Week 23 Update (Late)

Ok . . . .so I usually post my weekly updates on Wednesday, but this Wednesday I was so tired when I got home that I just couldn't stay awake to get it done. So, I thought I will get it done tomorrow (Thursday). Everything to follow through with that plan started out just right. I got most of the post written last night (this is now Friday morning), and as I was finishing up, the internet decided to go out! Ahhhhhh! Yes, this is a little late but here it is! Week 23!

Week 23 Belly Pic

How far along: 23 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: About 23 pounds . . . . WOW!

Maternity clothes: Most of the time . . . .

Stretch marks: Not yet!

Sleep: Great!

Best moment this week: Telling my kids at school that I am having a baby . . . . they just giggled like it was the funniest thing ever!

Movement: Quite a bit!

Food cravings: Almonds . . . .

Gender: Girl

Labor signs: None

Belly button in or out: Still in

What I miss: Hmmmmm. . . . can't think of anything right now

What I am looking forward to: Getting the bedding (it is on the way) and the room painted

What about Baby Scout?
*Baby Scout is approximately 11.4 inches and about 1 pound 3 oz
*Baby Scout has gained about 2 - 3 ounces since last week
*Baby Scout's body and head are now at the same relative proportions as a full-term baby
*Baby Scout is still frail and wrinkled
*Baby Scout's eyes are formed but still lack pigment
*Baby Scout's fingernails are almost completely formed
*If Baby Scout was born today, her survival rate would be 10 - 20% and she would most likely have serious medical complications (I hope Baby Scout makes it to the end of school)
*Baby Scout now makes my belly measure one and a half inches above my naval
*Baby Scout should now be blessing me with the linea nigra (a dark line down my belly), but I don't see it yet!
*Baby Scout is the size of a small doll
*Baby Scout's weight will double in the next four weeks
*Baby Scout's skin is reddish in color now because of developing blood vessels
*Baby Scout is about the same size as an ear of corn


A few weeks ago, I did a little blog commercial for Design Dazzle. As I was checking out her posts a few days ago, I came across a little project idea for Daniel and his daddy. Here is a picture from the finished project from that Design Dazzle post.


Isn't this the cutest kitchen ever? And you would never guess what it is made from . . . . an old entertainment center. Lucky for Daniel and his daddy, we have an old entertainment center in Baby Scout's room that we were going to have to remove. If you are interested in this project, take a look at the post where the idea came from here: The Kitchen Project.

I hope that many of you are enjoying the start of your Snow Day. I know I am. Maybe we will get some real snow!

Name Suggestions

If you follow our blog, you already know our baby girl's name will be Elizabeth Scout Wiggs. You also know that we are going to call her Scout. But, after I told the children in my classroom that I was having a baby, I thought it would be fun to let them make some suggestions as to what they thought the baby should be named. So . . . .for their journal entry on Friday, each child had to write their name suggestion. Here is what they decided (Remember, I teach first grade!).

Caleb likes Seru (Sarah) Msinu Wiggs. If you can see his picture, I am holding the baby watching T.V.

Jeremy votes for Kriste Mushel (Michelle) Wiggs.

Allie likes Isabella Rose. She drew me at the hospital!

My other Caleb thinks her name should be Ruby Zak (Zack) Wiggs. I quite like this suggestion. Ruby was my grandmother's middle name, and I think Zack sounds kind of cute with Ruby! I also love his picture. It is Daniel, the baby and I in our house.

Acelynn likes Ella Lues (Louise) Wiggs. It does have a nice ring to it!

Some other suggestions were Amelia Isabell Wiggs, Rozzy (Rosy) Smith Wiggs, Milly Gracei (Gracie) Wiggs, and Alissa Shell Wiggs. Don't you think these are so cute!

22 Week Update

Week 22 Belly Pic

How far along: 22 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Too Much!

Maternity clothes: Most of the time . . . .

Stretch marks: Not yet!

Sleep: Better this week!

Best moment this week: Our visit with Dr. Rivero today

Movement: At night . . . . she wiggles like crazy!

Food cravings: Oranges . . . This makes like 4 weeks of loving oranges!

