I've been tagged!

Being new to the blogging world, I am not too familiar with the tagging. But, I'll give it a shot. I was tagged by my sweet, sweet friend Courtney. I am supposed to answer all of the below questions and then tag another blogger to do the same. Here goes...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Mostly paper. Gift bags for gift cards. One day-I'll have a room in my house dedicated soley to scrapbooking and gift wrap. It will be organized with spools of ribbon, awesome paper, and raffia everywhere. I love raffia. ahhhhhhhh....

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. I can't keep a plant alive, much less a tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? Typically, we (aka, me, myself, and I) put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. However, this year-it went up last weekend. That's right, people, I've officially sunken that low. Yes-I know that it's not even Thanksgiving yet and I've been engulfed into the over-commercialization of Christmas. However, I have a great reason---The ONLY reason it's up so soon is b/c I have a little Christmas gathering at my house tomorrow night. (The invitees weren't all available on the same night in December.) Anyway, you can't have a Christmas gathering without a tree...and Christmas tunes...and a lit fire...and cinnamin/apple candles burning...I'm seriously obsessed with the holiday.

4. When do you take the tree down? Weekend after New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog? No. But, Chuck LOVES it, so, we keep a full stock around the holidays. Me? I prefer Grandma Carol's percolator punch. MMMM...MMMM....

6. Favorite gift received as a child? This is SO tough. Cricket when I was really young. (Remember that talking doll?) Chalkboard and Dry Eraseboard. (Forget dolls-I want to teach a class. My students? My carebares and cabbage patch kids.) Cash Register. (Grocery store was one of my favorite games) Trampoline (Joint gift for Ryan and me. It snowed that year...) And, when in high school-my own phone line. (Although I was devastated that 925-KAMI was already taken.)

7. Hardest person to buy for? Toss up between Chuck and my mom, who "never wants anything"

8. Easiest person to buy for? Andrea, my sister-in-law. She's a lot of fun to buy for.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Wow. No.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? White elephant gift at work.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I'm with Court on this---The Holiday.. and excited about possibly adding "Four Christmases" to that list!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Have I regifted? Ablsolutely. Oprah says it's okay...

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Casseroles, casseroles, and more casseroles.

16. Lights on the tree? All white.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells (thanks to Hardin County High School Christmas Show Choir)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? TRAVEL. We're not home one weekend in December...EVER.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? It's too late for that...

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning! Although, I'm probably going to adopt the whole 1 gift on Christmas Eve (which will inevitabley be the dreaded matching pjs) for my children one day.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Nothing! I adore everything about it! People in good moods, the decorations, the music, the parties, the food, the smell, and most of all-the meaning.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? No theme. We have two trees. One nice one-red and gold color scheme. One fun one-covered with ornaments for every trip Chuck and I have ever been on together...even when we first started dating, we got an ornament or 2 on each trip. It's a tradition we started years ago.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Besides casseroles? Just the typical-turkey and dressing. LOTS of dressing. And sweets. And, hot cocoa. And, that popcorn that comes in the tin. :)

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Anything on our baby registry. Nothing for me.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Not sure.

27. Does Santa wrap your gift or leave them unwrapped? Gifts from Santa-UNWRAPPED. Gifts from family-WRAPPED.

I tag Danielle.

It's a........

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We couldn't be more excited!

When the Ultrasound Technician rolled over my stomach to look, we actually could tell it was a girl before she even said anything. (Not that we're experts...it's that, thanks to family and friends, we've seen plenty of female ultrasounds to know what to look for. )

So, before she even said anything, Chuck started laughing and grabbed my hand and squeezed it. He knew...

Then, the Technician confirmed, "Looks like a girl to me!"

WHAT. A. MOMENT.

Most importantly, she seems to be perfectly healthy and, as I've shared with some, SUPER active. She was moving all over the place. The Technician said, "She will not sit still for one second so I can get a picture! She is REALLY REALLY HYPER!" Chuck and I both just looked at one another like, "oh GREAT".

I'd like to think positively and simply blame it on the orange juice I had this morning. :)

We feel so blessed that the baby is healthy thus far. Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers, and advice. Please keep it all coming. For now, I'm going to pretend to work. There is no way I'm going to be productive today. Forget it... I'm on the prowl for anything PINK!

Finally! A Flutter!

It's mid-day, I'm in a conference room-meeting with about 7 Johns Hopkins Physicians and Medical Researchers and...I feel something...in my lower abdomen....what....it's new...odd...what in the worl----then, I realize:

It's the baby moving!!!!!!!!!!

For those moms out there-you know what I mean when I say, "What a memorable moment!"

Needless to say, for about 30 minutes, I zoned out from the meeting and quietly thanked God that I finally felt something.

If Hopkins would have happened to ask me why I suddenly lost professionalism for a few minutes, I would have kindly responded with, "I apologize, I am extremely interested in your pitch on your awesome weight loss program; however, I am currently experiencing something slightly more fascinating!"

What a great day! I have to say-I posted this more for myself than anyone else; I wanted to document somewhere this fun, new advancement. Thanks for letting me share it with you.

Boy or girl?

5 days and counting.

Until next time...

A trip down Memory Lane

Reuniting with old friends = fun.

