Milestone Doctor's Visit for Baby Goley!

Well yesterday we went back to Dr. Vice (the coolest!) for our 18 week check-up. This visit featured a long, detailed ultrasound in which Baby Goley got measured. The U/S technician measured everything from tiny things in the brain to the amniotic fluid in there. All the while, we got to just stare at our baby on the screen.

In this picture, the baby is on it's side with its left hand
by its face- notice the giant elbow! And look how sweet
that little face is! Our "Perfect" baby!

Now, I know what you are probably thinking, ...but you guys don't want to know the gender- you saw and now you know! But cool your jets! We looked away for about 2 1/2 minutes while she did that part and then she printed 2 pictures and sealed them up for us. We didn't see and we still have no clue! Even though the whole office was teasing us saying, "Congrats you're having a boy!... or a girl!" But I think the U/S are getting stranger because instead of seeing the whole baby on the screen we can really only see one half or part at a time. So we stayed from the waist up the entire time. We only got 2 pictures this visit (because the U/S tech. only prints a few, whereas Dr. Vice gets in there and prints a whole roll!) but they are good ones!

This one was my favorite. The baby is laying with its legs
all the way in its chest, pushing its feet on the top of my
uterus. I could not only feel this but it stayed like this for
a few minutes! Funny little shit!

At one point during the measurement part of the visit, the tech had her wand thingy pressed against the middle of my uterus and the baby, no joke, fist pumped it! Dusty saw it and I really felt it! This was the first good punch I've felt! It was the highlight of the day!

Then they took some blood for a genetic screening for spinal bifida, downs and other defects. I guess I didn't have to take this test because it won't matter to me if our baby is special or not; I have so much love in my heart already! But Dr. Vice said that there are a lot of false positives so I really don't even want to know the results.

During our regular visit, Dr. Vice showed Dusty how to "listen" to the baby by laying his ear on my uterus. We tried it out before bed last night and it was amazing! Dusty got down and was listening and for some reason, maybe the pressure of his head on my uterus, I could feel some major movement! He could "hear" what he described as "sloshing around" during these movements. It was fun because he was trying to explain to me what he was "hearing" and I was trying to explain what I was feeling. Just another reason we love Dr. Vice so much! I had never, in all my research, heard of doing this before!

Whoa Baby!

On our way out to the car, Dusty paused and asked if Dr. Vice was who delivered the baby and I knew he really liked him because when I said "Yeah, that's the plan" he smiled really big and kept on walking. At lunch later our waiter was complaining about how he hated going to those appointments because it always seemed like his Dr. was full of it and we just smiled and were happy that we love our Dr.!!!

Overall, our appointment went well and everything was described as "Perfect!" to us! So if you were wondering, we are making a perfect baby :) according to our Doctor's whole office!

18 Weeks!

Our next appointment is the Monday after Thanksgiving! I have only gained 11 pounds so far for the entire pregnancy but my bragging may cease after the next appointment, Nov. 26! I am lookign forward to some turkey and dressing, people!

Updates:
A. I am so sore I might actually crumble. I plan to continue the workout today to try to get some of my muscles back in working order... not looking forward to it!
B. Sheila's big day is here and we have an eventful weekend ahead of us! "The dress" came in, in a 12 and fits like a dream!
C. The Halloween party this weekend will feature the Goley skeletons! We have a daddy skeleton shirt with beer and pizza in the belly and a mommy shirt with our "perfect" baby skeleton in the belly and even Sam Bo Riley has one, complete with a big heart and a boney tail!

I will post plenty of pictures and hopefully have some great stories! Thanks for reading!

Baby Goley Goes to (Boot) Camp...

