25 Weeks

How far along?  25 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 15 lbs!

Maternity clothes? Yup

Stretch marks? a few

Best moment this week: Seeing all of my family and friends

Miss Anything? Sushi and queso

Movement: All of the time!

Food cravings:Fruit, yogurt, fried food, everything basically.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! Feeling great!

Have you started to show yet: Definitely.

Gender: BOY

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? I'm surprised it has made it this far, but it's still in there! lol

Happy or Moody most of the time: Ecstatic!

Looking forward to: Painting the baby's room!

This week has been INSANE! My Mom and Dad's 26th wedding anniversary was this week as well as my grandmother's and my Mom's birthdays and my friend Mary and my birthdays are this coming week! It's just been crazy. Not only that, we moved into our new apartment which I absolutely LOVE! The moving process sucks, but we have been so blessed to have friends like James and Harry Curry, Trevor Ford, and Brad Williams who were willing to take a whole day to help us move stuff from Berea to Louisville. They are just amazing!

Josh and I have spent every bit of extra time we've had organizing the apartment and, although it is still not completely in order, we're getting there. Slowly but surely! I'm just glad we're finally in a place where we can begin our lives as a family. Not to say we don't appreciate all of the help we have received from our families these past few months! Especially my parents and Josh's aunt Jill who let us stay with them for months while we moved and looked for a new place!

Janna and Ashley are two of the most special people in my life and I don't know what I would do without them, or their men. lol [Adam, Ashley, Janna, Luis]

March birthdays really are the best. :-) Mary and I...the birthday girls.

Mary, Janna and Ashley were all able to feel baby Ater move and kick!

24 Weeks

How far along?  24 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 15 lbs!

Maternity clothes? Yup

Stretch marks? a few

Best moment this week: The best moment this week and every week is feeling this little guy move around. It really is magical.

Miss Anything? Sushi... I did get to eat some fully-cooked sushi yesterday that was AMAZING. It definitely helped satisfy my yearning. lol

Movement: All of the time!

Food cravings: Fruit and yogurt

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! Feeling great!

Have you started to show yet: Definitely. People actually aren't afraid to ask me if I'm pregnant now. lol

Gender: BOY

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? I'm surprised it has made it this far, but it's still in there! lol

Happy or Moody most of the time: Ecstatic!

Looking forward to: Moving into our apartment on Tuesday!!!


Ok so... if you couldn't already tell, I am LOVING this camera Josh got me for my birthday!! The pictures are so much clearer and I just want to document everything now so...prepare for photo overload. lol 

This week we have just been crazy busy trying to prepare for our move on Tuesday. I'm going back to my hometown tonight to pack up the rest of my stuff at my parent's and spend some time with friends and family. Then I'll be back tomorrow night and Tuesday morning we move in! I can't wait! 

Trying to find bedding I like for the baby's room is turning out to be much more difficult than I thought. I think it's because Joshua and I are both so picky. Neither of us want the forest animal characters in his room to be cutesie or cartoon-ish, but trying to find baby stuff that ISN'T cutesie or cartoonish is impossible. So... I have enlisted my mother to help me make it myself! It will be really fun to spend some time with her and to learn how to sew because that is one skill I have yet to master.

A friend of mine from high school, Jessica Holly, is an artist and I asked her to sketch me some pictures for the baby's room. She did an absolutely AMAZING job!!! I love them SO much! I am so blessed to have such talented friends. :-)

Joshua took Lakota to the farm last weekend and got some really great shots of him with the new camera. This one is my favorite. He looks like a wolf!

Fender and I tried to do a photo-shoot for the blog to get some good baby-belly pictures, but most of them just entailed a lot of puppy kisses.

23 Weeks

How far along?  23 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 10 lbs

Maternity clothes? Yup

Stretch marks? a few

Best moment this week: Watching little Ater squirm around with my long-lost friends.

Miss Anything? Sushi

Movement: I think he's exercising in there...constantly.

Food cravings: Mexican food.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! Feeling great!

Have you started to show yet: Oh yeah!

Gender: BOY

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? It's struggling to stay in, but it's still in! lol

Happy or Moody most of the time: Ecstatic!

Looking forward to: Moving into our apartment on Tuesday!!!

I had an absolutely amazing weekend with my best friend from high school, Cory, and his new wife, Kayla!! I was able to spend time with people I haven't seen in ages and all in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Kayla was the perfect bride and I have honestly never been to a more beautiful wedding...and I've been to A LOT of weddings. Texas was amazing!! While we were there, baby Ater was going crazy so I sat on the couch while my friends watched him move around and got to feel him kicking. It was crazy and awesome and I loved it!! He has been moving so much lately so I'm glad everyone got to experience that with me! I also had the opportunity to meet some amazing Texans whom I absolutely fell in love with. Kayla has a wonderful family and I was so glad to spend time with them! After we left Texas, Josh and I decided to head to Louisiana and try some good old Cajun cuisine in New Orleans. We walked around the French Quarter and ate some amazing food! It was a really fun break from our 16 hour drive!

