26 weeks - Baby in Motion

Today, I am 26 weeks pregnant.  That means little Levi Bryan (yes, our baby boy's name has officially been decided) has been in there cookin' for 24 weeks! 

My lovely husband took these belly pictures of me today and cracked me up with his "photographer" lingo.  I don't know what kind of photo-shoot he thought this was, but let's just say that the language was more risque than I expect to hear from our actual photographer during our maternity shoot in March...

The second trimester is nearly over and I must say, I loved every minute of it!  During this trimester, my acne symptoms disappeared, and I returned to a normal energy level.  I did have a few nights around the 23/24 week mark where I thought heartburn was going to be my new plight, but thankfully that quickly subsided and I've breezed through the remainder of the trimester with no complaints.

Around 23 weeks, my midwife recommended that I cool it on the classes at the gym, specifically Zumba and Kickboxing.  I was really bummed because these had become my FAVORITE classes and I looked forward to them.  I had explained to her in my appointment that I had some round ligament pain (the ligaments that strain to support that ever-growing uterus) after my kickboxing class so I had to duck out of class early a couple times.  She said it was good that I was listening to my body, but that I should probably cut out any classes that involved excessive pelvic movements.  No more rump-shakin' and rump-kickin'??  NOOOOooooOOOooo!  She suggested walking, spinning or swimming as suitable replacements.  I am not a fan of walking.  As a runner, I tend to get bored with just walking.  Spinning has always been a difficult work-out for me.  It makes me feel like an uber-wimp and reminds me of the days when I worked out with a trainer and he consistently MURDERED my legs on the bike.  Swimming, sadly, is not an option since I do not have access to a pool and my tub is merely average size (lame.) 

After pouting and not doing ANY exercise for the week following that appointment, I finally sucked it up and decided to check out the spin class at my gym.  I had been to the class once before with my husband and really couldn't remember what all the fuss was about or why I never went back.  I simply remembered that I didn't particularly enjoy it.  I was quickly reminded about ten minutes into class.  My tush can't handle it!  My "sit-bones" (as my friend and work-out buddy, Amanda, calls them) were bruised for DAYS after that first spin class!  It is a great work-out.  There is no denying that.  My legs burn, I get a good sweat going, but nothing compares to the abuse on my derrière!  After the second class with mind-numbing "sit" pain, I went to Academy and bought a gel-padded seat in hopes that it would make the class more comfortable.  Some kind gentleman in my last class recommended it.  While I found it disgusting that he kept insisting I "feel" his gel-padded seat that he'd just ass-sweated on for an hour... I appreciated that there may be a solution to this problem!  If I can't overcome the tush-abuse issue, I may be walking daily while listening to books on tape.  *Snore*

I have also been doing THIS prenatal workout video by Lindsay Brin a couple times a week.  I had never heard of Lindsay Brin before I found her pregnancy fitness DVD set at Target early in my pregnancy.  I read up on her and once I found out she had three kids and 6-pack abs, I figured I could benefit from using her video.  While the cardio segment is light and can get become monotonous after repeating the same video for weeks, the toning has been great and you can always increase the weight to get more results.  She tends to focus on a full body toning and functional work-outs that will benefit you during pregnancy, child-birth, and post-baby.  I feel like it's helped a lot to keep my weight gain strictly in my front belly region.  I'm happy with the DVD set and it's been nice to have when I can't or don't feel like making it to the gym.

At this point, I have gained about 13 pounds since the day I found out I was pregnant.  I think that puts me on pace to gain a total of 30, as long as I don't go hog wild with my diet.  In the past two weeks, I have become extremely motivated to eat better.  I suppose I finally had the realization that I need to be a better example for my child, in regards to my diet.

Levi's movements have become much more obvious and consistent.  In the past week, I've started seeing his movements externally and this is by far my favorite pregnancy development!  I get the biggest kick out of seeing him moving through my belly.  It's such a bizarre feeling.  It's like there's a little alien in there trying to escape his flesh prison.  It makes me laugh and wonder what, exactly, he is doing in there moving around like that!  He is incredibly active now, mostly in the mornings when I'm trying to get those delicious last 10 minutes of sleep before starting my day, or at night when I'm reading in bed and trying to wind down.  Soon, I will need to start tracking his movements with a kick-counter.

