Jason and I are blessed beyond measure! We had four showers for baby Jack!!!!
I'm still trying to figure out this whole blog thing so I'll try to do a slideshow of each shower....Brenden- need some help here!
April 14th- friend shower. My good friends Stephanie, Alysia, and Liz hosted my first baby shower at Steph's house. It was a great turn out with many girlfriends (bootcamp and softball wives), some women I babysat for came, as well as my childhood friend Lauren was able to make it. The girls left no detail unnoticed and it was a great shower all together.
April 28th- my family shower. My aunts and cousins hosted this shower- Aunt Sharon, Aunt Donna, Aunt Becky, Kristen, Shelley, and Marcia.....phew! They rented a community center and it was perfect! We had a lot of people come as well, many of my mom's work friends (who attended her baby shower when she was EXPECTING ME!)- those are lifelong friendships right there! We got some great gifts~! I was shocked to see that my gracious mother in law and sister in law got us our stroller travel system. My dad, sneaky and techie man that he is did some research on our video monitor and didn't like the one we had registered for so he got us a fancy schmancy one from Motorolla. It's pretty high tech and we were blown away!
May 2nd- my school shower. Hosted by my lovely team, Erika, Sue, Joyce, and Ted. Again, we were overwhelmed at the love and support from everyone. We got our video monitor (the one we registered for), pack and play (I was completed shocked by this as its a $200 gift!), mobile for Jack's room, among some other great gifts! At this point this kid has a LOT of stuff!!!!
May 14th- lifegroup shower. Hosted by Rachel, Ashley, Lindsay, Brandie, Christy, April, and Amy. Our lifegroup is seriously the biggest blessing ever. Jason and I love being a part of such a great group of caring people. The details of this shower were breathtaking. Everything from personalized artwork for Jack's room, to cookies that seriously looked like they came out of a Martha Stewart magazine, to the decor to the food was perfect! The girls got us our pack and play (again! how blessed are we?!?!?!) It was such a great shower, celebrating this new life with some great girlfriends.
ETA: correction, we had five showers....yep, you read that right! 5! My students threw me a surprise baby shower on May 22nd. I will never understand how 50 sixth graders were able to keep it a secret! I mean really, sixth graders keeping a secret?!?!?!?! There was a precious cake, gifts from my students, and advice book that is seriously the cutest thing ever! I'm amazed by the love of these students for a teacher that was probably moodier than normal this school year. Oh, the love!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
the evolution of a nursery
Literally the day we found out we were expecting a boy I started working on the nursery...wait a minute, that's a lie. I had been cleaning out the 'nursery' weeks before we found out so that I could work on it as soon as we found out the sex. Jason has always wanted to do a sports theme but my mindset was that we're both very active and athletic that chances are Jack will play sports anyways and will likely want his room to be sports (I figured when he's getting his big boy room we can make that change then). I convinced Jason to keep Jack's room 'baby-like' by doing a nautical theme. I had always liked the 'Baby Boats' from Potterybarn Kids but I remembered getting a catalog last summer with another nautical themed bedding in it that was red, white, and blue....I was instantly in love. Here is a link to see it from their site....freeport bedding Of course it was discontinued- that's one bad thing about PBK and PB, they have a crazy fast turn over rate. I do love that their catalog will suggest Benjamin Moore paint colors that will coordinate with the look of the room. I went to the local Ace Hardware and picked up Misty Blue and Old Blue Jeans and we painted a little on each wall to get a feel for the colors. I was pretty apprehensive about Misty Blue because it was the top shade on the paint swatch and it truly looked white with a little blue in it. But once we got the color on the wall it couldn't be more perfect. We alternated the lighter blue and darker blue on the wall that the crib was going to go on for an accent wall. I had just done a weekend babysitting job and made a couple hundred bucks so we just used that money to purchase the paint and supplies. That couldn't have worked out more perfectly!
Now, onto the furniture......
I had been lusting over the Potterybarn kids' 'Larkin' crib for YEARS. One huge drawback....its $1000 plus tax, shipping, surcharge- because its soo big! Jason wasn't having it....not one bit. So last summer I told Jason that I would work in the summertime to earn money to go towards it...that's how badly I loved this crib. It's gorgeous I tell ya! So as I was getting paid from the school district I did a couple of little weekend trip babysitting gigs and ended up saving right around $1400. I was super pumped....that should have been enough to get the crib....booyah!!! Well fast forward to the start of 2012 and Jason and I were literally about to hit submit on our PBK order when I get a call from my mom telling me that there is a couple selling their Larkin crib AND dresser with changing topper on Craigslist for $900- the crib was currently on sale for $699 but when you add the tax, shipping, and surcharge the total was $940....so right there alone we were saving $40 PLUS we were getting a dresser and changing topper (valued at $1500) for practically free. We made plans to go check it out and it turned out that it was in great shape. We brought the cash with us, brought straps to tie the stuff down and some blankets to protect the finishes of the wood. Well they threw in a super nice floor lamp that they said was broken (after Jason went to Ace Hardware and $7 later it worked....woo hoo! that's a $159 lamp- thank you very much!), they also threw in two lamp shades (one pink, and one white with purple polka dots- at this point we didn't know girl or boy, though I had a pretty good feeling we were having a boy(we got the furniture in early January and found out boy on January 16th)), oh well, we'll just save them for when we do have a girl! They also gave us an end table that we currently have in the manroom/gameroom. We really cleaned up shop! All of that for $900, plus I had saved that money on the side so our bank account didn't feel a thing! here is a link to the crib and dresser.... dresser with topper, and Larkin sleigh crib.
I also had the idea of using real oars for the curtain rods in his room....though I had no idea how hard of a time i would have finding the perfect ones! Gander mountain had 6 ft ones but as it turns out, we needed 5 ft. and they didn't carry that length so I went to trusty 'ole amazon.com. If I thought finding oars was hard, I had no clue how hard it would be to find hardware to hang those oars. Finally after weeks and weeks or searching, I found some at The Container Store. I really like the way its looking in his room; its all coming together so nicely!!! We registered for these curtains, and we've already received one panel from Jason's grandparents! *ETA: at my school shower I received a gc to PBK so we now have both panels.
My parents blessed us with the glider and ottoman from Babies R Us. We registered for a tan microsuede one and it was delivered about a month ago. Though I would like to Scotchguard it before we put it up in his room. It looks very nice and is really comfortable, which I'm excited about because I have feeling I'll be spending countless hours in it with Jack.
Pics of his room to come....
Now, onto the furniture......
I had been lusting over the Potterybarn kids' 'Larkin' crib for YEARS. One huge drawback....its $1000 plus tax, shipping, surcharge- because its soo big! Jason wasn't having it....not one bit. So last summer I told Jason that I would work in the summertime to earn money to go towards it...that's how badly I loved this crib. It's gorgeous I tell ya! So as I was getting paid from the school district I did a couple of little weekend trip babysitting gigs and ended up saving right around $1400. I was super pumped....that should have been enough to get the crib....booyah!!! Well fast forward to the start of 2012 and Jason and I were literally about to hit submit on our PBK order when I get a call from my mom telling me that there is a couple selling their Larkin crib AND dresser with changing topper on Craigslist for $900- the crib was currently on sale for $699 but when you add the tax, shipping, and surcharge the total was $940....so right there alone we were saving $40 PLUS we were getting a dresser and changing topper (valued at $1500) for practically free. We made plans to go check it out and it turned out that it was in great shape. We brought the cash with us, brought straps to tie the stuff down and some blankets to protect the finishes of the wood. Well they threw in a super nice floor lamp that they said was broken (after Jason went to Ace Hardware and $7 later it worked....woo hoo! that's a $159 lamp- thank you very much!), they also threw in two lamp shades (one pink, and one white with purple polka dots- at this point we didn't know girl or boy, though I had a pretty good feeling we were having a boy(we got the furniture in early January and found out boy on January 16th)), oh well, we'll just save them for when we do have a girl! They also gave us an end table that we currently have in the manroom/gameroom. We really cleaned up shop! All of that for $900, plus I had saved that money on the side so our bank account didn't feel a thing! here is a link to the crib and dresser.... dresser with topper, and Larkin sleigh crib.
