As I move around all day, picking up babies, chasing after them, cleaning and feeding I don't get a chance to sit and watch my ever growing bump.
This morning, for the first time since really starting to feel Robbie move, I did. Robert (notice the distinction Robert =Husband, Robbie=Baby) left early for work, on Saturdays he opens the store at 4am. I had tried to get back to sleep, but eventually gave up about 5am. I'm used to my stomach being a little grumbly whatever time of day, so the last few weeks I think I'd put what I could feel down to my muscles or my digestive system, today it felt different.
There's no really describing it, except it didn't feel like me. Then I saw him move. A foot, an elbow or possibly an arm traced about two inches across my belly just under my belly button. I had a moment with myself and my baby. The first of many I guess, but it's a first.
Robert has been feeling him for weeks, in the evenings he puts his hand on my bump and asks 'was that him or you?'. I would say half the time it's me. But I guess more and more it'll be Robbie kicking, punching and elbowing me for the next 19 or so weeks.
Today was a good day for me, I think I've been able to put a more definite sense of what it feels like to have someone moving inside of me. And that's really exciting!!
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Saturday, June 22, 2013
When you're wrong, you're wrong!
Well, just a little additional update from Monday's writings.
We got all ready for the 'big' scan which was happening Tuesday afternoon. I can occasionally feel the baby move, and every time we have a doctors appointment or a scan we give the baby a pep talk. Well Robert does. I just pray that everything is going to look ok and sound good too.
Our Ultrasound Technician did all the measuring she needed to do, and she was very fast. She asked us if we wanted to find out what we are having. We said a definite yes, expecting to hear our thoughts confirmed!
But BOY were we wrong! As it turns out, with very definitive evidence we are having a boy. Here's a nice profile picture of Baby Boy!
We spent last weekend telling everyone girl and this week calling and telling everyone boy! All the things we have are neutral colors, which was planned from the start. We didn't want to collect a bunch of things until we definitely knew.
We have 20 weeks to go until we meet this boy, it'll be the longest and shortest time ever. Now just looking forward to celebrating babies, weddings, birthdays and 4th July!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Announcing...
I promised myself that I would keep a more up-to-date blog as I got more and more pregnant, because as I do, I would like to have something to look back upon and think about.
My first observance is more of a short lived annoyance. From day 1 of being pregnant, I have found that nobody tells you anything of any use! Whilst this statement is not entirely true, it is pretty close. We turned up to the doctors on Thursday with the thought that we would find out if we were having a boy or a girl. When we finally got seen (an hour later) we were told our visit would be a short one and not an informative one at that.
The lovely nurse really helped us out, she is the first one who has actually listened to us as we shared our concerns about our doctor's office staff, nurses and generally being pregnant. Being a first time mum is hard enough as it is, it's even harder if you are not told anything.
I have unfortunately found this to be a trend amongst medical professionals in the US and UK. In the US you aren't told a needle is approaching, or what's about to happen. In the UK you maybe told everything, but it is at lightning pace with some quick fix solutions. Neither is right, at the moment I can tell you which one I prefer (yep UK wins this time).
Any how, my so kindly offered solution for first time mum is a written list of what to expect and when. Week-by-week. I don't need to know things that will scare me, but I do I like to know what to expect at each visit. I understand this may change/be added to if mine or my baby's health is at risk. But a basic list cannot help. Some mum's might throw it away, but I would have had that on my fridge just so the unexpected doesn't turn me into mum-zilla from hell when I don't get what I want/need.
On to the more exciting news! We are pleased to announce that we are having a girl!! So far so good on the growing front, she's kicking me at night mostly that I can feel. On Thursday she looked a little scrunched up, stretching her long legs and arms up towards my ribs rather than out towards my sides. She already has a name, Madelyn Josephine. After Nan's on both sides.
The original Madelyn was a great woman, I only knew her for a year, but every time we talked I knew how much she loved Robert and I. Sadly she won't get to meet this Madelyn, but I know that we'll be telling her all about her Great Nan.
The original Josephine is still alive and well, and living in the UK. We lived with her for a while before we moved back to the states. She gave her name to my Mum and I now have it as my middle name. So Madelyn Josephine is a 4th generation Josephine. And I'm already so proud of her.
People ask me if we had names picked out already. I remember the day we picked this one. It was the day we got married!! Some parents think over names for as long as they are pregnant and even longer in some cases. We knew right off (2 years before we were even thinking about getting pregnant!). One of the easiest decisions ever. Now if we have another girl, that's going to be harder!
Here's me at 18 weeks and 3 days, just after we told Andy, Jess and Leo. And before we celebrated Father's Day with the Coomler side of the family. I can tell you, I feel a bunch bigger than this in real life!
