30 weeks

Currently: 30 weeks and 2 days
Left to go: 9 weeks and 5 days

Just over 2 months to go! So exciting - I say that every week I know, but it's just as exciting to us each week.

So far week 30 has gone very well. We are heading up to Charleston, SC today to celebrate Martin and Maggie's wedding through the weekend. Bea is gaining a wonderful Aunt Maggie and Matt and I are looking forward to celebrating at all the parties planned this weekend.

Matt, Me, Martin and Maggie hiking in Yosemite National Park

Matt and I have had a lot of adventures with Martin and Maggie over the years and we couldn't be happier to see them get married and start life together as Crockett's.

Mommy's Feeling:
It's early in the week, but so far I'd call this week "The Week of the Bathroom Break". Seriously - baby girl has apparently set up camp on my bladder and the pressure is constantly sending me waddling to the bathroom. Last night I got up 4 different times because each time I'd switch positions the pressure would change and I'd have to "go".

She's been kicking a lot as per her norm this week. This morning I was laying on my side and she started kicking up by my ribs and on my side. Right in my most ticklish spot. I had to move because it was tickling me so much. Too funny.

I'm guessing with all the kicking and bladder pressure that she's just training me for the schedule she plans to keep when she's out in a few weeks. She's smart to start early.

I'm feeling good aside from the normal aches and pains that I've been experiencing for a while now. Heartburn, swollen feet, sore hips, etc. I know I say the same thing every week but I want to mention it as I'll be reading this someday years from now and wonder why I left out these details. :-)

30 weeks
Photo taken in the potty at work, which seems about right considering how many visits I make there.

Bea's Feeling:
She's doing great. We listened to her heartbeat a bit this weekend and it sounded great. Matt was concerned it sounded uneven at first, but then we figured out the doppler picks up different speeds when she or I move around (duh). As long as I held the doppler still and stayed still myself she was steady as she goes. I remember when I had to search low below my belly button for that precious sound and now I can pretty much stick the doppler anywhere from my chest down and hear her in there.

I feel diagonal kicks - and have been for a while. I'll feel what I think is a foot in my ribs and a jolt in my low pelvis at the same time. I guess she's practicing some wicked dance moves. I can't wait to see what she brings out - perhaps a future choreographer?

She got the hiccups again in church on Sunday. Matt got to see my belly doing little rhythmic jumps in addition to some pokes and kicks from Bea. You can see a lot of movement on the outside of my belly now and I've been trying to catch it on video, but haven't had any luck. It's still pretty subtle so maybe as she gets bigger in the next few weeks I can catch some more obvious partying going on in there.

Trying to take a cell phone video of belly movement and ended up with a selfie of me and the belly.

She got a mattress for her crib this weekend and all her stuffed animal friends are waiting on her in there. She has an amazing amount of toys already. Matt got her a stuffed broccoli from Ikea when when we first started getting the nursery ready. I think I may use it as a growth guide for photos to show how big she gets each month. Mr. Broccoli can be our "control" subject.

Her first crib sheet.

A Boston Terrier bib. Stevie was impressed.

Daddy's Feeling:
I can't believe it has been 30 weeks.

At this point, I feel pretty prepared. We have been running on little sleep lately, so I think I am prepared for being up all night.

I hope she likes Beware the Batman and Auburn Football. I am glad she will be born in time to experience the 2013 season.

This is what happens after being up all night because your wife wakes you up as she ungracefully rolls out of bed to use the bathroom.

We found a photo of Matt when he was a little baby in a photo album over the weekend. We've always commented on how much Bea looks like Matt - but this photo really shows we're right on target.

Matt - Fall 1979

Bea - Summer 2013

Matt and Bea side by side.
Their noses and mouth expressions are SO similar.

Bea may have Matt's nose and mouth, but those chubs cheeks are def. mine. After doing the baby photo comparison with Matt we tried the same with me.

Me - Summer 1981 - at my Aunt Tina's wedding

Bea - Summer 2013

Me and Bea - She's got her Daddy's nose and who knows where those full lips came from, but the face shape and cheeks definitely resemble me.

We've had fun comparing and seeing little bits of our own looks in our Sweet Bea. We just can't wait to meet her.

Upcoming events:
Wedding weekend in Charleston! - Leaving today!

Football season begins - I'm gonna be a hormonal basketcase over the games this year. I can already tell. I watched this video and teared up this morning. Roll Tide!

29 weeks

Currently: 29 weeks and 2 days
Left to go: 10 weeks and 5 days

My weeks left to go countdown is almost to the single digits! Pretty exciting.

We are getting Bea's room put together with a few final touches. I've washed tons of onesies and sleepers and hung lots of tiny dresses on pink hangers.

We worked this weekend hang up some more art and to get her name banner hung up. We also put together her bouncy seat and her playmat.

Here's a panorama of her room now:

I'm loving the colors and textures in her space. 

The only thing I'm missing is a rocking chair for her. I have a small chair we bought at a thrift store but it needs to be recovered and the challenge of reupholstering or sewing a cover for this chair just seems insurmountable for me.

I might could do it when Bea is in college...

That's been one of my challenges in this pregnancy is my energy level. As long as I'm chilling around the house I'm good but starting actual projects has been hard. My energy runs low usually in the middle - after I've pulled out the sewing machine and made a mess so I leave it for a while and then I end up using what energy I get back just to clean up the mess I made - project still left undone.

Mommy's Feeling:
Good. I'm still feeling the tiredness, heartburn, swelling and other normal pregnancy issues - but it's about the same as it's been for the past few weeks. I can add in sore hips to the list this week, though. Def. feeling a bit of a "spread" down there for lack of a better word.

I went to the Dr. on Monday to get my Rhogram shot. I have an O- (O negative) blood type so I had to get the shot to protect me and Bea in case she has a positive blood type. I think my blood type is actually pretty rare.

Here's me at 29 weeks, 1 day:

Bea's Feeling:
Kicky as usual. I think I might have felt her have a little case of the hiccups today. It was a pretty steady thumping in my tummy much stronger and slower than any heartbeat - especially since I never felt a heartbeat anyways. It was def. a rhythmic thumping and seemed pretty accurate to hiccups.

I've had so much fun collecting cute and girly stuff for her. We're budgeting a bit to help us get used to a decreased income when I'm home on leave with her. But this was one purchase I was sure to build into our weekly budget.

How adorable is this tiny tutu!? It's supposed to work for 6 months to 3T. I plan on taking several photos of Bea sporting this lovely ruffliness. I absolutely love the photos I've seen on pinterest of the newborn babies wearing the ruffled pettiskirt and how the ruffles just spread around their cute little bodies. I hope Bea loves it - and if she hates it, hopefully I can get her to pose for just a few photos. I know Andrea and I would have been CRAZY for something like this in our dress-up clothes

Daddy's Feeling:
She looks great.
Can't wait to see her in person.

Upcoming Events:

August 28 - Sept. 2 - Heading up to Charleston to celebrate Martin and Maggie's wedding.

August 29 - Celebrating the start of college football season. Ever since I found out was pregnant I have talked about how Bea will be here during football season -  and now it's nearly HERE! So exciting.

Bea's Baby Showers in Alabama

Matt and I were able to come home the weekend of August 9-11 to celebrate Bea with some very dear friends and family.

There were two showers thrown in her honor on Saturday, August 10th.

MORNING SHOWER

Saturday morning a shower was hosted at the church I grew up attending. Some very special ladies were part of the celebrations:

Mary Jane Willingham
Celeste Black
Rebecca Sherrod
Lisa Willingham
Roxanne Walker

These ladies are all women I have known my entire life. Mary Jane and Lisa are family, Rebecca Sherrod was my babysitter when I was little, Celeste has attended this church for several years and Roxanne was a constant chaperone on various church trips throughout my high school years. In fact, she still calls me by the nickname my youth minister, Brad, gave me way back when - "Skippy". (After Skippy the Bush Kangaroo -an Australian TV show.)

My mom made the jacket especially for the parties. :-) I was super excited that morning to don all the pink girly stuff in honor of Bea.

The party was held in the annex building at church which has a party room that is PERFECT for a girly baby shower.

Talking to my Aunt Lisa and cousin Abbie. 

Ms. Brewer gave Bea a ballerina piggy bank.

Talking to Ms. Jeannie.

Loving all the dresses and pink!

Bea is VERY blessed.

Andrea took very good notes for me on all the gifts.

Gotta say - I was having a blast.

