18 Weeks - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Size: A sweet potato. She's about 5.6 inches long & almost 6.7 ounces now... come on one lb mark!!

Major happenings for the baby: She's working her muscles now (like her Mamma should be!). She's yawning, hiccuping, sucking & swallowing. She's also twisting, rolling, punching & kicking.

Sleep: Great!

Miss Anything: Using buttons & zippers on my pants.

Food Cravings: Back on Italian. In a stint of 4 days I managed to have Italian seven times. Heading to the gym now...


Bellybutton in or out? The top has broken the surface!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!

Looking forward to: Feeling her move. I felt a couple of flutters last night - not sure if it was my food digesting or her, but I'll take it :)

We flew back in from NYC Sunday night and made it out just in time. Can't wait to share pictures from the trip!

Also, today is Halloween!! I absolutely love this holiday & can't wait for tonight (stand by for pictures!) I promised the lady in our office I'd dress up, but completely forgot until this morning. She had to settle for this...



I'm wearing a paper pumpkin on my belly all day... happy happy joy joy :)

17 Weeks

Size: An onion. She's about 5.1 inches long & weighs about 5.9 ounces.

Major happenings for the baby: Her cartilage is now turning into bone and she's putting on fat. Good thing, too. In our last ultrasound I told the tech we needed to fatten her up because I could see her ribs. The tech didn't find that funny.

Sleep: Great!

Miss Anything: Sleeping on my back.

Food Cravings: Fried chicken, but not the traditional KFC kind, oh no. I want biscuits or sandwiches. I had to leave work yesterday because I had such a bad craving.

Bellybutton in or out? In... barely!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!

Looking forward to: Our baby moon in NYC. I can't wait to spend some quality time together in the Big Apple!

Boy, oh boy was I wrong...

Way wrong. Like the wrongest I've ever been. (Yes, mom, I know "wrongest" isn't a word, but it seemed to fit.) I fought for months trying to convince everyone around me that I was having a boy. I was caring like anyone would that carries boys - low & straight out. I was craving salty foods - hint toward boy. I wasn't sick.

There are so many other signs that pointed towards boy and I was 100% convinced... until a couple of days before our appointment last Thursday. I started doubting myself, and knowing I lost my baby predictor a few months ago (a different story for another time), deepened my doubt. Could I possibly be carrying a girl? Could I even let myself go there?

My entire life I've pictured myself with a little girl. The bows and the dresses make my heart melt. The possibility of a future cheerleader made me more than excited, but I couldn't go there. All of my friends, except for a couple, and even my sister had given birth to boys in the past 2 & 1/2 years. I felt like I was destined to have a boy.

Fast forward to our appointment last Thursday. 15 minutes later than scheduled we were called back and I climbed onto the table faster than any pregnant lady should have. I was so excited to find out who our child was. It felt like an eternity before the tech could get a clear shot; the baby was on her head when we started - should've been a clear sign.

When she finally got the baby into position it was pretty clear - there was nothing resting between those legs. Looking back on it now, we can clearly see what the ultrasound tech saw, but at the time we had no idea what we were looking at. Without completely humiliating our child, I'll spare you the details and just say that with complete confidence the tech proudly announced, "It's a girl!"

I gasped. Ryan gasped. I looked over at him and he already had tears in his eyes. I began crying for the first time since I got pregnant. That's right - this cry baby hasn't cried once during this entire process. Something about learning the sex of our baby suddenly made it real to me. We are having a daughter. Our world has completely changed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today's the Big Day!!!

Today our lives will change forever. We'll find out if we're going to be raising a son or a daughter. Going to baseball games or cheerleading competitions. Having cookie baking sessions or organizing cousin football games in the backyard.

That sounded so very stereotypical, but I don't care right now. I'm the one writing here.

I honestly couldn't care less whether this baby is a boy or a girl. I feel so blessed to be able to become a mother and I'm constantly overwhelmed with that thought each day.

So, the big day is here. At 3:00 we'll find out what we're having - what do you think? Boy or girl???

