We have a name! (26.5 weeks)

I'm about two weeks behind on my posts, but better late than never!  We had a couple of busy weekends and I was in California last week for work, so I feel like we've been going non-stop.

My parents were in town last weekend and we had a nice visit.  The only time we ever do anything touristy in Atlanta is when they're in town, so this trip we took them down to the Botanical Gardens.  It was really pretty.  They had an edible garden that put my little garden to shame.  But it might inspire me to plant more stuff next year - like eggplant and cucumbers maybe.  We'll see.  We planted a bunch of peppers this year - jalapenos, habaneros, and banana peppers.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of these peppers.  Let me know if you need some!

Mom and Dad are super excited about becoming grandparents for the first time.  My mom says she still can't believe she's old enough to be a Grandma.  I keep reminding her that I'll be 32 this year and that she's plenty old enough to be a Grandma. :)

Onto baby updates...So, as the title of this blog post suggests, Brian and I have decided on a name!  Before I tell you what it is, I just want you to know that picking a name was not as easy as I thought it might be.  Brian goes with the flow most of the time, but he had some very strong opinions about what baby Mac's name shouldn't be.  He never really came up with a list of names, but he wasn't shy about crossing names off of my list!  We probably went through a good 100+ names before landing on this one - Owen Maxwell McDonald.  The origin of Owen is Irish and it's meaning is "young fighter".  That's what the internet says anyway (which by the way has no bearing on why we chose it).  Young fighter is accurate though - when he's awake he seems to be using my insides as a punching bag.  Unfortunately he's been awake lately when I'm trying to fall asleep!

Here's the weekly bump picture.  This week baby Owen is about 14.5 inches long and weighs about 2 pounds.  Leaves me to wonder why I need the other 14 pounds that I've gained.  :) 

As for the nursery update, we haven't accomplished too much since the last post, but I feel good that we have the basics completed.  The crib mattress and changing pad came last week.  I just need to figure out what I'm going to put on the walls.  We have one wall taken care of - Brian put these shelves up for me.  Something I saw on Pinterest - I love that site!

Oh..and I've experienced a new symptom of pregnancy starting last week.  It's called "pregnancy brain" and basically what happens is that pregnant women do and say stupid things and tend to forget things that they normally remember.  My first episode occurred last week when I tried to use dish soap in the dish washer...twice.  When I discovered the suds, I yelled for Brian to help me and instead of coming to my rescue with towels, he ran upstairs to grab his phone so he could take a picture.  Very helpful.  Thanks babe. 

Well, that's about all of the excitement we have going on here.  I'll get back on track with my posts next Monday! 

Have a nice week.  Xoxo, Jennelle and Brian

Six months down (24 weeks)

Well, we passed the 6 month mark....4 more months to go!  We had a doctor's appointment on Friday, just a check up.  The nurse told me that since I was 24 weeks along, I could do my glucose test that day.  I gave her a run down of what I had eaten for breakfast (3 chicken minis, hasbrowns, and a Grande Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks) and told her I'd prefer to wait.  I would have failed that thing for sure. 

Everything else at the appointment went well.  My belly measured a normal size, weight gain is right on track with where they want it, and the baby's heartbeat was right around 150 bpm.  I think the nurse midwife got a sense of how often I eat chick-fil-a in the mornings and she told me I need to cool it on my chicken minis.  I literally cannot drive past a chick-fil-a in the morning without stopping.  It lures me in.  You know you have a problem when you have to take alternate routes in the morning to avoid a Chick-fil-a.

After work on Friday, I stopped by my friend, Stacie's house to pick up some baby items that her son has outgrown.  She's very sweet.  She gave us a Baby Bjorn, some clothing, toys, and a diaper genie.  The diaper genie will probably go in the garage.  I've put some thought into this and I don't think I want to store poop in the house.  I might cave in after a few hundred trips up and down the stairs to dispose of diapers, but we'll at least try it in the garage to start.  She gave me a tutorial on how to wear the Baby Bjorn, so I tried it on Brian when I got home.  Doesn't he look so cute? :)

Saturday morning we did a tour of the hospital.  Baby Mac will be born at Northside Hospital in Sandy Springs.  They deliver more babies every year than any other hospital in the country.  I was concerned that it might feel like a baby factory, but it didn't.  It's a really nice place.  The labor, devliery, and recovery building is totally detached from the rest of the hospital.  The rooms are a decent size and it was surprisingly quiet and calm in there.  I'm not sure why, but I was expecting chaos.  We have a good idea now of where we have to go and what to expect when getting to the hospital. 

 Between hanging out with friends, running errands, and playing golf this weekend, Brian was able to get the first coat of paint on the dresser for the nursery.  The plan is to have that painted by the end of the week.  At some point today, I need to go exchange the knobs I bought for the dresser (for the third time).  I might be the most indecisive person in the world.  We bought a bookshelf for the nursery a couple weeks ago and I've actually sold it to a friend already.  The glider arrived last week and I realized that there's not going to be room for everything, so we'll do book shelves on the wall instead.  At least we got an early start on the room!  Here are a couple pictures from the nursery - the crib, glider, and the closet organizer.  I'll post more pictures as the nursery comes together.  There's still lots to do!

