24 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 24 Weeks already!! I can't believe we only have about 3 1/2 more months until we get to meet our little Jackson. I can't wait!!

Size of Baby: The baby is around a foot long, from head to heel. About the length of an ear of corn. He weighs just over a pound.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm not entirely sure, I should find out on Friday at my 24 week appt. I'm kind of scared cause i think it might be a lot. :-(

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity pants and mostly maternity shirts.

Gender: Its a BOY!! Jackson Thomas Smith

Movement: Yes, he's moving around A LOT now, and I love it.

Food Cravings: Still no real food cravings. Just anything that sounds good. I do seem to be hungrier more often these days, which is not helping my ever expanding waist and hips. Guess that comes with the territory though.

What I miss: Nothing really at this point.

Sleep: Having to get up at least once a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes, but otherwise sleeping fine. I don't seem to have a problem going to sleep cause I'm usually very tired by the end of the day.

Symptoms: A sore muscle in my upper back. Other than that I don't seem to have any other symptoms.

Best Moment this week: Going to dinner and shopping with my hubby this past Monday night. He HATES to go shopping with me, but his cousin's wedding is this Saturday and I needed a new dress. So he offered to come along!! I was shocked, but happy. He was sweet and sat there as I tried on 6 or 7 dresses and gave his opinion on each one. :-)

What I am looking forward to: The long 4th of July weekend, and our little overnight trip to Hannibal, MO with Jake's family on Sunday/Monday.

A Busy Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one.

Friday night and Saturday was our monthly crop at church. With my back hurting as bad as it was this past weekend (still don't really know what is wrong with it for sure), I didn't do much scrap booking. I went up to church both days and just helped my mom with the baby shower invitations she was making for my baby shower. They are sooo cute!!

Then Saturday night my SIL was celebrating her graduation from college, with a party at the St. Louis City Museum. If you've never been there, it is such a cool place to visit. We didn't stay long because my back was still hurting and there's not a lot I can do there being as I'm almost 6 months pregnant. But we had fun watching the kids play and hanging out with family and friends. Here are a few pictures I took while we were there.

My Brother-In-Law and his kids down in the ball pit. 

This was another ball pit on top of the one in the previous picture. Jake was throwing a ball down at his brother.

My nephew Larry trying to dodge a ball.

Where they had the actual party.

This is all outside of the museum. There's a lot more you can't see in this picture.

Part of the inside. There are lots of caves and tunnels to go through inside.

Then Sunday we went to church, and then after church we met up with the couple that adopted one of Max's sisters (who I fostered back in Oct. of last year). You can read about her here. I picked Max and his sister up to foster on October 1st of last year, with the intention of finding them both great homes. I found Max's sister a great home and we ended up getting really attached to Max and decided to keep him. Thankfully, the couple that adopted "Tater Tot" has stayed in touch with me and has sent me pictures and updates about her over the last several months. So we decided to get together this past Sunday so I could see her and Max could play with his sister. We had a great time and look forward to getting together again. Here are some pictures from our visit.

Keith and Adia along with Tater Tot and their other dog Dodger and Jake with our dogs Max and Libby. Hunter stayed behind for this outing as we just couldn't handle all three.

Tater Tot and Max, formerly known as Perrier and Vasser. I fostered them from a wonderful rescue group called Stray Rescue. You can read their rescue story here.

Another picture of Tater Tot and Max. They were too excited to pose for a picture.

Max and Libby on the car ride home. :-) I just love how they both look like they're smiling.

Then Sunday evening I had tickets for my Mother-in-Law and I to go to the Muny. This was her b-day gift. Legally Blonde was showing that evening and I knew she really wanted to see that one. Thankfully my back was feeling a little better that evening so we had a lot of fun and the show was excellent!!

The flag for Legally Blonde out in front of the Muny.

The show banner.



My MIL and I before the show. 

I hope you all had a great weekend!!



23 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 23 Weeks

Size of Baby: The baby is a over 11 inches long head to heel and weighs just over a pound, about as much as a large mango.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm not entirely sure, I should find out next Friday at my 24 week appt.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity pants and mostly maternity shirts.

Gender: Its a BOY!! Jackson Thomas Smith

Movement: Yes, he's moving around A LOT now, and I love it.

Food Cravings: Still no real food cravings. As always I love sweets.

What I miss: My back not killing me!! What started out as some minor upper back pain, has turned into severe upper back pain. I saw the Dr. yesterday to find out what was causing the pain and apparently I've got a sore muscle on the right side of my back, right below my shoulder blade. The Dr. wants me to take ibuprofen for it for the next 72 hours to see if that will help. She said if by Friday its still hurting, to call and she'll prescribe me a muscle relaxer. So far, the ibuprofen is not helping and the only relief I get is when I'm laying down. So needless to say, sitting at my desk at work for 8 hours is absolutely miserable.

Sleep: Having to get up at least once a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes.

