~ What's in a name? ~

As soon as we found out we were pregnant, we had a baby boy name all picked out but…. The girls names were a little more tricky!  It seems like we disagreed on more girls names, and the ones we agreed on were either too popular or we knew someone who’d recently used it, etc…  I also really wanted to find a name that started with a vowel because I love alliteration with our last name (kinda ridiculous I know, but I just like it, what can I say?)

However, we finally decided!  I cannot, cannot wait to get a few things monogrammed!  And the final verdict is:

Aubrey Grace Agnew

It’s been so fun to actually use her name while talking to and about her now!

21 week update:

Total Weight Gain:  still don’t weigh myself often due to broken scale – I think around 15 lbs?

Maternity Clothes:  mostly maxi dresses

Stretch Marks:  Not so far!  I’m slathering on lotion every day – I’m not sure if it really makes any difference, but at least I can say I did what I could J

Sleep:  ehhh… it’s okay.  SO looking forward to moving into our new house and getting our king sized bed though… I think my constant moving around/waking up to pee is affecting Patrick’s sleep too, poor guy.

Best Moment of the Week:  being in Wilmington for Memorial Day.   I just love everything about that place.
Miss Anything:  Sushi and raw fish… we were at dinner with friends this weekend and the tuna tartare looked AMAZING…

Movement:  yes, alllll the time and I LOVE it.  Best thing about pregnancy hands down.

Food Cravings:  fruit and ice cream… also loving peanut butter anything currently – peanut butter cups, peanut butter toast, peanut butter pie… any and all of it

Symptoms:  I’ve had a little less of the hands/feet falling asleep, but have started to have some heartburn and indigestion… which I’ve never had before ever, I didn’t even know what it was at first actually, lol.

Exercise:    Still running, although it’s getting harder, and walking.  Also keeping up with weights

Happy or Moody:  Happy, happy, happy J

Looking forward to:  Seeing my Austin friends at a Bachelorette party this weekend!! And moving back to our Charlotte house next week, getting started on the nursery…  Sooo much to look forward to.

 

 

~Sissy's Bachelorette in Asheville~

Well, our little one is already a fan of girls trips apparently – I felt her kick for the first time in our hotel in Asheville for my little sissy’s Bachelorette!  Such an incredible feeling!  Since then, she’s been super active, moving around all the time and doing little baby kicks whenever I’m sitting/laying down for an extended  period of time.  Patrick got to feel her yesterday too, which was pretty awesome… although he says he’s still waiting for the “kung fu karate kicks” lol.

our group Saturday night!

 

I’d only been to downtown Asheville once – the night after we got engaged for dinner.  It was a lot of fun to get to spend time with my sis and her friends and celebrate with shopping, some seriously AMAZING food, and just some good girl time!  For anyone heading there in the near future, I highly recommend:

Zambra – Spanish style restaurant – all tapas with a really fun drink menu.  We sat in this really great corner booth that was full of colored pillows to lean against while eating.

 

 

Curate – great lunch or afternoon snack spot – also tapas – we were on a girl trip and we LOVE all  tapas food, what can I say?  The bartender made me a great mocktail mojito and my sister loved her real cocktail as well.

Posana –  go here for brunch – the menu is entirely gluten free and you would never know… the bellini's looked delish and my decaf mocha was perfect… as was the fried chicken on top of cheesy grits… YUM.

Finally, do a factory tour of French Broad Chocolates – it really is so neat to hear this Asheville couple’s story of how they went from dropping out of law school to Costa Rica, learned the chocolate business, and are now Asheville’s premier chocolatiers – and yes you get to do a tasting ;)  Then head four blocks back into downtown to visit their chocolate bar…. An absolutely adorable little bar with a menu consisting entirely of chocolate, wine, desserts… in other words, it’s heaven.  It’s also crowded, expect to wait.  But the dark chocolate crème brulee is totally worth it!

 

~ Cutest little bachelorette ever ~

~ tickled pink! ~

It's a GIRL!

