24 weeks!

Wow. I can't believe it has been 24 weeks. I have definitely started to "feel" pregnant (meaning that I am growing all over!) I told Cory that I might want to stop taking monthly pics after this one. You'll just have to take my word from it here on out that I am growing! :)


I feel the kicking and movement the most when I sit still at my desk to type, in the evenings when I sit down on the couch and at night when I return to bed after my many bathroom trips. I go back to the doctor this week for my glucose test. I have been advised by many to drink the fruit punch flavor!

As for the nursery, it is coming along. We still have several things in there to clean out but we hope to finish that up this week and paint this weekend. One of my very good friends and former college teammate (Spiffy Tiffy) is coming to visit this weekend and she may just get put to work! Or, Cory has volunteered to paint while Tiff and I hang out! I am starting to get a big itch to get things marked off our list. I think November will be a big month of accomplishments for the room! If you know me well then you know I will need to have the nursery done two months before Lincoln gets here.

Well, there is just not too much to update other than baby stuff! It seems to occupy the majority of our time. I hope to write more after Tiff visits this weekend.

Hope you all are having a GREAT week!!

What's in a name?

I was never one who had names for all my children picked out prior to being married or having kids. I would like names every now and then but figured that by the time I had kids I would find something new or exciting to name my child. So, after we found out that we were pregnant the name search began. I have signed up, like many others, on BabyCenter.com to receive emails once a week that tells you how many weeks pregnant you are, how the baby will develop that week and tips on how to handle that phase of pregnancy. I do love these emails and have enjoyed this website. Like most web sources, you have to take the info and screen it for accuracy but for the most part I have really liked it. One feature that they have is a "name list" that saves names for you. Every once in a while over the past several months I would get on there find some I liked and save them to my list. By the time we found out it was a boy, we had about 8 girl names picked out and about 8 boy names picked out. Some of them I loved and some of them were Cory's picks.

However, after hearing the news that it was a boy we were able to narrow our search and think further about a boy name. I think that naming a child is one of the hardest jobs that one could have. You think of a name and then try to think of every nick name or potential playground humor joke that could come from it because you want to protect your child. You definitely do not want to set them up for failure or embarrassment. However, I do have to remember that boys will be boys and I'm sure no matter what that still may occur one day. We have also researched meanings both literal and biblical to assure our son that our decision came with much thought.

After much deliberation and searching, we have decided on a name. I think that Cory originally suggested the name. You try to imagine the type of child God has for your family and think of a good fit for that type of person you imagine in your head. Therefore, we have decided that his name will be:

Lincoln Miles

Meaning:

Lincoln literally means "From the Lake Settlement" It also means "Lithe" which an adjective that means flexible, mild. The Biblical meaning is "Leader in Victory" "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions... and that shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high." Isaiah 33:14-16

Miles literally means "Soldier." The Biblical meaning is "Merciful: Heart of Compassion" "And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things."

Mark 6:34

Here is how we came up with the names --

1. Although quiet comical, the first place that I remembering hearing the name Lincoln was a character on Prison Break. A month prior to the miscarriage and the months following the miscarriage, Cory and I watched the whole show series on DVD. It became a nice TV show getaway from the real-life situation that we had found ourselves in -- grieving the loss of a child that we would never know. The name stuck out to me throughout the hours of watching that show. They would sometimes call him "Linc" and I thought that was a fun nickname. Another random fact is that my mom picked my name because she heard in on the soap opera Days of Our Lives -- "Carrie Reed" I thought I would follow the family tradition by finding a TV show character to name my child after. (My mom will die that I wrote this on my blog :) Love ya mom!)

2. About 2 months ago, Cory's dad, who did not know we were considering the name Lincoln sent me an article that outlines the history and reasons why John C. Calhoun (previous Vice President of the United States and an ancestor of Cory's family) is believed to be the true father of Abraham Lincoln. The article is here if you are interested -- www.greenvillesouth.com/abe.html Another fun fact is that our son Lincoln will be due around Abraham Lincoln's birthday (February 12th).

