Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

It's been a great weekend for us!

First, hubby finally got to feel the baby move on Friday night!!! That was so awesome! I was happy to finally be able to share that wonderful feeling with him :-D He thought it was really cool too!

On Saturday, me and my mom and one of my sister-in-laws went to the mall to go SHOPPING! We went out to Concord Mills and went to several stores. We went to Bath & Body Works, because I had some good coupons for there. I got a new holiday-smelling candle and a free lotion and a free lip gloss. I ended up paying 5 bucks for about 20 bucks worth of stuff! Yay! We also went to a couple of other stores, but the best was Motherhood Maternity :-) I went in there originally just to look at their clearance rack, but my mom ended up getting me a TON of stuff! I have the best mom!! I got lots of really cute new winter preggo clothes, and I am super excited to wear them! I got some cute sweater dresses and some other long sleeves, and a super cute pair of jeans. Then we went to Khols (which I also had a coupon for, hehehe) and got a new purse. I had lots of fun!!! :-)

Today (Sunday), hubby was off (yay!) so we're having fun. We went out to Concord Mills (yes, again) and walked around for a bit, not really looking for anything in particular. We met my mom for lunch at Cracker Barrel, yum! My dad is in Mexico for a hunting trip (yes you read that right) so it's just my mom this weekend. Then we ran some more errands and finally came home. In a little bit, we will go to trick or treat with my neice and nephew! My nephew is going to be Shrek and my neice is going to be Fiona! They are gonna be so cute!!

So it has been (and will continue to be) a fun weekend for us! :-) Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!!

Halfway?!!!!?!!!!

What's that? It's halfway? Halfway to March? Already?!?!?!!!!!!

YAYYYYYYYYYAAAYYYYYAYYYAYAYAY!! ICan'tBelieveI'mHalfWayToMeetingMySweetBabyAndrewICan'tEvenWait!!! :-D

Can I call a half-time though? It'd be great to get him off of this nerve he seems to be sitting on. No? Okay, then, onward we go!

Let's see what's happening with Baby Andrew this week:
He is somewhere around the size of a ... CANTALOUPE! Holy crap! Thank goodness he's not as round as one, just as long as one, from head to butt. He also should weigh around 10 & 1/2 oz, but I am going to guess that he's bigger than that. On all of my ultrasounds so far, he has weighed a bit more than average, so I think I'm safe to assume that he's a little bigger than average :-) However, I hope he doesn't get to be more than a little bigger than average...I may be miserable carrying a huge boy around! Lol!

What else? He is getting hair on his head starting this week. This is different than the hair -- "lanugo" -- that he has already developed on most of his body; this is real hair. I wonder what color it will be?! One really cute thing: "It will cover its ears with its hands if a loud sound is made near you, and it may even become startled and 'jump'." Haha! He can jump from loud noises! He is definitely moving a lot. I can feel him pretty often now, some days more than others though. He seems to move a lot when I sit or lay down and get settled in. I read that when you are moving around a lot, it lulls the baby to sleep, so that must be why he moves more when I'm still. He must be sleeping when I move, and wakes up when I get comfy. It doesn't really bother me though. He was moving a lot when I went to bed last night, but it didn't keep me awake.

***Disclaimer*** -- If you are too conservative/shy/sensitive/easily embarrassed, you may want to skip to the next paragraph -- Consider yourself warned. Also happening this week according to the What to Expect site: "Have you got male? If your fetus is a boy, his testicles have begun their descent this week, though they're still located in the abdomen, waiting for the scrotum to finish growing so they'll have a place to drop into in a few weeks." Pre-preggo, I may have been slightly embarrased to read this, but now I kind of think it's cute, haha!! My little Andrew is already getting ready to be a man! Aww!

Okay, back to more cute-baby topics. Actually, this may not be too cute, but the digestive system is making meconium now, and if you want to know what that is, go here. It's slightly gross, so I'll let you look for yourself if you want to know. What is more cute than that? Well, he should be developing his permanent teeth already, behind his baby teeth. We have already seen his baby teeth on the ultrasound pics, and I think it's pretty cool he's already getting his grownup teeth....wait, what? He's already growing up?! I haven't even gotten to hold him yet! Crazy....Anyway, one last thing: he should be starting to be able to differentiate between morning, afternoon and evening. I'm not really sure how that is, but I'm guessing it's because #1-he can see bright light so maybe that helps, or #2-he can tell my routines. I dunno for sure, that's just my guess.

