Hello again...

Well, it's been a while since I posted. It's been a crazy summer and I haven't had a lot of time to update the blog.

Baby Andrew is almost here! I was hoping for a birthday baby, but it doesn't seem like he wants to cooperate. The day is still young, though I'm not holding out much hope. The doctor seems to think he'll be here sometime in the next few days. I'm getting a little (or a lot) skeptical. Despite my increase in walking and exercise, he doesn't seem to want to go anywhere. Regardless, he should be here by the end of next week! She's inducing me a week early so that I can have plenty of recovery/bonding time with Andrew before classes start back up. It's a little scary to think that I'm almost a mom. But, I have been so lucky with this pregnancy. It has been problem free and has flown by. For that, I am extremely thankful.

It's been an interesting summer in the Reynold's household. I've been in Knoxville for school and Phillip has been in Nashville working. He came home (except for weekends) the last week of June. It's so nice to have him back! I was forgetting what being married is like. It's nice to be able to spend some time together as a couple now that classes are over and baseball season is done. I know I'll miss this when the baby comes.

I've spent lots of free time with little Aimi (and her wonderful parents) this summer. She is absolutely perfect and precious. I have such a beautiful niece. Aimi and I get to spend all day together tomorrow while Akiko takes a day trip to Nashville and Brad is at work. I am so excited! I can only hope that Andrew is as easy/calm as she is.

Now I'm off to spend an hour or two with my new best friend (the treadmill) and then an afternoon of birthday celebrating with my sweet hubby!

Andrew's Nursery

We finally got as much done as we can in Andrew's nursery. All that's left is to hang curtains and get a glider. We're also planning on putting a cute UT teddy bear picture over the changing table, orange and white wall dots over the crib, and spelling his name in wooden letters by the window.

Here are a few pictures of what we've finished:

Andrew's crib. The mobile plays a lullaby version of Rocky Top. It is so precious.

The changing table. We're going to get white wicker baskets for storage (and because they look pretty!)

The dresser and giant football helmet

Andrew's bathroom. He also has orange and white towels with Power Ts embroidered on them. So cute!

Sweet Summertime

Summer is finally here! It's always been my favorite season, but this year I love it more. Here are my reasons why:

• My sweet niece will be here in 2-3 weeks (give or take)
• No more stress (at least until classes start in 3 weeks)
• I will never be a full time student again!!!
• We finally have time to take the dogs to the park and swimming at the lake
  
• Beach trips/Lake outings
  
• Spending time being lazy with my hubby!
• We're less than 14 weeks away from meeting our baby boy!

Over halfway already?

Well, today is a big milestone for Baby Andrew. Today, we hit 25 weeks. According to babycenter.com, he is 13.5 inches long and 1.5 lbs. He has also reached the point of viability, which is a huge weight off of my shoulders. I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for my checkup and diabetes test. I'm hoping that we'll get to see our little boy again (and get some more accurate measurements). We also only have 15 more weeks until our due date. It's crazy how fast this pregnancy is going.

We've had a pretty eventful week/weekend around our household. On Wednesday, Phillip took me out to dinner and a nice walk along the river to celebrate 5 years together. He's such a sweetie. Friday marked the end of classes for us. Then, Mom and Dad came up Friday afternoon, and yesterday was Akiko's baby shower. It was so much fun, and they got a ton of cute things for baby Aimi.

The adorable diaper cake that Mom made.

A princess cake for the future little princess!

Aimi's diaper carriage

Phillip and I also started on the nursery (pictures to come later). We've gotten the crib, changing table, and dresser all put together. I've gotten his newborn and 0-3 month clothes washed and ready to go. It's a nice start, but there's still so much to do!! I feel like time is running out very quickly.

Exams start on Wednesday, and then school is out for summer! We're looking forward to getting back to Brentwood on the 14th, and then heading down to the beach for some family vacay time. Hopefully the weather cooperates with all of our travel plans.

Change is in the Air

Time is flying by so fast these days! The wonderful summer weather is finally here. I'm so happy about it for now...although I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune in July when it's 80+ outside and I'm massive!!

I am happy to say that I have a new (and absolutely wonderful) sister-in-law! Brad and Akiko finally tied the knot last Monday (on his 24th birthday. What a wonderful present for him!). And my beautiful niece, Aimi, will be here in a little over a month. I can't wait to meet her!

