21 Weeks

 

How far along: 21 weeks

Size of baby: Large Banana

Movement: Owen is very active now. In fact, he absolutely loves to kick my bladder over and over again.  haha

Sleep:  Not too bad-love my pregnancy pillow.

Cravings: Sweets. I've been loving some organic dark chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth in the afternoons.  I'll also drink some strawberry paraiso white tea in the afternoon to kick the sweets craving.  

Queasy or sick:  Not since 1st trimester! yay!

Showing Yet:  Definitely! Although, I had a nurse on the post partum unit where I work ask me the other day if I was eating enough because I didn't look 5 months pregnant.  I was thinking, "Are you serious? I look very pregnant, and I definitely LOVE to eat. :)"

Maternity Clothes:  Some, but still wearing mostly my regular clothes (with the belly band of course.)  Love wearing my leggings with tunics because they are so comfortable.

Belly Button In or Out? Still in and still getting more and more shallow.

Wedding Ring On or Off? On

Miss Anything? Sushi.
High of the week:  Mom and I went fabric shopping last weekend and found several options to choose from.  Unfortunately, if you know me, you know that I'm very indecisive, so I'm having a hard time deciding on the exact 2 fabrics I want to use.  The nursery will be light blue and white, with elephants as an accent. Eric went to Alabama and an elephant is their mascot.  And I think baby elephants are so cute! Here is a picture of one of the fabrics we are probably going to use. This one will be for the crib bumper that my mom will be making:

Another high is that Eric got to feel Owen kick for the first time Thursday night! He has tried feeling him kick many times, but every time Eric puts his hand on my stomach, Owen stops. Hoping Eric can catch Owen kicking again soon! 
We also started Round 1 of painting the nursery this weekend.  The nursery used to be the guest room, so Eric and I have had to go through all of our clothes, storage, office stuff, etc to decide what to keep, give to Goodwill, and organize. Who knew 2 people could accumulate so much "stuff."

Low of the week:  This morning was definitely a rough one.  It seemed like everything that could go wrong went wrong.  And it's not that there was one big thing that went wrong; it was one of those times where every little thing kept going wrong, and then I just broke.  This was all before church, and I truly felt like satan was attacking me, and just trying to get me overwhelmed, full of worry and stress.  I continued to pray and ask the Lord for peace and protection over my mind from worry and fear.  I then went into the nursery where Eric was painting, and he told me there was only a tiny space left to paint in the nursery, but he ran out of paint.  All of a sudden, I just started crying. No, I wasn't crying b/c we ran out of the expensive zero-VOC paint that we bought. I was crying b/c it was that one last thing that I needed to push me over this morning.  Why is it that satan always seems to get to us on Sundays? I think he'll do anything to try and rob us of our joy and to distract us from worshiping our Savior.  Well, Eric had stayed up til 2 am painting the trim and woke up early to try to finish round 1, so he was pretty frustrated as well, but he just took me in his arms and let me cry.  He reassured me that everything was going to be okay, and reminded me of how blessed we are.  With all that happened this morning, we almost didn't make it to church (wouldn't satan have liked that), but we finally made it to the 12:00pm service, and guess what our pastor Pete's sermon was on: Fear. Coincidence? I think not. Today's sermon was EXACTLY what Eric and I needed to hear and apply to our lives. 

"Your fears establish the limits of your life. You don't have a fear problem. You have a faith problem." - Pete Wilson Very convicting statement.

"One of the most exciting things that could happen in your life today is to trust God in some area of your life that scares you to death." - Pete Wilson
"Are you letting your fears be the fuel that propels you forward or the limits that confine you?" - Pete Wilson

It's amazing how much better I felt when I left church today-the peace of the Lord truly filled my soul.  Looking back, I'm embarrassed at how overwhelmed/fearful/stressed I became this morning, but thankful that I could surrender it all to the Lord and leave it at His feet.  God is so good.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy.

Gender: BOY!

Looking Forward to: Round 2 of painting (Blue) and choosing the exact fabrics we're going to use for the nursery.

