www.tagxedo.com

Robert found this really neat website that makes a fun word image based on the words (and frequency in which they are used) listed on any particular website, in a twitter feed, etc. The above image is what resulted when he tried it out on our blog. I think this is just the neatest thing. Obviously, based on the word selection, our blog content has taken a turn in the last six months to baby news, which must have influenced the large pregnancy-related words. (I think Robert customized the image to the duck with the blue background, so it's unrelated to content.) Actually, all this would really be based on blog content in the last three months, since we didn't announce our pregnancy on the blog until early January. Regardless it's very cool.

Check it out at http://www.tagxedo.com/, and my apologies to any readers I've lost because of what has obviously become a blog with 90% baby news content. Part of it is just our current stage of life, but I'm definitely going to make an effort to diversify my posts to be more comprehensive of all that's going on right now. I already treat our blog as a family journal of sorts, and right now our family is certainly focused on getting ready for Baby Trey, but still -all this baby news might be a little rediculous. I'll work on toning it down a notch.

Also, as a writer, this image and the words that compose it are very revealing. For one, I use the words "sweet," "certainly," "definitely," and "amazing" entirely too much. These must be my crutch words I go to when I'm lazy and don't want to think of better, sharper adjectives. Another item to work on. Here's the image Robert got for University of Alabama's website: http://www.ua.edu/. I'm pretty sure that he appropriately picked the elephant shape to display it in. Still pretty tight though.

Here's the image from my twitter feed - @tiffanyadams. I think it's a really accurate representation of my feed content.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

25 weeks

25 weeks today. Baby is definitely bigger. How big is debatable.

Three different email updates stated the following, so next time you’re in the grocery store and spot an eggplant, small bag of sugar, or rutabaga, think of Baby Trey. Or don’t – because I don’t think he looks anything like any of those, though his size may be roughly comparable this week.

Your baby weighs 1 1/4 pounds and is a little more than 11 inches long, about the size of a small bag of sugar.

He rivals a rutabaga - about 1 1/2 pounds. (Length: 13 1/2 inches, head to heel.) Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga

Baby's now the size of an eggplant!

And apparently there’s only more growth to come. In the last third of pregnancy, he'll double and triple his weight. Here we go.

New developments this week – MAJOR movement!

I knew Little Buddy was getting active, but didn’t realize until the past three or four days just how strong and more frequent his kicks have gotten. The other night he was going crazy. I had a hunch Robert might be able to feel his punches and kicks if he put his hand to my stomach, and sure enough dad was able to feel Trey in there practicing his dance moves or soccer kicks or whatever it is he keeps doing with those leg and arm muscles. It was a special moment. And confirmed I wasn't going crazy whenever I wince or react to a random punch or kick.

Other baby developments:

That oh-so-handy sense of equilibrium is kicking in, and baby's learning to distinguish right side up from upside down. (Hence the flipping I think is going on in there.)

Baby can touch and hold his feet and make a fist (and then punch mom with it in utero)

Dad may be able to hear his heartbeat by pressing his ear against your belly (I thought this might be the case. Some days I think I can feel the beat of his little heart rhythm in there, but didn’t know if I was making it up or not.)

Baby has a regular sleep schedule now and active and inactive periods. (Yep, we just need to get our patterns on the same schedule. This late night activity is keeping me from falling asleep. An experienced mom and work told me to literally rock him back and forth, either by swaying in bed or standing up, or walking around the room, to put him back to sleep. Might have to try this technique if things keep up.) You may or may not be able to discern what those periods are. (Nope, I got them. Cycles fully discerned.)

His nostrils, which have been plugged, open up. (Yea for a working sniffer.)

Baby is beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. (Finally!) As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn.

He's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture. (Can’t wait to see. Baldness is acceptable too. I’m not going to be a picky mom. We’re going for healthy here, people.)

Third Trimester Confusion

So, apparently there's differences of opinion on when "technically" the third trimester begins. Here's what I discovered after doing a little online research (not always recommended but in this case surprisingly helpful).

You are only technically pregnant 266 days if you go full term. The 280 days is full term plus 2 weeks prior to ovulation--when you weren't even pregnant. If you go by the 40 weeks (280 days) the math would be 13.3 weeks and you would be in your third trimester at about 27 weeks. If you go by 266 days, you would be starting your third trimester in the 25th week. So, docs go between 25-28 weeks for that reason.

We'll, since I'm now 25 weeks, one of my weekly baby/pregancy email updates sent me the following message:

Welcome to the third trimester! You're really in the homestretch now. While reaching the third trimester feels like great progress, with it comes a return to fatigue, dizziness, and constant trips to the bathroom. To relieve back, hip and leg pain now, try to keep walking, swimming, practicing yoga or doing any other nonweight-bearing activity. This also can help you recover faster physically after childbirth. To make sure you'll enjoy your baby shower, schedule it between weeks 30 and 36; you'll still be spry enough to enjoy it.

Well okay then, I guess we'll just embrace the third trimester now since fatique, back pain, and restless sleep are starting to again become my constant friends. All a small price to pay in the long run for a little buddle of joy. Overall, I really am feeling great (can't complain) and have had a very nice and uneventful (someone please knock on wood - immediately) pregancy to date.

Here's hoping for smooth sailing in the home stretch. I can't believe we're already to that phase. Enjoy each stage of life because they certainly do fly by.

Hostess Gifts

If you read the baby shower post you know how blessed I was to have seven amazing friends host such a special event for us. I wanted to give them something they would really love for their hostess gifts, and ultimately decided on monogrammed beach towels! What better way to welcome spring and summer.

