Baby Talk- 24 Weeks

24 Weeks!!!

24 weeks is significant to me, because when I was doing my internship,  I spent some time in the NICU and the smallest babies I saw were born at 24 weeks gestation. It is comforting to know that if she was born at this point, she could  have a chance of survival and every week from this point on her chances increase. Of course, I want her to stay and grow another 15-16 weeks or so.Some might think that is weird, but it comforts me. It is a milestone I looked forward to with both of my pregnancies.

I am expecting these next 16 weeks to fly by. However, this weather makes me want to sit inside under the air conditioner until she gets here. 80+ degrees in March is not good for a July due date. I am going to be sitting around half naked, drinking cold drinks, and eating Popsicles, if it continues! Ha! Ha!

This was in my car one day this week. Notice it says it is 87 degrees outside and I have it set for 61 degrees inside. LOL!!!

We had our follow up ultrasound today and everything looked great. Presley is still a girl and weighed 1#10 oz. That is up nearly a pound in 5 weeks. Wow! She cooperated enough to get the measurements we needed and everything looked perfect. There is still one small concern about the amount of amniotic fluid surrounding her they are going to watch closely.  She is a very stubborn and wiggly little girl. The ultrasound tech just kept laughing out loud because she kept kicking the ultrasound wand/thingy so hard!

She said she was also very photogenic today. They were trying to see the chambers of the heart and the next thing I know the tech had switched over to a 3D viewing and snapped some pics of her sweet face for us. We didn't do a 3D ultrasound with Brady and aren't planning on it this time, so it was an unexpected surprise.

She looks so sweet!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 24 weeks

Size of baby: length of an ear of corn

Total Weight Gain/Loss: up about 10 lbs

Clothes: It is about 1/2 regular and 1/2 maternity, maternity are more comfortable most of the time.

Gender: Girl! Presley Lynn Barrett

Movement: Yes!!! Hard kicks! My mom and sister were able to feel and see her move this week.

Sleep: not great, but not terrible. I am managing.

What I miss:   being able to enjoy the nice weather. Between feeling hot and the high pollen, I am not enjoying the weather much. :(

Cravings: not really anything specific.

Symptoms: some leg cramps and being hot, but it isn't too bad unless I get hot, I can NOT cool down.

Best Moment this week: My mom and sisters excitement over feeling her move and the Dr. appointment!

What am I looking forward to: hopefully painting and getting the nursery cleaned out a little more.

Impromptu Picnic

Tuesday, Brady came out of his room with his Thomas the Train lunch box, that we usually store crayons in.

He had emptied and asked if this was his lunch box.

When I told him it was, he immediately got busy filling it with his wunch for the day.

It looked a little like this...

 It included..

2 grapes

2 packs of fruit snacks

an orange(cutie)

2 slices of turkey

a bag of mixed nuts

1 Cars yogurt

a rice krispie treat

a spoon

a Capri sun

He then closed it up and said, "I am ready for my picnic".

Really, how do you say no to that?

You don't!

 We headed outside with a blanket and set up a picnic. Oh and we didn't change out of our pajamas, because, well, we didn't want to.

As soon as we stepped outside, Brady said, "Wow, it is hot out here."

Once we sat down, he said about 15 times, "it sure is nice out today".

We enjoyed our lunch and packed up and came back inside to clean it all up.

It was probably the sweetest moment ever. It is definitely one of my top ten moments with Brady ever. It was just so stinking sweet that he packed up his own lunch and the way he talked while we were eating.

He really is a special little boy. I am not sure why God chose me to be your Mommy, but I am so thankful He did.

Weekend Without Daddy continued

Brady and I stayed at Mom's again, while Amy and Noah went home hoping Noah would sleep a little better.

Sunday morning after church, I helped host a baby shower for our friend Ana and baby Nora.

The mommy to be and all the shower hosts.

Ana is due exactly 10 weeks before me. We are all excited for Presley and Nora to be sweet friends.

We have several friends that have boys the same age as Brady, so it is nice to know that Presley will have the same. :)

drink table

sweet ruffle cake

table centerpieces

opening gifts

some of the bigger gifts

some of the guest reactions. Baby girl showers are so fun!

This picture didn't turn out well, it is so blurry, but I made the poofs. You may remember some of them from the gender reveal party!

Caleb got back around noon or a little before. He and my parents took over with Brady while I helped with the shower.

