20 Weeks

Excuse the hot mess of a photo--I just finished cleaning the house. I was tired and hungry. Lol

Anywho, welcome to HALFWAY through this pregnancy. Good gravy I just cannot believe it. I know I say that every week, but man! It's really crazy! This week has gone SUPER fast--Friday was the reveal party, Mom and I had a blast registering Holt at some boutiques in Conway and on Amazon.com on Saturday, Sunday was church and nap day, Monday and Tuesday was pick up the house/recoup time, Daniel's parents came down Wednesday and Thursday to help us do some landscaping, and then my grandma and aunt and two of my cousins came to visit for lunch today and then Daniel and I registered Holt at Target this afternoon. Whew! What a fun but exhausting week! 

I feel completely humbled, grateful, and blessed to be experiencing such an easy and wonderful pregnancy this time around. I know it's not like that for everyone (and it might not be like that for me with consecutive pregnancies) but I am absolutely loving this experience thus far. The nausea/morning sickness is completely gone, I feel great, I sleep wonderfully, and I've done well managing my weight (and no I'm not putting numbers on this blog). Now, if I can just feel little man move, this pregnancy will be complete! To all my mommy-to-be friends out there: even if pregnancy is not a good experience for you, don't let anyone make you feel inferior! YOU are beautiful!! For heaven's sake, you are growing a human inside of you--not an easy task and not for the faint of heart. God made you to do this and let me promise you, YOU are doing it well!

Ok, on to business:

How far along: 20 weeks
Maternity clothes: Yep! And my last order of business is to find some cute, attractive, non-frumpy maternity swimsuits for the beach.
Stretch marks: None so far--still rubbing that Vitamin E oil on (almost) daily
Sleep: Still going strong!
Best moment this week: Reveling in our newfound discovery that we are having a boy and calling him by name!
Miss anything: Not being short of breath when I go walking!
Movement: I thought maybe yesterday I felt him, but I'm pretty sure it was just a gas bubble (TMI I know). Hopefully I can confidently say yes in the next couple of weeks!
Food cravings: Nothing too terribly strong this week.
Food aversions: I just MIGHT be getting over the hump of this no baked/grilled chicken thing! I ate chicken fajitas today at Chili's and they were delish!
Have you started showing: Yep! And I love it!
Gender: BOY--Holt Parker Lowery
Labor signs: Nope
Belly button in/out: In for now, but I'm wondering if it's thinking about poking out
Rings on/off: On
Happy or Moody: Happy
Looking forward to: Decorating his nursery! I'm starting to get the nesting itch pretty bad!
Baby development this week: Holt is approximately 10 inches long from his head to his toes. He is swallowing more to help his digestive system practice and he is producing meconium (his first poo--TMI I know :p). Grow baby grow!

19 Weeks

THIS is an exciting week! We found out whether Baby Lowery is a boy or girl and we had a gender reveal party last night to find out! (I'll do a whole separate post just on the party) The beans have already been spilled on Facebook (I tried to get this post done before the party, but obviously THAT didn't happen) so I'll let you in on our (not so) secret----Baby Lowery is a BOY!!! To say we are thrilled is an understatement! Daniel has called boy from the beginning (which you'll know if you've followed the blog at all), my dad was really hoping for boy (so he can get out of the "land of the naked barbies" lol), my mom was 100% convinced it was a girl--so she was totally thrown for a loop, my sister wanted it to be a boy but thought it would be a girl, and I absolutely had no idea and would've been surprised either way. I know absolutely nothing about raising boys (I grew up with one sister) but I absolutely cannot wait to find out! Football and soccer and dirt and mud and rocks and sticks and all kinds of fun things ahead. I'M GONNA BE A BOY MOM!!!

