What a weekend!

I had a fabulous weekend! Saturday morning I met Diane for a yummy lunch at our spot -- Coastal Flats. Oh how we LOVE thier salads and the delicious bread basket that we can NEVER get enough of! After lunch we walked around Tyson's (the mall) for at least an hour or two. Sad to say that is the most excercise I've had in awhile! But, it felt really good to be moving around and I didnt even have any hip pain! Woohoo! After we said our good-byes I was feeling so good that I decided to take a trip over to Home Goods to buy some picture frames. I've decided I want to hang a bunch of photos in the hallway going up the stairs. I found some beautiful frames and now I'm working on finding the perfect photos to fill them.

After a full day of fabulous food and shopping I came home and collapsed onto the couch with my buddy Baxter and watched TV well into the evening. Jeremy was busy working on some work stuff for most of the afternoon, but we watched a movie together before heading up to bed. Because of all that walking I did, I had a fabulous nights sleep. In one word - Awesome!! I hate all the tossing and turning that has been going on lately. I've just been having so much trouble getting comfortable!

On Sunday morning we woke up at around 8 am, made some egg sandwiches, and decided to go to church. It has been a long time since Jeremy and I went to church. When we were out in San Diego we tried to find a church but had no luck -- one church we attended had those huge projector screens that come down from the ceiling and the hymns were projected up there, and then it was like karaoke with a dot under each word you were supposed to sing. That through us both for a loop! We were both raised in a much more traditional church setting. After going to a few churches in San Diego we kind of just gave up on finding one. And I'm not sure why we didnt really try searching one out again after moving back to the east coast. But, lately it has been on my mind a lot. I want Brody to grow up going to church and be part of loving and caring christian community.

Looking back on my childhood I have very fond memories of church and Sunday school. Granted, the thing that makes me smile the most is the memory of walking to the corner store with Daddy after church and him letting us pick out any candy we wanted -- we normally both got a package of Neccos! haha. And as I grew older I know I fought my parents on going to church. But, now I do understand why they made me go and I'm happy they did.

So as we prepare for this journey of parenthood, we've started thinking a lot about how we want to raise Brody, and the importance of faith and religion in his upbringing. I want to find a church where we can baptize Brody, and somewhere that feels like a second family - a warm, loving environment. After doing some googling, I located a few Presbyterian churches in the area that I wanted to check out. We were welcomed into the Kirkwood Presbyterian church with open arms on Sunday. Jeremy and I were so impressed with how incredibly friendly everyone was. From the moment we entered the church doors we were greeted with smiles and handshakes. The minister was great and the two of us really enjoyed the sermon. Afterward, we attended the coffee and cake hour where so many people came up and welcomed us, and seemed generally really happy to meet us. One of the greeters that we met when we first walked in even gave us a tour of the church and showed us the nursery which was absolutely adorable. I felt great upon leaving there and I'm looking forward to going back again next Sunday.

After leaving church we had an appoint with another daycare provider. After speaking to this woman on the phone I had a good feeling -- but, I didnt want to get my hopes up just yet. Because searching for daycare for our little man has been an adventure to say the least. We've met some really interesting people, most of whom I wouldn't dream of leaving my baby with. So many of these day cares, even the in-home ones seem to be baby factories and I hate that. But, Sunday afternoon we had a great meeting with a potential day care provider. She seems just fabulous and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out. I'm going to call her references and we'll be making a final decision after that. But, I'm very excited, happy, and relieved to find someone who I really think we can trust.

All in all a very productive and fun-filled weekend! Above are some more recent pics that we took this week - 37 weeks preggers. The belly just keeps growing! They are estimating that Brody weighs 7lbs!

xoxo LaureNicole