birdy love

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Week 19... and THE name!


    I feel like this week was pretty significant, it was the first time that I've really felt uncomfortable with my belly.  I think I stretched a little more (so of course I'm putting on the cocoa butter every day!) and I can feel him kicking more and more.  

    We've decided to name him Mason Kyle Barnes.  There's no family ties to the name we just like it!  It's a strong, solid name that's easy to transition from an adorable baby to an adult.  I only knew 1 Mason growing up and he's a nice guy.  Apparently Mason is a popular name for babies born within the past 5 years or so, but I teach Kindergarten and I only know 1 Mason out of 100 kids.  He's a good kid too and wasn't in my class so I don't have any memories associated with that name.  I can't say the same for Connor, Rylee, Madison, Matthew, etc.  I have a long list of names that I could never name my child because I already have kids in my life with that name!  It's so weird that... 1- there is a baby in me moving, 2- he has a name now, Mason, and 3- Mason is going to be our son FOREVER.  I know those are simple things but they are mind blowing!


    • How far along? 19 weeks
    • Total weight gain? Not sure but I've been eating more and I feel like he's growing really well, so hopefully some!
    • Stretch marks? No but I've finally busted out the cocoa butter to help prevent those.
    • Sleep? I can't sleep on my stomach anymore at all, just my sides and back.  I'm not supposed to sleep on my back for very much longer either.
    • Best moment this week? Tyler put the house on the market and we've already gotten several inquiries!  No promises yet but at least people are interested in renting, I really thought we wouldn't have a lot of interest because of the time of the year.  Feeling blessed!
    • Miss anything? I REALLY wanted a Slim 5 at Jimmy John's today but I resisted the urge.  I was going to heat it up so I could officially eat the lunch meat but it's just better cold.
    • Movement: Off and on, I can't wait until Tyler can feel him from the outside.
    • Food cravings: Pickles make me feel good.  It's strange.  I love Rice Krispies too, still.
    • Anything making you queasy or sick? No.
    • Showing?  Yes
    • Gender: Boy
    • Labor signs: No
    • Belly button in or out: In
    • Wedding rings on or off?  On.
    • Happy or moody most of the time? I was so moody this week.  I had a breakdown one night about lots of things that had snowballed and I just needed to unload the stress and cry it out.  They were silly things but it felt so good to get it off my chest and talk to Tyler about everything!
    • Looking forward to: Ozark vs. Nixa Friday night football to watch Levi play.
    • Baby's fruit size: Mango

    Sunday, September 23, 2012

    Our Cute Little House


    After lots of going back and forth, we put our house on the market today.  We thought we could stay here for awhile and raise our baby here, but found a bigger house in a neighborhood near our friends and family that we couldn't pass up!  I LOVE this house and fell in love with it as soon as I saw it - our next house isn't near as cute :).  It was great when I worked downtown, and even after I got my job in Republic it isn't that far of a commute.  I love the hardwood floors, thick trim, exposed brick, fireplace, and all the character in this little bungalow.  I hope someone else loves it just as much as I do!


    Our little yellow house!  We just put a new deck on last week... it needed one pretty bad.  We took our family picture on those steps in February with Oliver.  And this next February we'll have another little one in our family picture!


     I love our living room, it's probably my most favorite room in the house.  The natural lighting is awesome and the yellow is so cheery!  I get the most compliments on my wall decoration- it's just wall dots from Home Depot behind painted embroidery hoops.  I hot glued them to the wall since the walls are plaster and I didn't want to mess with nails.  The whole thing probably cost $10!  My lamp is from a thrift store, the shade is from Target.  The rug is from Ikea, $20.  The recliner is the most comfortable chair in the world and Tyler's favorite place to watch TV when one of us isn't lying on the couch!


    The cedar chest is from my Meemaw, she has bought a cedar chest for every grandchild and we got ours at the farmer's market from an Amish man.  The light is from Ikea and the painting is done by Phyllis Spradling who lives in Springfield... I love it!  That fireplace is awesome in winter, it's so cute but really heats up the house.  I didn't take pictures of our bedroom because it's kind of messy, but that's it off to the right.  

