Sorry it's been so long...

It was recently brought to my attention that I have been a little lax lately in updating the blog, and I'm sorry! I really do plan to update more frequently in the future--things have just been a little crazy around here with Travis and I both in our busiest time of year and getting ready for Baby T.

The Spring is always a bit frantic for Travis, since Lowes does its biggest amount of business for the year during this time.  People begin renovating and landscaping, and Travis gets to deal with all the pleasantness that comes with a job in customer service.  He has lots of stories, but I'll let him tell them ;-)

For me, Spring is recital time.  This is what we work for all year in the dance studio, and this year, I feel some extra pressure since it's my first as studio owner--I want it to be fabulous and show everyone what a great transition this year was for Vidalia Ballet.  I also have performances for Statesboro School of Dance coming up after my own, but because of my due date, it looks like I'll be missing that one this year.  Good thing my girls have worked so hard!

All that said, this year's spring craziness is just a bit magnified as we anticipate Baby T's arrival.  My Vidalia Ballet recital is May 7, my due date is May 28 (Memorial Day Weekend, aka Lowes' busiest weekend of the spring), and the Statesboro School of Dance recitals are June 4.  Somewhere in there will be a Vidalia friends baby shower in April and a family, friends, and Statesboro friends baby shower in May.  Yeesh.

Speaking of baby showers, I will update the blog with information as it comes in.  I am incredibly grateful to my gracious friends Janelle Wiley and Shay Morgan who are throwing my Statesboro shower and Maria Gibase who is hosting my Vidalia shower.  I could not ask for more thoughtful people in my life.  We have up-to-date baby registries at both Target (shop in-store or at http://www.target.com/ ) and Amazon.com (which includes both an Amazon registry and a Universal registry since some of the cloth diapering supplies we need come from other websites but can be purchased easily through the Amazon registry.  Just click on the "Gifts & Wish Lists" tab on the http://www.amazon.com/ homepage, click on "Baby Registry" on the left side of the screen under the "Browse" tab, and search for Brii Tyson or Travis Tyson.)

We actually received our first baby gift off the registry yesterday! It was so exciting getting an unexpected package in the mail and even more exciting that it was from my Uncle Dib, whom I haven't seen since my family moved from Virginia!  We received two cloth pocket diapers (one in a mango color and one in a cow print) and the "Snappis," which are kind of the modern version of the sharp and cumbersome pins that used to be necessary to fasten cloth diapers.  The diapers were even cuter in real life, and this baby is going to have a seriously precious "cow butt!"

Baby Tyson is continuing to grow, so I thought I'd post come new belly pictures, too.

Here's the last pic I posted of Baby T at 23 weeks:

22 weeks 5 days

And since then Baby T has definitely continued his or her outward growth!

24 weeks 5 days
Sorry it's a bit blurry--I was still getting used to the new phone!

26 weeks 6 days
This is from the day that I finally broke down purchased maternity clothes :-)
I'm wearing my first maternity t-shirt in the pic!

28 weeks 5 days
I hit 29 weeks this past Saturday, so I'll be taking another pic soon!

Baby T has continued to be very active, especially at night.  I am pretty sure that I'm growing more of a ninja than a baby, but we'll just have to wait and see.

I did finally break down and buy some maternity clothes at right around 27 weeks.  I had previously gotten one pair of maternity jeans from a local boutique (bought at about 25 weeks) that I've been wearing, but for everything else I've stuck with my normal t-shirts, more forgiving cuts on my dressier tops, and my athletic/dance pants for work.  I started to get a little worried, though, about stretching my t-shirts out too much and not being able to wear them in the future, so I went on a little shopping trip.  Motherhood Maternity and JCPenney ended up having the best scores, and after a verrrry long day of shopping (by myself!) in Savannah, I came home with 7 new shirts, two dresses (one maternity, one not), and several new undergarments.  Yay!  And I have to say, the shirts and jeans are especially comfy!  It's nice not to have to worry about if my t-shirt is completely covering my ever-expanding belly! :-)

We did finally snag a crib, thanks to a friend-of-a-friend and a very kind brother-in-law (Nathan) who loaned us his truck and man muscles for the morning (on the day of his wedding rehearsal, no less!).  It needs a fresh coat of paint, so I'll post pics once that's done.  I am also hoping that week after next I'll be able to get going on painting the nursery and getting things set up in there while the dance studio is on spring break.  I can't wait to get started!