big fish.

i've been wanting to brag write about this since last week but have completely lost track of time...until tonight! Will and i are not usually too competitive in a general sense....but a couple mondays ago i decided to challenge him to a fishing contest. it turned into a pretty big deal throughout the day and Will thought it was pretty humorous when i started "acting feisty" and talking about how bad i was going to beat him at his own sport. we got out on the lake and after a couple hours were stuck at a tie score of 2-2. we decided to continue the contest on friday when he came back from his business trip.

there are really no words for what happened between us that friday. i've never seen him so focused. we normally chat and relax together, but not that day. he barely said two words for me as we headed away from the dock. it was pretty funny to see him so worked up! we went back and forth for the next couple hours and kept a pretty close score at 5-5 as we rounded into the final cove of the lake. we decided to end it at first person to 7 fish won the championship. the winner got a 10 minute back rub and choice of restaurant and movie (thanks for the Fandango card Aunt Lynda!) for date night.

guess who caught two big ones back to back and went on to win the contest?
me!!  and despite his competitiveness, Will was actually really proud of me and even told some friends at work how awesome his wife is at fishing.

and as a tribute to how talented and great my husband truly is at fishing, here's a picture of the giant he caught yesterday morning:

Will guessed he weighed about 6-7lbs. and was definitely the biggest we've caught out at my dad's lake. he put up a fight and i didn't realize how big he really was until Will got him to the surface. even a few strangers called out to us and said that was the biggest fish they had seen anyone catch out there! it was a fun weekend! i'll be really sad when i can't go out on the boat anymore in a few weeks.


in baby news... all is well with baby Boatright! she gave us a little scare on friday morning with barely any movement and some fakie (but painful) contractions the night before. we got strapped in to the non-stress test machine for what seemed like forever and waited for Audrey to let us know everything was alright. she did, but took her sweet time doing so! i was thankful that Will was able to be there with me.

here's the latest in the baby bump department... a stranger stopped me at the store yesterday to tell me how great i looked and that i was "all baby." she couldn't believe i was due in only a couple months. it completely made my day :)

29 weeks!



30 weeks!

we did some more unpacking and organizing at the house this weekend and also put the crib together! i love walking past her room now and seeing it all set up. i've even caught Will pausing to look in a few times and it makes me smile :) here are some pictures of Audrey's pink elephant themed room...

matching pink elephant Wubbanub that we found at a little gift shop in Waycross! :)



a sample of items that Will's mom sent for Audrey -- she is so talented!!

we ran a few errands yesterday and got some things for little projects that i like to work on and keep busy with when Will is out of town. one of my projects for this week is to start washing all of the baby blankets, bedding, and outfits. to do this, we had to get a laundry detergent that is safe to use with sensitive baby skin. as simple of a task as this sounds like, Will and i ended up spending about 10 minutes standing in front of the laundry detergent at the store having a conversation that went a little like this...

me: (holding a bottle of Dreft baby detergent) "this is specifically for babies but it's really expensive and we'd still have to get a whole separate bottle for our stuff so why don't we just get one kind that we all can use."
Will: (looking bored) "okay sounds good."
me: (holding a bottle of Tide Free & Gentle detergent) "this stuff is like normal detergent but it doesn't have any dyes or perfumes in it so it's safe to use on baby stuff and we can use it for our stuff too."
Will: (now looking concerned) "wait but i like the stuff we normally use."
me: "i know, i do too but this kind works just the same. the only difference is that it doesn't have a color or smell so it's safe to wash Audrey's things in.'
Will: "but i don't want my clothes to smell like a baby!"
me: ?????

i couldn't help but laugh. a few strangers who happened to walk past us during our enlightening new parent conversation also had a few laughs at our expense. it was pretty humorous. i still don't think he's completely convinced that his upcoming laundry won't come out smelling like a baby. he still looked pretty skeptical when i put it in the cart. i love him.

