20 Weeks

Happy Valentine's Day!

How far along?  20 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 8 lbs

Maternity clothes? Just the belly band with my jeans for now...and I only have to wear that with certain jeans.

Stretch marks? a few

Best moment this week: Finding out the sex!

Miss Anything? Sushi and queso

Movement: Yup! He's a little wiggle worm!

Food cravings: I love salty and sour stuff right now!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Orange juice

Have you started to show yet: Yup!

Gender: BOY!!!!

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time: Ecstatic!

Looking forward to: Putting the baby's room together!

Monday we got the greatest news...baby Ater is going to be a bouncing baby boy!! We are both so, incredibly excited! Anyone who knows Joshua knows that he is an avid hunter and loves the woods and outdoors. Having a boy is a wonderful blessing because he will get to share those precious moments in his life with his son. Granted, even if it was a girl, she would be his hunting buddy, but there is nothing like the bond between a father and son.

To be completely honest, I think I was more nervous about it being a girl than Josh was. I can do boys...I'm good with boys...but girls? I would be completely clueless! I have two brothers and almost all of my cousins are boys. Through high school my best friends were mainly all boys and it wasn't until I started college that I really developed a deep bond with the girls in my life. I am a country girl and I love the outdoors. Having a boy just makes sense... God definitely knows what he is doing. I definitely want to have a girl someday, but, for now, I am very relieved to know that I will have a tiny Mr. Ater on my hands first! 

Another awesome thing about this week was that the baby is now kicking hard enough for Joshua to feel it too! It is so crazy! I am so glad he has gotten to experience how magical it is to feel our unborn son moving around and to know, without a shadow of a doubt, he is there (as if my growing belly wasn't enough confirmation!). 

Now, onto how we found out about baby Ater's gender:

We decided not to let them tell us at our ultrasound, but to have them write it down so that we could find out with our family later. The ultrasound tech put it in a sealed envelope and handed it to us before we left. Josh and I had to fight back the urge to take a peek, but we successfully made it! She handed us that envelope at 10am Monday morning and we didn't find out until 9pm that night... The suspense was absolutely killer! 


My mom, both my grandmothers, my aunt Rhonda, my youngest brother, and my cousin, Erington, all came up to Louisville just to share in this wonderful event with us. Josh's grandparents, Mom, aunt Jill, Dad, and brother were all there as well. We ate and laughed at baby pictures of Joshua and I until finally it was time for us all to find out what  baby Ater was. We handed the envelope to Timmy, Josh's brother, and he went upstairs to the loft area while Josh and I stood down below. I had prepared two bags of both pink and blue confetti and Timmy was to open the envelope and throw down the appropriate color. I was so nervous my legs were shaking! Josh put his arm around me as our family counted down "5...4...3...2...1!" Blue confetti came falling from the sky and after our brains adjusted to what that meant, Josh wrapped me up in a big hug and hoisted me into the air! We were both ecstatic! My friend Janna was watching on facetime and I picked up some of the blue confetti scattered on the floor to show her and said, "It's a boy!" It was so wonderful getting to find out with some of our closest family. I wouldn't have it any other way...even if I was chomping at the bit to find out beforehand. ;-)