The only real pregnancy downer I've had this trimester was not getting to ride the Zipper, YET AGAIN.  The Zipper is my favorite carnival ride.  I LOVE carnivals.  What I love MOST about carnivals are the Zipper, and candied apples.  Candied apples have been a challenge lately since I have had braces, but I found a solution to that problem.  The situation with the Zipper is more complicated.  Before I got pregnant, it seemed that every carnival or fair I went to had replaced the Zipper with some other sub-par (in my opinion) yet similar ride.  I tried the bad replacement rides, but nothing will ever replace the Zipper in my heart!  Since I have been pregnant, I have seen the Zipper at least 3 times.  THREE TIMES.  That's more than I had seen the Zipper in an entire YEAR pre-pregnancy and in the past six months, when it's forbidden, it haunts me constantly.  Ohhhhh, Zipper.  We will meet again!  

As soon as I'm fully recovered from child-birth, I am going to plan an entire day of pregnancy-taboo activities.  I'll start by having my favorite over-caffeinated beverage, the triple-grande-non-fat-no-whip-marble-mocha from Starbucks.  Maybe I'll have two.  I'll then enjoy a big breakfast of nothing but runny eggs. For lunch, I'll have all the raw sushi & sashimi I can stomach.  I'll eat sushi until my chopstick wielding hand cramps!  I'll then drink copious amounts of every alcoholic beverage I've craved over my 9 months of baby-growing.  Dark, seasonal ales, mimosas, champagne toasts, a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, shots of tequila... (wait... who is going to take care of the baby while I do this?)  I'll enjoy all these drinks while devouring a buffet of unpasteurized, soft cheeses.  Bring on the BRIE!  Then I'm going to a carnival and riding the Zipper.  I'm going to ride it until I puke (which likely won't be much after the alcohol binge and cheese combo.)  If I can find it of course.  I'm sure the moment I am no longer pregnant and not at risk of scrambling my baby, the Zipper will become elusive once again.  Darn you, universe!  It will be a glorious day of reckoning... or I will just make myself ABSOLUTELY miserable and sick.  :)  We shall see.

Here is a quick VIDEO of Levi moving in my belly while I was laying in bed.

Gender Reveal Party - IT's A BOY!!

Before we even found out we were pregnant, Tyler and I were thinking of ideas for our gender reveal party.  This bonus party for the baby has recently become all the rage among expectant mothers.  I had never heard of it until idea boards for "gender reveals" started blowing up on Pinterest.  I LOVE parties so I loved the idea of having ANOTHER baby-themed party, however, in the back of my mind I was thinking... "Okay, is this completely narcissistic of us to throw yet ANOTHER party for our poor friends and family to drag themselves to?"  I did not want people to think we were fishing for more gifts or that I in any way EXPECTED them to show up to EVERY baby event.  I have been the "unmarried friend with-out kids" to some of my friends for many years and I know that while I love to be there to celebrate milestones and accomplishments with my friends, all the parties can be exhausting and the gifts for said parties can get expensive!

I finally decided to go ahead with the party, but I was sure to communicate to our friends and family that this was casual, we did not want gifts, and that they were not to feel guilty if they couldn't make it!  We simply wanted to celebrate finding out the gender of our first born child with some crazy antics and lots of family & friends! 

Planning the Party

I am notorious for spoiling surprises or secrets.  I got my Christmas gift from my husband on December 18th, because I couldn't stand to wait, and the infamous story of Tyler's wedding proposal to me is one of me basically SPOILING it by begging him incessantly to give me my birthday present a day early, which he did.  Obviously, he is equally bad at waiting to GIVE me surprises.  We make a great team. :)   That being said, he was adamant that I would not ruin THIS surprise for the gender reveal. 

We went to our 20 week ultrasound on the Friday before Christmas.  I was a little nervous because I knew the results of this ultrasound would tell us whether our baby was developing on pace and was healthy.  I was afraid of negative results, but I remained positive because I knew the statistics for a healthy baby were on my side.  Also, I had to remain positive for my own sanity.  Thinking of every little thing that could go wrong will drive a woman mad.

