May 29, 2014 by Stephanie

Bumpdate Week 24

Week 24

How far along: 24 weeks. I am finally feeling pregnant all the time.

Sex of Baby W: Boys will be boys.

Weight gain: I have finally broken even. I am back at my pre-pregnancy weight. The doctor said that I should start seeing a lot more weight gain in the upcoming weeks between me expanding and George growing.

Size of Baby W: He is about the size of an ear of corn or about a foot long now. He should be a little over a pound. It is hard to believe he is a foot long in there!

Maternity clothes: Jersey dresses are the best thing ever. I have been weeding out tops that are becoming crop tops, which sadly are a lot of my favorite t-shirts. I tried on maternity pants this week, and I am still not ready for them. With the belly band, I am still able to make must of my pants work.

Baby items: We got a few things from my in-laws this weekend like some portable bed rockers and a crib mattress among some other smaller items. We have also finalized our registry lists on Amazon and Target. I am sure we will continue to adjust things as we go, but all of our basics are at least covered right now. If you see things that I am missing, let me know what baby thing I am missing!

We found this at the consignment store. Obviously it had to come home with us.

Stretch marks: Nothing so far.

Belly button in or out:I am still an innie.

Sleep: I am starting to struggle sleeping with the bump. I am thinking about getting the pregnancy wedge, but I am trying to not buy something if I can find other solutions. I am also getting cramps in my legs during the night because I don’t move a whole lot once I am settled because I am afraid to lay any way but on my left side, so I end up just being stiff all night.

Best moment the past few week: Having a little time off from work.

Worst moment the past few weeks: Driving long distance. It is not very conducive to pregnant bodies.

Miss anything: I want a deli sandwich sooo bad. I have already told Tom that is the first meal I am having once we leave the hospital, or he may just have to bring me one IN the hospital.

Cravings: Besides deli sandwiches, I want chocolate baked goods something fierce.

Movement: I feel him every day now. He is most active in the afternoon. I saw it for the first time this week too. I am also rubbing the bump all the time. With the stretching cramps it seems to help. And to be honest, I just like feeling the presence of the bump (as weird as it may sound).

Symptoms/how I am feeling: I have been feeling great. I have to pee ALL the time…

Looking forward to: We are traveling to Iowa this weekend for a wedding, but we will be stopping by our old home to visit on the way. Sooo excited!

This shirt is one that I have had for several years, but it works amazingly as a maternity shirt.

May 8, 2014 by Stephanie

Bumpdate Week 21

bumpdate 21

How far along: 21 weeks. I cannot believe we are past the half way point. Since we didn’t know the first two months, it seems like it has gone really fast so far.

Sex of Baby W: George is still George.

Weight gain: I am now at a 6 pound loss. Whoo, gained one pound back! In most clothes, you can see the bump now. Although yesterday, I had a student of mine tell me that she just thought I was getting fat over the last few weeks and just realized this week that I was pregnant. While I also thought that about myself, I would never say that to someone. I chalk it up to finals craziness that she would call me fat to my face.

Size of Baby W: He was 9 oz. at our appointment a couple weeks ago. Now he should be about the size of a carrot.

Maternity clothes: I am wearing a lot of dresses, but I am not wearing a lot of maternity clothes. I still haven’t bought any maternity bottoms besides my yoga pants.

Baby items: My sister-in-law brought us a whole bunch of goodies when she was here a couple weeks ago. We still haven’t gotten anything personally recently. We are going to look at a local child consignment store this weekend. Tom will also be making the crib here in the next couple weeks. I am excited to show that process!

I love every single piece of this. Our nursery colors are gray, blue and orange. There will be a few elephants throughout too. She found just the perfect stuff for George! And yes that is an elephant umbrella at the bottom!

Stretch marks: Nope, but you can see the veins in my belly which is kind of out there to look at.

Belly button in or out: Still in, but it is starting to flatten out.

Sleep: I have been sleeping pretty well, but I still have some wicked dreams, or rather nightmares. Unfortunately, they all seem to be pretty violent. The other night I couldn’t go back to sleep because I was so scared and shaken from it. And of course it was the night that Tom was doing 24 hour staff duty.

Best moment the past few week: Being able to complete a half marathon with Emily and seeing a Tyrone Wells concert with my friend Andrea.

Worst moment the past few weeks: I can’t really think of anything here. The last couple weeks have been pretty good.

Miss anything: Deli sandwiches.

Cravings: Meat.

Movement: The past couple days he has been really active. The best way to explain it is like he is blowing bubbles and then popping them. I was also able to feel him with my hand on my belly too which was just crazy cool. He is super still thought when Tom tries to feel him.

