Photoshoot Sneak Peek

We had our maternity pictures taken by the very sweet and amazingly fabulous Kellie Kano in Greensboro after our Baby Shower Weekend! We met at her studio and drove out to the "middle of nowhere" to shoot before the sun went down. We haven't had any professional pictures taken since our wedding (almost 3 years ago...WOW), but she made it easy to be so comfortable in front of her camera. We can't wait to see and share everything she got....but to tide us over she gave us this sneak peek!

http://plixi.com/p/75714769

Showered with LOVE

Our family and friends poured into Greensboro at the beginning of February for our Baby Shower weekend! We had family dinner at my grandfather's on Friday night and received one of our big ticket registry items...our stroller! I can honestly say that we put more research into this piece of equipment than I think either of us put into our college choices, car purchases or home buying. I must have folded and unfolded, pushed and picked up DOZENS of strollers and car seats....all on top of endless hours of research. There are so many great choices out there, but at the end of the day we felt this little baby would be the best fit for our family. 

THANK YOU Papa and Corky....we know our little nugget will LOVE his Orbit stroller!

After a wonderful Friday night dinner to kickstart the weekend, we picked up friends from the airport and called it a night in preparation for the eventful Saturday ahead. My bests from Florida hadn't seen me in person since October/November, so needless to say they were pretty shocked to see a whole new body (BELLY) greeting them at the airport that night!

We woke up Saturday morning to the smells of monkey bread and breakfast casserole. :) Then our housefull of guests got Baby Shower ready and headed out to celebrate.

The whole Boynton crew made a special appearance....these were some of my favorite books and characters from when I was a kid!

And these were the gifts in place...BEFORE the guests started to arrive! I can definitely say that we are ALL SET and ready for this baby when it comes to STUFF. We are so lucky to have such supportive and generous friends and family...they took care of our entire registry! It took several car loads to get things home and now our dining room is filled from top to bottom. At some point, we're going to have to find a place for it all. :)

Tyler's family came in town from Florida and NYC and some of my family came in from Atlanta and Philly. And my wonderful girlfriends made the trip from Charlotte and even from Florida for the weekend as well. It was so wonderful to be surrounded by so many loved ones!!

Here is a fun picture with some of my favs...and you can also follow this link to see (and POST if you had a camera) some other great shots from the shower: http://babykey.snapfish.com/snapfish

After a great afternoon, we had a delicious Italian dinner back at the house. Tyler and I are so grateful for everything surrounding this new member of our family. We really can't wait to meet him!

Our 2011 Snow Mama

January brought our first and so far only "BIG" snow of the year. We got some serious inches (for NC at least) and enjoyed a couple days of working from home and playing outside with Tess.

It was a really pretty snow!

These will give you an idea of how much snow we actually got...

Tess LOVES being out in the snow. For a dog who usually chooses to spend her days snuggled up in the warm house, she has an unusual desire to frolic through the powder and try to catch snowballs.

We spent most of our afternoon trying to build a pregnant snow mama. :) It was quite a task but here's how she turned out!

Had to grab a picture of both of our bellies...

...and couldn't forget to take one with our first child. :)

Then it was inside to warm up and enjoy some snuggling. Ever since Tyler's busy travel schedule in the fall, Tess has found herself with a permanent spot on our couch. She throws us those big brown eyes until we move our legs off her blanket so she can hang out with us each night.

The Nugget in 3-D

Early in January we got to see our nugget up close and in 3-D! My mom had never seen an ultrasound in person, so she came into town and loved every minute of sitting with Tyler and I as we watched our little guy in action. He seemed a little sleepy at first and was keeping his hands up around his face, but then he really put on a great show for us.

He started by waving HELLO! And if you ask me, it kind of looks like he is trying to do the sign for I LOVE YOU...but that's just one mom-to-be's opinion. :)

Then we got a great shot of his mug once he moved his hands out of the way. My mom thought this image looked incredibly familiar to her...

...and it's a little crazy that this is the picture she had in mind from when I was 2 days old!

The nugget even gave us his best Elvis smirk...

...and showed us how he can already suck on his thumb!

