Last Friday we had our 16 week OB appt. and we were so pleasantly surprised to find out the gender of our precious baby a few weeks early! (If you missed it, you can see the announcement here.)

Since finding out we’re having a boy, this has seemed even more real to me. We can now call him by name, Gideon. And we can talk to Liam about his little brother. I know that Liam is going to be an amazing big brother. They will be the best of friends!

Here is my 16-week baby bump photo…

I have been feeling pretty great! I only get nauseous once in a while, and although I am still tired a lot, my energy has come back a little as well. I am happy and excited for all that God has in store for our family!

As far as cravings go, my new one is breakfast sandwiches. Last Thursday, ALL I could think about was a sausage, egg, and cheese on croissant. I thought that after I had eaten dinner, my craving would go away, but no. So, my sweet husband made it his mission to find me a breakfast sandwich at 8:00 at night. He searched high and low (because there aren’t many places that serve them after breakfast time), and brought one home for me. I love that man. We joke that food is one of my love languages…especially when I’m pregnant.

Here is a 16-week photo of our Gideon James…

I cannot wait to kiss those little cheeks! It was so sweet, on the ultrasound it kept looking like he was waving at us. Melted my heart! And Liam kept pointing to the screen saying “Baby! Baby!” He is excited too!

I know that many of you have been praying with us during our pregnancy, and we so appreciate it. I am incredibly thankful that our baby is healthy and that everything has gone so smoothly this time. Thanks for joining us on this exciting journey!

We’re having a…BOY!

SO excited to announce that we are having another boy! Liam will have a little brother (or “Baybee Bubba”, as he pronounces it right now), come July!

We went for our 16-week OB appt yesterday, and weren’t expecting to have an ultrasound (our “big” ultrasound is scheduled for a few weeks from now). But when our doctor came in, she rolled in the portable ultrasound machine and asked if we wanted a peek. Of course, we said, YES!

Our doctor told us, “Now, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to tell the gender right now.” But as soon as we saw our little one on the screen, it was very clear…he is a boy.

As I’ve mentioned before, we have felt very strongly from the beginning that this baby was a boy. So, it is wonderful to have our suspicions confirmed. We can now call him by his name!

Gideon James is the name we have chosen for our little guy. Gideon means “powerful warrior”, and we absolutely love the story of Gideon in the Bible. James is in honor of my Dad, my Pawpaw (my Dad’s dad), and Jonathan’s Grandpa. It’s a special family name that belongs to three mighty men of God.

Now that we know for sure that our precious baby is a boy and we can call him by name, this is feeling even more real. I thank God every day for blessing us with another healthy baby. And I am so excited that Liam will have a brother to play with and grow close to throughout the years (I already have images of them having light saber battles!). My heart couldn’t feel fuller or happier right now.

Next week I will share my 16-week baby bump photo as well as the ultrasound picture. But for now, we couldn’t wait to announce the gender. SO EXCITED!

It’s so hard to believe that I am 14 weeks along in this pregnancy already! As of this week, I am now in my 2nd trimester…a third of the way there! With each week that passes, I get more and more excited to meet our little baby face to face.

Right now our little one measures about 3.5 inches long from head to bottom – about the size of a lemon – and weighs 1.5 ounces. It is still amazing to me how fast babies grow!

Here’s an updated picture of the baby bump…

I have been feeling pretty good lately! I am still tired most of the time, but the nausea has reduced to a once-in-a-while thing, which is wonderful. I’ve only had a couple days in the past two weeks that I’ve been really sick. A new symptom I’ve started having recently is migraines. I had them with Liam starting around this time as well. It is interesting to me how very similar this pregnancy has been to my first. Headaches aren’t fun, but I’ll gladly take them since it means we’re having a baby. Totally worth it! (Although I do hope they don’t continue the entire time)

Last week I posted on Instagram one of my new cravings…mushrooms! Specifically, a certain stuffed mushroom. I made them twice in one week, and already have plans to make them again this week. Yum! Fruit Tea is also a current obsession of mine. I never knew what fruit tea was until I moved to Tennessee, and now that I know…there is no turning back. It’s the perfect combination of sweet tea and fruit juices. I adapted a couple recipes to come up with my own, that I am now a huge fan of (I hope to share it with you on here soon). Of course, I make it with decaf tea, but it’s still as tasty as ever.

