lil spark: 23 weeks

 How far along: 23 weeks (WOW)
Total weight gain/loss: weighed this morning 19 pounds, Dr. L said to save her some of my cookies! haha
Maternity clothes: loving that fall is here and breaking out some of my winter maternity clothes
Stretch marks: nope; thank goodness!
Sleep:  same: sleeping with an extra pillow in between my legs and tossing and turning due to my arms falling asleep and now getting to sleep in almost every morning!
Best moment this week: Owen is still kicking and every time it is the best!  I got a little worried at one point and ran for the doppler.  By the time I found his heartbeat I felt a kick and yes it was right on the doppler probe!! Owen must not have liked my intrusion and was reclaiming his space!  Hehehe! It was like we were having a little game. 
Belly button in or out?: still considered an innie, but the middle part is pushing out at the top, looks a lot like both right now.
Craving: still just cold milk and sweets (guess I am going to have to give up some of the sweets)
What I am looking forward to:  24 weeks and VIABILITY! 1 WEEK TO GO!!

Thank you to baby center dot com:
Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb. 


FYI: Owen does like mommy's singing in the car!

Lil Spark: 22 weeks

This post is a little late, but the picture was taken on the correct day, Chris says I am even bigger now.


How far along: 22 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: will be weighed again on the 22nd.
Maternity clothes: my prepregnancy yoga pants are still a go to favorite for hanging around the house, which I will be doing a lot of these days.
Stretch marks: nope  
Sleep:  sleeping with an extra pillow in between my legs and tossing and turning due to my arms falling asleep and now getting to sleep in almost every morning!
Best moment this week: Owen kicked Daddy!  The look on Chris' face was priceless and was a special moment of joy for us.  Last night he kicked him several more times.  The kicks are getting stronger and one time felt like a pencil eraser jabbing at me; it HAD to be a foot it was so strong!  Seems that 4-5pm is play time for the past few days
Belly button in or out?: still considered an innie, but the middle part is pushing out, looks a lot like both right now.
Craving: still just cold milk and sweets
What I am looking forward to:  24 weeks and VIABILITY! Less than 2 weeks to go!

 check out my yoga pants that have never seen a day of yoga, 

but have spent a loving relationship with our sofa!

Owen is a strong boy!

Yup, you guessed it!  Chris felt the Owen kick last night several times!!!!

Oh, Daddy was smiling so big!! 

For the past couple of nights Chris has jumped from the loveseat to my sofa to try and feel the kicks, but hadn't felt them.  I knew yesterday after a midday chocolate treat that he would be feeling them soon.  It was a special moment in our house.

National Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Day

I am one of the 2,000 faces affected by pregnancy/infant loss everyday. Please go to www.iamtheface.org to show your support and join the movement.

To my friends who have lost babies I am thinking of each of you today.

wow, this is happening

Look what I got in the mail the other day!

Am I really having a baby boy?

There was also this little card:

Jeanna and Chris are expecting a baby boy

we know he would love a bottle, rattle or even a toy.

But we want to make sure he has the brains to go with his looks, 

So we want to fill his shelves with all our favorite books!

Will he love a guitar, book or even a ball?

Little Owen will surely be into it all!
So use this sticker and place it inside the front cover

so Owen will see who's story to discover!

Pick your faorite book from back in the day

fill in your name with a little something to say

Now this book will be Owen's forever 

and he will never forget you, not ever!

Make sure you visit when Owen has come

becaseu only you know how to read this one.

So get ready with all the special voices and looks

becasue he wants YOU to read him this special book.

Here is the little card that will go in the books!  How cute!!!

My sisters wrote the poem together!  So sweet!! They ROCK!!!

This little boy is going to be spoiled!

quick update on my eye

Thank you to those that sent words of encouragement through my blog, text messages and facebook.  It really means a lot to know that yall care. 

I had an additional test done today and basically I have lost some vision in my left eye.  This is what triggered me to realize I needed to get to the Dr.  I can see just fine and if it never returns it won't effect my standard of living.  My Dr is hopeful that the bleed will go away on its own in the next few months and hopeful that the vision will restore itself.  I have a follow up visit where they will look in my eye to see if the bleed is still there, hopefully it will be gone and I will be worry free or they will do the test again and I will know if my eye sight is getting worse (then we will take some action) or better and keep waiting it out. One good bit of info is that my optic nerve is great color and size, he just wants this weird bleed to go away and I will be back to normal. 

We don't know why this happened to my left eye, but he is guessing it is pregnancy related as I haven't fallen or hit my head recently.  This has happened some time between July and October.  I had my annual visit in July and he would have noticed it then if it had been there.

