Bumpdate- 23 Weeks

Baby's Growth: Little bit is the size of a papaya and is just a little over a foot tall. She weighs about 1 and 1/4 pounds and supposedly can respond to sounds she hears from outside the womb. 

Movement: She kicks and rolls a lot. Some days I can tell there is greater pressure on my bladder than others. 

How I'm Feeling: Two words: leg cramps. I have been getting pretty killer leg cramps at night that wake me up. I also seem to get them more often in my left leg than my right one. My entire calf muscle just squeezes and sends shooting pain leaving my calf stiff and sore into the next day. My doctor told me to take a calcium supplement on top of my prenatal and that might help. I probably get them from being on my feet all day teaching. I feel like I rarely sit down. 

Favorite Moment This Week: 

Elizabeth was so cute at our ultrasound last week. She had her hands all over her face, and wouldn't move them until the very last of the appointment. She kept putting both of them up over her eyes or clutched near her mouth/ears. She also had her sweet legs stuck straight out and her ankles were crossed. It will be neat seeing her after she is born sleep with her legs crossed and her hands near her face. We are going to have to get some of those little baby gloves that protect her from scratching herself!

Every picture has an arm or hand in the way.

Look at that nose and lips! Right now her features are prominent because she has very wrinkly skin and no body fat. Soon those cheeks will be filled out so we can kiss and pinch them. 

Little foot print. For me the coolest part was being able to feel and watch her move at the same time. When I sit and just feel her kicking or rolling I wonder what she is really doing in there, and I could watch her move on the screen while I felt her. An experience that's kind of hard to explain. 

Most looking forward to: 
Next week is LEAP standardized testing for my students. Testing week and the weeks leading up to it are the most stressful couple of weeks to be a teacher. This week we are reviewing everything to help reinstate what we have been learning all school year. I am also trying to instill confidence in my students. I think that if you can make a student believe in themselves, that they can do it, then they do much better. 

Bumpdate- 20, 21, and 22 Weeks

(if you are looking at this on an iphone, the song won't always appear. fyi I posted a song:) 

I know it's been a while since I posted my last bumpdate. Things have been cray cray around here the past couple of weeks. At least this one is on time:) 

I have been loving this song right now, "Let Them See You" by the JJ Weeks Band. As far as parenting goes, everyone who doesn't have kids are of course the best parents ever (...who's not guilty of this one...). Of course since we are expecting, I have really been thinking about the values that I want to teach Elizabeth. I have heard this song every day either on my way to work or on my way home for the past 2 weeks straight. I cry every single time because I think about how this is my number one goal for her. I want her to see Jesus in me. I want to be the example for her like our parents were for us.  I sing this as a prayer that my Christ can use me as an example of His love to my children. I feel like if all parents put this as their first goal, then everything else will trickle into place. (that's our goal anyways:)

Baby's Growth: At 22 weeks she is the size of a corn on the cob and has a layer of fine hair just like corn silk. She supposedly sleeps 12-14 hours a day and weighs close to a pound. Her eyes are perfectly formed except she lacks the pigment in her iris. We're pretty much convinced she is going to have brown eyes from her Waldron genes, either way they will be beautiful! 

Movement: I have been able to feel her for some time now. Online and in baby books it describes the first feelings of movement as butterfly wings across your belly. For me it felt more like a worm wiggling in there! Now we can really feel her move. Sometimes she will surprise me and give a couple of kicks while I'm teaching.

Weeks 20 and 21 it felt like she was jumping on my bladder at times. She really was positioned where her feet were kicking right on it. I would get a ping and immediately feel like I was going to wet my pants. Luckily her kicks weren't that powerful yet and there weren't any accidents! 

Now her kicks and jabs occur all over. One moment on the top of my stomach, and the next moment something is going on over on the side. Chris will put his hand on my stomach and can feel her too! Just yesterday he put his ear and head down on my belly to listen and she gave a jab right to the side of his face! It was perfect timing, and the look on his face was priceless! Already getting on to Daddy. 

How I'm Feeling: I'm doing great. The second trimester is considered the "honey moon" time frame of pregnancy. My class is going okay this year, just super stressful with common core and the standardized testing, but I won't go on a rant on that.

