It's a boy!

We went to the doctor today. The baby looks healthy, everything is moving along great & we can finally stop calling the baby "it". We are very excited! A boy will be a new thing in a while on the Hollon side. I was the first girl born after several generations of all boys. Since me, it has been all girls. So, I am breaking the mold once again. This will be the first boy after 7 straight girls. We are also excited because we could not come up with a girl name, but have had a boy name all along. His name will be Jacob William Bush & we will call him Jake. Jake is after Robbie's grandfather Jake and William is after my dad & brother. All are men that we admire and look up to and we pray that our Jake will have those same qualities that make these men so amazing.

Robbie with Granddad Jake

Robbie with his father and Granddad Jake

Me with the 2 Williams in my life - my father & brother

My dad & I

Updates

For one of the first times all year, we've actually been in Chattanooga for 2 weekends in a row. We love nothing more than traveling & visiting friends & family, but must admit that it is nice to enjoy 2 weekends off the interstate. Last weekend we were able to complete some more projects around the house getting ready for the baby and hosted a cookout at our house where we got to use many of our much appreciated wedding gifts. This past weekend we enjoyed a visit from my parents as they were on their way to a wedding in NC and then we celebrated at Mark & Amanda's wedding Saturday night.

Alli, Kimberly, Lara & I at the wedding

Robbie & I

Amanda with the McCallie guys

Baby Update

Well, we haven't posted a baby update yet, because basically there has been nothing to update. Thankfully, I've haven't been sick any and I pretty much feel & look the same as when I wasn't pregnant. We are 1 week away from the halfway point in our pregnancy, and I have a feeling we are about to really start seeing changes (and I will actually feel pregnant). I've started gaining baby weight (unfortunately it's everywhere but my belly). I'm not sure if I've felt the baby move or not, but my doctor said any day now I should be able to tell movement for sure. We are most excited about finding out the sex of the baby. We find out Wednesday, August 27th! We are so excited to finally know how to decorate the nursery, decide on a name and know if our house will be filled with pink or blue. We will be sure to update the blog Wednesday!

Friendship over the last 11 years

Below is a slideshow of Amanda, Stephanie & I over the last 11 years. I tried to post it last night with the blog, but for some reason it would not display. Of course when I tried it today, it worked on the first try.

Great Weekend

Such a perfect weekend! We were in Orange Beach & Fairhope visiting my 2 best friends, Amanda & Stephanie. Amanda, Stephanie & I all met our freshman year (Fall 1997) as we were all in the same sorority pledge class. Over the last 11 years, our friendship has only gotten stronger. We have celebrated the good times together and held each others hands through the hard times. No matter what, these 2 girls have always stood beside me and I am so blessed to have them in my life. I was honored to have them both standing beside me at my wedding as my matrons of honor. Over the weekend was wonderful to reminisce and celebrate how far we have all come! We are all married to great guys. Amanda just had Gabe in March and Steph & I are both expecting our first children in January. And we were down to celebrate Amanda's oldest son, Sellers, 3rd birthday. It was a great weekend and a great reminder that no matter how many miles separate us, our friendship will always be strong and we will always be as closer than words could ever describe.

Amanda, Stephanie & I on the boat

Our skillful driver making sure we got close to the dolphins

So many dolphins in the water!

Stop for lunch

Amanda with Sellers at his birthday party

Amanda & Mike with the birthday boy

Stephanie, Amanda & I (Stephanie & I are both 17 weeks now)

Happy Birthday Maddox!

Over the weekend, was my niece Maddox's 4th Birthday Party. Robbie stayed behind to try to finish some of our 1,000 projects we are trying to finish before football season. Here are some pictures from the party. Happy Birthday Maddox!!

Maddox & me

The cake

Opening gifts

Maddox & Isabella racing

Maddox riding with Gran (my dad)

Maddox giving a wave while riding with her dad (my brother, Billy)

Bumper Boats

The Past 3 Months

Well, we have had quite an exciting last 3 months. Robbie & I were married Saturday, April 19th at Patten Chapel in Chattanooga, TN. It was an amazing feeling to take those vows in front of our family & friends to our Lord & to each other. It was such a special time. Then we got to celebrate with everyone afterwards at the reception. I truly did not want the day to end. We have posted our photographer's photos (along with some others from the wedding) to the following website: http://community.webshots.com/user/robertandemmabush. Thank you again to those of you that shared in such a special day in our lives.

On Sunday, April 20th, we left for our honeymoon. We spent a week at the All Inclusive Grand Velas Resort & Spa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. If you get the chance to stay at an all inclusive resort - take it! It is worth the price! The only problem is it will spoil you from staying in regular hotels again. It was an amazing week with beautiful views, a great beach, perfect service & pure relaxation.

Once we returned to regular life, we started settling down. After much debate, much moving around & plenty of trips to Goodwill, we were able to fit my stuff into Robbie's house, along with all of our fun, new wedding gifts.

After about 2 months of marriage, I began to realize that something was up. I wasn't sick any, so I figured it wasn't pregnancy. After about 10 pregnancy tests with results ranging from negative to unreadable to positive, I knew we needed to just go see a doctor. It was there that we learned that we had not read the fine print on the all inclusive portion from our honeymoon. We didn't realize that included a baby. We had gone to Mexico as 2 & left as 3. We were absolutely shocked to learn we were 8 weeks pregnant (We will not be using the "calendar" method of birth control again. We obliviously don't know how to read mine!) For as shocked & scared as we were, we knew that it was a special (& expensive) blessing. Even though this didn't follow the timeline we had in mind, it was a reminder that God controls the master timeline. We are due January 17, and I am currently 15 weeks along. At our 20 week checkup, we will find out the sex of the baby.

As if finding out that we were pregnant wasn't enough of a surprise, we also found out that my best friend, Stephanie is pregnant as well. Not only are we both pregnant, but we are the exact same week along. The babies are due 2 days apart. I am so excited to be going through all of this with one of my best friends.

Stephanie & I - 2 months along

We capped off our 3 month period as newlyweds with the celebration of my sister Lindsey's wedding. My parents are still in disbelief that they could have daughters almost 8 years apart, but get married within 3 months of each other. While the weddings were very different, they both shared a common feature. Lindsey & I both married wonderful Christian men. Lindsey's wedding was absolutely beautiful & so much fun. And I was relieved that I was able to fit into my bridesmaid's dress at 3 months pregnant! Lindsey & Brooks are both starting jobs in Atlanta & will be living there. Congratulations Lindsey & Brooks!

Lindsey & I at the rehearsal dinner

Lindsey & Brooks

The Hollon Family

Mom & I

First Dance

My sister-in-law, Leigh Ann is 7 1/2 months pregnant & I'm 3 months pregnant.

So that's our 3 month update since our wedding. I promise that future posts will not be this long! We just wanted to update everyone. We'll be updating this blog weekly, so please check back! It has been an exciting 3 months so far, and we can't wait to see what all the next year brings us.