3. The name Lincoln surfaced again while we were on our "babymoon" to Chicago. We were talking about the name pretty intensely as we left the Hershey's store and headed across the street to Borders so I could go to the bathroom. Cory kept talking about the name and I was having a harder time deciding what I thought. {Honestly, this pregnant women had to go to the bathroom pretty bad so I wasn't 100% invested in the conversation!} I hurried into the bathroom and as I was about to wash my hands there was a mom and her son standing there washing their hands. A cute curly-headed boy. She looked at him in haste and said "Hurry up Lincoln we need to go!" [[I about feel over!!]] The odds of that occurring in the middle of Chicago in a Borders bathroom two seconds after we had just had a long discussion about the name - priceless. Needless to say I ran out of the bathroom found Cory and made him go with me while we chased this lady and her son through the store. I wanted Cory to see this child so he would believe me! As we neared them I pointed at the child out of disbelief and said "that boy's name is Lincoln!" and explained what had happened. We just stood there in Borders laughing!!

4. The name Miles has its roots in a family name from my side of the family. My paternal grandfather's middle name was Milton and I thought of Miles as a take on that name. My paternal grandparents and my maternal grandparents all had a huge influence in the person I am today. All four of them now reside in heaven but I was fortunate to know them well and see them often throughout my life. The reason I chose my paternal grandfather is because him and my grandmother had a huge impact on my spiritual life. We lived with my grandparents for a short time period on two occasions when I was growing up because we were building a house each time and needed a place to live temporarily. While living with them, each night before bedtime they would invite me and my brother to share in a devotional with them. I remember the tattered pages of their Bibles and the love they had for the word of God. During our second time to live with them, I was saved. I accepted Jesus as my Savior in the bedroom at their house with my parents along side me. I firmly believe that God used them to impress upon my heart that I needed a Savior. When I think about the day I was saved and where my spiritual life began, I think of them and their house. I want my son to be reminded of his heritage and to be able to share with him the roots of his name and tell him the story of my salvation.

I was looking back through my journal and found what I wrote about 30 minutes after I took the pregnancy test on May 30th and got the positive result. This is an excerpt from the prayer that I wrote that morning -- "I pray this child is a leader that others desire to follow because they are a person of God." When I read that Lincoln means "Leader in Victory" my heart rejoiced. I also desire that my son be compassionate and show mercy on those in need. Especially those in need of a Savior. It all seems to be a perfect fit. We can hardly wait to meet our little guy. We pray daily that God prepares us for the adventure ahead.

Pregnancy Faves

So, I have encountered some new items and old ones that are pregnancy "must-haves" for me! Here they are:

Baby Bargains book. A co-worker told me about this fantastic book and I have used it soo much! Its a handbook that outlines cribs, high chairs, maternity clothes, diapers, etc. and gives you safety ratings on each and tells you the best bargain for your buck. It also lists out what is a waste of money and what things you really need. I have just loved having this book. Another reason I have loved it is because my husband is a thinker and a researcher before making ANY purchase! I do love this about him, however, I get burnt out on that process and just buy so we can mark it off our list. This book does all the homework for you and at the end of the chapter sums up the best brains for the best price. I love this book.

Pregnancy Pillow. One inexperienced like me thought, "Why do you need a special pillow when you are pregnant?" A friend of mine gave me hers or otherwise, I would have never bought one to find out the goodness this pillow holds. O my -- it is good! The first reason is because you spend the majority of your pregnancy sleeping so it will definitely get some use. The second reason is because if you are normally a stomach sleeper like me then it is hard to teach yourself how to sleep on your side. But this little invention just wraps you up and keeps you on your side. I love it.

I wonder why they title this pillow a "pregnancy pillow" b/c I am pretty sure it will be living with me for years to come. Good thing we have a king size bed. :) Before getting this pillow from my friend I was sleeping with about 3-4 pillows a night and I'm pretty sure Cory was starting to feel like was going to be pushed out of the bed. So, now all I need is this one (and maybe I sneak in one other) but he hasn't noticed yet. This one is neat too b/c it has a piece of fabric that you can take out to sleep with it as a pregnancy pillow and then the piece of fabric that you can add and zip up to close in the middle so you can use it to set your baby in.

