Officer and the Gentleman

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Why Norah June?

We had so many girl names in mind that it was overwhelming! We had no trouble at all finding little girl names that we loved. We knew we wanted a family name in there somewhere, so we decided on "June" after my paternal Grandmother's first name and maternal Great-Grandmother's middle name.

Norah was a different story. We had tossed around a few, but my husband is an old soul and loves older classic names. I like modern, out-of-the-box names, but luckily we met in the middle. When we were in the ultrasound room finding out about her for the first time, my husband uttered, "There's our little Norah" and it just stuck. We knew she was our sweet Norah. My husband even chose the spelling. I was thinking N-O-R-A, but he liked the H at the end. We also didn't want anything that would spur an easy nickname. My husband's biggest pet peeve is when people don't use their first name, and instead go by a nickname. Haha he would know! So he insisted that whatever her first name be, is what we address her by.

We hope it's a name she can grow into as well, and we love the family heritage behind the middle name. We can't wait to meet our little Norah June.

McNesting In Progress

As I've blogged before, I've been quite in the nesting mode. I remember when I first moved into this house, I knew which room (when the time came) would be our child's nursery. I even called it that from the beginning, and it drove my husband nuts! He used to say, how can we have a nursery already when we don't have a baby? Well now the time has come! Our colors are gray, orange and teal!

This is what the room looked like when I first moved in November 2012.

This is what the room looked like for the last two years as our guest room.

Now let the painting and redecorating begin!

First things first, we removed all the bookcases and shelves, and then the bed got moved to our office. I'm so happy to see the yellow finally go. The room gets a ton of light during the day, so we knew we could go with a slightly darker color and be alright. We finally got to paint a room gray! Plus it's a great gender neutral color, especially when you live in a rental.

Next my husband went through the obligatory "Dad" ritual of assembling the tricky crib! He loved it despite the cuss words that shortly ensued, and it definitely makes the room feel finally like our nursery.

Hardest part was the dresser!

Well earned rock in the glider!

I scored an awesome glider/ottoman set from Craigslist for half the price of a new set, so we have that already too. I have the curtains ordered, and a rug picked out on Amazon. He even hung up shelves for me (I hate hanging shelves). Slowly but surely we'll have it all ready by May. I'm so grateful my husband was able to help out with this project. It took me three weekends just to clean the room out by myself, so I can't imagine how long it would have taken me to paint, assemble everything and hang shelves! I'm a little slower these days than usual. Plus, it's a great way to get him involved as well and we made great memories together assembling our first nursery as parents.

It's definitely not finished, but it's a GREAT start! I'll post another blog when it's finished for sure. I'm in love already, and I think I'll find myself just sitting in here, rocking away while daydreaming about becoming a mother. I can't wait!

Bumpdate: 20 Weeks and my 27th Birthday

Size of baby: Banana

Pregnancy Symptoms: Nothing abnormal

Things that make me nauseous: Nothing this week!

Cravings: Birthday cheesecake

Sleep: 6-8 hours a night

Exercise: Not much since Kit's been home, soaking up time while I can!

Baby Movement: Nothing still :(

Total Weight Gain: 8lbs

I can't believe we're halfway towards meeting our tiny daughter for the first time! Sunday morning when we woke up we couldn't stop talking about our little banana-sized girl. I feel so grateful that we've had such a smooth and uneventful pregnancy this far.

This last 20 weeks I feel like I've been holding my breathe, waiting for something bad to happen because I felt like there was no way I could be this happy and lucky without some consequences. Finally, I feel as if I can breathe and enjoy the little life I'm growing inside me. I know things could go wrong at any week, but I feel like I can stop expecting the worse to happen. I love looking down at my ever protruding bump and speaking to her. We have such a fun life in store for her!

This is the last week my husband is home for Christmas break, and it's come too soon to an end. I can't get enough of his kisses on my bump, his sweet words to Norah everyday, and just feeling his love he has for his favorite girls. I know this is what life would be like if we were a normal couple that lived together and it makes me jealous of the average couple. Instead of being bitter about it (which is often a challenge), I try instead to just soak it up and savor every minute. This time in our lives is only temporary. At least it's only me at this point that he was to walk away from.

This week I worked on our daughter's name display above her crib. I was so excited to get this project underway since seeing some ideas on Pinterest. I took wooden embroidery circles (about $1-2 each), our favorite fabric and made a beautiful collage of gray, white, orange and teal colors. We ordered her letters online to complete the collage. It was simple, easy, colorful and so much fun to make. Next on my list of items to make it a bow holder, bookends and a big wooden sign. This by far is our favorite room in the house.