Gender: Girl

Labor signs: None

Belly button in or out: Still in . . . looking a little funny though!

What I miss: Sonic Diet Dr. Pepper . . .

What I am looking forward to: Finalizing the bedding choice . . .

Today we went to see Dr. Rivero. He said everything looked great. He measured my belly and told us that I was measuring 21 1/2 to 22 Weeks . . .Perfect! We also heard Baby Scout's heartbeat . . . . it was 150. He told us we would get to have a 3-D ultrasound in 13 weeks or so! Woohoo . . . . that will give us a glimpse of what Baby Scout will look like! Speaking of Baby Scout, here is what she is up to now!

*Baby Scout is 5 & 1/2 months or 154 days; We have 126 days until our due date!
*Baby Scout is about 10.9 inches and about weighs 1 lb, 1 oz
*Baby Scout's hearing is becoming more acute. Her daddy reads to her every night!
*Baby Scout's movement is becoming constant at night.
*Baby Scout's skin is becoming more opaque and her face should look more natural
*Baby Scout now has eyebrows and eyelashes
*Baby Scout's sweat glands have now developed
*Baby Scout is the size of a Papaya

Baby Scout, Daniel, and I traveled to the 'Boro this weekend for the MTSU ball game. The reason for our trip was to take the basketball teams from Daniel's school to a college ball game. The kids had a great time and were very well behaved. They enjoyed getting to see the games but most of all they liked seeing themselves be silly on the Jumbo-tron! As I was surveying the crowd, I kept noticing a guy I thought I recognized. Daniel said,"He looks like one of those So You Think You Can Dance" contestants. Well . . . . guess what, he was a reality T.V. star. His name is Corey Clark, and he was on American Idol. Do you recognize this picture? He was the one who allegedly had a relationship with Paula. He was probably on 3 or 4 seasons ago.



Now, I realize that he was not one of the most glamorous AI contestants because he was dismissed from the show due to a prior arrest! But, I still thought it was neat to see him at an MTSU basketball game. Why was he there, you ask? His sister is a basketball player for the Blue Raiders. By the way, she had fantastic game the night we went to watch the game. Maybe it was the support from her big brother.

Here are a few other pics from the game:

The mascot coming to visit the kids.



The girl's game . . . I think that is Corey Clark's sister with the ball.

Coming soon. . . .a post revealing the results of the bedding survey and details about which bedding I think we are going to purchase.


Have a happy Thursday!

The Polls are Closed

Ok . . . . . so I took down the survey to decide Baby Scout's bedding last weekend. Since then I have had several people ask what bedding won and what bedding we are choosing for the room. I figured everyone else might like to know how the votes ended up and what we have decided to go with for the room.

First, most of the votes went to Harlow with 38. I really love this bedding, but I kind of have my heart set on only black and white. I feel like I can do so much more with accents if I go pure black and white. This also makes choosing the wall color so much easier. If I go with Harlow, I will have to wait until it gets here to match the paint. I would kind of like to get on with painting and if I choose black and white only then I can do that. The second highest vote getter was Toile with 22. Now again, I really love this bedding, but one might fall over dead if they knew how expensive it is going to be with all the cute accessories that you can get with it. Daniel gave me a little wisdom on this - He said, "She is just going to poop and throw up on it so get what is cheapest." Well, I never really thought about it that way! He is so practical. So, that leaves either Taylor (14 votes) or Versailles (17 votes). Both are very reasonably priced and have reasonably priced accessories. Both would be easy to add to and dress up with cute ribbons and bows. I am thinking kind of like the picture below . . . .so cute with pink!

Both would be easy to pick a wall color too - For example, I love the green pictured with the Taylor bedding, and I love the soft pink pictured above. I would also love to have silhouettes made of me and Scout and Daniel and Scout (Check out this great website - Silhouette Pictures) when she arrives, and I think they would look so classic with either one of these choices. Finally, both are available at Babies R Us, so I could actually go and see them before I purchase. I think this is a big plus! I would really like to know that I am going to like it before I buy it.

After a few days of pondering over the big decision . . . . Ladies and Gentlemen . . . . . .I think we have a winner . . . . .

Taylor? . . . No!

Toile? . . . . No!

