Week 22 letter to You!

Hi my little lover bug! It's officially 123 days until I get to meet you (give or take). It cannot get here fast enough. I am starting to get a little more uncomfortable, and I am sure you are too but it won't be much longer sweetie. My feet have started swelling if I am on them too long, and I am losing more and more sleep because you like to go to bed late and wake up early! My belly is growing too so it is pretty hard to get comfortable or turn over in bed. And the heartburn...oooh the heartburn. The old wives tale is that if mommy has heartburn, baby will have a full head of hair. Well you must because I have heartburn no matter what I eat! It's ok though baby-I will suffer if it means you are healthy!

So here is what you are up to this week:

-You are now 1 pound and 1 foot in length! You are growing like a little weed in there!
-Your pancreas is now working and is busy making hormones. We will talk about these later, but you better keep those in check little girl! ;)
-Your inner ear is now developed which means you can balance, and you are busy feeling out your surroundings like your skin, body parts and umbilical cord. just don't squeeze too hard-you need that to feed you for then next few months.
-Now this is kind of creepy...you have hair on your head, eyelashes and eyebrows, but no pigmentation yet so all of that hair is white! Your body is covered in hair, but your skin is red and wrinkly. Your eyes are developing, but since you have no pigmentation, your irises have no color yet either. Oh my sweet little albino baby. I am sure you are still beautiful!

I love you so much already sweet thing! You just keep growing and you take from me anything you need. I love getting to know you every day. I do know you love music because Sunday at church you were going crazy! As soon as the music stopped though, you must have gone back to sleep because I didn't feel you moving anymore. We will share that love because I have to have music on all the time! I cannot wait to snuggle you all day and night and shower you with kisses. 123 days!

Weekend Roundup

Not a very eventful weekend...but here's what we were up to:

Friday-Daniel had to close Friday so I spent the night in my pjs, watching TV and ordered a pizza. Just a lazy night in for me!

Saturday-I woke up early and cleaned the house. I've always liked to get up on Saturday and get my house clean and ready for the upcoming week, but now that I am pregnant, I REALLY enjoy it. I think it's the nesting kicking in! When Daniel got home from work, we got dressed and went on a date night to Texas Roadhouse. I do think we came to an agreement about Baby's name at dinner...we are taking a few more days to mull it over before letting the world know what it will be. I love my date nights with him-our lives are so busy during the week we hardly get to see each other so dates are always a nice treat. We had every intention of watching a movie when we got home but he passed out, and I read my new Fit Pregnancy magazine before turning in myself.

Sunday-Went to church and then Mexican for lunch and then Daniel had to go to work again. I took the dogs for a walk and then I had a lazy afternoon watching movies and doing stuff around the house. I did get Baby's memory book finished, as well as her closet dividers. Pics to come!

Like I said...boring weekend!

Poppin' Out

I noticed this week that my clothes are all getting too small. My t-shirts aren't fitting around my belly, my shirts are quickly becoming too short, and my jackets won't zip anymore. Momma and I had to make a trip to Target tonight to buy a few new maternity shirts that will be more comfortable. Target does not have a very wide selection though. Any suggestions on where to buy cute and affordable maternity clothes? I do NOT want to spend a ton of money...I think that is so silly because these clothes will only be worn for 3, maybe 4 more months.

I did meet two ladies in line who were both pregnant. Something must be in the water around here! One of the ladies said "The economy is bad. People have had to find something to do with all their spare time at home!" Maybe she is right :) She did tell me about this site which tells you about local consignment sales in your area. There is also a store called The Womb in Myers Park which sells consignment that I am going to check out, as well as Burlington Coat Factory. So glad I got some great recommendations tonight and have some new clothes to cover my quickly growing belly!

Crazy Cravings

Last night was the first time I had a crazy craving that was bad enough to have Daniel go to the store. Lucky for me, he works at a grocery store so he just had to bring home my staples from work. What was the craving? Spicy Cheeze-Its and watermelon. Cold, square cut watermelon. A whole watermelon at room temperature would not have been acceptable. I ate about half of the package of the watermelon and a handful of Cheeze-Its and made myself stop. I try to indulge in the healthy cravings and only allow myself a little, if any, of the unhealthy stuff.

I haven't really had any cravings until last night. I just get a food on my mind and will obsess over it for a while, but nothing has been strong enough to make me want to get out of bed to go get it. I am so glad that most of my obsessions have been about fruit and milk but I have had an occasional obsession for pickles dipped in Ranch!

What's In A Name?

I thought choosing my daughter's name would be fun. Kind of like when you get a new puppy and you're all excited to name him and start teaching him commands using his name. Obviously this is much bigger than naming a puppy, but I don't have anything else to compare to. I have been tossing names around since I found out I was pregnant. I knew if it was a boy, his name was Grayson Glenn. Bam. That's it. Nothing else was even a close second. But noooooo, I had to be pregnant with a girl of course! So now I walk around with a piece of paper that now has about 25 names scribbled all over it, some with stars by them and some crossed out. And still I am stuck. So I am turning to y'all for some input. Here is my current list of favorites...

-Molly Kate-we could call her by both names
-Molly Fairchild (Fairchild was my middle name before getting married, and was my grandmother's maiden name)
-Molly Grace
-Addison Fairchild
-Sophia Grace
-Sophia Hope
-Sophia Fairchild

I don't know if it's my fear of someone thinking her name is weird or not pretty...or maybe I am afraid it won't fit her personality...or maybe the fear of not using the family name...I am not sure what it is that is holding me back from deciding. It's not helpful that my husband liked every name I put out there, and my best friend likes none because our taste is VERY different. I wish I could hurry up already because I am so ready to get monogrammed clothes for her! And bedding. And jewelry. Little Miss Spoiled Rotten!

131 Days

Good morning my little love bug! I cannot believe that I have 131 days left until I meet you! (Well, probably a little more since you first babies are a little slower coming out). That's just over 4 months. I feel like I have SO much to do, and time is flying by. I want to make you all kinds of goodies like blankets and hairbows before you get here, because once you arrive I know I won't have time for anything. (Ok and I will be obsessed with you and not WANT to do anything else!) We also still have to move into our new house and get your nursery done! I want the house the be finished by the time you get here, but I am trying not to stress about it. I am just thankful you will have a home to go home to.

Daddy is getting more excited about your arrival with every passing day. He kisses you goodnight every night, and maybe you can feel him rubbing my belly. He was a little nervous about being the only man in a house with 3 girls, but I think he is warming up to it now. His friends at work have been teasing him because his belly is growing too! He doesn't think it's too funny....so we won't talk about it anymore.

So here is what you are up to this week:

~You are swallowing several ounces of amniotic fluid every day to help you practice swallowing , digesting, and it is also keeping you hydrated. Sounds pretty yucky to me, but they say whatever I eat flavors it for you, so I am trying to keep things tasty for you.

~You weigh almost a pound...or you could weigh a pound...who knows! Your Aunt Jess seems to think you're going to be a 10 pounder...let's prove her wrong, ok?

~You already have your lifetime supply of eggs in your ovaries. That is crazy to me! The egg that will make YOUR baby is already in place. But we will be saving that for a LONG time too my sweet one.

I love you so much already and cannot wait to meet you. I wonder if you will be silly and goofy like Daddy, or OCD like me. Will you have Daddy's light, sparkly eyes, or my dark ones? Will you be outspoken like Grammy, or more shy and quiet like your Daddy? I wonder if I will feel like I know you when I first meet you, or will you be a little stranger? These are things I think about all day every day...but most importantly I hope that you will grow up feeling loved and knowing about Jesus. I already am praying for the day that you become saved and reserve your spot in line at Heaven's gate! That my sweet angel, will be the sweetest day of my life.

Monday Munchies

I woke up starving today...which seems to be the norm here lately. Here's a rundown of today's eats:

7:30-BIG glass of whole milk. I never liked whole milk until I became pregnant. Now I crave it regularly.

8-Strawberry Yoplait Greek yogurt-still too sweet but I am just trying to finish them off.

10:30-about 12 tortilla chips with cheddar cheese melted on them. At least I got some calcium...and I had a Diet Dr. Pepper. There's my caffeine for the day.

12-leftover Olive Garden salad...YUM...and they added extra pepperonicis for me. Extra YUM!

2-pear and a string cheese

5-Mexican :) I wasn't too hungry though so I just had one chicken taco and some bean & cheese dip.

