20 weeks

Technically I am 21 weeks now but 20 weeks was a big week so I am just behind.

Our baby girl: is about 10 1/2 in. Long now, about the size of a carrot  and weights about 3/4 of a lb. this still seems so small to me.

Symptoms: again I have been very blessed this pregnancy haven't had any terrible symptoms for long periods of time. This week wasn't too different. I have a little bit of heartburn usually after dinner occasionally but nothing two tums and some water does fix.

Weight: I started to gain a little more than 1lb a week lately but still have matched my total weight gain to the number of weeks pregnant I am so I guess that's good.

Cravings: no specific cravings. Junk food always sounds good. I have noticed that my appetite has come back down to normal this week. I don't eat nearly as much as the last couple of weeks which should help with the weight.

Movement: I was told I would start to feel baby girl move around 18 weeks but I never really noticed anything. I still haven't felt her move and no that's exactly what it was. I had read people say it feels like a butterfly fluttering around, or a fish swimming in a fish bowl but how do people know what that feels like. Honestly the only time I feel anything in my belly area it just feels like a short sharp pain, a cramp, or my food digesting. I still just assume its digestion bc I only ever noticed it an hour or so after I eat. This week I read I may start to feel her doing "martial arts" so maybe it will be a little more distinctive if its her. I don't worry at all I figured we know she is moving bc we saw her on the ultrasound this week and ill have plenty of months of feeling her kicking me in the middle of the night :).

Best moment: duh it's when we had our ultrasound to find out the gender. Kevin was like 2 minutes late and i started to freak out bc i just knew he was going to miss it. luckily the Ultrasound tech wasnt in any hurry since they had just gotten back from lunch so we waited for him. as soon as we sat down and she put the warm jelly stuff on my belly we she asked did yall want to know the sex? we both quickly answered yes, almost in a tone that may have come across as Duh thats why we are hear but i was glad she did ask just for the sake of people who dont want to know. she immediately went for a shot of the baby's booty and said well bc of these three lines here you are having a girl! i was so excited but dont remember saying anything probably a little shock and Kevin gave some kind of "ALRIGHT!" burst and then immediately asked are you sure. Haha it was funny, we didnt care either way but i think we both just wanted to be sure we knew exactly it was a she. the ultrasound tech checked mulitple times to reassure us and then started taking measurements,It took longer than I thought bc they have more measurements they are looking for. When we were done we headed down the elevator to meet my mom in the parking lot. She had taken a half day to "celebrate" with me bc Kevin had to head straight to school for a test. As soon as we walked off the elevator there was my mom sitting on a bench anxiously awaiting, we didn't say anything and just laughed at her bc she was smiling so big and tapping her feet in exictement. We asked one more time what do you think and she guessed boy and we said nope baby girl!! Of course my mom squealed and started crying lol. It was for sure another good reaction from my mom.

The rest of the week was so hard bc everyone was asking and sending text messages asking what it was and we weren't telling anyone until we had our gender reveal party on Saturday (dr. Appt was on Tuesday). Saturday finally came and you can read about that Here.

The Big Reveal

The big ultrasound was on Tuesday October 23rd. I'll write another post for that particular day b/c it was very fun but I was so excited about doing this one, i could wait to take time to write the other post first. It was so hard to not tell anyone between Tuesday and Saturday when we had our party but it was worth it. The only people we told were my parents and Kevin's parents. And many people tried to get it out of us sooner but we held strong. :)

Here is our invite the hubby made

Anyone who has been on pinterest has seen or heard about the gender reveal parties. It really isn't that new but still a little uncommon that you'll have the occasional person that hasn't heard of it before. When i first saw it on pinterest (before we were even pregnant) I knew I wanted to do this. I had to convince Kevin a little but he came around. we weren't sure how many people would be interested in coming but the curiosity of the women will get them to come and by telling the men we would provide food and a big tv to watch the GA/FL game on they were in. We are very lucky to have so many friends and family come to celebrate with us. I think there ended up being around 40 people total. that is the most people we have had in our house all at once and i didn't mind at all. It was so fun. I am especially thankful my brothers and sister-in-law drove down from Nashville and surprised me! Also my sister drove down from Cary, NC to be there which meant a lot. It was really fun to be able to spend the whole day with them preparing for the party. It's funny how you can tell how they are excited for us without them having to say it. Obviously they drove down for a short weekend, but also the effort they put into making the party fun showed they care. My youngest brother, Mitch, actually vacuumed my living and dining room, mopped my kitchen, and helped me bake and ice 48 cupcakes. My oldest brother video taped the big reveal and did a great job. Kevin is always hesitant to hand over a camera or video camera to a amateur b/c people will always try to zoom in when you can always crop to get the best picture and get the best video zoomed out but Nick did a fantastic job. You can view the big reveal here . Brittany (my new sister n law) is so amazingly crafty and she made me this adorable wreath for the door.

