Friday, May 30, 2014

21 Weeks

Welcome to Week 21 !




My dearest sweet child, welcome to your week.

You weigh about: 1 pound ( whatta' whopper! )
You Measure about: 7 inches from crown to rump, or about 9 inches from head to toe ( Barbie doll sized, but you're much more beautiful already than a Barbie doll, and I hope you don't get caught up on those silly things and play with the important toys that make your brain super smart like legos and puzzles)

You are definitely tasting what Im eating these days- the food I eat gets broken down and the flavors and nutrients are transferred to you through amniotic fluid and the umbilical cord. I promise to not eat anything gross. Some of my favorite foods this week  are fresh cut pineapple with sliced strawberries, blueberries, apples, bananas and yogurt. Also, steamed broccoli, spinach in salads your dad makes, and my favorite snack, tomato sandwiches on toasted wheat.

As far as your growth goes, you're growing all over lil jelly bean. Your heart, lungs, hands, feet ( I got to take a peek at your lil baby foot this week!! ) , and your whole body are growing so fast and so strong. Its amazing. A baby truly is a miracle. I can literally feel you growing and stretching- how cool is that? When I roll from side to side in the morning or late at night, you like to flip flop around in my belly and switch sides with me. I can feel you put pressure on my insides and stretch out, and sometimes I feel on the outside your butt foot or hand squirm its way across my belly. You still have lots of room to grow, but sometimes your stretches, kicks and punches are at the least startling.

I did get a chance to go to the doctor and do a check up on you. They were checking on how you're measuring up. They were able to measure your abdomen, head, hands, feet, long bones, your spine, and tried to measure your heart. That last one is very important. They had me do pretty much a full mini work out. I was doing jumping jacks, squats, lunges, rolling from side to side, and still no cooperation. You were being a little stubborn, but that's okay I love you anyways. You had turned yourself upside down and backwards. Silly baby... silly sweet baby. We are going back June 12 to try again to get another picture of your heart, and maybe I'll get another peek at you.  Very funny little baby!

  Baby dance!

Doin' your baby thing.. and you're not a thumb sucker!

Your sweet face; I think you may have my chin.
 
Look at that little foot!!! How cute! Maybe you'll have feet like your mama and i'll teach you how to pick up marbles and toys off the floor. 

Also, we got TWO very special visitors !! Mimi and Mary Pressley made the long 9 1/2 hour drive down here from North Carolina to come visit us. Mary Pressley kept your momma from the time she was at least 6 weeks old until who knows when. It was a lot of fun times and learning experiences, kind of like having a second mom. I wish that I could find someone who is just as genuine, kind, and loving as Mary Pressley to take care of you the way she took care of me, and your uncle Alan too. I will put it on my prayer list and maybe God will bless us with that.  It was a very busy and productive visit for us all. I'll tell you about that later on. We did go to the beach- fun! fun! fun!. and NO SUNBURN this time. I really do wish that my family lived much closer, or I lived closer to them. I want you to experience the love and support that I am so blessed to have. These people love and pray for you every single day- and your momma too.  It's a very nice and comforting feeling for me to have visitors from home where I grew up and makes my heart very happy.

Well I hope you have another wonderful week in my womb- I love you more than anything sweet child of mine.

xoxoxo,
Momma
<3
A pirate photo greeting to your cousin Myles who turned 5 this week! Happy Birthday Myles!
 

Enjoying your little kicks and movements


 Mary Pressley and I



Someone ate a watermelon seed! ( this is what really happened)

 

These are the best hugs. The ones filled with genuine love .


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

21 Week Anatomy scan

Well here we are, Wednesday May 21 2014. We made it to the Doctors office and I was ready to give my urine sample and they wont let me. Needless to say we showed up prior to our arrival time ( and then the office was running late) I thought I was going to wet my britches. Seriously. I thought I would pee myself before I even got past the door.  You seemed to think it would be fun to jump on my bladder like its a trampoline while we waited.

When we were finally called back, MaryKay the ultrasound tech tried to get a good picture of you. I let her know that I needed to check the facilities.  She politely declined and greased up my belly to get a close look at what you're doing inside. HA! I squashed you, well, my bladder squished you and I was told to go use the restroom so we could get some pictures. I came back and she re greased my belly and put the ultrasound thing to work. there you were kicking about, wiggling and squirming, and turning away every chance you got. I can only assume that you avoid the cameras because you are crazy beautiful, or extremely handsome. Either way, you'll be a beautiful baby, trust me, you come from a good gene pool. Look at me, and look at your father. Hopefully you'll get a little bit of the best of us. 

I got to see your legs, and arms. I saw your brain. I saw the inside of your abdomen. You seemed to measure up pretty well. However, you would not co operate when it came to looking at your heart. I was ordered off the table, to touch my toes 10 times, do 10 deep squats and sway my hips from side to side,  raise my hands high above my head like I was being robbed, lean from side to side, and do some burpees and finish with 10 jumping jacks. I joked with MaryKay about this and said, " you know if I knew I was working out, I would have worn different clothes and brought my tennis shoes."

I climbed back onto the table, and all that movement only made you dig deeper and further away, and upside down ( HAH!) into my belly. We rescheduled again for 3 weeks from now to June 12.

You better give them what they want, I need to know your heart is working properly so I can be a little more at ease with how you're doing.

Anyways here are the photos I got. I love you lil jelly bean.. you bad stubborn baby... just kidding, youre wonderful and special in every possible way. I love you so much I could explode.


 



20 Weeks!! ( Half Way!! ) wooo hooooo

May 20 2014 ( 20 weeks 6 days )

Wooo hoooo 20 weeks! We are halfway there!