If you think about it keep praying for my eye and the bleed.  

The Nursery Part 4 & ballister project

This weekend went by in a blur with all the things we had planned.  Chris played guitar with Mike at the Iron Gate Winery in Mebane, we had a great time with family and friends.  Then Saturday, we both needed a morning to sleep in....to 9am, ha!  Since when is 9 am sleeping in?!!!!

Saturday ended up being a little crazy getting all the pieces together that we needed for our "big" weekend project.  When we have a free weekend we try to tackle the big TO DO projects.  We are really hitting the list hard and we might actually get them all done before lil spark gets here!  (I hope I didn't jinx myself!).  So, here is where we went:

Here is our Saturday crazy circle of stores:
Home Depot: to see if their prices were better than Lowes, well they didn't even carry what we needed.
Lowes: bought the ballisters and handrail, but then they only had 5 of the metal pieces we needed, so back to HD
Home Depot: who didn't have ANY of the metal pieces!!  But we did remember that we needed black paint, so we got that!  Thankfully, there was this crazy old man who reminded Chris of this wood working supply house.
Hardees: for lunch, the new fresh breaded chicken tenders were ok.  The sweet ice tea was wicked good!
The Wood Place: thankfully they sold the metal pieces in bags of 10 and were IN STOCK
"the Holmes shop" or otherwise known as Chris' Parents house:  they seem to have almost everything for renovation projects.  We borrowed a few tools including a paint sprayer.

It is not 100% secure yet, but from looking at it it looks done!

In case you forgot the old before picture.  Look at those acorn things on top of the newel posts...YUCK!  Can you say: blah brown?  Everything is brown, the drapes, the walls, the mantel, the trim the floors.

How fresh and awesome is this!

If you want to see more details on this project, click here. 

 While Chris was working on painting and building the railings I was sewing.  I finished the valance for the window and then started on this little pillow for my back in the rocking chair. 

Here is the pillow all stuffed and ready to go.  You can't tell, but I sewed snaps on one end so that I can wash the cover if I need to.

I can't stand it, I love it!! I had to get a shot with the crib skirt in the picture!  Target has a light tealish crib sheet that I hope is going to match and Judy might find some of the bright green fabric and if she does she will make some sheets out of that or I might do some gray sheets.  If we don't do those then I will do white, but I am worried about stains and I don't want to have to bleach them a lot.  I did register for a white bumper and a white breathable bumper.

prayers needed please

My mom jokes that instead of a bunch of nerves that I only have one nerve.  Like you may get on some peoples nerves, but don't get on Jeanna's nerve.  It is a joke that has followed me since grade school. 

Sometimes this has come in handy as I am really in tune with my body.  I feel everything from the seam in my shirt to the earliest flutters from Owen.  The past week I have noticed that my left eye seemed off, it seemed to tired easily, I was seeing little stars in my vision randomly and my floaters (the things that everyone has in their eyes, some people can see a pattern in their vision~of course I have mine memorized) pattern had changed.  So today I ended up at my eye doctor's office again.  He did a lot of tests that I've never had done before (after 20 years of eye dr appointments I've had quite a range of tests done).  Basically, we are a little worried.   I have a bleed on the optic nerve in my left eye. The optic nerve is what goes between your eye and your brain, you damage it and you lose some or all your vision.  There are some things that he can do for me, but being pregnant makes it more challenging. 

I am having another test done in the morning and I will know more then, so until then I am not worrying and giving it up to the Lord in prayer.  I am not googling this because I don't want to know a bunch of worst case scenarios  If you could please say a few prayers for me this evening or in the morning as I am headed back to his office at 9:30am.. 

Lil Spark: 21 weeks

How far along: 21 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: will be weighed again on the 22nd.
Maternity clothes: Loving that I am really fitting into my new maternity clothes and the hand-me-downs from friends
Stretch marks: nope  
Sleep:  sleeping with an extra pillow in between my legs and tossing and turning due to my arms falling asleep
Best moment this week: Owen's kicking is more regular!  I can tell when he is awake and active!  Actually, he just kicked a couple times as I typed this!
Belly button in or out?: still considered an innie, but not for long!
Craving: still just cold milk
What I am looking forward to:  24 weeks and VIABILITY! 3 weeks to go!

Notice the new wall color, we moved from the guest bedroom wall to the nursery wall!  

