new cute!!

We are very excited to announce that Charlotte will be a big sister in August!! More specifically, she should become a big sister right around when she turns two, as my due date is August 12th (Charlotte's birthday). What are the odds??!!

We are affectionately calling our second child, "New Cute". We often call Charlotte, "The Cute", so it's a natural fit for New Cute until we find out if New Cute is a boy or a girl. I doubt that we'll call New Cute by that nickname after he/she is born, cuz... that's weird. But it's not weird en utero. Nope.

Here is the first picture ever taken of New Cute:

We had our first OB appointment when I was nine weeks pregnant, and that's when we had the ultrasound, pictured above. We plan to find out the gender at our next ultrasound (probably a couple months away). I am fourteen weeks pregnant, and am in the second trimester now. We had our second OB appointment this past Thursday, and the heartbeat is still going strong - everything still looks great!

How has pregnancy been so far, you ask? So far, pregnancy has been good. It's been about the same as it was with Charlotte, with the exception of the fact that I got the stomach bug twice within one month's time. That was kind of miserable. As with Charlotte, I was generally nauseous pretty much constantly for the first twelve-ish weeks of pregnancy - but getting the stomach craziness twice during that time just exacerbated the nausea. Also, having Charlotte get the stomach bug, too, made me even more nauseous because I have all the food that she threw up that I want to have nothing to do with - on top of all the stuff I threw up. I think pregnancy also made me more susceptible to the stomach bug, as you have an impaired immune system when you're pregnant. It's the Lord's way of protecting the baby from your body attacking it as a foreign pathogen. I also think that pregnancy made the stomach bug a little more taxing on my body. Since my body was already really busy making a baby, it was like "I can't be bothered to fight a virus", so it took a really long time for me to get over it both times, and each time I was pretty lethargic for a solid five days.

Matt and I are both very excited about New Cute! We've told Charlotte numerous times that she's going to be a big sister, and the findings are inconclusive whether she understands or not. But, if you watch the video from my last post (or a few posts ago?) where she cuddles with her baby doll, I think it's safe to say that she will be a GREAT big sister!!





Just Sayin'

Do you ever have something that you'd like to say to "whomever it may concern", but Facebook doesn't seem appropriate, and you can't condense your statement into 140 character, so Twitter's out of the question? Well, I have something I'd like to share with the general population, and I also have a blog. And what other outlet to I have to share my thoughts and opinions if not my own blog? So, I've created a new section of my blog called, "Just Sayin'", where I just share random things to no one in particular. This way, I feel like I'm sharing my thoughts with the whole world, but it's really only being shared with people who care to read about my thoughts.

This inaugural segment of "Just Sayin'" is called, Top Five Things Not to Say to Women Re: Pregnancy. There were a number of times when I was pregnant with Charlotte when I wanted to post something along these lines, but I didn't want to make anyone in particular feel bad. So, I figure, now's the time. I'm just announcing that I'm pregnant, so no one has really made any of the following comments to me yet. My heart here is not to complain, but I just think that people who haven't gone through pregnancy don't always know what to say or what not to say to pregnant women (I know I didn't!), and maybe this can be helpful.



Top Five Things Not to Say to Women Re: Pregnancy

*1) Don't casually ask someone when they're going to have kids. If you're close enough friends, you'd probably already know the answer. And who knows? Maybe they're trying and are really struggling with infertility. Maybe she just had a miscarriage. We have such little control of these things, so it's not always up to the couple to decide exactly when they're going to have kids.

*2) Don't ask someone if she's pregnant. If you're close enough friends, you'll know, or you'll find out soon. Otherwise, maybe she's not pregnant, and that's humiliating. Or, maybe she recently found out that she's pregnant, but she's not ready to announce it to the world yet. Or, maybe she has a baby that's just a few weeks or months old. Even the skinniest of new moms sport a baby pouch for awhile after the baby is born, which can be indistinguishable from a baby bump to the naked eye. If she's obviously pregnant, I think it's okay to talk about it - but in that case, you won't have to ask.

3) If someone tells you she's pregnant, don't say, "Yeah, I could tell - your hips got bigger", or "Yeah, it seemed like your clothes were fitting differently", or "Yeah, I was like, 'she's either pregnant or gaining weight'". I say this because I think people honestly might not know that these things can be offensive. But, when you're pregnant, your body is going through so many changes - not all of which are you happy about - and it can be kind of like salt on the wound when it's confirmed that all of these changes are noticeable to the whole world. Along these lines, don't make comments about how she's carrying the baby weight as compared to other women, either ("Your face swelled up", "Your feet swelled up", "Your arms look larger", etc). Instead, say "Congratulations!". If you'd like to comment on how she looks, just say, "You look great." It's the only comment that is certain to not offend.

4) Don't tell a pregnant lady that she looks like she's due sooner than she is. That will make her feel like she's fatter than she should be at this point. I would imagine that the same is true the opposite way - don't tell her that she looks like she's due later than she is. Maybe that could cause her to worry about the baby's growth (although I can't confirm that from personal experience. The strangers in WalMart were always telling me I looked like I was "due tomorrow" or like I was "about to pop", even when I was just seven months pregnant.) Women carry babies in very different ways - some high, some low. A six-pound fetus can look tiny on one woman and huge on another. You just never know, so trust that the due date is accurate.

5) Don't tell a pregnant lady that she looks like she's having twins or triplets. Don't say, "Are you sure there's only one in there??" Again, that will make her feel like she's fatter than she should be.

*There are relationships where these are not necessarily inappropriate to ask. For example, I'd never be offended if my mom asked me when Matt and I were wanting to have another child, or if my sister asked if we were trying to get pregnant, or if one of my best friends asked if I'm pregnant. But, when in doubt, just be patient - you will find out the answer eventually, without having to ask.

So that's "Just Sayin'". I'm just sayin' this stuff... to no one in particular, and not to complain. Just to inform.