Mom and Dad came up last weekend for my first baby shower and Brad's birthday celebration. It's always good to see them, although their visits are never long enough. The baby shower was so much fun, and little Andrew got lots of adorable goodies. I'm in awe at how cute and tiny baby things are, and also at how many things such a little person needs! Today, my Phi Mu big sister is throwing me another shower with all of my Phi Mu friends. I'm so so excited to see everyone!

Phillip and I are starting to get things ready to decorating Andrew's nursery. We're doing a UT theme--no surprise there. That was Phillip's one wish if the baby was a boy--so here we are! I'll post pictures of it when it's done...although who knows when that will be.

It's hard to believe that my junior year of college is almost over. Only 2 more weeks of classes and 3 finals left to go. I'm so excited this will be my last full load in my college career. Only 6 hours a semester (and 2 semesters) left to go! Summer plans are still up in the air for now. I guess we'd better figure that out soon!

The adorable diaper cake Debbie made. So cute!

Baby Andrew's cake

Birthday and Baby Season!

So, life has been crazy since I last updated.

Today is Phillip's 22nd birthday! Yay! This morning I attempted to bake a cake (but failed miserably). It seemed like a scene from I Love Lucy. The only thing missing was my version of Ethel (mom)! The cake mix didn't cooperate and bubbled out of the pan and got ALL over the oven, which then started smoking and smelling. I guess that's what I get for trying to take a shortcut. I'm going to attempt a cake from scratch after class tonight...We'll see how that goes.

We had a wonderful Easter weekend in Brentwood. We got to spend time with both of our families (which is always nice). Brad and Akiko came in and then we got to meet Uncle Clay and Vickie's new addition- a sweet little Havanese puppy named Kirby. He was so precious!

On Saturday, we got to celebrate Phillip's birthday with my family. He acquired an awesome new video camera-- I have a feeling that thing will always be on! Especially once baby Andrew gets here. On Sunday, we celebrated Phillip's birthday with his mom and aunt and then we went off to Knoxville for dinner with his dad and Debbie. It was a nice break from the stress of school!

Today, we're caught back up in reality. I have finally realized what being an adult is-- dealing with bills, insurance, and things breaking around the house. I feel like I've been on the phone with companies all week. Can I go back to being a carefree kid? Our air conditioner went out last night, so I've been trying to get in contact with someone at the home owners insurance place to get one of their contractors out to fix it. Of course no one wants to be helpful! So, we're living in a house that is 80 degrees. Being grown up surely is an adventure!

We have lots of fun things coming up in the next few weeks. Classes are almost over (thank goodness!) and then we're headed to the beach with my parents for a bit. Baby shower (and baby season) is starting. I'm so excited! This weekend Phillip's step-mom is throwing me a baby shower with all my Knoxville friends. I can't wait! Next weekend my wonderful Phi Mu big sister is throwing me one with all of my Phi Mu friends. I'm so excited to see everyone. I feel like the only people I see these days are Phillip and Heather! Life is just so crazy. To add to it, I'm throwing Akiko a baby shower in a few weeks for baby Aimi (who will be making her arrival soon!!). I'm so so excited about planning the shower, but a little overwhelmed at all the small details. Luckily I have Mom helping me, so it should go off without a hitch!

Baby Andrew is beginning to make his presence known...my constantly expanding stomach is proof! I went grocery shopping yesterday and a guy at the deli counter remarked that I had to be about 5 months along (without confirmation that I am indeed pregnant). I guess I should be happy that my stomach looks like a baby bump now instead of me gaining weight! But I'm sad to say goodbye to all of my cute pre-pregnancy summer clothes. So far Andrew is a very active boy. Most time, I feel like I'm getting beat up, but I'm okay with that! He's probably close to a pound now and the baby books say he's about 10.5 inches long. I can't believe we'll be meeting our sweet boy in 4 months! Time is flying!

Well, that's all of our major updates. Not much else going on these days other than school and baby stuff.

It's a....

BOY!

Phillip and I went in yesterday for our 20 ultrasound, and found out that we will be welcoming sweet baby Andrew Maxwell into our little family in August. He had 10 little fingers and 10 little toes. Everything looked wonderful and we are so so excited to meet our sweet son. He's already weighing 9oz (at 19 weeks)...So, I'm a little worried he's going to be "Moose" like his daddy!

We're so excited to start putting together our Orange and White UT nursery and I'm so excited to start buying cute little polo outfits so that Andrew can match Phillip.

