girls day.

44 days left until my due date! annnnd i can't believe our one year wedding anniversary is a week from monday! on the days when i am dragging and just feel so done being pregnant, time seems to go so slow. but on days (like today) when i feel energized and social, life feels like it's flying full speed towards november. i can't decide which one scares me the most! a part of me feels so confident and ready to be a mother, but another part is nervous and scared that maybe we're not really ready for this. i've been feeling more nervous than anything lately because Will has been working and traveling so much. i haven't seen my husband since last monday (the 12th) and wont see him again until almost october. i'm so proud of him for working so hard and i know that it won't always be like this, but realizing that there will be times like this when i'll be on my own and Audrey is still a newborn is a little overwhelming.

my aunt debbie (my mom's sister) drove in from Cary today to spend the day with me and she did a great job of helping me feel a little less overwhelmed. it was just what i needed and we had a blast together. i gave her a tour of our house in progress and she gave me some pointers and went through some of the things that i'll need right away that i hadn't even thought about.
it went a little like this...

aunt debbie: "do you have ____?"
me: "ummm...no."
aunt debbie: "okay, well what about ____?"
me: "hmm, hadn't thought of that yet."
(after a few rounds of this)
aunt debbie: "okay, i think we need to go shopping!"

i've been missing my mom a ton lately as the time gets closer for me to become a mom myself. i wish that she could be here to guide me and tell me all of her amazing mom secrets. lucky for me, my aunt reached out and did for me what i know my mom wished so bad that she could've been here for. we talked about everything -- no subject was off limits and i love that about her. my mom and i had that raw honesty type of relationship and i miss it.
i braved the babies r us store for the first time since my registry incident and it wasn't so scary this time! that says a lot in itself :) we went to lunch afterward and had girl talk, which was very entertaining. she reassured me in so many areas that i have been feeling uncertain about, especially laboring and breastfeeding. i've been reading a ton of books and articles about those subjects but it's much more uplifting to hear about the real-life experience of a close family member. she was so positive about everything, and it was a breath of fresh air. if you're reading this Aunt Debbie, thank you again for everything! (and also, thank you to Aunt Debbie's friend for the big box of clothes, bibs, and toys!)

i would like to add that i have done a few loads of Will's laundry with our new special Tide detergent and his clothes do NOT smell like a baby :) case closed!


last but not least, here is me at 32 and 33 weeks....

32 weeks

33 weeks

59 days.

sweet little baby Audrey and i have been on the outs this week. we are not getting along. Will thinks it's hilarious and regularly encourages her to "get mama." she has taken up residence in my rib cage and it's incredibly painful. she loves to stretch out and wiggle her toes, which was cute the first few times but now it just hurts. she also gets the hiccups several times a day which is not a huge deal...unless you're trying to go to sleep. one night last week we BOTH had them at the same time which was pretty funny.

i cannot believe that September is here and Labor Day has come and gone. we had a great long weekend starting with (of course) taking the boat out to the lake and doing some fishing on Saturday before attending Will's boss's vow renewal ceremony. we had a great time with his co-workers and their dates. on Sunday we spent the day working on the house a little more and just relaxing before going to dinner and a movie with friends. i am so cherishing these special outings with Will and friends that i know will be few and far between once we have a newborn. on Monday we ran some errands and then took a trip to Pilot Mountain and went on a short hike. hiking?? at 31 weeks pregnant?? oh yes. it felt great! it was actually harder going back down than it was hiking up. i love how amazing my body has been to me and the baby, but i'm ready for it to be all mine again. i'm also ready to lose this baby weight! A good friend, Heather, had a baby in May and has been such an inspiration to my post-baby workout goals. she did P90x and looks amazing. i'm getting antsy!  

quick note for my mama and mama-to-be friends, target is having amazing deals and specials right now on baby/toddler stuff. i've been super strict with our budget lately and have been holding out for some good deals. they are offering their usual free shipping on orders of $50 or more and i also used promo code: TGTDA4FA to get 20% off my entire purchase.
Halo Swaddle Sleepsack (originally $20) was on sale for $15 plus a $4 off coupon (in store)
Boppy Pillow with cover (originally $36) was on sale for $30 plus my 20% off code (online)
FP Rock n Play Sleeper Bassinet (originally $51) was on sale for $45 plus my 20% off code (online)

one of my co-workers surprised me last week with a Moby wrap baby carrier and i was so excited! my sister loved hers and i'm hoping she can show me how to use it because it looks slightly complicated. i've heard such great things about them and my co-worker swore by hers for her two kids.

