And we have a name...

   For any of you that know me you know that I HATE to make decisions!    So, it made it a little difficult for us to pick a name for the Butterbean.   I mean your baby's name is stuck for life!   Well after much thought and consideration, we decided that the Butterbean will be named Dunkin Edward Townsend.  We are going to call him Dunkin.   Dunkin is my dad's mom's maiden name, and Edward is Clint's middle name, his dad's middle name, and his grandfather's name.   We are really excited about the Butterbean's name, and we hope that he loves it as much as we do!
   In other news, this is the last week of school!!!  Our school is on an extended school year, so we have been in school an extra four weeks this year.  I know that it has been helpful for our students, but I am sure glad to join the rest of my teacher friends for a little summer break!   I will miss my kids, but I know they are ready for a break too.  Hopefully, next week will start Butterbean room prep!    We have started getting together things for his room, but we have yet to start getting the actual room together.  I will make sure to post pictures once we have started to get it ready.

On a side note...we have baby birds that just hatched outside our back door.   I have really enjoyed watching them the past couple of days, so I thought I would share a picture of one of them.  Unfortunately, it is pretty blurry and my camera battery died before I could take another one.   I figured I would just share it anyway!  

Happy Birthday Clintster!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet, loving husband!   We have spent the day looking at baby furniture, buying a electric fence, getting a Chick-Fil-A milkshake(quite the treat since we don't have Chick-Fil-A), visiting Best Buy, eating Italian and yummy strawberry cake, and listening/watching both Braves and Alabama baseball.   Tomorrow, I think we will just relax!    For Clint's birthday, he asked for a video camera.   We are looking forward to many fun days of videoing in the future.  

 Happy Birthday Clint! I hope that this next year is your best year ever!  I love you!

      Well, we have had quite an eventful week and a half.  Last Tuesday, we loaded up and headed to Jackson to see a Maternal Fetal Specialist.   It was fun because my mom got to come with us.  She has seen the Butterbean in pictures, but she has never gotten to see the actual ultrasound.  We got a really good report at our appointment.  The doctor said that everything looked great with the baby.   Also, he felt that plan my OB had put into place was exactly what he would do for the blood clot.  He talked us through his plans and then dismissed us from his care.   It was great to know that my doctor's plans were exactly what the specialist would do too! 
     On Friday, we traveled to Monroeville for Jennifer and Curtis' big wedding weekend.  This weekend had been a long time coming, so we were so excited to help them celebrate!   Every part of the weekend was perfect.  Jennifer looked fantastic and the wedding was beautiful.  Her reception even had a photo booth!    It was lots of fun to hang out with all our friends that we rarely get to see.  Congratulations Jennifer and Curtis!  I hope part 1 of your honeymoon has been so much fun! (side note:  Since Jennifer still has a week left of school, they decided to have a minimoon at The Grand Hotel and then go to Hawaii the first part of June...So Clever!)
       Here are a few pictures of the fun weekend!

The Sweet Couple

                                                                   ADPi Love
      Here is a quick update on the Butterbean.  He is growing, growing, growing!   He has started to make a noticeable appearance in my belly!   Another exciting development, I can now feel him move.   It is really neat to feel the sweet life that is growing inside of me.  I feel great and have a lot more energy then I have in months past.  We are currently in the process of working on a name for the Butterbean.  Clint says that we could just call him B.B. so that he can keep Butterbean as his name forever!  Hopefully soon we will have a name, but in the mean time if you have any suggestions now is the time to speak up!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post.   Life just got a little hectic there for a while!   This weekend we were able to go to Birmingham to spend Mother's day with my wonderful mother and grandmother!  For those of you who know my mother, we all know that she is truly wonderful.  She has taught me so much in my 26 years of life and for that I am very grateful.  If I can be have as loving, caring, fun, and flexible as my mother the Butterbean will be a lucky boy!   You read that right...the Butterbean is a boy!  We are so excited.  He was kind enough to make it very easy to tell a few weeks ago that he was a boy, and then he was very cooperative this past week as he again made us very aware in our ultrasound that he was indeed a boy.   Not only did he show us his gender very clearly, but he also showed off his acrobatic moves during our ultrasound.  The lady that does our ultrasounds just kept saying, "I think this little boy is going to be an entertainer!"   On Tues., we will go to Jackson to see a specialist.  He will do a comprehensive work up on both me and the baby.  Everyone we have talked to says the best part of this visit is you get to do the 4D ultrasound.  We are excited about seeing the Butterbean up close and personal, and also hope that doctor will be able to confirm that we are taking the right steps to deal with the blood clot.  I will post an update after our visit on Tues.
    The other excitement of my weekend was going to Montgomery for Jennifer's bridesmaid luncheon.   Jennifer looked beautiful as always, and the luncheon was really fun.  It was great to get together with all the bridesmaids and celebrate such an exciting time for Jennifer.  I am looking forward to spending next weekend in Monroeville for her big day.  My dad is especially excited about this weekend because it just so happens to be the same weekend as the To Kill A Mockingbird Play.    My dad loves this story, probably because he and Aticus are almost the same person!   Seriously, he loves the story he even has the movie soundtrack!  I'm just glad he finally gets to go to the play.  Im sure I will have a full update next week on all the weekend's events.    I have to go pick up my dress tomorrow from the alterations place, so hopefully I haven't grown too much since last week!

