My First Prego Grievance

I can't believe I have made it past 24 weeks without being ticked off by something some crazy person said to me about my prego body.  Well, I showed super early with this one, like pretty much immediately.  That was fine with me.  What is annoying is the people who ask to touch my belly and then tell me how squishy it is, like they expect it to be super hard or something.  Really?  Not everyone gets rock hard abs from being prego.  Just saying!

Well, there it is.  My one grievance about ridiculous people, all women.  What is wrong with women?  If you don't remember what you looked like, felt like, acted like, etc while pregnant keep your mouth shut.

The BIG Reveal

The outside of the card I made to hold the gender sonogram

 This child is a blessing.  It is not just another pregnancy.  This baby was not owed to us and we certainly are not worthy to be another baby's parent, but God saw fit.  For that we are thankful and we celebrate!  We cannot wait to meet this baby and introduce to the friends and family waiting to love and celebrate this new life. 

To my husband, thanks for going along with my crazy ideas (this one and the many more that are sure to follow) and waiting an extra 3 weeks to find out what we are having. I love you.

 

To Kendra, Barney, KT and Cassandra, thanks for being part of our private celebration and reveal and for making it so incredibly unique and special for us. 

So, without further ado....

The inside of the card I made.  Kendra filled it in and attached the sonogram. 
 

I can't lie!  Mark and I always hoped for a son and a daughter...and in that order, no less! (darn the planner...dare I say...Emerald in us...I wonder if those that know what the heck I am referring to are even reading this!)  A baby is pure love no matter the gender so while in one moment our family became something we had not imagined, it will still be something spectacular and we count down the days until we meet this little guy.

Curious about the name?  If you remember blog posts and FB posts from the Garrett days when he was noted always as Baby G, we shall call this little one, Baby B, short for Blake Cash King.  Fitting for the second prince of our family, don't you think!

I feel like he must know that we found out he is a boy.  He has been kicking me hard since last night :)  That's okay though, I like knowing he is in there growing and getting strong.  

If you have a moment, watch our reveal video.  Barney worked really hard to video the reveal for us.  Zooming ain't easy folks :)  I kid, I kid!

More pictures will be added once we receive our flash drive from the photographer, but the one below will have to suffice for now.  I will be stalking her FB page for a sneak peak and frequenting my mailbox until it arrives.  I'm not impatient...nope, not me...just in love with the thought of the memories that will be held on that flash drive and all the cool artwork that will be adorning our walls!

 

NOW TO BEGIN SHOPPING AND DECORATING!  FINALLY WE KNOW WHAT DIRECTION TO TAKE :)

*Mark just reminded me that with the addition of boys, it means additional cars to be bought.  Oh dear!!!!  I'm going to need a much larger garage.   

 

Bad advice

What is the worst advice you ever received?

 

This is Saturday's prompt and I thought it was fitting for this page since the majority of bad advice is regarding pregnancies and parenting. 

 

In my world the worst advice usually is the unsolicited advice.  Everyone and their brother has an opinion on how your pregnancy is going, what you are having and how early you will go into labor.  If I ask for your thoughts, I am open to all the possibilities that may come out of your mouth, but it is just the unsolicited advice that drives me crazy. 

As far as parenting goes, the worst advice I have had was to bite my kid back every time he bit someone.  No thanks.  I think I will find another way.  Turns out it was a stage and he grew out of it fast.  Now if only some of the other kids would grow out of it at daycare that would help. 

 

What is the worst pregnancy/parenting advice you have received?

 

 

 



Just loved this!



Gender Reveals: Yes or No?

cute invite from Zazzle
see it here

I am planning to have photos taken when we find out what we are having but I want to do it in a fun way. I don't have any pictures of our sonogram with my family from when we found out we were having our first child, a son. I loved sharing that experience with them, but I wish I had that look on their face captured forever or at least a picture that shows we were all there together.

So as I'm making plans and googling ideas I have come across some hate filled blogs on the subject of gender reveal parties. I have read things like self absorbed, self indulgent, continues our me, me, me society, just another boring party for your friends and family to make time for, children have been born forever why get all excited now, and the list of negativity goes on.

At first I thought, well, maybe they are right. Being a culture of social media our society has maybe become a bit oversharing. But, you know what? I think it is okay to share our excitement with those we love and if they love us back then they should be just as excited as we are. I waited a long time to have kids. Long after my friends had finished that part of life, but I was still excited for them. Why wouldn't you be excited for your family or friend as she starts this new adventure in life?

