2010 is going to be exciting!!

Finally!  I have a day off so I can get some things done!  It has been so busy with Christmas, then I worked the weekend after New Year's, so I get a three day weekend now!  Where do I start??  Let me show you what I've been eating for breakfast (I was off work today, so I had time to take a picture!).

Yes, Adam is still cooking me eggs and turkey bacon every morning so I get enough protein!  This meal here contains 26 grams of protein.  And despite what some may think, I'm not gaining a lot of weight eating this!  I am supposed to have 100 grams a day. (The Brewer Diet )I forgot to say in the last post that I have gained 10 pounds all together.  Some people think I am not eating/gaining enough (my favorite patient says, "You gonna starve yo' baby!"), but it is a lot to me, and the doctor says I should only gain 25 pounds all together.

 

First of all, YAY!!  We have TEN followers!!  Unfortunately, that follower business isn't what it's cracked up to be.  Evidently, you DON'T get notices when this blog is updated.  BUT, I've found something that does!  Notice the Email Subscription Feed on the left!!  I am so excited!  Just click on it and subscribe, and you will receive an email whenever the blog is updated.  I've already tried it and it works.

Second of all, I woke up about a week or so ago, and there was a bump!  It was so weird.  I was doing something in the kitchen and my arm hit what I thought was a glove or something stuck in my coat, and it was my stomach!  AAGHH!  It all started when Adam and I were driving back to Little Rock after Christmas, and my pants were cutting into me so bad!  I was so uncomfortable after sitting 4 hours in the truck, and I remember my sister in law, Jesi, telling me about these Belly Bands that Target had that allowed you to wear all your regular pants unbuttoned.  As soon as we got home that night about 9:00, I went to Target and got one.  Oh my gosh; it was such a relief!  It feels so good, and it really feels good on my back when I wear it at work.  So that $16.99 wonder has changed my life and hopefully will buy me some time before I have to wear maternity clothes!  But, you know, I'm 22 weeks along right now, and I can't complain that I'm just now starting to show!!  Here is a picture Adam took of me at 21 weeks:

Maybe this is part of the reason I was so uncomfortable riding back from Poplar Bluff?

Okay, but let's back track now.  These pictures are from work Christmas Eve, the day after we found out the gender.  I had my friend, Drew, open up the box at work, and that's how everyone there found out!  He is my physical therapist partner at work, so we have all the same patients.  Aren't I lucky to have someone like him now that I'm pregnant? :)  Below is Drew and some of the fun girls I work with.

So, the excitement continues!  Christmas morning we left for Poplar Bluff to see my Grandma Reed and dad's family.  Daddy was so excited, to say the least.  Again, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Daddy has been calling him "Junior" the whole time, even before we knew the gender!

Yes, a machine gun.  Just wait, the gifts get better.

He forgot Tolliver's name, so he just put "Cat!"

A sign he had made to put up in our yard!  But wait, there's more!

Decals he had made for us to put up on the sign once he's born!  (He didn't know the gender when they were made!)

And one more.  He made a special trip to Orschelin's for this one.

Here is all of us Christmas Day:

It seems like everything has been a whirlwind since we found out it's a boy!  Things are calming down now, and we actually get to start planning what his room will look like, and me and Adam have to figure out what to register for!  People at work were having me write down things I needed, and of course, most of the things I had no idea about.  But when they said, "Washcloths," I said, "Why?  I have plenty of those in our guest bathroom at home!"  Well, I should have kept my mouth shut.  It has been a nonstop joke ever since.  Even one of my patients found out, and she said, "Girl, you gonna rub yo' baby's skin raw!" (Yes, it was the same one that told me I was going to suffocate my baby!)  So, I have another assignment.  Tell me things I for sure need to get, and the things I DON'T need!  For instance, I don't want a wipe warmer because they take up too much space (and besides, he's a boy; he's gotta be tough), but Adam's mom insists I have one, and that her grandson will not be treated that way!  So maybe I'm in for a rude awakening, but it seems like there are a lot of unnecessary things that will just clutter up my house.

Erik Johnson, a good friend of both mine and Adam's, and his family were in town over Christmas break, so we got to go out to eat with him and his wonderful family!  They have FOUR kids, all naturally, and are the best behaved ever!  Erik is the one who introduced me and Adam at UCA.

So much as happened in these past ten years (I feel so old saying that!).  I was running the other day around my neighborhood (Yeah!  I'm still running!!), and I had Will Smith's Will-enium song on my mp3 player talking about the year 2000 and Y2K.  It is crazy to think 10 years ago I was anxiously awaiting graduating high school, had just been crowned football homecoming queen, and was preparing to make college cheerleading.  It is interesting to see how things change, and how much I am so blessed.  While I was running, I was just thinking and became amazed when I realized that God has blessed me beyond anything I could ever possibly deserve.  In the past decade, I have graduated high school, cheered at the collegiate level and competed on ESPN in Daytona Beach, gone to Costa Rica on a mission trip, met Adam, gotten into OT school, GRADUATED from OT school, got engaged and had the most perfect and beautiful wedding ever, been promoted to Level III Occupational Therapist, ran my first marathon, and now I'm having a baby!  There are so many things I didn't list, but each thing that sticks out to me are things I can't believe really happened.  They were GOALS, some more realistic than others, and it is only through Christ that they actually happened!  Adam and I only pray that our son will realize the power of our God and know Him intimately so that he can be used by God and blessed by Him too.

Everyone is asking about names, but we are still undecided!  On New Year's Eve, this is what we did:  We drove to Conway to eat at Pizza Inn because we love their chocolate chip pizza on the buffet!  Then we went to Babies R Us to try and educate ourselves (I think it moreso overwhelmed us), then we came back home, got in bed and looked at the baby name book!  Something else big that's been happening:  feeling and seeing Baby Acklin wiggle around!  It's so weird!  I've seen him kick/flip/twirl/whatever he's doing in there several times, but he always stops when Adam watches.  Adam has felt him move once!  His eyes got real big; it was funny.  I can't say it feels like "kicks," but I definitely feel him move a LOT every day now!  It is so fun!  It really feels like a goldfish wiggling around and sometimes it feels like he is flipping.  So I'm thinking I should break it to Adam that our son might not be the strapping football player he envisions, but maybe a gymnast or a swimmer!  One of my patients was telling me we should be reading to him or playing music on my stomach, but you know what?  I think he has plenty of other business to take care of and keep him busy, like growing taste buds and eyebrows, for instance.

Here is a picture of us on New Year's Eve.  My mom bought us New Year's shirt for Christmas :)

Happy New Year everyone!  I think this is the longest post ever!  Will try not to go so long next time!  Don't forget to subscribe, and tell me what you think we should get/register for!