Pregnancy is a time for preparation. The entire process is preparing you for this or that. For example, your boobs, specifically your nips, change to prepare you for breast feeding, your sleep starts to suck to prepare you for the many, many months to come that you will not sleep and then, of course your body changes, preparing all sorts of other things for the big day you get to meet the little precious gift. So, to prepare for delivery doesn't sound like that bad of an idea. One thing is for sure, when you get pregnant everyone asks, "Are you doing...?" insert keigels, squats, yoga, cardio, and the list goes on and on. There is definitely no shortage of fear in pregnancy; you think to yourself, "Should I be religiously working out now?"
I have been actively avoiding this until I realized, I am 18 weeks pregnant (almost halfway there!) and I havent lifted a finger! I am definitely behind. My excuses started out legit- I felt like crap the entire first trimester. But as I have said on here I feel great now! I started having a little lower back nerve pain so I decided it was time to put my excuses away and get to work.

I did a lot of research looking for great prenatal/ pregnancy workouts. I found a few that looked good and a yoga video on youtube! So today we will have a few laughs, a few "holy crap"s and maybe even a pat on the back after checking out what Baby Goley and I did this morning.

First, I started out with a yoga ball and some weights (2 5lb and 1 8lb). Really, the only thing I needed today was the 5lb weights.

I found this great workout featuring a "total body" approach to a pregnancy workout. This one was honestly my favorite. I found the most things I could figure out and that felt good.

1. Squat with overhead press (using 5lb weights): We did 2 sets of 15, circuit style.

2. Plie with lateral raise (using 5lb weights): We did 2 sets of 15 of these also, circuit style.

3. Opposite arm/leg reach: We did 2 sets of 5 on each leg/arm, switching each time.

4. Baby Push-ups: We did 2 sets of 15; this was my favorite!

I also found a few more sites which I really only used a few other things from. Either the instructions were hard to understand or I felt like it wasn't 100% safe to do without being sure.

Pilates Mama was okay... I took a couple things from the 1st and 2nd trimester moves.

1. Forearm Control Front: We did 2 reps of 3, holding for 10 seconds each time.

2. Hovering Knees: We did 2 sets of 8 reps, holding for 1 "Mississippi" count, or a full breath.

And that was it on this article. The other moves were dumb or weird.

Michelle Marie Fit was not one I liked very much at all. She bragged about not gaining any unnecessary weight during her pregnancy (only 20 pounds the entire time!) and honestly what pregnant person wants to hear about that. If you are desperate enough to be looking for exercises, then chances are you have gained some weight already or you feel you are destined to! So after I gagged over her self-righteousness, I did one of her workout moves.

1. Hip Extensions: We did 2 sets of 10 of these, with the yoga ball.

I also added a few arm moves I always did when lifting weights in college.

1. Arm lifts- Imagine lifting both arms straight out in front of your chest, spreading them to go straight out to your sides, still parallel with your shoulders and then down by your sides. Then, you lift them back out to the sides (shaped like a T), back together in front of your chest and down in front of you. It's 3 moves in one! We did 2 sets of 10 of these with 5 lbs. in each hand.

2. Triceps Extensions- Place your knee and one arm extended on the sofa so you are balancing on one leg and have a 5 lb weight in your other arm. Pull the weight, elbow bent to your ribs. Keep your arm steady there, only moving from your elbow down, backwards and slowly back. This feels great! We did 2 reps of 15 of these.

And then the Prenatal Yoga video. Now, I thought yoga was all resting, breathing and stretching. Turns out I was an idiot. This was just as hard, if not harder than some of the things I had already done. Consensus was that after today, I will do either a yoga video or a workout. Both were a bit much. But I did what I could in the yoga video, which wasn't much. The moves were either too hard, I was too infelxible or it hurt so I came out of the pose, as directed.

Pregnancy is not a time to push yourself or see how great you can look. I know this. So, I took it easy and now I am resting, rewarded with mandarin oranges! I am excited to do it all again... just no more today! I took resting periods between sets and had water handy. One thing that was harder than a non-pregnancy workout was the blood flow. First of all during pregnancy, you have increased blood flow so your baby gets everything it needs in a timely manner. So when you are down on the floor doing things that are hard, your blood flow increases to your head; which feels like you are about to pass out or your head is about to explode. So unfortunately I now have a nice little headache.