I wasn't feeling too hot last night and figured something was up with my BP. I went to Rite Aid and took it and sure enough, it was 90/60. For me that is low. I was also having a few Braxton Hicks so I went straight home and jumped into bed. My sweet husband got me a drink, propped my feet up on a pillow and I started feeling a lot better. Of course by then it was 9 and bedtime. Between the crazy dreams I have been having and the fact that I am getting bigger and more uncomfortable, it's getting more and more difficult to sleep. And poor Daniel has no room in the bed next to me and my big body pillow. I have no idea what we will do when I am 8-9 months and huge!

New House!

Daniel and I are blessed to have a sweet older home in Indian Trail, and for that I am so grateful. However, this was Daniel's home since he was 19 years old. It's been through bachelorhood, a previous marriage, the birth of Aubrey, a divorce, and a few more single days. After a lot of talking, we have decided that we want a start off in something fresh and new. We cannot wait to make new memories in our new home.

We have been looking at short sale and foreclosures to buy at a cheaper price and fix up. We have looked at about a dozen now, and Saturday we found one that I absolutely LOVE. I am trying really hard not to get my hopes up but I will admit, they already are. It's a gorgeous home that is on the outskirts of Charlotte. It's in a safe, family oriented neighborhood. We put an offer on it today, so I am praying that if this is the Lord's will for us, we will get this new home. In the meantime, I have been all over Pinterest getting all sorts of new ideas for our new house!

Weekend Roundup

This was a pretty fun weekend. Very relaxed which was a nice change. Here's what we were up to:

• Friday night we went to my parent's house and had wings, fries, and tater tots (thank the pregnancy for the tots!) After dinner we tuned into Elevation Church online to watch my favorite pastor, Bishop T.D. Jakes, speak as part of their 12 Day Revival series. You can watch him and all of the other pastors on their website.

• Saturday I got to sleep in a little until Baby M started kicking. I guess she was hungry! I quickly cleaned the house and headed over to Mom and Dad's again for a yummy breakfast. I feel like my whole life revolves around food right now! I only have gained one pound since my last doctor visit though, and only 5 total. That's doing good for being 21 weeks along. Most women have gained 10-15 by now, according to my Sprout Pregnancy App. Anyways, we looked at a few houses on Saturday. We are planning to sell and move within the next few months. We need a fresh start, a what better way than a new home? More on that in my next post. We found one that we LOVE so we will see! Saturday night we went on a date to Olive Garden since we had a gift card to use. It was so nice to get out, just the two of us. We raced home because we realized we missed half of the Lifetime movie we had been waiting over a month to see. It's so nice to have a husband that loves Lifetime as much as I do!

• Sunday we got up and headed out to church. We had a sweet conversation with our pastor afterward. We are so blessed to have such a humble, accessible, caring pastor. He congratulated us on our marriage, and gave us some wonderful advice and resources to move ahead with. Daniel and I both signed up for new Bible studies starting next month. We are very very excited to see what the Lord has in store! My sweet friend Jenn gave me an amazing wedding gift after church. I cannot wait to use it! We wrapped up the weekend with lunch at my parent's-our Sunday tradition-and then an afternoon of being lazy.

My wonderful present from Jenn...

Planning for Birthdays

Isn't this adorable? I am going to do this with my daughter every year on her birthday and save them all in a notebook to give her one day.

Eating for...2...or 3... or maybe 4??

I think I will start recording what I eat every day since I am always STARVING. I think it will be interesting to go back and write it all down at the end of the day.

So...yesterday:

7 am- Yoplait Greek yogurt...these were on sale so I thought I'd give them a try...they are ok but have 20 g of sugar per cup! That's more than a cup of juice! I don't think I will be buying those again.

9- 2 eggs made with cheese and milk

11- one cup of coffee...I allow myself one cup of caffiene a day. What do you think about that? Did you have soda/coffee when pregnant?

12:30- sugar free chocolate pudding

2- 2 chicken soft tacos with guacamole, refried beans and rice-not that healthy but the guac is good for my heart! Mom was buying Mexican for lunch...I couldn't say no!

5- I blew it. I had a donut and chocolate chip cookie. Ever since my Mamaw moved in to my parent's house, there is always an abundance of sweets there. I was starving and that was the first thing I saw. I felt really guilty after eating it....my poor baby.

7- whole wheat cheerios with milk

I'm trying to make healthy(ish) choices....sometimes I just get so hungry I eat anything in sight. I need to do a better job at planning my meals out!

What to Buy Buy Baby?

