Brady is here!

What can we say??? We are now the proud parents of a perfect baby boy! He was born January 29th, weighing 7lbs 14 oz, 21 in. in length. 7-14-21,, easy enough to remember! :-) This entry is not going to be a long one, as it has been a long day, however, we wanted to get some pictures up. Enjoy!!! We are!! Thanks to all who have prayed for this day to come, and for those who have prayed today for us! We love you all and are so thankful to have you in our lives!

A lot to blog!!!!

Philly, PA

First off, going all the way back to November 23rd. This is the day that my awesome husband ran his fist marathon, 26.2 miles! It was in Philadelphia, PA, and from what he says, it was COLD! The temperature started out at 22 degrees, and didn't get much warmer. He and his friend Brian have been training for this run for months, they ran it in 3 hours & 59 mins! I am so proud of him and all that he accomplished in this race! I am not by any means a runner, so the fact that he is, is something that I admire greatly about him! Love you baby! (sadly I can't get the pics of him running to upload)

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Christmas 2008

Our Christmas was spent here in Lynchburg. It was just the two of us this year, as I at 35 weeks was unable to travel:-( Christmas morning was good even though we really missed being with family. We slept in, and took our time opening presents, below are some pics of our Christmas Day goodies:-)

Bryan's goodies,, 2 seasons of Scrubs, boxers, candy, handmade blanket from his mom, and a watch.

Up close picture of the watch I got Bryan,, he of course looks handsome wearing it!

If you notice on both Bryan and I have 2 cards that we get each year. Each year we buy 2 cards for each other, one card is for the other to open up the current Christmas Day, and the other card is not to be opened until the next year. So, just to clarify, this year we opened cards from each other that we wrote to each other last year, and a card we wrote to each other this year,,, make sense??? It is fun to open both cards, but especially the card that you write the year before, it's interesting to see what you wrote, and what has happened in the year.My goodies,, the Narnia movies(I love the books!) candy, blanket from Bryan's mom, an electric knife from Bryan's parents,, and Bryan got me the Ipod Nano,, I had really wanted this for a long time! I didn't even ask for it, and he still got it for me. In case anyone is wondering, he spoils me beyond reason!This is a book that my Nanny & Papa bought us, so far it has been a really good read! Answering a lot of questions!!! Which is nice seeing as how we are so close now to being a family of 3!

Bryan giving Mercy some Christmas Day lovin'! :-)

That was our morning. Later that afternoon we left to go see a movie, ended up getting rear-ended, then ended up going to the hospital to get checked out. We are fine, we didn't go by ambulance or anything, just drove ourselves. When we were hit it felt like such a hard hit, and we both expected the back of our car to be smushed, but, thankfully, it is ok. The man who hit us, hit our hitch, which is what made it feel like such a hard hit. When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to start monitoring the baby, making sure everything was ok. Come to find out that I was actually contracting, which I didn't even realize, so we spent the next 6 hours there, trying to get the contractions to stop. The Dr. said that b/c I was so far along there was no way to tell if I was contracting on my own, or b/c of the impact of the accident, so they had to stop them.... I somewhat wished we could have just "gone with it", but that is b/c I am SO ready to have him out! :-) But, of course I want him to be healthy and full term as well... so it's ok!

This was so not the highlight of our Christmas Day, obviously, but we are thankful that we all are alright, it could have been worse! The "funny" thing is that on both Thanksgiving and Christmas we were in the hospital, so for New Year's we decided to barricade ourselves in the house and not go anywhere! (For those who don't know, Saturday after Thanksgiving we ended up in the hospital b/c I had Kidney Stones, which is excruciatingly painful! Anyone who has ever had these, I feel your pain! We were in the hospital from Saturday night to Monday morning. Bryan never left my side! He is AWESOME!)

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Belly Pics!! Week 35 & 36

I'm sure these are what you are all waiting for! I have been feeling good for the most part. I find it hard, and uncomfortable to sleep, and my feet make me look like I am related to the Michelin man! LOL! Bryan does a great job at rubbing them for me though! Sadly, I also had to take off my wedding ring :-( My clothes selection is for sure becoming limited; and I just kinda guess at where to put my blush, as my cheek bones have disappeared! LOL! All of it is worth it though! We just can't believe that we are going to be parents this month!(hopefully this month!)

Sorry I do not do better at posting the belly pics! I'll try harder! :-) Enjoy!

35 weeks

35 weeks

36 weeks

36 weeks

31 Weeks down, 9 more to go!!!

It's crazy to think that on Monday we will be able to say, "we are having a baby next month"! Time has definitely flown by! I'm feeling really good, and haven't really been too tired. No weird cravings either. (I get asked that all the time!)

We have decided to name him Michael Brady Corley, calling him Brady. For those who don't know, Bryan's name is Michael Bryan, so we thought it would be cool for them to share the same first name, and same initials.