 

I ordered a couple of the basic nursery bedding items - crib skirt, fitted sheet and changing pad cover.  As you can see, I've got the skirt on the crib already. :)  I'm still searching for a good organic crib mattress, so once we have that i'll post a picture with the sheet. 

 

 

You're probably wondering why in the world I ordered a white glider.  Part of it goes back to me being indecisive.  The other thing to note here is that it's a slip cover, so i can throw it in the washer if it gets dirty.

 

 

And this is my favorite part so far (probably because of the effort that went into installing it).  Brian and I put it in last weekend.  It was a little more challenging than they make you believe in the store.  I can't wait to get all of his little stuff organized in this closet. 

 

More nursery photos to come in the upcoming weeks!

 

My parents are coming this weekend, so we probably won't be doing much nursery work, but we'll see.  When I asked my Mom what they wanted to do when they're here, she said "relax".  They're both retired...that's all they do is relax. :)  We'll probably go to the Botanical Gardens one day and then maybe while they're relaxing the rest of the time, we can get some more work on the room done.

 

Here's my 24 week bump picture.  I feel like I'm growing at an incredible pace.  Brian assures me that I'm still beautiful, which is very sweet of him because some days I feel like a whale.  He did tell me the other day that he can't wait until I start waddling.  How nice.

 

 

Hope you all have a nice week!  xoxo Jennelle & Brian

Our little spaghetti squash (23 weeks)

We're officially 23 weeks along and the bump is getting bigger every day!  Baby Mac now weighs about 1 lb and is about 11 inches long.  The vegetable he is being compared to this week is a spaghetti squash.  I wonder who ever thought of comparing a baby to a vegetable?

My cravings have been pretty consistent the past few weeks - fruit, waffles, and fish tacos.  Oh and the newest craving is beer.  Thank goodness for non-alcoholic beer.  I always wondered who drank that stuff.  Now I know.  I suppose I shouldn't leave out the Chick-Fil-A craving - Baby Mac loves him some chicken minis and hashbrowns. 

Overall I can't complain about how I've felt.  I did have some nausea that completely disappeared after the first trimester.  And other than feeling heavier than normal and having some occasional lower back pain, I've been feeling great.  I did read that maintaining an exercise routine can help reduce the aches and pains, so I've continued my running (at a much slower pace) and I've been doing barre classes.  If anything, it helps me justify the frequent desserts. :)

We've been slowly chipping away at the nursery and have plans to do more work on it this weekend.  Brian finished painting this week.  I'm concerned that the grey we chose has some purple undertones. Brian says no, but I think that's just because he doesn't want to re-paint.  Maybe he's right and I'm just seeing things.  He wouldn't let our baby boy have a purple room, right?!?! 

We've got most of the furniture for the nursery.  Brian's parents bought our crib for us and that arrived on Tuesday!  Hopefully we can get that put together this weekend and I'll post pictures next week.  We're going to try to get the closet organization system in this weekend as well.  And the glider we ordered is being delivered on Monday.  It's all coming together.  I'm trying to get it done in the 2nd trimester since I hear that the fatigue will kick back in during the 3rd trimester.

I ran a 5k this morning in Virginia Highlands (which is a really cute area in Atlanta).  It was probably one of the most beautiful 5k courses I've ever run.  Brian missed this one because he pulled his hamstring a few weeks ago and he's still recovering, but he was still there to cheer me on.  We made a New Years resolution to run a 5k (or some type of road race) every month this year.  Between his injuries, my growing belly, and being rained out for the May 5k, we're not going to make it.  But I'm determined to do as many as I can.  I figure if that lady who ran the Chicago marathon and gave birth right after the race could do it, I can certainly do a few 5ks up until it's time to pop. 

There were a ton of parents with jogging strollers at the race today - I started counting them, but lost count after 25. It always motivates me to run faster when I see someone pushing another human along. My rule is that I can't let old people or people with strollers pass me.

The next race we have on our calendar is the Peachtree Road Race.  It's a 10k on July 4th - a huge Atlanta tradition and the biggest 10k in the US.  There were about 60,000 runners last year.  Hopefully Brian will be fully recovered and can at least run/walk it with me.  Can't wait for the day we can run Baby Mac in his first road race!

So, I know I said I wasn't going to purchase anymore baby clothes before the showers, but I couldn't resist when I saw this online (and I knew Brian wouldn't be mad).  This is Baby Mac's first Michigan State outfit.  And I was right...Brian was very excited to see this come in the mail today. :) 

That's all I've got for today.  I'll post some nursery pictures next week!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

xoxo  Jennelle & Brian