BIG news

So I have been very deceiving this week. My ultrasound is not this coming Tuesday. We actually had it last Monday. We wanted to surprise everyone at our open house this weekend so we didn't tell anyone. Not even our parents. And let me tell you they were very surprised. So without further ado, I would like to introduce Elijah David Morgan.

Here is a profile view


Confirmation he's a boy!!


His foot


His head and hand



The whole time we were there he was moving like crazy. I think it's because I drank caffeine before we went to the appointment. It was so neat though. We could see his mouth moving. He was drinking the amniotic fluid. We also got to see his bladder fill up, empty, and fill up again. We also go to see his heart beating. He was kicking and playing with his feet the whole time.

On average, a baby that is 22 weeks in gestation weighs just under a pound. My big baby weighs about 1 pound 5 ounces right now. I knew I would have a big baby just due to how big Big John was at birth and how big he is now. So we are thinking that I won't go full term. Everything is healthy with Eli and me as well.

We are very anxious to start shopping now. We are going to go and register next weekend. I can't wait to go and pick out all the things we are going to want and need.

Of course, Big John is absolutely floating still. He would've been happy either way but I know that he is happy it's a boy. We both are!!!

So congrats to all those that voted for a boy in my poll. The final tally of votes was 10 boys and 15 girls.

10 quirky things

I saw this post on another blog and it made me think about my quirks. At first, I didn't think I could come up with 10 but as I started the list got longer and longer. So I am narrowing it down to just 10 for you.

1. When I get a cup out of the cabinet, I have to smell it. I don't know why I do it. I always have. I think maybe sometime I've had a cup that still had some soap in it so when I filled it up my drink tasted like soap. Who knows...

2. I have a routine when I'm trying to go to sleep. I start out on my right side curled up in the fetal position. Then I move to my stomach with my left arm under my head and my right leg cocked out to the side. Then I face the other way on my stomach with my right arm under my head and my other leg cocked to the side. And then I can fall asleep.

3. I love to smell the bottom of a dogs feet.

4. I love the smell of puppy breath.

5. My sheet and blanket must match up in length hanging off of the bed. Also they have to line up perfectly at the top. I will get out of bed to fix this at night. It drives Big John insane sometimes.

6. I freak out at needles because they hurt but I am going to have a drug free birth. Figure that one out.

7. If I don't like the way something smells, I will not under any circumstances taste it. I always have to smell new foods before I taste them.

8. I am a list maker. Anything I have to do I will make a list.

9. The toilet paper roll must be hung so that the paper comes over the top. I will even change it at other peoples house.

10. I have to fluff my pillow and turn it over to the other side every night before I get in bed. If I don't, I can't sleep.

Ok so now you know some of my quirky little habits. Please try to contain your laughter long enough to leave me a comment about your quirkiest habit so I feel a little bit better about all of mine.

Doctor's appointment update

I had my doctor's appointment yesterday. I have lost another 3 pounds. That puts my total weight loss at 19 pounds and my total weight gain at 0!!!!!! The baby's heartbeat was 148. Everything is great. I had my one hour glucose test and I passed with flying colors!! No gestational diabetes!!! I am totally relieved!! The nurse said my levels were perfect! We scheduled our BIG ultrasound for next Tuesday. I can't wait until then! It seems like such a long time from now. But I am sure it will be here before I know it.

You asked me some good questions for my first ever Ask BigJohnsGirl session. I promise that I will post answers to them real soon! We are crazy busy this week. We are having an open house this weekend for our family and friends to come and see our new house. So we are very busy this week getting everything ready for that. Which translates into I am very busy cleaning up a storm to make sure my house is absolutely spotless. We are also trying to get the nursery completely ready. We already have it painted. Tonight we are going to put the second and final coat of paint on the walls and will work on putting the crib together. Then we will put together the dresser and changing table. Then all we have to do is put the border up on the wall and it's done. I promise to post pictures of the whole process!!

Alli

Ok so I promised you more pictures of Alli. Here is your cute fix for the week...