Side note: You can also tell she is so crafty b/c she made my brother's Halloween costume for work. Isn't this amazing 

 My sister helped with a bunch of stuff but her role as fashionista aunt will continue. she keeps me looking cute and also has purchased very cute clothes for our baby girl. The biggest shout out of thanks and gratitude goes to my mom and dad. They bought and made a huge Mexican fiesta meal for our 40 guests and spent their whole Saturday preparing for it. The food was amazing. we had hard tacos, soft tacos, burritos, tacos salad, rice, beans, my dads (technically his niece's recipe) famous delicious salsa, and cheese dip. Unfortunately i didn't get a picture of all the food but the there was no counter space left there was so much. We also had a small table of desserts with some more decor thanks to Brittany. There was blue Hawaiian punch and pink lemonade for the drinks. strawberry cupcakes, and white cupcakes with blue icing and pick and blue sprinkles, different pink flavors of starbursts, cookies and creme kisses (they just happen to be wrapped in blue).

I had also found this idea on pinterest as well and thought it was easy and cute so we had these too. 

For the BIG REVEAL we used the balloons in a box idea (again from pinterest). We couldn't find a cardboard box big enough so my wonderful Hubby actually built a quick box frame out of some scrap wood, stapled some cardboard to it and walaah! here are just a few picks from the reveal

 Here is a good one of Kevin's Face

 Our friends and family (sorry its blurry its from a phone)

a little photoshopping 

The proud parents! 

We don't have a name yet so we are definitely open to suggestions.

Lastly, to all of our friends and family (not just those that came to the party) we really love everyone and are so blessed to have so many people already care about this beautiful little girl and are so thankful for the congrats, thoughts and prayers thus far. I will probably say this same line in more posts to come because we are just so thankful to have such a loving group of people share in our joys.

Lets go to the beach, beach...

This weekend I got to get a nice little getaway from work with my Nina, mom and dad. Nina's boss owns a condo in north myrtle beach and said she could use it for the weekend. I wasn't about to pass up a free weekend to the beach in the middle of cold weather October in Atlanta. The condo was a penthouse. It was so nice and bc it was his personal condo it was very homey with family pictures and kids toys, and pretty much everything you would need that you hope a hotel has but never really sure. The view was amazing and there was this lounge chair that rocked so I spent lots of time on the deck. It was a little cold to get in the water but perfect weather for walking the beach and laying out. They had a small "lazy river" that Nina and I tested out. It was FREEZING!!! Judging by the pictures my mom took it must have been pretty entertaining watching us try to sit in the tube without any of our body parts touching the water.

And of course one afternoon we hit up the tanger outlets. We always go shopping at the outlets and always find great deals. I got a couple of my Xmas gifts there. Although with the way this baby is growing  I may be hitting up my mom to give me some of my gifts a little early so I don't have to wear a moo moo to work. :) I wasn't the only one who got Xmas gifts. We find out Tuesday the 23rd whether baby is a boy or girl and if you haven't already heard my mom and Nina are so excited and have been buying cute clothes for this little one since they found out. Every store we went in to if I got separated from them I always found them in the baby section. Oohing and aahing. I don't complain at all bc they find some good deals and have great taste.

 Speaking of having great taste I had only packed comfy clothes like gym shorts and T-shirts. My sister is much more of a fashionista than me and she flat out asked me "are you wearing what your we're yesterday again to go shopping." I said that's all I brought, so she dressed me and I have to say she has got style. I took this for my 20 week picture.

Even though it was a long drive there and back (6 1/2 hrs one way) and a short weekend it was a lot of fun hanging out. We didn't take many pictures but good memories and i got spoiled with Krispy Kreme  doughnuts two mornings in a row. :) I am very excited that Nina is coming down to Atlanta this coming weekend too for our gender reveal party. we had fun planning that this weekend at the beach. Stay tuned for that post. 

