Vacation, my belly, and baby boy clothes!

Back to the real world…and I’m not sure I’m ready. Am I the only one who feels like they need a vacation after their vacation? And sometimes its harder going back to work when you’ve been off for a week than just any ole weekend. Jeremy and I on the beach around dusk.

We had a really good time in Florida last week. My in-laws took me and Jeremy, his sister, Kara and her boyfriend, Shelby, and their brother Andrew and his girlfriend, Kara. There were 8 of us all together. J’s parents had rented us a beach house right on the water outside of Destin. Even though weather reports showed Hurricane Fay was headed straight for us, we didn’t even get a drop of rain. We had blue skies the whole time.

My round belly got a nice tan. I got some relaxing afternoons reading and laying out by the waves. I still got to run/walk almost every morning. It was actually nice to go to bed pretty early and wake up early to exercise and have a tiny bit of coffee. I also liked not having to put on much make up or fix my hair because I was gonna be at the beach all day. We ate sandwiches for lunch and cooked most of our dinners. We went out to eat twice and then I enjoyed having a reason to dress up and eat with everyone. Here’s a pic of J and I out to dinner.
Boy oh boy, I hope this baby is a boy! I say that because:
1. Our cousin, Catherine, her sister was told several times she was having a boy and just found out that he’s a SHE! Read about it here.
2. I bought lots of boy stuff at the outlet malls in Destin!
I had been planning this shopping trip since I knew we were preggars and since I found out lil peanut’s gender. I knew there were some good outlets in Destin. They are great for baby clothes! I shopped from about 10 am to 4ish pm one afternoon and even shopped some more a few days later. I outshopped the 2 Karas. (My sis-in-law and my bro-in-law’s girlfriend both are named Kara.) I found my main purchases came from the Carter’s outlet (they have the cutest little infant clothes). I liked Osh Kosh, Baby Gap, and Children’s Place (usually CP isn’t my favorite, but they had some cute stuff and good deals). J’s mom was so kind to humor me and go along for the baby shopping ride. It was the first real time I got to shop for him. I quit going thru the baby section and even avoided kid’s stores for the two years we were trying for this babe. So it was rather strange and exciting to get to do it for myself and not just someone else’s baby shower. J and I even went to Build A Bear and built a stuffed dog for Jonah. He had a cowboy hat and boots on. So cute.

We've got a swimsuit all ready for Grandma Woody's pool next summer!

My little Gap baby!

We had a great week in Destin and headed back early Saturday morning just as Fay was beginning to cause a little bit of wind and rain. We drove out of that within a hour. So we were so lucky and have absolutely no complaints about a great week. My hubby got to go deep sea fishing, golfing and play in the sand (yes, watching those boys play on the beach really clued me into what having a baby boy will be like). I got to shop, read, relax, sleep, exercise, and lay out. So thank you Clay and Barbara for taking us all for a wonderful week! You guys were so gracious and we had a great time getting to hang out with the whole family. Here’s a really good pic of them I snagged on our last night of eating out.

I will not officially be back in the real world until Tuesday when I go back to work. For now, my Monday will be spent cleaning up my disaster of a house and trying to get us back in working order. I gotta buy groceries and all that fun stuff.

Wow! Look at that belly! 18 weeks 4 days!

Take a blurry look at my tan! ha!

I have my next drs appt Tuesday for my ‘big’ ultrasound. Since I already know the gender it’s not quite as exciting as it could be, but now I’m just praying that what we’ve been told twice is correct. If not, no big deal. We’ll figure it out, I mean seriously, waaayyyy worse things could happen. I’m just praying for an everything-looks-great report. I guess I had been kinda worrying that he wasn’t moving around in there. I don’t think I realize that what I feel is movement sometimes. I’ll be laying still and not paying attention and something will twinge and kinda roll bubbly around in the low parts of my abdomen and I won’t even realize that could be it until its over. Then it won’t happen again for another day or so. During the first u/s I had at 15 weeks 2 days, she said he was foot-down breach and was kicking! I feel that sometimes because it’s a very specific pressure that you don’t usually feel until your baby is heavy and my peanut is too young to be that heavy. I was born feet first! Not rump first breach, but toes first breach. I don’t think they let you do that anymore. Its my understanding that in that case you usually get a C-section. Is that right?