    Lots of good conversation has happened around this table.  We don't use it very often because most of the time we eat our dinner on the coffee table in the living room.  But when we have people over we all eat here.  I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner on 11-11-11 and had 6 people over for a full course meal all made from scratch.  I even cooked a turkey!  It was exhausting.  I don't think I'll ever do it again all on my own, ha.  I also had 7 girls over for a green themed St. Patrick's party with green EVERYthing which was so fun!  I love hosting people and making all the food.  When Tyler's grandma was in the hospital and very, very sick she said the one thing she wished she would have eaten was lobster.  Grandma got better and we had a seafood boil at our house, with lobster for her!  We spread newspaper all over the table and dumped crab legs, potatoes, corn, and sausage in the middle.  It was delicious! 



















    The exposed brick in the kitchen is really cool, and the countertops double as a cutting board.  I never had a gas range before this house and I'm in love!  Our new house has an electric stove and it'll be hard to adjust.  The curtain was made by yours truly and I'm not great at sewing so they're definitely crooked.  I just adjust the curtain rod and everything's ok :). 




    This room is off of the kitchen where I've made said curtains, and notice the blank canvas?  I once heard someone say that 'The best piece of art I ever made was the one still in my head.'  That is how I feel!  I have all these ideas of what to do with that canvas but don't know which to choose from.  I'm also so critical of my work that it seems to always look better in my head... my high school art teacher would kill me for saying all that!  The sewing machine table is from Genoa Central High School - my Meemaw got it from their home ec room, and it's made our way around the family and into my house.  This machine was in their old high school, where my dad went, before it was demolished to build a bigger school (for the buzzing metropolis of Genoa, Arkansas).




    I'm slightly obsessed with bare trees.  And there's a peek at our bedroom!
     
    Even though our grass needs mowed, bushes need trimmed, and our garden is out of control... I love this backyard.  I especially love when we put the cushions on the patio furniture and light the chiminea.  Some of my most relaxing nights have involved a wonderfully cooked meal, a bottle of wine, and relaxing with Tyler on our patio sitting around the fire.  It's perfect in the fall.  Our new house has a massive back deck so we can still enjoy doing that!  I love that this house is in the middle of Springfield but yet it's so quiet here, and the privacy fence allows me to feel like no one else is around.

    This isn't our first house, technically.  We bought a duplex right about 6 months after we got married and remodeled both sides.  We didn't look on the market for a duplex to remodel; it fell into our laps and we took the opportunity.  After 3 years of being married, we moved out of the duplex and into this house.  I consider this house our "first", since we actually looked for a house on the market and found it (actually, Tyler found it first through Facebook!) and it's been a great first house.  We kept our duplex and currently rent our both sides through our property manager, and we will either sell or rent this house too.  If we rent it, our property manager will just take over and manage everything.  I hope the people love and take care of it, it's a great place to live!

    Saturday, September 22, 2012

    Week 18 - Baby B is a...

    BOY!!!


    We are so excited!!!!  I can't believe it-- I was sure I would have a baby girl, I even dreamed of raising a girl and we had our girl name picked out.  We had our ultrasound today (Tuesday) and it was so cool.  HE is a mover and a shaker even though I can only feel him every once in awhile.  Everything looked good.  The coolest thing for me was seeing the spine and ribs, and you could see each chamber and valve of the heart which was beating at 146 bpm.  The ultrasound was pretty long and I was glad because I love watching him move around and breathe.  He was moving all over the place.  I never really know what's going on inside of me anymore so it was great to see it on a screen!  The technician was very detailed and thorough, he is measuring normal on everything.  Baby B is very photogenic, the technician said.  Of course he is, he's beautiful! ;) We have lots of profile pictures (they're printed on 8.5x11 paper or I'd try to put them on here) and he's so cute!  Except the alien face we saw... creepy.  But everything else was cute.  I can already tell he has big muscles and is very smart.

