OH! Look at her belly!

Seth took me out to lunch one day last week. As we were walking in, we hear "Oh, look at her belly! OH!! She's pregnant!" Ha. And what makes it even better is that it was a man who took notice of my growing belly.

23 Weeks and 3 Days....but who's counting? :)

Baseball Trip 2011

This year for our baseball trip, we decided to go to Boston! It was a real quick three day trip, but we had a great time. We took Chad, Caleb, and Gillian with us. Our trip started off a little rocky. We booked flights with US Airways out of Chattanooga, because they were much cheaper than anything we could get out of Huntsville or Nashville. We drove up the day before our flight and stayed with Seth's Aunt Nina. (who is quite the fiesty 91 year old, by the way) We were able to spend most of the day with her. Then about 10 o'clock that night...right before we were all about to get ready for bed...I got a phone call. "We're sorry but your flight for 7 AM tomorrow morning has been cancelled." Not delayed...CANCELLED. Seth got on the phone with US Airways...not a single thing they could do out of Chattanooga, on ANY airline. We were just out of luck. Thankfully, Seth had the brilliance to ask about flights out of Huntsville. Sure enough, they had 5 seats out of Huntsville at 6 AM! So, what did we do? We drove back to Huntsville that night, got MAYBE four hours of sleep, and flew to Boston from Huntsville. Whew! But we did make it safely and in time for the game that day!

The rest of our trip went great! Here are a few pictures...

In front of the Green Monster

Seth's big catch during BP

The Boys

The Whole Gang (I quite enjoyed having another girl on this year's trip!)

As is tradition, we got ice cream in a hat at the first game. For the second game, we got fries in a BIG hat! It makes the perfect cereal bowl!

Me and Seth (and if you look closely, Baylee's little baby bump)...heading to our outfield seats

The view from the Green Monster.

Wait...how did we get there you might ask?! Seth and I were just relaxing in our seats in the outfield. Right before the game began, a Fenway guy comes up to us and tells us that he is going to upgrade our seats to the Green Monster, for free!! We were in shock!! We never get that lucky! Seth jumped up and said OKAY!! ... then looked at the rest of the group of said "see you guys later." Ha! (We did try to scheme a way to get them up there too, but it didn't happen.)

Seth, right after we got to the front row seats on the Monster! We were still trying to figure out what just happened! :) We have decided that our little Baylee must be good luck!!

This last picture may just be my favorite picture from the whole trip. The boy loves some baseball...the shirt says it all! :)

(By the way, in case you were wondering, we will never be using US Airways again.)

Rodeo Champion

Congratulations to my brother for winning his division at this year's TN Valley Lineman Rodeo! We weren't able to go watch him this year, but I hear he did spectacular! Here are a couple pictures that my dad took...

It's a ... ???

Well, by now, I am sure that what we are having is no longer a secret to anyone! But just in case it is....

We are having a GIRL! We have a perfectly healthy little girl on the way, and we are so excited! Well, Seth is working his way into the FULL excitement of having a GIRL, but he is totally getting there! :) We do already have a name picked out...Baylee Kate Bowen. So, that's one thing we can check off the list. She was very cooperative during the ultrasound, so we are pretty certain that the girl prediction is correct. Here are a couple of the ultrasound pictures:

Her Profile

Her Little Legs

Her Arms...each picture shows a different arm

My parents were camping near Guntersville, so we had our Baby Luau Reveal Party there. Eli got in some fishing time with the boys while we waited on the whole crew to arrive.

Mr. Rex also took him on his first boat ride. (All the big boys in that boat make it look tiny!)

And here is the whole clan! Can you believe that only TWO of them picked girl?! My mom and Seth's grandmother were the only two to guess it right.

You can't even tell that I am 21 weeks pregnant in this picture! I promise I am! After the big reveal, we also celebrated Seth's 31st birthday!

Eli was a big help! He wanted to help Seth blow out the candles AND open his presents! Notice the life jacket...he absolutely would not take that thing off all night! It didn't matter if he was anywhere near the water or not. :) Funny boy!

Myles was primarily concerned with finding more oreos. :) Every time I turned around, he was sneaking a couple more off the table.

We spent the rest of the weekend at the campground with my parents. It turned out to be a really nice weekend! Seth and I were even up early enough one morning to see the sunrise! Here is one picture I caught of Seth and Dad out on the boat early one morning.

The Countdown in On!

