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!

Living On Orange Juice

17 weeks today!

peanut is almost 5 inches from head to bum and about 4 ounces. this week my little one will be putting on some fat (bring on the donuts!) and it's hearing is developing. i'm going to pick out a few of my favorite children's books to read to it!

so i've been sick with the flu all week, and with the lack of medication one can take during pregnancy, being sick while expecting is not a fun experience. i'm finally moving past the illness, though i'm still coughing up crud (which i swear i freak the baby out every time i cough) and my voice goes in and out. yesterday i was feeling better, but took another day and did nothing but lay around and hand out at home playing video and board games with my husband. i think that really helped me gain some of my strength back, but still very weak. 

i had been getting alittle worried about the baby. i had been feeling movement at least once every day for about a week before i got sick. i felt it on monday and once on tuesday, but then wednesday on, i hadn't felt any movement. i couldn't help but think that during my flu something was going wrong with the babe.

today, daniel and i stayed in bed until about 9am, ate pancakes, watched a few episodes of 24 then he went off to his last day at the coffee shop. i looked around and was disgusted at the disarray of our little in-house apartment. all the trash cans were over flowing (90% of my used tissues), the clothes and dishes and more used tissues were everywhere, bed hadn't been made in a week, bathroom was just gross, mold growing in the coffee maker, and dust (!!) was everywhere! i think i threw-up in my mouth a bit. "it's on!" and i got busy and conquered!! i collapsed on the couch surrounded by folded clothes, very please with all that i had accomplished.

that's when i got punched!

i promise the little one socked me as hard as it could in my gut! i almost scolded it and then realized that i hadn't felt it in like 4 days, and got happy. as i was rubbing my expanding stomach smiling with pride, peanut started to show off.

moving like crazy, it must have been practicing boxing! seriously reminded me of how the cartoon boxing matches go when the opponents use the side of the ring as a sideways trampoline. back and forth-back and forth. it was quite amusing! i was thrilled and it was so worth the wait of not feeling movement for a few days to, even as i type now, i feel it just a'moving!

it's got to be the best, most comforting feeling in the world!