the name game

 

A few of you have asked, so here’s the low down on the “Great Name Debate of 2011”:

 

To preface, we’re not the couple that have had their unborn children’s names picked out since our first date. We’re also, hopefully, not the couple who finally pins down a name in the hospital, just in time to fill out the birth certificate. We’re somewhere in the middle and SURPRISE! SURPRISE! my patience with the process is wearing a bit thin.

 

{If my patience is always wearing a bit thin, does that mean I have any patience to actually speak of?}

 

In my dash to name our child, I purchased this little book a while back:

 

After just a few pages, I quickly learned that reading through a bazillion names can be a tad overwhelming and little hard on the eye strain. We decided we’d try harder when we found out the baby’s gender, cutting the names we’d have to sort through in half and supposedly making it easier on us.

WRONG.

 

While the baby name books and apps have a bazillion names to choose from, options do not equal ease. Half the names listed are truly only appropriate for a beloved family pet -  Banjo, Manolo, Sequoia… they’re just not my cup of tea.

I’ve been in love with many a name in my lifetime, but they all quickly lose their charm as I see them being used more and more often.

 

Our guidelines: we’re looking for a lesser used name, but not a weird name. A manly name, definitely not a unisex name. Something a kid can live with, that he doesn’t have to spell to everyone constantly but not because there’s 3 other kids in his class with the same moniker.

 

It’s like finding a needle in a haystack. I do have an absolute favorite name, but Nick doesn’t seem to be on board with it – he says he’s “indifferent” to it. I’ve given up hope on convincing him of this one and have moved on to my second favorite name, one we came up with together while eating at Cheesecake Factory on our 6 year anniversary… I at least really like that part of it =) We’re still looking to make sure no ground is left uncovered, but we do both agree on this one and keep throwing it around out loud to see how we feel.

We do, however, have a middle name chosen. A family name that luckily seems to go with every first name we throw up as an option. THANK GOODNESS for that. I can’t imagine having to come up with TWO names right now and making sure they both “go” with each other.

 

The search continues…

 

Any suggestions for our little man?

{Seriously!!}

6 years of true love… from rocky beginnings

 

March 21st marked 6 years of “togetherness” for Nick and I since our first date. Those six years have been filled with so many memories, so many character building moments that have tested us, bonded us, built a friendship and deepened our love for each other.

 

In all honesty, March 21st marked our second “first date” as juniors in college.

 

Our first “first date” was actually about 2 1/2 years before that, sometime in the first semester of our freshman year at Georgetown college. We were infatuated with each other and became quick flirty friends. We watched a few movies together in the dorm, walked dogs together at the local animal shelter, spent hours “talking” on ICQ {something like MSN instant messenger}, and even had our magical first kiss that year. Our first kiss was also our last kiss and the relationship fizzled back into a friendship. No break-up as we weren’t really “dating” and never a conversation about “where this was going”. We were just amicable friends again. We still had a few more classes together over the next couple of years where we’d sit near each other and chat, but not much more than that.

Junior year came and both my roommate and I decided to transfer to the University of Kentucky. Nick was still at Georgetown and if you had asked me if I thought we had any chance of a future together, I would have given you 10,000 to 1 odds. We were distant memories for each other with our lives moving in very different directions.

Then one Sunday, my friend, Melissa and I went to church together. Melissa had also went to Georgetown, still did at the time, and also knew Nick. We were driving out of the parking lot afterwards when we both saw a guy directing traffic that we agreed looked like Nick Roberts. When I got back to my apartment, it struck me how long it had been since we had spoke and I sent him a message on ICQ telling him about the guy that reminded us of him that day and just wanted to say hi and that I hoped he was doing well. It had been at least a year since the last time we had seen or spoke to each other.

That message will always be the “beginning of the end”. Nick went on to message me back later, we chit-chatted about what each of us had been up to, and then he proceeded to ask me out on that second “first date”. He still holds to his claim that “I pursued him” because I sent the first message, but I had no intention of that in mind what-so-ever. Just another example of how men can misconstrue “friendly” =)

Whatever the case, I’m so glad it worked out! We have been together through so much in the past 6 years, I can’t imagine that time or any of the future without him.

