Miss Austyn Alexandria

Yep! You heard it first - Thomas and I have decided on a name for our little princess! I couldn't be happier to announce that she will be dubbed Austyn Alexandria Cartledge. I think it's a beautiful name! We are both happy and we agree that it's the perfect name for our daughter!

Last Wednesday (1/25/12) I was watching TV and heard/saw the name "Alston" and thought it was so pretty! I started to text Thomas at work and ask him if he liked the name, but I figured he would turn it down so I deleted the text and decided I would casually mention it to him later. Lo and behold! Thomas asked me about the name later that evening and I knew it was fate! 

You don't have to state the obvious, people. I know that the name Austin is rather boy-ish. I don't care. I love it! I researched some spelling ideas and found that "Alston" is typically the spelling for a last name. "Austin" is the way a boy would spell it. "Austyn" is becoming more popular as the female version, so it's set! We wanted her to have a super feminine middle name, and Thomas asked about Alexandria (which is a FIRST name that we discussed previously). So - there you have it, our baby girl finally has a name! :-)



22 WEEKS

I am now 22 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by! I only have 6 more weeks until I'm in the THIRD and FINAL trimester! Ahhhh!!!!


Baby is the size of: A spaghetti squash (11 inches, 1 pound)

 




Symptoms: Killerrrrrr heartburn. I have an appointment on Tuesday and plan on asking for something besides Tums for indigestion. It's terrible!




Maternity clothes?: I am wearing maternity clothes because they are more comfortable, but I'm STILL not filling them out yet. I'm waiting for the infamous "pop" but the wait is agonizing!




Sleep: I sleep good some nights, and other nights I toss and turn. I have to wake up and take Tums for heartburn. I don't have to pee quite as often, but the tiniest sounds wake me up. 




Fun moment(s) this past week: We're still plugging away at the nursery. I'm excited to have it painted so I can start putting my own touches on it. 




Movement: Her movements are stronger and more regular now! I can feel her rolling around and dancing in my tummy, and it is THE MOST AMAZING FEELING EVER! I could lay there and marvel at her dance moves all. day. long!!!




Food Cravings: I still love eating pizza and usually indulge about 2x per week. Today I am craving vanilla soft-serve ice cream. 

Gender & Name: Girl. Austyn Alexandria




Weight Gained: 18 pounds. Eeeekkk!!




What am I looking forward to: I am SO looking forward to our 4D Ultrasound on February 28th!!!



 

It's A Girl!

Last week, on January 3rd 2012, we found out that baby Cartledge is a GIRL! We couldn't be more excited!

 We showed up for the ultrasound and I was super nervous/excited. This was the first ultrasound I was having since I was 6 weeks pregnant. I kept joking that I would be devastated if that baby didn't cooperate and we couldn't find out the sex, but really - I
just wanted everything to look good on the ultrasound and for baby to be active and healthy. 

Kathy Harris did the ultrasound and said that she'd first check that all major organs were present then she'd try to tell us the sex.

This is the back of her head and her spine. She was facing downward so we couldn't get a face shot.

 This is her little legs and femur bone. Her hiney is furthest to the right. :-)

 This is her hiney and one leg sticking out. Girl!!

 This is her little butt cheeks and more evidence of Girl parts.

  This is her tiny little foot and you can see her toes, too!

This shows her arm bent and her hand is in a grasping motion.

I was wonderful having Thomas there to see the ultrasound. We could both tell before she even said it that we were having a girl. She was active during the whole ordeal. She crossed her legs at the exact moment we started looking for gender indicators. She even put her hands on her knees at one point! I'm just so happy! I'm already looking forward to our 3D ultrasound in a couple of months! ;-)

 

18 Weeks Pregnant

First, let me apologize for the messiness of my blog. I am in the process of redecorating but I seem to be getting distracted by things like...sleep, sleep, oh...and sleep! 


I am going to try to start doing weekly updates about my pregnancy so that anyone who wishes to keep up can just bookmark my blog and visit as often as they'd like. I am not well-disciplined so please don't be upset with me if I neglect to update regularly. I am going to try my hardest to be a better blogger in 2012!


So far, everything is going well with the pregnancy. The first trimester was actually a breeze! I had very little morning sickness, and what I did have was much milder than I anticipated. You'd think that I would enjoy that, right? Nope! I worried myself nearly to death about WHY I wasn't having morning sickness and fearing that something could be wrong. To my great relief (ha!) I ended up having second trimester sickness that lasted from about 11 weeks until 16.5 weeks. That's still not too shabby so I'm not going to complain. 


