Message From Santa

Large Mango

Our Baby at 23 Weeks:

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With his sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that he's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see him squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing him for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze him when he hears them outside the womb.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

Videos to Come

Family Fun Day

Here is what we did yesterday!  Enjoy!

Eric's Earth Box - Week 1

My husband has been obsessed with having his own garden for vegetables, herbs and such.  He looked on youtube and learned how to create an "Earth Box".  Here's the start of his progress....

Spaghetti Squash

Our Baby at 22 Weeks:

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily

(courtesty of www.babycenter.com)

Carrot

Our Baby at 21 Weeks:

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like he's practicing martial arts as his initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to his activity as you get to know him better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

Banana

Our Baby at 20 Weeks:

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)
He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

Our Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving began at the buttcrack of dawn!  We woke up around 5:30 a.m. (something I haven't done since Gavin was just an infant!), we picked up my sister-in-law and my nephew, and we headed to the Turkey Trot!  I think we all figured that since it wasn't that cold last year and it wasn't cold that whole week, we should probably skip the jackets.  Well, we were freezing!  Gavin was a trooper in his stroller while the rest of us walked over 3 miles.  We definitely deserved a big Thanksgiving feast!

And that's exactly what we got.  With the initial intention of 15 responses the week before, we ended up with 20 people in our house!  We had two turkeys, a bunch of food and so many reasons to give thanks.  After dinner, we showed our Gender Prediction Survey video which everyone loved.

Here are some pictures of our fine day!

Large Heirloom Tomato

Our Baby at 19 Weeks:

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.
Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

One thing...I'm in dire need of maternity clothes!!!  I'm getting a little depressed because I can't fit into any of my regular work clothes and I also can't afford to buy any new maternity clothes.  Please help. 

Bell Pepper

Our Baby at 18 Weeks:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

Turnip

Our Baby at 17 Weeks:

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

Avocado

Our Baby at 16 Weeks:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

(courtesty of www.babycenter.com)

Halloween Recap

Pumpkin Patch

Apple

Our Baby at 15 Weeks:

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

More videos to follow.....

Gavin Moments

Here's a snipit of our weekend.  Enjoy!

Lemon

Our Baby at 14 Weeks:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.
In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

Shrimp

Our Baby at 13 Weeks:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

BABY POOL!!!

Hello Everyone!

You may or may not have noticed a new addition to my blog.  It's called ExpectNet! and it's an online baby pool.  All you have to do it click on the box (or I'll provide the web link at the bottom) and you make a guess of our baby's:

Gender
Birth Weight
Birth Length
Date of Birth
Time of Birth

It's something fun to do for the next 6 1/2 months!  After the baby is born, I will have a prize for the winner.  Apparently there's a point system scale which I will post below. 

If you guess before our anatomy ultrasound, you will not be penalized for the wrong gender.  I will lock out the game on March 15, 2012.  Happy Guessing!

Once the baby is born, those guesses are compared to the birth stats to determine an overall winner and a winner in each category. Penalty points are assigned depending on how far the guess is from the actual value. To calculate a player's overall rank, the points from each category are totalled. Points are assigned as follows, however they can be changed by the game host:

• incorrect gender: 0 points
• birth date & time: 5 points/hour
• weight: 5 points/ounce or 0.2 points/gram
• length: 10 points/inch or 4 points/centimeter

The winner is the person with the fewest points. This is one of many possible methods of calculating an overall winner. For a game with multiple births, an overall winner is calculated for each baby.  

http://www.expectnet.com/game.php and enter FLBABY2 as the Game Name on the left-hand side.

Lime

Our Baby at 12 Weeks:

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

And here's a little video from Gavin's point of view:

Fig

Our Baby at 11 Weeks:

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.
She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

Cabbage Water + Urine = Baby's Gender

Last night, we did a little experiment to figure out the gender of our baby. Below are the steps:

The Test

1.       Buy a red cabbage (don't substitute green cabbage -- it won't work). Size isn't important unless you love cooked cabbage. In that case get a huge one!

2.       Cut the cabbage into small chunks.

3.       Boil some water. Then add it to cover the cabbage chunks. Let sit for at least ten minutes.

4.       Drain the cabbage and KEEP THE WATER! The water should be blueish in color.

5.       Set aside the cabbage for lunch. I suggest stir fry or stew.

6.       Pee in a cup! Grab a cup and head to the bathroom. If you're a little squeamish, you may want to use disposable cups.