I also had the idea of using real oars for the curtain rods in his room....though I had no idea how hard of a time i would have finding the perfect ones! Gander mountain had 6 ft ones but as it turns out, we needed 5 ft. and they didn't carry that length so I went to trusty 'ole amazon.com. If I thought finding oars was hard, I had no clue how hard it would be to find hardware to hang those oars. Finally after weeks and weeks or searching, I found some at The Container Store. I really like the way its looking in his room; its all coming together so nicely!!! We registered for these curtains, and we've already received one panel from Jason's grandparents! *ETA: at my school shower I received a gc to PBK so we now have both panels.
My parents blessed us with the glider and ottoman from Babies R Us. We registered for a tan microsuede one and it was delivered about a month ago. Though I would like to Scotchguard it before we put it up in his room. It looks very nice and is really comfortable, which I'm excited about because I have feeling I'll be spending countless hours in it with Jack.
Pics of his room to come....
Friday, March 16, 2012
Team Blue or Pink?!?!
As soon as Jason found out that we could find out the sex of the baby prior to 20 weeks he was all for it. Our doctor's office charges a $75 fee- but Jason was more than willing to pay it in order to find out if he was getting a little boy or girl.
I had January 16th off because of Martin Luther King jr day so we booked our appointment for that day. Our appt was originally scheduled for 1:40 but it got pushed back to 3:45 due to an interoffice meeting. I had originally wanted to get cupcakes filled with either pink or blue icing to surprise our family, but since our appt got pushed back so late I decided that little cupcake toppers would have to suffice. We got 'it's a boy' and 'it's a girl' and I figured I would return whichever ones we didn't need. Up until this point I had 5 baby dreams and ALL 5 had been about a boy- never about a girl. I was seriously like 98% sure that the baby was a boy and even told Jason that if the technician found lady parts in my ute then I'd be very surprised. As soon as we got in the ultrasound room, the tech asked me what I thought the baby was. Within 5 seconds of having the wand on my belly, she confirmed that we were in fact having a boy! She said his hand would not leave his little willy and I looked at Jason and said 'really?!, y'all learn that early!?!?!' haha. It was such an awesome experience and we got a ton of great pictures of him. Since we were the last appt of the day she spent more time looking at him and talking with us- so I guess it worked out that our appt got moved back. When we left the dr. Office we stopped by Carter's to do a little shopping. I had a 20% off coupon that was expiring that day so it worked out to go after the appt. We got several outfits, then came home to have cupcakes with our parents and our neighbors (Koehlers). I bought cupcakes from RJ Goodies earlier that morning and my mouth was watering to eat one! Our parents were so thrilled, but they all had the same feeling I had- that we were expecting a boy. The only person who thought we were having a girl was my SIL, Marylyn. She's thrilled that we're having a boy so that her son Kaden (4 months) will have a playmate.
So......in June we'll be welcoming into our family Jack Anson Gibbs.
We couldn't be more thrilled. Now, onto the nursery! I've got a ton of ideas, just hope they come together nicely.
The first picture is of the cute cupcake toppers and the yummy cupcakes from RJ Goodies....seriously sooo good!
The second picture is of Jack and I at 18 weeks- we were actually working on his nursery during this picture- some change but still not too much.