• We were together as each of us finished our undergraduate degrees, then saw each other through pharmacy school and grad school – making for lots of cap and gown pictures together!
• I thankfully got to see him in his last two years of college baseball.
• We’ve seen each other through several job titles in our few years together which have included some times of unemployment, job searches, job frustrations and eventually putting both us in the places where I believe God planned just perfectly for the two of us.
• We weathered a long distance relationship through my first 2 years of pharmacy school. The first year being 4 hours apart. The second year, he sweetly moved to an area with far less career opportunities for him so we could be only an hour apart.
• We’ve been by each other’s side in times of stress, fear, and sadness and luckily in many more times of joy and celebration.
• We survived the wedding planning!!!!
• We spent our first year of marriage in a shoebox apartment and then experienced the elation of buying our first home together.
• We’ve traveled to Baltimore, Jamaica, the Biltmore estate, Disney World, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, New York and in a few weeks – Las Vegas!!
• We adopted a pup together almost 3 years ago that has taught us more about our selves as a couple than I could have ever imagined.
• Now we embark on our biggest adventure… PARENTHOOD!

 

Looks like we have many, many, many new and exciting memories to make with this next chapter of life as a family of 3. I know the next 6 years will only be better than the first and that is mind-blowing to me♥

 

♥♥♥

17 weeks

 

Even after a 55 hour work week in the pharmacy {wah-wah, boo-hoo… I know many of you work more…}, a place where we stand 95% of the time {no, I will not enjoy the varicose veins that are sure to result from my career choices later in life} I just have to lead off with this:

I AM EXTREMELY HAPPY.

Things are beyond well with my soul♥   I have a great job, a great husband, a great family, home…. etc. etc. etc. The Lord has blessed us with this little one and given me {so far} the easiest pregnancy I could imagine. AND with the beginning of spring, the days are becoming warmer, the sun is shining later into the evening, and the flowers are just beginning to bloom. My world is a candy covered rainbow at the moment and I just can’t help but rub my belly and smile. =)

 

 

At 17 weeks, I’m beginning to actually feel more and more pregnant with each passing day. The tummy {and baby!} seem to be in a  growth phase that I think we’re really going to start seeing comparing the weeks’ pictures now… I hadn’t even been concerned with keeping up with them until lately when I could really start to see the difference!

 

I’m feeling FANTASTIC. I have little to no negative pregnancy side effects at the moment. My appetite has definitely returned and there are absolutely no foods on my aversion list. I am still, ever in love with shrimp and milk. {Not together, mind you.} I can’t get enough of either.

And before you question my shrimp intake like many others in my life, I’ll let you know I’ve read from multiple sources and heard from the doctor that it is, in fact, safe. I don’t eat very much and I’m always craving cooked shrimp, they say to stay away from raw - so we’re good!

The return of my appetite has brought a quick addition of the pounds. Last I updated you, I had only gained 2 pounds in 14 weeks. We are now in the positive by 8 pounds! I’m starting to re-think what I eat {just re-think it, not actually stop eating it. ha!} and trying to fit a little more exercise into my life. It also makes me feel better that my husband has gained more weight than me in just the month of February alone(!) {Sorry, Nick! I had to rat you out for my insecurity’s sake!! =)}

 

I’ve been surprised that even with a still small belly, bending over is already more difficult! This belly is such a hard mass that doesn’t “fold” and squish the way just a fat belly would allow for my abdomen to bend. I’m already squatting more, not something I expected to be doing this early on.

To add to the list of surprises and to calm anyone else’s fears going through this for the first time too, I’m surprised at how many sharp pains I have in and around my abdomen on a daily basis. Of course, this is all the ligaments and uterus just doing their job to stretch, but DANG! it hurts. It literally stops me in my tracks and takes my breath away at times. I’ve been told that if pain isn’t coupled with bleeding, don’t worry about it. That’s just what I’m doing!

 

Lastly, I’m fairly sure… I felt the baby moving on Saturday! I felt little flutters like nothing I’ve ever felt before on and off all day. It must have been my son’s extreme joy over UK’s win to go on to the Sweet 16 ;) Sadly, I haven’t felt them since, but I’m sure when the rib kicks start, I’ll wish I had a little more of a break from this rowdy little boy that’s sure to be growing in there.

 

We have such a fun day planned for our 6 year anniversary of being together today♥   I’ll be sure to re-cap later ;)

 

BOY oh BOY, we are BLESSED!

 

We had the loveliest, luckiest, most blessed weekend to beat all weekends!

First of all, the weather was GORGEOUS. Very happy to be seeing more and more of those warm, sunny days in between all the icky ones…

Then our dear UK Wildcats won all weekend and ended the weekend with the big win at the SEC tournament. WOO-HOO!!

My sweet and patient brother-in-law stood in line all day on Friday to score both he and us a new iPad2 =) {Which we’re loving!}

And we were mucho MUCHO lucky enough to have both of our immediate families come in from hundreds of miles away just to be with us as we found out we are having a BOY this August.

