Announcing Baby Will Hammon!

Born July 8th, 7 lb 8 oz and 21 inches long. 

Welcome to the Hammon family little man, We love you.

 

Baby Shower (Google style)

Jason's colleagues threw me a baby shower on Saturday and it was awesome. You know they're good when they get you all excited again that you're having a baby. We went to this place called Wine & Design and each of us got a canvas to paint that was part of a mural for the baby's room. It looks awesome and I can't wait to get it on the wall. I got some great presents and most of all just felt loved and supported it was great! Someone was taking pictures there so hopefully I'll get those and post more but till then...

Note: me at 37 weeks- 3 weeks left! can't believe it

Birthday Weekend!

The weekend after memorial day was Jason's Birthday! Holiday's are kind of a sticking point with Jason and I because he never really celebrated holiday's and holiday's were always a big deal for me. SO when I try to celebrate something, especially something for him, I have to do a lot of convincing that it's actually a good thing. Last year was usurped by graduation, getting a new job, and moving but this year was a great success! Jason played the Birthday Boy really well. Saturday night we took advantage of the Art's Festival here in Charleston called the Spolleto Festival and went to a modern opera called Facing Goya. It was very interesting, strange, intriguing, and overall we decided that we like the classic foreign operas better but it was an experience. The best part about it was being on a date going to a performance. We hadn't  done anything quite like that since we lived in Salt Lake and it was so nice. We enjoyed every moment of freedom we had without a child. In fact we had our first experience where we had to deliberately not talk about baby stuff/stressors. I already saw the benefit of being able to connect and do something that both you enjoy outside of doing things for the kids. Anyway, then Monday was Jason's birthday. I nearly put myself into labor by blowing up a ton of balloons because what's a birthday without balloons? Jason got off a little early from work so we went out and got a 'Low Down Dirty Shame' Burger at one of the best burger places in town and then ended the night with an oreo ice cream cake. At the end Jason said he might even start looking forward to his birthday's from now on. Score!

Fort Sumter

One thing that we decided that had to be done while we were here in Charleston is go to Fort Sumter so since I can't conceptualize life after a baby we decided we'd make the most of our memorial day by accomplishing something on our list of things to see. The fort itself is actually really small.  The boat ride is by far the best part. However, it was worth going and I definitely recommend this tour to anyone who comes to Charleston as one of the first things to do.  For those who don't know the Fort is where the first shots were fired that started the Civil War. (and yes, I realize as a history major that that is a statement full assumptions and simplifications and goes against all I was taught) So they have a nice little narration they play on the boat that tells you all about the history of the fort as well as other key points in Charleston. It's the best concise history I've heard from all the touristy things and it gives you a good idea for the culture of the area. It's been so interesting to live in a state that is so strong in its state history and has it's own state militia. And they are very proud of their place in American History.  It makes for a very interesting mix.

P.s. forgive all the pics of us, apparently I didn't find very interesting things to take pictures of at the Fort...

May

I apologize for being so absent on my blog. People ask me what's new these days and all I can think about is my growing stomach, becoming a mother, wondering what our son will be like, not even to mention how many changes are going to come in only three weeks (give or take)!! So I guess in an effort to avoid sounding like a broken record stuck on the pregnancy track I stopped posting. However these last few weeks have deserved blogging about so here we go! And I apologize in advance for all the pregnancy/baby references as well as all the disjointed thoughts. Seriously I think the baby is stealing all my brain cells.

So where to begin? I guess I'll break it down by weekends. The weekend of the 17th we went to Brookgreen Gardens which is the largest collection of American sculptures in the U.S. and I'm quite sure the world as well. It was beautiful and by far the best thing we've seen here in Charleston. It's actually about an hour and a half away but still.

 Diana the Hunting Goddess

Man Carving his own Destiny. This one was my favorite. You can't really see his face but it is the most agonizing face cut out of stone that I have seen. I guess it struck me how hard it is to actually carve your own destiny.  

 This was the snake by the statue of man carving his own destiny...that I had just unnoticingly knelt by to take a picture....

And here I am at 33 weeks! Aren't the trees gorgeous?

30 weeks!

So can you believe I'm already 30 weeks along or 7 1/2 months?  I feel like it's gone by so fast, so fast in fact that I'm starting to panic because I don't have really anything ready for the baby (really it's because I'm actually going to have a baby). Conversations usually go, "so do you have the baby's room all ready?!" nope haven't even really started (besides he's going to get more like a corner), no I don't have a color scheme, no I don't have a theme and no I really haven't bought anything for the baby. And yes, I know that's crazy, and yes I know I need to sometimes said between a frozen smile and clenched teeth. Inside I'm thinking, do you know how big of a life change this is? It's huge and buying stuff just forces me to confront it so I just choose not to :) I know so healthy. What can I say though? Pregnancy is a roller coaster and I feel like going from Christmas is coming to the end of the world as we (Jason and I) know it.

I will say though the pregnancy itself always continues to be a fun adventure. I'm continually fascinated by my daily changing body. The other night I woke up and the baby was apparently underneath my ribs, I adjusted myself and it hurt so I brilliantly thought I would sit up. Well as soon as I used my muscles to sit up I regretted my decision. I sat up in bed panting waiting for the pain to go away. Jason wakes up and asks me what's wrong and I say "I feel like I got stabbed with a knife!" and he says "oh no, it's not that bad." Ha as if he knew how bad it hurt but then like I know what it's like to be stabbed with a knife. We had a good laugh about it the next morning. If there's one thing I've learned throughout my pregnancy it's that you just laugh and go along with what happens.

On how everything is awesome

You know how you imagine different phases/moments of your life, what you'll be doing, how you'll feel, how the whole world will be right (or in some cases wrong)? A lot of times those moments turn out so much worse than you imagine (like finding out I was pregnant put me into panic instead of happy contentness) AND other times they are exactly how you imagine those moments to be. Life right now is one of those moments. I'm 26 weeks pregnant and guys life is so awesome. I'm not even sure why except that everything you accomplish when you're pregnant becomes a big deal. Like dressing cute, carrying groceries to the car, exercising, sleeping well, cleaning the house, etc. Instead of just being annoyed at boring chores it kind of becomes a "yeah that's right, I did that and I'm 6 months pregnant, booya!" I'm loving the time I have to spend on myself to work out, or resign myself to the couch because I'm hormonal, cook yummy things, and clean and read and organize. I'm also relishing the time Jason and I spend together where it's just the two of us and we still have all our freedom. 

  Besides that the second trimester has been a dream compared to the first and now that I'm entering the third I know that will get hard (I'm already having back pains and leg cramps and big belly problems) but honestly it has to so I will want to push this baby out. 

I guess mainly I'm just feeling so blessed. Also, another thing to be happy about? This package came in the mail the the other day

Words can't even express how perfect this is and how excited I was when I opened it.

And since I haven't posted many pictures of me with a stomach here are a couple....