I purchased some huge white cotton terry clothe towels on cottage.com. They are huge (even long enough for Anne!) and so soft. Shipping was super fast and then I passed them off to a friend a work who has a monogramming business. She did the super cute double monograms with the initial and name in black and pink with a really cute font. (You can check out her online store - The Gathering Place Boutique - on Facebook.)

I wrapped them with some fun ribbon and we were ready to go. I think they were a huge hit! I sure loved them (almost got one for myself but resisted) and hope my sweet hostesses did too.

Trey's First Baby Shower

Some sweet friends threw me a baby shower on March 12, and I was honestly so overwhelmed with gratitude for all the wonderful love and support from everyone who was there to celebrate with us. Such great generosity and excitement about welcoming Baby Trey to our family! We are truly blessed by amazing friends and family.

My sweet hostesses were so creative and energetic. The shower was amazing! I was touched by the cousins, aunts, and family members who traveled from afar, the old friends and college roommates, bridesmaids and special friends both old and new from so many stages in my life who came to be with me from Auburn and Tuscaloosa and all parts of Birmingham. Even sweet friends who mailed gifts because they couldn't be there in person. It made it all so special. Here are some pics from the shower. (My sweet mom did an amazing job of capturing all the memories for me!)




Katie Crawford - truly a hostess with the mostess, who opened up her home for the shower and designed the cute invitations. Sweet Michelle made Trey's beautiful diaper wreath with the cute elephant. Laura made and iced and decorated the delicious cake with cream cheese icing! Jess came from Jacksonville and Amy came from Arkansas just to be there and help host. Ash and Anne did so much to help plan from Birmingham, buying our Chico pack n play for the hostess gift - which I was so excited to get - and making sure everything was great. These ladies are amazing and sure know how to shower a friend with love and support during a special time.

Cute decorations for our "III" and the delicious and beautiful cake!

Thanks everyone for making the day so special!

27th Birthday

Despite a rainy day, I had such a wonderful birthday last week - made special by the kindness of so many friends and family who went out of their way to make me feel loved. It's always such a treat to get all the sweet text messages , voicemails, facebook walls posts, tweets, calls, and, yes, even birthday songs. Thank you all!

(And, no, I didn't wear that hideous "27th birthday" t-shirt, but apparently people do because I found it available for purchase online. Thought I would throw it in for laughs since I failed to take any pics of birthday events.)

I actually was out of the office for a conference all day on my birthday, so it was nice to get a change of routine. The Alabama Association of Nonprofits held its annual Nonprofit Summit conference on March 9 at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center. The keynotes and sessions I attended were very well done, and my supervisor also presented on taking your stewardship/donor relations program to the next level.

After work, Trey and I got in a quick workout at the gym before cleaning up so Robert could take us out for a birthday dinner. We dinned at Fire, a new restaurant in Mountain Brook. I had purchased a Posh Birmingham (like Groupon) certificate a few weeks earlier, so we definitely put that to good use. The shrimp and grits I had were amazing. Robert had the fillet with hollandaise sauce. Both were excellent. (For more details see the Dining Local section of my blog.)

After a nice, leisurely dinner (I love taking the time to talk with my husband over dinner. It seems we rarely do that at home.), we headed to Bottega Cafe for coffee and dessert. Actually, I got the chai tea and we split the chocolate terrine. Perfect on a rainy night.

The next evening my parents had us out to their house for my birthday dinner with my grandmother and brothers. Ryan made his delicious chicken alfredo and mom made her broccoli salad which I love. Big Mama even made some soup for Robert and I, as well as Kyle, to take home for food for the week. So thoughtful. I commented on these cute potted yellow violas and dwarf irises mom had potted and displayed on her porch by the door. They ended up being my birthday gift and look great on my sunporch, officially welcoming spring. Dad also gave me a pack of diapers! So cute. We definitely needed to grow our collection.

Everyone at work was so kind on my birthday also, surprising me with balloons for my office and a birthday lunch out. My sister-in-law mailed me a super cute watch and ring, and Julia mailed a precious maternity top from Gap. (Maternity shirts are kind of our running joke since Julia mailed me a top from Target several years ago for my birthday that happened to be maternity - when I wasn't pregnant. It was super cute, but at least now she technically got it right!)

Thanks for all the birthday love, friends and family! Makes turning 27 not bad at all! Except if someone makes me wear that hideous shirt.

23 week appointment update

Last Thursday I had my 23 week doctor's appointment. We were so thankful that Trey was doing well and growing on schedule. He weighed in at 1.1 lbs. He was hiding his face (positioned face down, facing my back) but we were able to get the few ultrasound pics above. The first two are close ups of his face. The third confirms he is definitely a boy, which Robert asked that I have double checked!

I weighed in at 135 pounds -13 pounds over pre-pregnancy weight (122) and seven pounds over the total six pounds I had gained four weeks ago when I weighed 128 at 18 weeks. It's crazy to me I only gained 6 pounds in the first 18 weeks and then more than doubled that in the last four weeks from weeks 18 to 23. I guess we're both getting bigger, but they said it was all on schedule. So if they're happy, I'm happy.

My next appointment is scheduled for April 7, when they will do my glucose test and Rh blood test at 27 weeks. We will have another ultrasound then, and they said it would be the perfect time to do the 4D ultrasound since babies apparently look best on 4D between 28 and 30 weeks, when they're getting fat on the face and "chubbing up" (my words, not the doctor's) but aren't so big they can't be coaxed to move around the womb in order to get nice diverse photos from all angles.