Sambo Riley and I will be going for a 20-30 minute walk this afternoon too, because apparently you are supposed to walk or do some cardio for at least 30 minutes every day of pregnancy...bleh!

I'll be sure to keep updates on my fitness level... right now it sucks :)

Sneak Peek: Tomorrow is Baby Goley's big 18-week checkup! We will know so much more about this little goober and get the sealed gender envelope! Woo hoo! Check back tomorrow for the exciting news!

The Baby Quilt... Baby Goley's Heritage

Ok from the title you have probably gathered that today's post is about a quilt... boring! Maybe it will be, but maybe you will see how special family and heritage is to me. Dustin is sitting in his desk as I write stabbing his eyeballs out with Regions pens... Don't worry, I promise there will be colorful pictures and maybe I will even throw in a current A.M. bump pic!

Anyone who knows me knows that any time someone is giving away and old mirrors with stories, old photos and (a new found love) fabrics or quilts in our families, I jump at the chance! Well I was in luck a while back and came into my grandmother's entire fabric/ sewing/ quilting stash. I feel like the rest of the family who didn't want these things are crazy!!! But out of 5 children, a ton of grandchildren and even a handful of great grandchildren, I was the winner of this prize! 

In the stash I found out that not only was my grandmother an amazing eye for great fabrics and patterns but that she must have had it a lot worse than we could imagine. There were the tiniest scraps of every fabric saved for some kind of scrap quilt one day... can you say nightmare? Once all that was sorted, I started finding cool little tools and trinkets found in an old-timey sewing room, home made patterns (skill!), and basically everything I would need to fall in love with quilting and this family's past.

Now, from what I understand, quilting is a "Dying Art". I hate the way this sounds because to me it makes it sound hard and expensive! Our family goes back a long way with quilting. My grandmother published genealogy books in the Birmingham Library so I am sure she could tell you a lot more specifics about this topic. I have often checked the facts of different pieces with her and been amazed at their history. But again, from what I understand, my mom and aunt quilted in high school (they have a massive quilt each to prove it!), my grandmother quilted with them but also long before then, her mother and grandmother had to have quilted to teach her and then before them a long line of really antiquated women quilted.  I know there was a boarding house somewhere back there where she quilted for warmth, not style. There are so many styles of quilts displayed in my sewing cabinet form who knows when! As I find the quilt or quilt top, I try to get it to my grandmother to verify who made it and when.

Which brings us to quilt squares that were hand-sewn almost 100 years ago! Back in the 30s my grandmother was a little girl. Her grandmother handed down some quilting squares she had started on. They didn't match or have coordinating fabrics. They were very random in what fabrics she could get her hands on but all a very difficult, old pattern. Can I go ahead and stress that each squared was hand-sewn! Every dang detail! I am not even sure when they were made so there might not have been an option of using a machine to construct the square! I have had a quilter, who specializes in antique quilts, estimate from the fabrics and pattern that the squares were constructed in the early 20s... I am naming this quilt, "Stella Wester Lowry, Oneonta, AL. Est. 1930". Chills, people!

Now if you are bored out of your gourd, here is where the story says anything other than the drab history lesson I just gave you...

THIS is going to be our first baby quilt!

I have soaked it for 2 separate  sessions over the last 3 days and it has finally come as clean as it is going to get. The fabrics are somewhat thin and fragile so I will still have to iron and fuse them (this is when you iron a semi-hard backing to each square for support during sewing) and then add the sashing and border, a back piece and batting. I plan to hand-quilt this one to continue the style and traditions laced in it. So I guess I might want to quit yapping about it and get started! We only have 5 or so months left and hand-quilting is slow-moving! Every stitch is a sentiment of my love for this child and my love for ancestors I don't even know!

Above is a picture of the fabric I found to tie all the random pieces together and  some highlights of my favorite pieces. I hope that Baby Goley finds as much joy in understanding our roots as I do!


As promised, here are current pictures of the (17 weeks!) bump, this morning! Thanks for reading and pat yourself on the back for reading all the way through!

