Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Show and Tell Tuesdays: Baby Names

Today I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals for Show and Tell Tuesdays. She hosts this link up with different prompts every other Tuesday throughout this year!

Tell us how you picked your kids' names (or how you got yours!)

Naming children is a little tricky for me. I have this policy that (unless they're named after someone...) we cannot know anyone else by that same name. As you can imagine that's a little hard and even more difficult because I taught daycare for a long time and had lots of little girls and little boys with a variety of names come through my classes! 

When we named Cora, I pretty much let John pick the name and I exercised my veto power! Her name is Coralie Elizabeth. Elizabeth is for my mom, I told him I wanted to name our first daughter after my mother (who passed away several years ago) and that I didn't care if it was her first name or middle name. John came up with Coralie all on his own, he presented me with several ideas, I tossed in a few ideas but in the end this is what we decided on (and he picked it)! It took me a long time to decide I was for-sure okay with the name, we had weeks and weeks of practicing the name out at home when I talked about the baby. I was worried that she would be born and I wouldn't be able to see my baby as a "Coralie" but I really feel like the name fits her well! Once I let him know that I was happy with the name and that we could go ahead and make her name art we hired a girl in our office named Cora Leigh. I'd literally never met a Cora much less a Cora Leigh before and here was one in the flesh and blood! By this time I had poured hours into making her string art name decoration and John was very attached to the name so I got over it! Fortunately I like work Cora and she's a sweet girl so there isn't any negative imagery with the name for me.


For Baby Girl #2, we aren't announcing her name until she is born. Or at least that is the plan as of now. The naming process was very much the same though! I provided a couple of family names I wanted John to consider, we agreed on one without a doubt and then it was just a matter of picking a middle name. In very similar fashion, he picked the middle name and after several weeks of practicing the name (hashing out spelling) and trying it out I agreed it felt right!


One day down the road if the Lord blesses us with a boy, his name is a given! John Benjamin Lewis V! Since I get absolutely no say in the name department for our first son (which I've known since early on in dating John so I'm cool with it) I have insisted that he go by Benjamin or Ben because it seems far too confusing to have two Johns' living in the same house!



Monday, April 13, 2015

Baby Lewis #2 (Week 25 & 26)

I almost feel like I'm being silly updating on the pregnancy because in many ways I don't feel like I have much to say. Then I wonder how that is possible considering the last time I updated was for weeks 12-14 and now I'm in my 26th week of pregnancy! 

Date:
4/13/15

How far along?:
I'm 26 weeks in, over half way and we now have a viable baby!

My baby is the size of a:
Eggplant or Cucumber!

Symptoms:
I'm getting bigger? Really pregnancy is very easy right now and I'm so very grateful for that!
I seem to be starting to wake up a little more frequently at night, but not too bad and I think that is mostly because of pelvic pain when trying to roll over. I've been to the chiropractor once a week for the past two weeks and that has helped greatly! I'm still having some pelvic pain, but I mean - I'm pregnant so comfort isn't easy to come by.

I don't have any new stretch marks, just the scars from the past pregnancy but this pregnancy doesn't seem to be bothering them any.

I'm not swelling that I can tell, but between weight loss and such I actually can't wear my wedding band any more because it's too loose!

Last night (26 weeks) I had my first night of Braxton Hicks contractions. I've had another couple of them today. I'm drinking lots of water just to make sure that dehydration isn't the cause of the contractions. I remember having BH contractions in the early 3rd trimester last time but I don't remember an exact week so I assume it's okay that I have them right now.
 
Weight Gain:
I'm up 2 pounds from my last check in with the Midwife, but I'm still down 7 overall.

Gender:
It's a girl! We're quite confident in that, since having our initial gender sonogram we have had 2 more sonograms and a blood test that confirmed gender 100%! I'm really quite excited for Cora to have a sister!

Maternity Clothes:
I am wearing Maternity Clothes, I'm also on my second size up maternity/nursing bra for this pregnancy.

Movement:
She is quite the wiggle worm! She is breech which I don't remember Cora being at this point, it seems like she went head down & stayed there! Since baby girl is breech the movement is all lower and her kicks are honestly a little uncomfortable. Nothing awful, just unpleasant.

Sleep:
I'm sleeping pretty well still, see above.