My heart could burst!

{Also, a random tid-bit only I could get excited over… this just happens to be my 300th blog post AND we hit 900 followers this morning. How ironic and super cool?!}

The two soon-to-be parents on the morning of the big gender ultrasound:

 

Our tech savvy families spending some “quality” time together on Friday night… everyone either has an iPad or a laptop! I put down my iPhone just to pick up the Canon and snap this shot. We are such DORKS! ;)

 

Saturday morning, after a big family breakfast at our house, we headed to “Baby Belly” for the gender ultrasound. I LOVED this place and would definitely recommend it to others in the Lexington area. So serene and ultra nice.

 

 

 

The big moment when the tears couldn’t be held back any longer:

WE’RE HAVING A BOY!!!!

 

Don’t mind this momma’s extra chins in these shots….

 

Look at our little alien angel in 4-D!!

 

 

They may kill me for this next shot… but hey, Chad was the one taking the pictures!!

We felt so loved to have both sides of the baby’s grandparents there as well as Nick’s brother and my sister. We are so appreciative for them!

 

With only about 30 minutes between the end of our appointment and the beginning of the UK game, my mom, mother-in-law and I hit just one baby store.

I only bought the sunglasses and a couple bibs… ya think the grandmother’s will be spoiling much?!

I just melt over each and every one of these little outfits. I cannot imagine how much sweeter they will be with my little bundle of love actually wearing one♥ I am going to be a puddle of mush on the floor with all the adorableness!!

 

 

and here we are at 16 weeks:

We should be in full bloom just in time for spring!

 

It’s a…….. (!!!)

We’re…

having…

a…

little…

bitty…

baby…

…BOY!!!

 

 

We are so in love and so thrilled to be having a son!!!!!!!!

God is SO good♥

the rest of the “preggo discovery day” story!

 

I’m finally going to finish this story!!!

Hip-Hip-Hooray for the chronic procrastinator!!

 

Side note: If you haven’t already, don’t forget to vote in our poll for baby Roberts’ gender… Just 3 days left to vote, people! YAYAYAYYAYAY=)

 

Last I ended the story, I was standing in a bathroom stall, holding a digital HPT that read PREGNANT, ignoring a phone call from my dear husband who was clueless to any facet of our current situation.

{Doesn’t my life sound so glamorous and totally not humiliating in the least?!}

I was completely out of my mind with excitement. I had my doubts, but I chose to believe the words on the screen until told otherwise. What did I do next? Not much choice at this point… I stashed the HPT away for safe keeping, washed my hands, and got back to work with a perma-grin plastered on my face.

Wanna know something else fun about this day?  It was one of my half days at the pharmacy, which is only 6 hours and which also happened to be our cholesterol screening day. In the course of 6 hours, my husband stopped by TWICE to have his cholesterol checked, {the first time there was a line so he said he’d have to come back}, and I didn’t say one little word or even drop one single hint of the BIG secret I was keeping.

That was not the place where I wanted to find out I was pregnant – I wanted to be at home, dancing around, screaming if I wanted. {But I’ll definitely take a positive pee stick wherever I can get it, no real complaint here!} I was definitely not going to let the big news slip to the father-to-be there as well. I was going to do something the right way.

I got out of work at 3 and knew Hubs wouldn’t be far behind at 4 or 4:30. I had a plan and I needed to be as quick as possible. Straight to the mall I ran after work to pick up a special ornament. The wait for the store to personalize the ornament was 4 hours – no can do. I bought the ornament plain, checked out the “special” paint markers they were using and ran to Hobby Lobby to buy my own. I stopped off at a book store in the mall as well to get him started on his daddy education.

I was SPASTIC to say the least.

By the time I got home, it was almost 4 o’clock. I “personalized” the ornament the best I could with shaky hands and started wrapping the gifts.

I must say, it was THE WORST wrapping job I have ever done. Pure fail. But I got it done before he got home and it was all that mattered. I put the present under the tree, snapped a few pictures of it for memories’ sake, and perched myself nonchalantly on the couch in front of the t.v. just in time to hear the garage door open pronouncing the arrival of the clueless baby daddy.

 

{I should probably remind you at this point that it was December 15th, Christmas time – just in case you were thrown off by the mention of “ornaments” and “under the tree”… =)}

At this point I had no further plan except to hope he noticed the lone present under the tree and to go from there. It felt like an eternity, really just about 30 minutes, but he finally said something.

I was in the kitchen getting a snack when he yelled, “Hey, whose present is this in here?”

