Things I Think About

I really don't have much to share today, nothing new has happened. I still feel like writing a blog post though so this is what I came up with. These are things that I think about, in no particular order, on any given day really but specifically today.

1. I am constantly thinking (and writing down....and then losing my notes) about what I have to accomplish for the rest of day/week/etc.

2. How in the world am I going to teach my son right and wrong and hoping he turns out okay considering all the mistakes I know I'm going to make.

3. I really hope my car works long enough to get me to my next destination. Hmm...I think about lots of stuff while I'm in the car. I have many deep revelations about myself while driving. I also sing in the car. A lot. Loudly. :-)

4. I need sleep.

5. Oh! Baby kick! :-)

6. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas music. In fact, I spend January through July missing it, July through October anxiously awaiting the day I can play it, and starting November 1, I play it all day every day until the last day of December, and I love every minute of it.

7. I really love my husband. Yeah yeah I know, awwww. But it's true. I am finding myself more and more in love with him every day.

Just a small sampling of what goes through my head on a typical day. I thought I'd share for the amusement of all. :-)

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!!