Today and Everyday.

I’m thankful for…

-wonderful parents who have shown my sisters and I what true love and family are about which as gotten us to where we are today.  -the best friends and sisters that I could ask for.  - my ever growing family that never allows for a dull moment or for anything to come between us.  -these girls and the friendships that will last a lifetime.- my husband and best friend.

- and most importantly, my good health and faith which has allowed for us to start a family of our own.

Often times, its forgotten to stop and look around and realize just how lucky we are in the every day hustle and bustle of life. Life is not always easy or perfect but the people that are apart of it, make it well worth it each and everyday.  Looking back to last year at this time, I never thought our lives could get much better.  This year, we are surrounded with the friends and family that we love most and preparing to bring our sweet baby boy into the world in just a few months! 

Happy Thanksgiving to each and everyone of you!! 

21 weeks

Another week down and this one has been rough.  Our schedules have picked up and I’ve come down with the funk that’s going around.

{excuse the awkward picture- John was out of town this weekend so I had to resort to a self pic}

How far along? 21 weeks, 2 days

Size of Baby T? a carrot, weighing about 3/4 of a lb and measuring around 10 1/2 inches long!

Maternity Clothes? more and more each week.  My pants are starting to pull in places that may force me to invest in maternity pants sooner than later. 

Weight Gain? 11 lbs.  I have to admit I am horrible at this and weigh at different times of the day each week.  This week was after dinner so the weight gain may be skewed a little {at least that’s what I’m telling myself!}

Stretch Marks?  have not noticed any

Gender? All things BLUE! 

Sleep? It has been better this week but I attribute that to the medicine I’m having to take with being sick. 

Movement?  All the time and I love it!  I have picked up on his sleep habits though-  He doesn’t wiggle much during the day but once I’m home and resting, it’s constant.  I think he has his days and nights mixed up already. 

Cravings? soup and peanut butter on english muffins 

What I miss? Not much these days other than feeling like myself but I know it will be worth it in the end though! 

Symptoms? headaches, sinus funk, nasty taste in my mouth

Best moment of the week? It happened- John felt and saw baby A move for the first time this week!  I am constantly texting him when he is active and he couldn’t wait to feel/see it for himself! 

20 weeks down- 20 to go!!

We’re half way to meeting our little man!!  Instead of a picture of mommy’s belly, I thought I would  introduce you to

John “Anderson” Thompson, IVTechnology is way advanced these days and we were able to see him through a 4D ultrasound.  Baby Anderson looks just like his daddy I must say.

How far along? 20 weeks, 2 days

Size of Baby T? a banana, weighing about 10 1/2 ounces

Maternity Clothes? the belly is growing which is causing me to shift more and more to maternity tops specifically.  I am still rockin’ the belly band with my work pants but have switched to maternity jeans.  My dresses still fit but are starting to seem a bit short and less appropriate to wear. 

Weight Gain? 9 lbs.  The scale continues to creep up and I’ve been told to expect to gain a lb a week from here on. 

Stretch Marks? Nope

Gender?  A BOY!!!! 

Sleep? What is that?  I toss and turn all. night. long and get up at least once or twice to use the bathroom.

Movement? I am feeling kicks and jabs all the time now.  It’s so neat now that I know his position and can distinguish between a kick and arm jab/punch. It seems lately that he is doing somersaults constantly.  

Cravings? not much in particular.  Still eating a lot of peanut butter and chocolate. 

What I miss?  Energy.  I am typically in bed by 9:30 every night and weekends are hard.  I no longer can hang with the fun ones. 

Symptoms? headaches, sinus congestion {they say this gets worse with hormone changes}

Best moment of the week? Having my mom at the ultrasound with us and finding out that Baby T is a HE!!! We have had people ask if we are disappointed since we thought it was a girl- not one bit at all! We only thought it was a girl but did not care either way. We wanted healthy and that is just what we have!! Now the fun really begins- shopping and decorating!!  

The big reveal!

John and I had always agreed that we wanted to find out if we’d be having a girl or boy when we could- waiting until birth was just not an option for us impatient ones.  We entertained the idea of a gender reveal party but decided it was too much attention and less personal than what we wanted.  I mentioned to John the idea of not finding out at the appointment, having the tech put the “results” in an envelope and going to dinner alone to find out.  He loved it and that became the plan… until it started to seem sort of anticlimactic.  Don’t get me wrong, it would be exciting either way but I wanted to do something still with just the two of us but a little more.  I thought of the idea of decorating plates and having the restaurant serve our dessert on the correct one so we’d have to eat through to find out. 

Plan B it was and off to Mad Platter we went. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you may remember seeing a post about this project…Thursday after our appointment we gave both plates to my mom and she wrapped up the right one- she took her job seriously.  Thanks mom!:){She did not trust that we wouldn’t open the package and cheat -I was a little worried that the restaurant would think we came with a bomb}

We chose Rue De Jean for dinner- if you’ve never been, you need to go.  The food is some of the best in Charleston. Our reservations were at 6:30 and by 7:05 we had plowed through our appetizers and entrees and were ready for dessert!   Quickest. Meal. Ever.  Finally, the waiter delivered the dessert.  We were both really nervous and excited and started eating to the middle one bite at a time.  I saw the blue first but didn’t want to ruin it for John.  I wanted to see his reaction when he saw for himself so I turned the plate and took another big spoonful in exchange for a BIG ole smile!!  At the risk of being extra cheesy, I will just say it was a moment neither of us will never forget.  We were so excited!!!  {so much that I didn’t think to give the waiter my good camera so we only have this grainy iphone picture}We could not wait to share the news with our family and friends so we made our phones calls and text messages.  My sweet sisters sent gifts for Baby T with us to Charleston and asked that we open them at dinner after the reveal.  He is already so loved and spoiled by his Aunts!! I can’t wait  to dress him in all this blue!

