I can't tell you how many times I am asked every summer if I'm enjoying the "slower pace" of things....and every time I laugh. Summer in children's ministry is crazy, busy, fun, and jam packed. And this summer has been no different thus the lack of posts since May! Oops. Honestly every time I thought about posting, I was also thinking about sleeping, and when you're pregnant during the hottest summer of your entire life, sleep wins. So here we are in August, and I am sitting down to somewhat catch up.
The pregnancy is going well...Titus is growing like crazy and pretty active these days, although I think he's beginning to run out of room. We're counting down now (34 weeks yesterday), and getting more and more ready for him to be here. At the end of July we did a 3D/4D ultrasound, and it was amazing. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on that.
We think he's pretty cute, and he certainly made his dad proud with the hook 'em horns. We'll have to work on getting the sic 'em bears down next.
The belly's been growing steadily the last many weeks, and there's definitely no denying I'm pregnant these days.
Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the last few updates over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'll be busy nesting (Michael's favorite part of me being pregnant since I'm in major clean out mode), and finishing up T's nursery. For now, here's a little sneak peek:
This week we finished up our childbirth classes at the hospital. Not sure they were completely necessary, but we both agreed that we feel more informed about what to expect out of it all. The most helpful thing was probably the hospital tour so that we know where to go when Titus is ready to come. The highlight, though, was the final class where they pulled out the empathy belly! Not one to disappoint, these pictures are too good not to be shared!
Can you tell he's not thrilled about this?
Trying to get up off the floor - harder than it looks.
(not the most flattering picture, but you can see that Titus is growing!)
Pregnancy Highlights
How far along: 23 weeks on May 21st
Size of Baby: About the size of a mango (11 inches, over a pound)
Total Weight Loss/Gain: Haven't gotten on the scale recently, but probably gained 3-4 pounds since last appointment. We'll find out at our 24 week appointment. Maternity Clothes: Mostly maternity clothes. The top in the picture is not, but it's definitely getting more snug!
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: I'm feeling him multiple times a day now and can't get enough! I love coming home from work and laying on the couch and feeling him kick like crazy!
Sleep: Sleep is good these days!
What I miss: not much at this point...definitely in my sweet spot and just gliding along.
Cravings: Nothing specific right now...varies by the day.
Symptoms: My knees, ankles, and wrists are pretty sore in the evenings, but it's manageable. Oh, and I get heartburn about 4 days a week after lunch.
Best moment of the (2) week(s): Feeling Titus's kicks getting stronger and more consistent. We also picked out paint colors and scheduled our friend Andy to paint the nursery. We also finished our baby registries and have all of his stuff picked out. It's definitely starting to become more real!
How far along: 21 weeks on May 7th (picture from Mother's Day 2011 - May 8th)
Size of Baby: About the size of a carrot (10.5 inches, 3/4 of a pound)
Total Weight Loss/Gain: At my 20 week appointment (also the big ultrasound), I had gained 10 according to the dr's scale. Maternity Clothes: A few non-maternity tops still fit, and all my tshirts and shorts, which is pretty much what I wear anytime I'm at home.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: Feeling him pretty consistently, but it's still light. Michael did feel him once this week when he was really active.
Sleep: Sleeping is definitely getting better. I still wake up multiple times a night to pee, but I've gotten much more used to it.
What I miss: Can't really think of anything right now...other than having a choice in clothing.
Cravings: Carbs still...that's about it though.
Symptoms: I can't think of anything currently. I seem to be in the sweet spot.
Best moment of the (3) week(s): Finding out we are having a boy, and calling him by name! I love it!
Kind of sad I missed getting a picture at 20 weeks, but things have been slightly crazy lately with work and life, and while I love it, it means certain things get put on the back burner. But it is what it is, and at least I'm catching up now.
Our son officially has a name! Although in actuality he's had a name since before we were even married. Michael and I had first talked about this name I think when we were engaged (so about 4-5 years ago) and we both really liked it. We have gravitated more towards uncommon first names paired with a traditional middle name. I think this stems from both of us having the #1 names for boys and girls for like 15-20 years. While we love our names, we also had lots of classmates and friends with the same names as us. We decided early on we wanted our children to have names that weren't as common, but also not completely bizarre.