We explained to the ultrasound tech that we were going to have a gender reveal party, so when it came to the portion of the exam where she would determine the sex of the baby, we needed to be looking the other direction and clueless about what she found.  She loved the idea so she happily made us look the other way when it was time.  She turned the monitor and watched us like hawks to make sure we weren't looking.  After she had determined the sex, she printed pictures of that "region" with the gender typed on them as proof, stuffed the pictures in an envelope, and handed them to us before we left.  She did an excellent job.  I especially liked when she griped at my husband that he wasn't facing the wall and she thought he was cheating. :)  Atta-girl! 

Aside from determining the gender, we enjoyed the appointment and getting to see our baby, very much!  It took a lot of fighting but I managed to not cry.  I do not like to cry in front of strangers, even when it would be socially acceptable.  I thought I had felt the baby moving at week 18, but then I wasn't sure if what I was feeling since then was the baby or not.  It was really nice to SEE our baby moving around and punching on the screen while feeling those sensations so that I could know without a doubt, that was my baby beating up on mom from the inside.  Our baby was VERY active during the ultrasound and gave the tech fits while she was trying to take her pictures.  Someone told me to eat chocolate to make the baby active, so I happily complied.  I don't have to have much of a reason to eat chocolate.  The only downside to the appointment was having to drink the massive amount of water beforehand, and then subsequently laying there with a full bladder for the duration.  It helps them to more easily see the cervix for their measurements, so the sole purpose is not to torture pregnant women, though it will feel that way.

Off topic... back to the party.

I scheduled the party to take place at Cecil's Cajun Kitchen in DeRidder, where most of my mom's huge family lives.  I thought it would be a reasonable 1.5 hour drive for Nederland friends and not too far for our family in other parts of Louisiana.  I knew the drive would likely be too much for Houston friends and family, but I had to weigh the options and since it seems just about EVERY other life event we've celebrated has been in Houston, it was fair enough to switch it up this time.  I chose to schedule the party for the first available Saturday after Christmas and New Years had past.  It was going to KILL me to have to wait that long, but I knew we'd have more luck of getting everyone together after the holidays.  Besides, Tyler had hidden the envelope, so I had no way of finding out ahead of time, and the holidays kept me very well distracted from trying to find it anyway.

Cecil's had a party room that would fit way more than we needed and did not charge for it's use as long as at least half the guests ate or drank.  I didn't anticipate that being a problem.  We like to eat and the food there is good; it's a winning combination.

I spent most of the "planning" time pinning ideas from Pinterest.  The hardest part was finally sitting down and focusing on committing to the ideas I really wanted to use.  Once I had a plan, I spent about 2 hours in Hobby Lobby shopping for party supplies and getting more ideas, then another hour in Walmart finding less expensive versions of some of the items I'd already bought at Hobby Lobby.  I may have gone a little overboard with the party supplies from Hobby Lobby.  After the party had passed, I ended up returning about $50 worth of unopened supplies.  Which, I then turned around and spent on baby room decor... but I digress.


That evening, after I had explained to my husband why our living room was covered with Hobby Lobby shopping bags and attempted to rationalize my insane shopping spree, I made a list of all the projects I needed to complete, any items I still needed to complete those projects, and all the things I had asked my mom to take care of and/or bring for the party.  I do better with lists.  Once I had the list, I was a woman on a mission.  I knocked out all the projects the next day.  When everything was done and we were simply waiting for the day of the party, I then made a mock setup of what I wanted the center table to look like.  Our kitchen table then stayed in that state the rest of the week.

Tyler and I debated for some time about how we wanted to do the big reveal.  Did we want a cake or cupcakes or balloons or ... ? There were so many options!  The week before Christmas, we met our friends, who own Daviss Donuts in Nederland, for dinner and when we told them about the upcoming reveal party, they offered to make reveal donuts for us!  It was different and I loved the idea of all of our party guests participating and biting into the donuts together at once to reveal either blue or pink filling!  Besides, who doesn't like DONUTS??  The next day, our friend made us a couple samples and they were DELICIOUS.  I love food that is tasty AND functional!

The morning of the party, we stopped by Daviss Donuts to pick up our fresh reveal donuts and a couple kolaches for the road, and we headed out to DeRidder.  We got to Cecil's early to set up.  It was raining all over Louisiana and southeast Texas that day so I thought everyone would cancel or show up late, but I was pleasantly surprised with the turn out!  We had over 40 guests come to the party and most were early.  I guess everyone was as excited as we were to find out what we are having!