Enough of that....on to ME! Lol. As I mentioned earlier, Andrew seems to be sitting/kicking/pressing on a nerve that is making my hip flexor area hurt. So, if I smell like IcyHot sometimes....sorry. Well, I'm not actually sorry, but I guess it just sounded good to say, haha.

Other than that little issue (which I really don't mind all that much, it's not too bad) I'm feeling great lately! I'm still tired of course, but no stomach issues, thank goodness!! I have had to take heartburn meds infrequently, but that hasn't gotten unbearable. I am still having food aversions, which is slightly annoying. I get really hungry, but I don't know what to eat because most things sound gross. It makes it a little difficult to get enough to eat, but I am doing okay. Speaking of things making it difficult to eat -- now that I'm at 20 weeks, my uterus is supposed to be right behind my belly button, and will grow toward my rib cage by about 1 cm per week....yikes! Talk about making it hard to eat...

Speaking of that, I did get a little heat from my (awesome) doc about not eating enough. I have only gained around 3 pounds so far, and she said I really need to eat more. (How fun is that -- the doc tells you to eat MORE, not less! Lol!) So I'm going to focus on high calorie (but still healthy...for the most part) foods, and try to get enough calories to gain at least 1 pound a week. That should put me back in the healthy range.

That's pretty much all I've got for this week :-) (Not that I need more, this post is long enough I think! Lol)

Happy 20-weeks-till-Baby Day!!

Um, wow

I was reading this article today, and it really hit home. I agree with what this writer is saying, I have experienced it many times. It is also a huge reason why my walk as a believer is so difficult sometimes. Not that I would take that blame off of myself, because I'm not trying to do that. Not only that, but I can't say that I have not been guilty of this myself. Of course, my self-consiousness and heightened concern over what others think of me makes me overly sensitive to this kind of thing, I think.

Reading this article really made me think....I hope it does the same for you.

My favorite quote from the article (you'll have to read the rest of it to understand the room cleaning reference):

"Loving your neighbor might be simple, but it’s not easy. Maybe my neighbor is a jerk too. Maybe they hate God. Maybe they are actively and violently opposed to everything I believe. And showing them grace feels impossible. So instead of dealing with that, we get online and police people. We find small things to focus on that will distract us. I think God wants us to discuss the little stuff, but we make it an idol when we practice room cleaning Christianity at the exclusion of love. And we tend to become jerks."

Thanks to this blog post for the original link!

Being a Parent

I have 2 things on my mind today regarding "parenting". Feel free to share your thoughts.

1) Worry-wart/Freak-out parenting. This is on my mind after reading a Facebook post about "The Peanut Butter Controversy" by Planning Family. Okay, here is my thought on the matter: JUST BE REASONABLE!! Okay I feel better now.

It seems like a lot of parents just freak out about things that they have no control over. I can't know in advance if my baby is going to have an allergy to anything, or if something is going to hurt him, or if some random disaster is going to happen. To me, it just seems like I would be adding unnecessary stress that I don't need to be dealing with if I were to worry about it.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I won't be taking precautions against things happening. I will of course make sure that my home is baby-safe and that I don't put my baby in danger or anything. But what I am saying is that it's ridiculous when parents go overboard.

Keeping your child away from peanut butter (or whatever) entirely just because you think there's some remote chance that they'll have an allergy is crazy. I know they shouldn't have it before a certain age, but at some point they're going to, and there's no need to freak out.

There are other things in this category that seriously irk me, but I'm not going there. I'll sum it up by saying that staying sane and being reasonable is the way to go. Moderation is the key, people. Being healthy, or safe, or whatever, is awesome -- in moderation. Going to extremes is just not necessary.

2) Kids are gonna be kids. I was reading this article that's really about using technology as a soother for your kids, but it said more than that to me.

There are "guidelines" about kids and technology. I totally get that. But they are just that -- guidelines. (Yes, this kind of goes back to the reasonableness argument previously.) When deciding on technology's role in your family's life, you MUST take into account your individual family. What works for one family may not work for another. And that fact doesn't make one thing wrong and another right. I like this quote from the article:

“I hate to see parents fall back on guidelines and then feel horribly guilty about everything they do. If you have to put your kid in front of a television set to run to the bathroom, that’s not going to harm them irreparably. It’s when you park them in front of the television for hours at a time, or don’t look at the cumulative role of technology in their lives, that’s problematic.”

