pleased to meet you...

introducing Beckham Daniel Reeder

born 07-25-2011

8lbs 2oz

21 inches long

we are so happy he is finally here!

we will be on hiatus from the blogging world for a few more days as little Becks has been taken to Primary Childrens. he is doing well and we expect him home and healthy in the next week or so. thank you for all of your love, prayers, and support.

danny, shante, & beckham

i remember...

as you can see by the little gadget to the left today is supposed to be "the day".

you know, the day that this baby who's been making himself much to comfortable in my womb was going to make his grand entrance?

i have a feeling it will come and go with out seeing any action. boo.

as i've been getting everything ready over the past few weeks for the little guys debut, i've found myself looking back over the last 9 months and remembering how life used to be. i know that as soon as this baby joins our family, daniel and i's life will take a giant turn into unchartered territory. am i ready for it? i think so. am i scared? you bet! could i be any more excited? probably not.

so here are a list of just a few memories. most of which i am very eager to forget.

i remember when i could clean my house without sweating like a pig and feeling like my heart was going to burst out of my chest.

i remember when i could run for 2 plus hours and feel great. now... well lets just say a walk around the block is a struggle.

i remember when i could get ready for the day really fast and now it takes me FOREVER because i have to stop to take breaks because i'm so tired. oh ya- and sweating like a pig.

i remember when my hands and feet looked "normal" and not like they'd been stung by a million bees.

i remember when i only slept with one pillow and now i sleep with four.

i remember when our little "she" turned into a "he" and i cried for two days. true story.

i remember when i could control my emotions, well sort of.

i remember when my clothes fit. this one is just depressing.

i remember when i could drink a glass of water and not have to run to the bathroom within minutes of finishing it.

i remember when i didn't have to recline the seat in my car just so i could drive "comfortably".

i remember when i didn't have to stuff my feet into almost every pair of shoes i own. flip flops have become my best friend.

i remember being hungry, eating something that sounded good, and being content with it.

i remember wanting this moment from the time i was a little girl.

i remember thinking that july 18th seemed SO far away and now its here.

i remember when this was just my dream and now its becoming my reality.

get here soon baby. your mother is so anxious to meet you and excited to make many more "remember when" moments with you.

busy, busy, busy

where has the time gone?! i can't believe its already the middle of July and only SEVEN days away from my due date (but that's another post). we have been so busy with family over the last month and it has been so much fun. two of daniels sisters live out of state and both came to visit at the same time this year. so.... obviously we had to get a family picture. don't mind that i am nine months pregnant in them. it is truly amazing to see how blessed we are with family when i look at this picture. it makes me think that one day, a long ways away, daniel and i will be the ones in the middle with our family surrounding us. even though this will be outdated in about a week once our little guy arrives, i am grateful to have this picture of the ever growing Reeder family.

i LOVE the 4th of july. every year since i can remember my family has been going up to Huntsville to participate in the early morning breakfast and town parade. it is something my dad grew up doing and and something that i hope to continue doing with my family. after the parade, a 3 on 3 basketball tourney, and some lunch we headed back down the mountain to be with daniels family for smores and fireworks.

our little family of three, soon to be four

the proud winning team of the Huntsville 3 on 3 basketball tournament.

with all of the family bbq's and get togethers, the last few weeks of pregnancy seem to have flown by. we are getting more and more anxious for the arrival of our little boy and i am in a state of disbelief that in only a matter of days, we will be starting a whole new chapter of life. we hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

xo- shante

white trash summer...

at least that's what i'm calling it. there aren't many other ways to describe the oh so discrete way my belly seems to consistently show. my brother told me i look like i belong in wal-mart. that was a sad day. who wants to belong there?

oh well. 6 more weeks. until then, please bear with me. this will all be over soon.

showered

this last weekend i had my first shower in honor of the little mr.s arrival. it was so fun/exciting/surreal to be opening all of the baby gifts. the entire time i was thinking to myself that it won't be long until he is here and i am actually using all of this stuff! my aunt heidi, grandma and cousin hosted it and did a fabulous job. we had quite the spread of food and i must say it was better than cafe rio.

family and friends that came to support

all the girls from my moms side of the family

my beautiful grandma and i

i am so grateful to all those who came and supported my growing little family. it was so fun to see everyone and i had the best time catching up with all of you! thank you for being so generous and so loving!

babymoon

this past weekend we took a little vacation for some much needed sunshine and r&r before the little man joins us. we took off thursday after work and came home monday afternoon. it was the perfect weekend with my baby daddy. we went down with no agenda. no plans. no nothing. just the way i think a vacation should be. our days were spent sleeping in and soaking up the warmth. its been quite a while since the two of us got away together and its just what we needed. its the best to leave work and all the worries of home behind you for a few days to just laugh and enjoy each other. it felt like we were 16 again and i loved every second!

we fit in a game of golf for daniel and a game of mini golf for me, hanging out by the pool, shopping, a day trip to vegas, the BODIES exhibit, good food, and my favorite...

watching movies and eating ice cream in bed at night.

oh wait! i forgot to mention the BEST part! a night in the hospital for me! for a brief moment, we thought we may be having our baby in good ol' St. George. while dominating daniel in mini golf, i started to have contractions that were coming on pretty strong. i was feeling the urge to push and a good amount of fluid decided to creep out and soak my pants. this led us to believe that my water had broken and so we called my dr back home in a panic. he told us to go to labor and delivery to get checked out. after a few hours of monitoring me and the babe, some not so fun tests that i will spare you the details, we were given the go ahead to go on home with dr's orders to take it easy for the next few days. it was quite the night and very surreal to think that we will be back again very shortly. only next time we will be leaving with a baby!

and for your enjoyment- here i am in all my 31 weeks pregnant glory. time seems to be going by so fast and its hard to believe we will soon be parents. life here is good and we are anxiously awaiting this little boys arrival.

EASTER and a Baby Cakes Update

Today was the perfect spring day to celebrate Easter. We enjoyed a nice dinner followed by a fire and Smores with the Hammond side. It was a lovely evening spent laughing and enjoying one another's company. The boys played some basketball while the ladies chatted away and it was so nice to finally be able to sit outside in the sunshine.

Momma & I

The Boys

My mom asked my brothers to please look nice today for church since it was Easter (sometimes they tend to roll out of bed and go). Braden thought he'd "look nice" by trying out this new hair-do. He was told he looked like Bradley Cooper and Leonardo DiCaprio. This did absolutely nothing good to his already large ego.

Little Baby Cakes is doing well and growing larger and larger. Today I am 28 weeks (7 months) and I feel like I have no more room inside of me for this little guy to grow. I've been told its going to be a rough 3 months ;0)

I'm pretty sure I'm one of the worst pregnant women EVER! Poor Daniel....

If I'm not complaining about my swollen feet, my back and tail bone hurting, the little guys limbs kicking my rib cage, or heartburn, then I'm probably asleep. All complaining aside, I really have been very blessed and lucky to have such a healthy pregnancy. We are getting more and more anxious to meet this little guy and are hoping that the next 12 weeks go by fast. I have loved being able to feel him move around all day long. Even if I think he's bruising me internally. Time seems to be flying by and before we know it, it'll be July and we will no longer be a family of 2. I'll leave you all with these totally awesome photos. Here is our best attempt at a "maternity photo shoot". Don't mind the creeper husband...