As we welcomed each guest, I had them choose their "team" by choosing to wear either a blue or a pink lei.  It was obvious the room was heavily weighted with team BOY because the blue leis disappeared quickly.  I also asked each person to write their name on a slip of paper and put it in a blue or pink jar.  After the reveal, I would draw a name from the correct jar and that guest would win a door prize (a bag of chocolate goodies - themed after my cravings - and a gift card to Subway.) 

We encouraged everyone to eat lunch, have a couple beverages, and visit.  After lunch, we passed out the donuts and I reminded the entire room about 100x that NO ONE COULD BITE YET!!  Before it was time to take the big bite, I stood at the front of the room and thanked everyone for coming.  I then had a little surprise for my husband!  His 30th birthday was only a few days away, and while we had a room full of our closest friends and family, I wanted everyone to sing and acknowledge this milestone.  I had secretly asked his mom to pick up his favorite cake from a local baker in Nederland and bring it with her that morning.  As I asked the room to sing to him, my mom lit the candles and walked the cake in.  He was very surprised and it warmed my heart.  He blew out the candles, said thank you, and then immediately said "OKAY, lets find out what we're having!"  We had successfully built up the suspense and it was time for the big show...

I gave the instructions to bite on the count of 3, Tyler did the countdown, and.... IT'S A BOY!!

I thought Tyler was going to spike his donut and do a victory dance, he was so excited!  Most of our guests had voted boy and were very excited, and those who were team pink immediately started telling us we'll have to have another... haha.  Shortly after the reveal, we drew a name out of the blue jar for the door prize.  My step-sister and her husband took home a bag of goodies!

Was it worth it?

I didn't know if the time and expense would be worth it going into the planning, but the entire drive home, all Tyler and I could talk about was how AWESOME the party was.  We both had a wonderful time and were happy to see that so many people came out to celebrate with us and they all seemed to enjoy themselves, too.  I hope it was worth it for those that had to make a long drive to be there.  I know I appreciated seeing every single person that was there.

In total, I think we spent about $250 on this party.  That includes all the decorations, 4 dozen reveal donuts, appetizers for 40+ guests, my great-grandma's lunch, Tyler's birthday cake, and a hefty tip for the awesome waitress that took care of our group.  In my opinion, it was well spent and worth every penny.  The build-up of anticipation, mingling with great family and friends, delicious food, the excitement of a huge group finding out simultaneously with a countdown and big unveiling, all made for a WONDERFUL experience.

If you're debating whether or not you want to have a gender reveal party, my suggestion is to GO FOR IT!  Even if it ends up just being a handful of close friends and family, the surprise is worth it!

Highlight Reel

The main party table.  The final result looked a little different then it did on my kitchen table, but I was happy with it...

Write your name on a slip of paper & make your guess!  Someone's name would later be pulled from the "correct" jar for a door prize!

Team BLUE or Team PINK?  Team Blue was dominating...

Boxes of Daviss Donuts reveal donuts!!

My mother-in-law, me, and my mom.  I was out-numbered... the expectant grandmas wanted a boy!

My Maw-maw - the great, great grandmother-to-be! She wanted a girl, but said she would still "accept" a boy.

You can see my growing bump here. 5 months pregnant.  We are two very excited parents-to-be!

What'll it be?? Daviss Donuts did a great job of plugging these up so the colored filling couldn't be seen!  No cheating!

Everyone loved these rubber duckies on the table and played with them throughout lunch.  Most of them disappeared after the party.  I guess they all wanted their very own rubber ducky!

My aunt, my mom, and a family friend - flaunting their teams!

Another Pinterest idea, stolen!  This list of Old Wives Tale predictions was fun in helping people to decide how to vote...

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend, enjoying some beer and hoping for a boy!

My Mamo (grandma) and her boyfriend enjoying lunch before the big reveal.

A really great iron-on I found at Hobby Lobby and could NOT pass up!

My Meme and Papa.  Meme has the best quote from the party.  After finding out it was a boy she exclaimed, "I'm SOOO disappointed!"  Haha... I think she's accepted that we won't have a 5th generation GIRL this time... maybe next time!