That is exactly how I feel. And I don't even have to explain further, because that just says everything I am thinking.

The next thing I got out of this article is something that I think many people (and not just parents) need a lesson on: Kids are.........(wait for it)........KIDS! That was deep wasn't it...haha! Really, you would think that this would be common sense, but it apparently isn't. I think that this a problem not only with parents, but in society as a whole.

In society, it feels (to me) like people look down on kids acting like kids. They are shocked or annoyed when kids around them (restaurants, grocery stores, malls, etc) do what all kids do: talk, play, throw fits, cry, act cranky, laugh, be loud in general, and whatever else I've missed. They look down on parents for not "controlling" their kids. All kids are not going to be models of perfection at all times. That's just all there is to it. Yes, a 12 year old probably should not be having a temper tantrum in Harris Teeter, but it's not all that unusual for a 3 year old. And it's not bad either, it just happens. Parents don't need to feel intimidated by the weight of other peoples judgement.

As a parent, however, people still expect that their children act like adults and are upset when they act like children. I have seen parents who expect that their 2 year old will understand and behave like a 10 year old. Or an 8 year old to understand and behave like a 15 year old. They expect this and treat their kids in that manner. It frustrates me because I can see the frustration in the child and the stress it causes to the family unit. I also don't understand why parents do this. There's no need for all that stress! If parents just relax and let their kids act like kids, their home will be a happier, less stressful place.

Of course, in saying this I don't mean that kids should be able to do whatever they want, so don't send me any angry comments. I agree that there should be discipline for children, it helps them grow and mature into well balanced adults. I just think that it should be tailored to the individual child and that childs growth level.

One more thing that irks me is that when people become parents, they don't expect their life to change. They think that they will still be able to do the things that they could do before kids, and continue with their pre-kiddo lifestyles. This is not reality!!! If you go out to eat without kids, you can enjoy a nice, leisurely meal anywhere you want to. With kids, however, you may not be able to do that. If your child is tired, you may have to leave early. Or if your child starts to act up, you may have to take them outside for a few minutes. That's just the way life works with kids. Yes, this baby will be my first, but I have enough family and friends with kids that I feel like I can speak intelligently on this subject from my observations. This quote from the article is what spoke to me on this area:

"But the second part of this is that parents need to know how to let their kids be kids. Kids throw fits. That’s just what happens. That means you have to change. Maybe you eat earlier, or you leave the restaurant in the middle of the meal, or one of you eats and the other one takes the kid out for a walk. Don’t apologize for your child being a child, just do what needs to happen."

I LOVE that last sentence. It really sums up what I mean about the matter.


I didn't realize at the outset how long this post was going to be. Sorry about the length, but this is just what has been weighing on my mind lately. Of course, preparing to be a parent makes me think about things like this more often. Hope everyone enjoys their day!

Life changes

It seems like life is changing so fast! In just 5 short months, my sweet little Andrew will arrive, and in 9 months, I should be done with both of my undergrad degrees! Time is just flying by!!

It also seems to be sneaking up on me, lol. I can't seem to catch up on anything, but I'm okay with that for now. Admittedly it adds a little stress, but it's nothing I can't deal with :-)

For some reason it has just really hit me this week that it's coming so fast. Maybe it has to do with the fact that next week I'll be halfway to meeting my baby boy. AHHHH! :-D I have really got to start working more on his nursery. Seriously. Really soon. We've gotten almost everything taken out of the room that will be his, but nothing past that. At least we have a theme....that's a start right? Haha...

I'll leave you with a few photos to really show how fast time is flying...

This is from week 5...way back in July. About the size of a grain of rice.

And this is week 16 at the beginning of October!! Already 5 oz!

Now, 3 weeks later, he has grown to about NINE oz! Holy moley! He's just gonna be here before I know it!

Mango Tango

Week 19 is the week of the mango!

