Rite of Passage

We're getting old. It's official. We are being forced into adulthood, kicking and screaming. Not only are our bodies telling us that - gray hair, wrinkles between my eyes, etc. - but now actual actions are making us seem old. For one, getting married and having a baby both seem like "adult" things to do. And now, as of yesterday at 3:00 pm...well, we're officially HOMEOWNERS! If that doesn't scream "adult", I don't know what does!

The house-hunting, the offering process, the contract process, all of it has proven to be a long, emotional process; but the fact that it has now come to a close, our names are on the dotted line, we are overjoyed! We can't wait to get in the house and make it ours - our first home. Wow - just saying those words ("our first home") carries such a huge weight, but in such a good way. Burrito will finally have a nursery - yay!

Here's a picture of our house - come visit any time! We LOVE visitors!!!



Thanks for sharing in our many joys this year - the house being one of many!
Love you all,
Jill

Crystal's Wedding & Brentwood Girls Baby Shower

This past weekend, Kurt and I made a quick trip up to Nashville. Originally, my plan was to fly into town and drive back to Birmingham with a moving truck full of some of my mom's beautiful dining room furniture that she's donating to our new house. Long story short, our closing date was postponed (we thought the deal was going to fall through - be expecting a post later this week with more details and *hopefully* good news!). So rather than driving up by myself, Kurt graciously agreed to drive with me. This late in the pregnancy, we adopted a "better-to-be-safe-than-sorry" attitude just in case! How horrible if something happened while I was driving by myself?! Not cool to even think about. So, we got to spend some good quality time with Mimz, go to Crystal and Larry's beautiful wedding, and be the guest of honor at another fantastic baby shower. (Have I mentioned how amazingly blessed I am to have such beautiful and giving friends?!)

Here are a few photos from the weekend...enjoy!

I stole this one from Hillary cause it made me laugh - Kurt and me having fun at Crystal and Larry's reception.

With the beautiful bride, Crystal, and the gorgeous bridesmaid, Kim.

My wedding date. Hey hottie!! :)

Three of my very best friends in the world - Samantha, Hillary and Jenn - outside of the wedding reception at the War Memorial in downtown Nashville.




The amazing Hillary flew all the way into town from Florida for my baby shower she helped host!

BEWARE: *Plug* Homestyle Bakery bakes some ADORABLE and tasty cakes! Thanks Allison!!!

Opening the beautiful bib from Hosea. Thanks, Hosea!! (Sheesh, I look like a big blob!)

Allison and Mrs. Massengill holding her granddaughter, Callie - one of Burrito's future girlfriends.

The one and only beautiful, funny, and adorable Evelyn Grace Elkins. She's Burrito's future wife, my future daughter-in-law! (Don't you love my planning?!)



The hostess with the mostess, Mrs. Allison Meadows, cutting the yummy-in-my-tummy cake.

Laney! She is Samantha's niece. Absolutely precious! I loved that so many kiddos were there - took the spotlight off me...whew!

Lindsey, Hosea and MET - oops, I mean MEV (the new Mrs. Vitucci!). Love you girls - made my day that y'all were there!

Thank you to Amy, Allison, Anna Clare, Caitlin, Hillary, Jenn, Jordan, Kim and Samantha for hosting a beautiful and fun shower. I love you girls. Thank you for years of friendship and blessings. Looking forward to SO many more!!

Happy Birthday, Nana!

We love you and pray for the happiest of all birthdays! See you again soon!!

All our love! Kurt, Jill, Rosie and Toliver Knox :)

Ya-Ya Baby Shower Weekend

A couple weekends ago, my mom's best friends (the "Ya-Ya's") threw me a beautiful baby shower at Boxwood Bistro, a cute restaurant in the Factory at Franklin. These women, who are all like second moms to me, went above and beyond my wildest dreams for a baby shower - the decorations were adorable, the food (brunch - my favorite!!!) was incredible, and the gifts were extravagant. To say we got more than we needed is an understatement; but we are truly, truly grateful! Toliver Knox will be so excited!!

Here are a few pictures from the shower and from the weekend. It was unforgettable!

This is just an example of the precious decor of the shower - blue baby stuff everywhere!

By far the best part of the weekend was the people in attendance. BOTH of my sisters came into town...I was overjoyed, but my mom (Mimz) was ECSTATIC! Aunt Jackie and Aunt Jennifer - thank you for loving me so well!!