Flowers and duckies.

My mother-in-law and her husband were both team BOY! They already have 2 granddaughters and are excited to welcome a grandson!

Tyler blowing out his big 3-0 candles!  I think a BOY is the very best gift I could have given him...

2012 - A Year in Review

I am past due for an obligatory 2012 review and 2013 resolutions post!

I went through Facebook pictures last night for a quick review of 2012 and I've decided it's been another very good year!  2011 was very hard to beat (wedding, Maui, move to a new town, new job, etc), but I think 2012 definitely one-upped it!

2012 Highlights

 I started the year off by completing my 3rd Half Marathon in January  (Aramco Houston 1/2 Marathon).  This was Tyler's first half marathon.  We crossed the finish line with our hands clasped together and held victoriously over our heads!This was also my Mom and my Aunt Terri's first half marathon.  I am so proud of all of them and excited they joined me for this one!  It's so much more fun to run with / compete against family! ;)

Look at that awesome goal-setting and goal-busting couple!

I was baptized at Fellowship Baptist Church in Nederland, where we are now members.  I had never been baptized and as an adult I struggled with making this symbolic commitment, but this was my year!  I was finally in a place in my life where I felt I could turn this corner, and I am very happy with my decision.

Thank you, Pastor Frank Hodges, for baptizing me in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

We paid off my car, my College Access Loan (student loan), and Tyler's Perkins Loan (student loan), totaling about $43,000 in debt -- GONE FOREVER!  Thank you, Dave Ramsey!

This is my super-nerdy debt payoff thermometer for our car loan!

We went zip-lining in Denham Springs, Louisiana, with my Mamo (grandma), my cousins, and my Aunt Sue!  My Mamo is a super-cool grandma and loves to do crazy things with me.  So far, we have gotten tattoos together, gone sky-diving together, and now zip-lined together!  Next item on the list for 2013 (and my 30 Before 30 list) - hot air balloon ride!

One super-cool Mamo, right there!

We celebrated 5 weddings with very close friends and family:

Alex and Justin (my step-sister) in Cleveland, TX
Nikki and Josh (my step-sister) in Centerville, TX
Lauren and Chris (my friend - I got to be a bridesmaid!) in Richardson, TX
Traci and John Paul (my friend) in Rockport, TX
Emily and Justin (Tyler's friend - Tyler was an usher!) in Nederland, T

Lauren was a BEAUTIFUL bride and this was probably one of the most fun wedding receptions I've ever been to!

We celebrated 3 births:
Caleb Thomas (my best friend, Katie's, 2nd child)

Jayden Matthew (my cousin, Amanda's, 2nd child)
Adrienne Lanell (my step-sister, Alex's, 3rd child)

Holding my best friend's little boy, Caleb, the day after he was born.  He is such a happy baby!

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary in style!  We stayed at The Caroline House in Montgomery, TX, which is the same B&B where we spent our wedding night.  I highly recommend this place to anyone looking to check out the wine trails in the region just NW of Houston.  Ms. Mary is the most amazing inn-keeper and always makes our stay special!  The Bluebonnet Wine Trail was a great way for us to enjoy a weekend relaxing, making new friends out of complete strangers, and spending some romantic alone time dreaming of the many years of blissful marriage ahead of us!  We then attended church that Sunday at the very church we made those everlasting vows and got to visit with the pastor that officiated our wedding.

Here we are in front of our wedding church in Plantersville, TX on our 1 year anniversary!

We joined our community in welcoming a recently disabled marine home from deployment.  This event was a huge shift for me in my view on living in a small town.  I was so moved by the number of people that came out to support this veteran and his homecoming.  It made me proud to see a community come together to show respect and gratitude to this individual and his family for their service to our country and for their sacrifices.  I think this is the very moment that I fell in love with my new town!  You rock, Nederland, TX!

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I went on an exciting week-long trip with my Aunt Terri and my great-Aunt Kaye to Panama City Beach, FL.  You may have seen in my previous post that I described the women in my family as a "collective hot mess."  This trip was no exception!  We had one hell of a good time, though! :)

Craaaaazy women having too much fun in Florida!