7.       Set up the test. In a separate cup mix 1 part urine with 1 part cabbage water.

8.       Read the test!

o   If the urine/water turns pink/red its a boy!

o   If it turns purple its a girl!

Science Behind It

Red cabbage contains a chemical that changes colors at different pH's. Very acidic solutions will turn a red color. Neutral solutions result in a purplish color. Basic solutions appear greenish-yellow. Is urine pH different if you're carrying a boy or a girl? Perhaps, or maybe that same pH indicator changes colors for a different reason and it can determine between boy and girl.

THE RESULTS

Kumquat

Our Baby at 10 Weeks:

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.
He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.
If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.
In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

(courtesy of www.babycenter.com)

If I Knew Then What I Know Now

10-things-new-parents-dont-need/
Click on the link above:
This article made me laugh as I had purchased all those non-necessary items (except new clothing and a video monitor) as a first-time parent. We ended up selling most, if not all, of the products mentioned in her review. This second time around, I think I have a better understanding of what we truly need as opposed to what we think we need.

**VENTING MOMENT**

This may or may not apply to you but PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME "WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO PUT THE BABY?" It may seem ridiculous for me to be upset about that but I think that is such a ridiculous question for you to ask! Are you implying that our house is too small? Or that Gavin cannot share a room? Either way, it's really not your concern how we will live in our apparently small house....you obviously don't have to live there. I have had family members and friends ask that question and you guys really know how to tick off a pregnant woman, don't ya?! :) In all honesty, I know you truly care but REALLY think before you ask a pregnant woman questions.

1st Prenatal Appointment

Today was special for two reasons. 1. It's my dad's birthday. 2. It was our first prenatal appointment for this pregnancy.

Eric and I got to start the cycle of appointments all over again and it felt surreal that we were back in the same place. Yes, we're delivering at the Breath of Life Birth Center. Yes, I know the risks. And no, I don't care what you think. I love the midwife there and I love the special treatment I receive. This appointment went rather longer than usual because an almost laboring mother was about to visit so they had to get ready for that. But all in all, it went well for us.

All my vitals were perfect and normal. No concerns at this point really. I'm 9 weeks and 2 days pregnant and we kept asking if we were going to be able to hear the heartbeat. We kept getting answers like, "Well....we usually don't hear it till about 11 or 13 weeks but we'll see." My dad came to the appointment just for that reason and "we'll see" wasn't what we wanted to hear. So she started the physical exam and said that we could try and if we hear the heartbeat then we'll call in my dad. She got the doppler and started poking and prodding away. Nothing on the left side. Then she scooted over just a tad to the right and BAM! "woowoowoowoowoowoowoowoowoo" (that's the baby's heartbeat if you didn't get that). So Eric ran to get my dad and he was able to hear his unborn grandchild's heartbeat for his birthday. The beat was strong and consistent especially since they weren't sure if we'd be able to hear it or not. It was definitely amazing!

Then I had to go back to work. :( Maybe next time I'll take the day off.

I'll hopefully make a video of my pregnancy updates so I don't have to write out so much but until then.....HAPPY MONDAY!!!

M.I.A.

I know I've been missing the past few days but I've been out of town for work. We organized a tradeshow in Murfreesboro, TN and they definitely put me to work. By the end of each day, I was literally dragging myself back to the hotel room and barely made it to my bed.

It was difficult leaving my family behind as this was the first time leaving since.....I got married 3 years ago. But I knew Gavin was in good hands. :)

So, I'm back.

Today, I am 8 weeks and 4 days pregnant and the morning sickness is almost in full swing. I haven't had a good night's sleep in what seems like weeks. People are annoying me all around but what's new about that? Our first prenatal appointment is next Monday, the 19th. We received some good news from the birthing center: the financial gal did an audit and they found a substantial amount of credit on our account when Gavin was born. She found this out before I called them to schedule an appointment but she had left on vacation and didn't share the news. So when she got back, she heard I called and the audit came at the perfect timing. We love it when things like that happen because it's letting us know that God is guiding our every step. Praise Him for all the wonderful blessings and even the trials we encounter.

Ok....I'm off to church tonight!

Gavin - Sticker Time

Breaking News

See it from the beginning....

Do we want more children?

The Test Results

Telling my husband

Telling our family