We could not get enough of him and everything he had to show us! It only makes us that much more excited to meet him in March!!

The Nugget's FIRST Seminole Season

Looking back at all the pictures, I was shocked to realize how much NOLE following we did during the fall! We started the season with a Kick-Off party for the Charlotte Seminole Club. Tyler had a huge hand in planning the event and the turnout was even better than we had hoped. We had two great speakers Everette and Danny.

The girls with former Nole and current Panther, Everette!

Once the season got underway, Tyler took an RV trip with his friends from college to the Oklahoma game. It was a disappointing loss for the Noles, but a good time was definitely had by all. :)

After Oklahoma, it was off to UVA! Drew and Lindsey picked us up and we met Tyler's family in Charlottesville for a gorgeous football weekend.

Tracey came into town for the day on the bus with the DC Noles.

Then we finally got an FSU game in North Carolina! Kristin came in town early for a long weekend and we rode the bus with the Charlotte Seminole Club over to Raleigh for the Thursday night game.

Tyler took a flight directly into Raleigh, so tailgate time was spent with the girls. :)

We finished up the regular season with the Nugget's first game in Doak Cambell Stadium where we watched the Noles defeat the Gators.

For his first Seminole Season, the Nugget really got a great showing! He came in with the start of the Jimbo era and we're all looking forward to seeing what the Noles have to offer in 2011. :)

Flying through the Holidays

November and December seemed to fly by without us even realizing it! Tyler was traveling a TON for work, wrapping up things for the end of 2010 and getting things in place for 2011. When he was in town, we seemed to be traveling on our own so it made for a very busy and very quick couple of months. 

We were able to catch the Renaissance Festival in our area, the last weekend it was in town. We have known about it since we moved here, but have never made it a point to visit. We had a ball!! We walked through all the little shops, watched the shows and ate the food. It was great spending the day outside and taking in all of the sights and sounds of the festival. While we were there, we made sure not to miss the main event...the JOUST! We were cheering for the red and silver knight. :)

The Renaissance Royal Family was also there to watch the show!

Before we knew it, we were off to Florida for Thanksgiving. We made it an extra long weekend and drove down after work on Tuesday. This marked a very new time in my pregnancy....serious discomfort!  We learned on this trip that full workdays followed by 7 hour car rides would not be happening again until after our little nugget makes his debut. Luckily it was such a relaxing weekend away and my body had plenty of time to recover. We visited with friends, enjoyed time with family, had an incredible Thanksgiving meal and then made it over to Tallahassee for the Florida State v Florida game on Saturday! We saw friends and squeezed into our seats to watch one of my favorite games I've ever been to at Doak Campbell Stadium.

We stopped in Jacksonville on our way to visit with Tyler's grandparents. Even they were festive in their Garnet and Gold!

Then it was off to Tally for GAME DAY!

 It was a great win for the Noles and an easy drive home on Sunday for us. 

Then onto December, which brought more traveling and time spent with family. The weekend before Christmas we headed to Greensboro to celebrate Hannukah with my family. We were getting kind of low on belly pictures, so my mom made sure to grab a couple while we were there. We spent a wonderful weekend together and then came back to a short work week before traveling back to Florida for Christmas with Tyler's family.

Having learned our lesson at Thanksgiving, we got a good night's rest before making the 7 hour trip to Florida in December. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! Then we spent another great long weekend with family and friends.

Tyler's mom made a sock tree in our room for the nugget.

We snuggled up on Christmas morning for breakfast and opening gifts.

Tess wasn't very happy with her festive collar, but she was a good sport. :)

It was a busy, but wonderful, holiday season. And in the middle of all of it, we also had a very busy Seminole Season! More to come on our nugget's first football season as a NOLE!!

A Glimpse...

Here is a little glimpse into the Nugget's Nursery!

I just got a call this week that the furniture has arrived...YAY...but hopefully this will tide you over until I can post pictures of the final product. The furniture is all in a distressed vintage white, which should be a fun contrast to the bold colors and modern patterns of the walls and bedding.

We think it will be a pretty fabulous place for him to spend his first couple of years. :)