    I had my 4 week check up on Thursday, everything is normal with Baby B!  Heart, lungs, kidneys, stomach, etc.  Awesome.  I weighed in at a whopping 132 pounds, so the doctor put me on a diet of 2,000 calories a day.  He said it's rare for him to tell pregnant women to eat more!  I'm not trying to not gain weight I just eat when I'm hungry... apparently I need to be hungry more often.  Baby is growing and measuring fine but I'm just not putting on weight.



    • How far along? 18 weeks
    • Total weight gain? Still in the negative... -6.  Doctor said that at 20 weeks they expect women to gain 5-10 pounds and I'm at 132.  That means that in 2 weeks I need to gain 11 pounds to be considered "on track" but I really don't see that happening!
    • Stretch marks? No.
    • Sleep? Sleeping just fine with lots of pillows around
    • Best moment this week? Seeing our baby boy move around and breathe.. it is the coolest thing.  Just knowing that he's developing normally and healthy is a blessing!
    • Miss anything? I get the urge to workout but I feel like working out will help me lose weight and I don't want to do that.  Maybe I should try working out but I feel like if I don't gain weight next time my doctor will get mad at me :).
    • Movement: Yep!
    • Food cravings: I haven't craved much this week.  Just eating normally.
    • Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope.. I'm almost over my cold, finally!
    • Showing?  Yes
    • Gender: Boy!!
    • Labor signs: No
    • Belly button in or out: In... but I can tell it's wanting to come out soon... aahhh
    • Wedding rings on or off?  On.
    • Happy or moody most of the time? This week was emotional but I think I was mostly happy.
    • Looking forward to: Getting our current house on the market and hopefully selling or renting it soon.
    • Baby's fruit size: Mango
      AND today is me and the hubs 5 YEAR anniversary!!!  It doesn't seem like it's been that long but it sure has been a crazy 5 years.  I wouldn't trade it for the world, we've been blessed by God and I'm glad we get to spend the rest of our lives together!

      Sunday, September 16, 2012

      Week 17

      This week was exhausting and I think it was due to our negotiating with the house.  We did end up buying it but it was mentally tough for me!  We close October 8.  I'm so excited!  Also I had to start testing my kids this week and it takes so long to do one test with a kid, then the rest of the kids are on their own basically- and they're 5.  So you can imagine how well that goes.  I've tried different methods (like only having each kid answer 1 or 2 questions each time they come see me at my desk) but it's just all taking forever.  Can't wait until all that's over!  But as soon as one assessment is done, another starts.  ANYway... I took a picture today (Sunday) which is technically my 18th week but oh well.  It's my friend Ashley and I at her shower, poor Ashley- her baby is already almost 7 pounds and she is due October 24!!  She won't last that long I hope. 

      • How far along? 17 weeks
      • Total weight gain? We don't have a scale at home so I'll have to wait until my appointment this week to find out.
      • Stretch marks? No.
      • Sleep? Still sleeping well, and wanting to do a lot of that lately.
      • Best moment this week? Tyler and his family put a new front deck on the front of our current house.  It's so nice!
      • Miss anything? Taking medicine- still have a cold. My kids at school say "I'm really sad that your voice is leaving.", I also miss doing hot yoga and I wish I could play on an indoor volleyball league.
      • Movement: Yeah!  At first it made me queasy but now I think it's kinda cute.
      • Food cravings: Rice Krispies cereal with milk. 
      • Anything making you queasy or sick? Still the cold/allergies.
      • Showing?  Yes
      • Gender: We'll know SOON!
      • Labor signs: No
      • Belly button in or out: In in in
      • Wedding rings on or off?  On.
      • Happy or moody most of the time? I think this week I've been moody.  Tyler would probably agree.
      • Looking forward to: Our ultrasound appointment, still!
      • Baby's fruit size: Onion... Baby B has fingerprints now :)

      Saturday, September 8, 2012

      Week 16

      16!  And I need to clean my mirror.  
      This week was the first time that someone who didn't know I was pregnant said, "Do you have a baby bump?" (This was a bold move on their part, thank goodness I was actually pregnant) so YAY! for having a belly bump!  I'm feeling much better and haven't thrown up, except now I think I'm getting a cold or something.  Maybe it's from all the kids or the weather but I think I could chop off my head and be ok.  Today was a big week though- we put an offer on a house in Ozark!  It's right down the road from our friends Brian and Ashley so that would be really cool.  The house is nice too.  If it works out I'll put pictures on here!