Not a whole lot new happening this week, mostly just a continuation of things that began in earlier weeks. One new thing is that the baby is developing his vernix caseosa coating. It's actually kind of gross, so I'll spare you the details (lol), but basically it is a waxy coating over him that protects him from the amniotic fluid. So he won't come out too wrinkly :-) Hehehe! The What to Expect website said that it's baby's first anti-wrinkle cream. Which got me to thinking (yes, scary, I know): what if doctors/scientists decided to try this kind of thing as a wrinkle treatment? I mean, it's all natural, obviously. Maybe I'm crazy (a good possibility)...who knows!

Anyhoo, back to baby-related stuff :-) ...This week just continues the hardening of bones, neurons between brain and muscles are now connected, and kicking should be increasing (and boy is it!). I totally love feeling those little kicks and punches and movements! I really can't wait until they can be felt from the outside too, that will be so exciting to share!

I am so glad to be over all that sickness that comes in the first trimester. Mine stuck around a few extra weeks, but I think I've finally gotten rid of it now! I'm still pretty tired, but otherwise I feel really good.

I had another ultrasound today. I have no idea why I'm having so many, but hey, I'm not going to complain, because I love them. I totally love to see my Andrew on the screen moving around and seeing what he's up to in there! He is such an active baby! So sweet :-)

I'm enjoying week 19 so far, and I can't wait for week 20 so I can be halfway!!

Great weekend

We had a really great weekend! How was everyone else's??

Saturday wasn't too eventful, but we did go to my brother-in-law's birthday party, which was fun. It's always nice to spend time with family :-)

Sunday, however, was full of stuff! We went to my nephew's rosebud dedication at church first. Then we went home and changed to head to the South Carolina State Fair! The North Carolina State Fair is also going on right now, but Columbia is about 1.5 hours away, and Raleigh is 3 hours away, so we figured it would be a shorter drive to Columbia. Also, the hubby got tickets from someone at work, and he works there (in Columbia) so he knows his way around Columbia. So that turned out to be the best choice for us. The drive down was uneventful, but holy cow the traffic SUCKED! Once we got into Columbia, we ended up spending another hour and a half in a line of traffic!! It was super annoying! Once we got through that and parked, we made our way into the fair itself. (Sidenote: we had to go through metal detectors and have bags searched to get in....seriously weird.) It was standard fair stuff: rides, exhibits, ridiculously expensive food, and etc. We met some friends there though, so it was fun to walk around with them. I will have to say that I was completely disappointed with the fried pickles that we got. Other than the fact that they were overpriced, they tasted nothing like fried pickles. Oh well....

I decided not to do any rides, since I'm not sure how safe that would be for me right now. But the animals were fun to watch. There was a horse show going on while we were there that was cute. The girls riding were pretty young too! And very adorable...all prim and proper. Some of the exibits were interesting also. One of them was a sand statue, and the folks were "carving" the back of it when we went in there, and it was amazing! Very detailed and intricate. Another exhibit had hand-carved mahogany stuff like airplanes, motorcycles, and etc. I really loved the airplanes, since that's the theme we're going with for the nursery. But we didn't get any, because they were pretty expensive, surprise surprise. Haha....

Once we left the fair, I got the grand tour of Columbia, courtesy of my driver, aka hubby. Hehe :-P I saw downtown, the governor's mansion, Five Points, and lots of other stuff. It's a pretty cute little town, I'll have to say.

Thankfully, we finally made it home in time for BED! I was super duper tired from walking so much, but we had so much fun! I am definitely sore today from walking so much, lol! Just goes to show how little exercise I've done the last 4-5 months :-) Gotta get back into that for real!

I do love weekends when I get to spend so much time with my man! :-D

A penny for my thoughts?

Okay, so I doubt anyone actually will pay me for these thoughts (even if I'm only asking for a penny...oh well). BUT since I like you guys, I'll share them free of charge. (Still accepting donations though...lol)

Thoughts for Thursday:

1. My mind doesn't work when I'm hungry.

2. I really, REALLY, REALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLY hate telemarketers that won't give up. I SAID NO THANK YOU! Not to mention, I was quite polite about it. Then you went and made me act rudely and hang up on you. You brought it on yourself.