First skin shot!

First front shot!

Baby Goley's Secrets Exposed...

Good morning blog readers!
It has been a few days since I have put these fingers to work; it feels almost foreign! I have made a list of blog topics I want to use in the coming months that I reference when it isn't clear to me what to write. While looking through this list this morning (just knowing I needed to get back on the horse) I decided that instead of jumping ahead to my Christmas list, "Santa Baby..." or "Pregnancy Workouts... step by step, how they do or don't work out..."maybe we could just take a second to appreciate how amazing being pregnant is.

Now, I have heard that this stage, just as the green, morning sickness stage did, will pass and I will be moving into a foreign body that is completely uncomfortable and miserable. But, let's not dwell on that; let's celebrate the awesome-ness of this phase of pregnancy. I am 17 weeks, in the 2nd trimester and do not know the gender of sweet little Baby Goley. I am feeling kinda like I am in a floating, unknowing section of the universe, in limbo between miserable and miserable, between scared and ready to shop, and between skinny and huge! It is absolutely amazing! I hope to articulate how I feel now, so in the coming months I can return to this blog and remember that I absolutely love being pregnant!

Every day is different right now. I can barely feel the baby move, if I really concentrate, but shortly I will feel full-on kicks! My body is changing so much too! I had a flat stomach only a few months ago and now I wake up with a tiny, looks like baby bag, on my tummy! Throughout the day, it grows and grows and at night it is a pregnant belly; nice and round! I love it! I make my poor husband rub it while we watch TV but I don't think he likes it yet. He acts like if you push on it, it will pop or something. It doesn't feel fragile to me- I constantly push and prod all over trying to figure out the geography in there. So strange. 

Another thing about pregnancy that I am learning and completely in love with is intuition. You could almost do this alone on a deserted island with no outside world. Your body takes on this authoritative way, telling you to avoid this or get more of this. For example, before I was really read-up on pregnancy, in a smoky room I would catch myself holding my breath. By the time you realize what you are doing, you are starved for air! I know now that this is probably due to 2nd hand smoke being, not only terrible for me, but detrimental for the baby's development too! Also, I have been eating a ton of beef and tons of yummy egg sandwiches and I saw in a magazine that you should try to eat those two for a specific brain-developing nutrient found in them! So all this time I think I am being so unhealthy and in reality I am rocking-out for my baby's brain development! Now, some of this may sound totally idiotic to you but I don't care. I know that my body, my intuition, my entire nature has changed from care-free and wild to doing things I can't explain till much later, resulting in good choices for the baby! It is probably my favorite part (yes, even more than the amazing skin and hair) of the whole preggers thing. 

There are a few products and other things I love right now that I would like to share with all you peeps, preggers and not.

#1 Organix Hydrating Moroccan Argan Dry Body Oil- It smells and feels amazing! I think even if I weren't under threat of big, nasty stretch marks it would be a winter-must for dry skin! It dries quickly and so far, fingers crossed, I haven't seen any new stretch marks!

#2 Dustin Goley's Special 5-Minute Egg Sandwiches- Made from honey wheat bread, toasted in the oven while he fries an egg with plain pepper only, atop not one, but two slices of deli-cut american cheese! Now we are talking... Dang I want one now! That boy is so sweet- he flips the egg in the pan, no utensils! without complaint :). God, I love that man!

#3 My Computer!- It brings me to the outside world on a daily basis! I jam out to my i-tunes while I am cleaning and playing housewife. Then I sit down and check social media- Facebook and Pinterest mostly. And of course, my new found favorite reason to use my computer is to BLOG!

#4 Old Navy Maternity- Call me lame, but from about 8 weeks until now I am absolutely hooked on Old Navy Maternity clothes! They are stretchy, comfy, they fit and they are affordable! I love my maternity jeans but I also love the stylish shirts that show off the bump so well! Comfort without looking like a lazy whale- priceless!

