14 Weeks

Now that everyone knows we're expecting you all want details. So needy... :)

(As if I'm not dying to tell you all about it.)

I'm 14 weeks today and baby Gilliam is due in exactly 6 months, March 25! It's crazy, scary, and absolutely wonderful.

Before I knew I was pregnant (I was excited to be wearing my boat shoes on a boat!)

We found out I was pregnant July 17. I took 2 home pregnancy tests, which Nate thinks was one too many but the first one (even in spite of the blurry picture) was a VERY faint line. So I took another the next morning which was much clearer. The doctor's office confirmed it later that day.

The first

The second

So far pregnancy has been easy, breezy. I was nauseous for a week, but all I needed to do was eat every few hours. I never got sick!!! No smell or food aversions. Which is good since I'm hungry ALL the time. One weekend I was absolutely exhausted, but I haven't been nearly as tired as expected.

8 weeks

9 weeks

I've only had a few doctor's appointments, but so far everything looks great! We first got to see Baby and hear its heartbeat at 9 weeks. The heartbeat was 170 beats per minute. I had a physical at 10 weeks and got to see/hear Baby again. My next appointment isn't for another few weeks and I probably won't get another ultrasound until 20 weeks. We are planning to find out if it's a boy or a girl. It'll definitely help with picking a name.

I'll try to keep this updated with pictures and any new info. Thanks for all the congratulations! We're excited and glad to share it with you!

12 weeks

Summer 2011

I can't believe today is the first day of fall! Where did the summer go?

Sorry for the delay, but here's a Gilliam summer recap. Trust me, it's not that I haven't had things to blog about. It's that we've been busy enjoying our summer :)

For most of the summer we lived here.


Well, more like in this house right across the street. But we sure spent plenty of time on our gorgeous, non-crowded beach.

Jealous?

You should be :)

Our beach house

I loved living on Topsail Island and being able to walk to the beach. But, the owners of the beach house wanted to come down for a few weeks, so we had to move out :( It was silly (who would want 2 weeks at the beach over several months of someone else paying their mortgage?!?!?) and we were none to happy to be moving again, but alas now we live in what I call the "highway house". It's not as nice, it's definitely not across the street from the beach, it was D-I-R-T-Y when we moved in, Daisy got fleas, and I found a HUGE copperhead on our front porch. A few weeks in and it's better now that it's clean, we've mostly taken care of the fleas, and Nate killed the snake. Oh base housing, why must you be so elusive...

Yes, that is a red bathtub in our front yard. Don't ask. We don't know.

Amidst all our moving and housing woes, we did have a wonderful summer! Nate's mom, Nate's brother, and my parents all came to visit at some point or another! We attempted to go to a wedding in TN, but thanks to traffic ending up spending the whole weekend in GA with our good friends, Leandi and Kevin (L&K). One of my best friends from high school, Cat, got married to the wonderful Clay and I was honored to be a bridesmaid. We made a trip to Maryland to visit family and for Cat's wedding reception. I felt the VA earthquake all the way down here. Hurricane Irene was weathered with Cat and Clay at his parents farm. Labor day weekend we went camping with L&K (it's become a tradition). College friend JB flew down last weekend and while she was here we met up with our friend Jen in Myrtle Beach, SC. And if we weren't running around doing all that, we tried to be relaxing at the beach.

4th of July with my parents and our friend Lewis

I finally got a picture on the "River Court" from One Tree Hill

We toured the USS North Carolina

Cat and me on her wedding day!

Nate caught a shark!

Our pathfinder successfully navigated the 4-wheel drive beach on the north side of the island

How I wish I spent everyday :)

Oh, and one other big thing did happened this summer.

Can you guess?

Do you already know?

I'M PREGNANT!!!

Restaurant.com

We bought $100 worth of gift certificates for $9.50 at restaurant.com! Go see what restaurants are in your area between now and the end of the month, enter the code "KRAZY" at checkout, and get 80% off! It's normally $10 for a $25 gift certificate (there's usually a $35 minimum purchase at the restaurant), but with the coupon you get it for $2!!! So get the coupon, go out, enjoy some awesome food, spend just over $35 and pay only $12. I'm excited and you should be too :)

In other news, we have our first visitor this weekend!!! Nate's mom is coming down for a long weekend and we're excited to show her our new home :) Hope you enjoy your weekend too!