20 Weeks

 

How far along: 20 weeks

Size of baby: Cantaloupe

Movement: He is kicking away! I absolutely LOVE feeling him move around...best feeling ever!  The other night I felt him kick from the outside of my stomach, so I had Eric put his hand on my stomach in hopes that he would keep kicking, but of course he stopped.  I can't wait for Eric to feel him. 

Sleep:  As good as it can be for being 5 months pregnant.  Since I have to sleep on my side, I usually wake up stiff with my side a little sore, but as long as I keep turning over during the night, I'm good.

Cravings:  Well, we had a TON of pink/blue jelly bellies left over from the gender reveal party, so unfortunately, I've been enjoying these a little too much.  I finally took the rest to work to give away because if they're in my house, I'll eat them. 

Queasy or sick:  No.

Showing Yet:  Oh yes! Over the past week, I feel like he has definitely made his debut-my bump has gotten MUCH bigger. 

Maternity Clothes:  Some, but still wearing mostly my regular clothes (with the belly band of course.)  I'm also loving my leggings right now. 

Belly Button In or Out? In, but I keep noticing that it's getting more and more shallow. Yikes!

Wedding Ring On or Off? On

Miss Anything? Lots and lots of sushi.

High of the week:  Our gender reveal party! We found out it's a BOY! :)  We named him Owen Daniel Pardue.  Owen means "Young Warrior," and Daniel is also Eric's middle name. 

Low of the week:  None that I can think of.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Always happy unless I've gone too long without food. 

Gender: BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking Forward to: Cleaning out the guest room & getting started on the nursery.  With all the holidays coming up and being out of town a lot, it may be hard to get the nursery done as quickly as I would like, but I'm sure with the help of all the grandparents, we'll have it done in plenty of time.

Gender Reveal Party

IT'S A BOY!!!!

We had our gender reveal party last week (Oct. 27, 2011), where we cut the cake and found out that baby Pardue is a boy!  The day started off with our ultrasound at 8:30 am.  Eric and my mom came with me, and we were all supposed to turn our head when the ultrasound tech told us to (she knew it was a surprise).  Well, as soon as that wand touched my stomach, she immediately said, "Don't look!"  The entire ultrasound, she was adamant about us not looking, so afterwards, all 3 of us had a feeling it was a boy just by the way she acted-Because boys are a bit more obvious on ultrasounds than little girls are. :)  The ultrasound was amazing-Eric and I loved seeing the baby move around and suck his thumb.  He was definitely stubborn though; the tech tried to get a good shot of his profile but he was all curled up facing away from the "camera."  She had me roll around on both sides to try to get him to roll over, but he still wouldn't.  Then she started jabbing my belly with the wand to try to get him to move, and he definitely did not like that.  It was pretty funny watching his reactions to her jabbing him.  Then, he started to suck his thumb-poor thing needed comfort from all that disruption. lol

Back to the party, when we found out it was a boy, I'm pretty sure we were all shocked!  Everyone had been telling us for so long that they just knew I was having a girl, and ALL the old wives tales pointed to girl as well.  (I don't believe in ANY of them anymore haha)  Since it was in our heads that it was a girl, it took awhile to get over the initial shock, but seeing how happy my husband was when it had sunk in that he was having a boy made everything absolutely perfect.  Eric's been excited about the baby this whole time, but something about having a boy made him just light up all weekend anytime we would talk about baby.  I'm so so happy that Eric is going to have a little buddy to watch football with.  And from what everyone has told me, it sounds like little boys like to snuggle with their momma, so I'm thrilled about having a little snuggler.  Here are some pics from the party & ultrasound.

The Cake with the Answer Inside-It was SO hard to wait all day!

We skyped with my brother & his wife & their twins, Eric's parents, brothers, sister & her husband & their 3 boys. It was so great to include everyone on the big reveal.

The voting at the beginning of the night-more were added later.

Eric & I with my Mom & Dad

Waving at us :)

Sucking his thumb

Eric and I are so thankful for a healthy baby boy! We love him so much already!