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. I heart hot chocolate. I hate coffee but will go out of my way for good hot chocolate. Last fall when Starbucks introduced their Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Cory decided to try it out. I took a sip and hated it. However, this fall when it started to get cold I started to crave this drink. And now, I'm addicted. I try to limit myself to one a week but man -- they are delicious.

A Wonderful Supportive and Involved Husband/Dad. Cory has been such a trooper. He is loving this whole process and has been very involved. Last weekend we picked out a crib and a chair for our nursery and he was with me every step of the way. He even wheeled and dealed the place and got us a super deal! I have been looking up baby bedding and thinking up nursery ideas for our little guy and Cory is researching ideas on the Internet and giving his input. We found a bedding that we like and we ordered samples of the fabric before making the big plunge to make sure we liked it in person. Once we got the samples in, he went with me to Home Depot yesterday and stood in the paint aisle with me for an hour or longer scanning in the fabric into the machine and helping me decide on paint color options. We ended up with two options and got a sample can of each. He came home and painted a square on the wall of each and has been in there 100 times since then looking at them in all different times of the day.

And last but not least, he has taken GREAT care of me. This past week I got a sinus infection and just began feeling terrible while he was at his softball games on Thursday night. When he got in about 11:00 I was in bed but not feeling well and I really wanted some orange juice. He didn't even skip a beat and went to Walmart and got me several goods! I just had to take a minute to brag on him b/c he has been so wonderful. I am lucky to be his wife and our little guy is going to be lucky to have him as his daddy!

CEC.

I'm gonna be an AUNT again and again!

Well....the news is out! I am going to be an aunt next May when these sweet faces add a fourth child to their crew!

My brother and sister-in-law's kids.

And then an aunt AGAIN in June/July when this little one adds a little brother or sister!

Cory's brother and sister-in-law's daughter.

Looks like lots of babies coming between our two families in 2010. Exciting diaper-changing bottle-feeding days ahead! I love being an aunt and can harldy wait to experience life as a mom!

It's a .....

Well, if you know anything about us then you know that we like to make everything in life a little more exciting than the norm. And it was no different for us when we made plans to find out if baby Calhoun was a boy or girl. Cory and I went to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon to have the 20 week ultra sound. As I was laying down on the table getting ready for the ultra sound, the technician asked "Do you want to find out the sex of the baby?" I just looked at Cory (b/c I am the one known to cave and not follow-through with the plan out of excitement). Cory explains that we do want to find out but not while we are there. She then asks if we would like for her to put the results in an envelope for us to take with us. We agreed that would perfect!

So, she started the ultrasound and up on the big flat screen television was our baby!!! It just blows you away!! The last time we saw the baby it was a spec on the screen. Not this time. The lady proceeded with ultra sound taking a closer look at the organs and brain while clicking all these buttons on her machine. It was so fun to see the profile, legs and feet. I commented on two occassion that the baby looked like it had long legs and big feet. The ultrasound technician followed up with "Yes, they do look big!" It was funny. It came to the end of the ultra sound and she told us to cover our eyes so she could look for the gender. Well, the baby was not cooperating at first. Although, I had just drank a Code Red Mt. Dew prior to the appointment to MAKE SURE the baby would open its legs. She had to poke around on my stomach and push quite hard for the baby to cooperate. I just laid there praying, "Please, Lord I don't want to have to come back. Please make this baby open its legs!!" It took what seemed like forever but probably about five minutes but finally the baby opened up. She captured the image and printed it to put in our envelope. The ultra sound was complete and then we had to wait to visit with the doctor.

Dr. P, my main doctor, was really backed up so she asked me if it would be ok if I met with her husband , Dr. H, who is also an OB/GYN. We were grateful to get out of there and find out the results -- so we agreed! Dr. H was fantastic. I have heard great things about him and they were all true. Energetic and very approachable. He said the ultra sound looked great and no concerns were noted. He said the baby measured about 14 ounces with 10-13 being average. (Looks like I was right about those legs and feet looking big!). So with the baby being that size, I measured about 6 days ahead! My due date doesn't change but just some info to keep in mind as I near the end.