My first observance is more of a short lived annoyance. From day 1 of being pregnant, I have found that nobody tells you anything of any use! Whilst this statement is not entirely true, it is pretty close. We turned up to the doctors on Thursday with the thought that we would find out if we were having a boy or a girl. When we finally got seen (an hour later) we were told our visit would be a short one and not an informative one at that.
The lovely nurse really helped us out, she is the first one who has actually listened to us as we shared our concerns about our doctor's office staff, nurses and generally being pregnant. Being a first time mum is hard enough as it is, it's even harder if you are not told anything.
I have unfortunately found this to be a trend amongst medical professionals in the US and UK. In the US you aren't told a needle is approaching, or what's about to happen. In the UK you maybe told everything, but it is at lightning pace with some quick fix solutions. Neither is right, at the moment I can tell you which one I prefer (yep UK wins this time).
Any how, my so kindly offered solution for first time mum is a written list of what to expect and when. Week-by-week. I don't need to know things that will scare me, but I do I like to know what to expect at each visit. I understand this may change/be added to if mine or my baby's health is at risk. But a basic list cannot help. Some mum's might throw it away, but I would have had that on my fridge just so the unexpected doesn't turn me into mum-zilla from hell when I don't get what I want/need.
On to the more exciting news! We are pleased to announce that we are having a girl!! So far so good on the growing front, she's kicking me at night mostly that I can feel. On Thursday she looked a little scrunched up, stretching her long legs and arms up towards my ribs rather than out towards my sides. She already has a name, Madelyn Josephine. After Nan's on both sides.
The original Madelyn was a great woman, I only knew her for a year, but every time we talked I knew how much she loved Robert and I. Sadly she won't get to meet this Madelyn, but I know that we'll be telling her all about her Great Nan.
The original Josephine is still alive and well, and living in the UK. We lived with her for a while before we moved back to the states. She gave her name to my Mum and I now have it as my middle name. So Madelyn Josephine is a 4th generation Josephine. And I'm already so proud of her.
People ask me if we had names picked out already. I remember the day we picked this one. It was the day we got married!! Some parents think over names for as long as they are pregnant and even longer in some cases. We knew right off (2 years before we were even thinking about getting pregnant!). One of the easiest decisions ever. Now if we have another girl, that's going to be harder!
Here's me at 18 weeks and 3 days, just after we told Andy, Jess and Leo. And before we celebrated Father's Day with the Coomler side of the family. I can tell you, I feel a bunch bigger than this in real life!
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Dream Grows a Little Every Day
This post has been a while coming, it's mostly here because I've found my energy again.
Here we are living life right now. We're both working, both happy and everyone around us is pretty good too. We are 10 months in to our lives in America it's been really good so far.
Culturally I'm almost integrated! People still ask me where I'm from and how I ended up here, but mostly people still gawk and I just carry on with life. People at work are adjusted enough to me that I can speak at normal pace and be understood. There's the occasional moment of mis-communication, however that's just human beings! What's funny is people in Alabama thinking they don't have an accent.
Anyway, I'm stalling. The big update announcement for this blog is that we're having a baby! A tiny little Litton is growing right now. Here is the latest picture of the baby, hands up. She danced around for us too. Now we don't know if she is a she or a he yet. We'll find out soon enough.
This is us a few weeks ago, at Robert's friends wedding. My first American wedding (apart from my own!) and it was short, very sweet, and followed by a tornado warning!! It was a beautiful thing to be attending, I'm glad we got to go. It seems that we are going to be reconnecting with people for a while yet.
Sorry if we haven't seen you yet, we're getting there.
This little boy will have an American cousin just a year younger than him. Super exciting! Also his parents will be getting married, so we'll be returning to the UK for the wedding. And we'll finally meet this boy and my cousins little children then. Cannot wait! So there we are, as up to date as we can be! (If you click the picture you'll go to Amanda's Website - she took the gorgeous photo)
Here we are living life right now. We're both working, both happy and everyone around us is pretty good too. We are 10 months in to our lives in America it's been really good so far.
Culturally I'm almost integrated! People still ask me where I'm from and how I ended up here, but mostly people still gawk and I just carry on with life. People at work are adjusted enough to me that I can speak at normal pace and be understood. There's the occasional moment of mis-communication, however that's just human beings! What's funny is people in Alabama thinking they don't have an accent.
Anyway, I'm stalling. The big update announcement for this blog is that we're having a baby! A tiny little Litton is growing right now. Here is the latest picture of the baby, hands up. She danced around for us too. Now we don't know if she is a she or a he yet. We'll find out soon enough.
Baby is amazing. She's growing so good (she's a bit bigger now), so far hasn't caused any problems and now people can see she's coming too. It's a very exciting time. I'm very happy to be having a baby and adding one more to us. I promise to have more up dates as we go.