16 Weeks

The bump is almost invisible today - no salty foods! Sorry I look like I'm sleep walking. Lately, my eyes have started to close when I'm taking pictures. I'm taking all precautions to remedy this situation.

Size: An avocado. The baby weighs about 3.5 ounces and is about 4.6 inches long.

Major happenings for the baby: The baby is now listening to my voice since tiny bones are growing in its ears. It's also growing hair, lashes and eyebrows, and it's forming taste buds.

Sleep: Pure perfection right now - at least when I'm not leg-wrestling the body pillow.


Miss Anything: Sleeping on my back.

Food Cravings: Nothing this week. I finally got off my Italian kick - I think I abused the privilege of having an Italian restaurant within walking distance of the office.

Bellybutton in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Gender Prediction: Now that we're one day out, I don't even know what to think anymore. I'm so stinkin excited I just want to know!

Looking forward to: Our appointments tomorrow. We have our 16 week checkup tomorrow at 12:50 where we get to listen to the baby's heartbeat and do the doctor stuff. At 3:00, we get to go back for gender reveal. We're so excited we can hardly stand it. I'm ready to know what this baby is so I can start buying some cute stuff!

Our parents are coming into town tomorrow night so we can reveal what this little babe is. I'm sad our siblings & nephew can't be there, but we'll facetime them in & we'll see them all soon!

Mom is taking the day off Friday so we can do some baby shopping and we're spending Saturday with my best friend doing tons of girl stuff. I absolutely can't wait for tomorrow to get here!

15 Weeks

I swear the bump doesn't look this big in person!

Size: An Orange! The baby weighs about 2.5 ounces and is about 4 inches long. Its legs are now longer than its arms (no more monkey baby).

Major happenings for the baby: That's about it - longer legs.

Sleep: A little rough this week. God bless my sweet friend for lending me her body pillow so I didn't have to spend $54 on my own!
Miss Anything: Nope!

Food Cravings: Tailgate food & my mom's chili. Heck, it's football season - what do you expect? 

Bellybutton in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Gender Prediction: Boy - still carrying low & straight out.

Looking forward to: Finding out what this sweet baby is. I know it's still 8 days away, but I also know that in 8 days our lives will once again change forever when we find out if we'll be raising a son or a daughter. So sweet!

Clemson v. Ga Tech

This past Saturday we played host to Ga Tech (and won, by the way!). We had a great time seeing friends & eating tons of fattening delicious food. Here are some photos from the day.

Here's our best tailgater - Pierce rocked his own tailgate chair & was great all day! I'm sure I won't be able to say the same about my child next year.

My best friend, Jamie and me.

My WONDERFUL college roommate Mary Kathleen. She's one of the most special people in my life. Now that we live 6+ hours apart, every second we have together is precious.

My sweet cousin, Kyle came to find us!

Me & the hubs (and a little baby Grubbs!)

We spent the rest of Saturday with my family & had a wonderful time. Don't you just love weekends?

14 Weeks

Size: A lemon. The baby is about 3.4 inches & 1.5 ounces. It's nearly doubled in weight since last week!

Major happenings for the baby: The baby is probaly sucking its thumb & wiggling its toes. It's growing peach-fuzz-like hair to keep it warm (because my 98.6 degree body tempature isn't enough).

Sleep: Much better this week! I'm about to score a sweet broken-in body pillow from Jamie. No, I don't want a brand new one. This is how I roll.

Miss Anything: Noting - I'm perfectly content right now!

Food Cravings: Still anthing loaded with salt. I know it's bad, but try telling pregnancy cravings that. I'm trying to force vegetables & fruits into my diet, but could care less about those food groups at the moment.

Have you started to show? The bump is very visable. I still haven't had anyone brave enough to ask, though.

Bellybutton in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Gender Prediction: Boy

Looking forward to: Our trip to NYC! That's right, folks. We are finally allowing ourselves a mini-vacation since we didn't get to take a beach trip this year. I absolutely can't WAIT to get back to the Big Apple and by the time we're there we'll already know for sure if the baby is a boy, so we can buy some cute stuff!

 

I'm also looking forward to another trip to Clemson this weekend to see lots of friends & get some QT time in with my family. These are the best weekends!