Brady had ball practice, so Caleb also took him to that and then they came home for the night.(I know I have a wonderful husband!) I helped clean up  the shower and then hung out with my mom until church.

I spent a long time talking after church because I was by myself, a friend was in town I haven't seen in a while, and I didn't have a toddler to watch or get home. It was really nice to get to visit with people and give my full attention!

Caleb and I stayed up way too late talking and sharing about our weekends. It is nice to have some time a part to miss each other and share stories other than work/normal life stuff.

 As tired as I was and as bad as my feet and legs hurt(blame pregnancy), It really was an awesome weekend and I am thankful for every second of it. 

Weekend Without Daddy

Caleb headed out of town Thursday afternoon for the annual men's retreat. He and 3 others went up early to camp and hike Thursday night and all day Friday before everyone else go there. That left Brady and I on our own for the weekend.

We made lots of plans for the weekend without daddy.

 It started Friday morning. We met some friends for a play date at a local indoor swimming pool. Brady had such a wonderful time swimming with his friends for a couple of hours.



After swimming the mommas decided to have lunch at Chuy's. The kiddos were so tired. Grady even fell asleep. We put him in the booth next to us. Ha!!

Brady and I came home. Brady took a nap and I took a shower, cleaned the house a little, and finished packing.  When he woke we headed to my mom's house for the weekend.

My sister and Noah also spent the night on Friday night at Mom's. Amy and Mom were able to see and feel Presley kick. They were pretty excited and they realized I wasn't exaggerating when I say she kicks HARD!!!

 Saturday morning we woke up and Poppy made us pancakes before we headed to the zoo for the day. We had a great time, but pregnancy, 2 toddlers, zoo, and 80 degree weather wore this momma out!

They have a new dino exhibit at the zoo and Noah was so scared. He sat in Brady's lap in the wagon. Ha!!

The dino's were big and scary! They also moved and made noises.

This bird attacked Brady and I . It got stuck in my hair.

Brad said, "It don't wike the birds anymore."

Amy named herself the bird whisperer.

The zebras are never out this close to the people when we are there.

Brady had to have this snake. He loves this snake and will not put it down!

Amy and I had to go decorate for a baby shower after we got back to mom's. We left the boys like this in the chair watching t.v. with Mom. Sweet cousins!

Notice the snake!

  

Baby Talk- 23 Weeks

I am now 24 weeks as of today, however I typed this up earlier this week, but did not have a picture. My sister took this close up belly shot in my bathing suit yesterday, so I thought I would go ahead and post this with the picture. I really didn't want to miss documenting a week. :)

Things are moving right along. I am kind of at the point where I feel like I have forever until she gets here, but I have so much to get done before she is here, which makes me feel like 17 weeks is not that long.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 23 weeks

Size of baby: length of spaghetti squash

Total Weight Gain/Loss: up about 10 lbs

Clothes: It is about 1/2 regular and 1/2 maternity.

Gender: Girl! Presley Lynn Barrett

Movement: yes, this week we have started to see her move from the outside of my belly. It is the weirdest thing. It happens a lot during church service.

Sleep: not great, but not terrible.

What I miss: I guess feeling normal.

Cravings: anything as long as some one else cooks it. :)

Symptoms: same as always, nothing new really

Best Moment this week: Lots of movement

What am I looking forward to: Dr. appointment next week.



We have had a super busy weekend, so expect lots of fun post to come. Also, I will be posting week 24 soon!

Weekend in Pictures.

The phone rang while I was filling up Brady's bath and I got distracted. Brady started yelling something about too much water. Oops!

Brady fell asleep on the way home after storm chasing all day. It may have been more like avoiding, but whatever.

An imaginary baby crocodile joined our family this weekend. Baby crocodile and Brady had to take a bath. Brady asked if I could take his and baby crocodile's picture in the bathtub, so here it is.  Baby crocodile is supposed to be sitting to Brady's left. He has a helmet and a sword in the picture, so I am told.

My sweet boy and me before dinner and a little shopping Saturday night. He always wants a picture with Mama these days.

We went to Olive Garden for dinner on Saturday night. Brady and Caleb entertained themselves by making salad faces. I am not sure which one enjoyed it more.

Sunday, Brady had his first t-ball practice. He was worn out, because he hadn't had a nap that day and it was so so so cold.

He hit the ball well on the tee.

They did some catching drills. I think he was a little bored, because he started wandering around the field. He yelled, "Hey Mom, I am just walking around." to me through the fence.

