Maternity Photos

I was originally not going to get maternity pictures done. I didn't see why I would want permanent photo documentation of what I looked like at the most I've ever weighed. Also, the ones I'd seen seemed corny (the heart formed with hands on the belly) or slightly - I don't know how to say this - too much skin. Not that I judged them for showing too much skin - to each his own - it's just that I personally didn't feel comfortable baring that much. (I'm a wuss.)

But one of our friends, Tressa, emailed me one day and asked if she could do them for us. She said she was starting up a photography business and was trying to build her portfolio. And she offered to do them for free, so we were in! I figured if I looked like a whale, I wasn't out anything and could just never show them to anyone.

Anyway, pretty sure it was still 100 degrees when we did the pictures, but it was still fun! After going back and forth on location, we decided on Addison Circle, which was perfect! Rustin and I used to live there and LOVED it! If it was more conducive to raising kids, we would still be there.

Here are a few from the first place we stopped - Bosque Park.

Oh So Posh Photography in Dallas chose one of the pictures to post on her page to show off her edits, which I thought was really cool for Tressa. And man, it's crazy what a difference editing makes! It further confirms how ridiculous it is to compare ourselves to people in magazines.

And then we did it... the heart picture. Rustin and I both made fun of it before, but Tressa wanted us to do it, so we figured we would, and now I am eating my words. I really like how it turned out!

Then we did some by the Addison Conference Centre, and found a cool garden-type spot by there as well.

Then, hot as it was, we did one clothes change. Not sure why, but I really wanted to get a few pictures in high heels.

So even though I hadn't originally planned on getting them done, I am so glad we did! I think it's such a neat memory to have, and I can't wait to show them to Avery one day!

And we are very thankful for Tressa! She did a great job finding cool locations, telling us how to pose (I need lots of help with that), and editing the pictures! She's still working on her site, but it is www.tressavent.com. Check her out!

Prenatal Testing Update

I had my first set of tests done yesterday. Pretty much everything is fine so far from what I understand. I love my doctor, but it seemed like the rest of the staff wasn't communicating. When I came in, they asked me what I was supposed to have done. (Aren't they supposed to know?) I told them I knew I was going to have NST and BPPs done but wasn't sure if I was supposed to have both that day or not (and I didn't know what a BPP was). The lady was nice and found out for me though. So I started with the BPP.

I still have no idea what it stands for, but the BPP is the ultrasound. It was so fun to see Avery again although she's so big, it's hard to make out what you're looking at. I felt like Rachel on Friends when she's sad because she can't see her baby! Rustin came with me, and we both got nervous at one point because the lady kept looking and not saying anything for a really long time. Well come to find out, she was waiting for the baby to move, and Avery was apparently asleep! She told me I'm supposed to eat something right before I came, but no one had told me that so it had been a couple of hours since I ate. She said if I will do that from now on, the baby will move sooner and we won't be in there as long...whew! And yes, she's still a girl. I had this fear they were going to tell me the last ultrasound was wrong and it's a boy. Rustin said if that happened, he'd have to like a pink nursery haha.

Then I had to do the NST. So they hooked me up to a machine and measured contractions and the baby's heartbeat. After about 30 minutes the lady came back in there and got the paper the machine had printed off. She asked if the baby moved, and I said yes, so she asked why I didn't press the button. I had no idea what she was talking about and politely told her that, although she sort of looked at me like she did tell me and I forgot. Luckily Rustin was there to assure me that I was not going crazy - he hadn't heard her tell me that either. I guess I know for next time! She then told me I was having contractions, but I told her I didn't feel them. She said they might just be Braxton Hicks. Maybe I am feeling them and just don't know what contractions feel like, but I'm guessing if they were real labor contractions, I couldn't mistake them. Anyway she took the paper to a doctor, who said everything was fine.

So now I will go back Thursday and do the NST again and see my doctor, and will keep doing this twice a week until she arrives :)

Here are some of the pictures from the ultrasound...

Baby Shower

I'll be honest - I've always thought baby showers were awkward and boring. I never had a clue what any of the presents were (I mean what is an exersaucer??), and I would always lose at the games because I had no idea what baby food tastes like nor did I know the appropriate size of a pregnant woman's belly when they played the streamer game. My streamers were always WAY longer than everyone else's, and I don't think the moms-to-be liked the idea that I apparently thought they were huge (which I didn't).