We found out Friday morning that we’re having a sweet baby girl!  And even more importantly, she looks as healthy as can be, thank the Lord!

I wanted to do something fun for a little gender reveal so I invited over a few friends in the area, plus my parents and Ellen and Ben to grill out Friday night.  I had everyone pick if they wanted to drink out of a pink or blue cup depending on what they thought we were having.  My sister was the ONLY one who guessed correctly!  I ordered these cute scratch off cards online and had everyone scratch off to reveal if we are having a boy or girl (I had to order both genders obviously and then use the right ones once we found out).

 

 

I ordered a cake for dessert too to celebrate our sweet lady J

And made sure to put a pink bow on Sadie and take a photo with our first sweet girl. 

 

Our family on Mother's Day!

I was a little surprised to find out, I hadn’t had a strong feeling either way but was leaning toward boy.  Although, I had dreams about it being both, and dreamed the night before our appointment that it was a girl. 

Additional updates:

How far along: 19 weeks, 3 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 14 lbs… sigh.  I know you’re supposed to be gaining weight, but it’s still kinda hard to see that number!

Maternity clothes: maxi dresses and skirts are my best friends.  Got a few cute pairs of maternity shorts that it was FINALLY warm enough to wear J

Stretch marks: Nope!

Symptoms: I have started to experience my hands and feet falling asleep very often, especially at night – it wakes me up almost every night!  I had no idea was a pregnancy symptom.  Apparently, the baby can be positioned on certain nerve endings that causes this, as can water retention.  Also, the emotional hormones have kicked in… maybe it’s because I’m feeling more attached, especially now that I know this baby is my daughter, not just a baby anymore?  Or maybe it’s just hormone levels fluctuating.  Either way, there were several waterworks sessions this week!

Sleep: not so great due to the numbness/tingling in hands and feet.

Best moment last week: Finding out our baby is healthy, measuring where she should be!

Movement: Yes, a little bit!  Just fluttering and a kind of feeling like she’s rolling around, no full out kicks yet!

What I miss: Wine.  Being able to run longer than three miles without feeling completely worn out.

What I am looking forward to:  registering now that we know the gender!

~17 Weeks!~

 I decided to start using one of these questionnaire type formats to better keep track of how I’m feeling/changes/etc.

How far along: 17 weeks, 2 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I’m not exactly sure how much weight I’ve gained thus far because I’m using my parents scale which I’ve always thought takes some weight off of you, but I think I’ve put on 10-11 lbs total

Maternity clothes: loving my maternity jeans and started using the pony tail holder rig on my other pants – I’m not big enough yet to use the fabric panel/belly band contraption yet.  Wearing maternity t-shirts and lots of maxi dresses and workout clothes at the moment as well!

Stretch marks: Nope! Trying to remember to use lotions/creams to keep these away!

 

Sleep: Not great :/  I hate sleeping on my side, but I’m starting to get a little more used to it.  However, between waking up to pee and allergies from the pollen, sleep hasn’t been awesome these past few weeks.

Best moment last week: Getting to spend time with old friends in Wilmington and new friends Thursday night (who are also pregnant, so getting to compare experiences with someone else who will unashamedly order dessert with me!)

Movement: Not yet…. I can’t wait for this!

Food cravings: Still sweets/Ice Cream

Gender: Don't know yet – see below for predictions!

Labor signs: Zilch, thank goodness.

Belly button - in or out? In… I hope it stays there a while.

What I miss: Sushi – we ate at Cowfish Thursday and while the Burgushi was delish, I wanted a tuna roll badly…  also, wine natch.

What I am looking forward to: Finding out if we’re having a boy or girl and feeling the little one move

J

 

Gender predictions:

We could go have an extra ultrasound any time to determine if Baby A is a boy or girl, but our next appointment isn’t until May 10^th, so we’re just waiting until then…  which is hard.  I don’t really believe a lot of the old wives tales, but according to them…

1.The Chinese Gender Calculator

This calculates based on your Chinese lunar age during pregnancy (which says I’m 29 – ummm why are we adding two years to our age?) and the Chinese lunar month that you conceived.  Anyway, it’s says ~ boy

http://www.babycenter.com/chinese-gender-predictor - link if you're interested!