I think we ended up having about 40-something ladies stop by the brunch that morning. I felt incredibly BLESSED and FLATTERED by all the love and well wishes for me, Matt and Bea. I have said this a million times to folks and I'll keep saying it - Bea is one super lucky gal. She is surrounded by so much love and care already.

A few of the sweet presents she got at the morning shower:

Bea's first doll from her Aunt Nancy (Great Aunt)

Bea Burp Cloth from Shannon Rickard - a friend of mine since we were both babies.

Adorable spoon and fork from Mary Jane Willingham

Handmade romper by Sherry Grissom - Shannon's Mom

I was so glad to have my family and friends as part of the special day.

My cousin Elizabeth and my Mom, aka. Marmee

My mom and her sisters, Tina and Nancy - who are no longer just regular aunts...
they are new and improved GREAT aunts.

Elizabeth, Aunt Andrea and Me

Me and my Grandma - who has also been upgraded to GREAT status.

AFTERNOON SHOWER

That afternoon we went over to Margaret's house to celebrate Bea with another set of special friends and relatives. Marg really went all out decorating her house and I loved walking around and taking in all the precious decor.

Delicious mini cupcakes with pink booties and bees!

Bottles, rattles, onesies and flowers - all of it pink and beautiful.

This party was hosted by:

Margaret Myers
Dale Crockett (Mimi)
Allison Webb

Dale and Marg are obviously very important family members. I was very flattered that my friend from high school came down from Nashville to help host as well. Allison and I were debate partners our senior year in high school. She then went to Rhodes College in Memphis where she met a certain guy named Matt Crockett and a few years later introduced us and the rest is history.

Again, I could not have felt more lucky and blessed at this party. Surrounded by sweet ladies who love Matt and I and know how much we prayed for this sweet blessing. I relate to Hannah in I Samuel 1:27a, "For this child I prayed" - and Bea's Mimi gave me an antique hanky with that exact verse embroidered on it. It's beautiful.

Opening the handkercheif - (Mimi was accidentally cut out of this shot.)

Opening the present from Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Danny

Mrs. Hare, Maggie and Karen admiring Bea's gifts.

The hostess with the mostess - Aunt Marg keeping notes on all the gifts.

Uncle Martin and Aunt Maggie got this Star Wars onesie for Bea. It says "Daddy Dresses Me"

Gray picked out this adorable cowboy hat for Bea right after we learned she was a SHE. He's got very bright and colorful tastes.

Matt came by at toward the end of the shower and had fun reopening all the gifts to see what Bea got.

Playing with her socks from Allison.

Admiring cute and tiny clothes from Katie.

Another highlight of this shower is the banner of Bea's name made by Mrs. Karen (bottom right of this photo).
I can't imagine the time it took her to put this together and I'm grateful her name is relatively short - we joked that it was a good thing we hadn't named her "Penelope Alexandra Elizabeth" or something longer.

I could not have asked for better friends and family to share our excitement for Bea. She has already proved to be such a blessing and she's not even born!

Thank you to any of you ladies who hosted, made food, decorated, purchased a present, or just thought about us this weekend. We are blessed beyond measure.

28 weeks

Currently: 28 weeks and 2 days
Left to go: 11 weeks and 5 days

On Tuesday, August 13 - we went in for my 28 week appointment and for our "Star" keepsake 4D ultrasound. This is a special ultrasound we paid out of pocket for in order to get a sneak peek at our Bea. We had been able to see her in different ultrasounds at 5 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16 weeks, and 20 weeks. Going 8 weeks without a peek was something new for us.

8 weeks

12 weeks

16 weeks

20 weeks

And here she is at week 28:

28 weeks

The 3D images from this session are amazing:

Her face!!

Deep Baby Thoughts, By Beatrice Crockett

Cute chubby feet.

Turned up nose.

All cuddled up with a toe in the nose.

Looks kind like she's laughing at something here.

Long fingers.

We've always been pretty smitten with her, but these photos just steal my heart. She's looking like a true baby now that she has some fat on her (we particularly noticed the fat on on the cheeks and feet :-) ).

Going by the measurements they take in the ultrasound they estimated her to be about 2 pounds and 11 ounces. I know these measurements aren't the most accurate, but it's nice to have a number to wrap your head around. Based on this size, predictions for her weight at birth are between 7 and 8 pounds - and that makes sense as I weighed over 7 lbs. and Matt over 8lbs. when we were born.