From the most popular B.ump dot com:

Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for hydration and nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies are most interested in tastes they've already experienced through amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you want your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

Nursery: Part 3

So, Tuesday night my mother-in-law came over to help me start on the crib skirt.  My MIL used to own a sewing store.  She is always working on at least 3 projects, knitting socks, sewing things and more.  When Chris and I were engaged she gave me a sewing machine, it is pink and she did the alterations on my wedding dress on that machine in my dining room of our Sherrill St house.  Needless to say she is quite amazing and always willing to teach me new tricks! I picked her up on my way home on Tuesday night and we loaded my van with another sewing machine, a bag of goodies and a light; all the essentials to start our project.

So as of right now I have the following sewing projects to do:

1. Bedskirt
2. Valance for Window
3. Seat Cushion for Rocking Chair
4. Pillow for back of Rocking Chair (can later be used on toddler bed)

Lets get started!

Judy did the measurements and then I did the cutting.  

Here we are with everything cut and pined together and I am sewing them together.

As always a good teacher shows and lets her student learn by doing!  

Oh and did I meantion that Judy gave me the white sewing machine that you see on the table! I will just say it was very expensive back in '79 when she purchased it.  It is still her favorite machine, but she is letting it live at my house under the understanding that she might need to borrow it for a class from time to time!  Good thing we only live 4 miles a part! What a perk!

The machine has some really cool features:

push a button and it will sew a knot at the end of your line

does a type of over lock stitch (keeps the edge from fraying)

really easy to fill the bobbin with thread

needle threader!!! 

and more, but I am just learning one thing at a time!

Thanks Judy for all your help and for the loan of your special sewing machine!

we've been busy: Project Laundry!

Well, it has been a crazy past few weeks, but we have been productive getting all sorts of projects done!

Project Laundry:  Wash, Sort, Hang baby boy clothes.

These are all hand-me-down clothes from my wonderful in-laws side of the family.  We had 6 various sizes of bags of clothes that ended up being 8 loads of laundry that took 3 days to process.  Chris was a great sport and went with me to two Targets and 3 Walmarts to buy all the hangers we needed.  I just couldn't buy Owen pink hangers!

All the clothes on the floor ready to go to the washing machine.

All the clothes sized in piles ready to be hung.

Newborn to 3 months are in a bin and will go in the dresser, 6 months to 18 months are hung ready to go to the closet!

The clothes are now in the closet waiting for this little boy to come home and grow up and need them!

Project Nursery: Part 2

Well, here are the after paint and crib pictures!  We did have to finish painting the white trim and then we were onto the blue color!!

Here is Chris not letting me vacuum, but getting the room dust free for his son!  Look at the proud smile on his face, I don't think I've ever seen him so happy to vacuum before!

Just in case we might forget who we are doing this for, we marked his territory!

Chris trimmed the crown and baseboard I trimmed around the doors, windows and outlets.

After I finished trimming I started rolling.  Yes, my belly did hang out of my paint clothes, but we figured this is the last of the big messy projects for me till I fit back in them!

Next up: the CRIB!

There was a little talk about not putting it together while the paint was still wet because it might make it a little difficult to maneuver in the room, but after a few unexpected tears.....my softy husband and soon to be amazing father got straight to work.  

He even had a little fun while putting it together too; checking out Owen's view.

Owen, you better thank your daddy one day, he was half sick and still worked on your room.

Here is the fabric that your Grandmommy and I are going to use to make your bedding. 

(sorry it is blurry)

Project Nursery: Part 1

Well, we are very confident that this little spark is a boy and are headed full force into the world of baby blue and boy stuff!


The night we found out that we were having our little Owen, we headed to Lowes and bought no VOC paint in our new favorite color Sea Breeze by Eddie Bauer. Alaina, you have to tell me what color you used b/c I think they are very similar!

When we bought the house we did a few improvements to the nursery including:  scraping the popcorn textured ceiling, painting the ceiling, installing crown molding and switching the receptacles from ivory to white.  Of course, my personal electrician put us up to code with tamper resistant receptacles!

Here are the before pictures:

Enter in the room: the changing table will eventually be on the left wall.
Notice the bassinet that is ready to be set up.  Thank you Anna for the bassinet.  2 of my good friends babies have slept in it and I can't wait to put my baby in there too. Sophie and Camryn have proved it is comfy!

The other side of the window:  The crib will go in this corner.

The light wood dresser was my changing table when I was a baby, mom still has the matching rocking chair.  We are not going to use it because it is the wrong color wood, I enjoyed using it all through college and at our last house in my walk-in closet.

Corner where the bookcase will go and his closet.

The black dresser will be moved to the other side of the closet.

See the black dresser will fit perfectly on the little wall to the right of the closet!