My puppy (on the right) and her buddy, Rusty, are sad to have to say goodbye until J and I have to go out out of town again. They love to play!

Happy Birthday, Laura!

SOMEONE in my family is having a birthday today! Its my big sis, Laura! Happy birthday to the greatest big sis ever!
That's her at Christmas with her boyfriend, Sam. Look at her pretty, pretty daughters!
Keely is on the left and Katy is on the right. That is a pic of them at what seems to be one of our favorite dining places, Olive Garden. It seems like we always end up there when they come into town. Here is a pic of Laura's goofy dog, Boo.

He loves Jeremy and always wants to cuddle up with him or have his attention. Maybe its because Jeremy is pretty easy going and lets him sit on his back.

Thanks Laura for letting us stay with you this weekend! We are most appreciative and had fun hanging out with you that morning. Oh and thanks for the clothes too! I also will have to find a way to watch Split Ends! Iloved it and Ilove you!

I was also very lucky because this weekend I saw my best friend, Natalie, and she gave me some great boy baby clothes. She also gave me a bouncy seat. That's pretty cool, because there are some things you want new and some things you would love to borrow. Those are two things I am happy to get from a friend. She's had two babies, so she knows what I'll like and won't like. I cannot wait until she and my other close friend, Kristen, come up for our annual girls weekend around the end of this month and help me register! Kristen has two kids also, so I will get a wealth of information from them. Can I rant a little? Why do we not have a Babies R Us? I went into the new one in Little Rock this weekend and would love to be able to do our crib shopping and carseat shopping there. We just don't have that many options up here to buy those big ticket items. I guess the closest is Tulsa, but you really can't register for anything from here, because realistically, who will go online and buy your shower gifts? Not many people in my experience.

So do tell, ladies, what is one thing you got for your baby that you couldn't live without? What item was the biggest annoyance/disappointment/waste of money? I would love to get your input, so I don't end up with a bunch of gimmicky things that I won't realistically use.

Weekend Update- a little early

I'm just sitting in my mother's garage watching people pick out their yard sale finds. We haven't done too bad. I think we've made enough to pay for a tank or two of gas to Florida. We will be leaving for Destin the 16th with Jeremy's family. His mom and dad have so graciously rented a house for all 8 of us to fit in comfortably. I can't wait to show you guys pictures! I am looking forward to being a beach bum and doing some serious shopping for Jonah.

Speaking of Jonah, that is what we've decided to name our boy, provided he is a boy. Jeremy had really liked that name for some time, but I wasn't sure I was sold on it. I thought it over for a while. I tried to think up something else to no avail. So the other night I was reading in Matthew and twice in the chapter I was reading, it mentioned the prophet Jonah. I thought that was a little odd because the story of Jonah wasn't mentioned in many other places in the Bible to my knowledge. I thought, ok that felt like a sign. Then I started to read the book of Jonah again. In the beginning it said the name Jonah meant 'dove,' which is a sign of peace and purity. It can also mean 'silliness'. If any of you know my husband, the chances of us having a silly child is a pretty good one. So the name just seemed like a fit. So Jonah it is.

I had my second ultrasound last Tuesday. It never gets old seeing my lil alien baby. We got our second confirmation that it is a boy. We got a great detailed picture of his boy parts. If its not a boy, we got some 'splaining to do. My official 19 week ultrasound is August 26th. That's when we'll know if he's healthy and continuing to grow like he should.

So I bought a diaper bag at Bella's in Springdale. They have the cutest gift items and baby things. Here's a pic.

Its that vinyl-like material on the outside. I have a hard time keeping things clean, so the abilty to wipe off stuff was a plus. I didn't think it looked too girly. I mean I am a girl, but my child isn't. I plan on getting his name embroidered on it, but at the time I wasn't sure of his name. Here's another view:

Ok yes I am sold on the add ons! The bottle cooler, the little bag, and the changing pad. It also has lots of pockets. That's a total plus for me!

Now Jeremy and I will be on our way to Hot Springs to go to a wedding. We've had a super busy weekend and its not about to slow down anytime soon!

