30 Weeks

Well, it has most definitely been a while since I last updated! 7 Weeks to be exact, and in pregnancy time that is a LONG time!! A lot has taken place in these past 7 very busy weeks!! I hope you can forgive me for not making time to update. Maybe this blog will catch you all up on this pregnancy.

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: I am 30 weeks! I cannot believe we only have 10 weeks left!

Size of baby: Charlie Kate is the size of a Butternut Squash. She is 17 inches long and a little over 3 pounds! Of course this is just an average size for 30 weeks babies, but on Wednesday we will have a sonogram to see how big she really is!

Total weight gain/loss: After losing/gaining back, I have gained 7 pounds total from my original weight which is exactly where I am suppose to be! I am hoping my goal of only gaining 15 pounds total isn't as ridiculous as I thought!

Maternity Clothes: Oh yes! The discovery of my own version of the belly band has made life a lot easier too!! Instead of spending $30 on a belly band, I bought 2 "As Seen on TV" trendy tops for $10, and they work perfectly!!

Gender: A sweet little Girl... Charlie Kate.

Movement: All of the time! Between kicks, flips, and hick ups there is no denying her presence!

What I miss: I can't say there's much I miss due to pregnancy. I really love being pregnant! 

Cravings:  Food! I don't really have cravings. Instead I am just hungry pretty much all of the time!

Symptoms: I've had round ligament pain if I walk too fast, also I've also had a few Braxton Hicks contractions. Sleeping is getting a little uncomfortable, but nothing so bad to keep me awake at night. All in all I've been pretty comfortable.

Best moment this week: Since it has been so long since I've updated I'm going to use this as an opportunity to brag about all of the Blessings our Lord has given us:
1) Charlie Kate and I have been perfectly healthy throughout this entire pregnancy.
2) The Lord provided an amazing job for me that I LOVE!
3)We are in the process of buying our first home! We are suppose to close this week!
4)The Lord has provided an amazing job for Jordan. His last day working in Grenada is tomorrow!
5) I passed my glucose test with flying colors! No diabetes here!
6) We did a 3D/4D sonogram a week ago and got to see Charlie Kate's sweet little face!

and one of her little feet.

Then she started showing off with a couple of smiles, mad faces, and even a little smacking.

7) We have another sonogram on Wednesday. Just another opportunity to look at our sweet little girl.
8) Jordan and I seem to fall more in love with each other daily!
9) We are just weeks from meeting our sweet little girl.

There are so many more I am sure, but this is all I can think of at the moment. We are truly blessed!
It makes it so clear that we are exactly where God wants us to be!


We are really enjoying this pregnancy thus far! Now all we can focus on is getting our house and her room ready for her arrival! We are hoping to make it all the way to week 40, but from the looks of it Charlie Kate has different plans.  At our last visit I was measuring 2 weeks bigger than I was, so hopefully at our appointment on Wednesday we will have evened back out!

Thank you for keeping up with as we continue on this journey! Hopefully we will have internet soon, and I will be able to update more often!

23 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: I am 23 weeks

Size of baby: Charlie Kate is the size of an Ear of Corn. She is 8.5 inches from crown to rump and weighs 1.5 pound!! She's getting big y'all!

Total weight gain/loss: Since the beginning I lost 5 pounds, and I have gained back a total of 10 pounds. I only count 5 of them though... I'm still 10 pounds from where I'm suppose to end.

Maternity Clothes: Every Day!! All of my normal clothes are too small in one way or another. Super excited to go shopping for Teacher/Maternity clothes for the Fall Semester.

Gender: A sweet little Girl... Charlie Kate.


Movement: Yes, yes, yes! It's such a blessing to feel and sometimes see her moving. Especially when Jordan is actually around to see too!

What I miss: I don't really miss much. I'm really enjoying being pregnant! I guess I'm just lucky : )

Cravings:  Nothing specific these past few weeks... Chocolate cake?? Nah, I'm always craving Chocolate Cake.

Symptoms: I have had more back/hip pain these past few weeks, but my new doctor prescribed me some pain meds that have worked wonders! Everything is fantastic!

