The Perfect Ending To A Perfect Day

Yesterday was a day both Cory and I will never forget. It was so incredibly memorable. And the day ended with a perfect ending!

After upon arriving back to work after such a fun and exciting morning, I was so excited to tell everyone at work. (Most everyone was guessing a girl!) So I told everyone about our future son and they were all surprised, but thrilled about us having a boy. My boss had already left for the day, so I immediately picked up the phone to call him. (He was prob. the most excited out of anyone at the office when I announced we were expecting - so I wanted to tell him our news, before he heard it from anyone else) I told him we were having a boy and he was so excited. In celebration he wanted to send us out to dinner - his treat!! We were blown away by his generosity. He called and made reservations at the Veranda (which I had only been to once for a rehearsal dinner years ago) for us. It was so sweet and generous of him.

We arrived at the restaurant and we're greeted with phenomenal service and wined and dined on delicious gourmet food. It was incredible!!

The gift of Mr. Baxley's generosity was the perfect ending to our perfect day!

A Dream Come True!

Today has been a dream come true! It has been such a fun and exciting day for all of us.

My day started at 2am, when I was awakened and laid there bright eyed and bushy tailed, day-dreaming about getting to see our precious baby and getting to hear "it's" little heartbeat. I finally hopped out of bed and went down stairs to watch a Lifetime movie with Sabrina and then Sabrina and I went for our daily morning walk. (Sabrina is so excited about being a big sister!! - she is dreaming about it in this picture of her this morning!) I think she was a little confused about why we arose so early this morning, but she loved it. She just laid on the floor right next to me and occasionally came over to get a love pat from her mama.

DeDe (Cory's mom) & Nana (Cory's grandmother) arrived a little after 7am. We swung by Grandma's (my mom) house and we were all headed to the Dr.

On our way I get a text message from a dear friend of mine reminding me to drink lots of fluids and to bring my DVD - DVD, check!, a little water - um, I think check?! But then I doubted myself that I didn't drink enough and we wouldn't be able to see the baby very well. Fortunately, my mom keeps bottled water in her car, so I chugged 2 bottles of water in about 5 minutes!

(In the waiting room - can't wait to be called back!!)

Cory and I were called back by the ultrasound tech and she did our measurements and told us - "I think its a boy" Cory responded with "You think?" and she said "Yes - It's a Boy!" Cory's face was priceless - the biggest grin I have ever seen! ( I so wish I had a picture of his sweet face smiling ear to ear)

(This picture is hard to tell - but it reads "ITS A BOY!!!")

Then our moms and Nana came back. And we told them it was a boy! Nana exclaimed "but we wanted a girl!" (all 3 of them was convinced we were having a girl prior to the ultrasound!) But everyone was extremely excited about adding another boy to the family! There were even a few tears of joy!

The ultrasound was amazing. We saw lots of movements. He was opening and closing his mouth, waving his hands and kicking his little legs. And we saw his little heart beating at 147bpm. AMAZING! I was in awe. And we have the entire thing on DVD which is so cool - all 23 minutes of it!!
(This is my favorite! - He has his mouth partially open and looks like he is smiling)

After our ultrasound appt. we went to see our Dr. She looked over his stats and was thrilled to see that everything about him was looking perfect!

"For this Child, I have prayed . . . " 1 Samuel 1:27

Today has been a dream come true. What an awesome and mighty God we serve!

It's a . . .

It's a Boy!!!


We are so thrilled and can't wait to meet our precious son - perfectly made by God for us!


Pictures to come this afternoon!!

The Boy / Girl Debate

Less then 24 hours we will know if Baby Hall is a Boy or a Girl. I can hardly stand it and can't wait to find out. (All of you parents out there that waited till birth, I admire your patience - because I have none left! ha!)

Pretty much majority of my friends and family think we are having a girl. And as you can tell by the blog poll - girl is in the lead!