88 days.

i cannot believe our little Audrey will be here in 3 months! i couldn't believe it when my countdown timer read that there are only 88 days left, as of this morning. time is flying by! if you need me, i will be hiding in my closet :)

it seems as though i've gone into hiding already. pregnancy has made me somewhat anti-social (something about being bloated, cranky, and tired tends to make me that way) so i apologize if you have been worried or concerned about me and thanks for the text messages and phone calls.

the three of us are all doing fine, just trying to get ready -- financially, emotionally, and (me) physically for our sweet baby girl's arrival. the first step in doing this was to suck it up and go to Babies R Us to put a few things on our registry since we have had some inquiries lately. all the way to the store i gave Will the "pep talk" about how it might be overwhelming but let's just take it one aisle at a time, blah, blah, blah. i even let him be in charge of the registry gun. not thirty minutes into it, guess who go overwhelmed and had to leave immediately? me! we tossed the gun back at the lady and high-tailed it for the car! i had done a little bit of peeking around and some light research so i would feel prepared when i was in there but nothing can prepare a new parent for the floor to ceiling choices and "necessities" that you cannot survive parenthood without. it made me feel like i had gotten myself into something way over my head. of course, after common sense kicked in and i received some words of reassurance from friends and family i felt fine. whew!

i did the rest of the registry online and have not been back since. (although Will got to visit the Augusta store with his aunt (Nanny) when he was in the area for business and she sent him back with Audrey's car seat, a "baby snuggie," and a rubber ducky bath thermometer -- thank you again Nanny!) so for those of you who have asked...sorry for the delay and nervous sweating but we are now officially registered at Target and Babies R Us.

at my last few doctor appointments, Audrey has been right on track for growth and all is well for her. she is still breech and prefers to play on the right side of my belly. so much so that this is what i woke up to this morning:

a completely lopsided baby belly! even my belly button (still rockin the innie - woohoo!) has stretched out to the left to accomodate her. she is so strong and likes to play around in there ALL THE TIME! 4 am when i'm trying to sleep? oh yes. 2 pm during my presentation at work? you bet. (i got a lot of strange looks while i was standing up there -- you can SEE her moving around in there through my shirt from far away apparently haha) she is especially active whenever i'm around Will in the evening. that girl loves her dad's voice and hops, skips, and jumps whenever he is near. he sings her "the unicorn song" (from the movie Despicable Me) and it's so funny to see her respond to his 'singing.'

Aunt Kim gave me the best compliment and told me that i'm not nearly as big in person as i look in pictures. i wonder how many pounds the camera adds to pregnant women then? :) here i am at 26 weeks...

and at 27 weeks...

if you are confused by the background of these pictures i am in the bathroom at work. all of the mirrors in our new house are too high up for me to see myself so i spend most of my days not really knowing what i look like. ahh, life is great when you are 5'2" no? :)

we had a great time at dinner with my dad and brother last weekend. sitting in the kitchen with Will and as usual he was making fun of me in his 'Lindsey voice.' i think it's hilarious but i guess i never really thought of how girly my husband sounds when he is making fun of me until my dad came in and asked if Sara was there!! Will was a little embarrassed to admit that no, that was not Sara, it was HIM doing his impression of me! i don't know if we're gonna let him live that one down for a while haha

Audrey's crib arrived today and Will made a deal with me that if we could go fishing on Saturday, he would put everything together on Sunday. i'm really excited to see our nursery start to come together. thank you again to Will's parents for sending us such a beautiful gift. we are STILL unpacking but hopefully this weekend we'll finish a lot of it so i can finally show off our new place. we love the house and i think that it's going to be perfect for our little family of three.

baby's first graduation.

back in May, my friend Laura and I were on campus chatting about life and our impending graduation. i told her how nervous i was to walk across stage in front of our whole class and their families as the only pregnant girl in business school. she and i were the oldest of our group of friends, with most of those graduating with us being 21 years old. i did get some stares when walking around campus, but in a way it kinda made me proud. it was really difficult being pregnant and finishing up my hardest classes all at once. somewhere in that conversation Laura made a joke that our big day would be like baby's first graduation. i thought it was hilarious :) if you're reading this Laura, i miss you! anyway, here are some pictures from baby's first graduation day!