Ultrasound tech said the Bea was the poster child for a great 4D ultrasound. A lot of factors can play in to whether you have a good session with lots of good photos. Bea was the perfect size, we still had lots of amniotic fluid for her to move around in - plus the fluid helps the sound waves get great details on the baby features and she was positioned in a great spot to catch the full face shots. In other words, we were very lucky. :-)

We cracked up at her pulling her feet up to her face - quite the contortionist. She also acted slightly annoyed when the tech would poke my belly to see if we could move her into a different position to catch different angles. She did what she has done in all the ultrasounds - she is great in the beginning but after a while she gets tired of the photos and starts turning her face and body away from the probe. It's amazing how she knows it's there. She turns her face into me and snuggles away - ready for a nap after her performance. Her daddy called her a "pistol" later that day because of her obvious dislike for the poking after a while.

Little pistol peeking out between her feet which she pulled up to her face.
Foot that is lower in the photo looks super long - 
but that's just an effect of her moving it while the photo was taken from the video.

We think she's just the cutest thing ever, of course. I can't wait to kiss those chubby cheeks, that turned up nose, those sweet long fingers and those preciously fat little baby feet.

Momma's Feeling:

Great. I do get very uncomfortable after any long period of time in practically ANY position - sitting in my chair at work, standing in line at the airport, walking around at the store, laying on the couch, laying in the bed, waiting at the airport, etc. Some of those are just unpleasant anyways for everyone and others are kinda comfy for a while but soon become painful. Really no position or surface is safe. ;-)

Matt had a very nice present waiting for me when we got back from Alabama. A snoogle pregnancy pillow. It wraps and curves around for all different kinds of positions and honestly makes wherever I decide to sit or lay MUCH more comfortable. I wanted to try it out when we got in on Monday and ended up falling asleep for a 3 hour nap. He's a great daddy and takes very good care of Bea and me. I am so grateful for this pillow as it has helped me get lots of much needed rest.

Oh, also - Wil, our chihuahua, LOVES the snoogle too. It always has a little extra room or curve for him to fit into next to me for a perfect snuggling position. If I'm using it, chances are you'll find him right next to me on top of it or snuggled beside me inside of it.

Me at 28 weeks and 2 days
(Sorry for the potty background - the handicap bathroom stall is the best place for a quick photo snap at work....)

Bea's Feeling:

Probably happy the poking is over and we put the ultrasound probe away. Haha. She's def. got a very cute little personality that we're seeing small glimpses of on each peek we get. She's a snuggler and she likes her hands in front of or around her face.

I did my 1 hour glucose test before the ultrasound on Tuesday so she was a bit hyped up in the beginning of the ultrasound on the sugar mixture you drink for the test. As I was waiting in the lobby for my 1 hour to be up, I was reading on my cell phone and could see kicks in my belly out of the corner of my eye. Funnily - when the ultrasound tech put the sensor on that particular part of my belly - we got an amazing view of her two little feet. Exactly in the same spot I was feeling those kicks earlier. 

Like I said before, she's almost 3 pounds and seems to be doing very well in there. Dr. said her heartbeat sounded great - we saw her heart with all 4 chambers again and we even got to see her practice breathing on the 4D screen. We'll actually end up with a video of that which is pretty amazing.

The sweet little flurries have turned into full on kicks and I couldn't be happier.

A 2D shot of her feet.

Daddy's Feeling:

Glad she's fat and healthy.

Impressed with her giant feet and fingers.

Wondering if she's going to be taller than us?

Sweet Baby

Upcoming events:
First I will blog again this week with highlights from Bea's showers this past weekend. We were FLOODED more than merely showered and feel incredibly blessed. It was an explosion of pink and for that I am extremely grateful and humbled.

August 27-Sept. 2 - Martin and Maggie's Wedding weekend extravaganza in Charleston, SC! This is our last big event before Bea's arrival.  I remember thinking "I'll be 30 weeks pregnant" when they sent out the "save the dates" back in the early spring. At that time we hadn't even told anyone I was expecting other than our parents. Pretty amazing that time seems to have flown by this summer AND to have crawled by at the same time...We're very excited for Maggie and Martin and can't wait to celebrate with them.

September 21 - Daddy's birthday!

Sometime in late September to Early October - we're gonna find a couple nights to get away to the beach for a mini-babymoon.