Here are some reasons that I have heard on why we are having a boy and why we are having girl: (not exact words, but close enough)

WHY WE ARE HAVING A BOY:

-"You have 4 nephews - it makes sense that the odds are you will have a boy"

-"You just have to have a boy, who plays football and goes to BAMA games with Cory"

-"We were both hoping for boys and we both got girls- a girl would fit you (Anne) better, so you will prob. have a boy!"

- "Everyone else we know that is due in September is having a boy"

WHY WE ARE HAVING A GIRL:

- "You have 4 nephews, you have to give those grandparents a granddaughter"

-"Has a fast heartbeat (161)"

-"A girl fits you better"

-"You have bought way more girl stuff then boy stuff!"

-"Everyone else who is due in September is having a boy - someone has to have a girl!"

-"Your doctor guessed you were having a girl!"

These are just some of the reasons I could think of off the top of my head that we have heard.

Both Cory & I are so thrilled to be having a baby. We don't care about the gender - both ways we will be so excited and so thrilled to have a child who we can love on and take care of for the rest of our lives - a child we have prayed for. A child who will be healthy and strong and most importantly love the Lord.

**Picture credits - those adorable stuffed elephant rattles were in our Easter Basket. So cute and soft. A must for any new BAMA fan baby!

And the adorable outfits - the day after we told my parents that we were expecting, my mom ran out to a shop in Cahaba Heights and got these for him or her to wear for Christmas. (as most of yall know, I love children in smocked clothing!)

Happy 125th!

This past weekend was ATO's 125th Anniversery at the University of Alabama. Cory and I had planned to make a day of it and head to Tuscaloosa early in the day for the start of all the festivities. Unfortunately, we had some pretty nasty weather, so we were unable to leave Birmingham until mid day. But, it was a fun day! We started off at a cocktail party at the Paul W. Bryant Museum and then headed over to the Conference center for the Banquet.

It was great getting to catch up with some of Cory's fraternity brothers and getting to meet lots of them I had never met before.
There was a band party following the banquet - but by the time that started, this mama was ready for the bed! Oh to be young again and to just keep going, going and going! Just Kidding - I'll stick with where I am now in life - Loving being married and pregnant and going to bed at 9pm!!!

Almost Half Way There!!

A dear family friend of ours took a picture each week of her baby bump and blogged about what was going on in her life each week. Every week I go back over to her blog and check out what she looked like and what was going on with her during that week of her pregnancy. I thought - "what a great way to remember and be able to look back." So here we go - here's a look at the Baby Bump thus far!
19 Weeks!
Today marks the 19 weeks point. (Please excuse the lovely appearance - had just returned home from a prenatal water aerobics class.)
On that note - I have been taking a class through the Hospital with a friend of mine from college, who is due 2 weeks due before us. It has been such fun time getting to know other girls who are pregnant and hear about their present and past pregnancies and experiences.

*Stay tuned later this week - Thursday we have our "BIG" 20 week ultrasound. We have decided to find out Baby Hall's gender - I can't wait any longer!! Grandma (my mom) and DeDe (Cory's mom) will be in attendance.

Will it be a Boy??? Or will it be a Girl??? I would love to know what your guess is!!

This is my very first pregnancy shot! 3.5 weeks pregnant!! We had found out that we were expecting Jan. 4, the Monday prior to leaving for our trip to California to see the Crimson Tide win the National Championship. It was extremely hard not to tell our little secret - As we hadn't told anyone our exciting news. Cory jokes that our child is already so spoiled - "it's" first football game, that "it" was in attendance of, was the National Championship game!

Speaking of Exciting News: Here is the video from when we told my parents about the baby 2 weeks after the above picture had been taken (excuse the "no editing" skills - Im not very tech savy yet!)

As you can tell Grandma & Gramps are so exicted about their future grandbaby!

Welcome to the World of Blogging!

Finally, we are entering the world of blogging. I (Anne) of course am so excited - took a little convincing to Cory but he finally caved, saying that I could have a blog as long as it was private. So here we go. Tune in for Pregnancy/Baby updates, Sabrina updates, family updates, and the Adventures of Cory & Anne!