Week 23...7days late (so, really 24 weeks)

Lookin' large and in charge...
and in need of a hair cut!  

I really thought we would have a name by now, but we don't.  I have been delaying on the blog, as I thought my next post would be the official name, but I'd be delaying for weeks.
Nick and I took a trip last weekend to Asheville, NC and talked about the names and how we felt about each.  We hashed it out on the drive up and back, and we still don't have a name.  I think we have a solid first name, Caroline.
Nick made the comment that if the naming of this little girl was so hard that he could only imagine how much of a handful she will be once born!  I sure hope she is not too much of a handful and she is like the song, Sweet Caroline!
Caroline is very active these days.  I can feel her movement at all times of the day (and night). I feel her movements a lot more than Tillman.  I wonder if I am just more aware this time around or if she is packing quite the punch!  When I roll over at night, she too has to get used to laying on the new side as well.  I feel like she is in there readjusting herself.  Sometimes, I end up going back to the other side just to settle her down!
Nick also got to feel Miss Caroline for the first time while we were in Asheville.  She was kicking up a storm!  Glad daddy got to feel her in action!

The name saga to be continued.  I hope we settle on a full name soon...


How big is baby?The measurement is now at around 11.38 inches (28.9cm) and baby is now weighing approximately 1.10 pounds (501g).
How is she developing and growing?Baby's body will start getting plumper and wrinkled and any lanugo hair may start to turn darker at this time. Her eyebrows and eyelids are well formed by now. Over the next month she is going to gain considerable weight, and will be weighing almost double what it is at the moment.
The three bones which make up your babys middle ear - the hammer, anvil and stirrup - are all starting to harden, this means that sound transmission is now possible. Although your baby may be able to transmit sound, there is no way of knowing if your baby is able to interpret this sound at this point (although the brain is developing rapidly, it may still be too immature to deal with the sounds).
The important organs which your baby uses to produce hormones are developing nicely. One hormone in particular, insulin, is being produced by the pancreas. Insulin helps your baby break down and use sugar. When a baby is exposed to high blood sugar levels the pancreas will respond by increasing the blood-insulin level.

Beach Boy!

 This boy was a beach bum this weekend!  We headed out to Seabrook Island on Saturday to go to the beach while daddy worked in his office.  Tillman loves the beach because he has free-reign of the place to do what he wants.  When he is in the house, we are often "no Tillman," don't touch that," and on and on and on. At the beach he can run and play without the word "no!"

 He has been a little scared of the water the last few times going to the beach.  I think the water was too cold for comfort causing him to run away anytime a wave would come in.  The water has gotten a lot warmer now that we are into May already, and he was stomping his feet and splashing about on Saturday!

 Tillman got to see tons of jelly fish and a crab.  Of course, now that I say he didn't hear the word "no" on the beach, I'm quickly eating those words.  The jelly fish were of course "no no's!"  There were tons of them along the beach after the tide went out.  His Papaw saw a crab com up from the sand, and so Tillman was introduced to the crab.

 We stayed for 3 hours, and Tillman was certainly ready for a nap but wasn't giving up and going to sleep in his stroller for fear of missing some action.  In fact, he waited until the ride home to finally go to sleep.  He was one tuckered out kiddo by the time we got home.

 Since Tillman enjoyed Seabrook on Saturday so much, and our deep-sea fishing trip was canceled, Nick and I took Tillman out to Edisto on Sunday afternoon.  That beach is a lot different than Seabrook, but gave us a change of scenery for the day.  Tillman was running down the hill to the water there as well, and he was soaken-wet and sandy by the time we loaded up the car.

 He road home in only a diaper after we had given him a "bath" with wet-wipes.  He had sand from head to toe, but he wasn't the least bit concerned...a true beach boy at heart!

21 Weeks & The Name Game

I've officially been Instagrammed at 21 weeks

At 21 weeks we are in the thick of the name game!  We did have a girl name picked, but Nick's unsure if he likes the first name, and I'm unsure of it since it doesn't have any family connection (I'm big on family names). Another big requirement for us, is whatever the name ends up being, she will be called it...no nick names or shortened versions!  I also really love double names, but Nick is into "short and sweet."

The name in question is Caroline Reese (Reece).  Oh, do I love the name, Caroline!  I feel like she is Caroline to me already, but a name is a HUGE decision!

