Getting Anxious.

I am really starting to feel anxious. The days have slowed down and I am more and more ready for him to be here. Anna had told me that towards the end you would just feel ready and wouldn't necessarily worry so much about how much pain you were going to be in. You just wanted him here already. I didn't quite get that til this week. I'm not sleeping because I either have really bad heartburn and can't get comfortable or I'm up to pee twice a night. And besides that I'm just ready to see his face and get to know him outside of the elbow jabs to my right side.

I've been very fortunate to not miss any work (besides the one day that I had to go to the hospital to have my blood pressure checked - BUT I was in the office that morning) and I've been able to save that time for when Brantley gets here...but oh my gosh it is getting harder and harder to get by big butt out of bed every morning. Thankfully, they aren't clock punchers and as long as I am there by 8:30 and tack on the extra time at the end of the day - no one has a problem with it. Doesn't keep me from trying to get there at 8:00, but it just isn't happening.

I heard about a website called Blurb where you can take your blog posts and pictures and turn them in to a book. I'm thinking I'm going to really try to keep this blog as we go through his "first year" and do that at the end of it. What a cool idea. I just need to learn to be more consistent with updating my blog.

Off to bed with this song playing in the background. This was the song we were listening to when we came up with the name for our son. :) Mine and Craig's song. Love it. Love him.

34 weeks 2 days

I'm so anxious for my appointment this week to see what the doctor has to say and see how I am measuring.

Last night I was using Craig as a body pillow with my stomach pressed up against his side (he was laying on his stomach facing the other direction), and I was almost asleep when he said, "Is that him kicking?" I'm so used to that feeling that I didn't realize the future soccer player was hammering against Craig's side. I said, "Yes, do you want me to roll over? Is it keeping you awake?" And he said no. Normally, when I tell Craig to feel him kicking, Brantley stops. That might go down as one of my favorite memories through this pregnancy. It gave Craig a small taste of what I get to experience everyday.

Getting Closer

31 weeks

32 weeks

Being pregnant has been the most amazing experience ever. I say this not even knowing what it is like to have one child yet, BUT I could totally see why people have more than one kid. And I say this for a lot of reasons, all of which are based solely on my pregnancy. The first trimester was not easy. I was pretty much throwing up for the majority of it and at the most inopportune times. But honestly, everything that has come after those first 14 or 15 weeks has totally overshadowed that miserable feeling.

People are so nice when you are pregnant. They make conversation with you. They hold the door for you. Cater isn't the word I want to use, but I can't think of anything better to describe it. People tend to shift towards you when you're pregnant. And let me just say that I all in all I don't think I'm an approachable person. But I guess you put a belly and a waddle on me and I appear to be approachable. I feel like this pregnancy has made me a nicer person. Not to mention all of the compliments - "You're cute as a button." " You're beautiful." "You're all belly." And my favorite one from my husband on Saturday night out to eat dinner, "I think you've gotten prettier since you've been pregnant." Because trust me, there are plenty of days when I can't find anything to wear and I'm looking at how much my body has changed and I don't feel the slightest bit "pretty".

The way my body has changed is a completely different topic. I think everyone has a number in the back of their head that they don't want to hit. I hit mine last week at my doctor's visit and I don't think I freaked out as much as I thought I would. Now, I may be singing a different tune once he is here and I'm trying to get that weight off. But it just seems so minor in compairson to feeling his kicks and getting to know him the way I feel I have. I have welcomed the changes. Everyday, sitting at my desk at work, I can expect for his feet to get up so high it feels like they might reach my throat. And at night when I'm going to bed and I roll over to my left side to fall asleep, I can expect for some sort of temper tantrum that occurs on my right side as he get situated. And in the morning when I wake up, I can feel him snuggled up on my left side. I can't wait to get to know him more once he is here. The closer it gets the more anxious I feel to meet him.

Doing Fine!

This picture was taken last Friday - at 30 weeks. Only 10 more to go!

We had a check up today and everything is looking great. I now start going every 2 weeks since we are getting closer. Which is just crazy to think about. They checked his size and even though I continue to measure bigger (today I measured 34 weeks), they saw in the ultrasound that it's just that I have extra fluid in my uterus. They believe he will be a bigger baby that "average", but the due date is staying the same. I'm feeling really good!