Harlow? . . . .No!

Versailles . . . . .Yes!

Ok . . . after all that, I must tell you why I think we should go with Versailles. First of all, it is the most reasonable and second, the Versailles bedding is pictured on the same kind of crib we purchased for Baby Scout. Do you think this is a sign? Someone else obviously thought that bedding looked good with that crib, and I do too!

I am still open for ideas for a new survey . . . .leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail if you have any suggestions.

Show Us Your Life - Weight Loss Tips/Diets/Workouts

This week, I am again participating in Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life". This week the topic is Weight Loss Tips/Diets/Workouts. Throughout the years, I have tried many things to try to lose weight. I finally had success five years ago. I will share what I did and how I have maintained my weight. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on this subject at all. I just know what worked for me.






First, let me share some pictures with you! I share these to show that you can have success! If I can do it, anyone can!

These are the before pictures!

These are the after!

Here are some words of wisdom from my experience:

Weight Watchers
I used Weight Watchers to get my weight off initially, and I followed it to the dime. It took me ten months to get rid of the extra 70 pounds, and I consistently lost weight each week. I feel this is because I followed the program exactly. I figured that someone put a lot of work into developing that program, so I followed it exactly! If you choose Weight Watches as a weight loss program, I also suggest you attend the meetings. I hardly ever missed a meeting and this kept me accountable from week to week. My fabulous leaders were also part of my success with Weight Watchers. If you can find a Weight Watchers group in your area with great leaders, you will go far.

Livestrong.Com (The Daily Plate)

Holly and Karen
Music City Half-Marathon

My sweet friend Karen (see above) introduced me to "The Daily Plate" on Livestrong.com . When this happened, I was at a point where I was gaining a little bit of weight and couldn't seem to get back on the wagon. I made two decisions at that point - First, I decided I wanted to run a half-marathon and second, I decided I needed to get the extra ten pounds off before they turned into twenty. The way I lost those ten pounds and about ten more was to track my food and exercise on The Daily Plate. The Daily Plate allows you to input your weight, height, and amount of weight you want to lose each week, it then tells you how many calories you need to eat. Each day I would log in EVERYTHING I ate and any exercise I did (I might have been a little obsessive about it). The key is to log in EVERYTHING! It takes the calories you need to eat and subtracts the foods you have eaten that day. It allows you to see how many calories are in the food you are eating. This really opened my eyes, and I imagine it might yours too! Again, I feel the key was to log in EVERYTHING! Now, I am a firm believer that Weight Watches works miracles, but "The Daily Plate" was amazing for me. I lost the weight it said I would like clockwork.


The Gym
I was so lucky to find a gym that was very inviting and encouraging. It was not easy to walk into the gym with all that extra weight, and I really felt uncomfortable at first. But, there was no need for that because everyone was so nice and encouraging. I guess no one ever told me that working out was a great thing to do for you body. Now that I have told you, maybe you can find a gym you like. My gym has wonderful classes put out by Les Mills that are offered all across the United States and can probably be found near you! I am copying the description for the classes I do from the Les Mills website, but if you want more information you can click here - Les Mills. I am a firm believer that these classes work when done correctly.

First of all, each of the classes produced by Les Mills are choreography driven. That means that your instructor will teach the same choreography that my instructor teaches for a certain release. About every three months, the instructors across the country get a new release. This means that the music and choreography change, but the basic moves remain the same.

Body Pump (weights) - BODYPUMP™ is the original barbell class that strengthens your entire body. This 60-minute workout challenges all your major muscle groups by using the best weight-room exercises like squats, presses, lifts and curls. Great music, awesome instructors and your choice of weight inspire you to get the results you came for – and fast!

Body Combat (cardio) -BODYCOMBAT™ is the empowering cardio workout where you are totally unleashed. This fiercely energetic program is inspired by martial arts and draws from a wide array of disciplines such as Karate, boxing, Taekwondo, Tai Chi and Muay Thai. Supported by driving music and powerful role model instructors strike, punch, kick and kata your way through calories to superior cardio fitness. This one is my favorite! My friends Terayn, Tyler and I love to do some Combat!