Only 18 more days until we find out if we are having a boy or a girl!! It is hard to believe that we are almost halfway into the pregnancy! I will be 18 Weeks tomorrow and I am still feeling great! I do tend to get tired a little more easily and I have to be careful not to get overheated....that's when I usually get sick...but other than that, I have felt really good!

Here are a couple pictures of the slowly growing baby belly. :)

17 Weeks....my belly always seems to look bigger when I wear dresses for some reason.

18 Weeks

I also had to include this picture. Seth performed his first wedding ceremony last Saturday! Yeah, I know you are thinking...WHAT?? It was for his second cousin...she asked him over a year ago to perform the ceremony. So, he couldn't say no. :) He did a WONDERFUL job. He kept it short and sweet, but it was just perfect! I am very proud of him!

Snacks and Cravings

Up to this point, only a couple foods have made by stomach uneasy just by looking at them. And I haven't had any REAL cravings. However, I do have some of my favorite snacks and such these days.

First, I have fallen in love with V8 Splash! We always ate pretty healthy before the pregnancy, but I wanted to make sure I was getting plenty of fruits and veggies into my diet. So, this has become my alternative to lemonade. Some of the flavors can have a little odd taste...but the tropical blend one is very good! At least in my opinion!

I have been trying not to eat many sweets. But some days, you just need a little something to appease the taste buds. Captain Crunch is constantly stocked in the kitchen right now. Did you know that all Captain Crunch cereals have 100% of your daily folic acid in one serving?! So, not only is it tasty...it is also very good for baby!!

The one thing that I have craved is Mexican food. I won't discriminate though...Taco Bell, Rosie's, Moe's...any of it will do!

Pre-pregnancy, I was a big fan of Mt. Dew. So, these days...when I'm craving something other than water or milk or juice...Caffeine Free Diet Mt. Dew!

I'm Still Here, I Promise!!

Wow! I have gotten so behind on posting!! Don't tell anyone, but I usually update this thing at work. And lately, we have been extremely busy. I have a few free minutes so I will try to give you a quick update on the past couple of months!!

First of all, Baby Bowen is doing great!! I have had a couple check-ups since I last posted and my doctor has been happy with the progress at each of them. I am almost 17 weeks along now. I was able to hear the baby's heartbeat a couple times...which was absolutely amazing! I have felt so good during the pregnancy (knock on wood), that sometimes I think...am I really having a baby?? But when I hear the heartbeat, it just amazes me that a human being is growing inside of me! My most recent check-up was yesterday and my doctor told me that we have a very active baby! We could hear him/her kick the ultrasound probe then just roll all around while she was trying to find the heartbeat. It was pretty funny. :) Our next appt. is the second week in June and we are supposed to find out if it's a boy or girl!! I told Seth last night that I really feel like it's a boy, but that could be because I want it to be a boy so badly for Seth. :) I know though that no matter what it is, that child will be given sooo much love! And as long as the baby is healthy, we really cannot ask for anything more.

Here are a couple pictures of my teeny tiny baby belly. I was 11 weeks in this first picture. Really, I was the only one who could tell a difference. Just looking at me, you couldn't tell I was pregnant.

I am 15 weeks in this next picture. (And I did not plan to have the same dress on in these pictures!) You can see just a little belly starting to pop out. :)

I guess the next big event to talk about was Easter. And honestly, there's not much to talk about, but I do have a few pictures!! The Easter Bunny came to see Seth as usual. :)

After lunch at Grandma's, the kids of course had an Easter egg hunt!



After Myles found his one egg, he was pretty pleased with himself and ready for something else! :)


A few days after Easter is when the storms hit Alabama. Our power went off Wednesday evening right after I finished cooking dinner. Seth pulled the mattresses into the hallway, which is where we ate our dinner...by flashlight. I know, how romantic! :) This picture does not do the situation justice (thanks to the flash on the camera). It was a very dark and eerie night. We spent the next few hours laying in between the mattresses, waiting out the storms. We were very fortunante not to have any damage. The nearest tornado hit hard about 10 miles north of us.

And finally, the most recent happenings..this past Sunday was my 27th birthday! It was a wonderful day! Sunday afternoon, Myles and I got in some much needed rest.

Sunday night, Seth and the in-laws threw me a semi-surprise party! Stacy made a beautiful and yummy cake. Eli was very willing to help me blow the candles out.

Even in this picture...he is still helping me blow out the candles...which were already out. :)

And I just have to include this last picture that Seth took of Myles...such a little sweetie!

Okay, I think that has you caught up on the few things that have been going on around here! Stay tuned for more baby information!! :)