Getting excited about my upcoming baby showers that Anna and her mom are throwing and also the one we are having at work!

I put together a Waffle House softball team. We play on Wednesday nights. When I say "we" I mean the team plays and I act as "team mom". Craig is playing and a couple of the other spouses of people in my department are also. I seriously love my co workers (if I haven't said that enough). Everyone gets along really well. I guess I'm just not used to that. And to everyone's surprise we didn't get slaughtered at our last game. This week will be more of a test. We'll see how it goes! I'll be armed with my team mom responsibilities of Capri Suns and Cracker Jacks.

Welcome to the Third Trimester!

I really had better intentions of keeping up with this blog. But dang, my pregnancy feels like its going by faster than I can keep up with it! My birthday, yesterday, marked the 28th week. Only 12 more weeks to go.

Picture at 27.5 weeks

I had the glucose testing this past week for gestational diabetes. My levels were a little higher than they like to see so they want me to come back this upcoming Friday to do the three hour test. They measure you in centimeters from your pelvic bone to the top of your uterus and the measurement they take should correspond with the number of weeks you are at by plus or minus 2cm. I was measure at 31cm when I was there for my 27 week appointment. So we get to have an ultrasound in three weeks to check his size. The big baby thing scares me but the fact that I get to see him again makes up for it.

He is moving around like crazy and it is such an amazing feeling. There was one night I laid in bed watching my stomach bounce up and down for probably about an hour.

Craig's family threw us a shower at his grandmother's house for Memorial Day weekend and completely spoiled us. It was so nice of them to do that for us. We got loaded up with diapers, LSU onesies, camo gear, lotions, medicine bottles, bottles. Craig's mom spruced up his old rocking chair when he was a kid and painted Brantley's name on it. It looks so great!

Pic from our Louisiana trip - after pigging out on some crawfish.

Speaking of rocking chairs and LSU gear, our kid is already set when it comes to the college football team he will support. Mom had them make this kid's rocker over at Leather Creations. It looks great and I'm sure Brantley will get a lot of use out of it in the next few years!

Today we're off to get as much done on the nursery as possible. Craig and my mom worked their butts off painting it yesterday so I'm ready to hang things up and get everything in place. This talk of a bigger baby or my due date possibly being sooner than August 28th totally has me motivated to get things done.

Hanging out at Dad and June's for my birthday.

Progress on Brantley's room.

24 Weeks.

Brantley is the size of an eggplant this week! About 9 inches long and 1.7 lbs!

The past few weeks I have really felt him kicking. Yesterday morning I was laying in my bed reading my book and I felt him kick against the book that was resting on my stomach. I never would have been able to imagine how cool that feeling would be. I love it. Can't get enough of it.

We celebrated Mother's Day with my family today. We had a good time. And then when Craig and I got home we took a few pictures to mark the 24th week!

Happy Mother's Day, Mama! Love you!

Working at the WaHo

Conversation between me and a co-worker today...


Kristen: John, can you help me look up this invoice and give me a better description of what it was for?
John: (After spacing out on me a few times mid-invoice-look-up.) Sorry about that. I'm operating at like 80% today due to my blood loss.
Kristen: John, you gave blood a week ago. I'm pretty sure you should be back to your old self.
John: I know. But you should know what I'm talking about. I mean, I'm sure you have less energy with all that extra weight you are carrying around.


Ha! If anyone else had said this, I would have totally been offended. But you'd have to know John to understand how innocent it was. I couldn't help but bust out laughing (probably to keep from crying)!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Another funny work story. Today was our controllers birthday celebration. It's tradition to have a dessert for every birthday or anniversary in our department. A cake was ordered from the Great American Cookie Company. In past experiences, you never know what the cake is actually going to say. One time we ordered a cake that was supposed to say, "Happy Birthday Jenny! Sorry Carissa!" (Because Carissa has a hard time turning down cookie cake and she was trying to be good.) When the cake was picked up it said, "Happy Birthday Jenny! Sorry Pariffa." Except "sorry" looked like "sexy". So now Sexy Pariffa is referred to a lot.


