Tampa Baby Shower - April 26, 2008

This Saturday was my baby shower in Tampa, hosted by Tammy, Amanda, Ellen and Megan (four of the girls from my Tampa girls group). It was a great day and the girls did a wonderful job making everything perfect!

The cake and cupcakes which matched the invitation

The favors - little purse manicure sets - so adorable!!

Knowing how much I love pictures and my scrapbooks the girls had everyone at the shower make a scrapbook page and then gave me a gorgeous album to put all the pages in - now all I have to do is add pictures to the pages during Mr. Trey's first year.

Part of the Tampa Girls Group - Ellen, Amanda, Megan O, Tammy, Kelly and Allison (and me with my baby belly at 34 weeks)

Som of the girls from Foley - Gina, Victoria and Amanda

Dulcy and I - Dulcy is one of my good friends from law school who drove all the way from Orlando for the shower - it was so good to catch up!!

With my neighbor Chris who is expecting a little girl due on the 4th of July - I cannot wait to have play dates.

With one of my best friends from college, Nicki, and her little one Shelby - Nicki also came down from Orlando and was able to come by my house a few hours before the shower so we could have some good catch up time.

With my Mom and Aunt Paula

With Aunt Wendy and Grandma Ellis

Everyone was so generous and Mr. Trey got some wonderful gifts (adorable outfits, plenty of toys, a stroller, an exersaucer and more) - I could not have asked for a better day!!

Bradenton Baby Shower - April 12, 2008

I had my first baby shower this weekend in Bradenton which my Mom hosted for me. My Mom is the perfect party planner and the shower was wonderful!! The decorations were so adorable, the food was awesome and the company was great. Trey is one spoiled boy already and I am so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends!

The Balloons (picked out by my Aunt Paula)

The gifts (I told you Trey is spoiled already)

So adorable - a clothesline of clothes for decoration.

The cupcake tree - the cupcakes were awesome (thank you Aunt Tina!)

With Megan and Ellen

Our Pi Phi Family, Ellen, Megan C, Erika and I

The Bradenton Girls - My twin Cara and Courtney (with Finley hidden in her sling)

With Mom and Paula (I think Mom is laughing at how big my belly is :o))

With Jimmy's Family (Aunt Austa, Wendy (with Dylan), Nicki, Mom Ellis and Austa's friend)

The Ladies enjoying the afternoon (Mrs. Diem, Heather, Mrs. Shirley,
Mrs. Coleman, Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Urban and Mrs. Seagle)

The girls with their little ones (Courtney and Finley, Kim and Dylan,
Shannon and Carter, with Heather)
Kim and I
Dad and I holding up my Flag

Baby Belly - Week 30

The Belly at Week 30

Ridiculous Black Drum...

So in my endless attempt to become a better fisherman and learn the Tampa waters, I've been lurking on some fishing forums and trying to hunt down some people that know the area better than I do. I've been getting more in to "flipping" artificials under docks and I really like it. Just seems to be more productive working say 50 docks in an hour with a trolling motor as opposed to maybe 2 spots with live bait in a "hole."

So I found a guy (Kevin) who fishes the area a lot and said he could show me some really productive docks etc. We headed out yesterday (Sunday), picked up some live bait (as backup) and we decided to hit a couple docks I like to frequent first since they were close to the ramp. Kevin had about 5 missed hits but I pulled in a 24" Snook which was nice. We tried one more spot where we caught some small snapper and a HUGE Jack Crevalle but that was it so we headed towards north tampa (by the howard franklin bridge) to hit one of his spots.

On the way over... we saw a group of about 4 boats fishing in the middle of the main channel about 500yds from the main bridge opening (that I had to go through). They were fishing "something" but I had to run through them to make it under the bridge. As we passed them... one of the guys in the other boat raised his hands up (clearly I thought he was mad at us) but Kevin realized he was actually "waving us over" to fish the pod of "whatever" they were on. When we passed it looked like Tarpon.

When we pulled up it was actually a pod of HUGE migrating Black Drum. The other boats said to throw an artificial grub jig at them and so.... that's what we did.