Terayn, Tyler, and Me

RPM (cardio) - RPM™ is the indoor cycling workout where you ride to the rhythm of powerful music. Take on the terrain with your inspiring team coach who leads the pack through hills, flats, mountain peaks, time trials, and interval training. Discover your athlete within – sweat and burn to reach your endorphin high.

BodyFlow - BODYFLOW™ is the Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates workout that builds flexibility and strength and leaves you feeling centered and calm. Controlled breathing, concentration and a carefully structured series of stretches, moves and poses to music create a holistic workout that brings the body into a state of harmony and balance.


Helpful Gear
My last suggestion is to purchase a heart-rate monitor watch with a calorie counter. This was helpful to motivate me on days when I really didn't want to work hard at the gym. When you look down and see you have only burnt 100 calories, you tend to really get working. If you plan to try indoor or outdoor biking, I suggest some padded bike shorts.


Ok . . . . . that is all the information I have to offer. I do suggest taking one meal a week and eating what you like within reason. I usually did this on Thursday after my Weight Watchers meeting. This sort of helped to keep me on track and didn't seem to mess up my weighing in each week! Good luck!

Week 21 Update and Name

Alright gang . . . . .we have a name! If you don't already know, our baby girl will be named Elizabeth Scout Wiggs. We will call her Scout! I just love our choice, and I think she will too! Here is some information about the names we chose.

Elizabeth:

From Elisabet, the Greek form of the Hebrew name Elisheva meaning "my God is a vow". In the Old Testament, Elisheva is the wife of Aaron. In the New Testament, the name is borne by a kinswoman of the Virgin Mary and mother of John the Baptist. It was also the name of the 12th-century Saint Elizabeth, by two ruling queens of England (the 16th-century Elizabeth I, and the current ruling queen, Her Majesty Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom), and by an empress of Russia. Elizabeth was Daniel's grandmother's middle name.

Scout:

Best known as a character in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". It means observer.


I am going to try something new and add a little information about me and how I am progressing through this pregnancy. I hope I can keep it up each week! If not, it might be something fun for every now and then.

Week 6

Week 21

How far along: 21 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 16 pounds (AHHHHHH!)

Maternity clothes: Most of the time . . . . I am so grateful for my sweet friends Amanda and Katie. My closet is now stocked with adorable maternity clothes.

Stretch marks: Not yet!

Sleep: Not to good! Many bathroom trips and trying to get comfortable.

Best moment this week: Feeling more movement

Movement: At night . . . .

Food cravings: Sonic popcorn chicken and honey mustard, Lemon/Lime Water

Gender: Girl

Labor signs: None

Belly button in or out: Still in

What I miss: Being able to keep up in my kickboxing class . . . . .I can still do the class, but I have to take it easy!

What I am looking forward to: Picking nursery bedding, so we can get the room painted.

And now for the little girl . . . .

Here is what Baby Scout is up to this week:
*Baby Scout is about 10.5 inches and weighs about 12.5 oz
*Baby Scout is about the size of a spaghetti squash.
*Baby Scout is wiggling around like a little fish at night, and I am noticing a big increase in her movement. She is wiggling as I type.
*Baby Scout still has a lot of room in the womb.
*Baby Scout's movement will steadily increase until about week 30-32 when she will become cramped.
*Baby Scout has distinct sleep and wake cycles.
*Baby Scout sleeps as much as 12 to 14 hours per day.
*Baby Scout's heartbeat can now be heard with a stethoscope.
*Baby Scout is practicing her swallowing and digesting by drinking several ounces of amniotic fluid each day.

I also think this will be the last week to vote for Baby Scout's bedding, and I will remove the survey this Sunday. If you haven't voted and would like to, check out the survey at the top, right corner of the blog. You can click on the link to make the pictures bigger. If you have any ideas for a new survey, let me know.

Design Dazzle and Name

As I lay here on the couch this Saturday, I am starting to ponder if it might be a good time to start deciding which bedding I would like to go with for Baby Girl's nursery. I realize that I have so much to get done in the next 20 weeks, and this decision will likely be the start of a long list of things that need to be accomplished. Right now on the blog survey, Harlow has about a 10 vote lead, and I am great with that choice. I like them all of course.