2. Dreams: 

I haven’t had any either way so far, but Patrick said he had a dream that we’re having a girl

3. Craving sweet (girl) or savory (boy)

 Both as I’m just eating everything in sight… but more sweet, so girl.

4. If the baby’s father puts on weight during pregnancy (it's a boy)

 Nope, but he’s physically incapable of gaining weight (which is the most unfair thing in the entire world btw)  still… supposedly that means ~ girl.

5. You didn't experience morning sickness in early pregnancy.

 Pretty much none! ~  boy

6. Your baby's heart rate is less than 140 beats per minute

 Higher every time ~ girl

7.  You are having headaches it's a boy.  

When I first gave up caffeine yes, but not anymore ~ girl

8. You are moodier than usual during pregnancy you are having a girl

ummmm I don’t really think I’m any moodier – I’m emotional anyway so kinda hard to tell? Patrick says no, and he’s usually the one dealing with my moodiness, lol.. so I say ~ boy

9. How are you carrying?

I’m carrying a little high I think which is girl, but all in front (not to the side yet) so boy... tie I guess.

10. Body clues – supposedly if you’re having a girl, you’ll end up having breakouts because she is “stealing your beauty” ha!

Thankfully, my skin hasn’t broken out yet, so boy!

11. Baking soda experiment:  Pour baking soda in the toilet or in a cup after peeing in it – If the mixture fizzles, it's a boy. If it doesn't, you've got yourself a girl!

Weird I know, but in the name of “scientific research” I tried it – it fizzled, so boy I guess!

 

Equal number of boy and girl predictions = I guess we'll just have to wait a little longer to find out!

Other than that, we went to start looking at registry items today.  I don’t know if everyone feels like this, but I felt so overwhelmed.  I mean, Buy Buy Baby is exactly like Bed Bath and Beyond so a HUGE store full of floor to ceiling products of absolutely everything you would ever need and everything you never knew you needed for baby.  It’s so exciting, and I loved looking at everything, but debating between the numerous car seats, strollers, monitors… you want the safest, most reliable, best product for your future little one, but it’s hard to decipher what is worth the extra money that you also like the look of, etc.  Whew!  But I feel like we got a lot of the big items figured out at least.  We’re waiting until we find out the gender to pick out everything else.  Even though I’m not planning on going all pink or blue, it’s amazing how things can look slightly feminine or masculine – I’m not really sure why certain elephants and giraffes look like they’d go with a boy verses a girl, but I swear, they do!  So that’s to be continued!

 

 

 

 

~There's no place like home~

It is so great to be home J

We’ll have been here two weeks on Friday and I am just so incredibly happy to be back!  The first weekend we went to Charlotte to meet the movers/go to a doctor’s appointment/ and see friends and I can’t describe the feeling of driving down the streets and walking in Freedom Park with the knowledge that we’ll get to live there again.  I loved Austin, I really did, it’s just that being back and allowing yourself to realize that you’re here to stay is such a great feeling.

This past weekend, we had the 5^th Annual Brenda Agnew Memorial Golf Tournament.  Could not have wished for a more beautiful day!  The women of the Bethanny Society at Patrick’s church in High Point do such an amazing job every year of putting this tournament together and it’s always such a great day catching up with everyone and celebrating the memory of Patrick’s mom.  Notice I didn’t mention anything about playing golf… I played the first year and upon that disaster of a performance decided my time was better spent socializing. ;)  Although, my Dad and three friends played and got last place for which they were rewarded with four bottles of wine, so I’m thinking that next year when I’m able to drink wine again, I should maybe go it – I’ll take last place and wine over winning and golf gear any day!

