It's a boy!!! My intuition was once again proved right. I would have been surprised if it was a girl. I felt so much like I did when I was pregnant with Atlas. Both Atlas and Jane had their prayers answered. <3 I'm excited that Atlas will have a brother. I'm looking forward to watching the brother bond develop. His name is already decided. ;) That's because it's my turn to have naming priority. I think about it forever beforehand and already have a first and middle name picked out before we find out the gender. Flynn Samuel Daniels it is! I love it!! I'm so excited I get to use the name. It's one of my favorites.
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| First item bought just for Flynn. 50 cent thrift store puppy slippers! It was before I knew he was a boy, but they are perfect. |
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| 18 weeks! |
My mom took the all three kids for a sleepover on July 4th. Xan's first sleepover! I decided it was the perfect time to wean her. I had been slowly decreasing her feedings and trying to introduce a bottle since I found out I was pregnant, but she was insistent on still nursing and hated the bottle. Well the 24 hours of no nursing and being away from me was all she needed. She barely asked to nurse at all and was just a little whiny for a day or two. After a couple of days she decided she loved her bottle and the rest was a breeze! I always seems to wean at the same time of pregnancy. I think I just slowly dry up anyway and there's nothing left. It helps my energy level to be done and only be sustaining two lives with my body instead of three. ;) It will be interesting to see when Flynn will be done nursing since he "should" be the last one.
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| Thumbs up from Flynn! |
I am always so impatient to find out the gender. Basically as soon as I find out I'm pregnant I start counting down until I'm 18 weeks so I can have my ultrasound appointment and start calling my baby he or she and pick out a name! It helps that I start feeling all the way better again around that time too. ;) I just adore my ultrasound place. Inside Story is the best! It's a little bit of a drive, but oh so worth it! It's affordable, kid friendly and super comfortable with lots of space with big tv screens for all the family to come and share the experience with you. They give you a peek into 4D and put the whole thing on DVD for you to watch back again. <3 I've had the same ultrasound tech each of the three times I've been and she's so wonderful. Somehow I can't remember her name! And I'm normally really good with names! I blame pregnancy brain since every time I see her I'm pregnant. Haha!
This time we had a pretty full room. Sam and the kids, My mom and dad and my grandparents were able to come to the ultrasound with me. We all got there right on time and went right in. We got settled and started right away! I'd waited long enough anyway right?? The ultrasound tech asked what everyone was thinking the baby was and since everyone knew I thought it was a boy they all said boy too. She looked at the cord and his head and heart real quick before getting right to the gender. :D For a moment his legs were blocking our view. But the ultrasound tech gave him a little wiggle and he moved for us! The tech told us where to look and asked if anyone could see what it was. I couldn't tell right away then My dad said "It's a boy." The tech said "I see a boy too! Congratulations!" Jane immediately said, "I said it was a boy and it IS a boy!!" Atlas gave a little fist pump "Yes!" motion and Xan Said "Oh no!" Hahaha! Too perfect. I was very excited!! It's super fun that we'll have 2 and 2 and the sequence will go girl, boy, girl, boy! As we were walking through the parking lot to leave and go to Whataburger to celebrate I said to Jane, "You prayed and asked God for a brother and what did He say??" She turned to me with a big smile on her face and said, "He said YES!!!" I love it.
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| Sweet Jane snuggled up next to me while we watched Flynn <3 |
After getting all the required information for Sallie the tech was trying to get a look at his face but little brother takes after big brother and was hiding his face with his arms and hands. We tried lots of different positions to get him to move and finally right at the end we got to see his face for like 30 seconds before he hid again. He was a sleepy guy and not moving around a whole lot while we were there. Atlas was the exact same way. He did give us a few more good shots to make sure he was definitely a boy though! Again, just like brother. ;) The very best thing about the appointment is he is very healthy all around from everything we can tell right now. The only other thing to note about the appointment is he was measuring a little smaller than his due date of Dec 16th with a due date of Dec 26th from the measurements of this appointment. Christmas day baby maybe??
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| 20 weeks! |
I had my 20ish week appointment with Sallie just a couple weeks later. She was able to find the heartbeat pretty quickly this time and everyone got to hear it, including my mom who was there helping me with kiddos during the appointment. He's finally too big to hide from the doppler! ;) I asked her about the due date difference from the ultrasound and she said he could have measured a little small for a number of reasons. For example, it could have been right before he hit a growth spurt. I mentioned I had been extra tired and hungry for the next week or so after the ultrasound. She said that was probably it and we'd stick with the original due date since earlier ultrasounds are usually more accurate anyway.