Sorry if we haven't seen you yet, we're getting there.
This little boy will have an American cousin just a year younger than him. Super exciting! Also his parents will be getting married, so we'll be returning to the UK for the wedding. And we'll finally meet this boy and my cousins little children then. Cannot wait! So there we are, as up to date as we can be! (If you click the picture you'll go to Amanda's Website - she took the gorgeous photo)
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Parents for Christmas
Five months into this whole thing and we have just said goodbye to our first visitors from overseas. Mum and Dad came to stay for two whole weeks, covering Christmas and New Years. I was very happy to see them and very happy to host them too. They arrived with some idea of what they wanted to do, but not really having any firm plans other than seeing The Hobbit at a Drive-in.
So two weeks has been a long and short time it seems. I've walked with them around Auburn and was sad that we couldn't walk into Jordan Hare Stadium, it's so huge from the outside. We weren't the only family trying to visit the stadium that Saturday. They've had Cracker Barrel, Toomer's Lemonade, Chick-fil-a, and driven a whole bunch of miles without really realising.
We've been to Huntsville, Gadsden and Atlanta, they visited Montgomery, FDR's Little White House and a local park. We've been to Callaway Gardens and had a country Christmas (courtesy of Leigh and Brent's families.). They've tried 3 types of bbq and various amounts of cornbread, biscuits and attempted to get hot tea in many places (Cracker barrel was the best).
It's been great to have them over for two weeks. I'm looking forward to having more visitors.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
An Invitation To The Table.
My Anglican background is repeating on me right this second thinking about Thanksgiving and how our histories and experiences affect us.
The line that sticks out from the Holy Communion service is this
Its also a family thing, it doesn't take much to be invited in, but once you are respect is a must. My favourite memories and times with family are around a table, eating food, attempting to put the world right or make sure there is a running joke.
This is my first family thanksgiving. I'm not sure what to expect, but I know it'll be really good. I know that there will be a ton of people to see and lots of food. I'm excited for this day to arrive. I'm looking forward to creating memories and having happy things to think about.
I'm very thankful for my family worldwide. I'm thankful for my job and all the things we can have. It's been a busy year, and I think thanksgiving is a great time to look back and look forward to all the exciting things the next year brings!
The line that sticks out from the Holy Communion service is this
We do not presume to come to this your table, merciful Lord...There is something about being invited into a family, and a gathering for celebration that is very special to me. I think it's due to these lines, saying them every Sunday and knowing that I don't approach any table, other than my own, with any thought other than humility.
We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table.
Its also a family thing, it doesn't take much to be invited in, but once you are respect is a must. My favourite memories and times with family are around a table, eating food, attempting to put the world right or make sure there is a running joke.
This is my first family thanksgiving. I'm not sure what to expect, but I know it'll be really good. I know that there will be a ton of people to see and lots of food. I'm excited for this day to arrive. I'm looking forward to creating memories and having happy things to think about.
I'm very thankful for my family worldwide. I'm thankful for my job and all the things we can have. It's been a busy year, and I think thanksgiving is a great time to look back and look forward to all the exciting things the next year brings!
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Home; Sweet Home Alabama!
We are just 3.5 months into our lives in America and we are settled into a lovely apartment, easy jobs that fit us for now and great friends to be around.
I passed my driving test with ease and didn't have to sit around too long. So now I can drive in Alabama and all over America without having to take all my ID's with me. It also means that I get to drive a 15-seater minibus for an hour a day, collecting children from Opelika schools. That's definitely a good thing about each day.
It's really good to be working again and doing something that I really enjoy. I'm currently in a classroom with 9 under 12 month olds and 2 other teachers. We are rushed off our feet some times, but other times we just enjoy playing and hanging out with the babies. I love being a daycare teacher. My lovely Mother In Law was a daycare teacher and worked her way up to director, so we have a whole bunch to talk about now. It's amazing how similar and different a care profession can be in a couple of decades.
We are alive and well, happy and fed. It's good to be here.
I passed my driving test with ease and didn't have to sit around too long. So now I can drive in Alabama and all over America without having to take all my ID's with me. It also means that I get to drive a 15-seater minibus for an hour a day, collecting children from Opelika schools. That's definitely a good thing about each day.
It's really good to be working again and doing something that I really enjoy. I'm currently in a classroom with 9 under 12 month olds and 2 other teachers. We are rushed off our feet some times, but other times we just enjoy playing and hanging out with the babies. I love being a daycare teacher. My lovely Mother In Law was a daycare teacher and worked her way up to director, so we have a whole bunch to talk about now. It's amazing how similar and different a care profession can be in a couple of decades.
We are alive and well, happy and fed. It's good to be here.
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