And 'Berta came! How I love her?! Nana, me and Mom-Mom - happy grandmas-to-be!





If you know me at all, you know how very much I adore my Aunt Mel. She truly is the most giving, selfless, loving, and understanding woman on the planet. For her to be there with us that weekend made it complete! I love her and her family (Uncle Buck, Jarrett, Ethan & Lucy) as if they were my own mom, dad, brother, niece, and nephew.





AND...as if having all of my own family in town wasn't enough - I was DOUBLY blessed to have all of Kurt's family there, too! This group of ladies are some of the most God-loving women I have ever met. I have MUCH to learn from them, and I am so excited to call them my own family soon, too! Nani is on the left - she is Kurt's grandma - truly a fantastic woman. Then Arminda - we share a birthday! Asheley is Kurt's cousin, Allen's wife - she's a trooper and has come to not one, but TWO of my baby showers now (Thanks Asheley!!) And Aunt Suzanne is on the right - she is a true example of strength and resilience.




But most of all, I owe all of my thanks to these beautiful women above. Mrs. Purcell, Mrs. Bartley, Mrs. Arevalos (Gail and Mrs. Portacci - who were unable to attend) - I thank you for not only throwing me a lovely baby shower (which I LOVED!); but I thank you for loving my mom so well. She would not be the woman of strength she is today without your love and support over the past few years. I am eternally grateful to you all for that!

A DIAPER CAKE! I love it!!

Showing 'Berta the diaper cake - complete with baby wash, lotion, and other fantastic goodies!

Austin was by far the star of the shower - Krista, Mrs. Arevalos's daughter, brought her son along...and gave me a TON of his hand-me-downs. I have seen pictures of Austin growing up the past few months, and I seriously hope Toliver Knox looks like him - he's the cutest kid I have ever, ever seen!!!

GO VOLS! (Somehow, I think this was more for Kurt than me or Burrito!)

Thanks, Mom-Mom, for my favorite outfit by far! "Future #1 Draft Pick" - heck yea! (Doesn't Knox Thomas just sound like the perfect pro athlete name??!)

A wrap-up to a perfect weekend - pizza, cupcakes, and wine (well, water for me) with my favorite ladies in the world!

Road Trip!

We have been traveling all over the country the past few days, and it has been a whirlwind! Last Thursday, Kurt and Rosie took off in the CRV for Dallas. I flew to Lubbock on Friday morning where they picked me up, and the three of us drove to Hobbs, NM together - Kurt's hometown. We visited with his dad, his wife (Anita), her three girls, and their kids (Tol & Anita's 8 grandkids!!). The best part of our stay in Hobbs was getting to see the amazing gift that Tol is making for us - little Toliver Knox's crib. What an amazing talent he has?! And this crib will be such a treasure in our family for years and years to come. I cannot wait to have a house to put the crib in...and I can't wait for baby Toliver Knox to come out and sleep in his crib!


Sunday morning, we packed up and headed north towards Albuquerque to see Kurt's brother, Clay (better known as "Uncle Pud"). Rather than taking the most efficient and easy way up, we decided to take the road less traveled. We stopped in Cloudcroft, NM, which is unbelievably gorgeous! You think of New Mexico and you think of desert, right? Not here! It's way up high in the mountains and is as beautiful as any place I had ever seen.

Leaving Cloudcroft, on the descent down the mountain, you can see White Sands, NM in the distance. This is where the first Transformers movie was filmed.
You can barely see it out in the distance, but it is quite a sight!

After one night in Albuquerque, we drove up to Pagosa Springs, CO to see Kurt's mom and her husband, Ed. They live in this quaint little mountain town, and we have visited three different Christmases. But this was our first time there in the Summer. And it is still breathtaking! We got to go hike with Rosie, and she LOVED it.

One of our other favorite places to see while in Pagosa is the overlook near Wolf Creek. It has some of the most spectacular views. The pictures don't even do it justice, but I'll try!

BUT, as if this place wasn't already special enough...Kurt did one of the most amazing, surprising, and romantic things ever...

HE PROPOSED!!!

(We had to re-create the proposal and had a little old man take a picture for us...he nearly fainted with excitement!!)

Needless to say, this road trip has been exhausting and INCREDIBLY EXHILARATING and surprising! I couldn't be happier!!

Kurt's mom (Roberta) and I just landed in Nashville, where Kurt and Rosie will be joining us tomorrow. We'll spend the weekend here with my family, and then head back to Birmingham on Sunday...gotta get back to reality! And maybe even start planning a wedding - yay!!