Also I wanted to say congrats to my blog-friend/real life customer, Jen. She had her baby a couple days ago! She is so cute and has so much hair! She was induced and had her baby in 4 hours! Gives me hope! Go wish her baby a belated Happy Birthday!

YARD SALE

Yard sale Friday August 8th and Saturday August 9th. Starts at 7 am. We have furniture, glassware, home decor, clothing and more. There are multiple families involved. It will be at 307 Hindman in Prairie Grove in the Prairie Meadows subdivision.

Now We're Even!

We have an even number of each gender in our house these days. How's that, you ask? Well there's me, my hubby Jeremy, my female dog Riley, and........a baby boy growing in my belly! Can you believe it? Let me backtrack and tell you the whole story, because, well, that's what a blog is for. I can ramble on as much as I like...to a certain extent!

Previously I had mentioned that Jeremy's cousin David had heard on KLRC about a place in Siloam Springs that is needed preggy models to practice ultrasounds on. He told my husband, who forgot the tell me, but luckily David's wife Catherine, mentioned it to me at her haircut a few weeks ago. So I checked it out. I had posted about this previously.

Tuesday, I had just had my 15 week appointment with the OB and of course it was a quick how-are-you-doing appointment. We listened to the heartbeat again (which has consistently been 150 bpm since 10 weeks). I turned down the AFP testing and went on my merry way.

Friday we were lucky enough to get an appointment in Siloam Springs. My husband didn't go to my OB appt since we knew it would be a quickie and opted to go to the Siloam Springs appt. (Fortunately we live about 15 minutes from Siloam). It was the neatest thing ever. They had a ultrasound tech who was teaching other nurses how to properly do them. So there were 3 women learning and the tech. So all three women took their turn looking around and identifying body parts and getting the heart rate and head size, etc. It was the coolest thing to me to get to see this baby! I could pick out arms, legs, the spine, its little mouth opening and closing, its arms and legs moving around. I was amazed. While the three ladies were doing their job, the tech was making suggestions on how to optimize the picture and really just complimenting how great of a job they were doing. (They were on the last day of their training). The tech announced that she would do the final scan and then let us know the sex! What? I had hoped that maybe they could venture a guess, but had no idea they would be able to tell me!

So the u/s tech took over and looked around and tried to get the baby to move out of the curled up position. Then she announced that it was a little boy! Jeremy was just silent, staring at the screen. I was amazed and just so happy. I think she felt so confident because while one of the first girls were scanning me, she had seen that he was a boy. Then that girl piped up that she thought she had seen it too. So she kept trying to get a hiney shot so she could really show us. She finally got that shot and we could see that he was a boy! She said she would be confident in buying blue and throwing away the receipts!

The coolest part of all of this was that they asked to pray for us after 45 minute session was over. I was really touched that they did that. I teared up then. I was just so surprised at how amazed I was to get to see so much of him. It really gave him a personality to me. I can plan, I can pick up good bargains in the proper colors...its real, he's really in there. I was still so scared that they wouldn't find anything in there. So here's some early pics of baby Woody

Skeletor baby! That's a front view of his face on the left and his little scrunched up body on the right.

This is a pic of baby face down and you can see his spine.

Another face down shot. His leg is folded up under him. You can see his ribs and his spine and the amniotic fluid he's been swallowing in his belly. Pretty cool. Can you believe he's the size of an apple or so?

Did I buy anything yet? Yes of course I did. I just bought a few things...I still feel strange buying baby stuff. There was a time in my life I never thought I would be doing that for myself. But they're nothing fancy or embroidered (we haven't decided for sure on a name yet), but still cute.

Perfect for a January baby. Snuggly and cute.Aunt Laura bought these items. She had bought me the little pants before she knew gender...and she's very good with her intuitions. (Apparently EVERYONE else is too. Everyone told me they thought it was a boy. No one told me girl.) Then she bought me these onesies and shirts to match the pants.

So unless I get another ultrasound that tells me differently, I'm going with boy! (I am actually blessed to get another ultrasound tomorrow as a favor and we'll see what they say!) So get ready to see pics of our cowboy room for baby boy Woody.