Relieved, I ran into the family room to pretend to see it for the first time.

Without though, I blurted out, “Oh, I think it’s yours. Santa must have brought it.”

 

He was not amused, he just looked at me, waiting for me to quit joking around and just tell him already. So I pushed, “Maybe you should open it…”

His response, “Yeah right, you just wrapped it for decoration, didn’t you? There’s probably just rocks in it.”

Then, instead of bending over to pick it up to “feel it out”, he kicked it.

“Yup, it’s heavy. Definitely just rocks.”

Seriously, where in the heck did this man think I came up with some heavy, shirt box size rocks just to wrap them up for decoration?!?!?!?!?!!!!!

 

At this point, I just had to laugh. He had just kicked the most important present I had ever given him AND deemed it to be “rocks”.

 

My final statement before I ripped it open myself and threw it at him, “If I wrapped a present for decoration, would I need to put rocks in it or wouldn’t an empty box just due?”

He thought about it, agreed, and decided to open it. There were 4 gifts all tucked inside the box, each wrapped in tissue paper. The first he unwrapped was the ornament which told all there was to tell. He looked up at me astonished and just asked “Is this for real?!”

 

I honestly don’t exactly remember much after that. There was more present opening, hugging, and lots laughing over him kicking his gift AND his mentioning that I needed to learn how to wrap a present properly…I told you it was bad! We happily curled up on the sofa for the rest of the night, elated to know we were on our way to becoming parents.

 

Of course we took a few pictures to remember too…

 

…and we are still SO excited!

my life, the sitcom – a.k.a. the day I found out I was preggo

Yesterday, I let you in on the secret of my anonymous blog. Today, I share one of my favorite posts I wrote on the blog about the crazy, wonderful day we found out our lives were about to change forever.

And guess what? I was as terrible about blogging regularly on THAT blog as I am on THIS blog. So while this post ends with “TO BE CONTINUED”, it was never actually continued… how fun though that I will get to continue it here instead. A place where I can use our real names {finally}.

A CAUTION WARNING as well…  talking about pregnancy tests and performing them comes with a little over sharing of some bodily functions and closed door moments that I’ve decided to write about. Read on if you can take it – don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Posted on Definitely. Maybe? Baby! on January 10, 2011:

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010:

 

 

The day I found out I was pregnant had the definite makings of a sitcom. Seriously, thinking back, it could not have been more comical.

I had no clue I would see anything on that little pee stick that morning, in fact I was quite convinced my period was on her way to town. But I did what any good pee-stick-aholic did and went ahead with the little game for the 110th time. I had actually done the same thing the morning before with no luck whatsoever and had no reason to think things had changed since then. But like they say… once an addict, always an addict.

F.Y.I. - I’m going through withdrawals as I type this. If someone put a HPT in front of me this very moment, I would have a hard time taking it out of their hand before I peed on it… =)

 

Anyway – back to my personal sitcom.

Also known as

The day I found out I was preggo:

 

That very special morning started off… how else do you think?

Very special.

Don’t start to gag, I’m not going to make this story into all rainbows and lollipops. It’s not what good sitcoms are made of after all. In this case, I mean special, as in, unusually annoying, unlike most other mornings… making it special.

***To clarify: The morning on the day I found out I was pregnant was not magical. But the day went on to become magical. Just goes to show, don’t let a bad morning ruin your day.

The electricity had been blinking on and off since about 4 a.m. While this is usually not something one notices when sound asleep and in no need of electricity, this was a special morning. Every time our power was restored, our home alarm system decided this was an attack against our home the entire human race, made blaringly obvious by the ear-piercing shrieks that woke us up abruptly from sweet slumber to the fear the end of the world was upon us. Either Hubs or myself would have to drag our sorry butts out of bed and into the kitchen to turn it off.

Sound frustrating?

No. Not frustrating. Special.

 

Hubs had to get up earlier than I did and while I was usually still sleeping peacefully, the alarm went off every minute on the minute while he was showering, leaving only me to turn it off each time.

This also meant the electricity was going on and off that often too, leaving Hubs in a pitch black bathroom, attempting to clean his manly parts should he be able to find them.

Not knowing how much electricity we would actually enjoy that morning, and the fact that the loudest alarm on earth wouldn’t let me sleep in anyway, I got up far earlier than normal. What if the electricity stayed off and I couldn’t dry my hair or see to put make-up on before work? There’s no “calling-in” at my job, so I’d just have to quit – I couldn’t bear to see everyone go into cardiac arrest at the frightening sight of me au natural… =)

Up I went and without thought even, did my morning end of the two-week-wait ritual: pee in a cup, dunk the stick, dump the cup, set the stick aside and go on with my morning because… the stick is always negative.