So after knowing that the baby looks healthly off we left, to continue with our plans to find out if it was a boy or girl. (For the sake of competition, b/c I LOVE competion, we decided that Cory was thinking it was a girl and I was feeling strongly it was a boy!) We next went to Dillards and picked out a boy outfit and a girl outfit. We took the two outfits along with the envelope which contained the results to a clerk in Dillards. We explained to her that we only wanted to buy one outfit depending on the results in the envelope. This meant that Sherri, the clerk at Dillards that we had never met, would open the envelope and know the sex of our baby before we would! She aggreed to particpate. We left her with a 20 dollar bill and walked away while she opened the envelope and bought the correct outfit to wrap up. We came back in 5 minutes and she had put the outfit in a shirt box and then the receipt, our change and the result envelope in a bag. We took the box upstairs and had them wrap it. All along, we didn't know what was in the box!! So fun.

Next, we headed to dinner where we ordered cheese dip and opened the box. I opened it first and peaked inside to see if it was the boy outfit or the girl outfit while Cory captured the moment on camera. Then, I passed the box over to Cory for him to look while I took his picture!

Here is what was in the box:




Yes, its a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I truly felt in my heart it was a boy so I wasn't AS surprised. However, Cory was speechless for about 5 minutes. He was convinced it was a girl. We, of course, went looking for the results envelope. I scanned in all the pictures of our little guy with a little description below each on.


Then, we emailed the picture below to our families and called them to hear their reaction as they opened the email. This was plan B in how to tell them. Plan A was to call in an order of cupcakes in blue or pink for them to pick up and find out that way. However, bakeris were difficult so we opted for this way! Its the side profile of the baby with a jersey on!


I know this was a long post so thanks for hanging around to read it all! Cory and I feel so overwhelmed and excited about actually KNOWING the gender! That definitely puts you in "go" mode for name selection, nursery ideas, etc. We have not decided on any of those things but we have been working on it every day since last Wednesday. I can't believe we will have our little guy with us in about five months. We are so honored to have this opportunity. Its very overwhelming but very exciting. I can hardly wait to meet him.

CEC.

DCM Reunion 2009

Our crew got together two weekends ago for a reunion. We are trying to be diligent to see each other often and hang out when we can. We all live hours apart so it takes lots of planning to get us all together. But well worth it because we had the BEST time!

We met up in Conway Friday night and had dinner at Market Place. I never laugh as hard as I do when I am with this crew! Serious belly laughs!! They are all just so fun.

Then, all of us (except Clif and Kristi who had to head home to take care of their son and twins) headed out to the Hospitality cabin at Soaring Wings Ranch. It is such a nice cabin. We stayed up till 2:00 a.m. talking and having a good time! The next morning about 9:00 a.m. I woke up hungry!! I went to looking around the cabin and EVERYONE was still asleep. I took a shower, checked my email, did some reading and by 10:20 I had grown inpatient! I decided to relive some old memories and go stand over Lindsey's bed eating Ghardetto's to wake her up! And it worked -- everyone got up and we had breakfast at about 11:00 a.m. We hung out the rest of the afternoon watching the Razorbacks (lose!).

A very fun memory that I will forever have from this weekend is that the baby gained the nickname of "Baby Kankles!" In one of the conversations on Friday evening the word "cankles" came up. I just thought it was the funniest word and somehow it became the baby's nickname. The next morning, as I was waiting for everyone to get up, I just laid there laughing about that word. I went to put it as my status on facebok and spelled it with a "K." Cory said "its cankles with a C." I, in all seriousness, looked at him and said "How do you know that?" He said b/c the work is calf and ankles rolled into one. I started laughing so hard I was crying. I had no clue what the word meant! I thought it was just a word someone made up in conversation and all night I had laughed about calling our baby that and I didn't even know the meaning!! That made for good times once everyone woke up and I had to tell them that I didn't know what "cankles" was.

We had such a fun time and love getting together with everyone!! Us girls love to have fun chats about our memories of Jill. We all still miss her so much it hurts but it is nice to have the support network there to talk with each other!!

I love this group and hope to have many, many, many more fun memories together!