Symptoms/how I am feeling: For the most part, I am feeling pretty good. I have had really bad allergies this week which stinks because not pregnant I am on prescriptions. They, however, are not good for baby ninjas, so I have been cold turkey on allergy meds, which stinks a big one. I also have been having period-like cramps really bad in the mornings. My doctor says this is normal because my uterus is stretching. Cramps were one thing I did not know about pregnancy, and they are terrible.

Looking forward to: My birthday weekend.

April 27, 2014 by Stephanie

And You Shall Be Called

name

Naming a kid is hard y’all.

There are so many things to think of. Some of these were a fleeting thought, and others were reasons why names got crossed off.

Do you want a family name? If so how do you explain to the other family that you didn’t go with theirs (if this is even a concern)?
Does someone close to you already have this name? And do you want them to have the same name?
Does someone in your past have this name? Is that a good or bad thing?
Is there a connotation that goes along with this name? (ie stripper names)
Could there be bad nicknames associated with this name? (ie Josie Grossie)
Do you believe in the meanings behind names?
Do you want to be original or more traditional?
Are you ok with it being a common name?
What about spelling?
Will their initials spell something? (I mean seriously do you want your initials to be COW, DUD, or BUT if you had a say?)
And above all else, you both need to like it and agree.

We have been keeping a running tab of names that we like for the past couple years. Whenever I heard a name that I liked, I would run it by Tom and then add it to our list on my phone.

To be honest, I have kept a list since I was a little kid. I was totally that girl who envisioned being a mom from pretty much day one. I often got the name books in the Scholastic Book fairs in elementary school. So one can say that I have always been interested in names.

Once we found out we were pregnant we got serious about our list. We narrowed our boy names fairly easy to a couple that we really liked. The girl names were much harder.

We both had our likes but we kept having to restart because we knew someone with the name (student I wasn’t fond of or someone Tom hated) or it just didn’t feel right to one of us. Namely, we had issues with the connotations that go along with some names…

This is so stressful people.

You want to pick a solid name that your child can be proud of. You don’t want them to hate their name. (I went through a phase where I hated my name because it was so common, and wanted to change it to Crystal. Why, I have no idea. Parents, I do love my name now, so thank you.)

The name is the first identifier for someone. So much is revolved around a name such as memories and their experiences. I mean think about it when you say someone’s name a lot more comes to mind than just that one word.

So how do you pick a name that can mean so much to someone before you even meet them?

You just kind of wing it to be honest. (While thinking about all the questions above of course.)

And once you know, you know.

And without further ado, our little guy will be…

george

George is a name that we both have loved for a long time, like before we were pregnant long time. So that part was easy. And neither of us have had bad encounters with a George or has it been stolen by someone close to us (I kid about the stolen part, well only sort of.) Really, we just know famous George’s: George Washington, George Brett, Prince George…Tom and I actually played a game of “Last Word” with who can beat the other with famous Georges. Just try to see how many you can come up with!

The middle name proved to be a little more interesting of a conversation. (We considered for a time to name him after George Brett-we love our Royals. Also the middle name “America” was discussed…sadly.)

But we finally settled on Lawson.

Lawson is Tom’s middle name. (If we would have had a girl, she would have had my middle name.)

It is so great to call him by his name.

Our little George.

Also George has been dubbed as our ninja baby (thanks to our dear friend Sandra) since he surprised us with his sneaky entrance into the world. The nickname has kind of stuck, and he keeps pulling out little surprises for us. At our appointment last week, we found out that we are actually more than a week further along than we thought. George is growing so steadily and like a champ, and the last two ultra sounds have not been consistent with our previous due date. So we are actually 20 weeks tomorrow, which means we are half way there! Our new due date is September 15th instead of the 25th.

Do you have names picked out already? How would/did you go about picking a name?

April 24, 2014 by Stephanie

Bumpdate Week 18

I pulled back the dress in the picture on the right again to show you the full bump.

How far along: 18 weeks..holy moly

Sex of Baby W: We will be confirming the sex today at our appointment. It will be fun to actually see everything because the last time I had to close my eyes while she looked and wrote it on a note so I can take it home to open it with Tom.

Weight gain: Still at a 7lb total loss. The bump is growing (which is a weird feeling), so I am sure here soon the scale will jump some. Some days my bump disappears, and then other days it is very much present. Anybody else have this experience?

Size of Baby W: The size of a bell pepper (Last week was a turnip, so Tom and I were calling him Turnip all week.)

Maternity clothes: I have bought a few tops that I can easily wear not pregnant. I am all about the long term investment here people. I also purchased the Be Band from Target, which is amazing. There is nothing like knowing that your pants are undone all day, but no one else can tell. Super awesome and freeing. Also, maternity yoga pants are the best thing ever.