I also turned 27 years old this week! 27 doesn't really feel any different. I was pretty lucky to have my husband home for my special day and he out did himself. He woke up early and made my favorite breakfast, homemade cheesecake, and a yummy steak, brussel sprout and twice baked potato dinner before I had to work a night shift. He cooked like a boss ALL DAY for me and even put up our traditional birthday banner! My day was summed up with flowers, food, cheesecake, prenatal massage (thanks Bethany), prenatal yoga lessons and so much love that I teared up at dinner. We didn't go crazy for this birthday, but it was exactly what I wanted. My husband, my dog and our healthy daughter growing in my belly.

Perfect day.

20 weeks down, about 20ish more to go and we can't wait!

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Looking Back on 2014

Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015!?!

Every year I blog a recap of the last, and I'm always in shock how quickly time seems to pass. The majority of this year was unbelievable. My husband and I lived in the same house for 2/3's of the year and it was bliss. We can't remember a more happier time in our lives. We visited four countries, five states and only moved (him) once, only lived 6 months apart this year vs 9 months last year and created a fetus! Enjoy a flashback of our last year!

January:

Happy New Year!

4 Year Anniversary

26th Birthday

I went TDY to TX for 2 months and I had a handsome visitor! We snapped this after my husband ROCKED his law school interview and we had just received a call that he was ACCEPTED!

MLK weekend visit to OK, Kit met his niece for the first time!

MLK Weekend

February:

Another Valentine's Day apart, but he made up for it with lilies!

My first polar plunge in TX

Polar Plunge

Reunited finally!

Ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon together!

Disney World

Hogwarts

March:

Visited our first lighthouse in St George's Island

Went cave exploring in Marianna, FL

Fun day on 30A

April:

Kit turns 27!

Beach Day

ATL visiting the aquarium

First Braves game as a couple!

May:

Another beach day

30A with Zeus

30A

Our first Murph together!

Trip to New Orleans for Memorial Day!

NOLA

Then we jetted to Europe with our best friends! We hit Barcelona, Munich, Luxembourg and Paris!

Barcelona, Spain

Munich, Germany

Eagle's Nest, Austria

Germany

Luxembourg

Paris, France

June:

We took a snorkel excursion out to shell island! Most fun we've had snorkeling, and we even saw a manatee!

So clear

We also tried our hand at paddle-boarding, and LOVED it! We paddled next to dolphins only a few feet away from us.

I found a hermit crab!

Kit

July:

For the fourth of July, we hosted at our home a McVay Family reunion!

Our first Crossfit competition!

Our first professional photo shoot since our wedding day!

August:

Date night horseback ride on the beach!

Then came mid August, that time for Kit to get ready to move to Oklahoma for law school, so we squeezed in as many date nights and photos as we could.

One more family photo before he left!

Our last CF class together!

Kit's new home for the next three years!

September:
I came to visit for labor day weekend in Tulsa!

Hair did!

Army Wives

Our Soldiers

September 12: Biggest Surprise of our Lives!

September 19: I surprised the new Dad with the news in Tulsa!

October:

8 Weeks!

I RX'd Grace at 4:10!

Killing CF too

His first professional law school head shot.

Hunting with a buddy

Uncle Kit trick-o-treating for Halloween!

Our Halloween in Florida!

November:

Finally reunited for Thanksgiving in Oklahoma!!

Expecting two McBabies for 2015!

December:

Christmas Day

Bonfire on the beach

Christmas Eve Gender Reveal

It's a Girl!

Norah's nursery started

What an insane year we've had. Thankfully we've got to start the year together and end it that way. In one short year we went from a living together in Florida, to Kit moving away to pursue law school in another state, to finding out we're going to be parents! This year by far has been the best we can remember, and we both know the best is yet to come.

As for 2015, it will be a doosey! We both will finally become parents, and we'll have to make a very hard decision on whether I stay in the military for another commitment (my commitment is up soon!) or to pursue a life as a civilian. If we choose to stay then that means another move for the McVay family, so this upcoming year will definitely not be short on life-changing events. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a little scared about some of the decisions we have to make, but I couldn't imagine a better person by my side to levy these life choices with. As time creeps by and we become more to each other than just husband and wife, I can't help but tear up at how truly lucky I am to have my husband. Life just wouldn't be life without him to share it with. We're so incredibly excited for this next year, and really can't help but feel so blessed despite our current living situation being less than ideal.

Cheers to 2015 and the chance to meet our beautiful baby girl Norah!