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| 22 Weeks |
The boys don't seem to make me as nauseous and gaggy, but I feel bad for longer. With the girls I seemed to feel better around 16 weeks. With the boys it seemed to take until 18-20 weeks to really feel all the way back to normal. I love it when my energy comes back to me! Around 18 weeks I came out of my 1st trimester haze and I looked around my house thinking.... How did it get so dirty in here!? I had to start deep cleaning my kitchen right away. It's too early for nesting though. Pre-nesting maybe? Or should I call it Post morning sickness syndrome. ;) All I know is my house is starting to look presentable again. Another thing I'm thankful for is my immune system keeping me healthy during this first part of pregnancy. With all my other pregnancies I seemed to sick every single month! The difference is probably the summer sun and vitamin D we've been getting. Hopefully we stay healthy when the weather finally cools down. This is my first time to be this pregnant with any sort of heat. Haha! I am such a wimp with my extra heater in the Texas summer. Unless we're in water or complete shade I am completely avoiding being outside. This momma is ready for fall!!
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| Trying to power through walks in the summer heat! It will be interesting to figure out walks with 4! |
I'm not sure what it is about Flynn, but he doesn't seem to kick as hard as my other babies. I felt flutters really early, but it took a long time to feel them everyday throughout the day. Also around 21 weeks is when I finally felt him kick my arm from the outside. I still can't see his kicks on my belly and I usually can by now. But I think it may be that he's just sitting so low! His kicks feel much lower on my belly than normal and the ultrasound tech mentioned that he was pretty low. It's not a problem and doesn't create any issues other than some extra lower back pain. Sallie told me that as you have more pregnancies you can lose a little feeling in the lower part of your abdomen and that could be the reason too. He also could be kicking straight into the placenta and that would make it harder for me to feel. Which would make sense because he was all huddled up against it in the ultrasound too. I pray that it has nothing to do with his health. I don't think it does, everything else has been right on track and we've both been receiving healthy reports. I've decided because of the due date being about 10 days different from the first ultrasound to the second and that this is our last planned baby that I want to have a special 3D/4D ultrasound around 30 weeks since I've never had one like that when they have more of the look they'll have when they're born. First of all I just think it will be fun and also I'll be able to get another due date to work with and lastly it will give me some reassurance he's growing well and all.
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| All 4 of my babies! 22 weeks, same outfit. Left to Right, Jane, Atlas, Alexandria, Flynn |
I just love bump pictures! I'm so happy I've gotten to recreate this bump picture with each baby! I really love that Jane took the picture of the Flynn bump for me. It's amazing that that tiny baby bump in the first picture grew to become a beautiful little 5 year old girl capable of taking my picture for me. <3 Jane just loves it when there is a baby in my tummy. It's pretty fun that she really gets it this time around. She says she can't wait to hold him. Atlas is pretty excited about it, but he doesn't talk about it as much. I have to remind him to be gentle all the time because there is a baby in there. He is ready for his brother though! Xan is completely unaware at this point. She'll pat my belly sometimes and there was one time I thought I heard her say brother while pointing to my belly. I think she's just trying to copy brother and sister though. When I say baby when pointing to my belly bump she says "Yes!" Maybe she gets it more than I realize. I hope she's not too jealous when Flynn comes because she is pretty comfortable in her roll as baby and the youngest right now. I'm praying for them to have a special relationship and she would have nothing but love for her little brother.
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| Big sister and little brother. <3 |
Man, it's hard to believe I'm almost to the third trimester! I'm ready for it though. I'm feeling done with everything that comes with being pregnant, other than the sweet baby kicks of course. I've never had even an inkling of being done having kids with each of my other pregnancies. But with this one from the first pregnancy symptom it's been very clear to me that this is the last time I would like to be pregnant. I'm still so very grateful for this baby of course!! And I can't wait to see his sweet face! But I'm ready to have my body back to myself. ;) It's going to go fast I know! So I'm trying to soak it all up!! We have something exciting planned each month until his due date! September we have a family beach trip planned(first time to the beach for the kids!), October is when I'll be scheduling Flynn's last ultrasound and we have lots of fun fall festivities already planned, In November we can start putting up the Christmas tree and the outdoor lights up and of course there's Thanksgiving. So yep, December will be here before I know it! Let's do this!!
John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