I just finished my registry at Target, and I am on to Buy Buy Baby. My question to all you moms out there:

What is the one thing you couldn't have lived without when you had a newborn? Is there something you wish you had registered and didn't?

Any input would be wonderful! I did all the basics at Target but Buy Buy Baby has such a broader selection of products which is great but also overwhelming!!

My Growing Belly!

10 weeks here...still looking normal


On our honeymoon at 16 weeks...I was so excited to start showing!

On my way to the doctor at 19 weeks...with my pooch

It's A.......

Daniel and I had this great idea, suggested by my friend Jess, on how to find out the sex of our little Nugget. We planned to have the tech write down the sex and put it in an envelope. Then we were going to take that to the bakery, have them bake a cake, and the color filling was going to be either pink or blue. When we cut the cake we would know what we were having. Well life got busy as always, and that didn't quite work out. Our appointment was late in the day and the bakery wasn't going to have time to make the cake that day. We were going to have to wait 24 hours before finding out the sex! I couldn't even fathom that. My mom went to the bakery and bought 2 cupcakes instead. One was filled with pink icing, the other with blue. (let me take a second to advertise for Daphne's Bakery in Mint Hill. They made our wedding cake and it was AMAZING. By far the best wedding cake I have ever had-and the same goes for the cupcakes...party in your mouth) We had the ultrasound and the tech wrote down the sex and put it in an envelope. Baby was healthy, and we saw her moving during the ultrasound. I started to bawl my eyes out. I have felt her move for a few weeks now, but to see it on the screen was amazing. As we headed out to the waiting room we quickly realized we weren't going to be able to wait. We opened the envelope and found out we are having a GIRL! My mom was so excited she announced it to the entire waiting room! We would have been happy either way, but bring on the pink!!

Surprise!

Surprise!!! We found out we are expecting and are due June 3, 2012!!

2 is better than ONE

Fast forward to Christmas Day. Wedding day! It was fast, but we both knew this is what we wanted and we were ready to get on with our lives as a married couple. We decided to have a small wedding with only family around the Christmas tree at my parent's house. Our close family friends, the Buchanans, came also. I wore a very non-traditional long black dress, and walked down the stairs and was escorted by my Dad to meet Daniel. He has such a sweet and precious heart and cried the entire ceremony. It was absolutely precious. My best friend that lives in Alabama and my Aunt and Uncle in Texas were unable to attend, so we Skyped them in. Gotta love technology! Mom made a wonderful meal afterwards and we had the BEST wedding cake from Daphne's Bakery. It was to die for. The next day Daniel and I got to get away for a long weekend in Blowing Rock, NC.

The 2nd picture in the last post was of us right after our wedding ceremony. Here we are in Blowing Rock after a day of shopping...

Fast forward to Christmas Day. Wedding day! It was fast, but we both knew this is what we wanted and we were ready to get on with our lives as a married couple. We decided to have a small wedding with only family around the Christmas tree at my parent's house. Our close family friends, the Buchanans, came also. I wore a very non-traditional long black dress, and walked down the stairs and was escorted by my Dad to meet Daniel. He has such a sweet and precious heart and cried the entire ceremony. It was absolutely precious. My best friend that lives in Alabama and my Aunt and Uncle in Texas were unable to attend, so we Skyped them in. Gotta love technology! Mom made a wonderful meal afterwards and we had the BEST wedding cake from Daphne's Bakery. It was to die for. The next day Daniel and I got to get away for a long weekend in Blowing Rock, NC.

The 2nd picture in the last post was of us right after our wedding ceremony. Here we are in Blowing Rock after a day of shopping...

life as a Milsap

Life has FLOWN by the last couple of months! Let me catch you up to speed...The day after Thanksgiving, Daniel and I got engaged! He woke me up at midnight with a text and told me he needed me to come downstairs. I was highly annoyed, I won't lie, at the idea of getting up out of bed. When I opened the bedroom door, there were rose petals all the way down the hall, through the kitchen, and downstairs. All of the lights were off except for the Christmas tree lights (yes, we put our trees up early this year). There was my handsome man down on one knee, asking me to spend my life with him. I jumped up and down and said "yes yes yes!" We both cried. It was so simple and sweet...perfect! (needless to say, I felt extremely guilty for being annoyed about having to get our of bed).

Here we are at the courthouse, right before getting our marriage license.