NEXT destination. I was floored!!!!
I felt like royalty driving thru the city streets of Charlotte in this stunning car.....people looking at me at every light....wondering who I was and what I was about....because this thing was fancy!!! Mark drove me into Uptown Charlotte and dropped me off at the front door of the famous Dunhill Hotel......he said you need to go inside.....and left me at my destination full of wonder and excitement. Then I saw him....my Adam....dressed to the nines, carrying a gorgeous, HUGE bouquet of fragrant pink roses. He was a vision and I immediately started crying...."what have you done?? I can't believe you planned of all this." You could see relief in his eyes and pure joy as his surprise had come together. I was then taken upstairs to our gorgeous suite for the night...he had planned everything....I had all my tolietries, a bag packed, a pretty dress to wear....it was our night together...while my parents (who remember knew the whole time) had come down just for the weekend to see me for my birthday and took the time to stay at our place, order chinese food, watch a movie and keep the puppies. I am forever grateful for that! A night away....our first since finding out the baby was on the way....it was absolutely amazing....I've never, ever had a surprise like it.....We then had an amazing dinner downstairs at the Monticello restaurant in the hotel, we relaxed late night in our room with room service dessert, and woke up early early to watch the sunrise over Charlotte on the first day of my 30th year. Every minute, every laugh, every tear, every smile....genuine, loving and heartfelt...
Thank you Adam......you never cease to amaze me.....you outdid yourself this time baby! Thank you for making my 30th my best birthday yet!
 Here are just some of the pics of my amazing day:

What a weekend....Part 2

Saturday was amazing....Mama and I got a great early morning start to a gorgeous fall day in Charlotte!! We were off for a girls day of shopping and lunch. We found a great maternity consignment shop called Womb and found some cute pieces. Here are some pics of me modeling their "fake belly" with my new cute top....

We finished our awesome morning with lunch at Dean and Deluca in Southpark-sat outside in the warm sun with the breeze in our face, warm turkey and brie sandwiches with orange marmalade, fresh fruit...just us girls...it was so fun to hear mama tell me stories all about when she was pregnant with us....her dreams, her fears, her joys....what a special day for us to share together....it made us realize that this baby is truly real....we are so blessed! This child will have the most amazing grandparents....my mom and dad!
Around 2:15 we were about to hit the stores at Phillips Place shopping center and mama looks at her watch "We have to go...right now." I knew something was up....boy was I in for a HUGE surprise!!!!

What a weekend....Part 1

Well I did it...I made it to 30! I have a big blog to come that I have been thinking about for awhile now just reflecting on my 20's but I can't do that without showing everyone the amazing weekend I was blessed with.....

My sweet parents made the 3 hour trec from Raleigh/Cary area to come see me for the weekend....we had a great dinner out on Friday night at our favorite local spot, Revolution....

This guy works in the kitchen....sang Happy Birthday to me Opera style!! So fun!

Thank you for sharing my weekend Daddy and Mama!

We have quite the dancer on our hands.....

Our 2nd prenatal appointment was this past week. We met another great doctor in our practice, Dr.Wilson, and we adored her! Katie, my sister-in-law, was also able to come with us. She is a trained doula and will be us through the whole process so we were really excited to include her! I made it through all my blood work and we were in for a great surprise! Dr. Wilson had enough time in her schedule to give us a surprise ultrasound!
We can definitely see our little peanut growing now....arms, legs and heart are all showing up now!
The best part of it all was that Peanut was moving all over the place-dancing up a storm!
Here's a close up of the baby......

Finally becoming a reality....

We took another test just so we could see it in print...sometimes it's unbelievable......

...and at 11 weeks, I'm finally starting to show...Hello baby!

Lots of activity around Baby

We got really ansy and had to finally buy some outfits for our little one...neutral of course for now but sooo cute!

I can only hope Baby Phillips gets these moves!!!

So Incredibly Blessed......

I've been struggling the past few weeks....the hardest part of my first trimester has been they way I've been feeling. More than anything I'm just exhausted all the time...I'm so used to having loads of energy. Also, the morning sickness aka afternoon sickness aka evening sickness has been pretty rough. I haven't yet been sick to my stomach *knock on wood* but just nauseous all day everyday. I should now own stock in candied ginger from Trader Joe's, ginger ale, saltines, Tums, Maalox and the ever stylish Sea Bands to wear on my wrists. It's been super tough on me so I know it's been super tough on Adam. I am so grateful for my husband. He hasn't complained yet...he has just picked up where I am not able to. Somehow magically where I would normally do all of our laundry, it's folded and put away before I know it. I came home one day to find a little magic wonder from heaven vacuuming our floors...my new friend, Rumba! A huge help when I'm asleep on the couch after a long day at work and the last thing I want to think about is how much dog hair I need to clean up. Dinner cooked, dogs fed, "Honey, sit down, relax and let me handle things." All of this considered, he still hurts, he still has EDS everyday all day...but for now, the baby and I are number one is his book and he's willing to put his pain and frustrations aside to help me out when I am not able.
I really thought how can it get any better, how can I deserve so much when I'm able to do so little right now.
Well it got better....the other part of these past few weeks is suddenly out of nowhere, I find myself struggling to fit into my clothes....not near maternity clothes yet but certainly not able to button my normal size pants....that's hard on a girl when you're already feeling sick and yucky!
Leave it to Adam....I walk in after work last week, he's cooking dinner.."Honey, there may or may not be a little gift for you in that closet over there! I'm just sayin'..." I squealed in joy! What could he have done???
I opened up a bag full of goodies.....A gorgeous brand spankin' new pair of black flats for work, 3 really cute and colorful shirts to help me transition out of old clothes and into my new body, my first maternity tank top to help me layer into the fall season and the gift of all gifts, my Bella Band! It's been such a blessing to still be able to wear my old pants to work that I love without having to worry about the pressure on my growing belly because the stretchy band is holding them in place for me! Best product ever! I'll get plenty of use from it as I continue to grow this little munchkin' as well as post-baby body while I'm trying to transition back to my old clothes....
You've outdone yourself baby....I am in awe of you every single day...your energy, your strength, your supportive nature, your kind words that make me feel gorgeous in the midst of all these crazy changes happening...You're gonna be one hell of a father. You make me proud to call you my partner in crime.
I appreciate it and I know our little peanut does too... 

PS.....I have not gotten near as big as the belly in the picture....do not be fooled readers, I'm not quite there yet!

My mom is gonna be the best Grandma ever!!!

Here is a video of our other "babies" enjoying their treats this morning from back home....Mama sent them to CLT with Uncle Pat and they are happy happy! Thanks Mama! Love you!


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrdQxPbRyos

Here's our little peanut....

We had our first ultrasound and it was amazing.....We were able to stand in the same room watching our little gift and it's heartbeat. 135 beats per minute....Strong according to Dr. Stephens....Peanut doesn't look like much yet but I can already imagine daddy's nose, my eyes, a combo of our smiles and stick straight, bleach blonde hair like we both had when we were little.....I can't wait to watch you grow little one...I love you so much already!

We're so happy to finally be able to share our good news!

 

Adam and I found out we are expecting our first child! We couldn't be more excited! This little blog will serve as a home for our stories, adventures, trials, ups, downs and everything in between as we go on this journey called pregnancy!!!!!