On Mother's Day.

The last two years, Mother's Day has been a hard one - a reminder of the baby we were hoping for. But this year, everything is different. Wonderfully different. While it may be a Hallmark holiday, to us it's a chance to celebrate this dream come true:

Our little family, five days old.

To my darling girl, you were worth every second of the wait. I just can't believe I get to be your Mama forever.

And, a happy, happy day to my own Momma. Having this baby has made me want to call you a hundred times a day to thank you for loving me.

Three generations. 

I hope your weekend is peachy, my friends.

Daddy's Girl.

I hope to be back later this week to tell you all about Penelope's birth and the perfect little bubble of love that was our first week home with her. 

But today our favorite guy is back to work and our house is feeling a little lonely.

We miss him already.  Tick tock, tick tock...

And Then We Were Three.

Penelope Catherine was born at 4:23pm on April 28, 2012. 

9lbs 5oz, 21.5 inches.

Perfect in every way. 

Our hearts are hers.

32 Weeks Ago.

Still here. Still pregnant. Still going a little bit out of my mind with the anticipation of meeting this baby girl any day now. In the meantime, here's a little flashback from my pregnancy journal to one of my all-time favorite moments: our first ultrasound. 

7 weeks, 1 day. September 9, 2011
9:45am

This morning is our first ultrasound. I will be leaving the house in approximately one hour to meet Hugh at the doctor's office. To say I am a bundle of nerves would be an understatement. I have been tossing and turning and waking up at the crack of dawn for the last three nights.

Hugh has reassured me at least ten times per day that everything will be fine. After all of the waiting and hoping for this baby, I can't help but worry that we're going to go in and find out it was all just a dream.

More this afternoon, but for now I am deep breathing and willing myself to feel at peace and hoping with every fiber of my being that we get to hear the whoosh of a tiny baby heartbeat this morning.

2:15pm
Oh my goodness sakes alive! There is really a baby in there!

I was a nervous wreck at the doctor's office. My anxiety coupled with the 55 minute wait made me a real basket case by the time the tech finally called us back.

Once we got into the room and got situated, I felt like I was either going to faint or vomit. Hugh was perfectly calm, as he has been for the last three weeks. I was lying back on the table and Hugh was standing up by my head looking at the screen with my clammy hand clasped between his cool palms.

Our tech started the ultrasound and I couldn't look for fear that something would be wrong or there wouldn't be a baby there at all. I decided I would just look at Hugh's face instead. Seconds ticked by, he stared at the screen, and I stared at him with my stomach in my throat.

All of the sudden he broke into the biggest smile. A split second later, the tech proclaimed, "There's your baby!"

I burst into tears, looked over at the screen and, sure enough, a baby indeed. A teeny, tiny baby with two arms and two legs flitting all around. Lots of happy crying and disbelieving laughter and hand squeezing.

The ultrasound was quick, considering I could have stayed there all day staring at that sweet babe. She did all of her checking and measuring and said everything looks great. She also told us there was only one baby in there, which disappointed the baby's daddy a bit. He was hoping for twins. I was not.

After the ultrasound we met with my nurse and doctor. Here is one upside to infertility: everyone at the office is really freaking excited when you finally get pregnant. There was lots of hugging and handshaking and congratulating from the people who know it has been a long road getting here.

All in all, everything looks great and we are right on track to have a baby sometime around April 26th. The perfect, springtime baby we have been waiting for all this time.

I Still Hear Wedding Bells.

"We talked and talked and talked. Maybe love comes in at the eyes, but not nearly as much as it comes in at the ears, at least in my experience. As we talked, lights flickered on inside my head; by the end of the night I was a planetarium."

Four years in and there is no one else in the world I'd rather spend my hours talking to:

Geoff L Johnson Photography

And though we have had some pretty lovely adventures since we tied the knot, I'm particularly looking forward to our newest endeavor, scheduled to begin any day now:

Jenn Hopkins Photography

Happy anniversary, h. I have loved every dinner, every handwritten note, every conversation, every single day we have shared. 

What We're Doing.

Frinternets! 

Here's what my little White Hot family is feeling happy about these days:

• Two lunch dates with two sweet friends and their new babies. There is nothing more lovely than holding the brand new kiddo of someone you love. 