And even though we've known and loved this name since before we even were married, once it was no longer hypothetical for a future child, but about to be a permanent choice for a real person, we wanted to test it out a little bit before sharing. So all week we've been referring to baby boy by his name, and we're happy to say that it fits! So without dragging this out anymore, his name is...
Titus John Gist
Titus is just a name we both liked, and we also did appreciate the biblical reference as well. I didn't even look up it's meaning until this week, but it means defender, which I also love. John is Micahel's granddad's name, who he is incredibly close to. He always knew he wanted his first son to carry this name, and so it's a perfect fit for us. John also means God is gracious, and I can't think of a better phrase to describe our journey to our son.
So that's it! We love it, and we can't wait to meet Titus in September!
sweet healthy baby! But that's not the only thing we found out at the BIG ultrasound. We also found out that Baby Gist is a sweet baby....
BOY!
And we were completely and utterly shocked. Both the husband and I have had a gut feeling since we first got the call we were pregnant that this was going to be a girl. All my symptoms made me think girl, the way I'm carrying, and even the chinese gender predictor made me think girl. As in, M had said numerous times, "As much as I'd love to have a son, I just know this baby is a girl." As in, all we'd been talking about for weeks were girl names since we couldn't find one we both absolutely loved.
So you can imagine our shock and complete amazement when there on the screen at the end of our ultrasound, we saw what we'd been waiting for. I thought I had seen something on the screen shortly before as the tech was scanning, but didn't think much of it because he was going pretty fast. However, once the tech zeroed in and and got a good shot, he immediately put the words "Looks like a boy!" on the screen. I was floored. All I could do was keep saying NO WAY! M and I were both laughing and excited. (and would be obviously just as excited if it had been a girl too). Our nurse said deep down we must have known it was a boy because the only dream I had was about a boy and because the only name we 100% agreed on was a boy name. Who knows!
After that we were done with the ultrasound and went to the exam room to see the dr. All we could do the whole time was look at each other, laugh, and say that we just couldn't believe it. Everything checked out perfectly and he's totally healthy so far. The ultrasound was pretty phenomenal too. We were able to see his stomach clearly, which means that he can swallow, and we also saw both kidneys functioning as well. Our favorite part of the ultrasound (aside from finding out who he is), was seeing him YAWN sooo big - and we even got that part recorded. It was beyond cute, and you can even see it here. (This is the shortened video...7 minutes seemed a little long for anyone to want to watch aside from family.)
That night (Tuesday), we got together with our families (my parents, M's dad and dad's gf, and M's grandparents) to share the big news. They had all pretty much been waiting on pins and needles to find out, and everyone except M's granddad thought it was a girl. We met for dinner at Red Lobster, and once we all ordered we pulled out a gift bag that would reveal the baby's gender. I had everyone close their eyes and pulled out a cute little neon green romper with a monkey on it that says HUNK. Once I had it out, they opened their eyes and were all shocked! My mom was funny - she couldn't figure out when I had picked a green outfit for a girl since she just knew that's what we were having. She (and everyone else) are definitely in shock, but excited too. It was definitely a fun way to share the news with our family.
We kept the big news a secret from everyone else until Wednesday night when we met with our life group (who are also some of our super good friends). I had been signed up to bring dessert last night anyway, so we decided it would be perfect to do a gender reveal cake. I made a simple white cake dyed blue and covered it with chocolate icing. Once we got to group, everyone gathered in the kitchen. and we once again went around and said boy or girl. And once again girl votes far outweighed boy votes. I got the honors of cutting the cake, and got to shock everyone when I pulled out the first slice. It was such a fun way to surprise everyone! And even better...we got it on video!
So that's the BIG news :) and tomorrow we'll post even BIGGER news....baby boy's name!
Oh wait...not THAT big news....but still big. Last Thursday evening (April 21st), I began feeling baby kicking me on a consistent basis. I was laying on the couch, and felt the unmistakable "could be bubbles or popcorn" twinges that just kept coming. When baby has kicked before, it's been one swift random kick, and I usually realize shortly after it's happened what it was, and then hope and pray to feel another. But this was different. The kicking kept on for most of the evening, and then I felt it for much of Friday morning as well. I absolutely love it! I know in about 20 more weeks I won't love it so much, but for now it's amazing.