Cravings/Aversions:
I'm not really adverse to any foods. I generally crave Mexican food, Chinese food on occasion. Something that's the same as with Cora's pregnancy, I'm craving Monster Energy drinks and adult beverages. I don't partake in either of those on a regular basis when not pregnant, I think it's just a fruit of the forbidden tree type thing making it so alluring while pregnant.

The other day I mentioned to John in passing that I was craving wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. Cora and I laid down for a nap and he was gone when we woke up. He went all the way back into Denton and got me wings! I was a crying mess over food!

 I miss:
I don't think I miss much right now! I'm getting big enough that it's getting tricky to move and do certain things, so I do kind of miss having the ability to lift or do certain things for myself but nothing too awful!

Best moment this week:
I haven't heard from my Midwife which means I passed my 1 hour glucose screening! Yay for no Gestational Diabetes!!
Going to the chiro was also a big deal! I've been feeling like I need to make a visit for a while now, after seeing the benefits last time I am a huge advocate of chiropractic care in pregnancy but we just switched to not cruddy insurance as of April 1 so now we can actually afford for me to go #reallife #beinganadultisnofun

Quite possibly the worst picture ever... but I went to our local Birth Network Meeting and by sheer luck was running on time! For being one of the first people there I won a Belly Casting Kit! I can't wait to do a belly cast this time! I have no idea how I want to decorate it, but I figure I can deal with that after pregnancy but I can't cast after baby comes.

Goals for the upcoming week:
Ugh. Well we are finally in our house, but the list is never ending and it just seems to be raining issues right now (not just with the house, but life in general). John's commuting car is having issues, but so far no luck diagnosing those issues so that will need to be addressed ASAP. We just replaced the breaks and rotors on the van so I'm feeling rather put-out by yet another car maintenance/repair but it's the first issue the car has given us (or the van with the breaks) so I can't really complain. My pocketbook is just feeling a little bruised these days.

This next week we have to address the issues with the car, clean out the van (because it's driving me bonkers!), I need to repair a toilet, finish digging a trench to repair a water leak in the front yard, repair the dripping shower. My room for the week is going to be the Kitchen and our Master Bathroom for cleaning and putting away and dealing with issues. Cora and Baby Girl's room is needing a few hours of attention as well.


Nesting:
~ I'm officially starting to freak out a little about how much has to be done before baby gets here. Pretty sure John is too. The nesting list and house repair list is really long! I realize it won't all get finished before she gets here so now I'm just trying to prioritize and pick which projects are the most important to deal with before July.
~ We have picked out a baby book! I've done a couple of pages in it so far but I'm trying really hard to keep my attention on finishing Cora's so she'll actually have a complete book before I get started on this baby's.
~We have a name! We've actually had it for a while, I've officially given John the go-ahead that I'm for sure good with this name (first and middle) and we've started on name art! We'll announce in a few weeks. She is a name-sake so we'd like to tell the person she is named after in person!
~ I got several things we needed for her from a consignment sale last month and again over the last two weeks! There are some items on the "nice to have" list that I'd still like to pick up here and there (like a double stroller) but I'm not too worried about any of it. All the essentials are purchased (or we already had them...).
~We ordered her coming home outfit! We thought it would be fun for Baby Girl and Cora to have matching Big and Little Sis outfits so I commissioned some from a friend who just opened a shop on Etsy! I can't wait to share them!

Belly Pictures:




Past Pregnancy:
25 Weeks with Cora
and playing catchup if you're curious...
22 weeks with Cora

I have gone back and forth deciding if I even want to talk about this or record it (because really these bump-date updates I'm doing for my future self and for my girls for when they're older and wonder about my pregnancies) but I've decided that it was a big enough deal in our lives that I should mention it.

When we went for our 20 week anatomy scan baby girl presented with a Choroid Plexis cyst on the brain. In days past, really decades past, a CPC (CP Cyst) was cause for concern for genetic abnormalities such as Trisomy 18 or 21. Really anymore, they consider it a "soft marker" for those conditions really more as a precaution than anything because in both cases there are almost always other physical characteristics of the condition and CP Cysts can occur naturally as the brain forms. Even armed with this information (and she didn't present with any other alarming issues) we were still nervous. We were referred to a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist OB in Plano (so a different one than we saw associated with CF testing for us during Cora's pregnancy), she did a Level 2 Sonogram 10 days after the original sono and by then the CP Cyst(s) had cleared up! She saw no other indicators that we needed to be alarmed but just for peace of mind since the "soft markers" had appeared we now could justify to insurance the need to do a Free Cell DNA test (testing baby's DNA that flows in my blood, so no risks to baby like there would be with an amnio). So now we know with 100% certainty that she does not have any of the conditions tested and is in fact a girl!