• Speaking of, we are feeling especially happy about the birth of Charles Spencer!  Seriously, how cute is this boy:

• A surprise afternoon with my favorite husband. He decided to power through until bedtime after his 30-hour call ended yesterday afternoon, because he is the bee's knees. And that meant I got eight uninterrupted hours of hanging out with him. Side note: during our hang out time, we ate dinner at our favorite local restaurant, which we frequent multiple times a month. While we were there, the bartender came over to chat with us and bring Hugh his drink. Our drink-making friend commented that he felt like I'd been pregnant for at least twelve months at this point and wasn't it time for me to have this baby and drink a margarita already? You have no idea, buddy. 

• Speaking of having a baby, we are all excited that yesterday I officially entered full-term territory! And while it doesn't necessarily mean she'll be here any minute, it means I can relax a little bit about the nonstop contractions that have been part of this pregnancy for the past eight weeks. But if she did want to make an appearance a wee bit early, we are ready and waiting. Especially the mama who is lugging this belly full of baby around:

37 weeks! And, I just keep growing.

• Mary, Mary, quite contrary, look at my garden grow! 

I can't take credit for this excitement, since lugging bags of potting soil around when it is 80 degrees outside is on my list of restricted activities these days, but I am most grateful to my favorite garden fairy for getting me all set up.

• A dwindling pre-baby to do list. Only a few things left. My mom asked me what I was going to do when I got the last thing crossed off. Have a baby, of course. 

• Speaking of checking off to do list items, there has been a lot of pre-washing of baby girl's clothes and other necessities. Why are cloth diapers so darn cute? I've had these hanging up waiting to be put away for three days just because I like to look at them:

• The nursery is pretty much finished! And I love every single thing in that room with my heart and soul. A full reveal to come after I get the last few frames filled, but here's a little sneak peak:

On that note, I'm off to do some work and have a lunch date and wait for my most favorite person to come home. And, because I know you've been missing my weather updates lately - seventy and sunny all weekend long. Hip hip hooray!

Hope yours is a lovely one. Check you Monday.

People Say the Darndest Things.

Still out there, my frinternets? I'm still here, hanging out, growing a person. This week, I'm going to try for some posts with content. Maybe even a few recipe recommendations. Novel, right? 

But, not today. Today I'm just going to tell you about the things people say to you when you are pregnant. I'm not talking about the sweet things, because there are plenty of those - congratulations, due date inquiries, boy or girl questions, and that's to say nothing of the smiles and doors held open and general niceness I have encountered since I started looking pregnant to the naked eye.

I'm talking about the lovely, unsolicited comments people make when your belly starts to look like this:

34.5 weeks. Doctor says belly is measuring 2 weeks ahead, so I can't wait to see what I look like at 40 weeks...

In the last seven days, I haven't gone anywhere without at least two people commenting on how I am about to pop (yes, yes I am, in five more weeks, thankyouverymuch) or asking me if I'm having twins (nope, quadruplets) or telling that I'm huge (really? I didn't notice my size when I was deciding which of the two shirts that still cover my belly I should wear today.).

But, cliche comments aside, I've gotten some real gems over the last three weeks. These are my favorites:

• While waiting at the hospital to pre-admit for delivery last week, I was sitting in my chair, minding my own business, eating the ice from my Chick-fil-a lemonade. Another patient walked in and, after making the never-before-heard comments about how I was about to pop and was I having twins, she announced to the waiting room, "That girl has no business chewing on that ice like that - lowers your iron and gives you the diabetes." Ah, yes, the oft-forgotten correlation between high levels of sugar in the blood and consuming frozen water. Thank you for the reminder, Doctor. You are a doctor, right? That's why you get to wear your slippers to the hospital?

• On my last trip to Savannah, I stopped at a gas station for a drink. While I was checking out, the cashier was asking me all about my pregnancy, and my due date, and the sex of the baby. She then informed me that her sister was also having a girl. I asked when she was due. She said, "Oh, she's due April 26th, too. But she's skinny, so she is way smaller than you." Awesome.

On that note, happy Monday to you. I hope someone says something to you in public that makes you laugh out loud. At least I haven't had a stranger try to touch my belly yet...