Ok, back to our doctor appointment. We had our gender ultrasound Thursday morning at 10 AM and we did not want to find out until our party. We had amazing ultrasound techs and they agreed to directly call our bakery with the gender so that we would have no idea! And y'all, getting to see my child on screen for 30 minutes was one of the most surreal experiences I've ever had. He wiggled all over the place and the tech got a great shot of his little face! SUCH a cool moment to experience with my husband. After the ultrasound we saw our doctor and he told us Baby Lowery was measuring perfectly! Holt weighs about 10 oz. and all the brain, heart, leg, etc measurements lined up perfectly with his due date (that's my little man!). SO blessed to have such a great report.

4D pic of his sweet little face! (Hand up by his face on the left, mouth open)

Sweet little baby feet

ITS A BOY!

profile pic

Alright, here we go:

How far along: 19 weeks, 2 days

Maternity clothes: Oh yeah

Stretch marks: None yet!

Sleep: Last night, I was a little too excited to sleep, but other than that it has been wonderful.

Best moment this week: Gender ultrasound and the Gender Reveal Party

Miss anything: I think I'm too excited this week to care!

Movement: Not yet, but in my ultrasound they told me I had an anterior placenta, which just means there are more layers for baby to kick through. It wouldn't be unusual for it to be another 2-3 weeks before I feel him. 

Food cravings: I still love me some Chick-fil-A, but it's not as strong a craving as it was. A few times this week I craved  Dr. Pepper.

Food aversions: Baked/grilled chicken

Have you started showing: Yes, but a lot of people still tell me I don't look that pregnant--which I guess is good for now cause I"m pretty sure I'll blow up like a balloon later on.

Gender prediction: ITS A BOY!

Labor signs: Nope

Belly button in/out: In

Rings on/off: On

Happy/Moody: Happy! Happy! Happy!

Looking forward to: Decorating and nesting and buying BOY stuff!!

Baby development: Holt's sensory development is exploding--it's creating areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. And he can hear my voice this week! He weighs 10 ounces and hair is also starting to sprout on his cute little head. 

18 Weeks

Hard to believe I'm already at week 18. Holy. Cow. Where has the time gone? As you (probably) know, next week is THE week! We find out if Baby Lowery is a boy or girl! So, I thought this an appropriate time to share our name selections with all of you. *side rant note: Honestly, I don't really care whether you do or do not like the names we have chosen. I'm not trying to be mean or spiteful or rude, just honest and upfront. If you don't like them, please keep your opinions to yourself. Daniel and I absolutely LOVE the names (hence, why we have picked them) and that is truly all that matters. I am merely sharing with the world because I know everyone is curious. I'm always curious (and usually always ask) about what other people have picked to name their children--but if I think the name is weird or horrible or whatever, I NEVER voice it. It makes people self conscious and second guess themselves. Ok, rant over. :) *

Daniel and I take naming our children very seriously. We want them to have meaning and we want them to be masculine-sounding (if a boy) or feminine-sounding (if a girl). It's just very, very important to us. We have honestly been talking about names for the past couple of years. Nothing serious, just here and there conversations. We have always had our boy name, but the girl is a completely different story! First of all, our last name (Lowery) makes it somewhat difficult to find a name that flows well and isn't a jumble of "l's" or "r's". So, we FINALLY settled on one! 

Boy name: Holt Parker Lowery---Holt is Daniel's middle name. It was also his great-grandparent's last name. Everyone we come across who had a connection to the Holt's say they were the most loving, God-fearing people; always willing to help everyone and raised their children well. We want to bestow this legacy on our son. A name he will live up to. Parker is my mom's maiden name. Daniel never got to meet my grandpa because he passed away from multiple myeloma right after we got together. But he was a wonderful man. Super smart with a strong work ethic--he built a booming construction company from the ground up, adored my grandmother, loved the Lord, loved westerns and country music, always up for a good joke...I could go on and on. We just felt this was a way to honor him and my grandmother and my mom--bestowing a second legacy on our son. 