Pics from Graduation in Newport

Nate graduated 7th in his aviation supply class up in Newport! Here are some pictures from that day (our last one in Newport). Better late than never!

Me and Nate

Nate with some of his classmates and Stacy

Stacy, Candie, and Me

Quarter Century and 3 Years!

Within the past week we've celebrated both my 25th birthday and our 3rd anniversary!

I thought 25 would be a "scary" birthday. It's a birthday that you realize is on the horizon for a few years, but you can take comfort in the fact that (for now) you're still in your early 20's. As of the 16th I've officially entered my mid-20's, but so far a quarter of a century really isn't looking so bad from here :) I spent my day receiving lots of love from family and friends. Thanks for all the messages, cards, gifts, and calls. I really felt special. Nate even made me a cake (complete with candles) and sang to me! I had my nails done during the day and we went down to Wrightsville Beach that evening for dinner. All in all, it was a great day and I really don't feel any older!

Tuesday Nate and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! It's hard to believe where we've been in the last 3 years, but they've been the best 3 years of my life :) Nate was exhausted from a night of duty so we just stayed in. Our gift to ourselves this year was a gas grill which we used to grill some filet mignon and shrimp. I steamed some crabs and we had ourselves a feast :) And every year I make Nate a "replica" of his grooms cake. The rental house doesn't have the right pans so I had to improvise. Surprisingly, it doesn't look bad and is as delicious as always! Enjoy some pictures from our special day. We're looking forward to many years of special days to come :)

Surf City, NC

Surf City is our new home for the next few months until we get a house on-base. We've done an island hop from Aquidneck Island in RI to Topsail Island in NC.

To say I love our new home would be an understatement.

The house were renting is 3 times as big as the "cottage" in RI. Daisy is loving the room to run around and play. I'm loving the dishwasher, the increase in pots and pans, the bed that doesn't sink towards the middle, 2 bathrooms, a dining room table, and just generally more room to put our stuff. Nate's loving that we found the XBOX 360 at the front of storage. Having 2 weeks of leave to play it was a nice perk too.

But, the best part?

We live approx. 662 ft. from the beach on the Atlantic Ocean!!!

I am in HEAVEN.

We take Daisy to the beach for walks in the evening, I've been there every weekend, and with enough motivation I could go during the week for my lunch break! There's even an ocean kayak here for us to use. Plus, being on a very narrow island provides many a fishing spot for the mister.

Not many people get to live in the place of their dreams (even if only for a few months) and I've wanted to live at the beach for as long as I can remember. God truly knows the desires of his children's hearts and often fulfills them in ways that we never could have imagined. If I had spent my life trying to get here, I probably would still be working toward that end. But instead I followed Him and ended up right where I wanted to be without even trying. Amazing how that works...

Craziness

We have not fallen off the face of the earth. Promise.

We have...

• Celebrated Easter with my family. They came to visit RI Easter weekend.
• Spent time with my sister before she heads to TX (she came up a few days before the rest of the fam).
  
• Attended a coffee house/auction to support a friend's mission trip to India.
• Bought a new (to us) car! We bought a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder as our second car.
• Spent a long weekend in MA celebrating Jenna V's birthday which included a trip to Maine (Jaime).
• This past weekend Jenna B came to visit! We did the cliff walk (for the final time) and Jaime and Jenna went to Block Island (Sunday) and spent Monday in Boston doing the Freedom Trail.
• Found a house to rent for a few months until base housing is ready.
• Started preparing for Cat's bridal shower.
  
• Worked on finishing up school and online classes that need to be complete shortly after we get to NC (Nate).

It's been a little busy.

AND

Graduation is TOMORROW!

So the craziness continues.

We'll be leaving RI right after graduation and making our way to MD. We'll be in MD for the long weekend, complete with a wedding, a birthday party, and visiting with family. Then Tuesday we make our way to NC!!!

Nate's excited to be done with training for a while.

I'm excited for the beach.

Now that we'll a) live like normal people without homework and b) live at the beach, we do have one small request...

COME VISIT!