So much to be Thankful for!

Last week we celebrated our last Thanksgiving sans-baby boy Larson. It was a great day/week and I was so sad Sunday night when I realized our Thanksgiving week-long stay-cation was over (Jimmy and I both took the ENTIRE week off).

I've also been a bit delayed in posting because I have become one of "those" people... You know "those" people who never take pictures but reap the benefits of you having to tote around your camera and annoyingly get in everyone's face?? Yeah... I've never been one of "those" but I've slowly but surely been turning into one. The Larson family camera has seen better days and I'm holding out for Christmas when we'll get a new handy dandy camera from Grammy Cheryl :). Any suggestions? I'm thinking about the Cannon Elf? We want something that will fit in Jimbo's pocket.

We had around 36 or so celebrating at my parent's loft in Simpsonville. It was not only our last Thanksgiving sans-baby boy, but also the last Thanksgiving with Cheryl as a "Larson." It was loud, chaotic, fun, memorable, exciting, yummy, special, etc. I just love big family get togethers!

There's no telling what next year will bring but for now I'm thankful for an amazing husbando who just gets me and supports me in everything I do. A little bambino growing in my belly. A fabulous (growing) family -- I can't wait to celebrate with not only a new baby boy, but with Cheryl's soon to be husband and his daughter next year. I'm thankful for my parents who not only know how to throw a great celebration, but are the most loving and giving parents a girl could as for. I'm thankful for my crazy siblings, their spouses and my adorable nieces and nephews who make the holidays just that much sweeter.

PICTURES TO COME ONCE THE PEOPLE THAT DID ALL THE WORK SHARE THEM WITH ME. :) NO WORRIES... This isn't going to become habit! ... PICS HAVE BEEN ADDED AS OF 12-3-2010, compliments of Miss Fannie Annie Cook :)

Three Newly Learned Lessons

1 -- Girls' night is super duper fun and I love hanging out -- especially with my Wednesday Wine Crew... But midnight is too late for me and growing baby boy in my belly. This AM was a little rough for me... but totally worth it! :)

2 -- Regular pantyhose do not fly when you are over 4 months preggo. Although the belly isn't big -- the hose will still roll. Enough said.

3 -- What it feels like to have a baby seriously move! Just a minute ago baby boy moved big time. It kind of felt like I was on a roller coaster and my stomach dropped a little. If I had to sum it up in a word it would be.. "WOOSH." So cool :)

Where's the glow?!

Now I'm not complaining but where's this "glow" everyone talks about that you're supposed to get when you get pregnant? I haven't seen it, but would appreciate seeing it soon.

Everyone says, "Oh my hair was the best ever when I was pregnant....", "My skin was radiant....", etc...

Blah. Blah. Blaaaaaah.

My hair looks bad (but partially my fault - I'm extremely behind a cut/color, which will be fixed later today)... My skin is not glowing, but breaking out.. I feel like I'm in high school all over again without Proactive (yeah, did you know you can't use Proactive while pregnant?). ..... and to make matters even better -- I had my first nose bleed yesterday. Ew.

I know it is all worth it, but come on glow!

Happy Birthday, Adeline!

This weekend we celebrated my youngest niece's birthday, Adeline! It's so hard to believe that she is already a full year old. Boy how time flies when you're having fun! Joy and Hunter had the fam over for some cake and ice cream and it was so much fun! Here are some pics from the day:

Her cute little outfit had to come off for the destroying of the birthday cake (which was fabulous)!

It was extra special because Ma, who suffered a stroke earlier this year got to come too!

Hard to believe this was just one year ago:

We love you sweet "pookie took" Adeline! :)



Proud Papa & Flutters

Since we found out we are having a boy last week Jimmy has gotten even more excited about the whole pregnancy thing, and it is really cute.

On Wednesday when we had our doctor's appointment, we got three ultrasound pictures. When we were leaving Jimmy asked if he could have one. I asked him what he wanted it for. He responded by saying, "I want to put it up in my cube!" (Like, duh -- what else?!) Well Jimmy showed off his son at work and pinned it up in his office.

The next morning we were getting ready for work and Jimmy asked where the other two pictures were. I told him and then asked why?... He then asked if he could take another one with him to work to show. I just started laughing and said okay as long as he brings it home :).

