Welcome to the THIRD trimester!! :)

There is a person inside of me.....oh dear! And lately, this little guy is moving and rolling and kicking so much that I sometimes fear he will actually kick right through my belly:) AND he still has weeks to get bigger! If it was ever questionable to a stranger that I was pregnant....it's not anymore! In fact for so long I got use to people not being able to tell, that now when strangers do say something, I know the look on my face is complete shock that they actually noticed! 

And this would be the perfect time to say thank you sweet friends for humoring me all those weeks when I thought there was actually a baby bump there, when in reality, no such bump existed:) Thank you for pretending!  

Jackson's baby bedding came in..whoohoo! We just now have to pick out some furniture. We have a few pieces in mind...unfortunately Adam and I are both indecisive. So...our goal is to decide something by the end of the week.

One crazy pregnancy symptom (I guess??) that I've had lately is absolutely ridiculous dreams. For example, the other night I dreamed Jackson was here, but he was about the size of a beanie baby and...drum roll please...I kept him in my purse! AHH! What kind of mother am I? In my dream, I would take him out every hour and feed him water! Needless to say I woke up in complete panic, only to be relieved when I realized I was still pregnant, Jackson was kicking, and he was clearly bigger than a beanie baby.  

I've had a couple of other baby dreams...but that one was the worst to date!

On to other things, I can't believe how few weeks I have left. I was just talking to my  friend Jenny today (who is also pregnant and came to stay with us for a couple of days with her husband and son- yay!) about how long this process has seemed for Adam and I. Since we got pregnant with a sweet baby before Jackson, it has seemed like an extra long pregnancy. My heart is just so full of gratitude to God  because His timing really is perfect. And I'm convinced this pregnancy would not be the same for Adam and I had we not learned what God taught us through losing the first one. Goodness..my prayer for you is that when you go through a valley, your harvest will feel twice as full!! 


Here are some 28 weeks pictures:o) And one of me and Jenny!

27 weeks Preggo

Well...here we are at 27 weeks! Honestly, I can't believe I am only days away from the 3rd trimester. I feel like I'm just starting to actually accept that there is a person inside of me:) and in about 13 weeks, that person will be out in this world!! Isn't that AMAZING! 

This past weekend Adam and I started registering for our baby stuff...and boy was it an experience! We started at Babies R Us, and just looking at the wall of bottles overwhelmed me a bit. There are so many to choose from! And how do I know if I need wide neck or standard, glass or plastic, 4 oz. or 8 oz, Dr. Browns, Playtex, or Avent! AHH! and that was just the beginning of the decisions we had to make. Well, thanks to my sweet friend Jenny, and her answering my 15 calls during the process..I think we have a pretty good registry! 

The next day we went to Wal-Mar to register. NIGHTMARE! One store had a broken scanner, and the other one, which is all the way across town, told us they no longer have a registry. So, I just bit the bullet and registered online. I'm still adding items however! It takes a really long time to go through everything online. 

Anyway, from there we went to the Baby Depot at Burlington...again...NIGHTMARE! After sitting at their computer and creating our registry, the computer informed us that it was  having technical difficulties. Adam found the manager who told us they would have to call us when it started working...blah.. But, they did give us a 20% coupon for our next purchase:)
Registering was an experience to say the least!


Moving on..Jackson is still moving like crazy. Yesterday he was kicking right at my belly button, so each time he kicked, my belly button stretched way out. I thought it was hysterical! I'm also sleeping much better thanks to the Snoogle Total Body Pillow  given to me by one of mom's friends. 

And I'm still waiting on those amazing cravings! I'm thoroughly still enjoying coke, salsa, and cereal! Do those count as cravings?! 


We are currently trying to decide on baby furniture! I'll post a picture as soon as we make a decision:) Now here are some belly pics..enjoy!

26 weeks- the Nesting has set in!!

Ok...the nesting has officially set in!! (Lauren you accurately predicted this:) And I must admit, I thought it was kind of silly when other moms-to-be talked about nesting.  I thought it wasn't a "real" thing. Boy was I SO wrong! haha. 