Nick's came up with his short list of names that he liked after doing an Internet search.  He jotted them on a sticky note when he was at work.

From his list, I really like Abigail, Kenzie (as a middle name), Grace, and Madison.

We've also been doing a little family research for girl names.  From Nick's side, there's Ellen (Nick's Grandmothers, Roberta Ellen and Winifred "Winnie" Marion), Katherine (Great Grandma was Katherine "Katie" Heidgerken), Sarah (Great Grandma was Sarah Ellen) and Marie (Great Grandma was Lucille Marie and Nick's sister's middle name).
From my side of the family there's Millie (Mildred "Millie" Louise was my mom's mom), Kathleen (Viola Kathleen was my dad's mom), Nora or Conway for a middle name (Great Grandmother was Hanorah Conway),  and Hayes for a boy (Great Grandmother Eva Ethal Hayes). I'm continuing to do research.
 
A couple other names I came across were Maybelle(Maybelle was my grandfather's sister's name) Maggie Grimsley (my dad's grandmother), Ottie Mae (my mom's grandmother) and Fehrn Ozella (Nick's mom's grandmother).

With all of that research and all of the above said, I like
-Mary Caroline (as a double name). The name, Mary, is on both sides of my family just not a grandmother (My mom's aunt, whom my initials are after, and my dad's sister and aunt)
-Caroline Conway
-Nora(h) Caroline (as a double name)
-Kathleen Kenzie
-Kathleen Marie
-Sarah Kathleen (as a double name)

More research to come...I also talked to my Dad tonight and had him hunting around my parent's house for a family history book that is no where to be found.  My Granny's side is very documented, but my Pop's side is not.  There were adoptions and three family/ last names associated with his side (very complicated).

At 21 weeks....
Mrs. Pregnant in the Lowcountry is having a daily headache, which stinks.  Other than that, things are good.  I go for a follow up with Dr. Villers on Thursday.

How big's baby girl?
From this week on we can measure baby from head to heel. It will now be around 10.51 inches (26.7cm ) and will weigh 12.70 ounces (360g).


How is your baby developing and growingBaby's digestive system is already functioning in a simple way. At this stage baby can swallow amniotic fluid, absorb much of the water in it and then pass the unabsorbed matter as far as the large bowel.
As mentioned above, baby is already swallowing fluids, it is believed that swallowing of amniotic fluid may actually help with growth, development and will condition the digestive system to function normally after birth. The amniotic fluid which surrounds baby, and baby is using to practice swallowing and digestion is actually replaced every 3-4 hours.
Over the first three days of this week baby's legs will reach their final proportions. You may notice that when baby is born that their arms and legs look "short". This is normal, and their proportions will begin to change when they move to start crawling and walking.
Baby's heart has continued to develop and is now beating strong enough that it could easily be heard with a stethoscope.

It's a.....

GIRL!

We are really excited to have a girl in our family.  She will be the first girl for both sides of the family.  I guess she will be the one "cheerleader" on the side lines, as she cheers on the whole "football team" of boys in the family.
Nick and my mom came to the ultrasound.  At first, she had her legs really close together and crossed at the ankles.  The ultrasound tech kept trying to "wake" her, but she was rather comfortable.  We were looking for confirmation that she was indeed a girl.  We were told at 14 weeks that they were 90% sure it was a girl (but not to paint the room yet).  I always thought I would enjoy knowing even a guess, but that guess created all these "what if's they are wrong" in my head.  I'm glad it's official!

Her heart rate was 154 bpm, and all of her measurements were average. She is already head down. At 20 weeks and 2 days, she weighed 13 oz. This scan measured her due date to by 8/24/12, so I guess she is a little ahead of schedule.  All anatomy was present and normal, which is a blessing.

Stats from the Anatomy Scan (Biometry)

Adominal Circumference: 60th percentile

Head Circumference: 60th percentile

Biparietal Diameter (Head): 81st percentile 

Femur Length: 40th percentile

Humerus: 78th percentile

OFD: 73rd percentile

TCD: 91st percentile

So, who do you think she looks like?  She certainly has Nick's chin just like Tillman does.

Let the name game begin!  What should we call her?