Help Wanted...

   Well it is official, I have now had a pregnancy breakdown.  Unfortunately, mine happened today in the office of the day care director!  We have spent the past few weeks researching, visiting, and deciding on where the Butterbean will go during the day while we are at work.  I had found a place that I loved.  We know some people that are currently there, and I really enjoyed my visit to the school.   Well, I went to visit last week.  I wanted to make sure that we didn't rush into a decision, so I left the school to go home and think before I made my decision.  Due to some long days at school last week, I ended up not getting back until today.  I went in today to turn in our registration, and the spot had been FILLED!  Needless to say, it took me by surprise and I had a small meltdown.  The director obviously felt really bad.  She said that they still had a Dec. opening if I wanted to take it.  In order to avoid a full out meltdown and again not make a rash decision, I told her I would think about it.  I left and immediately called Clint for the real meltdown.  After a few minutes of reassuring me that we would find someone to keep the baby during the few weeks I will have to go back to school before Christmas break, Clint sent me back to register for a spot(thank goodness that my husband has a brain!).  So now, I'm most likely officially a nutcase in the director's eyes and we are looking for a short time babysitter!  Start submitting your applications now...the Butterbean is going to be awesome, so I know there will be a long line!  It will probably start with my mom!  I promise to post soon about my weekend.  It was so fun.

Let the "bump" growing begin!

Clint is out of town tonight, so I figured why clean the house when I could update the blog.  Well, its official.  I finally have a little bump.  It is kind of crazy.  It seems like I hit week 14 and woke up with a little baby bump.  You still have to be looking for it, but if you look close it is there!  Week 14 has brought about another nice change.  I feel so much better, and I actually want to eat my dinner.  It is wonderful!   We went for a check up last Thursday and everything is looking good with the baby and my leg.  My blood work all looks good, and the baby is still apparently preforming aerobics in the womb!  Its little heartbeat was 172.    We will go back next Thursday for another check-up.  We are hoping maybe we can convince Dr. Lacy to tell us what we are having.  Clint says that is just wishful thinking, but I think it could happen!   This weekend I am headed to Birmingham for a shower for Jennifer.  I am excited to see all my family and friends and celebrate Jennifer's upcoming big day!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from Lauren, Clint, the Butterbean, and Daisy
We were so thankful today to be able to get out and go to church this morning!  I actually got out of the house yesterday for a very short lived, unsuccessful hunt for an Easter dress.   Today, we went to church and then spent the day at Clint's parents house.  We enjoyed spending time with family and eating yummy food.  This time next year our little Butterbean will be here!  That is pretty exciting!  In other news, I will be going back to school tomorrow.   We saw the doctor on Friday, and the clot appears to be decreasing.  I do still obviously have some circulation issues since the clot is still in my leg.  The baby was moving a lot and had a HB of 172.  Dr. Lacy gave me the ok to return to school as long as I spend most of my day off my feet.   I have worked out a schedule with work so that I don't have to spend a lot of time on my feet.  Hopefully, this will work out.  I appreciate all prayers.  I really want to be able to work, but I also want what is best for both the baby and myself.  I feel confident that our plan at school will work.  I just going to have to continually remind myself to take it easy.  For those of you who know me, you know that this is sometimes very hard for me!    We go back to the doctor on Thursday morning for a regular pre-natal visit.   In addition to the regular visit, Dr. Lacy is also going to check to make sure that returning to school is not causing any problems with the clot.   In the mean time, Im headed to bed.  My two week vacation has not been very good for my school sleep schedule!