I had January 16th off because of Martin Luther King jr day so we booked our appointment for that day. Our appt was originally scheduled for 1:40 but it got pushed back to 3:45 due to an interoffice meeting. I had originally wanted to get cupcakes filled with either pink or blue icing to surprise our family, but since our appt got pushed back so late I decided that little cupcake toppers would have to suffice. We got 'it's a boy' and 'it's a girl' and I figured I would return whichever ones we didn't need. Up until this point I had 5 baby dreams and ALL 5 had been about a boy- never about a girl. I was seriously like 98% sure that the baby was a boy and even told Jason that if the technician found lady parts in my ute then I'd be very surprised. As soon as we got in the ultrasound room, the tech asked me what I thought the baby was. Within 5 seconds of having the wand on my belly, she confirmed that we were in fact having a boy! She said his hand would not leave his little willy and I looked at Jason and said 'really?!, y'all learn that early!?!?!' haha. It was such an awesome experience and we got a ton of great pictures of him. Since we were the last appt of the day she spent more time looking at him and talking with us- so I guess it worked out that our appt got moved back. When we left the dr. Office we stopped by Carter's to do a little shopping. I had a 20% off coupon that was expiring that day so it worked out to go after the appt. We got several outfits, then came home to have cupcakes with our parents and our neighbors (Koehlers). I bought cupcakes from RJ Goodies earlier that morning and my mouth was watering to eat one! Our parents were so thrilled, but they all had the same feeling I had- that we were expecting a boy. The only person who thought we were having a girl was my SIL, Marylyn. She's thrilled that we're having a boy so that her son Kaden (4 months) will have a playmate.
So......in June we'll be welcoming into our family Jack Anson Gibbs.
We couldn't be more thrilled. Now, onto the nursery! I've got a ton of ideas, just hope they come together nicely.
The first picture is of the cute cupcake toppers and the yummy cupcakes from RJ Goodies....seriously sooo good!
The second picture is of Jack and I at 18 weeks- we were actually working on his nursery during this picture- some change but still not too much.
Our beautiful baby!!
We went for our first official appt on November 21, my wonderful mom's bday, (though she and my dad were away on a cruise). I was so excited, nervous, anxious, etc. Not sure of I'm just a worry wart or what but I feared that we'd get in there and the ultrasound tech wouldn't find anything in my ute. Morbid....I know. Well luckily, my great friend, Amanda jones, let me in on a little secret of how the first ultrasound goes (internal rather than external) I'm glad she did because the sweet technician never mentioned a thing- she just went to town :O . As soon as she started the ultrasound we could see our little 'Gibblett' right away. She turned the microphone on and the heartbeat was so strong and loud- Jason and I were both in awe. It seriously is the best sound you'll ever hear. I immediately teared up. Then the tech said something that neither Jason nor I was prepared for...'okay, now let's make sure that there is only one in there'. Our jaws dropped- we never even considered the fact that there could be more than one. Jason responded with 'Uh, oh crap- I only signed up for one!'. It was priceless. Needless to say, there is only one Gibblett in there and it's the sweetest thing we've ever seen. Here are the two pictures we got. 1st-is it just me or can you see a face sucking on one hand? 2nd-our sweet baby is already an angel- see the halo?! 
Pregnancy so far....
I have to say that I am truly a lucky pregnant chick. Other than VERY few days of feeling nauseous I have had a great pregnancy. There are some days where I actually forget that I'm expecting! Here are some belly shots- starting with 8 weeks and them 14 weeks. Not too much change. I had been doing bootcamp in our neighborhood and I continued it through November- so until I was 10 weeks or so. I actually ran a 10 mile race when I was already pregnant- just didn't know it yet. Luckily I didn't refuel my carbs with a beer afterwards, though now that it's warming up outside that is one of the things I'm craving. Oh well, this baby is definitely worth waiting for. 
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
We've got some BIG news!!!