Baby A update:  We went and heard the heartbeat last week – 164 bpm.  He or she was still moving around a lot J  At our next appointment we have an anatomy ultrasound and get to find out if it’s a boy or girl!  I can’t wait to find out… I’m thinking boy, Patrick kind of thinks girl (but I think he’s just saying that to not get his hopes up for a boy, ha!)

I FINALLY have a bump, which I’m really excited about! 

 

I still just look like I have a stomach now in some clothes, but at least now it’s obvious to people who know me that there’s a baby in there, I haven’t just been letting myself go ;)  I am still craving ice cream pretty much every day, but I keep telling myself that the calories I’m saving by not drinking equal it out! 

Speaking of not drinking – there are an amazing amount of non-alcoholic beers/wines out there for anyone who's currently pregnant/for future reference.  The beer is okay, I’ve had a few different types of alcohol free champagne that are actually pretty good (especially if you make a faux-mimosa, I mean, you really can’t tell!) BUT non-alcoholic cabernet… NOT good.  Actually, it’s awful.  Doesn’t even smell like the real thing.  Don't bother trying it - just eat ice cream instead ;)

What a difference a month makes!  This is 12 weeks compared to today (I’ll be 16 weeks tomorrow) 

 

Last, an update on our first baby J  Sadie is turning two tomorrow!  Can’t believe the amount of joy this girl has brought into our lives.  Definitely a blessing!

when we first got our girl:

 

 

compared to now, so grown up!

 

 

 

Until next time!  xoxo :)

Last Blog from Austin...

didn't get a chance to upload this post yesterday :)

It’s moving day!  While the movers are packing up the truck, thought I’d take the time to write a quick blog update since I haven’t had time the past week or so.

First of all…. This being our 5^th move in 5 years (an apartment, condo, house, two houses in Austin, and now back to CLT) I consider myself somewhat of a pro.  However…. I have never had to pack up a house without a little glass of wine while doing so, not been able to drink caffeine to keep me motivated, and definitely haven’t had morning sickness start on the day of the move.  Moving is pretty bad all the time.  Moving while pregnant… let’s just say it doesn’t exactly make it easier!

What does though is having parents in town to help!  My mom and dad had planned to come to Austin for my birthday/Easter weekend and my Catholic Confirmation before we even planned on moving, so it was fantastic (for us at least!) that they were here to help us pack up some boxes last weekend as well!  Soooo thankful for them!  We didn’t work the whole time though! 

 

 

A beautiful day for wine tasting, a picnic lunch, and shopping in Fredericksburg!  Spent the most time/$$ in an adorable store that was all for dogs… shocking I know ;)  they even had dog Bo-Jangles treats!

 

Our church in Austin where I was confirmed as a Catholic at Easter Vigil last Saturday night.  The most beautiful mass I’ve ever attended.  It’s a long service (two and a half hours!) but so symbolic, moving, and just incredibly special.

 

Baby A update:  I definitely have a little bump you can see in certain clothes now (which I’m pretty sure was made much larger by all of the great food we had this weekend!)  Currently, Patrick is making fun of me for purchasing a fetal heart monitor.  I don’t care one bit though because this is the best purchase I’ve made J  For $30 on Amazon, I can use this device to hear my baby’s heartbeat as often as I want at home (which may or may not be used every day currently…)  It’s a small machine with headphones attached that you put a gel on the bottom of and move over your stomach until you find the heartbeat.  The baby isn’t really moving around yet, so once I found it the first time, I knew where to place it going forward.  The hardest part about being pregnant for me thus far has been not “feeling” pregnant… I wasn’t showing, hadn’t felt nauseous (until today) and obviously the baby isn’t big enough to move yet.  Since you only get ultrasounds once a month in the beginning, I was just worrying all the time about knowing that the baby was still there, heart beating, etc.  This has been a lifesaver!  

I can’t wait to go next week in Charlotte for my next appointment.  Patrick will get to come with me too, which I’m really excited for since he was out of town and didn’t get to come to the first ultrasound.