While pondering all the things I should be doing, I came upon an adorable blog Design Dazzle. While visiting this blog, I noticed she is having a give-a-way for a great diaper. One way to get an entry is to blog about the site, so here I am.

The first thing I noticed was the sidebar choice that said "Baby Nursery". As I clicked on this and looked at all the great nursery pictures, I thought to myself, I would love to find one that gives me a little inspiration to start looking for accessories for Baby Girl's nursery. Another thing I noticed was that in one post she gives suggestions on what to do with a slanted wall. Well, that is great, because Baby Girl's nursery has a slanted wall, and I have been trying to think of something interesting to do with that weird space. A slanted wall also poses another problem . . . Furniture placement. I am hoping maybe I can find a suggestion or pictures to help me with that one too.

Another section I thought was really interesting was the Kid's Parties section. Now, I know I have a long time before I need to start thinking about that, but she has some great party ideas. The current post has pictures of a James Bond Spy Party. It looks like each kid dressed in a trench coat and was provided spy glasses as a favor. Chalk footprints set the scene and enlarged fingerprints were hung from the ceiling. Two other neat things were the water bottles labeled with "Secret Agent _____" for keeping drinks straight and a game using red string as a laser field.

Hopefully, you might like to hop on over to Design Dazzle and take a look. You might find something that interest you. And hopefully . . . . . . I will be the lucky winner of this . . . . . . a BabyStar Rock the Tote Diaper Bag!

Lastly, I will tell you that a name for Baby Girl is in the works. I will give you some hints and will post when all is final. The first name is a classic name that is often used for a middle name. It starts with a vowel. The middle name is an unusual name from a classic piece of literature. I think I read the book in 1oth grade. The title of this book has four words. I know all school teachers will cringe when I say this, but we are planning to call her by her middle name. So, I know it is not much to go on, but maybe you can have fun guessing. If you don't already know, leave me a comment with your guess. I would love to see if anybody gets close.

Show Us Your Life - Resolutions

This week, Kelly at Kelly's Korner is back to conducting her weekly "Show Us Your Life" Fridays. This Friday the topic is New Year's Resolutions. I am pretty excited about this for two reasons: 1) I am actually pretty good at New Year's Resolutions! 2) I hope I can inspire you to fulfill your New Year's Resolution.






Ok . . . . . . 5 years ago I tackled a New Year's Resolution that I know many others have tackled over the years. It was five years ago this week that I walked into Mass Appeal Fitness and Weight Watchers and never looked back. As you might have guessed my resolution was to weight. And if you didn't know me before I did this, you might not know that this was a major change in my life. Without the help of the wonderful fitness instructors, great Les Mills classes, my family and my two fabulous Weight Watcher's leaders, this resolution might not have been fulfilled. So . . . . . here it is! Before - December 2005, After - July 2009!

Before

After

I blog about this, because it was hard work. This is no joke! I worked steadily for 10 months to get the weight off, and luckily I have been able to maintain it (until baby weight). So, if you think it is impossible, you are wrong. I used Weight Watchers for the initial weight loss and then maintained using "The Daily Plate" on http://www.livestrong.com. This is a place where you can track calories, log food and record exercise. So, if this is your resolution, give it a good try! I bet you might be surprised at how well it might turn out!


I have also had a few other good New Year's Resolutions over the last four years. The year after I was successful at achieving the weight loss goal, I decided I needed to be more dedicated to my Lord. So, I set the New Year's Resolution of attending church every Sunday. Now this might sound a little odd to some of you, but we didn't attend every Sunday before this resolution. We attended many Sundays but were not as dedicated or faithful as we should have been. Since I set this resolution, I have only missed church two times - once for vacation and once for oversleeping. I am four years into not missing church at all. So, if your resolution is related to being more dedicated to serving or receiving God's blessing, give it a good try! I bet your might be surprised at how well it might turn out!


The last resolution I will reflect on is the resolution I did for this past year! My goal was to floss everyday. Again, I know it sounds funny but this was a struggle for me and was something that http://www.realage.com said was making my real age higher than it was supposed to be. I took the floss by the string and flossed everyday. I hope my teeth appreciated it! So, if your resolution is related to being more dedicated to your body in some way, give it a good try! I bet your might be surprised at how well it might turn out!