We got an extra sonogram out of the deal (and what I'm sure will be a very expensive doctors visit when that bill finally finishes processing through our cruddy insurance of old) and I thought it was fun that Dr. Koster even mentioned that our daughter has very defined muscles in her thighs! I've always had rather strong thighs even when I'm in my worst shape, so I thought this was an interesting little tid-bit.




Monday, April 6, 2015

Count Down to Baby #1 {22 Weeks}

For posterity sake I wanted to post this. I wrote out many more bump updates than I actually published for Cora. Usually because I was too busy or tired to take pictures of my growing bump in the first trimester and I usually wouldn't post if I didn't have the picture. It's been fun for me to look back at these posts from my pregnancy with her verses baby #2. 
 
 
Date: June 19, 2013

Due Date: Still set for October 22 - we'll get that confirmed when we finally get our 20 week anatomy scan in a week.

How far along?:  22 Weeks & 1 day!

Weight Gain: Overall, none - I've gained back all that I had lost from my 1st trimester vomit-escapades, but I haven't gained any over my pre-pregnancy weight!

My baby is the size of a:  Papaya (I can't get over how big that is?!? - they're really more referring to the length, but still!!)

Maternity Clothes: I can still fit into a few larger t-shirts but that's it for non-maternity clothes.

Stretch Marks:Yes - I have the same 3 that popped up out of no where early on in the pregnancy. :(

Belly Button In or Out: Out and quite uncomfortable when touched or bumped into things.

Wedding Ring on or off: On & loose - not too much swelling so far!


Symptoms: Some round ligament pain where baby is pushing really hard on my lower belly but other than that not much!! The second trimester is great! :)

Cravings: The other day I was certain that I would DIE if I did not have Ramen noodles & apples with caramel dip. I generally don't crave much out of the ordinary and am not eating too terribly much more than normal, so that was less than fun to feel like the crazy pregnant lady who HAD to have a food!

The husband was very sweet and stopped off for my food on his way home!

Aversions:Chinese food, granola bars, orange juice, milk... that's it off the top of my head - generally anything that I threw up a bunch in the 1st trimester.

Sleep:I'm getting a minimum of 9 hours a night, I prefer to get 10 but when it's time for bed I'm ready to crash!

I am loving: Planning out the nursery!!

I miss: Swimming in non-chlorinated water and being able to stay outside longer than .25 seconds without thinking I'm melting.

I am looking forward to: Moving in 12 days (but who's counting?) and getting to nest!

I'm freaking out about: Nothing comes to mind.

Best moment this week: John is really getting to feel the kicks when they're strong and we can predict where they'll hit.

Worst moment this week: I'm not yet accustomed to how big my bump is and the added weight it puts in front - so I got a little off balance and took a fairly hard tumble. I'm super sore but I was able to somewhat protect my belly in the fall. After 2 hours of laying still for kick counts I was confident that baby was okay and I went on into work (just very late!).

Emotions: Pretty stable - no random jags of crying. I get grumpy sometimes but I think that's more related to being tired than anything. 

Milestones: We're over half way!! 2 more weeks & we will have a viable baby!! :) :) :)

Movement: Yes! Lots! I can't quite distinguish general movement for rolling or hands etc yet - but can register the movement as the baby and not my tummy grumbling. Kicks are the most distinct.

It's a...:GIRL!!

Exercise: Nothing specific - but we're packing up the house like crazy and I like to think that I can count that as exercise.

Diet: Pretty normal! I generally eat as I did before pregnancy and I don't eat too terribly much more than pre-bump days.

Upcoming Goals: Get moved & start setting up the nursery. Sand down the dresser, paint and put on new hardware for baby's room. Baby Proof the house as we move in. Wash the clothes we have for baby girl and get them into her closet.

Nursery: We've gotten a crib, decided which dresser to use for her room and changing table, now to just move and start setting it all up!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Spring Plans

This spring we have lots of stuff to do around the house and in preparation for the new baby's arrival this summer. That list is really quite impossibly long but I also want us to enjoy this precious time as we enjoy the last days of being a family of three!



So far we're off to a good start on the list and I can't wait to check more off the list and share about all the fun!