This wouldn't happen in America....

So, we're back to the dreary weather after a wonderful week island hopping in the Caribbean. We had such a wonderful honeymoon and I couldn't have asked for a better week. It was so nice to be able to soak up the sun, relax, and get some good reading done.

Our room was amazing! It felt like a hotel room rather than a state room. We had a beautiful mini-suite with 2 bars, a king bed, a separate dressing area, a bathroom with a jacuzzi, and a beautiful view from our balcony. The weather was amazing and the islands were beautiful. We stopped in the Bahamas, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk.

Our favorite stop was St. Thomas. We went shopping and to Magen's Bay. Magen's Bay is this beautiful cove on the other side of the island from downtown. It was a bit busier and more touristy than I remembered, but the water was beautiful and we had a great time. We also really enjoyed the Bahamas. We stopped at Carnival's private island, so there was plenty of room on the beach and tons of entertainment. We were less impressed with Puerto Rico. Luckily it was our short day (7am-3pm) because we walked all of Old San Juan in under 2 hours. Grand Turk was warm and beautiful, but we were a little disappointed because the beach was too rocky to walk down.

We ate dinner in the formal dining room every night. Our server, Piotr (Peter), was from Poland and extremely entertaining. We were seated in a private room next to a few younger couples. We had a great time getting to know them.

On Saturday we had to return to reality, and it was definitely a wake up call. I probably had the worst travel experience in a long time, but at least I had my amazing husband to calm my raging hormones. We were in the first group to get off the ship, which was nice because we didn't have to wait in line at customs. However, it meant that we had to spend all day at the airport because our flight wasn't until 3:25. We got to the airport and ran into some friends, which made the time pass a little faster. Unfortunately our flight was delayed and we left an hour late. So, we ended up spending 7 hours in the Ft. Lauderdale airport. When we collected our bags in Nashville, we discovered that Phillip's 3 liter bottle of whiskey (the one souvenir he wanted to bring back) busted all over our clean clothes. Now, you have to understand that the liquor store we bought it from had it all packaged very nicely and then Southwest made us remove it from the box it was in and place it in Phillip's small suitcase (which had very little padding to protect the bottle). Unfortunately, we had the worst ending possible to an otherwise amazing trip.



Now, we're back in rainy Knoxville looking forward to and eagerly awaiting Friday afternoon. We're so excited because on Friday we're having our big ultrasound and finding out whether we're going to be welcoming a little boy or girl into our small family in August! I think this is going to be a really long week!

Here is a link to our honeymoon pictures!

I thought life would settle down...

Well, we brought in a wonderful start to the new year. We are so excited for all the big changes in store for us in 2010! Which is why we wanted to start this blog. We figured it was a good way to keep in touch with our friends and family.

Month one of being newlyweds has flown by! And...in 3 days, we leave on our honeymoon!! We're taking a Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas, Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas. We're so excited for our first vacation as a married couple! It is a much welcomed break from the cold weather and the craziness of college.

Getting settled into marriage was a lot easier than I had expected it to be. With our busy schedules, everything just fell into place where it could. It works out to our advantage that Phillip is very laid back and easy going. It's a nice complement to my OCDness.

Phillip started Air Force ROTC this semester and it has kept him extremely busy. I feel like I married his dirty laundry...I sure see it a lot more than I see him! I'm taking 15 hours of classes, trying to get as much school done as fast as possible, and trying to learn how to be domestic enough to get dinner on the table every night. Thanks to our moms and their amazing (not to mention simple) recipes- I've been pretty successful!

Currently our life is really hectic with our 2 fur babies (both dogs). Since Dixie has moved in, the dog hair has increased, but Bella's energy has decreased. I feel like that's an acceptable trade off. Despite the decrease in energy, the girls still think that every minute is playtime. Even when it's bedtime!! They both crowd into our little queen bed (Dixie is 50 pounds for those who don't know). It definitely makes for an interesting night's sleep!

We had our first visitors this month! Just day visits, we have no extra room in the apartment! Phillip's mom came up the week after the wedding for work and cooked us dinner. It was so fun to get to use all of the new dishes and wedding presents. I think I'm going to enjoy entertaining at the apartment now!

About 2 weeks ago, Mom and Dad came up to help Brad and Akiko move into their new house! We had a fun time visiting with everyone. The house is AMAZING and I am super jealous of all the room that they have!

Sorry for the long post! Lots to catch up on!