Last, I will talk about my resolution for this year. I have always struggled with spending time God through devotional time. I have decided that my resolution this year will be to spend time with God everyday in prayer and having devotional time. I am currently using a book "Jesus Calling" as my personal devotional time and have been getting up a few minutes early to do this in the mornings. Daniel and I are also introducing our baby girl to the Lord by reading her a bible story from the "Read with Me Bible" every night. This is another part of my resolution - to read to her from the Bible every night until she arrives in May and then after that as well. So, if your resolution is related to being more dedicated to the Lord through devotion and prayer, give it a good try! I know it will be amazing for you and everyone you come in contact with throughout the day!

I hope this post has inspired you in some way. I always set new resolutions but try to maintain the old ones as well. I know how hard New Year's Resolutions are to fulfill and maintain. But, with the inspiration and help of others, anything is possible. So, even if you haven't set a resolution for this year, choose one now. Drop me a comment if you like - I would love to hear what you are doing, so we can keep each other inspired and motivated.

P.S. If you are just visiting, I am doing a little survey to see what bedding I want to use for baby girl's nursery. The survey is on the top, right corner of the blog. If you are interested, take a look at the four choices and vote for the one you like best. All opinions are greatly appreciated!

20 Weeks and Exciting News

20 Week Belly Pic

Alrighty . . . . . here we are at 20 weeks! Halfway Point!

Here is what BabyBoo is up to this week:
*BabyBoo is about 10.1 inches and weighs about 10.6 oz
*BabyBoo is starting to move around a little I think; Every now and then I feel a little flutter-type sensation
*BabyBoo is now measured from the top of the head to the bottom of the feet
*BabyBoo is now developing her sleeping style
*BabyBoo is about the size of a cantaloupe
*BabyBoo's uterus is fully formed

The bedding for BabyBoo's nursery is still yet to be determined! Don't forget to VOTE! When I last checked, I think it was tied!


Now . . . . .Are you ready for some exciting new? Tomorrow is a SNOW DAY! School has already been called. Woohoo! We are expecting 1 - 3 inches of snow for our area and that is a big deal to us! I have plans to sleep in, take down Christmas decorations, play Mario on the Wii, wash clothes, and maybe go to the gym. Doesn't that sound so exciting?

What are your snow day plans?

Baby Girl Bedding Vote

Ok . . . . . everyone has been telling me that they need bigger pictures to give a good vote for the bedding for BabyBoo's nursery. So, here they are. Take a look, see what you think, and give me the vote for the one you like best. Remember, I can't see what you vote for so be honest. I really value your opinion. Have fun!

Taylor

Toile

Harlow

Versailles

2009 Highlights

2009 Highlights

Here are some of our greatest moments from 2009 in no particular order . . . . . .

Daniel and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Daniel's family.

The Guys

The Girls

Michelle and I attend So You Think You Can Dance in Atlanta.

Daniel and I cut the cake to reveal we are having a baby girl.

Daniel and I ring the Salvation Army Bell at Wal-Mart.

We announce we are expecting.

Daniel helps coach the South Trojans in the CTC Championship.
The Trojans tried hard but came up short.

Michelle, Jodi and I jog for Jackson in Memphis.

Daniel and I took a trip to Chicago with Avery, Amanda, and the Porters.

Daniel finally sees Michael Jordan at the United Center.

The girls and Lake went to Lego Land (fabulous) while the big boys went to a White Sox Game.

The boys took a tour of Wrigley Field.

We see Mary Poppins at the Cadillac-Palace Theater

I attend Music and Arts Week at Lake Junaluska in North Carolina.

Daniel finally trades the old jeep for a new Xterra.

My sweet friend Karen and I run the Music City Half-Marathon.

Michelle and I attend the New Kids on the Block Concert in Nashville.

We rang in the New Year at Brian and Karen's house. The girls played some pretty intense Rook while the boys watched some extreme sports. We had a great time!

I hope your 2009 was as fantastic as ours!
I am looking forward to what 2010 has in store for us!