#5 Water- Specifically, Ozarka bottled water. It is right there in the price range of Sam's Choice but tastes better to me. Other brands, even expensive, have a weird smoothness you don't expect in water that grosses me out. Usually I am fine with tap water at home in a big 'ole Tervis tumbler but lately, the fridge and freezer have  a distinct chemical smell to me so I stay away (see, there's the 'ole body warning me away from something potentially dangerous). Anyway, I drink about 7 bottles a day, sometimes more sometimes less. Love it!

#6 Tyler Candles- I have been selling my mom's old stock of Tyler Candles below cost and it has been amazing. My gracious mother decided to let me take the stock and keep any money made from them in a separate fund for Baby Goley! And I must say, even selling them under what we paid wholesale, Baby Goley is striking it rich! We have enough money to get maternity clothes, anything we don't end up getting through the showers and then maybe it will even stretch into the college fund as soon as the baby is born! So, friends keep the orders coming; we are low but not out!!!

#7 Starbucks Decaf White Chocolate Mocha- I can't even describe to you how these make me feel! I had one the other day while meeting a friend for coffee and before I left I ordered another one! I know, they are like 4 billion calories, but Baby Goley loves them! Ahhh... I have to stop talking about it now or I am going to leave this chair and drive across town to get one, never finishing this blog.

#8 Bella Band- This is a band that you can wear to hold up maternity clothes that don't fit yet or to hold up your pre-maternity pants, unbuttoned. Now, I refuse to even go there; I use it for comfort under things that don't hug my tummy tightly and kinda like spanx. It just smoothes out your belly and feels good holding everything firm. I could see them marketing the same exact product to people to wear with their jeans as a butt-crack coverup...

#9 Cheeze-its- Just been a staple in my pantry since 6 weeks... They are pretty damn good...

#10 Baby Cokes- Go perfect with Cheeze-its! I originally bought them to service headaches/ migraines without over doing the caffeine. Then I realized I had accidentally cut out artificial sweeteners (Thanks again body...) so it was the perfect amount of something bad to satisfy multiple needs. They are kinda pricey though- so I go Sam's Club... Hey, no shame in my game!

#11 NetFlix- When Dustin gets home, I love to have a show ready for him to unwind. It keeps him from involuntarily cleaning or doing house chores that I do already, all day! He is pretty stressed with work and school so I try to catch him at the door with relaxation, not questions and requests... (I know, I am so sweet :)...) I try not to watch it during the day though, because if I do, I will be trapped on the couch for 3 months... Yikes! Instead, I only watch while I am sitting down to eat a meal or ironing Dustin some shirts for work.

#12 Crunchy Peanut Butter on Ritz Crackers- Easy, filling, delicious snack! Can't say enough about this staple in my diet.

#13 Flossers- Yes, it is weird that they made it on here but oral hygiene is very important during pregnancy people! I forget why but heres a link... So I floss religiously, you know I don't have dental insurance any more- take it up with my employer :)

#14 Naturals Fruit Cups- Yum! In the first trimester these were part of my I snack every hour to keep my food down regimen. Now, they are the only healthy thing I don't have to force myself to eat. They aren't technically sweet, which is good. But they are cold and yummy!

#15 Friends- Yep, lame. But I am truly happy and a huge pregnancy must-have is friends. Even though I am all moody and restless, I have people who constantly show their support, lend helping hands and keep life sweet! If we make it through this pregnancy as good friends, then we should be fine forever!

Without these things, pregnancy might actually suck. But I have these things and I am loving everything about what is happening here. I am growing and changing but so is our little turd! I feel great, most of the time, and I love, love, love everything about it!

Now, I have to go find a Starbucks Decaf White Chocolate Mocha now... Bye!

Baby Goley's Gender... Reveal!

It is that time during the pregnancy! I am officially 16 weeks, a milestone for us! I should be able to feel the "flutters" soon, if not this week, and we could find out the gender via ultrasound!