      I've found a few questions to use weekly and keep track of things, so here's the first round:


      • How far along? 16 weeks
      • Total weight gain? I've been using my weight from my checkups as "official" weight gain and so far I've lost 7 pounds.  Hoping to see bigger numbers on the scale on the 20th!
      • Stretch marks? No.
      • Sleep? I've been sleeping well!  I use 3 pillows, one under my head, one under my back, and one between my legs.  Usually on my left side.
      • Best moment this week?  Putting in an offer on the house with Tyler!  I'm excited for us!
      • Miss anything? Taking cold medicine when I have a cold.  Except I do take one Benedryl at night and it knocks me out.  Don't worry, it's on my 'safe medicine' list from the doc!
      • Movement: I think I felt Baby B move???  I was in the car driving to church and I felt something weird in my stomach and it made me kind of nauseous.  
      • Food cravings: Baked potatoes, plain with butter and salt.
      • Anything making you queasy or sick? umm just this cold right now!
      • Showing?  Yes, finally!  I like to wear high belts above my belly to accentuate it.
      • Gender: We go in for an ultrasound on the 18th.  Tyler will look at the whole ultrasound and find out what the sex is, but I am choosing to wait and be surprised at our gender reveal party on the 22nd.  That will be a tough 4 days!
      • Labor signs: uh, no.
      • Belly button in or out: In!!!  I think outies are gross and I hope mine waits a long, long time until it becomes an outie.
      • Wedding rings on or off?  On.
      • Happy or moody most of the time? Happy
      • Looking forward to: Our ultrasound appointment!
      • Baby's fruit size: lemon baby!

      Week 15

      I've got a little belly!  Able to eat more.  Still able to wear my normal clothes except my jeans.  Didn't throw up at all this week, yay!!  I've been eating a LOT of pickles lately.  I love them. 

      I think this dress makes me look bigger than I am, but it's still cute!

      Week 14

      Not sure what to do with my hands...
      Haha!  The ice cream cone makes this even better.



      Still barely showing, but I'm able to eat a little more!  Only threw up once this week.  I went to the OBGYN Thursday and heard the heartbeat-- very strong!  Beating at about 160bpm.  I tell people this and they immediately say it's a girl!  It was really cool to hear the heartbeat.  Baby B is doing great.  AND I gained a pound since my last visit.  131.  Still 7 pounds down but I saw the nurse practitioner and she said everything was ok and I shouldn't worry about not being able to gain weight, that it'll come within the next few weeks.

      Week 13

      First week of school!  Kids aren't here until Thursday but inservice is before.  Feeling better but still not able to eat much.  Only threw up once this week!  My first day of school this year was considerably better than last year.  I haven't told the kids I'm pregnant yet, but I've told my kids from last year because they've come by to say hi every day and check to see how big my belly is getting.  They're excited!

      I didn't take a picture this week.  Oops.  But you're not missing much!

      Friday, September 7, 2012

      Week 12

      Trying really hard to look pregnant!
      Sympathy belly.

      Finally starting to show a little!  It just looks like I need to lay off the donuts.  Bought some maternity jeans and they're AWESOME and feel so much better than my other jeans.  I'm way overdue for a hair appointment, my roots are horrible.  Doctor said I couldn't get one until week 12 so I scheduled one this week.  Open house for Kindergarten is on the 9th so I'll be busy working in my room all week.  Starting to feel better!  Craving grape juice and pickles.


      This picture was taken right after said hair appt., right before I went out with my friends Emily and Staci for fondue!

      Week 11

      This is the frame in the video.
      Told Debbie and Terry (Tyler's parents) at a Saturday morning breakfast, gave them a picture frame- very exciting!!  Told the rest of the family too, relieved that people can finally know!  Starting to feel a little better at this point, still throwing up occasionally.  On Tuesday of this week I went to Eureka Springs with mom.  It was a fun trip.  She made me get up and walk around, which I hadn't been doing because I felt so bad.  I needed it though (thanks mom!).  You have to walk up and down so many hills in that town!  I think we walked up every one.  I started to eat better there.  Not full meals, but close.  We went to have a spa day but they couldn't massage me since I wasn't 12 weeks pregnant.  Sad day!  But we didn't let it get us down, still had fun.  It was nice hanging out with mom and getting an energy boost. 