BEACH!

I can't believe I forgot to tell you all about our trip to the beach for Kurt's (25th...yea right) birthday and 4th of July! We had such a great time - great friends, great house, great weather. What more could you ask for?!

We stayed in a little house about 1 mile west of Rosemary Beach - which, in my opinion, are the most beautiful beaches in the world. We were a quick walk down to the beach, too, which was ideal. Because the house was so great, we were able to cook-out two of the nights we were there. Fresh fish on the grill - nothin' better!

Rather than giving you a play-by-play, I'll just share a few of the many pictures we took while there!

The house had a fenced in backyard, so we were able to bring our first child, Rosie :)

We ventured out to Panama City one night for dinner; afterwards, the crew wanted to go to this German beer house. I obliged, as long as they agreed to one beer. (Bars are just no fun when you're pregnant!) The only problem was that there was no air conditioning. So the picture above is me attempting to fan myself with the menu...I was trying to be a trooper so they could have fun!

Oh, and check out the size of the ONE BEER I agreed to. What the heck?! Biggest beer glasses I have EVER seen. We had a great time though. The restaurant had a live band - well, not band - she was a fiddler, and he played the accordion. But, to our heart's delight, they played Rocky Top! And if you've never seen Kurt during the playing of Rocky Top, you are missing out. It's sheer joy and excitement when that song is on!

At the restaurant during sun set

I literally did not move from that green chair the entire trip. I had my feet in the ocean at all times. And these sweet girls made the trip that much better - me, Teri, Mandy and Erin.

My sister, Jackie, works at an Aveda salon in Baytowne Wharf. Some of her clientele are managers and other workers in the area, one of whom is the manager for a restaurant called Cantina Laredo. She arranged for us to have dinner there for Kurt's birthday...and we got our meal for FREE. How awesome is that?! We, of course, had to surprise him with some dessert and singing.

Mandy, me and Jackie - always touchin' my big ole belly!!! :)

And as you know, Kurt blessed our sweet baby boy with a name while we were at the beach. He drew this in the sand and took pictures of it while I was reading - a fun little surprise for me to see! Toliver Knox Thomas - in love with him already!

The 28 Week Buddah-Belly

28 weeks along, 12 weeks to go! That just does not seem like a lot of time; and I know that it will just fly by!

According to my "FitPregnancy" weekly update, I officially entered into my third trimester. And generally at this point, I might start feeling those crazy Braxton Hicks (or practice) contractions. I'm going to do my best to not overreact; but let's be honest here. I'm going to freak out!

Here's what the weekly email said:

"Your Growing Baby"
Your baby has doubled his weight in the past month and is the size of a bag of flour. He now weighs almost 2 1/2 pounds. His total length is nearly fifteen inches. Your baby's lungs are now capable of breathing air! This is big news. It means if the baby is born from now on, he'll be able to survive with less medical intervention. Your baby's main job right now is to put the finishing touches on major organ systems, such as his brain, lungs, and liver. As you can probably tell, he's also working on gaining layers of fat. His body fat is about 2 to 3 percent. Your baby's eyes, which were covered by his eyelid folds at the sixth week of development, are capable of opening this week. His sucking and swallowing skills are improving.

"Your Growing Body" (understatement of the century, by the way!!)
You're getting larger, and as you get larger, you become more uncomfortable. Your legs may ache or cramp, it's hard to get a good sleeping position, and the baby is big enough to give you some sharp kicks to the ribs! Remember that hot weather, standing for long periods of time, or low blood sugar can make you prone to dizziness and fainting. Drink water, and stay in the shade if you're pregnant in the summer. If you know you're having a boy, you and your partner may be battling over circumcision. Consider doing research on the procedure, talking to your baby's future pediatrician for her views, and talking to other parents to see how they resolved the issue.

Now on to the part you all really want to see, but that I dread posting. And because I'm in a good mood today (I actually slept for about 4 hours straight last night - woohoo!), I took a bare belly pic. Beware - it's rather frightening!

HUGE! And it's just gonna keep on getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger...yikes!

Ain't nothin' better than some Rosie kisses :)

I'll do a few more updates to the blog this week before taking a siesta next week. We're heading west to Hobbs, Albuquerque, and Pagosa Springs to see Kurt's family. (He's driving...I'm flying. No one wants to do a road trip with me right now!!)