Now, as discussed in a previous blog (Shout Out! and a big Thank You! to my avid readers!), I do not want to know the gender until the day the little guy/ or girl is born. My husband, on the other hand, would like to go right this second to know as much as possible. I mean, he is the kind of impatient that loves knowing his Christmas presents early! No fun! So, as all good spouses do, we found a compromise. He really liked the idea of a Gender Reveal to our friends and family. His inspiration was from, none other than, Face Book pictures of other friends and acquaintances with a box of colored balloons (you release the balloons and put on your best surprised face!). Here is an example of how this works if you have no clue what I am talking about. (And please note, I do not own any of these pictures, I simply got them from Google Images for the sake of an example...)

I stay home now and so, although there is no shortage of laundry, dishes and other awful tasks, I have plenty of time on my hands to plan a big party for what ever occasion I can come up with. My husband and I love entertaining, whether it be a football game for the guys, a crazy Tacky Christmas Sweater party, or any reason in-between. So, I was not about to pass up such a fun, new, trendy party and settle for  a box of balloons (No judgements if you've had this or done this; I have no excuses for small gestures- I don't work!). Instead, I have put my efforts into making this an unforgettable experience for our immediate families and very close friends. (Don't worry if you do not receive an invite for this one- it's going to be small. Instead, put that energy into messaging me your address on Face Book to ensure your shower invitation makes it to you!)

So by now, you should have figured out that even though we are 16 weeks, we do not know the gender yet. Our next appointment is October 23rd (we are off schedule because I insisted on coming in at 6 weeks), where we will have our 18 week, mega-ultrasound. It is scheduled for 45 minutes, then followed by a Dr. appointment for blood tests, routine check-up stuff, etc. During this 45-minute ultrasound, I've heard they will be taking measurements and checking for organ functions, etc. My thinking is, this is a long time for us to be staring at the monitor in awe and love, to not notice the parts, you know, the parts! We are going to do our best, though!

Then we will get our gender results sealed in an envelope and head to a local sweet shop. They are going to make <insert something sweet and pretty here> for us, masking the gender on the outside but hosting the giant surprise on the inside. We will pick them up on the morning of the party- November 3rd!

Decorations will be bare but there. I was thinking some cheesy, "It's a Boy" and "It's a Girl" junk, balloons with our baby pictures clipped to the bottom, and pink and blue tissue balls (of course!). We will also be playing with the old wives tales of pregnancy to help people place their bets boy or girl.

Here are some inspirational pics I found when trying to imagine this party. There were a lot of great things out there, but people, remember, we are on a teeny-tiny, one-person-income budget!

Let's talk food. I mean, come on, I am pregnant, and wherever there's a preggers, you can bet on food! The party is at noon so Dustin wanted to make his award-winning chili-n-fixins, and then of course, the sweet reveal dessert. But other than that, we will have a little "salty" cravings area and a little "sweet" cravings area featuring cravings that I've had, to snack on. Kinda redneck, but it will also be BYOB, since obviously I am not too hung up on getting all you crazy mo-fos drunk (Hello! It is a baby-centered party).

So I have a lot of work to do and on an extremely tight budget! But I cannot think of a better way to celebrate Baby Goley's every achievement than to start with finding out if it is a boy or a girl! I will be posting party pics on here after and dishing on all the good, bad and crazy in between. I solemnly swear to not leave out any details so that even if its ugly or embarrassing, it will be here, but you probably already knew that!

Shout-Out Section!

I would like to give a "Shout-Out" to Jillian Barnett for encouraging me to start a blog- Check hers out here!

A big "Thanks!" to Kim Dodez Guice for making the sweet invitations for this, helping me with details, and (ahead of time) for taking lots of great party pictures of the surprised faces and other fun details for readers!

Thanks to Blair, my mom and Nancy for all your help in getting stuff together for this!

And then, for all of my readers- Wow!, a big, humongous "Thanks!" for reading. It is your support and encouragement that makes me put these (9.75) fingers to the keyboard as often as I do. Now it is a challenge to bring you stories and information that you will like- I live for this challenge!