Last Friday I brought donuts for my class and waited until the end of the day to give them out. I surprised them and passed one out to everyone and made them all wait before they could dig in. Then I said, "Alright, anyone notice what the donut is missing?" Of course they all said, the hole in the middle. I replied, "That's right. It's missing it's baby. But that's okay because Mrs. Bagley has one. I'm going to be having a baby!"

Screams were emitted. I never knew fourth graders would get that excited. (let's get real it was the donuts)

I wish I could have recorded their remarks and replies. Kids really do say the darnest things. Some of them hoped that she would look like them. Some of them wanted to say that she was their cousin. Some of them said that she is going to be smart because I was going to teacher her everything. 

Before I told them the gender we made a mock chart on the board and I let them vote. Boys easily won. I only have 6 girls. The names they were suggesting were halirous. Mostly after themselves or famous movie character names.  

I want to give a shout out to those couple of students who found my facebook page and my blog over Christmas. If you still read this, (I don't think they do, but you never know) thank you for respecting my privacy. I never had to deal with rumors or anything. Thanks for letting me get to tell everyone when I was ready. You totally rock, and will forever be my babies! "Don't make mama mad 'cause she will kara-te chop!" (inside joke) 

Favorite Moment This Week: Getting my hair did and ordering a couple of tops for walmart maternity online. I just needed a couple of things to help me feel not so frumpy, and walmart maternity has basic shirts and dresses that are very well priced. I'm super excited my order is in and relieved that I will have a couple new things to wear.

Most looking forward to: This Thursday is my next doctor appointment and I am very excited because we are getting to do another ultrasound. At our gender reveal and anatomy scan the technician wasn't able to get good positioning to do all her checks on Elizabeth's sweet face. We could clearly see that everything was normal, but she wanted to do another one just to make sure. Liz had her head propped up next to the placenta and it was blocking some of one side. I really am hoping to get some good 4D pictures this time! 

Bumpdate- 19 Weeks

In case you missed the facebook post, our precious baby is a beautiful girl! 

Baby's Growth: 19 weeks!! Eekk! She is now the size of a zesty zucchini and is starting to spout little hairs on her tiny head:) She is also developing a waxy coating that protects her skin from the amniotic fluid and makes traveling down the canal a little easier at birth. 

Boy or Girl: Elizabeth Lynn is the most beautiful thing I have ever set my eyes on. She is absolutly perfect! Our appointment was amazing and it was so wonderful to have our mamas there to experience it with us! We could see her moving her arms around trying to find her mouth and her legs were perfectly crossed just like a lady! We weren't able to get a close up, front image, of her precious face because she was using the placenta like a pillow and actually has her head right up next to it. We could see her face, but the doctor wasn't able to get a good 3D ultrasound picture because the placenta was a little in the way. 

She is measuring right smack dab on the day and the ultrasound technician said, "She is perfect!" Since her legs were crossed they made me drink some cold water, and in just a few minutes she moved so she we could see her little bum and tell that she was a girl. Chris and I have loved the name Elizabeth because we feel like it is very southern and classic. Chris's great grandmother's name was Elizabeth, and the middle name Lynn comes from both my mamma's and my middle name. 

In this picture you can see her mouth is open. We were able to see her lips opening and closing. One hand is up close to her head and the other arm is hanging down her side. She was obviously looking for that thumb to suck on. 

Chris says that she was giving us a little wave:)

Yep... she's a thumb sucker! You can see her thumb made it to her mouth:) Now if that's just not precious. 

This is not the best picture to show how her legs were crossed, but it's the only one we got. This picture is showing her side/back and you can see her legs were crossed one over the top. During the appointment, the doctor would pan down and we could see she was relaxed and chillin' with her thumb in her mouth and her legs crossed! Just like a little lady.

How I'm Feeling: On cloud nine! We admit, we really thought it was a boy, so we were surprised when we first found out it was a girl! We love her so much already, and love being able to call her by her name now. 

Favorite Moment This Week: Having our moms here was such a blessing. Listening to their reactions in the ultrasound room was something I will never forget. I loved getting to share this experience with them, and can't wait to share many more with all of our family. I wish everyone could have been in that room with us! She is one loved little girl already and has so many people who are excited about her arrival and praying over her life already!

Most looking forward to: Our next appointment in March we get to have another ultrasound to get a good look at her face. The doctor wasn't able to get a clear 3D to make her checks, so she wants to do another one just to be sure. I'm glad we will get to see her again, and in a month she will be even bigger and we will be able to see even more!