We are not planning a party, but instead a gender reveal photoshoot so that me, my husband and our toddler son can find out in a fun way what we are having and have the looks on our faces captured. Sure I could have just had the memory of the sonographer telling me, do you see that extra leg right there? Well, it isn't an extra leg. It's a boy. Yes, that is great, but there is nothing wrong with making a celebration out of it and having fun pictures to look at forever. Sure, I will post a collage of these pics and maybe a sample of the video I am hoping to have made at the same time on social media, but the intent is to capture this for our joy and memories and for those that love us, to be able to share in our joy no matter how far away they may live.

So if you are out there annoyed and horrified by these so called self indulgent parties and photos, just remember, someone shared in your joy too. Even if you thought no one cared that you had gotten pregnant like billions of women past, someone did care and was excited for you. I bet you even counted down the days until your sonogram so you could find out if your house was going to be filled with pink or blue onesies. Why pretend this is not a joyous occasion? I can't imagine such a boring world where no one celebrated or found joy in simple things such as the gender of your child. Life is worth celebrating, so party it up!

If you don't mind sharing in our joy, please come back later in August when our pics are up.

Tell me your thoughts?

Staying Fit While Pregnant

You have waited forever it seems to get pregnant so you can lay around, be waited on, not have to exercise or eat healthy.  Sound familiar?  No such luck.  Good health needs to be maintained or needs to become a priority now.  You are growing another human.  If you need exercise and healthy food while not pregnant you will need it even more now. 

So, earlier this year I started begging for a Fitbit One.  Finally got one and then there was some drama with a missing charger that took forever to get because Fitbit was a million years behind on making them.  (Makes no sense if you have seen the charger, it is all of 6 inches long and plugs into your computer....how long could they possibly take to produce?)  Anyway, finally it arrived while we were on vacation.  I have now been wearing it for about 10 days.  I am in love!  Why start using it now while pregnant?  If you don't have the energy in the early weeks to do all out cardio or long sessions, this gadget tracks your steps so you can work at getting more and more steps in each day.  Plus walking is low impact, yet quite helpful for pregnant women.  See my note below regarding GD. It also tracks flights of stairs, calories burned and miles walked.  It also tracks your sleep and tells you how many times you woke up.  Interesting to know, but considering I have slept horribly since I found out I was pregnant, it is really just sad to know you woke up 30 times in one night.  All in all, it is small, clips easily on your bra, your pants pockets, or it can go straight into your pocket and a fun tool to get more activity into each day. 

*Here's an interesting article on walking after meals while pregnant and how it lowers your changes of getting Gestational Diabetes.   Walk away diabetes  You want to avoid GD at all costs. 

I am also using weights and strength training.  The fitness center at my work has group classes each day.  The Thursday lunch class is a strength and tone class.  It is fast paced so you get the cardio effect while getting most body parts. 

This morning I started Leslie Sansone's 3 Mega Mile walk DVD.  Who knew walking in your living room would make you sweat.  It's a keeper for pregos. 

I am gathering some information on Pinterest regarding healthy pregnancy workouts.  Check it out here:  Fit Pregnancy

I am logging my workouts each week on My Fitness Journey if you need ideas of circuits and workouts to do. 

Responses from those we have told

People are funny...

My family:  (as they read the #1 big bro shirt G was wearing)  Oh, you are having a baby?  Ya, we alredy know!

Kendra:  all of aisle 5 at the grocery store now knows you are pregnant (as she yells to her husband the news)

My boss:  So many....here goes...
1.  you are due during peak season again?
2.  I'm going to tell Jerry (her boss) that from now on I am only hiring boy supervisors.
3.  You just got skinny.
4.  You were the prettiest pregnant person ever with G, I wonder if this time you will spread out and be squishy like normal women. 