Best moment this week: Finding out we officially have a house to bring our sweet little girl home to! God has blessed us so much, and I know he will provide Jordan a job closer to home soon!


So much has happened in these past few weeks! Last week I officially moved into the trailer that we are renting temporarily, so this began my and Jordan's living apart. This was a very sad day, but it is so wonderful to be just a few minutes from my job. This week started band camp, and so far it has gone great! I was worried I would be extremely tired because of the pregnancy, but so far I feel good.

Our big new this week is the purchase of our first home! We are so excited to have found such an amazing house! We are absolutely in love and can't wait to get moved in! Until then we are continuing to pray for Jordan to get transferred to a store closer to home.

20 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: I am 20 weeks
We have made it Half-Way!

Looking a little less like weight gain and more like a baby bump.
Almost completely rounded out!



Size of baby: Charlie Kate is the size of a Banana. She is 7 inches from crown to rump and weighs 11 oz!

Total weight gain/loss: Throughout the past 20 weeks/5 months I have lost and regained a total of 5 pounds. So from my original weight I have gained an excess of 3 pounds.... not too bad!

Maternity Clothes: In the past 2 weeks I have come to terms with the fact that I have to say goodbye to all of my non-stretchy/non-maternity pants. Although they still button, they cause me to be miserable because they are soo tight!

Gender: Girl!! We are so excited about our little Charlie Kate!


Movement: Yes! I felt the first 100% movement on June 11 while laying in bed with the hubs. Ever since then it has just gotten stronger and more noticeable. Jordan is very anxious to feel her dancing though.

What I miss: I miss being more in control of my emotions. Here lately I have been on an emotional roller coaster... thanks hormones.

Cravings:  Pizza, chocolate, and food! I'm hungry all of the time!

Symptoms: I guess I am just extremely blessed, because I haven't had any real symptoms since the first trimester. I'm feeling great!

Best moment this week: Over the past two weeks we have had several amazing moments! We found out we are having a girl, I felt her move for the first time, and we celebrated Father's day! 

We have been so blessed this past month. I would like to announce that I have received a job as the Band Director at Hatley High School. This is such a blessing, and now we get to move home! With that comes the stress of finding a home and finding Jordan a job at home also. We trust though that God will lead us in both of these areas! We know He has big things in store, so we are laying it all in His hands!
Please keep us in your prayers as I begin a new job, Jordan searches for a new job, and we search for a home! 

Miss or Mister

The first question I had when I found out I was pregnant was, "When can we find out the gender?"

When I found out they wouldn't be able to tell for sure until 18 weeks I was very disappointed, but I anxiously awaited the moment we would know whether we had a little boy or girl.

After months of waiting the day had finally come.

This morning Jordan and I woke up and discussed what we thought we would have. I thought it was a boy, and after several dreams Jordan was convinced it was a girl. We anxiously got ready and headed to the doctor!

As we entered the sonogram room I was a nervous wreck that we wouldn't get a view of the baby's goods. I just couldn't help but think we would not find out today, and that was almost the case.

First the sonogram tech started by checking that baby is healthy, and everything was normal. She showed us all of the baby's organs and bones. Baby was perfectly healthy which was a huge sigh of relief!

Then she started trying to get a good shot of the baby's goods, and of course baby Stanford was being stubborn. After several minutes of looking Jordan guessed the gender from what he could see on the screen. The technician said she believed he was right but wanted to make sure, so she kept looking for a better shot. After a few minutes more she confirmed the gender, and we left anxious to tell our families the good news.

We picked up our gender reveal cupcakes and headed to Amory to surprise Jordan's parents. First we delivered Jordan's mom her cupcake at work. She anxiously ate her cupcake and was overjoyed to share the news with her co-workers. Once Jordan's dad got home we then had him eat his cupcake. We spent some time talking about baby Stanford, then it was time to call the rest of the family. We spent all afternoon filling in everyone on the good news and now it is time to tell you....

IT'S A GIRL!!

We are excited to announce we will be welcoming Charlie Kate to our family November 12, 2012!