Everyone...almost-we couldn't all fit into the photo

This past weekend, we ventured to Knoxville where Phi Mu Kappa Chapter celebrated 100 years at the University of Tennessee. Such a fun night.

 Lots of Phi Mu alumni gathered at Cherokee Country Club and had, more or less, a reunion. It was awesome to see so many people who I haven't seen in years. The local Nashville girls have decided to get together on a regular basis for dinner and catching up. I'm so excited!!! The non-locals to Nashville promised to stay in touch via Facebook. Ahhh...the endless rewards of technology.

I didn't take many pictures. I must have been too busy running around and chatting it up with everyone. I loved seeing a lot of the older girls who I was friends with and who I rarely talk to anymore.

Oddly enough-The only pictures I have are with friends who I actually see all the time here in Nashville. Chuck actually took more pictures than I did--unfortunately, they were during mine and Tara's presentation. Something I'd REALLY rather not remember-my public speaking efforts...nice...

We weren't able to stay all weekend and attend the Phi Mu tailgate-we needed to get home to clean out the room that will eventually be the nursery. Chuck was so excited! :) We have to make room for furniture! We have officially decided on a crib (check), armoire, (check-check), and changing table (check-check-check).

Preggo updates-I've had some minor cramping (which, I plan on bugging my sweet nurse, Beth, about tomorrow). Also, I've not felt the baby move yet...we are waiting with anticipation for this big moment! Beyond that, I'm still reading and continuing to update the "must have items" for the Baby Registry (thanks to the wonderful suggestions from Lindsey, Kelly P, and Kelly T).

We are getting more and more excited about finding out the sex of the baby. Family and friends have shared their respective predictions-overwhelmingly, friends say "girl" and family says "boy". We'll see!!!!

Bye for now. I'm lighting the fire and curling up with a good book. There's nothing like a Sunday afternoon with my hubby after a day of Titans football.

Tara and me-the only thing missing from this pic is her incredible engagement ring-WOW

Me, Ali, Mandy, and Scarlett

Me and Tara

Singing "Linger" :)

Me and Ali

Rookie Mom-To-Be

Happy Day-After-Halloween! I hope everyone had a good one! Why I even went to work yesterday-I don't know. Our entire corporate office dresses up (I mean, seriously dresses up-I included a few pics below) every year for a huge costume parade and contest, trick-or-treating around the office for kids from various schools, and last but not least-a DJ'd Halloween Dance Party in a huge conference room. The winners of the costume and workstation decorating contest won free round trip tickets to anywhere they wanted to go. And, before you ask, the pregnant Butterfly did not win this exclusive gift, thank you very much. :)

Then, last night, we spent the evening at our friends', Ali and Justin's, house. They had several people over (most who have kids) for chili, halloween treats, and a hayride through the neighborhood while the kiddos trick-or treated. So much fun. However, I have one word for those teenagers out there who think think that they can just walk up to every door in the neighborhood on Oct 31st without wearing a costume, but still ask for candy-----------TAAAAAACCCKKY.

Now, moving on...

Family, friends, and even strangers on the street have been so willing to say "If you have any questions about anything during pregnancy, let me know-I'm happy to help!". Well, the time has come-I want to hear your thoughts! So, to all of those gracious experts on motherhood out there, hear my plea!

Although, I have lots of areas where I can use advice, below are some high points that I feel that, at this point in my pregnancy, I could really start putting into practice:

-Must have Registry items? Now, a lot of the basics-I'm aware of. But, if there are there certain items that you think "How could I live without this?"-pls let me know! Also, for the big items (car seat, stroller, etc)-what do you recommend in this area? I'm definitely open to brand suggestions-the options out there are overwhelming!

-Book suggestions? While I realize that no book is going to necessarily "teach" me how to be a mom, if there are ones that you found extremely helpful-I'd love to know. So far, I've been suggested Happiest Baby on the Block, Baby Whisperer, and Baby Wise. And, of course, I'm already elbow deep into the staples of What to Expect When You're Expecting, Your Pregnancy Week by Week, and The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy.

-Music while in the womb? Okay, what is up with all of these "practices" while the baby is in the womb? Did anyone do this? Much to Chuck's dismay, I'm going to share this-we do read to the baby sometimes. But, beyond that-we don't really do anything else. Am I robbing my child of intellectual simulations already? I'm half joking about this b/c while I feel like it may soothe the baby-I really don't "get it" It sounds like another thing to add to the list. However, I would like to know if anyone has had positive experiences with this. Otherwise, we are going to just say no to Mozart for the unborn child. Feel free to post your suggestions on the blog or just email them to me.

 And, don't be shy. I'm all ears. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

That's all for now...except, well, I'm officially in maternity clothes.

Thanks to wonderful friends who have lent me items and thanks to Old Navy where you don't have to spend a fortune, it's not so bad. Actually, I may never go back from wearing elastic waist bands again.

I'm off to Starbucks for my weekend treat--Decaf, non-fat, pumpkin spice latte, no whip! Mmmmmmm...

"Little Shop of Horrors"-1st place individual

"American Gothic portrait"-1st place Group

Not a winner but one of my favorites-"Heisman Trophy"

And, last but not least-another fave-"Joe the Plumber"