Then they attempted to run the bases. Brady got trampled once, but just got up and kept running.



The walk to the car and ride home were miserable. Brady cried and whined the entire time. Luckily our house is literally 3 minutes down the road. He didn't understand the taking turns with every one thing and he was so tired. This is sure to be an interesting season!!

That was our weekend in a nutshell. We did a couple other normal things as well, like church and spent some time with family, but that is every weekend stuff. :)

Baby Talk- 22 Weeks

22 Weeks

The weeks are moving right a long. As we enter into Spring, longer days, and a busier time of year, I am thinking that the rest of my pregnancy will go a lot quicker. Spring and Summer seem to do that. I am excited for all the Spring and Summer holds and to welcome our sweet baby in July. With that, I am also left feeling like there is so much to do before she gets here.

I am wearing a maternity shirt in this picture, but regular jeans. I feel like a lot of maternity clothes make me look bigger, because they draw attention to the belly area, but they are usually so much more comfortable. This picture was taken Saturday,which is when I actually roll over to the next week. We went out to eat dinner and while we were waiting several people offered their seat to me while we were waiting. So, I obviously look pregnant now. It was sweet of people. I like to think people are good in general.

I thought about cropping Brady out of the picture, but I love his sweet face. This is how he looks at my belly every day.  

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 22 weeks

Size of baby: length of spaghetti squash

Total Weight Gain/Loss: about 6-8 lbs on my scale. It varies from day to day, based on how many oreos or doughnuts I have eaten the day before. Just kidding, sort of...

Clothes: It is about 1/2 regular and 1/2 maternity.

Gender: Girl! Presley Lynn Barrett

Movement: I feel her throughout the day some, but especially at night. When she moves, she moves big and kicks hard!

Sleep: it seems to have improved lately. I am sleeping pretty good these days.

What I miss: being able to play in the floor with Brady. It is getting increasingly harder and more uncomfortable to get up and down from the floor. Brady will say, "I will wait for daddy to play this, because the floor doesn't hurt him". Sweet boy.

Cravings: Nothing really. Whatever it is, it has to be in small portions.

Symptoms: same as always, nothing new

Best Moment this week: Just seeing how excited Caleb is about having a daughter. He had a meeting at work this week and he had to share a piece of good news. His was his baby girl. He came home and told me all about it. (He isn't one for much details or information, so it was special.)

What am I looking forward to: enjoying time with Brady and planning for our new baby.

Recent Happenings

• The weather has been beautiful recently. Brady has been really big on picking me a flower. His daddy is teaching him young. So sweet!

• We hiked walked to a waterfall on some land my parents bought to sell this past weekend. (My parents are and have been for a long time in the real estate business, so it isn't odd for them to do this.)Brady loved it. We went to the easiest one to get to because we had a preggo and a 3 year old. Ha! The waterfall was pretty, but difficult to get a great picture of.

• Tuesday was National Pancake Day, so we went to IHOP for free pancakes. Brady ate his entire stack of 3 regular size pancakes. The waitress was shocked, he ate them all. I told her he would, he loves pancakes!

Before

After

• Yesterday, we met my sister, Noah, and my grandmother for lunch. Caleb was off so he tagged along. Amy had her husband meet us as well. We all had a good time. I forgot my camera so no pictures.

• After lunch, my grandmother took us and Amy to Wal-mart. She had each family get a cart and said, "O'kay, get what you need, paper towels, laundry detergent, snacks, whatever." It was so nice of her. Brady had no trouble picking out some things. We came home with doughnuts, oreos, Capri Suns, fruit snacks, and Kool-aid packets. Ha Ha! Of course we got some other things as well. She kept telling us we needed to get a little more. It was so nice of her and unexpected. It was a little harder than it sounds because we didn't want to overdo it or get too much.  I am so blessed to have 2 living grandmothers.

• Today they are predicting severe storms and tornadoes in our area. I have never been one to  get real uptight about storms, just aware and cautious at times. However, when Brady was just months old our town got hit by a large tornado and a young mother and her infant baby were killed. Many families we know had severe damage to their homes. Since, I have been a little more scared of storms. It is worse when you have a family anyway. Brady and I are trying to figure out our plan for the day. Well, I am trying to figure out our plan for the day. We don't have a basement or real safe place other than the central bathroom or closet. Hopefully, it won't get as bad as they say.