Let me go back to this weekend, and when exactly the nesting set in. On Friday Adam and I spent the afternoon visiting different baby stores. We looked at bedding, furniture, baby stuff etc. Then on Saturday, we cleaned out the nursery. It literally took all day! We ended up with about 5 bags of stuff for goodwill, and a couple of bags of stuff to throw away. What started as cleaning out the back bedroom, led to cleaning out every room and closet in the house!! Needless to say, the house was a complete wreck for a couple of hours, which drove me crazy! (all better now though)

We ended up throwing out a dresser that was in terrible shape and moving a dresser from the guest bedroom, to our bedroom. We also reorganized every closet so that we could efficiently store our stuff without putting anything in Jackson's room.

After hours of work, the only things in Jackson's room are Jackson's things!! His nursery is prepped and ready to be decorated!:) Speaking of, Adam found the perfect bedding online for our little man! We both wanted something different and modern, and Adam really wanted it to have some orange. We are both so excited about this bedding! I'll put a picture of it at the bottom!

Anyway, at that point, the nesting set in at FULL FORCE! We have some friends who will help us do the nursery, but as far as the rest of the house, well.....I wanted to repaint everything, buy new slipcovers, shower curtains, curtains, throw pillows, paint the dresser in our room, put up new artwork...and the list goes on and on! Adam and I compromised and said my Valentine's gift can be him repainting! And maybe doing a couple of other things!

Onto a new topic...I took my glucose test, and thankfully I passed! The juice didn't taste so bad, just the waiting to eat, and the queasiness I felt afterward! But thankfully, I passed it. 


Jackson keeps moving like a mad man. At times I can feel him literally rolling over in my belly. It is the most awesome, unreal experience. Adam and I both are starting to get very excited about meeting him! Once his nursery is done, I'm sure we will be even more anxious! 


I took some more prego pics, in the one of me facing straight on, see if you can notice how my belly button is not centered. That's because our little man spends most of his time on my left side, pushing that part of my stomach out further than the other side:)  Interesting uh?

Also, you can see the goodwill garbage bags in the background..

Here is a pic of the bedding! We are not getting a round crib however....

Please keep praying for our precious son. We have so loved seeing how God has moved in our hearts and lives over these past few months through this pregnancy. God is continuing to teach us that He always provides. What a great God we serve! Be blessed:)

24/ 25 weeks

Phew! We are home from travelling a total of about 3 weeks! It was great! But we are SO glad to be home. We started out travelling to Bham to celebrate Christmas with my immediate family. There, we visited both sets of my grandparents. Then, we came home for the Christmas Eve service here at our church in Dothan. The service was AWESOME by the way! And then we left for Mobile, where we celebrated Christmas with Adam's family, including his Dad, his Granny, and his mom's side of the family. After Mobile, we went to Disney with my parents for a few days!! Adam and I LOVE Disney. The walking was absolutely exhausting, but suprisingly, I was able and allowed to ride more rides than I thought I would be able to! If you are on Facebook, I put up several pictures of our travels on there.

As far as the pregnancy goes, Jackson and I are doing so well!! His movements are getting stronger, and for the most part, he moves all the time!! It is so unbelievable for me and Adam to feel him move. Sometimes I catch myself smiling, or even laughing when he's doing his kicking!!

At night, sleeping has become quite difficult! No matter how many pillows I've added to the bed, I still wake up several times because either my back hurts, my hips hurt, or I have to go potty! BUT I am not complaining, I know it could be much worse, and thankfully, I've never required that much sleep.

Also, I have my glucose screening test next Monday morning. I'm not really worried about that test at all. My only concern is that I was told not to eat from midnight before until after the test is completed at 9:30 the next morning! I about died when the Dr. told me that!! I mean come on, I'm  hungry ALL THE TIME! And especially in the morning! Oh goodness...well please pray that my hunger supernaturally holds off that morning until after the test is completed. And you should also probably pray that I pass the test as well, haha. Maybe something's off if I'm more concerned about not eating than passing the test:)

This weekend, Adam and I will be cleaning out what will be the nursery!! I am so excited! I have no clue where we will store everything, but I guess it will work out. The next weekend, we are going to register, and buy baby bedding! I've been looking at what seems like a gazillion different beddings, and I can't make up my mind! Hopefully we will pick out something soon!

