Wednesday, September 28, 2011

18 Weeks- My Sweet Sweet Potato

18 weeks today and Roxas is the size of a sweet potato, or about 5 1/2 inches and weighing in at 5 ounces. Not a whole lot is new, most of his time is spent growing and maturing now! His body fat is continuing to fill in and his fingerprints are fully formed and unique. He is moving more and more now, although we still can't feel the kicks from the outside. Every now and then I get the sensation I just stepped on to a roller coaster when he rolls around. Last week we went to a concert with one of our good friends and he loved the music, especially Casting Crowns. He was kicking and rolling around like crazy when they started playing. I am finally in the 5th month, only 4 more months to go! The belly gets bigger and bigger overnight it seems sometimes. I'm having fun watching my bellybutton start to disappear, which also seems to happen overnight. Here is the bump picture to prove it:

Since there isn't a whole lot going on besides a ton of growing I've decided to put up some pictures of Roxas's room. I'm a little eager when it comes to getting things ready for him so most of it is complete, but I love sitting in his room and reading him books or playing his special piano cd from his talented uncle.







Until next week...!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

17 Weeks- Almost Halfway There


17 weeks already, just another 3 weeks until we are halfway there! It is crazy to think that in the span of just 17 weeks our little boy has grown SO much. Time is starting to move a little bit faster as he grows at breakneck speeds. Roxas is now the size of an onion, or about 5 1/2" long from crown to rump. He is starting to develop vernix, a waterproof substance that helps protect his skin from the amniotic fluid. His skeleton is changing from cartilage to bone, and little sweat glands are forming which he will need living in the desert! He weighs about 5oz. which is nearly double what he weighed this time last week!
As for me, well, I'm starting to think all that whining about not feeling any different for the first trimester is coming back to bite me since now I've got symptoms all over the place. The worst ones are the inability to eat a meal larger than a yogurt cup without feeling as if it may revisit. Or my new friends, heartburn and reflux. I am convinced heartburn and reflux could be used as successful torture methods and crack even the most hardened secret agent. Those all suck, but my least favorite is the temperature fluctuations I go though randomly. If I could tattoo "Do not touch thermostat" on my hypothalamus (part of the brain controlling body temp.) I would. Every 10 to 20 minutes it feels as if somebody just turned up the heat to 120 and then I'm back to normal in another 10 or 20 minutes. I've taken to standing in front of open freezers when this happens, so if you see me in the frozen food section with the door open taking way too long to pick out a bag of frozen peas you know why. It isn't all bad though, some "fun symptoms" have started to appear too. My favorite thing now is feeling him move. I don't get to feel it all the time but each day the movements get stronger and easier to feel. Sometimes I wonder if he is holding dance classes or something in there when he really gets going. I can't wait until Kenny can feel the kicks from the outside too! Once or twice I've had my hand on the right spot and felt a tiny kick but of course once Kenny runs over and puts his hand on my belly Roxas decides once was enough. I guess he got some of my stubbornness. I have a hard time sometimes wrapping my mind around this little person that is part me. It's really quite easy to imagine him with Kenny's features but I haven't quite connected with the reality that we have a son, who is both part father and mother. It is an amazing thing and now we are just so excited to actually meet him and get to know him. I keep thinking of all the things I want to show him about the world, Disneyland of course being at the top of that list. Things are really starting to get exciting!


The belly just keeps growing, the baby house is about the size of a cantaloupe...no wonder I can't eat large meals anymore, my stomach is being crowded my a melon! I have good bump days and bad bump days. Sometimes I feel like, "finally I look pregnant!" and then somebody goes and says "oh you're pregnant?! You don't even look it." I know at the rate he is growing though it won't be long until I can't see my feet or touch my toes anymore, but patience is not my best trait. Well that is all the updates I have for this week....until next time....TTFN!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

16 Weeks and Growing Fast


16 weeks, wow. I laughed when people said time will start flying by and now I'm thinking "where did that week go in between 15 and 16?". I'm feeling better than ever, I have my energy back and feel like I did pre-pregnancy. The belly is really there now, for once I am thankful for my flabby ab muscles that gave up the fight to keep that uterus in check pretty early. There is no sucking it in anymore and my regular pants have all been packed away. It is a rather strange feeling having this belly show up pretty much overnight. I bump it into our counter top all the time, and I am starting to have a bit more difficulty in picking stuff up off the ground. I'm sure that before I know it I will have to have Kenny tie my shoes for me. The little monster is getting bigger and the fluttering/bubbles popping/popcorn sensations are getting a little stronger. I'm sure real kicks are just a few weeks away. Speaking of Roxas, and yes that is his name...

According to What to Expect and my Pregnancy and Childbirth book from the doctor: Roxas is about 5in long and more than 3 1/2 ounces, roughly the size of an avocado. I didn't have time to get an avocado from the store and I ran out of cute, creative, ideas for photographing fruit so you get the cute little cartoon instead. Body fat is beginning to form and will continue to accumulate until birth. He can hear my voice pretty well now and he can also hear sounds outside the womb! In fact- loud sounds like the doorbell ringing and the dogs barking (one causes the other usually) may startle him. As we saw in the video he is practicing all of his reflexes like sucking, swallowing, breathing and kicking. His legs are much more developed and his head is more erect thanks to stronger back muscles. His little heart that I love so much is pumping an astonishing 25 quarts of blood each day. I've definitely noticed the effects of a higher blood volume, I feel a bit silly when I get short of breath just walking around but I know my heart is working hard to pump and oxygenate all the extra blood floating around in me!