Well, guess who just came by my office to get all three pictures? Jimbo. Such a proud papa! :)

So yesterday I'm pretty sure I felt the baby for the first time. Since we got to "fall back" one hour Saturday night we had extra time before church to veg out and just watch tv Sunday morning. So I was very still for awhile, just laying on the couch watching TV. Then Jimmy told me I really needed to get in the shower so we wouldn't be late. So I jumped up and ran upstairs and started the water. Well as soon as I did I felt a constant little flutter on my right side about four or five times in a row.

Jimmy told me to describe it, and it might sound strange but it kind of felt like my stomach was yawning...? Strange, huh? It also felt like constant butterflies/bubbles but just on one side, four or five times in a row and then it stopped. I haven't felt it since, but it was so exciting!

Little Jimmy!

We had our 15 week check up yesterday, and we weren't expecting to find out what we were having, but as luck would have had it... we did! I simply asked the doctor if she thought there would be any way possible they could schedule our 20 week appointment just a tad bit early so that we could know what the sex was by Thanksgiving... Well she looked at me... with the hopeful light in my eyes... and said -- maybe we'll just go back there today?

I think I squirted a couple tears and said, "REALLY?!?!?!"

Then she said, "Well.. you aren't even 16 weeks yet... let's see if we can find the hear beat fairly easily. If so, we'll go back there and see what we see." Sure enough she stuck the little heart beat finder on my belly and we immediately had a heartbeat. She then smiled and said, "Let's go back there!"

So Jimmy and I were like little kids on Christmas morning. We both kept looking at each other like, ".. here we go!" Then the tech simply asked us if we wanted to know the sex and we both pipped up and said, "YES!" :)

As she was scanning the belly she asked if we had any feelings. I told her how I originally thought it was a boy the day we found out (but I really think I thought it was a boy because I always figured I would have a boy first)... but then I had changed my mind with all those silly tests... The Chinese Birth Chart, the pencil test, etc... So I told her we both thought it was a girl...

Then she started laughing and said, "well you're both wrong -- we have a baby boy!" Our little bambino had his legs spread eagle with it all hanging out. (Apparently he isn't going to be very shy :)

Jimmy and I were both shocked, thrilled, excited, astonished, etc... It was such an amazing time that we won't ever forget.

We can't wait to meet you Baby Boy Larson!!! :) You are already very much loved.

Happy Halloween Y'all!

So we had a Halloween party to go to Saturday night at our good friends' Kelly and Greg's house, and I was kind of worried. I'm not much of a dresser-upper, and to make matters worse... I couldn't have any "liquid courage" to help me get through the evening :-). But in true Cam fashion... we figured out our costume at 5:00 p.m., just in time to get dressed and ready to go! We decided we would be Fergie & The Black Eyed Peas (".. G... L... A... M.... O...R... O.. U ...S...."). And we did it without spending a dime!

Jimmy sported a black eye, some P's on his shirt... Get it? Black-eyed P's?? wahh, waaaahhhh... We figured the wig and suspenders just made it more Halloweeny. Then I decided to rock one of Joy's maternity dresses with some crazy red heels, big ol' jewelry, big hair and a fur coat... What else? I also celebrated the evening with a little Welch's sparking grape juice, which was yummy!

We also rocked out all  night with a little boom box we brought with a CD I made with nothing but Blackeyed Peas and Fergie songs...

We weren't annoying... No, not at all :)

But it was a lot of fun! Here are a couple more pics from the evening (thanks Carrie!):

We Have a Bump

Sooo... things are starting to feel a little more real, especially since I'm starting to show. It depends on what I'm wearing, but the little Bambino Larson is starting to make an appearance and it is so exciting! It still isn't a hard belly, but it's getting there. I haven't felt anything yet, but according to the books / web sites I've researched I should feel something between 16 and 20 weeks. This Saturday I'll be 15 weeks, so just a short while until I can feel our little bambino for the first time! I can't wait! :)

Our family is growing... EVEN MORE!

So this past weekend we packed up and headed to A-town to visit Jimmy's mom and to get things ready for... HER WEDDING! Cheryl is getting married on January 22, 2011 to Chuck Kurcher, someone she has worked with for almost five years.

We got to Aiken Thursday night, a little later than we would have liked, but we had a PULSE event that we had to tend to before we could hit the road.