      Week 10

      Had my first pregnancy appointment this week.  I weighed in 8 pounds less than a month ago, at 130.  We got to have an ultrasound, Tyler was there too.  Saw little Baby B moving around everywhere in my uterus!!  Arms and legs were flapping and kicking, it was awesome.  We got a picture.  Still haven't told Missouri family at this point.  So excited that our baby has lived through almost the whole first trimester!
      Baby B has it's head to the right and feet to the left (in the air- kicking), it's looking up.  

      Week 9

      Not much has changed.  Same old feeling crappy.  I had to sing at church Wednesday night and it was exhausting.  Still can't eat much.

      Week 8

      Resting/recovering from Mexico.  Still sick feeling.  Can't eat much.  I don't look pregnant so I haven't taken very many pictures.  Loving grape juice, goldfish, and pretzels.  I told my parents we were pregnant this week but swore them to secrecy.  They were very excited!
      I didn't think 2 months pregnant would look like this!

      Week 7

      Before we got pregnant we signed up to go on a mission trip to El Zorrillo, Mexico to build houses.  Since no one knew I was pregnant it'd be weird if I didn't go, plus I felt like a challenge (in retrospect, that was dumb!).  We went a few days early before Mexico and stayed in San Diego for a short vacation, it was fun!  I threw up every morning but it was still fun to hang out with Tyler.  I wish I could have been able to eat more because the food was so good, but oh well.  I knew I needed to eat what I could before I went to Mexico and the menu wasn't as large.  One day we went to Laguna Beach and hung out with his great aunt and uncle, it was their anniversary and they insisted we eat dinner with them that night at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Beach.  For being "the Ritz", Tyler and I weren't overly impressed with the food but the meal was still pretty good.  It was great to catch up with those two.  I have a whole separate couple of pages dedicated to San Diego that I could post telling everything we did but that would make this post really long, so I'll spare you. 

      Our view from the side of the mountain into the town of El Zorrillo.
      Mexico was tough.  We camped in tents by the ocean.  Very thankful that we had an air mattress.  The septic systems didn't allow toilet paper to be flushed so you had to put it in trash cans beside the toilet.  This made the bathrooms smell horrible- now factor in that I am super sensitive to smells and it's ten times worse!!  I wasn't able to eat much, still.  Survived on PB&J's.  The first day I went out to the jobsite which was literally on the side of the mountain and worked but I got exhausted.  I remember sitting on the side of the mountain thinking to myself, "where is a place I can throw up so no one will know" because if any liquid spilled it ran down the side of the mountain.  That night we told Joe Bever (from our church who we went with) and he said I should try to work with the ladies on the food crew.  I did.  Much better.  Those ladies took care of me, let me rest, made sure I didn't get too hot, etc.  It was so nice to have them there!!  I was very thankful for them.  I was also very ready to go home after that trip.  Tyler really enjoyed it but I'm not sure if I'll go back, the ratio of physical labor to interaction with people was not equal, weighing more on the labor side.  Tyler had a great time because that's right up his alley, but I prefer to talk to people more when I'm on a mission trip.  Also it very well could be that I didn't enjoy the trip because I was sick the whole time!! :)

      Wednesday, September 5, 2012

      Week 6

      My lack of eating is getting worse.  It's been 2 weeks since I've had a meal, and I've been snacking on anything that sounds remotely appetizing.  I do get hungry but can only eat a few bites then I feel full (because of the bloating).  When I drink carbonation (Sprite or ginger ale) to help with my nausea, it hurts my gas situation.  I get nervous to eat in front of people because I don't want them to comment on my lack of eating.  It's exhausting being "on" and acting like everything is normal in front of friends, because they don't know I'm pregnant and sick.  I have to nap after hanging out with people!  Also I've developed a super strong sense of smell and hearing.  Going to the grocery store is tough with all those smells!