Thank you for all your sweet messages and congratulations.  I can’t begin to say how excited we are and how blessed we feel!  Hurry up March!! 

Citadel Homecoming

Every year we try to get down to Charleston for a weekend to see a Citadel Football game .  A few months ago we planned for the Citadel/ Elon Homecoming game but little did we know it would end up being such a special weekend filled with all things blue! 

We were up bright and early Saturday and headed to campus grab a couple of things for our little cadet and watch the pre game parade! Marshall {a childhood neighbor of mine and family friend of John’s} is a knob this year so we got to see him in the parade and hang the rest of the day.  

newborn PTs- daddy's training (& bribing) starts now…A{Alpha} Company- Marshall is second row in the middleRitchie, John and DougThe SheornsJohn and MarshallFlag with the years that each McQueeney cadet graduatedJohn and I sporting our blue for a few reasons!  Go dogs!The McQueeneys invited us to their box to enjoy the game and cheer the Bulldogs to victory! 

It was hard not to envision our little one as a cadet in the future the entire day.  My mom has joked that she should just go ahead and name Baby Anderson’s savings account “Citadel” {of course his mommy and daddy would thankful for that if he did indeed choose that path one day!}

IT’S A…

John and I will be welcoming a sweet baby BOY in March! 

We are beyond excited and can’t wait to meet our little man!  More to come on the big reveal!!

Survey says…

Today we had our 20 week appointment which revealed the gender of Baby T!  As I mentioned in my last week post, we asked my mom to join us for the ultrasound and find out the gender.  Well, she knows and is keeping it a secret… or better be!  We, however, do not although everyone thinks we know and aren’t telling. I promise that is not the case and every time the U/S tech told us to turn our heads we did so kicking ourselves wondering why we agreed to this torture.

John is not handling it well.  He wants to know and he wants to know now.  Or at 8:50 this morning.  I am so happy that we stuck to our plan and can’t wait to find out tomorrow night with just the two of us! We have both thought girl from the get-go.  My mom thinks girl.  Most everyone else that has voiced their opinion thinks girl.

A few weeks ago, my friend Monica tried the Old Wives Tales on me and had me answer questions that the answers were either in favor of a boy or a girl. They the results were kind of interesting… 17 pointed towards GIRL and 5 towards BOY. 

I won’t share all of them as some are kind of personal but here are the results…

{Disclaimer- I had no idea what the results would be depending on my answers so they were answered honestly}

1.  Heartbeat over 140- until today’s visit the heartbeat has been between 145- upper 150’s-  GIRL

2.  Carrying low and out in front- BOY

3.  Acne- I struggled with breakouts before pregnancy but I think its gotten much worse {until recently}-  GIRL

4.  Under eye V or Y vein- this one was so cool.  I had a very distinct V in my left eye-  GIRL

5.  Legs still lean and in shape-  While I’ve grown in the top and middle areas my legs have not changed much {or that I can tell}-  GIRL

6. Moody- John said we could’ve stopped here and gotten the answers we needed.  He has been a patient husband-  GIRL

7.  Chinese Gender Chart-  GIRL

8.  Beauty is gone- maybe it’s just that I don’t do much with myself anymore but I’m feeling less than pretty these days- GIRL

9.  Dreams about boy or girl-  The only dream I have had with a clear gender has been with all things blue-  BOY

10.  Still graceful?- I have not starting stumbling or losing balance, atleast not yet-  GIRL

11.  Sleep on right side-  I prefer to fall asleep on my left but end up on my right so this one was hard to answer- we went with right since my body obviously prefers that-  GIRL

12.  Dad gained weight?  unfortunately yes which I know is because he has adopted my bad eating habits over the past weeks-  GIRL

13.  Mommy thinks?  GIRL

14.  Morning sickness- While I never got sick, I was terribly nauseous and put on medicine so I’m going with yes.  I know I would have been had the medicine not been my saving grace-  GIRL

15.  Cravings proteins?  There was nothing worse to me than the thought of meat, eggs and cheese for a very very long time.  GIRL

16.  Cold feet?  Nope, well now b/c its cold out.  GIRL

17.  Headaches?  YES.  horrible and everyday-  BOY

18.  Names determined early on?  Yes, we have had both names for a few months now-  GIRL

19.  Pendulum Test- It could not have been anymore obviously swinging back and forth-  BOY

20. Craving sweets/ fruits? I eat a lot these days and a lot of anything but I have craved sweets and fruits more than salty for the most part- GIRL

Of the last two I wont be sharing, 1 said BOY and 1 said GIRL. 

A handful of people swear by the Pendulum test.  A friend of mine told me to try an app on my iPhone that she swears is never wrong and has been tried on a group of 15-20 girls with babies which says GIRL. 

So, there you have it.  We think girl and so do the tests but we really just want healthy whether its girl or boy!  Stay tuned tomorrow night… we’ll be announcing if our little one will wear pink or blue finally!