No Mirrors, Drugs, Ball, and Background music

Joey and I went to Birthing Class on Saturday. There were close to 20 couples in the class, and all but 3 are having boys. We had a really good teacher who taught us more about the birthing process than either one of us was aware of. We watched a couple of videos and learned some breathing and massage techniques. She showed us ways for me to sit to be more comfortable during labor - my favorites were on the birth ball and the cowboy..haha! We filled out a preferences sheet to use at the hospital which was nice, as there were things on there we hadn't thought about. The Hall preferences include no mirrors, drugs, and background music which sounds like something much more sketchy than a birthplan :). We walked out feeling more prepared to welcome Liam into the world. I suggest to anyone having a first child to take a birthing class.

Baby Liam is due 1 month from tomorrow!!!

Kelly's Breakfast Biscuit Showdown

One of the most common pregnancy questions I get is "Are you having any cravings?". Honestly, my answer is "no" because other than being just generally hungry, I don't 'crave' anything strange or specific. However, I have eaten more breakfast biscuits this almost 33 weeks than I have in my life. I think I am attracted to the protein which keeps me fuller, longer. If I eat a bowl of cereal (my prepregnancy breakfast staple), I'm starving in less than an hour :). At least 3 days a week (usually 4 or 5 :)) the Yaris wheels through the drive thru. My two top choices are Chic-Fil-A and McDonalds, mostly because of convenience on my morning commute.

I decided to research the nutrition facts for each of my favorite biscuits and thanks to the internet and FDA regulations, its all posted on the restaurant websites.

Sidenote: Although Joey says that I am a complete fun sucker in this habit, I find it eye opening to see what restaurants are serving patrons. If you haven't read the book or seen the "Eat This, Not That" guy on TV, it is startling! Things that you would think are healthy can have your fat and sodium intake for a week hiding inside. Just for fun look up the nutrition facts BEFORE you go to your favorite restaurant next time, if you look it up when you get home, it's going to make you very sad :).

So, in trying to stay relatively healthy my usual order is a biscuit and a soft drink. I skip the hashbrowns because they double the calories and fat at almost every place. And, they're not that good.

Here is my breakdown:

McDonalds Sausage and Egg Biscuit: 510 calories, 33 g fat, 36 carbs, 18 g Protein
Hardee's Sausage and Egg Biscuit: (Loser) 610 calories, 44 g of fat, 36 carbs, 17g Protein
Chic-Fil-A Chicken Biscuit: 450 calories, 20 g fat, 48 carbs, 20 g protein
Bojangles Cajun Filet Biscuit (surprise results): 454 calories, 21 g fat, 46 carbs, 20 g protein

Once Baby Liam arrives, it will be back to cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, and my biscuit habit will have to be rolled back to once or twice a month. I will miss the nice people who work in the drive thrus especially at Chic-Fil-A and McDonalds...they have a special gift for serving up convenient breakfast with a smile :).

Sad Day

Uncle Marvin passed away this morning around 1AM. Although we've been prepared for his passing for a while now, it is still sad to bid him farewell. He touched so many people during his 78 years on earth and he led us all by example in his unwaivering faith and love of the Lord. Because of that faith we know that Marvin is walking tall in heaven today, probably looking for something to tinker with already.

Great Weekend

This past weekend many of my friends and family were in town for a shower for the baby. It was such great weekend! My Aunt Lynn and Uncle Dan stayed with us, which is always fun. The shower was at my Mom's house and my sister who is unbelievable in her crafting abilities, made it look awesome! I got great gifts from everyone and it was just an amazing day all around. While the party was going on at Mom's the family men and kids were at 615 summit having fun in the backyard. On Saturday night, 615 was at capacity, with more people than I could count having fun and eating yummy lasagna. Thanks to everyone who came to town, we love you all so much. Baby Liam has no idea how many people already love him before he even arrives - what a lucky boy is he!

On Sunday, we said goodbye to our family and friends and headed to church to begin Vaction Bible School week. I'm teaching the 5K class and Joey is working on the recreation team. It is so much fun, but we're tired when we get home each night! It is all worth it if the kids learn more about Jesus and have fun in the process.

Money Magazine Top 100

This morning, as is typical at 615 summit, I woke up and flipped on the today show. One of the promos this morning was for a story about Money Magazine's top 100 small towns in America. I wasn't able to watch the story, but it peaked my interest enough to google it to find out if our town made the list. I was shocked that not 1 town in SC made the list. Not only this year but since 2005 when they started this list, only one town (Mt Pleasant) made the list. In fact, a very low number of southern cities made the list at all. So I looked up the criteria for this list and in addition to unemployment and education it includes things like "How many movie theatres are in the area". So, because we only have two 20+ theatre complexes plus an awesome smaller theatre complete with the George Lucas sound system, the city gets counted as 3 compared to 27 in the average winning city. Instead we have a beautiful park system, a thriving downtown, and during the summer there are free or very cheap events going on at least 4 nights a week. I would rather take a picnic and enjoy Shakespeare in the Park any day over having access to 27 theaters offering the same $10.00 ticket and $20.00 concessions.

I am biased to our city, but it is a pretty great place to live. (I'm not saying the name because of the title of our blog - thanks internet stalkers). I moved here from another state, to go to Clemson University. Before I arrived the only thing I knew about SC was a water tower shaped like a Peach and South of the Border because of previous trips through the palmetto state on 85 or 95. I never left after finishing school, I met my husband and we plan on raising our family here. It is a great place to live and I am proud to call it home. To the Money Magazine editors who determine the list, try taking a real trip to the sunny south, you might be surprised at what you find.

Touring the Hospital

Joey and I went for the tour of the hospital last night. The group we were in was rather large, so it looked like a herd of preggo ladies walking around...lots of babies on the way in the coming months! The Labor and Delivery floor at the hospital had renovations within the last year, so even though I've been up there before, it was fun to see what it looks like now. We saw the room (well not the actual room but close enough :)) where the hatching will occur and the room where we'll be to recover for 2-3 days afterwards. My only personal experience with any hospital is a couple of trips to the er for minor stuff and outpatient procedures when I was a kid. So, especially in the first room I had a lot of things going through my head - "this is where I'll be in pain", "this is where we'll meet our baby", "what are those machines for", "where does all of the icky stuff go". Hehe..I think too much!! The hospital has a religious connection, so there are reminders of Jesus in every room which is very comforting. God won't let me deal with more than I can handle and He is granting us with this awesome, amazing blessing. Overall, it will be a great place to welcome Baby Liam to the world. Next month we go for childbirth class then breastfeeding class in early September. Yeah for hospital education getting us ready for our little one.

The 4th of July

We spent the 4th of July at the Beach with our family. I've never seen so many fireworks in all my days. From the beach at night you can see fireworks for as far as the eye can see along the coastline. It was very cool! Baby Liam and I took our first dip in the condo swimming pool. It felt so good to float and the preggo swimsuit looked better than expected! We also visited the Ripley's Aquarium, after which Joey purchased a fly fishing rod (something's just not right about that :)). We decided to relish our time there as this will be our last trip to the coast sans baby. I can't wait for Liam to put his baby toes in the ocean!!

And, our great friends, the Shavers, had twin girls on July 6th. Happy Birthday Anna and Samantha! We love you already!!