Up to 18 Weeks

I haven't done a weekly update lately b/c I feel like nothing has really changed but I had a doctors appointment today so I figured it was time to update.

Symptoms: no symptoms for the last couple of weeks other than my belly getting bigger. I did notice about week 18 though I started to feel cramps in my lower abdomen. I knew it was probably normally but I'm sure all first time preggers still worry. Luckily I have good experienced mom friends and they all assured me it was from the stretching and growing and dehydration. The cramping was like a lot of pressure plus knife stabbing me. (may have a little exaggeration on that last statement) byte other way if feel cramping like "that time of the month" feeling you are probably ok. My doctor did mention to just relax get off your feet and drink plenty of fluids. If its really bad it never hurt anyone to just call the doctor that may help ease your mind.

Weight: I am still consistently gaining 1lb a week since I found I was pregnant. I haven't been eating quite as much and I'm trying to be better about doing something active weekly. We'll see how long that lasts.

Cravings:no cravings still. But I never have a problem finding something that sounds good to eat. :)

Baby K: I actually read my weekly update email that says what to expect this week and what not. It says baby K is about 5inchs long and about 7ounces. He/she is getting bigger and it's showing in my belly. Lol

Other happenings: doctors appointment have been good. No news really. I do like going just to hear the heartbeat, always reassuring. Very excited about my next appointment in 2weeks we finally find if baby k is a boy or girl!!!! Kevin won hubby/future daddy award last night bc he spent 2hours with me on photoshop to design the invite for our gender reveal party we are having. It's a big deal bc he is so busy right now with school and work and applying for jobs so I am so thankful he spends time with me thinking about this precious baby!

Picture Update

I am way behind on posting lately but i am working on it. In the mean time enjoy some pictures we have taken thus far since we found out we were pregnant!

1st pregnancy test. (this only cost like a dollar so we bought another one just in case)

2nd test (more expensive and not as clear at first as the cheap one)

Parents!

This is how we told my parents. Doubt my stomach will ever look this flat again. :(

12 weeks

14 weeks

16 weeks

Best Friends since 3rd grade

That title reminds me of that clearasil commercial but it's  true we have been friends since 3rd grade.I knew is weekend was going to be awesome because Kinsey was coming to visit. Background  on our friendship like I said we met in 3rd grade. Her family was visiting our church and my mom taught the 3rd class and was taking us to the movies or bowling. I cant remember which one now but i know we did both eventually. My mom had invited Kinsey and her brother Cody who is a year younger than us. And it all started there. Here are some pics of us growing up.

We were probably in 5th grade here:

 This was in 2009 for Kinsey's wedding:

 This was in high school on a tout trip to the camp we grew up going to Camp Wetoga

is was in 2007 at my wedding:

Our friendship grew and grew and literally we were inseparable until college even then we were roommates our freshman year. Her family always lived close and for a couple years in middle and high school they lived in our neighborhood. It was really hard when they moved to Alabama when we were in college bc it meant she would not be in ga for the holidays or summers and then we both got married and she now lives in TEXAS! Worse place ever Jk the only reason I am ok with it is because she has an awesome husband but I sure wouldn't mind him wanting to find a job over here on the east coast so we could see each other more often. With the distance and price of plane tickets we haven't  seen each other much, maybe 5 times since we graduated college in 2007. Which was for both our weddings and 3 times she has been here tovisit. I know i am a terrible friend for not going to visit her yetbut she makes multiple stops around here to visit me and family so its easier for her to justify the $400 plane ticket. Anyways she came into town with Cody (who was roommates with Kevin one year and we all grew up together) and we went to a braves game together. It was so much fun and we laughed a lot in the car and talked a lot while we watched the game. The braves won of course bc they are amazing and we stayed for the Friday night fireworks afterwards. Here are a couple pictures we took.

After the game we headed home and stayed up until about 3:30am again just talking. We didn't have anything to do until later in the afternoon Saturday so we knew would be able to sleep in. What we talked about I have no idea but we are definitely the friends that talk forever and there is never any silence. The next day we went and had lunch together at steak n shake and unfortunately said good bye early bc Kevin and I were headed to the GA Tech game which was an afternoon game and Kinsey and Cody were heading to the UGA game which was a night game so we didn't have much time to visit this weekend but at least it was something. Looking forward to the day i am able to see her more often. 