18 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: I am 18 weeks today

Size of baby: Baby Stanford is still the size of a Sweet Potato this week! It officially weighs 1/2 a pound!

Total weight gain/loss: I have gained a pound and a half over the last week. That's a total of 3 pounds this past month. I'm suppose to gain 2 pounds a month, but vacation had different plans ha!

Maternity Clothes: Oh yes! everyday just about. I am ready to invest in maternity shirts and dresses.

Gender: As you may know we found out the gender of our little baby today. There will be a blog coming VERY SOON to make this big announcement!


Movement: I haven't had any obvious movement yet. Movement should be obvious within the next few days/weeks. I can't wait to feel this little one move!

What I miss: I'm pretty pleased with how things are going for now. Life is pretty great!

Cravings:  My cravings this week have consisted of pizza, hot dogs, and chocolate milk. Not together, but they both sound delicious ALL of the time!

Symptoms: This week has been pretty pleasant. I have been having pain from my abdominal muscles relaxing and stretching, but nothing serious.

Best moment this week: Sleeping in my comfy cozy bed after a week of vacation.

Big announcements are in store! Stay tuned for my next blog to find out what is in store for our future!

Baby Names, Oh Baby Names!

Well, since we find out the gender of Baby Stanford in just a few short days, I felt I should blog about our baby names. This is one of the most exciting parts of being pregnant right?? We think so anyway!

These are just a few names we like...

Girl Names

Raleigh

Madison

Charlie

Ella

Annaleigh

Boy Names

Miller

John

Colton

Jack

Carter

What are some names that you like, for either boy or girl? We haven't made a final decision, so we're open to ideas. We tend to like either very traditional names or more modern names. Give us some ideas!

It won't be long and we will be announcing the official name, so make sure to stay tuned!

Week 16 & 17

Well I just so happen to miss a week so, here is my 16 weeks picture.

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: I am 17 weeks

Size of baby: Baby Stanford is the size of a  Sweet Potato this week! 5 & 1/2 inches long and 5 whole ounces. WoW!








Total weight gain/loss: I had gained about a pound and a half before we left for vacation, but since eating all of this delicious food I have probably gained more!

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity pants daily. You can't really tell I'm pregnant by looking at me, but my pants sure know the difference!

Gender: It hasn't quite sunk in that we will know in just a few days whether we have a little boy or a girl, but we can't wait to know!

Movement: It is just about that time where I am suppose to notice smaller fluttery movements, and I must say I think I did Saturday night.... I'm just not sure though. I don't imagine it will be too long before I really feel this little one moving around.

What I miss: Nothing really, I feel pretty much like myself these days. I do get tired a little quicker than I use to, but that isn't a big deal. For now everything is pretty great!

Cravings:  Corn! Anyway you can cook it! A few days ago I had corn puddin', and it was HEAVENLY!

Symptoms: Back pain mostly, but that's just part of life.

Best moment this week: Spending  quality time with my sweet husband. We haven't had a lot of time together since finding out about our little one, but now that we have it we are taking full advantage of it.

Now it is full fledged summer! I am seriously enjoying being out, and am excited for all of the big plans God has in store for our growing family. Stay tuned next week for the announcement of the gender and possibly some other big news!

15 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: I am 15 weeks today

Size of baby: Baby Stanford is the size of a Navel Orange (4-4 1/2 inches long.)

Total weight gain/loss: I have finally gained a pound back!

Maternity Clothes: Not as often as I would like, but as soon as summer hits I will live in maternity jeans! My work pants are pretty close to being to tight to wear.

Gender: We find out in 3 more weeks, but everything and everyone has said it's a boy!

Movement: None so far, but it shouldn't be too much longer!

What I miss: I miss going a whole day without any back pain. I use to only get back pain after a long day of marching band rehearsal, but now I have back pain for no reason at all.

Cravings: Nothing specific this week, but having a normal appetite is nice.

Symptoms: Needing a bathroom break every 15 minutes... Although I can't feel our little one moving, I think s/he is dancing on my bladder.

Best moment this week: Having enough energy to clean my house from top to bottom, oh and to cook dinner!

1 & 1/2 more days until summer!!!