Baby items: We have not been successful with finding a dresser. We have a backup plan for Tom to construct something if we are still unfruitful come the middle of the summer. We have made a giant list of things that will go on a registry when the time comes. Any recommendations on what store to register at or if we should register at more than one place? We are still doing well with not buying anything else yet, I am sure that will change once I allow myself to go into baby sections to actually create the registry. Folks, little boy things are super darn cute, and it is hard not to buy every pair of overalls and bow ties!

Stretch marks: Nope. I have started a strict regimen of lotion and tummy butter morning and night.

Belly button in or out: Still in.

Sleep: I have been sleeping pretty well, but I still have some wicked dreams. (Last night I had was a superhero trying to defeat an evil man who was killing off my family and students. I could freeze things and shoot freeze balls out of my hands…) I have started having to get up when Tom leaves for PT (at 5:30am) to go to the bathroom, and there are usually a couple nights of the week that I wake up several other times to go pee.

Best moment the past few week: Hanging out with our friends in Indiana

Worst moment the past few weeks: Finding out I didn’t get the job at Austin Peay

Miss anything: This last weekend I really wanted wine, but little guy doesn’t need to be a party animal more than he already is in there.

Cravings: Not really anything special that I can remember. I am still in the phase of if I see it or hear it, I want it. I am doing good sticking to a pretty healthy diet though.

Movement: I think I felt something last week, but I am not sure…It felt more like a punch in the gut instead of a flutter which is what people told me I am supposed to feel.

Symptoms/how I am feeling: For the most part, I am feeling pretty good. I still have moments of nausea. I also learned that I cannot sit in the backseat of a car anymore because I get motion sickness. Super fun. I do take a lot of naps too. I have been walking the dogs a lot and yoga, so I think that is helping. I did try actually running the other day, and it felt super weird. I might have been a little paranoid that he was going to fly out with all the jiggling that was going on, so I probably will just stick to walking.

Looking forward to: Our checkup appointment today. It will be the first time Tom has seen the baby since Week 9. He got to hear the heartbeat a few weeks ago, but did not see him. I can’t wait to see his reaction on how much little man has grown.

Week 18

April 3, 2014 by Stephanie

Bumpdate Week 15

I am officially in the second trimester!

How far along: 15 weeks
Sex of Baby W: We found out we are having a boy! Also my hands are super dry now. Old wives tale coming true.
Weight gain: I am at a 7 lb loss now from before we knew Baby W was coming along. I am sure this will change with my appetite coming back now.
Size of Baby W: roughly 4 inches and about the size of an apple.
Maternity clothes: I am in denial about maternity clothes. I am not big enough to wear them yet, but I am only down to 2 dress pants and 2 pairs of jeans that I can comfortably put on. And most of those I have to use a rubberband to hook them instead of the button. Luckily all of my shirts are fine because I have a pretty loose wardrobe. I should be able to wear most of them at least for the next couple months if not longer. With the warmer weather, I have been able to break out my dresses too, which allow for a little more stretch. So I haven‘t needed maternity clothes just yet. I am still little but definitely feel frumpy.
Baby items: We are going thrift store hunting this weekend to find some furniture. We bought fabric for the bedding. My mom and I are going to make all the bedding, so it was exciting to get the print for it. I have also bugged some moms I know if what is on the “must have” lists are accurate.
Stretch marks: Nope.
Belly button in or out: Innie.
Sleep: I gave up on trying to “train” myself to sleep on my side. I am sleeping on my back until I get a little bigger. At least, I can get some good sleep for the time being. My body will know when it is time. I am having some crazy dreams though.
Best moment the past few weeks: Finding out our little nugget is going to be a little dude and being allowed to walk the dogs again!
Worst moment the past few weeks: The doctor telling me that I have to stay on hormones meds still. My grandpa also had a pace maker put in this week, so that is always hard to not be able to be there for family in times of need.
Miss anything: Last week at the conference I really missed coffee!
Cravings: I am in this stage where if someone mentions a food item, I automatically start to crave it. I have to be careful of commercials…
Movement: I don’t feel little guy, but my stomach is constantly feeling like it is stretching. It is really uncomfortable.
Symptoms/how I am feeling: I AM SO MUCH BETTER! I can actually eat real meals and don’t feel woozy all day. I still have spurts of it during the day, but I am so glad it is not constant. I also notice that I get sick a little more when I have a completely empty stomach, so I have been trying to keep healthy snacks with me at all times, which really isn’t much different than how I am not pregnant. I also have a lot more energy lately so I am trying to add my miles back with the dogs.
Looking forward to: Finding pieces for the nursery.