Baby Gwin is a....

GIRL! We are so excited! I thought I knew for sure that it was going to be a boy, but since day one John has insisted that it was a girl. He was right! (For once, I actually don't mind saying it... "You were right, I was wrong." Write it down, I'll never say it again.)

Here are a few pictures of her at the 16 week ultrasound...

It's definitely a GIRL! And suffice it to say she already has quite the ATTITUDE! (Insert sarcastic comment here, such as "NO! Not your child!"or "She is related to you, ya know.") During the ultrasound, Sheila (ultrasonographer extraordinare) was trying to push little girl around to get a better view when all of a sudden, in response to the provocation, baby STOMPS HER FEET, then arches her back and ELBOWS me!

Here's a shot of how our little girl is positioned... UPSIDE DOWN and her head is ON MY BLADDER. Explains the 38924 trips to the potty each day. Well, at least it seems like that many.

OK, you have to use your imagination a little here, but this is a picture of her little face.

That's all for now.... More to come later. Have a great week everybody!

We have BIG NEWS!

John and I are having a BABY! Our due date is February 17, 2010~ which seems so far away, but I'm sure it'll be here before we know it! Our first ultrasound was Tuesday, July 21st. To say it was amazing to see the first pictures of our baby is a huge understatement! When the doctor pointed out the tiny head, hands, feet, and little flicker of a heartbeat we were speechless. (Maybe for the first time in my life, ha!) John says it looks like him. ;) We will find out in six weeks what the gender is. For the record, I think BOY, but John thinks GIRL. After we find out, which will actually be the week of our 3rd anniversary, (and also the week of the first Auburn home game) the loser has to take the winner out to the restaurant of choice. I better think of somewhere good...

Summer Reading

Since there is clearly nothing exciting going on to blog about, I thought I'd share what I am reading right now. It seems lately I have an obsession with buying books- Hastings has a great clearance section out front, Target entices me with the "Bookmarked" stickers on discounted reads, and believe it or not, if you look hard enough, you can find some treasures at the Thrift Store for $1 to $3. I have accumulated several books on my nightstand, and I am in the middle of all of them. My mood determines which one I delve into on a given evening. Some nights, I start with one for awhile, then switch to another before dozing off. Here are the books piled next to my bed:

Quantum Wellness by Kathy Freston: I'm a little less than mid-way through this one. She has alot of great information to share about wellness, which I am slowly figuring out is a JOURNEY, not a DESTINATION. I love the chapter on clearing the mental chatter. I had to stop in the Conscious Eating chapter- I'm not quite ready to be persuaded into Vegetarianism.

Master Your Metabolism by Biggest Loser Trainer Jillian Michaels
Jillian is hardcore. Even though I've just begun this one, it is really helping me understand how our HORMONES affect everything, I mean EVERYTHING! Including, but not limited to, the way we gain and lose weight. I've also heard great things about her previous book, Making the Cut, (about fitness training) which I'll be sure to pick up when I finish this one.

The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands
by Dr. Laura Schlessinger
This is another one I've started lately. It is the first Dr. Laura book I've read, but I'm loving her already! She is just so practical, and very straight-forward with her readers. I let (uh, made) John read the introductory chapter that explains how very basic men's needs are. After reading it, he handed it back to me with a smirk and says,"APPROVED!"

I saved the BEST for LAST: Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

The author of this book tells her story about a year of travelling the world following a nasty divorce, in an attempt to rediscover herself, whom she lost during her draining marriage. After much though, she decides to visit Italy to learn to appreciate fine cuisine and learn Italian, India to learn to pray and meditate, and finally Indonesia to study with a Balinese medicine man to learn to balance it all. Only weeks after planning her year of travelling (four months in each country) she realizes that each stop in her journey to self-discovery begins with the letter "I". I'm about two-thirds through this one, and I am going to be sad to finish it because it is such an entertaining read.

Better Late than Never?

I have decided that I am the world's worst blogger. One post in two months= LAME! That's it. I'm over it. *sigh* I'm finally posting pictures from our wonderful (and extremely overdue) trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica that was nearly two months ago! I have promised myself that I will never again allow as much time to pass between the small doses of R&R that I, in my own humble opinion, rightfully deserve... I guess our vacation, much like this blog post, came better late than never.


How could you NOT relax when this is the view from your balcony?

Oh, and the view at sunset. The weather was so perfect we left the balcony doors open every night. Heaven!


Stopping between breakfast and our morning beach outing for a quick pic. That pretty much sums our trip: EAT, BEACH, SLEEP, and repeat. It was tough, I guess it's a good thing we're such troopers.

O.K. one more....




PARADISE found! By the third day we were plotting for next year's trip. (That reminds me, where is our tax return?) Back to REALITY...

Our Life in a Nutshell

This is our home. Our FIRST house together- we haved lived here since we moved back from Pensacola in March 2007. (After we got married in September 2006, we lived in Pensacola for a few months before we gave in and moved back to Auburn :)

Since we've been back in Auburn, alot has happened in our lives. Trust me, in our case these changes have been VERY positive! In the last year, John and I have both experienced career changes. John accepted a job with the City of Phenix City, where he is now the Assistant City Engineer. Depsite the commute, not to mention a ton of added responsibility, John is much happier in his job and is truly in his element. Some things in life are just worth the sacrifice, and being happy at work is definitely one of them! (Something I have recently experienced first hand!)


Last August, I opened my own business called One Eighty Wellness Spa. Talk about added responsibility! I'm not sure I ever knew or could have known exactly what I was getting myself into becoming a business owner. Managing every detail of a business can be overwhelming alot of the time. With that being said, I couldn't be happier! I LOVE doing what I do! Everything from seeing my regular skin care clients for treatments to marketing and event planning is very enjoyable to me. Of course there are elements of the position I could live without (such as paying taxes) but as I mentioned earlier, some things in life are definitely worth the sacrifice. Here is a picture of the front of the spa. I'll post a "Spa Tour" of pictures later.

Here is a shot of our four-legged chilren in our backyard. Ryder, on the left, is my 3-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. My little shadow, Ryder can't seem to ever get enough to eat. He LOVES rawhides! He's a funny little thing... Gypsy, on the right, is a 3-year-old Border Collie and is a very smart girl! Since she was a puppy, we could ask her, "Gypsy, would you rather be a Bama fan or a dead dog?" and she will roll over and play dead. Now that she is a little older, her tricks are becoming more fun and complex. She knows how to use her "inside voice" when asked and always closes the back door behind herself when she comes in from outside. The two of them are best friends and keep each other busy! They are absolutely hilarious and I can't imagaine life without dogs! Don't worry, I'm sure there will be many videos and pictures posted of them in the future...

That's about it! Aside from our busy jobs and crazy pups, our lives are pretty boring! We always say we'd like to travel more, go camping, canoeing- ANYTHING to get away! But, like everyone else, time gets away from us and another busy week has come and gone... UNTIL NOW! I am elated that Friday we are leaving to go on a very long-awaited and much overdue vacation- to Ocho Rios, Jamaica! For six whole days! Jealous? Don't be! Not only did John and I miss out on a honeymoon 2 1/2 years ago, but neither of us has had any semblance of a vacation in years! I have a feeling my next post will have evidence of us actually relaxing! (I wonder if I remember how to do that...) ~Until then!~