Tonight has been one week since we got her. Which also means it's been one week since she was spayed. We can finally give her a bath!! So I had Big John pick up some good smelling doggie shampoo today with the idea I was going to give her a bath. So after supper I went about getting everything ready to go for her. I got a nice big fluffy towel, the shampoo, a pitcher to use to pour water over her, and I changed into some grubby clothes. I got her in the bathroom and closed the door. Right away she sensed something was up. So she came over to me to see what was going on. I lifted her up and into the bathtub and she looked absolutely terrified!! I kept petting her and talking to her and telling her what a good girl she was being. I wish I could've had my camera in there to get some pictures of her but I was by myself and my camera would've been ruined. But I did manage to get some pictures of the aftermath.

Here are the clothes I was wearing...



She really didn't like the towel I used to dry her off. She tried to attack it!



Then she decided that it was my fault that she was tortured and started barking at me.



But then she settled down and started chewing on her bone.





She then decided that the nights drama was just too much and went to lie down on the couch worn out. She didn't move for about an hour. It was so cute!!

My pregnancy so far

Ok so I know that I started this blog to talk about my pregnancy. And it's been a while since I posted about anything pregnancy related. So here you go.

Last week I hit my half way mark. I am now 20 weeks along. I know it doesn't seem possible. It has gone by so fast for me! It seems like yesterday we were just finding out that we were expecting. But now we are on the downward slide.

I have been taking pictures of my belly every four weeks to track my progress. I started at eight weeks. There wasn't a significant change until my 20 week picture.

Here is my picture at 16 weeks along.



And here I am last week at 20 weeks.



BIG difference!! I am feeling the baby kick and flip around all the time now. Big John has felt a kick once but not again. But they are getting stronger every day!! It is just so amazing to me that something so small can kick so much!!

We are getting anxious to get started on the nursery but we decided to wait until after we have our ultrasound. We go to the doctor again Aug 25th and hopefully we will get to schedule the ultrasound then. Hopefully they won't make us wait very long. Maybe not even a week... I am really starting to go nuts with anticipation!! As soon as we know something, I will post it.

I have a ton of pictures of Alli to post. She is getting better every day at not going potty in the house. She is so crazy and feisty sometimes. We are starting to think that she has some Jack Russell Terrier in her. More on her later...

I am thinking of doing an Ask BigJohnsGirl post. You can leave a comment asking me questions. Nothing will be held back. Ask me anything... If I get enough questions I will do the post. If not, then I will be very upset and never post again! Ok not really. That's just me being the spoiled youngest child that I was growing up. Did it work??? We shall see...

Moving and more

I told you a while ago that I had a lot of pictures that I wanted to share with you. Now that I have my internet up and running at home I can finally share them.

As you know, we moved into a new house about 4 weeks ago. While we were packing everything up at the old house, things got a little messy.




After a while it really started to drive me insane.


We couldn't find anything.(notice the Baby Snoopy stuff... That's going to be in the nursery!)








But I kept saying it was worth it since we were getting a new house that was all our own!! But then after we moved, I found that it was exactly the same. We had boxes everywhere. We couldn't find anything. It has gotten a little better in the two weeks since we moved in. We have our living room, kitchen, and bedroom completely unpacked. All the other boxes are in our 2 spare bedrooms.(pictures to come I promise...) We are slowly working on those. But you know the old saying... out of sight, out of mind. We will really be working to get one of the rooms cleaned out once we have our big ultrasound because we will start to work on the nursery.

We had a bunch of help moving into our house. During one of the breaks, my mother-in-law did what she calls her witchy woman trick. I had to lay down on the bed and she held a needle and thread over my belly.


If the needle swings in a back and forth motion, then the baby is a boy. If it swings in a circular motion, the baby's a girl. Of course, everyone gathered around our bed to watch the voodoo work. Laura, my mother-in-law, made sure that the thread was perfectly still. Then she let go and waited for the thread to start swinging. It was swinging a little and then it completely stopped. Then it started swinging again.

New addition

Meet Alli. (Please excuse my feet in the picture!)



We just got her last night. We went to our local animal shelter and picked her out last Thursday but since she hadn't been there a week yet we had to wait. They keep each animal for a week to give the former owners time to claim them. So when no one came to claim her we got to go and pick her up.

Now it is the policy that all animals will be spayed or neutered before going to their new home. So Alli was spayed yesterday morning. When we got to the shelter to get her, she was still pretty out of it. So all she did was lay around and sleep last night.



Big John really likes her. But we think she was abused by a man before because she just kind of cowers near him. She will come to him when he calls her but she usually has her tail tucked between her legs and she shrinks away from him sometimes.