Brady is VERY active, always moving, flipping, kicking... apparently in my stomach is a pretty fun place to be! He seems to really enjoy it! :-) It's really neat that Bryan can see and feel the movements now. Not that he could not earlier than now, but now there is no mistaking it.

Well here is our 31 week picture( I won't be technically 32 until tomorrow). Enjoy!!

Pictures!!

If you notice, we have a new picture on our blog! Our wonderful friends Nathan and Amber Holritz of Holritz Photography, took some pics of us when we went back to Chattanooga a few weekends ago. Stay tuned for more pics from that session.

If you get a chance, stop by their website, www.holritzphotography.com, they are SOOOO amazingly talented!

Chattanooga Baby Shower

The first weekend in November we made a trip back to Chattanooga for a visit, and to attend our Couples Baby Shower. Our dear friends, Holly and Rene were so sweet to give us this shower! I literally cried when I found out they were doing this for us! Words cannot even express how unbelievably happy this made us, and how loved it made us feel!

The shower was held at Rene's house, which if you have never been too, it is GEORGOUS! It's a historical home, over 100 years old, in downtown Chattanooga!(and should you be interested, in is for sale!) I have TONS of pics from the shower, but will try not to post all of them:-)

Some of the decorations...

This was so cute,, they had a clothes line with little outfits strung up....

Yummy cakes, chocolate covered pretzels, Hershey's kisses,, soooo good:-)

I took some up-close pics of all the goodies....

Each little cake had a baby or a pacifier on top of it....(Rene made everything herself! She is soooo talented!)

This is an upclose of Rene's chocolate chip cookies, which if you have never had,,, well, I'm sorry b/c they are the BEST!!! I LOVE THEM!!!

Hershey's Kisses, the tags read, "It's a boy!" ... too sweet!

Holly made this adorable "diaper cake",, I don't want to take it apart, it's too cute!

The lunch spread,, also yummy,, ham, rolls, dips,, soooo good!!!

Delicious punch, and Rene's Almond Tea

Pam trying to figure out the baby food.. this should be a breeze for her, she has a 5 year old, as well as twins! The women in the blue shirt is Rene, our wonderful host:-)

Of course, there has to be somewhere that the men can go to watch the game! This is Jeff, Rene's husband.

Some close family friends, Kelly, Lori, Laura & Faith:-)

Sandra & I :-)

My mom mailed this blanket to Holly as a surprise gift, this was my baby blanket that she patched up,, so special!

Bryan's mom also surprised us and sent us a blanket as well,, this is a Navajo blanket, he will be very warm in this!!!

Opening some gifts...

I love the dots!

I'm not really sure what he's doing here,,,, but he was a good sport opening up all the presents with me! I love him!! Peace out! :-)

Some of our gifts...

Cute gift basket from Rene & Jeff:-)

Once again, thank you to all who came to the shower and made this one of the most memorable days of our lives! I also wanted to say how much I love Bryan and how greatful I am for him everyday! Without him, I would have never met any of all the dear people that were here at the shower with us, and would have never had the privilage of knowing Holly and Rene, and considering them some of the closet friends I have ever had.

Our "Mail" baby shower

Because we do not live by any family, Bryan's sister, Sandy, and my Mother, decided to give us a "Mail Shower". This was such a neat idea, one that I had never heard of before! They sent out invitations to all of our family, inviting them to participate in a week long mail shower. The shower week started on Oct. 20th, and all week long we were getting presents in the mail. It was so exciting to get home from work everyday and have presents waiting on the porch or in the mailbox! Although, I did wait for Bryan to get home, which sometimes was not until 7 or 8 at night,, which was torture for me!!!! The presents would be just sitting there, wanting me to open them, but I was strong and resisted! :-) Here are a few pics of all the cool stuff we received!

Just in case you can't tell,, there is a Boppy, a sling, books, little bath scrubber and a monkey!

Here are a bunch of cute outfits and blankets:-)

This is what Bryan's parents got him,, Bryan had a pair just like these! They are soooo adorable!!

My parents bought us the stroller/carseat,, which we love and can't wait to get him in!! :-)

They assembly of the stroller.... step one, take out of box...

Step 2, figure out how to "click" the carseat in the base....

Step 3, practice with the monkey! :-)

This is an upclose of the pattern and colors....

Thank you so much to all of our family(and close friends) for making this such a special week for us! Your love for us and our soon-to-be addition is amazing! We are so blessed to have each and everyone of you in our lives! We love you all!!!

6 months down, 3 more to go!!

We can't believe that we are already 24 weeks pregnant, only 16 more and we'll have a son home with us! Craziness! For those of you wondering, we still have not decided on a name,,, we are between Asa and Brady. Feel free to cast your votes:-)

I'm feeling really good these days! He moves all the time, mostly in the late after noon to night. It's fun to see my stomach moving, and even more fun to have Bryan see it and feel it! Hope you all enjoy the pics!

24 weeks