I don’t sit around waiting with an eye on the clock or watchfully wait for a precious second line. It’s no longer new or exciting anymore {or so I thought}. I usually go about my morning and forget about it, only to steal a quick look when I remember and then trash the ugly negative.

After my ritual, I jumped in the shower where I had my own fun turn at the find the soap in the dark game. What a blast! At least our water heater runs on gas heat and the water was still piping hot despite our unreliable electricity that morning. Find the soap in a dark, cold shower? I hear that game is much less fun.

I got out of the shower in the light and after drying off, decided to reach for that Ilittle pee-stick to go ahead and get my bad news for the morning out of the way. My hand was about 6 inches from it when the power cut off again.

No joke.

I laughed out loud at my luck and then… I actually started to get excited about seeing the results this time. Now that fate wouldn’t let me see it, I was dying to catch a glimpse!

Irony at it’s best.

The electricity came back on after a looooooooong 30 second wait and I snatched up the stick as quickly as I could. With one look, I immediately deemed it negative and the excitement melted away.

 

 

Did I mention that on that same morning, as the home alarm system blared and we took our turns dragging out of bed to tend to it’s ear-piercing cries, I had used my usual reverse psychology on myself – the type that helps me deal with each negative pregnancy test – to tell myself that this is was it’s like to live with a screaming baby and that I was just fine enjoying a little more time without one. As tired as I was and as annoyed as I was with the alarm, that psychology had worked pretty darn well at the time.

To the point that when that when I deemed the stick negative, I lost the excitement but felt some sort of relief for a few more restful nights in my future.

 

 

Why I didn’t throw the test away, I don’t know. A minute later, I picked it up again, I studied it, twisted it in the light, and finally reached the conclusion that there was a definite faint line.

But it was past the 10 minute wait when an evaporation line could have appeared… I was cautious not to let myself get excited but I needed to do another test NOW.

One problem: no urine. I had dumped the cup and I had yet to manufacture any more. My mind was in constant limbo wondering whether it was the true faint line I had squinted so many mornings to see, or whether it was the sneaky evaporation line I had heard so much about.

Of course I said nothing to Hubs and kissed him goodbye for the morning.

As I finished getting ready, I decided to attempt to squeeze a few drops out of the old bladder. It worked! Just enough was in the cup for one more test. I dipped and waited. This time I actually had to try not to stare.

A few minutes later: another definite faint line.

This was it, time for the big guns. I would TRY not to get to TOO EXCITED till the digital EPT showed that magical word: PREGNANT. I had been using my cheap internet HPT’s until the day I actually thought back-up confirmation was needed. I knew I wouldn’t trust my own eyes and had bought a box of digitals just for that purpose. This was it, but again, NO URINE!!

What was I thinking?! I had dumped the cup again, my bladder was definitely parched by now, and it was time to head to work.

I put the “big gun” HPT in my pocket and headed out the door giddy with excitement. As much as I hated the scenario, I would have to take the big final exam in a stall at work whenever nature came calling again. {No… I couldn’t wait till I got home again. Totally not even an option, just in case you were thinking it!}

 

 

Once at work, I didn’t even make it to the bathroom before I had a classic “Lucy moment” with my EPT. Forgetting it was deep in my sweater pocket, I slung off one arm of my sweater after getting too warm and watched the package with “EARLY PREGNANCY TEST” written all over it fly from my pocket to the ground two feet in front of me. With one arm of the sweater still on, I jumped like a mad woman to grab it and stuff it back in my pocket before anyone saw.

 

SERIOUSLY?!!

 

To this day, I’m still not sure what a couple of co-workers caught a glimpse of, but I like to believe they were distracted or at the very least, might have thought it was a tampon.

At that point, I had to get that thing out of my pocket before a second Lucy moment occurred. Thankfully, my morning coffee was kicking in and I was ready.

After doing the deed, I stood in the stall trying to distract myself from the little digital hourglass that appears for 3 minutes before giving you the news. As I pulled out my phone to start cruising facebook, it started ringing. The caller’s face appeared on my screen as I hit ignore, not willing to carry on a conversation in the office bathroom. As I looked away from the face of my husband to the digital face of the EPT, I read the word PREGNANT.

I could have passed out.

Thankfully I didn’t, but the rest of the story is…

 

…TO BE CONTINUED.

 

{Try not to kill me. I’m not purposely trying for a cliffhanger here… this story is just getting a bit long and I’m running out of time. You understand, right?}