I am waaaay late in posting this but Jason and I have amazing news! This June we'll be expanding our family!! We started trying in August and we're quite surprised that it happened so quickly. Jason turned the big 3-0 on October 14th and we had a party for him on the 15th. I desperately wanted to give Jason a positive test for his thirtieth- thought that'd be the best gift I could give him. Tested Friday (his bday) and got a negative, tested Sunday and got a negative again (my friend Whitney got a positive test this day and texted me about it)- I was super happy for her and hoped that I could share in her happiness...nope! After I tested Sunday and got a negative I literally looked in the mirror and told myself 'Ashley, you are NOT pregnant....quit testing or you'll go insane!'. I told myself that if I didn't have my period by Friday that I'd test again. Well Tuesday, after bunco on my way home, I felt nauseous and my chest was VERY tender. Came home and tested with a cheapie from the $1 store (without telling J)...and saw a line or I thought it was a line- I was worried that I wanted there to be a line so badly that I was seeing things. While he showered, I ran up to one of our closets upstairs and got out a book called 'The Expectant Father'. While we were getting ready for bed he mentioned needing new reading material so he wanted to go upstairs and get a book from our bookshelf. When we got into bed, I told him to close his eyes. I said how about this for some reading material and handed him the book I had gotten from upstairs. His reaction was priceless. His eyes got huge and he was like 'really? Are we pregnant?' I told him I wasn't sure but I thought I had seen a line and showed him the test- he agreed that he thought he saw a line and we decided that we would confirm with a digital test in the morning with FMU. Well there is our story of how we found out that we were expecting. Wanted to get it documented before we forget- truly doubt that will happen since it was one of the best days of our lives but still wanted to share it. 
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
We've been very busy lately....June-November
I am the world's worst blogger, and quite a bit has happened since I last posted in June.
In June, we went to Gatlinburg, TN with Jason's extended family. We drove with Jason's sister, her fiance, Jared, his mom Debbie to TN in Marylyn's new SUV. It was a long drive but wasn't unpleasant. The drive was gorgeous and we passed through several states and the scenery was just breathtaking. Jason's grandparents were very gracious to set up a very nice cabin high up in the mountains for us to stay for the entire week. While the view was gorgeous way up there, the drive getting there was nothing short of a heart attack every. single. time. So much so, that we would do whatever we could to only have to make that trek one time a day. It was very steep, with little visibility. But oh the view.....pics to come. We also went white water rafting (which was amazing by the way!) and repelling. Marylyn couldn't do either because she was expecting our nephew (though at the time she didn't know it was a boy) but she was a great sport. When we returned from TN I started doing a bootcamp in our neighborhood. I had actually won a free month at our neighborhood summer luau which was perfect because the girl who runs it and I had been emailing back and forth about me joining and I just happened to win. I really enjoy the class, its fast paced, we never do the same thing and I've lost inches and weight. Her site is http://www.mycommunityfit.com/ Jason also went skydiving with some friends and he was on a high for about a week afterwards. He literally could not stop smiling when he was telling me all about it! I was so happy for him but nervous at the same time. My man is a daredevil. Lord help me if we have boys!
In July we went on our annual river trip to New Braunsfels. We stayed in a nice little house that was right on the water. Next year we hope to possibly get the 8 story (no lie!) house that was directly next door. Floating the river has been a summer tradition for Jason and I for the longest time. We enjoy the relaxed atmosphere with a cold beverage in hand. Oh the memories!
In August, my neighbor (and good friend!) Liz and I went on a girls only trip back to the river with some of her work friends. It was very fun and drama free- my kind of trip! Just a couple weeks later, school started back up for me and we've been going non-stop ever since we started. I have a great bunch of kiddos this year, they're very sweet and thoughtful. I'm not quite as stressed teaching science this year since I have a year under my belt but I'm definitely not a veteran teacher yet. I've got a lot to learn still.
In October, Jason's sister, Marylyn, had a gender reveal baby shower. We were asked to wear blue or pink depending on what we thought the baby was. We all had been thinking she was having a boy this whole time so we all arrived at the party wearing blue. Actually, Jason didn't have a clue one way or the other but that boy would go naked before he would wear pink, so he wore blue as well. The cake they had made was so insanely cute, and as they cut it open the cake was dyed blue. Kaden Mitchell Byrd was on his way! Jason and I ran in the 10 for Texas race that is held in The Woodlands on October 8th. Its a ten mile race that we both had been training for. Jason finished before me but I did continue running the entire time and I was very pleased with that. Jason turned 30 years old on the 14th. We celebrated by going to Taste of Texas with our friends Kyle and Lindsay Silvio, and Brad and Amanda Jones. It was very good food, and even better company. We had a get together at our house with family and friends the weekend of his birthday. We had a great turnout and its just amazing to see how loved we are by so many people.
So thats the latest with us from June through November. Hope I didn't bore you to death! Stay tuned for more....hopefully!
In June, we went to Gatlinburg, TN with Jason's extended family. We drove with Jason's sister, her fiance, Jared, his mom Debbie to TN in Marylyn's new SUV. It was a long drive but wasn't unpleasant. The drive was gorgeous and we passed through several states and the scenery was just breathtaking. Jason's grandparents were very gracious to set up a very nice cabin high up in the mountains for us to stay for the entire week. While the view was gorgeous way up there, the drive getting there was nothing short of a heart attack every. single. time. So much so, that we would do whatever we could to only have to make that trek one time a day. It was very steep, with little visibility. But oh the view.....pics to come. We also went white water rafting (which was amazing by the way!) and repelling. Marylyn couldn't do either because she was expecting our nephew (though at the time she didn't know it was a boy) but she was a great sport. When we returned from TN I started doing a bootcamp in our neighborhood. I had actually won a free month at our neighborhood summer luau which was perfect because the girl who runs it and I had been emailing back and forth about me joining and I just happened to win. I really enjoy the class, its fast paced, we never do the same thing and I've lost inches and weight. Her site is http://www.mycommunityfit.com/ Jason also went skydiving with some friends and he was on a high for about a week afterwards. He literally could not stop smiling when he was telling me all about it! I was so happy for him but nervous at the same time. My man is a daredevil. Lord help me if we have boys!
In July we went on our annual river trip to New Braunsfels. We stayed in a nice little house that was right on the water. Next year we hope to possibly get the 8 story (no lie!) house that was directly next door. Floating the river has been a summer tradition for Jason and I for the longest time. We enjoy the relaxed atmosphere with a cold beverage in hand. Oh the memories!
In August, my neighbor (and good friend!) Liz and I went on a girls only trip back to the river with some of her work friends. It was very fun and drama free- my kind of trip! Just a couple weeks later, school started back up for me and we've been going non-stop ever since we started. I have a great bunch of kiddos this year, they're very sweet and thoughtful. I'm not quite as stressed teaching science this year since I have a year under my belt but I'm definitely not a veteran teacher yet. I've got a lot to learn still.
In October, Jason's sister, Marylyn, had a gender reveal baby shower. We were asked to wear blue or pink depending on what we thought the baby was. We all had been thinking she was having a boy this whole time so we all arrived at the party wearing blue. Actually, Jason didn't have a clue one way or the other but that boy would go naked before he would wear pink, so he wore blue as well. The cake they had made was so insanely cute, and as they cut it open the cake was dyed blue. Kaden Mitchell Byrd was on his way! Jason and I ran in the 10 for Texas race that is held in The Woodlands on October 8th. Its a ten mile race that we both had been training for. Jason finished before me but I did continue running the entire time and I was very pleased with that. Jason turned 30 years old on the 14th. We celebrated by going to Taste of Texas with our friends Kyle and Lindsay Silvio, and Brad and Amanda Jones. It was very good food, and even better company. We had a get together at our house with family and friends the weekend of his birthday. We had a great turnout and its just amazing to see how loved we are by so many people.
So thats the latest with us from June through November. Hope I didn't bore you to death! Stay tuned for more....hopefully!
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