yep, with 59 days until my due date it feels SO GOOD to check things off of the 'things the baby needs' list. we're trying to stick to absolute essentials and although it's really tempting to buy every little thing, i think we've done a good job finding deals and getting the basics before the fun stuff.

new email address.

school starting again (and me not having any classes -- hooray!) reminded me that i probably need to get a new email address. i'm pretty sure UNCG is going to close my account sometime soon so better safe than sorry. my new email address is:

lindsey.boatright@hotmail.com

if you also need our new mailing address, just email me and i will send it to you.
we love you lots! --Will & Lindsey

little clothes, big laundry pile.

i don't know how this is possible. oh wait, yes i do -- i'm addicted to buying baby clothes. i began the process of organizing Audrey's closet and unpacking and organizing clothes last night to start baby laundry. Will's mom also asked me to do inventory and see what size we should start shopping for next...i think we both have an addiction! after an hour of pulling off tags and piling everything together in the crib, i started to run out of room. the crib was overflowing so i had to start using a hamper for the last few things.

i think it's safe to say that we don't need anymore blankets, newborn, 3 month, and 6 month clothes! it actually works out pretty well because her 9 month clothes will fit her next summer so hopefully i'll be able to stock up now that all of the summer outfits have started going on clearance. 12 month clothes will fit her next fall so i can just pick those up when all of the new collections come out!

i'm glad i'm starting on the baby laundry now while i still have the energy! pregnancy insomnia has slowly taken over my life. what started out as just a few occurances, has turned into a nightly problem. i can't get comfortable and i hear every little noise. i tend to sleep best after 4 am, that is until the neighbor's dogs wake me up. she has three boxer/pit mixes that she keeps in a small pen in her backyard. every morning at 8 am she brings them outside and puts them in the pen for the remainder of the day. it wouldn't be a big deal if they didn't bark constantly. they bark and everything. cars, each other, and i guess the air because it just never stops. this 8 am rude awakening even happens on saturday and sunday mornings. there is no escape. a few weekends ago after a particularly rough night, i woke up to 'bark! bark! bark! bark!' as usual at 8 am. i got up, put on jeans and a t-shirt, and left without saying a word to Will. i walked up to the neighbor's front door and knocked on it very calmly. then.... i unleashed the wrath of a tired, cranky pregnant lady. it went a little something like this...

"hello. i live next door and i don't know if you realize this or not but your dogs wake us up every single day at 8 am. they bark constantly. we've lived here for a while now and we've tolerated it so far, but this cannot go on. in two months we are going to have a newborn baby in our house and if you cannot get your dogs under control and keep the noise down you're going to have some serious problems. waking me and my husband up is one thing, but waking up our new baby is quite another. i will make calls, and i will not stop until the barking stops. sleep deprived parents will be your worst nightmare."

i then turned around and walked away. she didn't even have a chance to speak. could i have handled it better? probably, but that is what awesome husbands are for. things were better for a few days after that but then it started up again so Will went over there to try a more civil approach, and also apologize for his crazy wife's behavior :)

but as it turns out, i'm not the crazy one! the woman is in some paradise of denial because she told Will that it wasn't her dogs that barked like that, it was the dogs across the street (wrong). she said that they are good dogs and never bark so we are complaining to the wrong person (again, wrong). she then changed tactics and begged him not to get her dogs taken away from her (which is not our intent, we just want some bark collars and discipline please!) because they are her watch dogs. she told him how her husband committed suicide a few months ago but people believe that she actually was the one who killed him, so her dogs protect her from her accusers (from their pen in the backyard? hmm). Will was very patient and tried to reason with her, but gave up after thirty minutes or so. she must have taken to him more than he intended because a few days later a love letter showed up at the house from her asking if he would be the positive male influence in her and her dogs lives that they so badly needed since her husband is no longer around. she has yet to receive a reply :) we are still trying to be patient but she is still continuously violating the noise ordinance for the town we live in and i will not tolerate anything disturbing Audrey's sleep patterns when she arrives. any suggestions on how to handle this without drawing enemy lines would be appreciated!

Will is in Pennsylvania this week and i am in baby project heaven. it's so much fun working on getting things ready for her and it's also nice for Will to come home and see the progress made instead of the mess that i create along the way. i've never looked forward to doing laundry before and all of those teeny tiny clothes have somehow made a big laundry pile!

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 :)