Symptoms: A sore muscle in my upper back. Other than that I don't seem to have any other symptoms.

Best Moment this week: Spending time with family and feeling Jackson move.

What I am looking forward to: Getting everything ready for Jackson's arrival in October.



4th of July Decorations

As you probably already know from previous posts (Christmas, Halloween/Fall, Valentines Day and Easter), I LOVE decorating for all the different holidays. We've lived in our house for almost 4 years now and its taken me a while to get all my holiday decorations. The first year in our house, I think I only had stuff to decorate for Halloween and Christmas, then each year I've gotten more and more. This is the first year I've decorated for Fourth of July, so I had to start from scratch. Thankfully, I had gotten some Hobby Lobby and Michaels gift cards for my birthday back in April and I was able to use some of those to get some of my decorations. Of course there are still things I'd like to add for all the holidays, but I figure I'll just add a little bit more each year. :-) Here are my 4th of July decorations...

Our front door, decorated for 4th of July.

Little star decorations for my flower pots.

Garden flag. I got this last year and just love it.

A super cute wooden flag that my Mother-in-Law got for me this year.

Our dining room table. I decided to use my red chargers from Christmas and the red plates are from my Valentines Day decor. The centerpiece is the one I use for most holidays (from Partylite). I have votive holders for Easter and Christmas but ended up buying some clear ones from Michaels last night and just tied festive ribbon around them so that they would match better. I also used red and white candles from Partylite. The table runner, cloth napkins and salt and pepper shakers are from Hobby Lobby and the votive holders on the table are from Partylite. 

A close-up of my centerpiece.

A close up of the place setting. I used red raffia to tie around the napkins. 

A close up of the table.

A cute little plate I found at Michaels last night that I decided to use as a spoon rest.

I found this star shaped candy dish at the Dollar Tree last week and thought it would be cute with these patriotic mints. The candles are partylite.

A close up of the candy dish and mints.

Some 4th of July kitchen towels.

Our Weekend

Our weekend was great, too short of course, but great. I hope yours was great too! :-)

Friday night we went to my Mother-in-Law's house for dinner and to watch So You Think You Can Dance!! This is probably my very favorite show right now. I've been watching it since season 4 and I absolutely LOVE it!!! For your viewing pleasure, here are a couple of my favorite dances. If you don't watch this show, definitely give it a shot, you won't be disappointed!!
                                                  

                                                     My all time favorite!

There are so many more amazing dances, but these are just a few of my favorites.

Saturday, I went and got the license plates on my car renewed (so glad that is taken care of). Then later that evening we went to a Trivia Night with my Mother-in-Law and Jake's aunt and cousin. We did TERRIBLE, I think we even came in last place!! In our defense, the questions were really hard.

Then Sunday we went to church. After church we had a Father's Day lunch at my Aunt and Uncles house. As always, it wasn't the same without Grammy there, but I know she was looking down on us from Heaven and was happy we were all together. Here are some family pictures we took.

My Papa Reg with all the Grand kids and Great-Grand kid(s).

Papa Reg with his 3 children. (Uncle Don, Papa, my Mom, and my Uncle Mark)

My dad with his pregnant girls. :-)

My Uncle Don with his girls, Danielle, Lauren and Megan.

My Uncle Mark with his boys, Tyler and Travis and their cat, Neytiri :-) 

My sister Ashlee and I. Baby Bumps!!

My nephew Landon and his Dad. 

Landon wanted to do a silly faces picture. :-)

Jake being Jake. The picture turned out pretty cute though. :-)

My nephew Landon and I. He's such a cutie patootie.

After spending time with my family, we went to some friend's of ours house (my sister's "in-law" family) and had dinner with them and played games. It was a very fun day and a great weekend. I'm looking forward to next year when Jake has his first Father's Day!! I can't wait to see him with our little Jackson. He's going to be such a great dad!!

Happy Fathers' Day Weekend

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful fathers out there, and a special Happy Father's Day to my wonderful and hard working Father, who is always there for me anytime I need him. I love you Dad!

My dad holding me on Easter, 1982.

My dad and I on Father's Day, 2004.

 My dad and I at my wedding rehearsal.

My dad walking me down the aisle at my wedding, 2007.

Father/Daughter dance at my wedding.

My dad with my sister, nephew and I, Fathers Day 2009.

22 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of Baby: The baby is around 11 inches long head to heel. (About the length of a spaghetti squash.) He weighs almost a pound.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Around 10 lbs. or so, so far.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity pants and mostly maternity shirts.

Gender: Its a BOY!! Jackson Thomas Smith

Movement: Yes, feeling movement a lot now. 

Food Cravings: Loving fruit, sweets and ice cream.

What I miss: Sleeping normally.

Sleep: Having to get up at least once a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes.

Symptoms: Having to use the restroom often and some mid back pain. Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good.

Best Moment this week: Feeling Jackson move more and more and just spending time with family.

What I am looking forward to: Getting Jackson's room ready.