Time to finish packing up the car and hit the road… We’ll be driving the next three days to North Carolina!!! Next blog update will be from the East Coast J

Until then!  xoxo

The first three months...

A loonnnggg blog since I haven't been able to blog about anything baby related until now :)

It’s hard to believe that we’re a third of the way to meeting Baby A! I am so, so thankful to not have been nauseous throughout the first trimester… although the fatigue is no joke! As someone who is used to being on the go 24/7 (and who relies on caffeine to do so!) it was a big adjustment to really just go to work, come home and run or go to yoga, and then go to bed.

I’ve been waiting until we told people we’re pregnant to share this. Call it fate, call it positive energy going out and coming back to you, call it what you will, but this is an incredible story that I never want to forget and want to share:

Recently, a co-worker of mine was telling me about how throughout her life, she and her husband wrote down their goals. They didn’t always have to be huge, life long goals, but just things that they wanted or were working for. She said that somehow, she found that writing them down made them come to fruition for whatever reason, being that it commits you to them, puts them out in the universe, makes you think about them more often and pray…whatever the case may be. So I figured why not give it a try? As someone who constantly makes “to do” lists, I’ve found that for whatever reason, writing down what you want to complete and checking them off as you go makes me more productive than if I just think about it in my head… why not try and apply the same logic to other aspects of life, right?

On January 26^th, I wrote the following post-it note, and just put it in my purse to carry around with me. It read: “I believe that Patrick will get a new job and I’ll get pregnant and be able to stay at home with the baby for awhile, we’ll raise our children and have a happy family and marriage.. and maybe be in NC again” It’s not eloquent by any means, but it was basically what we were hoping could happen in a perfect world if we were asked “What would you like in your life right now”

Again, that was January 26^th. What I found was, that by carrying the post-it around in my wallet where I saw it often, and just by writing it down at all, these things were more present in my mind. I thought about it more and prayed more often.

Two days later, Patrick called his now boss and began the extremely short process of interviewing and accepting a new job offer. Initially, we thought the position might take us to California. Not even a week after he began talking to them, he found out they actually needed someone to cover the Southeast region. So we could move back to North Carolina.

Fast forward a few weeks, Patrick had accepted the job offer and we were in the process of letting our work and friends/family know about our move. I took a pregnancy test on February 19^th that was positive J I couldn’t believe it and took three more tests (yes I’m a little crazy) that were all also (of course!) positive.

We are now moving to North Carolina April 3^rdand will be able to move back into our house in Charlotte in July. I am STILL blown away by how the timing of everything worked out so beautifully and how blessed we are right now. I’m sure some people will say it’s coincidence, but I’m convinced it’s the power of positive thinking and prayer!

First ultrasound:

I went for what I thought would be my 8 week ultrasound on March 13^th. However, as soon as the doctor saw it, she told me she thought I was further along than 8 weeks. In her words “You don’t see arms already this developed/long at 8 weeks…” to which my first thought was “Lady, have you seen Baby’s dad? I think he/she could very well just have long arms!” ;) HA!

After she took a TON of measurements (it’s seriously so incredible what technology can do! )she told me I was more like 10 weeks and 5 days… so almost three weeks further along than I thought! Which was fabulous because I was really not loving keeping this a secret any longer!

Really, I wanted to blog about this experience because it was until this point in my life, the MOST awesome thing I have ever seen. Hands down. In such a short time, this tiny little baby has already started to form with a head, a little body, and arms and hands you can see waving and wiggling around… and it’s growing inside of me! The more I read about how your body just become a perfect environment for growing this tiny being and how it is constantly working to form ears and eyes, and a spinal cord… it’s really the most amazing thing. I was creating a life before I even knew it was there.

Everyone asked if I cried when I saw the ultrasound for the first time and I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t since I cry at EVERYTHING these days… but I was just too in awe. While it was already real and I knew that I was pregnant, actually seeing Baby A and hearing the heartbeat made me realize how precious or she is already and how completely perfect the entire process is.

until next time!