I've been following The Little Green Family blog which has really helped put things into perspective for me. Katie Green found out she was having a Trisomy 13 baby at her 18 week ultrasound. She documented her pregnancy and even shared the news of little Hallie's birth for the world to see. I will be borrowing some of her creative ideas to document my pregnancy and I HIGHLY recommend that each of you at least take the time to read this family's story. 

Baby is the size of: A big pickle!




Symptoms: I'm having some discomfort with heartburn and shortness of breath. Otherwise, I feel pretty good!




Maternity clothes?: Maternity clothes are still baggy on me, but I have definitely outgrown all my regular jeans. I mostly rock sweatpants these days. ;-)




Sleep: I'm sleeping great! I am trying desperately to stop sleeping on my stomach, but I wake up in the middle of the night and there I lay!




Fun moment(s) this past week: It was great to finally start decorating the nursery! We Thomas is busy getting the walls ready for prime and paint!




Movement: I have felt little flutters in my pelvic area, which I absolutely LOVE! It's a feeling that's hard to describe.




Food Cravings: I'm not really craving anything yet!




Gender & Name: We find out the sex of the baby in TWO DAYS! We are still undecided about names.




Weight Gained: I'll find out on the 3rd, but I'm very afraid!




What am I looking forward to: I am super excited about this appointment coming up. I haven't had an ultrasound since I was 6 weeks and I just want to see my little one so badly! I am ecstatic to hopefully find out the gender as well!

Christmas 2011

I saw this little survey on Lauren's blog over at Nothing Is Better Left Unsaid and thought it would be fun to share. 

Christmas Questions

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate?  Definitely HOT CHOCOLATE. With marshmallows. Lots of marshmallows.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?  When I was a kid, we had presents from Santa that were unwrapped, and also had presents from our parents that were wrapped under the tree. Now that I'm older, Santa wraps them all. :)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?  White. Never, ever colorful.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?  Last year I hung some artificial mistletoe under the round archway leading to the dining room. This year, with the tiredness of the pregnancy and the general yuckiness of morning (all day) sickness, I didn't even decorate until like 2 weeks before Christmas! I just decorated the tree and mantle and was satisfied with that.

5.  When do you put decorations up?  Usually before Thanksgiving...but again, I was NOT feeling motivated this year.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?  I love GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE! ...but did not have any at either Christmas-eating location. Bummer.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?  I just enjoyed the traditions that were Christmas for us. We opened presents at my paternal Granny's house on Christmas Eve. My brother and I usually camped out in the same room on Christmas night and tried to stay awake until it was safe to wake the parents for gift opening. We always fell asleep but still woke up SUPER EARLY to see what Santa brought. After we opened gifts at home, we went over to my maternal Granny's house to open gifts. We then went home and set up all our toys to display to various family members that came over for Christmas dinner that evening.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?  Honestly, my brother was three years older than me so he broke the news to me when I was rather young. 
 
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?  Yes, open gifts at Granny Hilda's on Christmas Eve.

10.  How do you decorate your tree?  White lights and traditionally colored ornaments. I am not into the purples, pinks, or blues. I like silver, red, green, and maybe some gold all over!

11. Snow!  Love it or dread it?  LOOOVEEEE! Snow is magical. :)

12. Can you ice skate?  I've only been once but I really liked it. I was NOT good at it, however.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?  My Papa bought us a desktop computer back when you were THE. JUNK. if you had one. It was amazing, and of course we had AOL.

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?  Spending as much time as possible with my family!

15.What is your favorite holiday dessert?  I don't know that I'm really all that crazy about desserts but I can make a meaaaan pecan pie.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Cinnamon rolls with Thomas on Christmas morning.
 
17. What tops your tree?  A bright white star. Duh.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?  I love buying gifts. I wish I had more money so that I could buy MORE presents.

19. Candy canes: yuck or yum?  I only like the fruity ones, not the minty ones.

20. Favorite Christmas show?  Christmas Vacation is a tradition in my family. Soooo funny!

21. Saddest Christmas song?  Grown-Up Christmas Wish

22. What's your favorite Christmas song? Mele Kalikimaka!