I spent Friday with Cheryl and her friend Karen, and we picked out her wedding dress, which looked spectacular! We ate lunch downtown (and Jimmy joined us) and then went and checked out the venue for the wedding, Rose Hill State. It's a beautiful estate that Jimmy and I had never known existed in Aiken.

On Saturday we took a minor break from wedding details and visited The Osteen Family and sweet baby Benton, who was cute as ever and quite the little flirt!

Saturday night we had a first big family Larson/Kurcher dinner. Chuck and his daughter, Lindsey, came over and we had a great time, and finalized some wedding details. Can't wait to many more fun dinners together with this growing family! :)

How I told Jimbo

So I feel like I need to do a little back-tracking since I started the new blog a little later than I would have liked... So I figured I would take this opportunity to tell you all how I told Jimbo I was pregnant...

As a family unit of two... we decided early in our marriage that we would wait until we were married three years to start growing our family. Of course I tried to push it up a few times, but good ol' Jimbo -- he was strict on his word... well almost. We didn't start trying, but simply... "stopped trying to prevent" in early May (our anniversary is June 23) -- so technically I got him to budge one month :).

Well of course, me being the person I am, every month I was CONVINCED I was pregnant. I probably took close to 10 pregnancy tests between May and August... Which to me, doesn't sound like a lot... but to Jimmy (and other cost-conscience husbands) it does... because "those tests are expensive!"

So anyways, August was just like June and July -- I just knew I was pregnant. I took a test on the day I should have started my wonderful time of the month, but it was negative. Jimmy told me that I had to wait until Friday to take another. Well... it was Wednesday... I had a committee meeting at lunch, and decided I would sneak home because I had a test waiting for me that Jimmy didn't know anything about.

I ran home, took a test and da-da-da-daaaa there were two lines. I was so shocked, excited, nervous, scared, happy, etc. I didn't know what to do.

First up I called my boss and told her I wasn't feeling too great, and asked if I could just take the rest of the day off. (There wasn't ANY way I could go back to work with this kind of news in my head!)

Then, I called Jimmy and told him I was going to stop by... See once a year, the company that services our printers (at the Chamber) comes around for "Customer Appreciation Day," in which they bring an ice cream truck around to their clients and let everyone in the office pick whatever they want. In years past I took a treat to Jimmy. And today just happened to be the day the ice cream truck was coming around..

So that was my excuse for coming by (even though I never saw that ice cream truck).

So I run by Walgreen's to pick him up some ice cream. Then I walk around the store trying to find something "baby-ish" to purchase.

Well... not much to buy other than diapers, sippy cups and ugly toys. So I settled on a card. I pulled up to Jimmy's office and he came down. I haded him his ice cream and was counting the seconds until he noticed this card sitting on the dash of my car... Well - typical guy - he never noticed. So finally I said, "AREN'T YOU GOING TO LOOK!" and I pointed at the card.

He looked at my quizzically and said, "... what's.. that?"

And then I just started smiling, crying, etc... as he picked it up and read it... and then he stopped... and then looked at me and said, "... really??"

:) It was a great day!

... oh and when I told my mom this story, come to find out she told my dad the exact same way (when she found out she was pregnant for the first time -- with Hunter)... Great minds think alike!

Weird Things About Being Pregnant

CRAVINGS
So I haven't craved anything wild and crazy like pickles and ice cream or a milkshake at 2:00 a.m... but my tastes have certainly changed.

Before I was preggers I would typically fix a dinner consisting of some type of chicken or fish, some veggies and maybe a starch. Now, all I want are starches, green vegetables gross me out and chicken REALLY turns my stomach. So strange! I also have been eating a lot more cereal, fruit and peanut butter.. Strange, right? Oh and I had been craving pancakes for a couple days (also extremely strange since I NEVER eat pancakes)... but when I got home last night from a meeting... Who was in the kitchen fixing his preggo wife pancakes (from scratch)?? Jimbodeeny. He's so sweet. :) I'm lucky to have him!

FRIENDS
One thing I've noticed since announcing my pregnancy is 1) as soon as someone finds out you are pregnant, where do people turn and look? Your belly. 2) as soon as a friend sees you that you haven't seen in a few days/weeks, where do they turn and look? Your belly.

It's funny... I probably did it before, but now I just see it and think it is rather comical.

We are Expecting!

In August we found out we are expecting a wee-one, and we couldn't be more thrilled! Our due date is 4-23-2011, which feels like a lifetime away.