      Week 5

      So up until this point I had been wake boarding, doing hot yoga 4 times a week or more, and just having a fun summer out of school.  Week 4, the week I found out I was pregnant, was easy and I felt totally fine.

      In week 5 my body started to hate me.
      I started to feel nauseous a lot of times, not just in the morning.  I got some Preggie Pops for it and started drinking ginger ale.  Not only was I nauseous but I was extremely bloated and gassy.  This combo caused me to not be able to eat very much.  I wouldn't even feel hungry, food was the last thing I wanted.  I started taking prenatal vitamins, but they all made me sick.  I threw up every day.

      Back in March, I had scheduled an appointment to see the OBGYN on June 28.  I went in thinking I would just tell them 'oh by the way I'm pregnant' and they'd just adjust- not so.  I told them I was pregnant and they said 'well that's a whole different appointment, you'll have to reschedule'.  Ah!  I really wanted to visit with my doctor for 3 reasons- 1, I had a lot of questions, 2, I just wanted to meet him, and 3, I was going to Mexico in 2 weeks and had LOTS of questions about that.  I ended up meeting him, thank goodness, and he is the BEST!  I'm so thankful that he's going to be taking this journey with me and Tyler.  At that checkup I weighed 138 pounds.  He said everything I was experiencing was normal, and eased my mind about traveling to Mexico.  I thought 'if this is normal, why do people enjoy being pregnant?!'

      From Book to Blog

      I started keeping a pregnancy journal in a tiny little notebook, but not everyone in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, or wherever else my family is can read that little notebook.  So here's what I've written so far, transferred from book to blog.  The plan is to post every week from now on so hopefully I can keep you updated weekly!

      Here's how our story begins...

      Towards the end of April, Tyler and I started talking about starting a family.  It was kind of a "hey what do you think about this" sort of thing, and we were kind of thinking hmm ok I think that would be something I'm interested in :) April passed, and May arrived... the discussions kept happening.  I remember feeling really happy when we had the "yes we are trying" discussion and I remember wanting the baby to happen soon, since we had decided to start trying!  In order for this child conceiving not to consume me, I had to adjust my mindset -- I knew people who tried for years to have children and I didn't want that to happen to us.  But I also knew that in my past, God's timing was perfect.  Even when things in my life were horrible, I was able to look back and see how God was working through that time.  So I knew that whenever this baby was supposed to come to us, if at all, it would be in God's time.  If we weren't supposed to have children he would use that in some way.

      But, of course, it would be nice if God's timing lined up with mine since I had an app for keeping track of 'when is the best time to get pregnant' and wanted a winter baby so I could have a few weeks off then come back to school and wrap up the year.  I'm not a planner at all! :)

      On June 16, Father's Day, we woke up to go to church but I decided I was going to take a pregnancy test because my body just didn't feel normal.  While Tyler was in the shower I took the test and it was positive!  I couldn't believe it.  I ran through the house, quietly, because I didn't want him knowing yet. I told Oliver and he was jumping up and down because I was jumping up and down, and I waited for Tyler to get out of the shower (which seemed like forever!).  He got out of the bathroom and here's the conversation:

      Me: Happy Father's Day!!
      T: Whatever. (He thinks I am referring to him being the father of Oliver.  He is our baby you know.)
      Me: Umm.. no really! (then I go to grab the pregnancy test to show him)
      T: Oh my gosh!!  No way!


      Then we hugged and said lots of "I can't believe it happened so fast!" and "Oh my gosh!" since we had just wrapped our minds around the idea of having a family.  We said thanks to God and prayed for our little baby, which I had figured was 4 weeks old.  We. were. so. excited!!!  But... we couldn't tell ANYone!!!  This was so hard!  Angie (Barnes) asked me at church that day if I was pregnant.  Talk about a sixth sense!  We wanted to wait until after we had an ultrasound to tell people about our pregnancy.  I hadn't been sick so far, and my mom and sister said they never got sick, so I thought pregnancy would be a breeze.

      We went to Big Cedar for the weekend, this is my one month picture!
      Yeah right!