3. I can't cross my legs anymore. I don't know exactly why this is, but I am assuming it has something to do with Mr. Andrew. Maybe he's just sitting really low? I dunno...but it's slightly annoying/uncomfortable. Although worth it :-)

4. I love salad.

5. I definitely need to take some more "baby bump" pictures! I haven't done any since 12 weeks, and I'm 18 now! My bump has definitely gotten bigger!! I think I'll start doing them weekly now. This week, my bump has really rounded out. I know it's silly to say this about myself, but I think it's so cute and I love it!! :-D Lol! I also really get a kick out of it when people notice and can't decide whether to ask me if I'm preggers or not. It's quite hilarious!!

That's all I've got for the moment! TTFN!

Follow up from this morning

Follow up from this mornings post...

#1- Baby Andrew had hiccups! It was too funny :-) I learned that the difference is when the kicking (or punching or whatnot) is more steady and rhythmic as opposed to random. I felt him hit me in the same spot every 2 seconds for about 3 minutes. Had to be the hiccups! So cute!!

#2-I had heartburn today. I think I may have jinxed myself. Crap.

Hope everybody's having a great day!

Another week gone by

It has already been 18 weeks!! I can hardly believe that I'm getting so close to halfway through this pregnancy! Only 155 days left...holy crap, that's only 5 months!! It is flying by :-D




Baby Andrew is this big?! He is the size of a sweet potato, but supposedly my uterus is the size of a cantaloupe! HUGE! All kinds of cool stuff is happening with him this week. According to The Bump, he is "amazing mobile"...no kidding! I can feel him move a lot, and he moves the most in the evening, from around 5-ish until about 8-ish. And I can feel him kick sometimes throughout the day too. He is also in there "yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing." Lol, how cute! I have read that I will be able to feel him hiccuping, but so far I haven't. I'm not sure how it would feel different from other movements. Other cool things this week (from various other sites): he can make facial expressions, his taste buds are developing, and his eyes are sensitive to light (so if I shine a bright light on my belly, he will turn away). Pretty darn cool! I also think its pretty cool to know how well his hearing is developing. By now, his ears are fully developed and he should be able to hear noises from the outisde world, and to distinguish my voice :-) I also read that it's good for him to hear the dogs barking now, because later he will be able to sleep through them barking since he will be used to hearing them! Woohoo!! One less sleep-related issue to worry about, lol!

I have been feeling SO much better lately! I don't really have many yucky first-trimester symptoms left, and haven't started the new yucky ones yet :-) No more nausea, but no heartburn yet! (Knock on wood!!!) I still haven't gotten rid of this exhaustion, though. I really wish I would get that "burst" that gives everybody all that energy! Oh well, I'll just keep on truckin' till I do :-) I'm apparently pretty hormonal too...I had a little crying fit this weekend at my in-laws (and felt kinda bad about it afterwards). Okay, so maybe I'm really hormonal. Lol!

Have a fantastic day everyone! Also--Happy birthday to one of my best friends in high school, Chief!!! :-D

Short Vent

I just have one little vent today....

When I am out in the general public, people are starting to notice that I'm pregnant and not fat. I have no problem with this, and in fact I totally love it!

BUT, when I am on campus at school, I get the worst, ugliest, dirtiest looks from some people. I hate it!! I don't understand it either! I don't feel like I owe an explanation to anyone, but the looks are so mean. Just because I am still in school does not mean that my baby is a bad thing. I mean, I am married, have been for a while, and it's time for me. Just because you don't want to be pregnant doesn't mean that I can't be and I can't enjoy it. If you were pregnant, that probably means you are a ho and had a one night stand while drunk and weren't being careful, and acting badly like you shouldn't have. For me however, that's not the case, so stop judging me based on your life. I am pregnant and I am ecstatic about it and I no longer care what you think!!!!!!!

So there.

He has a name!

We have settled on a name for Baby Boy....


Andrew Curtis McEntire


We both really like that name (a first, lol). It is a solid, strong name that isn't too popular or strange. It is the name of 2 presidents, the first disciple of Jesus, and really it just seems like it fits. We wanted to give him a name that he could live up to and achieve greatness with.

The idea for his name actually came from my mother-in-law. She has been giving us a "name of the day" for several weeks now. It has been pretty funny, in fact. Some of the names we didn't like, some of them we liked okay, and this one we really loved. Curt like this one better than I did at first, but it really grew on me, and as I thought about it, it really felt like his name.

Just wanted to share the news :-)

Interesting

I thought this was a good article and that I would share...this will be me one day, althought I really wish I could be a SAHM. Oh well...