Easter 2012

After Sunrise Service on Easter Sunday

We spent Easter weekend in Lexington, SC with my family.  Nick enjoyed riding his bike while there, and the whole family enjoyed the egg hunts, Sunday service, Easter Breakfast and a family get together.

Tillman headed to the church egg hunt
 in his Chick Magnet shirt CiCi made!

Tillman LOVED the Easter Bunny!
Couldn't get enough of him!

I think it was because he was
giving out GOLDFISH!

Tillman eating grits in his Easter best
 that CiCi made him!

Group shot of 7 out of  10
(soon to be 11)
 Great Grand Children

Chaos!

 Tillman and his Peeps say 

"see you next time!"

(CiCi made this shirt too!)

19 Months

Happy Easter!

19 months was filled with Easter festivities (as soon as he got better from the yucky virus)!

Tillman went to 4 Easter Egg Hunts this year.  As they say, practice makes perfect, and that is certainly the case for hunting eggs...OR "footballs" as Tillman calls them (he's all boy!). The first hunt was at the church where he attends daycare; Tillman wanted nothing to do with picking up any eggs.  He was running around like a "Banchie" the entire time and picking up eggs and throwing them like a football (I think he's going to have a great passing arm). The daycare director asked Tillman if picking up eggs was too much like clean up time.  We walked away from that hunt "batting zero!"

The Egg Hunt was over to the left...
not interested & wouldn't hold the basket

The next week, Tillman had a hunt at daycare.  Unsure the results of that hunt, but based on his skills after that hunt, he must have found that hunting "footballs" was fun!  At the next two hunts, he found 6 eggs and then 9 eggs all by himself!  One thing that slows him down is that he has to pick all the pine straw out of the bucket before finding the next egg.  Only eggs in Tillman's bucket!

Tillman with his findings

This "football hunter's" 19 month stats:

Weight: holding steady around 23 lbs

Diapers size: Little Movers size 3 during the day and size 4 at night

Clothing size: 12-18 months (some 24 mo shirts)

Shoe size: 4.5 or 5

Food tricks: drinking from a small cup (without a lid) & learning to feed himself

Naps: 1 nap during the day around 11:30 and sleep until 1:30

Play (new things): puzzles, dancing to music, and giving hugs and kisses to all that ask!

Oh, and he also started GYMERCIZE!  The philosophy is building a child's confidence and self-esteem through a fitness geared program. The objectives of the class are gross-motor coordination (tumbling mats and tunnels) and developing eye-to-hand coordination through use of balls, hoops, and awareness games.
Tillman is learning how to tumble!  He put his head down the other day on the carpet and his behind straight up in the air.  He was all set up for the flip.  Nick helped him with his "follow through!"

20 Weeks

Easter Sunday 2012

The baby belly is growing!  When I saw this picture on Facebook, I was like "wow, look how big it is!"  A picture is worth a 1,000 words, as they say, and seeing me in this one, I was speechless!

I do feel like this week, I have started to grow a lot more in the belly.  This pregnancy, I feel, I'm carrying a whole lot higher.  The baby shelf seems to start up at my neck!  The kicks are starting to feel like flutters.  I feel the flutters way down low, and they are generally at night.  The placenta is in the front again for this pregnancy, so I likely won't feel any strong kicks.  As Nick says, "well, that's good because you like your sleep!"

Back to the picture...looking at it makes me wonder what it would be like to have 6 kids.  The one and only one I'm responsible for in the picture is unsupervised and running away behind me while I'm uploading a photo on my phone. Nick wants a whole house full of children, but seeing the circus, I'm unsure I'd be good at wrangling 6 kids!

Big Brother Tillman's favorite word is still "baby."  He calls everything baby...including my belly!

How big's baby?
Baby's crown to rump measurement is now at 6.46 inches (16.4 cm) and your baby is now weighing approximately 10.58 ounces (300g).

How's baby developing and growing?The skin which is covering your baby's body now begins growing from two layers, the epidermis (surface layer) and the dermis (a deeper layer).
The vernix, which is a slimy sort of film which covers the baby's entire body to protect it's skin from the amniotic fluid, is still being produced. There is a good chance that you will see this white slimy substance when your baby is born.
Baby's movements should now be becoming stronger and stronger, as ossification continues and soft cartilage is turned into bone. As baby's arms and legs become harder and stronger the strength of baby's kicks will be more noticeable, but still not a solid contact.