Girl name: Abigail Rose Lowery--we have both loved Abigail (but I was afraid to commit). Then we looked up the meaning: Hebrew for "Joy of the Father." As soon as I heard that, my heart skipped a beat and I just KNEW. That was my daughter's name. She is already a joy to her Heavenly Father, but also such a joy to her earthly one. Rose is my maternal grandmother's middle name. Shortly after my grandpa died, I moved in with her. I lived there for the whole year leading up to our wedding and since I was there, Daniel was too--pretty much everyday. He built a close relationship with her as well, so we wanted to honor her by giving our daughter her middle name. She is such a special lady and I can't wait for my daughter to meet her. 

So there you have it! We will find out next Friday night whether we will have a Holt or an Abigail and we absolutely cannot wait! 

Alright, on to business:

How far along: 18 weeks

Maternity clothes: Oh yeah. Divine.

Stretch Marks: None! Yay!

Sleep: Blissful. I sleep like a rock. 

Best moment this week: sitting outside in the 80 degree weather, enjoying the sunshine and getting some color on my legs! 

Miss anything: Soft cheese. You don't think about how much feta and blue cheese you eat until you can't!

Movement: Nope. Come ON baby! Let me know you're there!

Food cravings: Spicy Chicken Sandwiches with extra pickles

Food aversions: baked/grilled chicken or raw chicken. Cannot deal!

Have you started showing: Yes and people have started noticing! At Baskin Robbins tonight, the girl helping me said, "Girl, I see that bump! Feed that baby some ice cream!" Hahaha

Gender prediction: What do you think it is? 7 more days til we know!

Labor signs: none

Belly button in/out: in

Rings on/off: on--but if I ever have to take them off, I'm going to buy a cheap CZ ring!

Happy/Moody: Happy! It was a good week :)

Looking forward to: the BIG ultrasound next Thursday and our reveal party Friday!

Baby development: Baby is the size of a sweet potato! He/She is 5.5 inches long and weighs 7 ounces! Myelin is starting to form around the nerves and the blood vessels are visible through the skin. 

17 Weeks

Hello 17 weeks! It's been a somewhat uneventful week, aside from the ice storm that hit. We are currently spending the weekend with Daniel's parents and our brother and sister-in-laws to celebrate a few family birthdays. These get togethers are so fun! The little cousins have such a blast playing together--it makes me so excited for our little one to join in one day soon! And of course us adults always love hanging out and catching up as well. 

Here we go:

How many weeks: 17 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Absolutely! I am loving maternity clothes.

Stretch Marks: Still doing good in this department. I've started putting Vitamin E Oil on my belly once every day, hopefully it will stay good and moisturized throughout this pregnancy.

Sleep: Absolutely wonderful--so thankful! I know I need to rest now to prepare for later. 

Best moment this week: Hmm...walking on the treadmill? Lame, I know. But honestly, nothing outstanding has happened this week. 

Miss anything: Myself without the pregnancy hormones. Y'all. This week was pretty rough in the hormonal-emotional department. 

Movement: Still nothing. I'm SO ready.

Food cravings: Spicy Chicken Sandwiches with extra pickles, Passion Tea Limeade, and new this week is Fettucine Alfredo.

Food Aversions: Baked/Grilled Chicken. I have no idea if it's a texture thing or a taste thing or a smell thing, but ugh. 

Have you started showing: Yes! I think the bump grew a little this week (although you can't tell in the above picture).

Gender prediction: Let the guesses begin! We find out in 2 WEEKS!

Labor signs: none

Belly button in/out: In

Happy/Moody: Definitely moody this week. Hormones have been WACKY. Poor Daniel--Monday was really rough and he was cooped up with me in the house. The Lord gave him extra grace towards me that day cause I was seriously out of control. 

Looking forward to: Ultrasound and Gender Reveal in 2 weeks!

Baby development: Baby's skeleton is changing from cartilage to bone and the umbilical cord is growing stronger and thicker. Baby also weighs 5 ounces! And he/she can move elbow, knee and other joints.