My husband gave me braces!  One of the bonuses of being a dentists wife is getting to be his guinea pig and get free dental work.  This could be a blessing OR a curse, depending on how you view "going to the dentist."  I, personally, never had a problem with the dentist and now that I'm married to one, I take the free work readily!  My teeth weren't bad, but there were a few teeth that had gone rogue and were starting to get way out of line.  They were more an annoyance to me than anything anyone else would ever notice.  Also, being married to a dentist, in my opinion, means I should be a model of his good work!  He wanted to practice some orthodontics and I was an eager volunteer!  By the time the braces come off, I will have only had to wear them 9 or 10 months and I will have a removable retainer to ensure they never get out of line again!

Brace face!

 AND OF COURSE, the biggest highlight of the year for my husband and I both was finding out that we were pregnant!  We are big time "planners" so we knew we wanted to start trying to get pregnant in July.  I also knew that, on average, it can take couples a year to get pregnant, so I tried going into this whole "trying" phase with an open mind and some patience.  Thankfully, after just 2 months, we nailed it!  These results are not typical, so other couples should not get discouraged if it does not happen as quickly for them.  I will regurgitate some of the advise I got from my doctor, though, because it likely helped us. 

I am so far from being an expert that it's not even funny, but I wanted to share a few things I learned from the doc, from friends who have spent a lot of time trying, and from reading articles on the topic:

1. Get off your birth control at least 3 months before you plan to start trying so that your cycle can get back to normal and you can start tracking them (I used the Period Tracker app).  I got off mine in March to start trying in July.
2. Start taking prenatal vitamins as soon as you get off the birth control so that you can start building up those vitamin stores for the baby,
3. Get to a healthy weight - it can be harder to conceive when you're over or under weight.
4. De-STRESS your life!  Nothing throws your body off more than STRESS!  I thankfully had just left a very stressful work environment when we started trying, otherwise, that may have delayed things quite a bit.  Stress does all kinds of crazy things to your hormones and will not make your body a happy baby-making environment!  Besides, who needs the wrinkles??  Wooosaaahhhh!
5. DO NOT make it into WORK!  Taking something fun like sex and making it into work sucks all the joy out of the experience and can lead to unnecessary stress.  See #4.  Find anything you need to just keep it light, relaxed, and to foster the illusion that it's still "spontaneous!"

 2012 - Not all rainbows...

No year is without it's disappointments.  While we were blessed this year in so many ways, we did endure heartache, stress, and fear at varying times throughout the year.  It's a good thing we joined a good church this year, because I've needed to do a LOT of praying!

 Sadly, this year we had to lay my Uncle Marty to rest.  My Meme had to bury her son, and my Mom had to bury her brother.  I was not particularly close to my Uncle Marty.  Most of my life, he lived up north, but in the years prior to his death, he was living in Louisiana, up the road from my Meme.  I didn't see him often enough to foster a close relationship by that time, but I loved him just the same.  He had his special sense of humor and it was a joy to see his sideways smile.  He fought his own demons throughout his life and I'd say in the end he won, because though he may have left us too soon, he left this earth knowing exactly where he was going.  There's comfort in knowing that he's in the arms of his maker, in heaven.  

Rest in Peace, Uncle Marty!  I know they have fishin' and four-wheelers in heaven!

2012 Take Away

I like to think that every year we get a little bit wiser.  Sometimes we learn more trivial facts, sometimes we gain more experience, and sometimes we get to know and understand ourselves just a little bit better.  I think the latter is the most beneficial of what I will take away from 2012.  

I learned this year that I have chosen to look through rose colored glasses.  This is not naivety, because I could easily remove those glasses at any time and I'm completely aware that they are there.  This is a conscious decision to remain positive, hopeful, and maybe just a little too trusting at times.  It may open me up to disappointments and a little extra heartache, but my hope is that my attitude will give others the opportunity to live up to my positive expectations for them and that it might even rub off on a few people who have forgotten that happiness is a CHOICE.

 

Life is flux.  Bad times fall on us all.  The only difference is how we react, which is based solely on our attitudes.  Learn to appreciate those precious fleeting moments in life when you are completely filled with joy, and push on through the bad times, knowing that there is good ahead, because there is ALWAYS good ahead...

 

I choose to look for the good in life and in others.  I choose to see the positive side.  I choose to be happy.  

 

Bring it on, 2013.