The cake today was supposed to say, "Happy Birthday. Here's to 50 more years." (But he's not 50 yet.) This is what came out:

Good times. I love my job. Seriously.

21 weeks

We had a busy week. We picked up and put the little man's furniture together earlier this week. We put on music, grabbed the tools, and had so much fun spending time hanging out and putting our son's furniture together. It was cool to spend time in the room as "Brantley's room" and not the "scrapbook room".

I started fading out at about 10 o'clock when Craig had just started on the dresser. At 12:30 when I heard him finishing up and getting ready to come to bed, I got out of bed to go check it out. He had it set up with the fire truck decorations on top of it. It looks so great. We are still going to paint the walls and there are a lot of other plans I have, but I'm loving it so far!

Today we went and did some serious people watching at the Renaissance Festival. The people watching alone provided enough entertainment to justify the ticket price. It was a good time. I am 21 weeks today and from this point forward we are going to try to be regular about taking pictures. So here are a few we took tonight when we got home...

Halfway There

Saturday marked 20 weeks. We are half way there and only have 20 more weeks before we get to meet the little man. This week Brantley is the size of a banana!

I've worked more this weekend on getting his room cleaned out. We've gotten a few things to decorate his room. I've set them out on the kitchen table to keep reminding me. I think his furniture should come this next week. So I have more work to do. But it will come together! Can you guess what theme we are going with for his room?

Crazy to think that this is the same house my parents brought me home to almost 27 years ago. And crazy to think that the room I'm working like crazy to clean out and get ready for him, is the same room I spent the first seven years falling asleep in every night.

Definitely a Boy!

There was no denying it! We found out Monday that we are having a little boy. Can't even begin to tell you how excited we are. When this picture flashed up on the screen, we instantly knew.

Craig and I have decided on a name, Brantley James Culberson. Craig and I have "our" song called Whenever We're Alone that a country singer from Georgia, Brantley Gilbert, sings. I don't know that he is that well known right now, but we love his music. So that is where Brantley came from. And James is a family name for both of us. So he has a little bit of Craig's dad, my grandfather, and my uncle all wrapped up into one. It's funny because we had the boy name picked out fairly soon but we've been struggling with the girl names. We finally just decided not to think about it much until we knew what we were having. :)

I go back for another ultrasound on the 3rd of May to check up on him and make sure he's doing alright. Looking forward to seeing him again!

Found a quote that I think I am going to get vinyl lettering done in for the wall in his nursery...
"He was the tiniest thing I ever decided to put my whole life into."

Craig and I booked our cabin for our anniversary weekend in a few weekends. Can't believe we are coming up on our four year anniversary and that it will also be our last one where we just have ourselves and some pups to care about. We're so excited and ready for the next chapter in our lives, but definitely makes moments like these worth really taking in more than before.

Food Aversions

Never again will I eat chicken nuggets and Velveeta shells and cheese. Not separate and definitely not together.

18 weeks

I am 18 weeks today. Time is going by really fast. It is hard to believe that I am a few weeks away from being at the half way point. I'm starting to feel more pregnant and less like a fatty. Monday, April 5th, we find out what we are having. We are so ready to know! Last weekend I went shopping for some maternity work pants and Kohl's gave me a $10 coupon for baby apparel. I mean, it was free money! So even though I didn't know the sex of the baby yet, I still had to go use the coupon (it expires two days before we are supposed to find out)! Duh. Craig and I have both had dreams of it being a boy, so I went ahead and got a couple of onesies and saved my receipt. The girl clothes are so darn cute though. I won't mind exchanging for some pink.

I have been having some of the CRAZIEST dreams. I've had the same one where I lose my teeth three times now. The first time it was one tooth. The last time I lost three or four of them. I've read (through my Googling abilities) that this is a common dream among pregnant women. I also (with my Googling abilities) found that it means that I going through a time of big change and I am apprehensive about it. Really, you think? I had another dream where our department at work was going to a conference and I got left behind.

I have started cleaning out what used to be my scrapbook room. But it seems like no matter how many storage containers I fill up, I barely put a dent in the massive amounts of stuff. Right now it looks like a tornado has gone through it.

So this is the before...


After picture to come in the next few months.

So I'll update next Monday on what we are having. So excited!!