A friend of mine pretty much threw a house party for her shower. It was a couples shower at night and everyone just hung out. Aside from bringing a baby gift, you would think you were just at a normal party, which was a lot of fun! I thought of doing that, but realized that my grandma and other family probably wouldn't be able to come to something that late in Dallas, and I really wanted them there. As much as I wanted a "fun" shower, I also wanted a traditional one. So as it turns out, my shower was much like the showers I had deemed "boring" in the past, but when it's yours, it's different...I had an amazing time!!

The girls who hosted my shower did a great job!! I'm very thankful that we've all stayed friends for so long. Sarah and Kat's mom (Mammie) also hosted, which I thought was so nice, and Angie's sweet mom opened her home for us, which is also the same place I had my wedding shower!

Here are a few pictures of the decorations. First, the cake. "Baby cake," as I've called it for years, has long been my favorite, and this one did not disappoint! Mammie got it at Aunt Glenda's, which is a bakery in Wichita Falls and is the same place that made my wedding cake.

They also made the yummiest food! And Jana made a diaper cake, which I am still very impressed by! She's going to have to teach me how to do that.

They also made fake mimosas. (They kept warning people they were fake so they weren't "disappointed" when they drank them haha!)



My family from Wichita Falls came, and since Rustin's family lives in Waco now, his mom was also able to come!

And then the presents... I feel like this is the most awkward part since I don't like being the center of attention, and I felt like I was opening all of them in slow motion. But once I got going it was a lot of fun! Now that I know what stuff is, I LOVE baby stuff!! It's all so cute and tiny! Andrea did a great job of recording all the gifts!

Rustin acted like he didn't like this outfit...but he does.

My grandma bought our bedding for us. I'll post pics of the nursery when I get it all done, but we chose the Hayley bedding from Pottery Barn Kids, which I fell in love with the moment I saw it! Since the bumper was so big, she already gave us that and brought the rest to the shower.

Anyway I think you get the point...I opened presents. I am always blown away at things like this (well this is only my second shower, but still) at the generosity of other people. Everyone was SO incredibly thoughtful, and some people who couldn't be there even mailed their gifts! I'm surprised I didn't cry!

I had to get pics with some of the guests. There were more I wanted to get pictures with, but my camera died. I guess I should have stolen Andrea's sooner.

Here are the "Koerner Sisters" (they hate that haha).  

All of our husbands work at Lucidity. I'm thankful Rustin works at such a fun place so we can hang out with cool people!

This is Dana. She leads our church home group with her husband. We are very thankful for both of them and how they pour into our lives and embody Christ's love so well. 

And the hostesses - Andrea, Jana, Sarah, Kathryn and Angie

It was such a great day! I feel like there are very few times in your life when all your friends and family come together. I mean besides your wedding and showers, when else are you this lucky? I really can't say how thankful I am to everyone who came, and to my wonderful friends who threw it! Avery will have great "aunties"!!

The Name

Yes, we finally decided on a name...

Avery Shae Andrews

It was something I was scared we'd never agree on. Pretty much since we first got married, Rustin wanted to name his child Ocean. I told him this was never going to happen, but that didn't seem to make him give up the dream. Luckily I got him to move on to other options, but unfortunately they were - how shall I say this - not my taste. He liked Bravery, Asia and August to name a few. At one point he suggested us naming her a symbol like Prince. My top favorites were Ava and Stella, but he vetoed those. He finally decided he liked Avery and Addison, and at that point, I was just happy they were actual names (maybe that was his plan all along??) so I told him he could pick out of those two, and he chose Avery. I also liked two middle names - Grace and Shae - and told him if he liked them, he could pick that too, and he chose Shae.

I'm not sure if Shae is an uncommon name or what, but when we tell people that is her middle name they sort of give us a puzzled look and ask how we're going to spell it. I didn't want to spell it Shea because a teacher I worked with has a daughted named Shea and she told me not to spell it that way because everyone pronounces it "shee-uh." Another reason I wanted to spell it with an -ae is because my middle name is Rae and I liked that it was similar :)

Even though I think of Avery and Shae as both female names, I realize they are traditionally male names. Oh well what can I say - her mom's name is Sam.