 
Congratulations little one! We are half way there. I am so excited ! So we are celebrating halfway through the pregnancy with something really special- Brownies!! I love them and don't make them too often because they're really not that good for us. Heres to you little sweet pea!
 
This has been a pretty good week;
You weigh about: 10 1/2 ounces
You measure about:6 1/2 inches from crown to rump, or about 10 inches from head to toe.
( Youre about the size of a banana or small cantaloupe )
 
* Accomplishments:
This week you are now producing meconium- it'll be part of your first poop. How exciting! haha..
If you're a girl, your uterus is fully formed and you are holding about 7 million eggs ( that's for when you become a parent )
* If you're a boy, your testicles have begun their descent from your abdomen to their final destination - your scrotum.
 
There is still plenty of room for you to grow which will still give you lots of room to do those gymnastics you're working on.
 
Big things this week:
I celebrated step mothers day may 18th with your sisters and daddy. I went roller skating ( I wont do this again for a very long time  because its not a safe pregnancy activity) . It was pretty dangerous because I was teaching your sister Mackenzie how to skate and she is very short compared to your mommy. Daddy was busy teaching your oldest sister Melissa how to skate as well.
 
Another thing, Daddy and I felt you make some BIG MOVES! You were just kicking punching and rolling all over my belly - and as for right now, I enjoy it for the time being.
 
Tomorrow we get to see you- theres an anatomy scan to check and see how much you've grown. I am very excited to check on your progress. God willing everything is okay, He has blessed us greatly so far. I cant wait to see you again love bug.
 
xoxoxo xxx
Momma <3
 
 
Here we are at the beginning of week 20 ( im at work) 
 
No need to suck it in. No need to even try.












 
Something tasty from this week, creamy cilantro lime and avocado marinade and dressing.
 
 


 your dad teaching Melissa how to skate

 Mackenzie trying out big girl skates for the first time



 
 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

19 Weeks.. almost Half Way!

To my little sweetheart,

Welcome to your 19th week! You have grown so much this week, and I couldn't be more proud of you. That's a lot of hard work you're doing!


You Measure: about 6 -6 1/2 inches long from crown to rump
You weigh: about 8 -8 1/2 ounces





This week you're growing lots- and your tiny body is about the size of a mango. Or, if you don't have a mango available, you're about the length of a dollar bill, and weigh about as much as 49 - 50 quarters. Your body is getting a thorough coating of this stuff called Vernix Caseosa. This waxy substance sheds sometime before birth- its main purpose is to protect your fragile soft skin, and shield you form amniotic fluid that surrounds you. If the vernix caseosa wasn't there, you'd come out looking like a little California Raisin ( I'll tell you about that later and how many I had as a kid from Hardees ) .

Also your arms and legs are more proportional to your body this week. That should explain those awesome kicks and bumps I've been feeling.  I know you're playing kick ball on my bladder and punching my intestines as they make those gurgly noises near you. Its okay- for now. Later on if you try that when you get older, we're gonna have words kid.

Your brain is firing off some pretty awesome signals as well- sending you all kinds of signals around your body. Teaching you how to suck your thumb, practice swallowing, practice breathing, and all around movement of your body.

Us Update:
We have had a pretty decent week. Im still slowly recovering from my bout with death bronchitis- Ive got this cough I cant quite shake yet. My legs haven't cramped up too much and I sure am glad about that!! One other reason to be happy- I feel you move a lot more now. You put a smile on my face and warm my heart EVERY SINGLE TIME I feel you move. It is so special. I don't feel a lot because Ive had some work done before you were created, but anything I do feel is a miracle.
I love you lots- Maybe one day you'll understand.

Another fun thing is that I had my first Mothers Day with you. I got special cards from your Mimi Trish and Geezer Donald, and also from Blaine and Elizabeth, and a book from your MomMom Deb. For Mothers Day your Aunt Tiffany met your daddy and me and we went to visit MomMom Deb and Apaw Russ. We went to Playa Linda Beach for a while and had a late lunch of grilled chicken, coleslaw, and potato salad with kale. The weather was very nice, and I did wear sunscreen, but my lower legs and tops of my feet still got burned. Its okay, I'll just wear more sunscreen next time and be extra careful in the sun. I survived just fine.

Well, its time to go and feed you- and me. Dinner tonight is spicy shrimp and chicken tacos and a side of honeymoon melon ( suggested by your Mimi!). It looks kind of like a honeydew and should be pretty tasty. Ive waited all day for this.

I love you lots and always,
xoxoxoxoxoxxx
Momma


Here we are at the beginning of week 19:

Early morning and not sure about how things are progressing...
 So excited I cant contain my emotions... look at that pot belly! ( I promise when youre older, this will mean a lot other than being fat- building a baby is an awesome feat of nature)



week 5 and 19 for comparison
This week you are the size of a delicious Mango!
 

a paper mango never looked more delicious.. i do need more fiber in my diet.. ( nom nom nom )
 
 









 

 
Your Daddy caught you some delicious fish! We think one was a whiting and the other was a sand shark.
 

 
These are the smart guys who go fishing without pliers and are afraid to put their finger in a baby sharks mouth.


 
Apaw Russ caught a fish too!

 
 
Its embarrassing, and the only comfortable shoes I can wear are no shoes or flip flops. I should really know better.... seriously Im too old to be burned like a lobster.
 
 
My legs: before the shower, doesn't look too bad
 
My legs: after a shower... oh my gosh I'm fried.. and look where the sunscreen didn't wash off...