My Birthday with Friends

On Friday night, several of my closest friends all piled in the Yukon and went to Birmingham to celebrate my birthday. We had dinner at Sekisui, which is a top rated restaurant in the US. If you haven't eaten there, you are missing out! Sushi is closest to my heart (yes, you can have it if you're pregnant), and they are known for it. My eyes were bigger than my stomach. Everyone was laughing at all the food I checked off to order, but I gave it my best shot. We had so much fun. The food was great, and the company was even greater. Here are some fun pics from dinner.

My beautiful cake. It tasted as good as it looked.
Most of the crew at dinner. I don't see Matt, Sean, or Spiderman (harrison, shh!).
My sweet husband, who worked so hard.
Trying to decide what to order, which I had no problem with because I chose most of it.
The ultra exciting drink of the 2 pregnant chicks, a SHIRLEY TEMPLE. Jealous?
They brought out green tea ice cream, which was interesting, to say the least. I was more than happy to share with Isacah, who found nothing but delight in all the food.
Look at that cake!
Sean and Chrissie
Me, Karl and Renea
Angelle and Jennifer
Angelle and Renea
I have to do these things.
Pretty Chrissie
WHY are you all blocking me?
I go in the front. Always.
The girls! Chrissie, me, Jennifer, Renea and Angelle



After dinner, we walked around outside. The Rick and Bubba Studio was right next door, and that is my favorite morning radio show. We took some fun pics out in the cold. Little did I know we were stalling for something...
How did THAT happen?!
It was pretty chilly outside, so we walked to a Starbucks around the corner. There I taught the girls some photograph secrets. They were amazed at what I knew and to be honest a bit bitter I had not shared before this, and one of the tricks is being utilized in this very picture, but I cannot tell.

A Surprise After Dinner

So after we warmed up inside a Starbucks, Chrissie points out the window to a stretch limo while Travis says, "Your ride is here." All of my friends are giddy marching outside while I am sitting there going, "Shut up." I sure didn't want to get up and it NOT be for me. Travis would do that; I would do that! But he was totally serious. Apparently, he and Chrissie had planned this for a long time, and I was totally surprised. We had this stretch Cadillac Escalade limo for two hours! It was SO awesome! Here I was thinking that it would be a low key birthday because I'm pregnant, and it was the best ever! It didn't stop there though. As we drove around, hung out the sunroof in downtown Birmingham to cheers from people on the streets, Travis says, "How about going to Bellbottoms?" That is a club that plays 80s and 90s music. I kind of laughed, but more people got on board, and that is where we ended up. I thought it was going to be totally lame, but it was all songs we loved and don't act like you didn't too: Vogue, Ice Ice Baby, Celebration, Getting Jiggy with It...ha! Ahh, I hope the pictures slightly convey just how much fun we had. Thank you so much, Travis and Chrissie, for going above and beyond what you should have for my birthday! I will NEVER forget this night!
Smile, Chrissie
Isn't that LOVELY?
We got 3 of us in that little sunroof.
Swwwweeeeeeeeet!
And at the club....

ha, yeah they did






I think they were making fun of us?!
And it had to end sometime. :(

My 26th Birthday

Today is my 26th birthday, and I had a great one. I've got my mom here, a sweet little girl that told me "happy birthday" all day long, another babe almost 9 weeks in the making, and a husband that truly outdid himself this year. First, if you read earlier, you know that he got me a car. That was enough, but I will have to make what else he did a post in itself because it was so special. I was overwhelmed with emotion, and that's all I will say for now. It was possibly the nicest, most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. My mom took me to Classic on Noble today, which is where I had my birthday last year and also the best restaurant in town. I had parmesan crusted salmon, and it was amazing. She offered dessert, but I couldn't will myself to take another bite. It was wonderful, and thank you mom, for a great lunch (and those 2 dresses from Express). When I picked Sage up from school, she was very disturbed that I did not have a birthday cake yet. (Travis has it ordered for tomorrow for celebration with friends.) He worked late, but when he got home he had picked up another cake that Sage had picked out the night before....which is pretty obvious. Then we got ready and went to Mexico Lindo, which is so pretty on the inside. Anyway, I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself. The next few pics are just fun...

'J' and 'Little J'
Mom and me
Notice who was ready regardless of the fact that Travis snapped the pic without letting us know.
Mom and Sage at Mexico Lindo.
Isn't it pretty? The first time we went here, Sage said throughout the entire meal, "This is amazing. This is fantastic!" She also informed us tonight during dinner, "I told (some girl at school) that she's too little to have a baby because her belly is so big." I was mortified. I then explained to her that just because someone has a big belly doesn't mean that a baby is inside. Yikes!
Afterwards we went to Best Buy where I still dominate at Mario Kart Wii, as the princess, of course.
This is the cake that Sage picked out, and yes, I put 26 candles on it.
Blowing them all out...

Hey, Baby!

Today was my first doctor's appointment, which made this baby seem a little more real. It was a LONG appointment; I left 2 hours later, but it was good. We got to see the little babe, as you can see below. That circle above the head is the yolk sac. You can also see a little body. What you can't see is the rapid heartbeat. Very sweet. There's a little life in there, and I'm measuring exactly what I thought: 8 weeks and 2 days.

So then I met with a lady that used to do all their ultrasounds (I haven't been here in 4 years), and she said, "So you had your ultrasound? And what did they see?" I said, "A baby?" She was really nice, and she asked a few more "typical, first appointment" questions. Then she led me to Dr Collins, who wasn't my doctor with Sage, but he actually induced me and delivered her. I loved him. I still do. He said, "JEWELS! Congrats, it's a boy. Well, I've got a 50/50 shot." He remembered me, and I thanked him again for having mercy on me almost 4 years ago when I was overdue and evil. Julie, the ultrasound lady said, "What do you mean, evil? I don't believe that. Look at her." Dr Collins said, "Nah, she wasn't evil. She was just pregnant." So he gave me some safe medicine to take for my back that has been aching for a week and a half, congratulated me, and told me I was due on May 29th, which is my mom's birthday. So there you go! We're excited!

Cute as a pumpkin