Sugar and Spice!

The past few weeks have been consumed with all things little girl! We have spent most of our weekends looking for textiles for her nursery, picking out paint colors, and scavenging for accessories perfect for our little girl. We have finally picked out the fabrics; we found a purple and cream toile, a purple/blue/green/ stripe, and a really soft, green polka dot. Her room will be painted a very light lavender. Everything has to be perfect for our little miracle!!

I feel her moving daily and many times a day! She is very active. I wake up in the mornings to her kicking and go to bed feeling her swim around. Jordan got to feel her move for the first time this past week. She likes to be still when he tries to feel her move; I hope that means he has the magic touch! It has been a real obstacle to manage her kicking my bladder while I try to teach for six hours straight! I'm getting a lot of exercise running to the restroom during class changes.

She is the size of a large papaya! She is drinking the amniotic fluid, urinating, and working on her first poo-poo which will happen after birth. When she is not moving, she is sleeping 12-14 hours a day. We still haven't decided on a name; it's so hard to name little girls! My students try to suggest names daily. You can only imagine the uniqueness of some of those names!

I almost have no belly button! We enjoy watching my belly grow every day. I should be growing half an inch every week! My sweet tooth has finally returned, which is quite dangerous for my waist line. Jordan had to run to the store for chocolate chip cookies one day and I bought Krispy Kreme doughnuts one night.

My favorite part of the past few weeks has been shopping for her! I went to a consignment sale this past Thursday with my mom and mother-in-law. I bought her several cute outfits for her to wear for the first few months. Both grandmas bought her some cute clothes this week too! We plan on working on the nursery over Labor Day weekend! We're also going to buy her car seat and stroller soon!

Words cannot explain how overjoyed I am to get to carry this baby in my womb. I remember last Christmas, I was so sad because I should have been very pregnant. Instead, I had an empty womb and a slim chance of becoming pregnant. I had honestly given up the dream of being pregnant. I spent most of the Christmas season begging God for a baby. I realized today that God couldn't give me a baby last Christmas, but he is this Christmas!! I feel so blessed! God is so good! I wouldn't trade the swollen hands, constipation, mood swings, crazy cravings, hip pain, fatigue, etc. for anything else in the world because God has allowed me to carry a miracle inside of my body.

We're having a......

Did that surprise anyone else? We are absolutely thrilled to have a healthy baby! She is absolutely adorable! Everything measured "normal" on the ultrasound. She weighs about 13 oz. She was very active and was laying with her right hand above her head and her legs parallel with her body. She looks like she has very long legs like her mommy, and I think she may even have my nose! She is measuring ahead of schedule at 20 weeks and 3 days, which puts our due date at 12/27/11.


We revealed the gender to our families last night at a cookout. We had all the parents, grandparents, and siblings together. I baked a pink and blue cake the night before and iced them both with chocolate icing. We put out the pink cake and had our moms cut it to reveal to gender to everyone. Everyone seemed very surprised!

I am most excited about smocking, monograms, ruffles, bows, and all the frills that come along with a little girl! I had a little boy's nursery completely planned, so now I'm having fun looking at toile, damask, and all the little girly nursery things!

I was very surprised at Jordan's reaction to the news during the ultrasound. I looked over at him when she said, "It's a girl!" and he was smiling from ear to ear! She already has daddy wrapped around her tiny finger!

As for the pregnancy, everything is going well! I'm starting to swell a little bit, but the doctor said it's because I'm on my feet more with school starting back. I have gained 18 pounds since the beginning of my pregnancy. Everyone is really enjoying being able to call me fatty. Thankfully, this fatty was blessed with a co-worker's maternity clothes! Yay! Getting dressed will not be as stressful!

Almost Half Way!!

When people ask how far along I am, and I respond, "18 weeks." I always feel like I'm telling them something wrong! It sounds so weird to say that I am so far along...almost half way!

This week, our little one is the length of a sweet potato plus legs and arms! I am really beginning to feel those little legs and arms. He likes to swim around a lot! He even responds to noises! We were at the Beacon this past week, and JC Strobble yelling, "Call it!" had him going crazy! He kept me awake one night moving around, and of course I don't object because I don't want to miss anything! I can't wait until Jordan can feel him too!

We're really starting to prepare for this little one to come into our lives. I unofficially went back to work, which meant I had to tell my principal our good news. I was really nervous to tell her since it's my first full-time year there, but she is ecstatic! Every time she sees me, she talks about the baby and she's even counting down to the gender reveal. I also went to two of the local consignment sales to find some good baby deals. I bought a whale bath tub, infant car seat insert, a crib wedge, a Boppy pillow, a grocery cart/high chair cover, a baby carrier, some maternity clothes, and a cute little blue outfit. I know I'm getting ahead of myself with the blue outfit, but it was too adorable to pass up! We also received a stationary bouncer with all sorts of fun toys on it and a wipe warmer this week!

As for me, I'm getting larger and larger everyday! It's so much fun to eat whatever, whenever! Of course, I'm eating healthy and in moderation because I want a healthy baby and minimal weight to lose after birth. My favorites this week have been Moe's burritos and Orville Redenbacher's Natural Simply Salted popcorn. Next week will be a trial week for the school year, as I try to work out the snack/meal situation. It's been so nice to be at home and eat whenever I get hungry! I am happy to say that all of this eating has not caused any stretch marks (fingers crossed that it stays that way)! However, my belly button is no longer deep, just flat and wide.

We are less than a week away from finding out if there is a little boy or girl swimming around inside of me! I hope this week of teacher inservice days flies by because I'm so impatient!