Baby Shower & Revealing Baby Z's Name!

Just before Christmas a few of my friends and Casey's mom's friends hosted a BEAUTIFUL baby shower for us.  We have been completely humbled by the generosity, love and support of each of you, our family and friends.  What a blessing to have friends and family to share our joy and excitement of expecting new life with.  We cannot adequately express our deepest gratitude, appreciation and thanks for all you have done for us to make this time so special!  We love you all!! 

Casey and I eagerly anticipated this day for a long time.  We decided on Baby Z's name in October but decided to keep it to ourselves for a while.  We spent time praying over his name and asked God for discernment while deciding before making the announcement.  He was sure to answer our prayers and gave us confirmation and peace over his name.  We were so excited about it and couldn't wait to reveal the name at the shower!  We shared his initials, JGZ, and had all the guests guess his name when they arrived.

Every last detail was so thoughtfully planned and the shower was just absolutely gorgeous! 

These cookies could be the death of me.  I think I probably ate almost every one of them. :) YUM!

Thank you sweet friends for coming and showering us with your love and generosity!!

Once everyone made their best guess at Baby Z's name, I made the announcement.  I read all the guesses aloud and loved seeing what everyone thought his name was.  The most popular guesses were James, Garrett and Gage.  I brought wooden letters that spelled out his name and we scrambled them up on the piano.  While I was reading the guesses out loud, some listened and others tried to unscramble the letters to reveal his name!

My sweet friend Meagan guessed James Grayson, the closest guess!  She's the ONLY person to guess Grayson the entire time we kept his name secret! 

John Grayson Zachry is his name.  He is named John after his daddy (Casey John), who was named after his great-grandpa.  My great-grandpa was also named John, and Casey and I both grew up hearing stories from our dads of what incredible men they were and the great memories they had of them.  We loved the meaning of John, "God is gracious," and felt it was fitting to name our son after the men who have had such a great influence on our families and helped shape them into what they are today.  From the time we found out we were pregnant and started brainstorming names we loved the name Grayson.  Of course, we read the entire book of 100,000 baby names to make sure there wasn't one we liked more, but had such peace after asking the Lord to show us his name.  Hopefully it won't cause too much confusion as he will go by his middle name, Grayson. :)

You would have thought Casey died and went to heaven when he saw we recieved this stuffed deer mount as a gift.  He wasn't so much concerned about a car seat, stroller, crib, etc. but he HAD TO HAVE this deer for the nursery! :)  Oh I love my precious hubby to pieces!!

My sweet friend Wynne was out of town the weekend of our shower throwing yet ANOTHER shower for a friend in Waco and running in yet ANOTHER marathon with her family in Dallas!  We were both so sad she couldn't be there as we were so anxious for the name reveal!  I think she was more excited than anyone to find out. :)  She was so sweet and sent these precious socks and card to the shower.  I LOVE these and have heard they're the best socks for babies!!  Can't wait to put them on Grayson's sweet little feet! :)

Ummmm....

So remember that post about double digits?  Uhhhhh yeah, half of those 99 days have already passed.  What?  We now only have 50 days left until we hold our baby boy in our arms, kiss his sweet cheeks and stare in into the precious eyes of an infant in awe of God's faithfulness and goodness.  I have no idea where the time is going, but it is going fast and I like it!  Can't waaaait!!!!

Couples Baby Shower

Our wonderful friends gave us an INCREDIBLE baby shower in November! 

We have been so blessed by our church in Midland and have made the greatest friends there!  We love having couples to walk through life with and to encourage, love, support and care for each other.  These couples are so great and mean the world to us!  They are just like family and our baby boy is so lucky to have so many great aunts and uncles :) 

Casey and me with his amaaaazing parents!

My dad and me :)

The most generous, wonderful hostesses!!!  We cannot thank you enough!  It was sooo great!!

Our first pieces of baby Z's bedding - the bumper and a pillow!!  The hostesses were so thoughtful and gave us his bumper and we are so thankful!  My mom gave us the precious monogrammed pillow! :)

Baby Z's all set!  Thank you so much for your generosity!!

Thank you all for such a wonderful shower!!!  We were blown away by your generosity and the presence and support of all of you.  We truly are blessed beyond measure. :)

Running the Race

My bestie Wynne and I began walking around Midland college a little over a year ago.  We would meet at 5:15am and walk three miles around the college every Tuesday and Thursday morning.  Although we both struggled at first to get up and get there, it always proved to be a rewarding time of catching up and spending time together. 

Soon after the beginning of 2009 we began talking about possibly training for a half marathon.  Neither of us had ever done one, much less come even close to running 13.1 miles at one time in our lives!  Around April we made the decision we were going to do it.  We found a race in San Antonio in November and decided to sign up for it and begin training.  We continued to meet at the college Tuesday and Thursday mornings, but began running according to our training schedule.  We added Sundays to our "catch up time" to run our long runs. 

Mid-May after signing up for the November race I found out I was pregnant.  Casey and I had been running regularly as a New Years resolution and were up to about 6 miles, and Wynne and I were about two weeks into our half-marathon training.  Casey and I decided to wait to make the big announcement of our pregnancy until we visited the doctor and knew everything was ok.  Wynne and I continued to run together three times a week and had such a great time together!  At times it was hard, but always so rewarding to accomplish a goal of making it just a little further with each passing week.

We announced our big news to friends at the end of July.  It was then that I had to break the news to sweet Wynne that I would be 7 1/2 months pregnant come November 15 and would most likely not be able to run with her in the race.  We were both bummed but continued to train as normal.  I wanted to run with her as long as I could and knew I would miss our time together!

 Telling the big news...

Reactions....

The "No Kids Club" couldn't believe it!!

I found another half-marathon in early September in Virginia Beach, VA.  Casey and I discussed taking a baby moon for a while and thought this would be the perfect place to start.  Since Wynne was so sweet to continue training with her slow preggo friend, I was able to accomplish my goal of running a half marathon!  Casey ran with me to "make sure I was ok" running the race 5 months pregnant.  What a sweet hubby! :)

All that to say, November came and so did the San Antonio half marathon.  Several other friends decided to run this race as well, and Casey and I planned to go support them all along.  Since I already registered to run in May, Casey graciously ran the race and finished in record time for me! :)

Dinner with the parents the night before the race

Casey running

Wynne and Whitney running running the half!!  They did awesome!

Laura running the FULL MARATHON in the light blue top and black shorts :)  So amazing!!!

He finished!!

Everyone did SO incredible in the marathon/half marathon and we had a great weekend with good friends!  Hopefully next year I'll be able to run it WITH WYNNE while trying to get the baby weight off. :)