14 Weeks

As soon as we found out we were pregnant I started planning how we should document my pregnancy experience. After seeing how Whitney Rodgers blogged weekly throughout her pregnancy I decided I would do the same!

I know I'm starting a little late, (I had planned to start at 10 weeks) but this past few weeks of school have been CRAZY!!!

Pregnancy Highlights
(Weekly Pregnancy Pictures are soon to come too!)

How far along: I am 14 weeks today

Size of baby: Baby Stanford is the size of a Peach (3- 3 1/2 inches long.)

Total weight gain/loss: I have lost a total of 9 pounds so far.

Maternity Clothes: Occasionally, especially when there’s a big pile of dirty laundry. But, since losing 25 pounds (from January till now) most of my clothes fit like maternity clothes.

Gender: We find out in 4 Weeks!!

Movement: None so far, but we are looking forward to feeling our little wiggler.

What I miss: I miss having energy! I feel exhausted all of the time which then leads to me doing NOTHING when I finally make it home. My house and car are a mess, I haven’t cooked in at least a month, and I have dirty laundry out the Wazoo! I’m so ready to feel like myself again!

Cravings: Pickle Juice!

Symptoms: Fatigue!!! These past few weeks of school have been crazy, so I hope once the

 stress has calmed down I will be less tired.

Best moment this week: Receiving a precious Mother’s Day Mother-to-be card from my sweet Husband and Mother-in-law.

This past  Friday we had our 3rd doctor's appointment. It was a typical appointment... weigh in, pee in a cup, ask questions... but we also were able to hear our sweet baby's heartbeat again! It's so wonderful to know God has blessed us with a healthy little miracle! We also found out we will have the "BIG Sonogram" done when we go back on June 11. At this appointment the doctor will give our little one a good look over, and we will hopefully find out the gender of our precious little baby! 

The Second Appointment - 8 Weeks

After our first appointment somehow Jordan and I were a bit of a mess. We were excited, and unsure, and nervous of course, but mostly it all felt like it was too good to be true. Once we began to tell others of our news things became more real, but we new until we saw the sonogram and heard the heart beat we would be anxious.

Well the day finally came, April 4th. We went into the doctors office anxious about what to expect. 

Would there be more than one baby.... Would it have a heart beat...

Is everything healthy???

The moment we saw the sonogram our hearts leapt with joy.

There it was, our little peanut. 

Then we heard that sweet little heart beat. The one thing that got us so much closer to being out of risk of having a miscarriage.

Of course these are the only two things we were hoping for, so we were absolutely delighted!

Then the sonogram technician said do you see it wiggling?  
  

Our little peanut was moving! It was waving its little head and hands around. We could even SEE the heart beating! I felt like my heart was going to explode. Here I was terrified of a miscarriage while God is blessing us with such a BEAUTIFUL MIRACLE!

The rest of the appointment went great! The doctor said everything is wonderful, and the baby was even measuring  3 days bigger than expected. Now all we do is wait for the next appointment, and pray. 

At our next appointment I will be 13 almost 14 weeks. We will be beginning the 2nd Trimester, and saying goodbye to the high risk of a miscarriage. I am anxious to reach this point.  Please keep us in your prayers as we continue on this wonderful journey!

Telling the Family

Because we live so far from our parents we wanted to wait until we could tell them in person. This worked out perfectly too, because we just happen to find out the week before my Spring Break.
Although it was extremely difficult to keep the secret I was finally off, and it was time to share the news!

First we would tell Jordan's Parents.
Leading up to telling Jordan's parents we decided we wanted a special way to tell them. We searched and searched for creative ideas, but came up with very little. We finally decided to try making a platter into a chalkboard (thank you Pinterest!), and we wrote the BIG NEWS on it.
On Sunday we headed to Jordan's hometown to spend a couple of days with his parents. We definitely wanted to tell them at the same time, so we thought lunch would be the perfect moment Right!?! Well, we actually made it to their house a little later than expected, so they had already eaten. This meant Jordan's Dad had already started with his handi-work in the yard.
No Problem! We would just eat lunch and act like nothing was going on... (SO DIFFICULT!) and wait until he finally came back in the house. When the moment was finally right we quickly got the platter and headed into the house with our Big Announcement to find Jordan's Dad had disappeared again!
Not being able to wait any longer, we then gave the platter to Jordan's Mom and celebrated the coming of our new bundle of joy!