2 hrs and 4 25lb or better fish later... we called it a day. The biggest fish (the one I'm holding below) is easily 50lbs. My 30lb Boga Grips (Fishing plier thingy's that have a scale on them) were maxed out and we didn't even have him halfway out of the water. I caught an 80lb Tarpon a few years ago that took about 25 minutes to land with a big rod and 100lb braided line. This 50 pounder was a MUCH longer fight since we were only using 7ft medium action rods with 10lb power pro line. Needless to say... it was CRAZY.

What an Amazing Day!!

This afternoon was one of the best days of our life - we got to see Trey via a 4-D sonogram. The technology is absolutely amazing and as you can see from the pictures we now have an idea what our little boy looks like. He has his fathers eyes for sure and his toes (the second toe is much bigger than his big toe). We think he is going to have his Mom's chubby cheeks. The sonogram tech, Rhonda (who was awesome and took so much time with us), told us that Trey was one of the best babies she has had and that he was clearly posing for the camera. He is estimated to weigh about 3 pounds, 11 ounces right now and he is measuring a week early (which would mean a delivery date of May 31). During the sonogram he breathed in a few breaths, opened his eyes, yawned and smiled at the sound of Mom's voice. It was such an amazing experience and Mom and Dad cannot wait to meet their little boy!! I have posted tons of pictures because I am still so in awe of the whole thing.

I love this one as he almost looks like he is praying and you can see his face, both hands and some toes.

He loved to put his fist to his face.


There is a yawn - how sweet is that!!

Look at that handsome profile.

A picture of his boy parts (no question there :o))

A Sad Day!!

It was a sad day when we found out about a year ago that our huge oak tree (figured to be at least 75 years old) was dying due to old age. We put off having it removed for as long as possible but lately Mommy to Be had been having nightmares that the tree fell in on the nursery so it was time to take action. This past week the tree guys came to remove her. Below are a few pictures of the process which according to Jimmy was pretty amazing. Now we have an empty space in our side yard and I am missing my tree.

Easter

Although not quite on Easter, this past Saturday Jimmy and Dad Ellis went fishing and Mom Ellis and I went shopping for Baby Trey. Although they got rained out the boys had a great time and caught a few fish. The girls bought the drapes for the nursery and a few other things (Trey is spoiled already).

New Hampshire

Although for a sad reason, my grandfather's passing, we made the trek to New Hampshire in early March to attend the funeral and spend time with family. Although it was an emotional weekend it was so nice to get to see the family as it is not often that all of the Fredricks get together.

Angie and Tim's Farmhouse - look at all that snow!! Angie and Tim were so gracious and let Jimmy and I crash with them.

The Fredrick Men - Joe, Ben, Micah, Rory, Dylan, Dad and Uncle Norman

Jimmy with Vivi, Malia and Bailey (all of the girls could not wait to play with Jimmy)

Best Buds - Jimmy and Rory

The whole family at lunch - I think we figured out that we were 30 and a half (counting the baby on the way :o))

The girls having fun - Tori, Vivi, Bobbi and Bailey

Grammie, Uncle Norman, Aunt Martha, Rory, Dylan and Kim

Jimmy getting his practice in for being a Daddy - Mr. Dylan and his always cute pictures :o)

It's a......

Boy!!!

Mom and Dad could not be more thrilled!! James Edward Ellis, III (Trey) will be making us a family of three in just a few short months. I have been so blessed to have had an easy pregnancy up to this point and I am loving every minute of it. Trey kicks me on a regular basis and lets me know that he is a happy boy having fun. He especially likes it when I eat grapes. We have ordered his nursery furniture and cannot wait to get the room painted and ready for his arrival.

Visiting Rhode Island

The weekend of January 25, Jimmy and I flew up to see Eric and Allison in Rhode Island. We were greeted by 16 degree weather. We spent Saturday visiting one of the mansions in Newport. Sunday it snowed all day and so we stayed inside and just hung out and watched movies. Jimmy and I were glad to return to Florida and 70 degree weather.

A warm welcome
The view from Eric and Allison's with snow on the ground