Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. It's been more like Thanksgiving week though!! This was Robb and Kim's year to do Thanksgiving with our family and Uncle Brother was in town from Cabo San Lucas so we had a full house. George, Sybil, and the kids came from Birmingham Wednesday night and Will stayed at Mom and Dad's to play with his cousins from Thursday to Sunday. Zack's side of the family spent the Thanksgiving holiday at Rosemary beach. We missed them a lot, but know they had a great time relaxing in Florida!!

Wednesday night the Birmingham Newton clan came to town with Sybil's mother and we enjoyed a nice dinner of lasagna at Mom and Dad's. Plus Zack and Dad practiced on Zack's new turkey fryer and fried a turkey and a chicken...Lucas loved the chicken.

Thursday was filled with food and fun!! Boy did we have a great spread...I didn't do much to contribute...but I sure did a good job eating it. I made an artichoke dip and brought rolls. Zack fried a delicious turkey. We had dressing, mac and cheese, green beans, spinach and artichoke casserole , wild rice casserole, Asian salad, roasted turkey, fried turkey, ham, turnips, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole. And that's not including dessert- pumpkin roulade, apple and cherry turnovers, key lime pie, sweet potato pie, chocolate covered strawberries, and blueberry pie. Needless to say we were all completely stuffed Thursday night.

The delicious food!!


The fam at the dinner table!!

The preggo recovering after eating way too much!!

Friday started off spectacularly. When I woke up Friday morning Zack had the Christmas tree up with the lights on and all of the Christmas decorations down from the attic. We spent the morning drinking hot chocolate, listening to Christmas music, and decorating the house. Thanks Zack for being the BEST HUSBAND EVER!!! We then watched about 3 hours of our childbirth class DVD and learned all about labor and delivery. Later that afternoon we went to Mom and Dad's where George and Zack made the best hot wings I have ever tasted in my life!! Mom and Sybil made beef short ribs and rice for supper-yummy. That night I started having contractions- some were really painful- so Zack and I hurried home to pack our bag for the hospital. The contractions continued throughout the night, but were never regular. The doctor told us at our last visit to call when they were 5 minutes apart for over an hour- and they never were- so no false trips to the hospital this time.

Saturday Zack decided not to go with the rest of the guys to the AU-AL game for fear that I might go into labor. I spent the day cleaning around the house, washing clothes, and getting Baby Barker's things in order. I guess now its just a waiting game. My due date is December 6th- so one week to go...we will see!! We can't wait for him to get here. And I can't wait for his Daddy to decide on his name!!

Well, after boring everyone with the minute details of our week, here are some more of Zack's great pictures:

Our Beautiful Baby Shower

WOW!!! Our sweet friends and family were so generous to shower BB, Me, and Zack with so many beautiful and useful items. From our stroller and swing to burp cloths and "hooter hiders" BB and I are set!! Thanks to everyone for their generosity and thoughtfulness.

The hostesses minus Sybil, Kim, Amanda and Catie.

The hostesses did a beautiful job. The flowers were beautiful, Rachel's house looked breathtaking, and the food and decorations were divine. It was so much fun to have friends and family together...I think it was 2 years ago at our wedding that I was blessed to have so many of our best friends & family together in one place. Here are some more pictures of the beautiful occasion:

Zack trying on the sling Jane made for us!

Other things going on:

(1) Zack is fully recovered from his surgery. He got his staples out last week, and is now counting down the days until he can get back in the gym (the Dr said he had to wait 6 weeks which is an eternity to Zack).

(2) Zack was so sweet to put together all of BB's things...I will have to take pictures of the nursery soon to post. We are still waiting on the rocker which should be shipped Nov 2nd!!

(3) I went to the cardiologist and they did an EKG which showed sinus tachycardia (i.e. my heart was in rhythm but just really fast) which was good news. I had to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours- but we have yet to hear the results of that yet!!

Well that's all I can think of for now....

Meet Baby Barker (BB) and our crazy week...

Zack and I set up this blog months ago, but never could find the time to actually tackle starting the 1st post. Hopefully now that we've made the huge step of actually typing our 1st entry it will be easier. So....here goes...

We are now almost 32 weeks pregnant...and are so excited (and equally as scared) that BB will be here in less than 2 months. We feel like we met him last Wednesday at our OB visit during our 4D ultrasound. BB was not very cooperative...he kept his arm and feet in front of his face for most of the ultrasound...but he did peek a few times. The sweet ultrasound technician offered to schedule a re-do, but due to some unforeseen events, we weren't able to to do that. So meet our precious little boy:

During our visit Wednesday, the doctor noticed that I had an irregular heart beat, which he said is not uncommon during pregnancy...and should go away after BB comes. But, to be safe, he scheduled an appointment with a cardiologist Monday...so we will keep you updated.

We met with Zack's Mom and Mitch Wednesday night to show them what we had done in the nursery and went out to dinner. That night Zack woke up about 3am in terrible pain and thought he might have food poisoning. At about 4am he decided to go to the ER. Well... after a variety of tests (EKG's, X-Rays, blood and urine tests, and a CT Scan) Zack was diagnosed with appendicitis and was scheduled for emergency surgery. Thankfully, the surgeon was able to perform the surgery laparoscopically, so Zack has had a speedy recovery. After an emergency appendectomy, a night in the hospital, and a day of rest- he is already running again (he said he only went about 4-5 miles this morning...) . I am so thankful he is doing well and feeling better, but it has made my job as nurse much more difficult!! Thanks to everyone who came to visit him/calm me during the hospital stay, and thanks for all of the prayers!!!

Well...I guess we have accomplished writing our 1st post. We will keep you posted about our doctors visits next week (mine with the Cardiologist and Zack's follow-up with the surgeon). Oh, and I am SO EXCITED about the baby shower our sweet friends are throwing for us next Sunday. I will be sure to take lots of pictures to share. I guess that's it...until later...