Anyway, I took several pictures of me at 24 and 25 weeks to make up for the missing post this past week:) Enjoy...Jackson sure is growing!

24 ish weeks

25 ish weeks

New post coming!!

I know I know...I am a week late on posting. BUT a new post will come tomorrow! Promise:)

23 weeks...Merry Christmas!!

Adam and I have had a wonderful week! We both just love the Christmas Season! We have been in Birmingham with my family for the past few days, and we leave tomorrow for Mobile, to see Adam's family.

Last night and this morning, we all opened presents. I have to say, my favorite were the ones for Jackson!! I'll try to put up more pictures later of what all our little man got for Christmas.

Anyway, he has been moving alot!! Most of my family was able to feel the precious kicks. Even my sweet husband finanlly, after much anticipation, felt Jackson kicking and moving! It was awesome! I also feel like my belly has grown so much just over the weekend! I didn't get the chance to take as many belly shots as I would have liked, but here is one of the belly. I also included some family pics, and some of the awesome gift my brother and sister in law gave us for our baby! 

Taylor and Michael gave us a bassinet filled with anything new parents could ever want or need for their new baby! Like infant tylenol, thermomenters, lotion, shampoo etc.

Taylor, who is a nurse, also put together a little booklet filled with all kinds of health questions and answers, and information that she has learned from her work as a nurse, concerning infants and babies! I LOVE this gift! She even had the pediatrician she works with look over the book and verfiy that all of the medical information is accurate! The book has information like when to call your doctor, what kinds of shots to get, even, how to distinguish different kinds of baby poop- Adam liked that page:)

Until the next entry, MERRY CHRISTMAS!:o) I hope you experience the overwhelming love of Jesus this holiday season.

Thoughts from DAD...22 weeks

 

Thoughts from DAD:

Well, he is almost here! I can’t wait till “Little Man” (this is what I’m calling him) gets here to bless us with his presence! I can’t believe he won’t let me feel him kick. He is moving around like crazy, but every time I go to feel him kick, he won’t even budge. I can’t wait to feel him move for the first time!

As I think about becoming a dad, lots of questions start to arise from inside of me. I’m wondering if they are the same questions every dad asks when he finds out and embarks on the journey of becoming a first time dad. Questions like, What do I do now?, Am I as happy as she is? Am I ready? Especially when I think of giving our baby boy his first bath, oooh frightening! And even though sometimes I feel like I’m paralyzed with fear, the burst of excitement always stomps on the fear as I think about my little boy.

The one thing I’m thinking and praying about most is how I can model leadership to my boy. Being in church world I think about leadership pretty much all the time. But now leadership is taking on a whole new meaning. I’m praying that God will give Jackson the pleasure and honor of being a gifted leader. I’m praying that people will be drawn to him, that He will have a giving heart, and that he will place others above himself. A leader worth following is someone who counts the other person above and better than himself. This is how Jesus modeled leadership. This is how I want to model leadership to my boy through my relationship with Monica. And I know that if I model this well for Jackson, he will become and develop into a leader worth following!

Things that are exciting for me right now:

-          Parenting together with Monica (She is going to be an awesome mother)

-          Thinking about Jackson’s first Christmas next year

-          The people that are surrounding us during this time to show us they care

-          The guys in student ministry telling me “You’re going to be an awesome dad.”

-          Thinking about what “Little man’s” personality is going to be like

-          Thinking about the first time we go snowboarding together

-          The guys saying they can’t wait till he is born

-          Hearing Edward fountain (Our pastor’s son) telling me he is going to teach Jackson how to play football

-          Bringing him home from the hospital

-          Well of course getting all the gifts

Here are  couple of pregnancy pictures of Monica at 22 weeks. She says Jackson is really poking out in theses: