coming along..

I honestly feel a little bit sorry for Randy. I feel like all I probably ever talk about is something related to a baby or baby product. Maybe I'll surprise him one day and randomly start a conversation about the best fishing spots or how the stock market is doing.

I'll be 27 weeks on Friday, and I go next Wednesday for the dreaded glucose test. I'm praying that Eden and I pass with flying colors, and we can continue on to the next phase of pregnancy. This Friday marks the last day of our birthing classes. I was worried that Randy would hate spending 6 Fridays of his life sitting in a 2 hour class, but he really has enjoyed it and we're both a little sad to see it end ***yes, R told me he has enjoyed learning and attending the classes***.  Although this whole having a baby thing still seems a bit overwhelming, at least we feel a bit more prepared having been through the classes.

At my 24 week ultrasound, I was diagnosed with placenta previa, which means my placenta is growing right in front of the birth canal and at the present state would not allow the baby to pass through. I am not sure when they will do another ultrasound to check the placenta, but one of our latest prayer requests is that the placenta would move to another location as my uterus continues to grow and expand.

Last week, R traveled to California for a training, and I was most unfortunate to come down the the stomach flu. Thankfully it only lasted 24 hours, but this gal still lost 3 pounds! It's quite infuriating as I have really worked to put on weight, but I am confident that the Lord is protecting our little girl and she will gain weight like she needs to. R left for another work trip on Monday morning, but this time I'm feeling ok!

I think I've finally completed my baby registries. I've tried to only register for things that I think I need, and just a few wants. I don't need a whole bunch of baby stuff laying around here collecting dust and not being used. It's still difficult to plan for what our little girl will need, and but if we run out of things or need something, Target is only 1.5 miles down the road :)

One more month and I'll have my first baby shower, and last long road trip during pregnancy. We're going to Augusta for a few days to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday, and I am looking forward to seeing family since we won't be there for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year.

Rainy days make me sleepy...

This post has nothing to do with the fact that's it's been raining for a few hours.  I just realized that I could definitely take a nap right now, but then I would never get this blog out.

As I type this, I'm getting kicked in the stomach..well, in the uterus. Baby Whitehead likes to kick me, punch me, move around, and do whatever the heck babies do in there, and I am so glad that she does. Somehow, it makes me less paranoid to know that the baby is active.

It's been a full few days around here. R's parents came this past weekend and R and his dad caught a few huge red grouper fish...needless to say he was pumped.

 I wasn't as pumped b/c not only am I not a big grouper fan, I certainly don't like the idea of having to cut and clean raw fish. And no, I would not have made it during the pioneer days..God knew what he was doing when he created me in 1978.  Thankfully, R's mom took on the task of cleaning and cutting the fish once R took the meat from the fish carcass. This whole process took about 2 hours! Let's just say that I tried to be a trooper, but towards the end, I had to sit down and take a rest from looking at and smelling raw fish. 

*Note* When pregnant, do not subject oneself to this type of activity

We are finally working on flooring in the last bedroom, which happens to be our bedroom. Baby W's crib and mattress arrived last week, but we can't put it together until the flooring is complete. Why? B/c R and I had to move our bed into the baby's room until we are finished and there isn't room to construct a crib. Sigh..I can wait another week or so :)

We received our Graco stroller and baby hamper in the mail yesterday, and are now waiting on our Graco Snugride 35 to arrive. Today, I scored with finding a FP Rainforest baby swing on craigslist for a great price, which makes up for the swing that someone basically stole from us a few weeks ago at the consignment sale..in fact, this swing was even $10 cheaper! Yay!

L ooks like plans are getting underway for little baby's showers. I am looking forward to receiving some new, cute things, and to seeing people I don't get to see too often.  We have another ultrasound on Friday afternoon, and are looking forward to seeing more pics of our little one. I will be 24 weeks on Friday, and can't believe it's only 1 more month until the 3rd trimester begins! yikes..

If it's not one thing...

Welcome to the life of Randall and Alicia Whitehead: where there's always at least one outstanding project to work on and three others that pop up at the same time.

For months, Randy and I discussed taking out the carpet in the bedrooms and replacing it with laminate. Back in July or late June, I found laminate that was comparable to the rest of the house, and we bought enough for the bedrooms. 

We began with the baby's room since that was most important to me. It was finally complete a few weeks ago and then it was on to the second bedroom. While removing the carpet, R found a water stain on the concrete. That is never a positive thing. What he also found was moldy carpet tacking  *yikes*. Thus another project to be tackled at our house.

The infamous water stain

Gotta love moldy carpet tacking in your house!

After cutting two holes in the drywall, R found the problem. Apparently, our guest bathroom pipes were constructed incorrectly so water leaked from the pipe each time the tub was used. To cover up the problem without fixing it, some nice guy (or maybe lady?) had added buckets of sand underneath the tub to soak up the leaking water. Hence the water stain and mold that had crept underneath the wall into the carpet tacking.

After 1.5 weeks of pondering what to do (and sleeping in our guest house for precaution), we called a plumber to check it out. Amazingly, the trick he used worked to stop the leak, and he charged us a nice fee for the small job he did. At least the leak is contained and we can finally work on placing the laminate in the second bedroom!


The other exciting sporadic project that took place was in our garage. While leaving for Sunday School, we noticed our garage door wouldn't close. Hmm. We tried a few times, and b/c of the time, R had to manually close it and we decided to tackle the problem after church. Another nice guy(probably the same one who did the plumbing, poorly constructed the beams above our garage and slowly but surely they were sinking from the house, hence why our door decided not to close anymore. 


R's solution: hold the beams up with a jack and a huge piece of wood, and then place multiple screws into beam so it will sit correctly on the house. 

My poor honey sweating to death

I was scared it would fall on our heads

Problem solved! That is until Monday morning. Garage door won't close again..and the sensors are out..R has to manually close the door again. We checked it out when he got home from work and found out one of the sensor wires was loose. A little manpower and electrical tape, and everything was back to normal. Whew!


Tomorrow is my 20 week check-up, which means we finally get to see what our kid looks like. I really can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl b/c then we get to start working on names :)

19 weeks

My first week away

In order to keep my personal training certification, I have to complete a load of continuing education credits and a CPR class every 2 years.  Next June, my credits are due; which meant I had to work on getting those credits this year since baby Whitehead's 2012 arrival will make things a bit more tricky.

Thus, I signed up for Atlanta Mania, where fitness professionals from the South come together for 3 days to exhaust themselves while learning new ideas regarding health and fitness.  I'll admit I was a bit worried that I wouldn't make it through the 3 days, and was also a little concerned about my eating.

The week before I left for Atlanta, Randy and I purchased a new cooler and ice packs. Perfect timing as I decided to get to work 2 days before I left, and  I made breakfast items for a week. I made a gluten free, dairy free cinnamon coffee cake and gf/df apple cinnamon muffins. I individually wrapped a portion for each day in foil, and I'm so glad I did! It was extremely convenient, and gave me the early morning calories I needed for my first fitness class of each day.

getting wrapped

 I was also able to drive to Augusta to spend a few days with my parents and extended family. Mom and I attempted to register for baby items, but it just turned out more frustrating than anything . Baby stuff is super expensive!!

I enjoyed my week away (I slept better than I have in weeks), but I did miss my honey. I had my 16 week check-up last Friday, and am looking forward to Sept. 2nd (20 weeks). Hopefully we will be able to determine the gender of the baby at this next ultrasound..I can't wait!

16 weeks!

A New Trimester of Sorts...

Ah, the second trimester...where you gain more energy, feel less nauseated, and gain your sex drive back. Did I mention that today is my first day of the second trimester?

During my last appointment, my mom was here, so she ventured with us to hear baby Whitehead's heartbeat. At 11 weeks, little baby was chugging along at 160 or 162..I can't remember anymore. I addressed the gaining weight issue with the Nurse Practitioner and she said it might be good for me to see a dietician. I haven't moved in this direction yet, as I wanted to see if I would start gaining any weight on my own.

At my last doctor's appointment, I weighed a whopping 101.something pounds. Today at the gym, I weighed in at 104 pounds! Super exciting. That means baby Whitehead is growing..which to me is obvious by the way my pants fit and the little stomach pooch I have going on. Gaining weight while eating gluten and dairy free is going to be tough, but I am praying that God will help me with this challenge. (Did I mention that I went crazy on Wednesday and bought 2, yes, 2 cake doughnuts from Duncan Donuts..little by little, I polished them off before the night was over...EEK).

Next Thursday, I am headed to Atlanta for a weekend of fitness..Fri, Sat, and Sun I will be participating in group fit classes that begin at 7:30 am. I am not an early riser (esp, since we are one hour behind Atlanta), so Lord help me get through this next weekend!! I am excited about seeing my brothers and sis in law and her 18 week baby bump!  I'll top of the weekend with a 3 night stay in Augusta, and hopefully my mom and I will be able to register for some baby items.

Now for what you've all been waiting for: Alicia's little baby bump

14 week baby bump

yes, I am in my pajamas!

Adventures in Gardening

I love having a beautiful backyard, but it sure takes a lot of work to make that happen! Every time I go outside to pull weeds, they just seem to multiply even more! Where do these darn things come from?

Some of the areas of the yard have been growing really well. Back in April when mom and I started planting, we had no idea how the plants would do. Randy and I have found that some of them are thriving..some, not so much. There are plenty of reasons why: too much sun, not enough water (oh the joys of drip irrigation), and mysterious bugs? that eat them. 

I am really into this growing my own food thing... I began with herbs and then made the decision to try tomatoes. There's not anything better than a fresh from the vine in your own backyard tomato. Recently, something has been eating my tomatoes, and I'm not kidding about that. The crazy thing is, I can't find any hint of worms or bugs on any of my tomato plants. It's killing me b/c I am having to throw away half of my tomato crop. 
Anyone have any ideas??

My tomato plants

We have what??

As you may know, in April, we decided to feed the birds. The initial cost of feeding birds is ridiculous. Not only is bird seed expensive, but bird feeders are outrageous. The cost of 3 shepherds hooks + feed+ feeders = a fortune. 

However, we decided that we're old and wanted to watch the birds eat in the morning and evening. We've noticed that our bird feed declines by a significant amount during the night. We figured we had a large population of birds eating when it was dark (which seemed strange, but that the only way to explain it).

Last night, I was out of town for work, and when I called Randy to tell him I was coming home, he said he had solved the night feeding problem. He said he would tell me the story when I got home. Well, I got home around 9:30 and by the time we fell into bed, he said he would tell me the story in the morning.

awww!

they like the feeders and the hooks!

This morning, I asked him what he had found....RATS! Seriously, he said that huge rats are coming from the vacant lot next to us and eating our bird seed. SCARY!! I am so glad I haven't seen them, but we have heard them and that freaks me out. Randy went out and bought rat poison while I was gone last night, and his plan is to set the kill tonight. The poor birds!!