Coworker:  the week before P had asked me how G was doing and someone else, M, goes you have a kid?  Don't you know how that happens?  lol.  P said, I bet it was her idea.  Mind you, these are both men.  So I just kept quiet, but it made me laugh.  Now that I have told my boss, I figured I could tell a few random people that would be most excited for me.  P was one of those, but I mean how do you just throw that out there, so I waited.  I randomly had a story about how I overheard Mark tell our friends at lunch the other day that in 5 years we would probably get a dog.  Ummm, this is news to me :)  Not that I disagree, but I just thought it was funny that he had thought this through and told our friends first.  haha.  So anyway, I'm telling P that story and he says, so anything else exciting going on, so I said, well other than getting a dog in 5 years, I guess we're going to have a baby in December.  He was like, for real, you mean this December?  well ya, I'm not an elephant.  Aren't they the ones that are prego for 2 years?  Anyway so I say Dec. 26 to be more exact.  He then proceeded to tell me that I look great prego so he's happy.  Men!


Fitness Center Manager:  I tried out one of the classes, Strength and Tone, last week and loved it.  I was sore like 30 minutes later.  So much in fact I thought my right leg was going to give out the moment I took 1 step down the stairs.  Awkward.  Ok, so that might have been a little too good of a class, but clearly I will advance if I take it more often so soreness that intense 1 time does not worry me.  So I go to tell Susie that I'm prego and can Bethany give me alternate exercises for the lay down moves in the class so I can keep taking it.  She was like, oh my goodness, um yes of course, she has taught tons of pregnant women.  Just tell her; so you taking my 10 minute abs class now?  LOL, umm, no.

Grandpa Pugh:  so grandpa have you heard our news?  We're having another baby.  He says, well, no, I really hadn't heard, but I kinda knew.  Me: HUH?  Grandpa:  well, you look pregnant but I didn't want to ask.  haha!  well, I guess that is the truth. 

Another coworker:  We will call him QA inspector K.  A little background on K:  he is older....enough said!  Ok, so several months after I had given birth to G and had been working out, eating right, and had lost all my baby weight plus like 15 pounds K comes up to me one day and says, "it looks like you are starting to work on flattening your belly."  Thanks K!!!!  This is the flattest my belly has been in many, many years, but clearly I have more to go.  Old guys!!!!!  Last week I wear a dress to work and he tells me I look KINDA NICE!  Old guys!!!!  Today I am wearing a maternity shirt and it is pretty obvious that I am with child and he asks if I am having another baby.  So I say yes and he says "oh, you were just starting to get skinny."  Old guys!!!!  A short while later he tells me about how his 1st wife got pregnant right away with their 2nd baby after going off birth control.  Then he asks me how long I was off birth control prior to getting pregnant this time.  Ummmm, didn't realize that was anyone's business :) but if you must know we chose not to use any kind of BC after the birth of our first born.  He just said OH after that.  Old guys!!!

 

Growing Baby #2 has begun!

Well, it looks like we are doing this parenting thing again.  About 7 weeks ago I found out we are expecting.  I actually thought it didn't happen that month but apparently my normal sign was just a fake out....A good fake out.  We are all thrilled.  Well, G doesn't understand at all.  I try to tell him to rub my belly and kiss his brother or sister and he wants to bang on my belly instead.  All boy that child.  If we were having a dog, he would be extra gentle I bet, but a kid growing in my belly does not seem to interest him.  29 more weeks for him to get used to the notion I guess.

We told my family and Mark's brother, Matt, and his wife and kids while we were in Ohio last week.  Everyone apparently already knew my incredible news they say.  I guess telling Facebook that you are napping in your car at lunch and have a sudden disgust for bananas makes you instantly prego in their book.  Since then we have just been telling people here and there. 

I had my first "real" appointment with the midwives this morning.  Honestly, we were a little nervous.  I have continued to bleed almost weekly since I first took that test, but took the intense morning sickness, food repulsion and a case of the sleepies as a good sign.  After 5 billion questions Midwife Amy finally did the long awaited for Doppler and a strong 160 beats was heard.  Such an amazing sound.   No ultrasound until at least 17 weeks...boo.  I can't wait to get a little peak.

Mark told me I need to be fair to baby #2 and give him/her the same fanfare I gave G so I guess it is weekly/monthly bump picks and a blog for this one too :)  Hope you are ready for my weekly "why does everyone tell me I'm huge" posts on FB.  Amy told me that the more pregnancies you have the bigger the baby.  G was 9 lbs, 4 oz.  All I could say was OH DEAR!  Now there is something to look forward to...not!  Another natural, unmedicated birth coming up. 

Oh, I left out the best part!  This little one will arrive sometime near December 26.  Poor thing, but we'll make it right.  That's my promise.