Witnessing Birth: My Niece Annalise

My sister-in-law is pregnant with her 3rd child. This was going to be baby girl #2 and her name is Annalise. Being that this was her third my sister in law (Bree) asked if I wanted to be in the delivery room. My first thought was gross no way but when we found out we were pregnant too I was so excited she had asked me. I would be able to see and experience what it would be like when we have our baby. Obviously it will be different bc I won't be able to experience everything but I would get a good idea of things to expect. 

  I happened to have a doctors appoint the same day Bree was going in for her check up, she was hoping they would tell her she could be induced. (back story she is due sept 22nd but her husband leaves for active duty with the Air Force on Sept. 30th so they wanted to make sure she had the baby before he had to leave.) after my appointment I got a text that said she would be induced Thursday morning. I was so excited. I scheduled to have the whole day off of work so I wouldn't miss anything. She had to be at the hospital at 7:30 so I told them to call me once they left and I would get up and get ready to head over. Well I woke up literally every hour that night thinking that I would miss it. I finally woke up at 7:30 and just went ahead and got ready bc I knew she was at least at the hospital at that point. I got here about 8:30 and she hadn't gotten her pitocin (this is the drug to induce labor) yet but the nurse came in soon after and got it started. They would up the dosage every 30 minutes. She has had some contractions but she said they aren't bad. She makes it look easy, she just squished her face until it passes. 

Its about 10:35 the contractions are getting a little more painful she says but she must tolerate pain well bc i can never tell when she is having one. And now we just wait.

3:45 the nurse came in again to check and she was 5cm dilated the contractions got sooner and stronger, she still amazes me how she handles it. They are going to get the epidural ready to help and hopefully will see more progress. 

I  lost track of the time at this point but I remember the nurse saying she couldn't get the epidural until the saline bag was empty and she was about half way done. It seemed to take for ever to get through the second half, probably because the contractions were more intense and we were all thinking hurry up. There may or may not have been some yelling and the nurse tried to keep her calm but a this point Bree knew this baby was coming soon and said call the anesthesiologist to bring my epidural I won't want to be the third patient in line waiting on him and it be too late. So they finally called and my mother in law and I had to leave while she got the epidural, we were in the waiting room for about 15 min or so and finally my brother in law came to get us and as we were walking down the hall he said she is ready to push. I got so excited we had waited all day and all of the sudden everything was happening so fast. We got back in the room and the nurse was saying she had to wait 15min to push so that the epidural would kick in and Bree said call the doctor bc she will be coming in 15min. About this point wi all the excitement and it was hotter in the room an in the waiting room i started to feel a little uneasy, i didn't want to say anything so i just sat down for a minute to compose myself and then i was good to go. That was probably the only time i felt sick. More nurses started coming in and Bree kept saying in ready to push, finally one nurse told them to call the doctor and tell him to run or this baby was going to be delivered by a nurse today. The doctor came in and was ready to go. I wont give all the details but it wasn't nearly as bad as i think people imagine but the is the basics i remember happening after that. The doctor broke her water, we waited for a contraction he said push and then breathe then push again all in the one contraction and we there was the head. The doctor cleaned out the mouth and nose, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her head but no one ever really mentioned it, the doctor flipped the baby around and got the cord back around and then the next contraction he said push and the shaders were there one more push and she sweet Annalise was here. it was truly amazing nothing you can imagine without seeing it. It amazed me how everyone just happened, God made us to be able to do this and it happens just as it should. I'll admit at some point I think it was when I saw the head I got a little teary eyed well just blame that on being pregnant :) but it was just so unbelievable to be able to witness something like that. even though she was here there was more to the whole birth process and I will not go into details about that but I am glad I watched but it was definitely not beautiful like the birth. The rest of the night was just taking pictures and playing hot potato with baby Annalise. Here are her stats: 

Born at 5:26pm on Sept. 13th

7lbs. 5 oz

20in. Long

And I think I heard someone say something about the Apgar (not sure if that is what it is called) thing being 8 or 9 if that sounds right.

Again I was so thankful to be able to witness this event. It has given me so much knowledge and took away some fear about what to expect come March. I was able to give Kevin a good play by play so he knows what to expect too without grossing him out. Now you can enjoy some pictures!

With her favorite Aunt

 Wearing the hat and cocoon thing "Nina"(Kevin's mom's) knitted for her

 Proud big brother and sister

 After her first bath