At first I thought it was a boy, but I've done a ton of silly tests (Chinese birth chart, pencil test, etc) and most signs are pointing towards girl. The heartbeat at 8 weeks was 156 and just last Friday (at 11 weeks and 6 days, basically 12 weeks) the heartbeat was 158.

As soon as the doctor told us the hear beat, it was as if she was reading my mind... She said, "Now -- don't try to guess the gender just yet. All babies' heartbeats are high in the first trimester. You can't tell based on the hear beat until you are 20 weeks along."

Hahaha... I guess my face is pretty easy to read!

I have been feeling pretty good, not fabulous, but definitely not as sick as some of my friends/family so I consider myself to be lucky. I have been terribly tired, but that has started to go away, and I'm starting to feel like my old self again. I am still weird about food... Normal stuff just doesn't sound appetizing, which is strange for me because I have never been picky. I pretty much crave starches and fruit. Chicken is a little gross to me, and so is green veggies (which is what I used to always eat).

Jimmy has already stepped up as an all-star-dad-to-be (as expected :). He has read more of "the books" than I have. In fact in our 8 week appointment the nurse told me I was RH Negative, and that the doctor would explain what that meant. Well, when the nurse left and while we waited on the doctor, Jimmy proceeded to explain to me exactly what that meant (he read it in the books). Good ol' Jimbo -- he's going to be a great daddy!

We're Methodists!

On Sunday (June 6, 2010) Jimmy and I joined our first church together. When we lived downtown, we visted a ton of churches and had basically made up our minds, but then we moved. So once we were settled in Mauldin, we visited several more churches and after 6 months of continually visiting the same church, we joined!

We are now proud members of Mauldin Methodist United Church. Our next step is finding a Sunday School class.

Where did May go?!

So we are already well into June, and before we know it I'm sure it will be Christmas! Here is a recap of all the exciting things we did in May:

May 1, 2010 was Stacy and Greg's wedding up on Lake Norman near Charlotte.
May 3, 2010 Jimmy flew out to Dallas, Texas for training.
May 5, 2010 Cinco de Mayo! I celebrated with a small, fun, restaurant club a group of friends established a few months ago and Jimmy celebrated with his accounting buds, who were also in training. (He also met Mary Holcomb's husband-to-be... before me! :)
May 6, 2010 I fly out to Dallas, TX to have a mini-vacay with Jimmy! It was a long day of traveling but I finally made it to Dallas around 5:00 p.m. I also drove my first rental car and had a minor breakdown when I couldn't even get out of the airport parking lot... but all was good when I got there! That evening Jimmy, Thomas Costigan and I all wento to see a Texas Rangers game in Arlington... Lots of fun!
May 7, 2010 We wake up early and drive to Ft. Worth for a little sight-seeing and cattle herding. We also ate dinner at Joe T. Garcias, which was amazing! (I had just been to Ft. Worth, TX for training a couple weeks prior and we ate there. I knew Jimmy would love it!) After lunch we drove to Houston, TX to see Emily Apple. That night we ate Texas barbeque and went to a Houston Astros game.
May 8, 2010 Since Emily had a field trip with her class, Jimmy and I vegged out for a bit... That night was a "Cam night" full of sushi, saki and fancy cocktails.
May 9, 2010 We fly home :(
May 14, 2010 Jimmy and I marshalled hole number 9 at the BMW Pro Am Golf Tournament! We were doing it in support of the Red Shoe Society, the young professionals group of the Ronald McDonald House of the Carolinas (I am currently serving as its Communications Chair). We also celebrated Mom's birthday that evening and the end of busy season at the Polson's! (It was a jam-packed day!)
May 21, 2010 I head out to Surfside Beach to celebrate Mary Holcomb's "LAST HOORAH" -- We had a great time!
May 29, 2010 We helped throw a party to celebrate Mary and Caleb's upcoming wedding at Fran and David's house.. We ended up staying with Fran and David until Monday AM (Memorial Day) and enjoyed time by the pool and a sunset cruise on the lake!

Whew! I'm exhausted just from typing all that up! It was a great month, and I'm looking forward to what June has in store: Fripp trip, our 3rd year anniversary, Mary's wedding, Aaron's birthday party, etc!

Life is good :)

Starting a New Blog!

I started a blog in 2009, and obviously didn't do much with it. However, I've posted the old posts below... Enjoy!