 
We are moving into our new apartment next Tuesday and I am SO EXCITED! I can't wait to start on the baby's room! Josh is pretty stoked about it too. He has been amazing through all of this. I know he will be an absolutely wonderful daddy and I love every time the baby moves and Josh gets to feel it. 

As far as the name situation is concerned...it's between Elijah and Leland. We're still trying to decide. lol

22 Weeks

How far along?  22 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 10 lbs

Maternity clothes? Yup

Stretch marks? a few

Best moment this week: Laying on my back and watching my belly move on its own...weird.

Miss Anything? Sushi and queso still...and being able to bend over comfortably. lol

Movement: Tons!

Food cravings: Food...period. I'm always hungry. lol

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! Feeling great!

Have you started to show yet: Yup!

Gender: BOY

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? It's struggling to stay in, but it's still in! lol

Happy or Moody most of the time: Ecstatic!

Looking forward to: Deciding on a name for little Mr. Ater!

This weekend Joshua and I will be making the 16 hour drive from Kentucky to Texas to see one of my best friends, Cory Boston, and his fiance, Kayla Guajardo, get married! I'm actually in the wedding and I am so honored! Cory was my rock throughout high school and I don't know what I would have done without him! Kayla is just the sweetest, most adorable thing ever and I could not be happier for the both of them! 

After that, it is go-time in the BlantonAter household because we will start packing everything up and moving into our apartment! So many crazy, awesome, happy, stressful, wonderful things are happening in our lives right now, but it will be so worth it once we finally get settled. I can't wait to start on the baby's room and to finally decide on a name for the little guy! We've tossed around a few. Here are our favorites so far:

• Liam
• Josiah
• Elijah
• Leland

The biggest problem has been finding a middle name that sounds good with Ater. Of course Josh's last name would be the problem. lol 

21 Weeks

How far along?  21 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 10 lbs

Maternity clothes? I'm going to have to go shopping and get some... None of my clothes fit lol

Stretch marks? a few

Best moment this week: Feeling baby Ater getting stronger and stronger every day!

Miss Anything? QUESO... Being basically an honorary Senorita, I'm dying without my gooey, tangy, mexican white cheese. 

Movement: All of the time! 

Food cravings: Food...period. I'm always hungry. lol

Anything making you queasy or sick: Still just orange juice

Have you started to show yet: Yup!

Gender: BOY

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? It's struggling to stay in, but it's still in! lol

Happy or Moody most of the time: Ecstatic!

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

I seriously feel like someone is blowing my belly up with an air hose! I swear it gets noticeably bigger EVERY DAY! And my little man is kicking me to death! lol He is crazy strong and it freaks me out sometimes, especially when I'm sitting at work and concentrating on putting in orders and all of the sudden it feels like my whole belly moves! He even kicked Josh in the lip the other day when he was laying on my stomach...which he likes to use as a pillow because it's so big. lol

We move into our apartment next month and I cannot wait to get started on his baby room! If anyone knows Joshua and I very well at all, this will make perfect sense, but we have chosen to do the baby's room in a rustic, forest animal theme! I am very outdoorsy and I love earth and nature. Josh is an avid hunter and is also very outdoorsy so we thought this would be just perfect for our little man.  Here are some ideas I pulled off Pinterest for what we're going to do with the room:

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. ;-) 

19 Weeks

How far along?  19 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I have no idea. I need to get on a scale. Still just 6lbs as far as a I know, but I'm willing to bet it's more by now.

Maternity clothes? Just the belly band with my jeans for now. The shirts I got are still a little big.

Stretch marks? a few

Best moment this week: Seeing baby Ater move!!!

Miss Anything? Sushi, queso, and lunch meat

Movement: Yup! I actually SAW baby Ater kick a few days ago! It was insane!!!! 

Food cravings: Strawberries, salads, and lots of salty-goodness.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Orange juice makes me sick for whatever reason.

Have you started to show yet: Yes! I had a girl from work (who just saw me a week ago) look at me yesterday and she said, "Whoa! That wasn't there the last time I saw you!" lol 

Gender: Monday, Monday, MONDAY!!! We find out in 2 days!!!!

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time: Ecstatic!

Looking forward to: Monday!

Ok, so many super-awesome-wonderfully-amazing things have happened/are going to happen! Firstly... I SAW THE BABY MOVE!!!! I have never been so humbled by a single experience in all of my life. It is one think to know there is a tiny human inside me and being able to feel it every once in a while, but that's still a "living by faith" kind of experience. But, to actually SEE my baby kick me and watch my belly move... now that was amazing. Josh said I look like a crazy person because every time I feel the baby kicking, I lift up my shirt and just stare at my belly. The little rascal always stops as soon as I do that though, so I've only gotten one glimpse. 

Another super-awesome thing is... JOSH AND I FINALLY FOUND AN APARTMENT!!! It is in a place where Josh has been telling me the entire time that I will love, but I was nervous about the price. Well, one look and I was sold. The apartment is beautiful, the scenery is wonderful, and the set-up is perfect for having a baby. We move in on March 15th and I cannot wait!!!