24 Weeks

This week is a milestone for us!! 24 Weeks marks the beginning of fetal viability, meaning that if the baby were to be born now, he would have a decent chance of survival. With each passing week, the odds of survival increase significantly. For some reason, I find a lot of comfort in knowing that! We had our regular prenatal appt last Friday, and everything looked great. Jackson's heartrate was in the upper 130's and sounded nice and strong, which is always music to our ears. We managed to bribe our OB into ordering one last ultrasound for our next appointment at 28 weeks-Yay! She seems to think that we will get the best 3D face shots at that time, since the baby will have some fat on him by then. So naturally I can't wait for that appointment. Over the last few days, Jackson has been moving SO much and his movements are getting much stronger. Sometimes I have this weird sensation like he is completely rolling over in there! People are really starting to ask when I am due, so I guess I must be showing a lot more now. I am also sleeping harder than I ever have before and falling asleep around 9/9:30 pm these days. Lame, although I suppose I should enjoy it while I can! I am thinking about switching my blog pictures to "shirt down" pictures, because I don't really know that people want to be looking at the bare belly at this stage of the game. I don't know, we'll see!

Let's see, in other news this week, this past Saturday was my mom's 50th birthday!! It was great being able to celebrate through all of the birthday festivities with her, and I think she had a really nice birthday!! I really had a wonderful time just spending time with her, and I am so blessed to have her as my mom!! Also, today I took my LAST final exam for school. I am officially finished with grad school...hooray! I finished just in time for Justin to start graduate school, which will be in early May :) I will be graduating with honors, which has been my goal from the start...so I feel great about that! Its hard for me to believe that now I don't have to worry about exams, papers, projects for school anymore...But it feels great!

23 Weeks

Well, as of yesterday, I am officially 23 weeks pregnant. Wow, time seems to be flying! This past weekend Justin and I created our baby registries at Babies R Us and Target. It was a lot of fun!! There were 5 other girls registering at the same time, and while we were getting an "orientation" before starting, it came out that we are ALL having boys!! I guess it really is the year of the boy. Justin and I couldn't believe how many things there were to look through and I have to admit, I did start feeling a little overwhelmed when we got to the breast feeding aisle. I think its because I realized there is still so much that I dont know, but at least Ive got time to learn still. I also signed up for our prenatal classes at East Cooper Hospital, and one is a breastfeeding class. I hope to learn a lot more there! Jackson is still moving around and making his prescence known, although some days he moves a lot more than others. Justin made a playlist on our Zune for the baby and put some headphones on my belly the other night. Then, everytime I felt the baby kick we would lift up the headphones and see what song was playing. We couldnt hear the music, since the headphones are the noise-cancelling ones, so it was a fun surprise to see which songs he likes. And would you believe after a little while I started feeling some strong movements and lo and behold, the song playing was "Amber" by 311. This is also the ringtone that Justin has on his phone for when I call. I can only assume that Jackson is already brilliant and knows his mommy! HA! Other of Jackson's favorites: "Crazy" by Aerosmith, and "I am the Highway" by Audioslave. I continue to have horrible heartburn and I foresee that only getting worse as I get further along. But of course, it is all worth it!

22 Weeks

Here I am at 22 weeks...definitely getting bigger by the day! Jackson has been really starting to move a lot more now, and I can feel that he is getting bigger as his movements are getting more powerful. Now Justin can actually see my belly jump when Jackson is doing karate kicks in there. We went to church on Easter, and I was amazed at how active the baby became. He was moving like crazy as soon as the music started. Justin and I realized that this was the first time he was probably hearing music that loud. He continued to boogie throughout the whole service!! He seems to really like music...now to play some Counting Crows for him! :) Recently my back has started getting sore if I am on my feet too long, and my feet start aching pretty badly. When looking at these pictures, I can really see why my back is bothering me...its like my whole posture has shifted forward! Justin and I have started looking at cribs and bedding, which has been a lot of fun. We are leaning toward doing a jungle/animal theme for the nursery. That way I can tie in many things from my "monkey collection" that I have acquired over the years. We have narrowed it down to a couple of different bedding sets, but they are all adorable!! I think we are going to try and register this coming weekend, which I am really excited for. It makes it that much more real to me. Other than that, it has been business as usual this year, except that I did forget to add one very exciting piece of info...Justin has been accepted into graduate school at the University of Florida for his Master's Degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Its similar to my program in that it is a program taught both online and on-campus during certain sessions. I am SO proud of him! Starting in May, he will officially be a GATOR!! And to celebrate, we bought this for Jackson to wear to some football games, which will be at the Citadel and University of South Carolina this upcoming season. Now we need to find a matching shirt for Daddy. :) TOO CUTE!!

We shall name him...

Jackson Dale Whaley

We have been tossing names around for awhile now, and we just kept going back to Jackson. We also considered Ethan, Jacob, and Caleb, but Jackson is hands-down our favorite. Of course if Justin had his way, the baby's name would be Tron Skywalker...HA! Dale is Justin's middle name, as well as his father's and his grandfather's middle name, so Justin wanted to carry it on with our baby. What I really love is that the baby's initials will be J.D., which is what Justin's grandpa calls him. Plus, my grandad on my mom's side is J.D. as well, so it is even more special.

This week I am officially 21 weeks pregnant and 15 lbs heavier. Boy, can I feel it. We went to the Flowertown Festival last weekend and not only did I feel like a pale whale, but my feet and lower back were aching as well. Nothing a little funnel cake, cheeseburger, fries, and italian ice wont cure...eek! ;) Despite that, it was a great time and we had absolutely gorgeous weather.

In other news, the BMW is gone. We posted it on a website that helps people transfer leases, and we got a bite. We still had one more year on the lease, and it just wasnt going to work for us. The girl who took it over was turning in her leased BMW, so her credit was easily approved and she came and got it on Sunday. We couldnt have asked for a better person to take it over. Still, I was kinda sad to give it to her. Truthfully, I loved everything about that car, except for the fact that a coupe doesnt quite accomodate baby car seats or pregnant bellies very well! The one thing I wont miss is the monthly payment. So Justin and I are officially car shopping!

I guess thats really all thats been going on in the last week. My other coworker found out she is having a boy, so we are 3 for 3 as far as baby boys! Plus one of my old college roommates is having a boy, and my old dance team buddy is having a boy as well....soooo make that 5 for 5!