So I just spent some time reading the "Month Four" chapter in my What To Expect When You're Expecting book and I'm a little shocked I am already in the fourth month. The first three months have flown by.

I had a random craving tonight for a sesame bagel with cream cheese for dinner. So I made a trip to Dunkin Donuts (where I learned the life story of the sweetest girl working the drive-thru). For the last few weeks (since our mini snow storm) I've been wanting a chicken cheese hoagie from Philly Connection. So Sunday I trucked it to Snellville to pick it up for lunch. Came home, laid it out on my plate wth some chips, went in the living room, laid it on the ottoman to open the blinds, and turned around to find Sadie (my sweet little puppy who can do no wrong...until now) chomping down on the half of the sandwich she swiped off of my plate and on to the floor. We had a heart to heart and she spent a good portion of the day in her pen. And aside from my fast food trips, my other cravings are orange juice, milk, popcorn, bananas, strawberries, and orange creamsicles.

I had an appointment a couple of weeks ago. Craig was sick and stayed home from work so my mom went with me. We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. It was great. My next appointment is March 19th. And then we should be able to find out the sex of the baby at the next appointment after the 19th (if I don't talk Craig into going to one of the 3D places ahead of time). Can't wait to find out what we are having!

And because I don't like posting without a picture and because I don't have any baby related pictures to post, I'm posting this (more for me to remember the story behind it)...
My immediate supervisor is on maternity leave for the next few weeks. We have close out every 28 days. After a week of close out, my main jobs become paying rents to our landlords and reconciling balance sheet items. When my supervisor was there she put cute little notes on my recon folders after checking them, a lot of them including smiley faces.

When Jenny went out on maternity leave I started giving my recons to Mike, the controller, to review. I asked him if he would continue to put smileys on my recons (I know, I know, I am so professional!) and it has been a topic of conversation ever since (mainly with a big fat NO as an answer to that question). This is what I came in to this Monday morning and it made me crack up! I am so blessed to have a job that I love so much!

The First Purchase

These little booties were my first and I think only baby purchase so far. Ashley, my sister-in-law and I had gone shopping on New Year's Day in Louisiana. We went into a children's store to get Briley, my niece, some new bows. So, when we came across these I couldn't help but buy them. They look huge but really they only fit on my first two fingers.

Getting closer and closer to being out of the first trimester and I am really looking forward to that! My nausea is getting better and this excites me! It comes in waves but nothing like it was for the first few weeks.

We have our next appointment on the 17th and we'll hopefully be able to hear the heartbeat at this one. At our last appointment we saw the heartbeat and it was amazing. The ultrasound technician was so sweet and patient. I told her that my favorite part about it was to watch the little pumping of the heart on the screen and she stayed at that angle for a while just letting me watch.

Our close out at work begins tomorrow and this next week 'til the appointment should be busy. Hopefully, the time will pass quickly. My supervisor at work just went out on maternity leave so I'll be flying solo at work for my first close out all by myself. Should make for an interesting (and busy) week!

I'll be sure to update after our next appointment!

We're Having a Baby!

New chapter in our lives calls for a new blog. Because I have a feeling things are about to get a lot more exciting!

December 28, 2009: After a round of pregnancy test earlier in the week that neither told me yes or no, I asked Craig to stop at Target on our way home from celebrating Christmas at my dad's. We picked up dog food and a three pack of pregnancy tests while Craig complained about how much they cost. Once we were home I made a bee line for the bathroom. It didn't take long for the second faint line to appear and me to come rushing out of the bathroom, voice cracking, hands shaking, as I asked him to confirm that was a second line I was seeing. Two more pregnancy test later (three total) and I still wasn't completely convinced.

January 25, 2010: Our first ultrasound appointment and the first time I've been convinced there really is this little person growing inside of me. This little thing that we created, with a crazy fast heartbeat, and little visible tiny fingers. At 9 1/2 weeks we got a clear shot of it's little hand up next to his/her face. (See below.) Quite possibly the most amazing experience of my life.



Crazy how two little lines showing up on a stick you just peed on can change your world so quickly! :) We are so excited about what is to come and hope to use our blog as a way of sharing it with our families. So stay tuned and check back. I'll be updating as we go along.