Pregnancy Update - 30 Weeks

We had a slight scare early in the pregnancy. They did the first trimester screen which looks for the baby's chance of trisomy and down syndrome. They calculated my risk first just based on my age, then recalculated after blood work. My risk for trisomy dropped drastically, but my risk for down syndrome went up. Because of that increased risk, my doctor had me get a level 2 ultrasound at a hospital at 18 weeks to see if everything was ok. That was back in April and when we found out it's a girl! All of her measurements looked great, and she was in the 51st percentile for weight. The doctor said if she was at risk for downs she would weigh less and have larger measurements in certain areas. And I thought that was the end of it...

At my last appointment, my doctor told me that I would have to start coming in twice a week for a fetal non stress test (NST). From what I understand, she is concerned because something caused my first trimester screen to be off. Since they don't think it's downs, they're not sure what it is and want to make sure everything is ok.

So starting July 25, I will be going to my doctor's office in McKinney every Monday and Thursday. For the NST they are going to hook me up to machines as if I was in labor and test fetal heart rate and contractions for about 20 minutes. (This is just what I understand from my doctor. I'm obviously not a doctor, so hopefully I'm explaining everything correctly!) But there is a VERY big benefit with this - I get an ultrasound every Monday! That means I get to see our little girl once a week until she is born! I haven't seen her since the ultrasound in April, so I'm very excited about that!

Although I am an expert worrier, I have tried to continually remind myself of two main things - God is sovereign, and He loves her more than I do (even though it's hard to wrap my head around that one). And I also love the comfort of Psalm 139: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb...My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." 

Other than all of this, I have had a relatively easy pregnancy, but Rustin and I would appreciate prayers that everything would continue to go well!

Babymoon!

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE the beach! So of course I wanted to go this summer. Usually we would go to Mexico, but I'm a little scared to go down there right now - especially being pregnant. So we decided it was a perfect opportunity for Rustin to finally see the beach that I grew up going to every year - Panama City, Florida! My dad's side of the family lives there, so we've gone there to visit nearly every summer that I can remember. My parents came along as well. We missed Colby...sort of. I didn't really miss getting splashed the entire trip.

The adventures started at the airport with my dad getting "randomly" screened, which provided us with laughs for hours! I guess terror suspects are dressing like cowboys nowadays?

 

Then my mom got sick on the plane. Traveling with parents is definitely a unique experience :)

We finally made it to my grandma's house and enjoyed a nice dinner, and then got ready for three days of constant beaching! The first stop was Mexico Beach, which is my favorite. We like going there better than Panama City Beach because it is much less crowded. It's always reminded me of a "Jimmy Buffet" town. We went to Toucans for lunch (which is my favorite restaurant there), and enjoyed a nice meal by the beach.

Then we spent the rest of the day at the beach with my mom (my dad could only handle one beach day)...but not without some pictures first -

 Then Rustin and I stayed at the Driftwood Inn that night. Every year when we come to Mexico Beach I talk about how I want to stay there sometime. I even used to say that that's where I wanted to stay for my honeymoon. It definitely lived up to my expecations! It is just a quaint inn right on the beach. Here are a few views from around the property -

In the main lobby they had a great dane that would put his paws on the desk whenever someone walked in. It was sort of scary at first to be greeted by such a huge dog! They also had a parrot-

That night we drove to Port St. Joe and had dinner at a small pizza place. The electricity went out, but luckily each table had candles!

The next day we went to St. Andrews, which is a State Park and a great place to snorkel. This is the one day my dad could handle the beach.

We saw a few fish while snorkeling, and Rustin caught a starfish! He threw it back of course. We also saw several dolphins swimming not too far from shore.
That night we went to a small oyster bar right on the water. They shucked your oysters right in front of you! I wish I had a picture of the whole group, but it was my parents, my grandma, Uncle Ed, and Aunt Holly and Uncle Greg. I didn't have time to wash my hair beforehand, so don't judge! (And yes, the oysters were cooked.)

 Then it was the last day :( Since traffic was so bad going to St. Andrews (which is toward PCB) we decided it would be much more peaceful to go to Mexico Beach again.

I wish I had some pictures from our last night there, but we had a very nice dinner at my grandma's house with all the family. They also surprised me with a "shower." They were going to do gifts, but realized since I was flying I wouldn't be able to get them home so everyone chipped in and gave us some money and a very sweet card! Anyway I am still recovering from post-vacation depression! I wish we were still there!