Oh, We're Half Way There, Oh Oh Livin On A Prayer!

tomorrow is 20 weeks. i can't believe the half way point is here. it's all down hill from here... and there is so much to do.

daniel and i are still living at my in-laws. we moved in last august only to stay for 3 or 4 months before moving into our first house. we had put in 3 offers on 3 different houses during november and december, and then we found out we were expecting. the wise thing would be to wait to move into a home and continue to save for a few months more. well here we are at my half way point in my pregnancy and we will begin to actively start looking for our first home come late next month. we hope to be in a home late may to late june. i will be 30 weeks pregnant on may 30th so the clock will be ticking... fast.

with buying a house and having a baby in only months, financially this will be very challenging for us as a young family. we have faith that God will provide, but it still leaves the feeling of concern and wonderment of how. 

at this point i would be happy in a one bedroom apartment, just to know where i will be bring my new son home to. it's an ache that i have right now. all of his new toys, clothes, and stuff is starting to form a pile in our little in-house apartment. i would love to have a nursery to start organizing them in and decorating in my nursery theme of choice.

this week has been the first that i have actually thought "okay, when do i get my body back??" I have been having the hardest time sleeping. not the action of falling asleep, no i can do that perfectly fine. it's the constant waking up because i'm sleeping wrong (or having to pee)

i woke up monday morning and was in so much pain because i slept on my shoulder wrong. well actually, my boppy body pillow had moved from under my head to under my shoulder causing me to lay in an odd way. i have tried so hard not to lay on that side, forming pillow walls to block me from rolling on my left side, but about once an hour i would wake up on that side in pain. i've got to find a way to avoid this and let my shoulder heal. i may opt to sleeping on the couch  for a few nights so to not roll over. 

and the constant hip pains are also very rude awaking that i'm very pregnant. 

my dear husband is doing so well handling a pregnant wife. he is taking the time to rub my hips and shoulders and back and feet. i can't complain about an un-empathetic husband, he's trying so hard to understand my highs and lows of pregnancy. he told me last night that he's having odd cravings too; was it spicy fries and cherry poptarts that he ate on the way home from walmart? not sure if that was the correct items, but it was out there. i laughed and told him that i think it was all him and not me rubbing off on him. either way, he's been amazing.

jarred and i are continuing to bond in a mommy and son way. i turned on my favorite amy grant hits cd and we danced and sang to it this morning. i always knew i would sing, "baby, baby" to my child, and i do! 

i need to be completely honest, when i found out that my little peanut was going to be a boy and not a girl, i was slightly disappointed. i think i had convinced myself that i would be able to mother a baby girl much better as i am one and would be able to understand her better. but a BOY? how can i relate to him as well? how can i be sure that i am doing all a mother can in raising a son? and then the "awwww, i can't decorate him with bows and dresses?!!" yeah, i was a little blue. which makes no since i know, i am so happy to be a mother and am so excited for either a boy or a girl. but it took a few days of the reality to set in and for me to start to get absolutely thrilled that i'm going to have a mommy's boy and that i know jarred christopher and i are going to have a bond like no other. i am so in love with my little son it's crazy. i love going into babysrus and target and looking at the little boy clothes and toys! it makes me so giddy and i wish i could get them all!

tomorrow will be a fun day of excitement, not only because it's my 20 weeks mark, but it's fun to think that i'll be celebrating it on the day that two of my best friends are getting married!! 

congrats josh and erin! may God bless your marriage! and make a honeymoon baby so my son can have a friend his age! ;)

You Are My Sunshine

i have been singing out loud to lil peanut whatever song comes to my head. this week has been extremely gloomy and rainy outside, but with him with me all the time and giving me a little kick to let me know he's there, well he is my sunshine on a cloudy day.

almost half way! i'm 19 weeks today!

seeing him this week in the ultrasound made me realize that 21 weeks is way too far away! i can't wait to see him, to hold him, to nurse him. it makes me so giddy just thinking about it! i seriously can't believe how much i love him. it's amazing to me, like this must be how God feels about us. it's something i could never have tried to understand before experiencing it. 

i love that i know he can hear me talk to him, and sing to him, and read to him. i'm reading some of my favorite children books to him. like "chicka chicka boom boom" and "is your mama a llama?" 

daniel is also reading to the bump too. he pulled out some of his old children books and really loves to read to us before bed. i love daniel so much for doing this, it's so great that he wants to be so involved in this early stage of parenthood. i can't wait to see him holding his son and watch him learn to be a daddy. he's already doing a great job, i know he is going to be such an amazing father!

oh and he's an amazing husband too, he bought me a whole watermelon today!! i think i'm in heaven!

Jarred Christopher

the official name

jarred christopher has two name-sakes: jerrod rumley and chris spalding, two men (of many) who poured into daniel's life the meaning of being a God centered man/husband/father. jerrod is also the minister who married us over two years ago. 

we chose to change the spelling of the first name, but kept the double "r's"

We pray that as jarred christopher grows and matures that he shows the same God fearing desire that these men he is named after show and that he will also be an amazing example of Christ!

though this is my little unborn's birth name, we will continue to call him 'peanut' since we have dubbed him this since we found out i was pregnant with him. he may not like the nick name when he starts his tweens, until then he will continue to be my lil peanut! :)

Maternity Showered

never have i felt so blessed to be welcomed into the 'mommy clan'

my mom, mother-in-law, and two other friends threw me a maternity shower this last weekend and all these mothers were there to usher me into motherhood. 

my mom had a wonderful lady come who has just had her 6th boy (!!) and she told me what a joy pregnancy was and everything she loved about motherhood. she brought her beautiful new born with her for me to hold. it was such a mommy moment for me as i thought the whole time that i will have one of these beautiful miracles in just a few short months!

then the ladies prayed over me and the baby. wow, that was unexpected and felt so cool to have all these women who i looked up to focused on me and my child, lifting us up to the Creator. 

then i got to open presents! icing on the cake right! it was so much fun and i was blessed with so many gifts. i felt so unworthy, but oh so grateful!

the brunch food was also just amazing! fruit, veggies and dip, cheese cubes and crackers, french toast squares, so very yummy cinnamon rolls (which i ate too much of). and my mom got me watermelon and honeydew just for me!! ooooo yum!

i was so exhausted by the end of the shower. but wow it was so much more than i could have ever expected. 

thank you again for all the mothers who hosted and who came. you blessed me so very much!

Thanks, But No Thanks.

why do people insist on telling me pregnancy horror stories??

i went into barns & noble the other day and ran into an old co worker, we talked about my pregnancy and she then told me that another coworker of ours went in to find out what her baby's gender was at 20 weeks and found out that it didn't have a brain!?! 

shock had to have been written all over my face! i said the, "oh goodness that's so sad!" but inside i was freaking out! she then gave me this look like, "how do you know your baby has a BRAIN?" i laughed and said "well this little one has been kickin the whole time we've been talking, so i'm sure it's got something in it's noggin." 

but oh my goodness, why would you tell a pregnant woman that?!! 

the whole way home i was freaking out about all the things that could be wrong with my baby. it wasn't a good past time. 

i got home and told daniel, which he said the same thing i did to her, "your baby's kicking too much not to have a brain, babe, everything is fine." 

i know it is, but can you blame me?!

Princess or Prince?

we find out the gender of peanut this week!

18 weeks today, peanut is 5 1/2 inches long from head to bum, and about 7 ounces, and still loving to dance to music.

now i have been feeling movement for a month now, and daniel was able to feel the baby move a week ago, but every thing i read tells me that i should just now be feeling movement and to not get my hopes up about sharing this experience because my "significant other" won't be able to feel anything for another few weeks. 

so either daniel and i (and peanut) are just going to have to come to grips with being above average, or i am farther along in my baby growing process then we thought. tuesday when i go in for the ultrasound a lot of things will be checked out, including the due date prediction, so we will know wether to plan differently for an august or earlier baby.

i am so very aware of my uterus these days. i can actually feel the thing when i'm getting up from lying down or sitting and especially when i'm walking, feels like a water filled cantaloup in my belly. my whole sense of gravity is being thrown off. i remember when i was in drama classes in high school, we walked around the room to find what we 'lead' with, some with their heads (nerds), some with their hips (typically girls), some with their stomach (typically those who are larger, or proud), some with their feet (people who are always in a rush). my 'lead' has changed from hips to stomach in the matter of a week. 

not that i'm fat and not that i'm proud... okay so i am getting much larger and i'm very proud of that, so maybe the stereotypes aren't too far off.

Popcorn in My Belly

at least that’s what i feel these days.

ever since saturday (my last post) peanut has been sure to make known his/her existence! sunday daniel felt the baby kick too, which was so exciting! i’m not sure if i’m more excited than him or not, that i’m not the only one now able to experience this little one. his eyes got wide, like when he first heard the heart beat. he’s so adorable and is going to make such an amazing father!

apparently peanut likes music, either that or car rides. every time i get in the car after about a minute little one goes wild! kicking and summersaults like crazy! i can’t tell if it’s the movement of the car or if it’s my music that i play. props to B98.5 if it’s the music, my child has good taste!

also might be the seat belt, though.

when i wear pants that are just a little snug or when i sit and lean forward, peanut pushes on my tummy as hard as it can, letting me know “hey you mom, this isn’t comfortable! fix it!” it makes me giggle a lot. and secretly i will at times lean forward to get a reaction (no worries, i’ve read that there is plenty of room for the uterus to move so that the baby isn’t harmed when i bend over or lean forward)

no need to do that now though, as little one is constantly moving and playing in my uterus. it’s a fun bonding process we are in, as it is adjusting to me and my schedule and me adjusting to having an amazing miracle growing inside of me!

i’m most definitely growing! i woke up this morning and felt most definitely larger. i rolled over and told daniel that i felt so fat today. i put my hands on my stomach and laughed. i grew like an inch to two inches last night! and the movement has moved up closer to my belling button today.

i’m having such a blast being pregnant! i know that it has its ups and its downs, but i’m over all loving it so much!