Will wouldn't let me crop the truck out of this picture so yep, here we "all" are :)

celebrating afterwards at mimi's cafe!

it's official!!

thanks again to those who made that day possible...
my dad for all of his tutoring and tuition payments
Will for all of his patience and help
and also big thanks and love to Jen who came up from Georgia to help celebrate and to my brother, Michael who endured the super boring ceremony :)

bed rest.

i meant to update a while ago but didn't have time between the move and leaving for swamp land last week! first, i want to give a shout out to our super fans (lauren, leanne, aunt kim, and aunt karla) who gave me lots of compliments and told me how awesome and hilarious our blog is over lunch in kingsland last week. much love to the fans! :)

i have been on modified bed rest for the past two weeks (june 24 - july 10) due to a complication called partial previa and a small tear in the placenta that caused some bleeding and scared this mom-to-be to be half to death! we went in a couple hours after the discovery and they confirmed the tear on the ultrasound (technology is amazing) and we also got to see Audrey. she was sleeping (surprise!) and was breech so we couldn't see her face but her heartbeat was in her usual range and she seemed to be happy. i was told to eliminate a lot of my daily activities and things that i'm used to doing in order to let the tear heal and the complication correct itself. the complication is pretty serious but if i took the bed rest order seriously, my OB was fairly confident that all would work out in the end.

we went in on friday to check the progress of the previa and also to get some additional pictures of Audrey's heart that they were not able to get last time because she was so sleepy and bunched up in a weird position. this time though, we had the opposite problem -- girl would not stop moving! there were arms and legs flying around everywhere! she was really active all the way to the appointment and even more so during the ultrasound. at one point in time she had her foot above her head! it was so surreal to FEEL her kicking me and SEE it at the same time. i was laughing and crying all at once -- she has such a personality already and i am so proud of her! we also saw her blinking, opening and closing her mouth, and wiggling her butt around making it almost impossible for the tech to even get a measurement in! everything looks perfect and she now weighs a whopping 1 lb. 5 oz.

my favorite -- legs up by her head, can't see it in this picture but she was playing with her toes on one foot and kicking me with the other foot! haha

surprise, surprise -- arm across her head AS USUAL!

what it looks like in there when i feel her kicking me :)

her face is now fully formed, minus the cute baby fat. this was taken when we caught her blinking and moving her mouth

teeny tiny feet! one foot is flat and one is laying across the other

yep! she still has those lonnnnng legs like her dad!

 measurements taken indicate that there was less than a centimeter's worth of change in the last month but it's still better than nothing. it's moving in the right direction, slowly but surely. we will know the severity of the condition pertaining to the rest of my pregnancy at 28 weeks but for now, my restrictions were slightly lifted to limited activity and still no exercising (which is driving me crazy), no lifting, and pretty much no doing anything fun. two weeks away from work was taking a toll on us both financially and emotionally (being on bed rest sounds nice but it's actually pretty depressing) so i decided to go back to work a for a few hours a day this week.  it was nice to rejoin the real world and say goodbye to Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, Oprah, and my Kindle in the afternoons :)

oh, and did i mention that my husband is my hero? he packed, moved, and unpacked us before we left for Georgia and didn't complain once! my dad helped out a lot with the big stuff (thanks dad!) but all those annoying parts of moving, and there are many, were tackled in style by our very own Willbey. i'm the luckiest! he has been so helpful and supportive during the last few weeks, helping me and reassuring me when he was uncertain himself. he is going to be an amazing dad.

more on the trip to Georgia next time!

audrey katherine.

A is for Audrey -- a name we both fell in love with that just kinda popped into my head one day. we love it because it's such a classic and timeless name that is not too common and all the while so very charming :)
K is for Katherine -- even though she will never be able to meet my mom, this little girl is gonna hear all about her grandmother and will know her through me and the relationship we will have. my mom was my best friend and our relationship was one of a kind. i want to have that with my daughter as well. we are giving her my mom's first name as her middle name to not only honor my mom but also to pass along to Audrey a piece of the inspiration and love that my mom left behind.

--------

our appointment on friday was so much fun! my dad came along for the surprise and had all of us laughing during the ultrasound, especially once we found out that baby boatright is indeed a GIRL (!!!) and he shared his successful gender prediction "technique." i love my dad! father's day was great as well. Will and i went out to lake townsend for the day to fish and relax, and then had a fathers day cookout with my brother and dad later that night. i made my famous mashed potatoes and Will wowed us with his secret "redneck marinade" recipe on the steaks. michael made my latest favorite, steamed green beans, but ate them all while waiting for the potatoes to get done and had to make corn instead. it was a blast :)

baby b was sleepy and curled up as usual during the ultrasound, even though i drank a little bit of orange juice and pepsi right before to wake her up. while the tech was taking measurements of the right and left hemisphere of her brain we saw a little hand pop up on the screen and could clearly see her little fingers wiggling around. it was so sweet. she LOVES having her hand across her forehead. during the last three ultrasounds she always has her hand laying all the way across her forehead (which is exactly how Will sleeps every night -- makes me laugh whenever i catch him like that in the morning knowing our daughter is inside me doing the same exact thing).

the "blob" above her nose in the picture is her hand hehe and the other "blob" to the left is her foot. she eventually worked her foot all the way up to her head!

we have to go back in four weeks to do another scan so they can get additional pictures of her heart that she wouldn't cooperate for. ironically, when we met with my doctor about 45 minutes later he had trouble getting her heartbeat (170 bpm) on the doppler because she was moving around so much. silly girl!

for those who don't know, i did end up having to serve on a jury last month. the judge understood that being pregnant and sitting on a jury for up to two weeks wasn't ideal but informed me that if i were to request to be deferred, i would be called back for a capital murder case that is going to trial in september. by then, i would be so much more uncomfortable and many times, capital murder cases require that the jurors are sequestered and so therefore i would be in seclusion for at least six weeks (yikes!). i decided to accept the possibility of being chosen for a civil case involving contract law, fraud, and tax evasion instead. i was indeed chosen and once the case got going, it ended up being pretty interesting. there was one piece of testimony involving $30,000 allegedly being paid to the plaintiff in an old McDonalds bag (classy), and the prosecuting attorney accusing one of the defendant's husband of being a "good ol boy" which was pretty hilarious. the other members of the jury were fun to get to know -- we all went out to lunch together every day so it was nice to not have to roam downtown greensboro alone. for my week of service i received a check for a whopping $92. although we are on a pretty strict savings plan for when Audrey arrives, Will agreed that i should spend my hard earned jury duty money outfitting our daughter. i had a blast at Carters and they also happened to be having a huge sale. i got a ton of sleep and play onesies in 3 months size and a bunch of knit dresses and shirts with matching leggings in 6 months size. here are some of my favorites:

shopping for little girl clothes is the best (does she really need another dress? why yes, i believe she does!) and am glad that we have a collection started for november! it's hard to believe that we will be meeting our little girl in a little over four months. oh, and before i forget -- happy birthday Will! :) and happy wednesday to everyone else!

it's halftime.

although pregnancy is technically measured in trimesters. i would like to take a moment to celebrate halftime! i'm headed into my 20th week and it feels so good to be halfway done!
i have also been counting down the days until our anatomy scan. perhaps one of the most exciting parts of being pregnant in today's wonderful world of technology is having the ability to look inside myself and see what is going on in there with our little Baby B. the anatomy scan is the motherload of all ultrasounds. it is the longest, and most detailed scan of them all and i am so looking forward to it. anatomy scan also means we will be finding out if Baby B is a boy or a girl. here is what outcome is looking like at the moment:

symptoms: virtually none. except my face looks like a pepperoni pizza and the fatigue seems to be getting worse and worse. the promise of energy in the second trimester has been deceiving thus far. oh, and i'm really cranky too. poor Will.
-- could be boy or girl
distribution: i'm carrying "all over" aka my arms, legs, and face are *ehm* expanding along with my growing baby bump.
-- girl
old wive's tales: i haven't really gotten sucked into this genre of gender guessing. although i did cave and let my contract rep at work do the string test with a needle and wedding band on me last week. and that was only because she asked really nicely, several times. and because she said that she has been right the past 7 out of 8 guesses. both times, the needle/band made circles (which is said to mean it's a girl)
-- girl
aunt debbie: my aunt gave me a once over a few weeks ago and declared girl. i trust her. she was a firm believer that sara was a girl, even when everyone else guessed boy. as we all know, aunt debbie won that one.
--girl
me: i truly and deeply believe this baby is a girl. i have thought girl for a while now and that feeling has grown even stronger as i approach halftime. but does mothers intuition really exist? or do i think it's a girl solely because that's what i want the baby to be? i guess we will find out.
-- girl
husband: Will thinks it's a boy. enough said. :)
-- boy


and now for a funny pregnancy story...
Will and i were out to dinner last night. the waitress comes up to the table and tells us about a great half off any bottle of red wine special they are having. she recommends the pino noir. if you know me, you know that pino noir is my most favorite beverage in the entire world. i had my menu hiding my torso (if you would even call it that anymore hehe) and as soon as i lifted it to set it on the table she stops mid sentence and says, "oh....oh my gosh i'm sorry." why was she sorry? because i had started CRYING. ugh. the embarrassment. the awkwardness. there was plenty to go around and then some. that poor girl had no idea what to do. Will thought it was hilarious. hey! i miss having a glass of wine buddy! anyway, she comes back and i ask her what comes in the three salads they offer.
(by the way, i've moved on from pancakes and smoothies to mexican dishes and salad. mainly salad. i have an obsession with going to a lot of different places just to see if they have a cool, new salad i might fall in love with. salad bars are my hero.)
she tells me and none of them sound very good. sad, but i move on to the carbs section and am content. Will asks her about some new dish and she tells him about it, finishing her schpeal with, "and it comes with a soup or salad"
but, what i heard was, "it comes with a SUPER salad"
my eyes lit up and i looked at her with amazement and said, "what is a SUPER salad?" fully expecting her to tell me about an amazing secret salad that she had failed to inform me about earlier.
she apologized as she corrected me and cringed when the waterworks began...again.
was i completely mortified? oh yes.
could i stop it from happening? sadly no.
i made sure to leave her a very nice tip.

but other than that...i'm handling things pretty well ;)

18 weeks

20 weeks

pancakes and smoothies.

i am obsessed. Will and i went fishing yesterday and since we were out on the lake so long we almost didn't make it to IHOP in time! i love my husband simply because he has played along with this pregnancy craving so nicely - going to IHOP with me, ehm, many many times over the past week. as for smoothies, i am not as easily satisfied. what i really, really want is a blue smoothie from Cone City in Michigan. and some Mancinos. i would gladly trade my stack of blueberry pancakes for a grinder right now. can you tell it's dinnertime? can you tell im pregnant? :) if anyone wants to help a girl out with any of the above Michigan items when they are in town this weekend i would love you forever! if not, i will probably still love you forever anyway. after the whirlwind that was our wedding day back in october, i was so sad that i didn't get to spend a ton of time with all of the family that had traveled so far to be there. i am looking forward to seeing everyone in a few days!