Yes, the little one growing inside of me is starting to make his or her appearance. There’s not much of a bump and I don’t have a picture to show you, but my regular clothes were starting to get really uncomfortable.

I tried the Bella Bands a few times, but they didn’t really stay put and if my shirt wasn’t long enough you could see the band. After church on Sunday, Todd, my mom, his mom, and I got in the car and headed to Charlotte to Destination Maternity. Destination Maternity has all of the major maternity retailers all in one location; A Pea in the Pod, Mimi Maternity, and Motherhood Maternity. Todd went on to the mall to entertain himself while the ladies watched me try on clothes.

Trying on maternity clothes was even more strange than trying on a wedding dress for the first time. We found so many cute things and my mom and I did some serious damage at that store! Since then, I’ve been in clothes heaven! Maternity clothes are so cute and so comfortable.

I was able to find my usual Seven A-Pocket jeans, but maternity-style, and in my usual size. The legs and booty fit the same, but there’s just lots of space for my expanding mid-section.

These are two of my favorite new short sleeved sweaters that I’ll likely wear with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath.

I got to try on the little velcro baby bumps to see what the clothes will look like when I’m 7 or 9 months pregnant. That was pretty strange, too. My mom took a picture and I may be able to get my hands on that to show all of you. The other thing I noticed is that when I took the baby bump simulator off, I noticed my tiny bump a lot more! Maternity clothes these days don’t hide the bump, the accentuate it so you can have your normal shape and curves, but that the bump looks like a baby bump and not a Christmas diet bump.

I’ll be 17 weeks pregnant on Friday. Time is flying! I went to the doctor on Monday for the 16 week appointment and to have the genetic blood test done. I don’t know the test results yet, but I’m trying not to really think about it. I didn’t have an ultrasound, but I heard the strong heartbeat again and the doctor says that everything is fine.

I am feeling much better during the day (except for the last two days when I’ve pretty much thrown up all day), but I’m finding that I feel sick right when I lie down to go to sleep. Here’s to no more throwing up in 2009!

Todd and I are spending the evening at home with Italian take-out and some movies. I can’t think of a better way to spend the evening! Happy New Year, friends.

I’ve been gone a while, but I have very good reason! My parents, brother, and their dog Beaux arrived on December 23 and I didn’t read or write a blog the entire time they were here. They left yesterday and, as usual, the goodbye was tearful.

We had a great Christmas at our house. We went to church on Christmas Eve with my family and Todd’s family and then we all came back to our house to eat gumbo. On Christmas morning we woke up and ate breakfast and then opened presents. My family decided to draw names this year so we could all save some money and it was great. My parents and Todd’s parents gave us a new hutch for our dining room. My mom got my name and gave me lots of scarves and a beautiful silver tray for my dining table.

Todd gave me the Canon Rebel. I can’t wait to figure out how to use it and get ready to take lots of gorgeous photos of our new addition that will arrive in June.

He also gave me the Sonya Renee necklace I’ve been wanting, some comfy boots, and DVDs.

I gave Todd lots of lawn equipment, some jeans, and the new Gamecock football vault. My brother drew Todd’s name and Todd got loaded up with clothes and socks.

We went to see Marley and Me the day after Christmas and I’m not sure I’ve ever cried so hard in a movie in my life. The only other time I’ve cried that hard over a story was when I read the book. But I was crying and had to take a couple of those big deep, choking breaths. Great movie. I’m sure I’ll watch it every time I see it on TV. There is nothing like the unconditional love that you get from your dog.

One of my favorite bloggers is getting married today! I can’t believe how fast time flies. It was just a little less than a year ago that her little blog was mentioned on Style Me Pretty and I started reading about her wedding planning process.

Happy wedding day, Hasel Bride! I hope that this “reluctant winter bride” has her “fabulous winter wedding!”

I don’t have enough complete thoughts to write a long post. We can all blame it on the pregnancy. I do have lots of little things that I’d like to fill you in on, so here goes…

First… I drove up to Greenville today to have lunch with a high school friend that I hadn’t seen in such a long time. It was a lot of fun catching up. She and her husband moved to Greenville three weeks ago and it’s great to know that I’ve got an old friend just a little over an hour away. I love Greenville, too, and I’ve only been back once since the wedding, so this was a great excuse to get up there for the day.

Next… I am done with work until January 5! Maybe the only true perk about my job is that I have such a long break over the Christmas holidays. I took today off and I’m taking off Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday until January 5 are paid holidays, though! It’s going to be so hard to go back after such a long break, but I’m already so happy and at peace just knowing that the break has begun. I’ll spend a good part of it perfecting my syllabus for the surprise class that I’ll be teaching next semester. Scary.

Then… Today marks my 15th week of pregnancy. Nothing really exciting to report with that at this time, but I’m excited to have another week under my belt. And I didn’t throw up all day! It probably helps that I haven’t let myself get hungry at all today. The phenergen keeps me really tired, but it definitely works. I hope that the day will come when I don’t have to take medicine that makes me extremely sleep and unbelievably thirsty just to keep my food down. I go back to the doctor on December 29 for my 16 week appointment. It would be nice if I could get another ultrasound at that point to find out the gender of the baby, but I think that’s going to have to wait until the 20 week appointment on January 27. I’ll keep you all posted.

And… My parents, my brother, and the best golden retriever in the world arrive at our house on Wednesday night. I can’t wait for everyone to get here.

Also… My real life friend just started a cute blog called In the Land of Cotton. Isn’t that the cutest name? We met in grad school and now we have very similar jobs, so we always have lots to talk about. Go visit her and leave her some love!

Oh, and…. I finally mailed out my Christmas cards. Finally, finally, finally!

Finally… We finally broke down and bought the new sink for our downstairs/guest bathroom. Our current sink has two spiggots. Hot water comes out of one spiggot and cold water comes out of the other. Washing your hands is quite painful. My parents use that bathroom when they stay with us and my poor Dad hates to shave in that sink. So we’re going to replace it! We’re able to get it the new sink wholesale through my mom’s business. When she called to order it we were informed that it had been discontinued three weeks ago, but they would try to find a model on a showroom floor that we could purchase. They found one in Atlanta. I gave them my credit card number and expected to be charged the full $700 for the sink, console, and mirror. Not inexpensive and it’s wholesale! So I’m driving down to the Atlanta area on Monday to pick up the sink and mirror and turn around and come right back. The sink will be installed on Tuesday– just in time for my parents’ arrival! So my mom called to let me know the exact amount that had been charged to my credit card and she said that because it was the very last model it had been marked down 60 percent! We paid $241 for our sink, console, mirror, and all the hardware!

Those are the exciting things going on in our house right now. Sorry for the random rambling post!