But as the night wore on, she started to warm up to him and realized that he made a pretty good pillow!



And then she even let him pick her up and put her on the love seat next to him. It was too cute!!!



She was more like herself when I got up this morning. It just about killed me to put her back in her room when I left for work though. She just looked up at me with those sad eyes like she was saying "please don't leave me here all alone." But Big John went home and let her out and played with her after work today. I can't wait to get home to play with her tonight!! There will probably be many more pictures in the near future!!!

We have a winner

Ok first of all, I'm sorry that it took me so long to post the winner. It has been a crazy weekend. We had two family reunions to go to and I was just exhausted. So without further ado...

The winner is Michelle Mettlen. Big John picked your magic number. Email me at bigjohnsgirl@sbcglobal.net to claim your prize!! Congrats!!!

Stay tuned. I have the next giveaway already planned out. It's another great prize so keep checking back!!

A day with my family

Our Sunday's are spent with family. One Sunday we go to Big John's mom and dad's house and the next Sunday we go to my parents. We have done this since we started dating and it's a tradition that we love. Last Sunday we went to my parents house. My brother, sister-in-law, and 2 nephews came over also. After going swimming for a while, we all retired to the living room to play some Wii games. It was so much fun to just be a spectator! I didn't play any of the games but I got some good action shots.
Here is my sister-in-law Jennifer bowling:


Here is Big John running during the Mario vs. Sonic Olympics- note the look of total concentration on his face!!


Here is my nephew, Shai, bowling:


He really gets into his games


This is my other nephew, Dakota, bowling.


The rest of us were spectators for the time being.

My mom with Jennifer


My dad


My brother Shad


Even Daisy the basset hound likes to get in on the action. But usually she's not too sure what's going on.


Dakota loves Daisy so much that he abandons his game to love on her.


Then Daisy notices me. She wonders what that thing sticking out of my face is. And if it tastes good...


After a few games, everyone is worn out and ready to take a nap.




But then my mom announced that dinner is ready and we all headed to the table to stuff our faces and moan about how miserable we were. Ok so maybe that was just me. But I have an excuse to pig out!!

Don't forget about the first ever giveaway that I announced a few days ago. You still have one more day to enter. Just leave me a comment on this post and tomorrow night I will randomly pick a winner. Good luck and go enter now!!!!

Also I want to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful dad. He is the best dad I could ever hope for!! I hope you are having a wonderful day dad!! Here's to many more birthdays!!! I love you daddy!!!

Letter to all the non pregnant people out there...

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,

I hope you find these guidelines helpful in your interactions with pregnant women as failing to follow them may result in serious physical harm. If you are thinking, surely she doesn't mean me- then you should probably read this twice.

1) The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is "Congratulations!" with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you an &*@!!!

2) Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father- not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase "my baby".

3) On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in 2, the pregnancy, birth and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it.

4) The body of a pregnant women should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone's stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.

5) Likewise, no women wants to hear comments on her weight- ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is "You look fabulous!".

6) By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don't need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes.

7) There is a reason that tickets to Labor & Delivery are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents.

8) Like everything else is life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital and the parents home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to "help out". If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.

9) If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should clean up the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping.

10) The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask for you to wait three weeks to visit, appreciate that you are are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less.

Thanks!

Much love,
Big Johns Girl

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

I figured it's time for my first ever blog giveaway!! Pretty much all of the blogs that I read on a daily basis have some sort of giveaway on a semi regular basis. So I figured why not try it on my blog???

The winner of this contest will get a really good book that I read recently. It has gotten the best reviews and it is even on the New York Times best seller list.


I got this book because I have read all of the other pregnancy books. I was ready for a humorous look at the child birth process and that is exactly what I got. This book made me laugh out loud a few times. Jenny McCarthy is real and honest and freakin hilarious at times.

All you have to do to enter this contest is leave me a comment. It doesn't get much easier than that folks. The contest will be open until 6 pm Friday night. And the winner will be announced Friday night. Here's where it gets even better. You can get another entry just by posting about my contest on your blog and linking back to my blog. Just leave me a comment with the link to the post and I will enter you again. Only one entry per person please. Winner will be chosen randomly. Now go and comment!! Trust me you want to read this book. Even if you aren't trying to conceive or currently pregnant. This book is for anyone that has ever thought about having kids.

Good Luck!!!!