 Once Jordan's Dad did come in he of course was shown the platter too. We all then talked about how exciting it was going to be to have a new Grandchild in the family!

Then it was time to tell my Mom and Sister.
The original plan was to have lunch on Monday with them, but unfortunately my Dad was suppose to have Heart Surgery on Monday. Instead we planned to meet on Friday, and again the waiting began!
Sunday afternoon after telling Jordan's Parents Jordan and I decided to make a trip to see my dad before the surgery, and lo and behold who was at the hospital?? My Mom!!! Right at that moment our Big News just spewed out of me! As we celebrated family member after family member cycled in and out of the hospital room to visit. This meant they also knew the news... I realized then if I was going to be the FIRST person to tell my Sister I would have to tell her over the phone, so I made that exciting phone call. We chatted for what seemed like forever talking about what to expect, how I had been feeling, and simply how excited we were!

It was so precious to enjoy these moments of telling our families we are expecting a little precious baby! I will never forget their reactions. We are so blessed to have such amazing Parents and families!

The First Appointment - 4 Weeks

On Monday morning I frantically called my OBGYN in Tupelo hoping to either get an appointment or a referral to a doctor in Oxford. It seemed like I wasn't going to have an appointment for 3 weeks, but since Jordan wouldn't believe we were pregnant without a doctor saying so I decided 3 weeks was WAY TOO LONG to wait!

I decided to call one last office, and they just so happend to have an appointment with a female doctor two days later (one of Jordan's day's off)!! How perfectly did that work out!?!

Now I had to figure out a way to take off from work without telling everyone where I was going.....
We both REALLY needed to get our eyes checked, so I thought what better cover up than a different doctors appointment. Another cycle of frantic phone calls later, and we were all set for  both appointments.

Our first OBGYN appointment was pretty basic...
Pee in a cup
Physical
Discuss my symptoms

We were hoping to get a sonogram, but apparently 4 weeks just isn't far enough along to see our little one.

That's right I said 4 weeks! This means my due date is officially NOVEMBER 12, 2012.

We left the doctors office finally believing this dream of ours had come true....

We are becoming parents.

Now we anxiously await our next appointment in 4 weeks where we will have our first sonogram done.
We can't wait to see our little one and to confirm everything thing is going as planned in there.

Until then we just dream.....

Hot off the Press!

We have a BIG announcement to make, and where better to make this announcement than on our very own BRAND NEW blog!!

When Jordan and I first married we both were very anxious to have a baby, but we understood we were not emotionally or financially ready for this step. This is when we made a Leap List of the things we must accomplish before a baby could come into the picture:

1. Leigh Ann must graduate with her Bachelors.

2. Leigh Ann and Jordan MUST have sustainable full time jobs.

3. We must own a house.

As you may know # 1 & 2 have successfully been fulfilled.

What you may not know is we are in the process of deciding upon a house we will (God Willing) buy this summer when our current lease is up!

In December we realized we were well on our way to completing our Leap List, so we began talking about when would be a good time to try getting pregnant....

- Should we wait to try in August, so the baby would be born during my Summer Vacation?

- Should we begin trying NOW, since it will most likely take several months to conceive?

In January we came to a decision. I would stop taking birth control, and we would PRAY to conceive when the time was right! It took my sister a few years to conceive, so it take at least several months right!?!

On Friday, March 2nd (a few days too early) while we were cooking dinner, I snuck away and quickly took a pregnancy test.... All I could think was "Of course it's going to be negative...."

After what seamed like a million years and lots of blinking it said...

Just one simple word.

I walked into the kitchen with a huge grin on my face and showed Jordan. He was in complete shock!

We both agreed that it was probably a false positive, so I would take another one the next morning.

It was positive too, plus 2 other test I took....

Jordan still wasn't 100% convinced, so I began the search for an OBGYN who could get us in ASAP!