I've had a few people ask about the name we picked and I'd like to take a second to explain ourselves. First things first, the way to pronounce it is "Rocks-iss" or "Rocks-us" either way it sounds the same. Yes we know the name is different but don't make me get out the list of celebrity names that are WAY weirder! The name does come from a video game called Kingdom Hearts, it is a game that features Disney characters and Final Fantasy characters so we of course like the game. However, we aren't naming him "after" the character from the game. He is his own person and will grow and develop in his own special way. The game is where we first heard the name but it isn't the sole reason we decided on it. We loved the uniqueness of the name, after all not everybody can be named Bill, James, or Michael. (no offense meant to anybody with those names) Plus if you haven't been in an elementary school classroom in the past few years, trust me...Roxas will not be the most "out there" name. As a side note the name Reid is from my grandfather, Wallace Reid McDaniel, who I know is watching with a big smile on his face and a dollar bill in his hand waiting for that first "piggy face".

Well that is all for now, and of course here is the belly picture this week, I know I need a tan:

Friday, September 9, 2011


UPDATE~Hallelujah! After the most frustrating adventure in file formats, video hosting sites and file format conversion hell...the video is available for your viewing pleasure!!! Scroll all the way down to the post to see it.

Well as the picture says...IT'S A BOY! and yes, I did indeed buy that vinylmation figure! Baby Roxas Reid Stutler is on the way and planning his debut in February, or early March. We drove all the way to Las Vegas to a wonderful little place called A Miracle in Progress and had a 15 week gender scan done with 3D/4D as well. I was so worried that the munchkin wouldn't cooperate and show us "the goods" and at first he was having none of this ultrasound business. It's funny since the whole car ride from Red Lobster (mmmmmmm....lobster...) he was hip hopping around in there and then once we started doing the ultrasound...it was nap time. We finally got him to uncross his legs enough to see what we needed to see and he is definitely a boy. Kenny and I were so happy, we were really hoping for a boy and honestly I was getting a bit discouraged by all the old wives tales saying girl but I guess that just proves they aren't always right. We got to see him practice his breathing and swallowing, he waved at us and one of my favorites is when he yawned. It is so nice being able to say he instead of it and say Roxas instead of one of the multiple nicknames I had going for him. Anyways, I have put up the pictures from the ultrasound. Still working on the video, having some serious technical difficulties

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

It's that magical time-15 Weeks


Oswald is helping me out with the fruit of the week picture this week and technically that picture is a bit incorrect. Baby is about 4 1/2" long and that's the biggest orange I could find measuring in at only 3". My uterus (aka baby house) is about the size of a small melon...so my organs are having fun as they start to get a bit squished. Anyways...This week the baby is weighing in at 2-3oz. and is looking more and more human [yay!] The ears have moved from the neck area to the side of the head, which is good since a baby with neck ears would be weird. The eyes too have moved to the front of the face. One of the biggest changes is baby practicing his (or her) breathing movements, and the suck/swallow reflex.

As for me, I'm starting to actually feel a bit pregnant. My belly has finally popped forward and it is starting to grow. Every now and then, if I pay attention, I can feel some fluttering and yesterday I got to feel some rolling around. It's really neat to feel these tiny, almost imperceptible, movements and I can't wait for them to get stronger. Time seems to go a little quicker now, thankfully. I used to gaze longingly at the calendar date that marked the day we reached 15 weeks and now we are here. We go for our gender scan in ONE day! I have no idea how I am going to even sleep tomorrow night with how excited I am. I can't wait to have a name to call the little munchkin and be able to say "him" or "her" rather than "it". This will also be the first time we get to see the baby looking like a baby rather than an interestingly shaped blob. I'm super excited to see the 3D/4D images too, even though I know the baby will look a bit scary (they don't have fat, cute little cheeks yet!) I can't wait to actually see the baby. It's funny, I used to think I would love being pregnant and relish every second and now I find myself impatiently waiting for the delivery day. All I can think about is how much I want to hold him or her in my arms and be able to cuddle and love on them. Maybe I should stop watching "A Baby Story" but I just can't wait to hold our son or daughter. I wish our gestational period was the same as a dog (63 days) but I'm thankful I am not an elephant which is pregnant for 22 months...yeah and I whine about 9. Well that is it for today, and I shall sign off with this weeks bump picture. I'm getting brave and putting up a picture in my bikini instead of the white shirt I had been wearing. That white shirt doesn't quite go past my waist anymore because of the bump, so I'm going to switch to the bikini. Now that the bump is coming in more you can see it taking shape much better but please excuse the vampire white skin. I will of course be updating everybody on Friday so check back then, probably sometime in the evening!