I am still feeling the baby move around, which is always a wonderful feeling. The movements are getting stronger, and what used to feel like tiny flutters now feel like tiny taps.

From the very beginning, I’ve felt as though this baby is another boy, and last night I had a dream that we found out for sure that it was. But we would be absolutely thrilled with a girl as well. We would love to have more children after this baby, and I do feel as though at least one of them will be a girl…but I have an inkling that this one is a boy. I’m looking forward to our big ultrasound on February 28th where will we find out for sure! We shall see! I’m excited to be able to start calling the baby by his or her name.

I am so thankful that this pregnancy is going well and that our baby continues to grow healthily. Such a blessing!

Thank you for joining us on this journey!

In case you haven’t heard already…we are having another baby!!! Words cannot describe how thrilled we are!

It’s hard to believe that I am 12 weeks along already. We are more than a quarter of the way there. This first part of pregnancy has flown by so quickly! When I was pregnant with Liam, I took bi-weekly photos of my baby bump and shared little pregnancy updates along the way. Since we have many friends and family who live far far away, some of them have requested that I share the same with this baby as well. So, that is what I’m going to do! If you don’t care to read pregnancy and baby updates, feel free to skip over these posts. I will not be offended. But if you do want to stay up-to-date with our progress, you can look forward to bi-weekly pregnancy posts on here. [You can also go back and read the posts about Liam on my old blog, if you want].

Here is what my current baby bump looks like…

I’ve read many times that with your second and following pregnancies, you can start showing a lot sooner than with your first. And yep, I’ve got to say from personal experience, this seems to be true. Haha. I started noticing a little bump a few weeks sooner than I did with Liam. It’s as though my body is saying “Oh yeah, I remember pregnancy…let’s do this!” And I am excited about it! It may seem weird, but I am looking forward to my belly getting bigger. Each day that I grow means our baby is growing and is healthy and we are one day closer to holding him or her in our arms. I love being pregnant!

I get asked all the time how I’ve been feeling, so I’ll go ahead and tell you. From about week 5 until week 10, I was very sick and very tired almost all day every day. This was challenging at times with an active toddler in the house, but we made it work. There were days when all I could do is lie there…and Liam would bring me books to read to him, or we would play with cars on the edge of the couch, or I would watch as he played his drums. Jonathan was very helpful during this time too, and would help me cook and clean on days I didn’t have the stomach or energy too. I am thankful for him!

But honestly, I was happy I was sick. That may also seem weird, but if you’ve experienced pregnancy loss, you’ll understand. Any day I was sick, I would feel peace knowing that this was a good symptom meaning my baby was healthy (not that people who aren’t sick don’t have healthy babies…it is definitely different for everyone and every pregnancy). It was just reassuring to me. So, I didn’t mind being sick.

Since the weekend after Christmas, I have started to feel better (which is to be expected as I near the end of my first trimester). I am still very tired almost all the time, my energy hasn’t returned. But although I still have morning sickness at times, it is definitely far less frequent.

As far as cravings go, it’s almost been identical to what I craved with Liam. Healthy foods for the most part…fruits and vegetables. Lots of fruits and vegetables (especially guacamole and berries)! I’ve also loved cheese (although, that is nothing new, haha). Any day I’ve felt sick, I haven’t even wanted to smell something sweet. And hamburger meat has been a big turn off as well. The one new craving I started having this week was buffalo sauce. Spicy hot wings! YUM!

On Friday, we had our 12 week appointment. It went wonderfully! We got to see our precious baby again, and it was SO active…kicking almost constantly and hiccuping as well. We also heard the heartbeat, which brought tears to my eyes. Everything is looking so good, and the baby is looking healthy. Such an answer to prayer!

I have also started to feel the baby kicking around…A LOT! It feels like little butterfly flutters right now. This is also so reassuring to me any time I feel it move around.

One of Liam’s new words is “baby”. I have a folder from the doctor’s office that has a baby on it, and he likes to carry it around and point to the picture, look at me, and say, “BABY!” Haha. I know he is going to be an amazing big brother.

Another question I have been asked a lot is, “When will you find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” And the answer is, February 28th. I will be 19 weeks along at that point. It feels like forever until that day, but I’m sure it will go by fast. In the meantime, I will just enjoy the anticipation.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying and believing with us for this healthy baby. We appreciate your love and support more than you know.

Thanks for joining us on this journey. We are so excited!