Final Decision On The Name

Jason and I have decided to make it official with the name that we both agree on. We are naming this baby Elijah Jourdan Pickerill. Elijah is from the TV shows Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Jourdan was my Great Grandma Schmit's Maiden name. I am excited to have the name figured out already. It took us so long to decide with Lucas.

Gender Reveal Party

Tonight was our big gender reveal party! It was so much fun! Jason made barbecue and it was amazing. Martha came over this morning and helped me make spinach dip, a fruit tray, a veggie tray, homemade salsa and guacamole and a blue punch for the kids. I got pink wine coolers and blue moon beer for the adults and then we had pink lemonade and blue punch for the kids. Everything turned out great! After everyone had a chance to eat and do the raffle we were ready for the reveal! We were all so excited to find out if it was a girl or a boy. The boys couldn't wait to open the box! It took a little bit for them to get the wrapping paper off and the box open. When we saw the BLUE onesie we all were so excited! The boys were especially excited. They were hoping for another brother. I know most people probably think that I would be disappointed, but I was honestly happy and excited. Don't get me wrong part of me is worried that I may never get to experience having a daughter and when I think about that I am sad, but I would never trade any of my boys for a girl. Aunt Susan won the raffle which was exciting. She won $45 which wasn't too bad! The party was a huge success and we all had so much fun getting to share this moment with our families and friends!

18 Week Anatomy Ultrasound Appointment

Today was my 18 week anatomy ultrasound appointment! We brought the lil sis and lil bro onesies with us to the appointment along with a box and a bag. We had her put the onesie of the one that it is in the box and the other one in the bag along with the envelope of the ultrasound picture saying if it is a girl or a boy. She taped up the box so we could take it home and wrap it. I was so relieved to hear that everything looked good and normal on the ultrasound. I am always so worried that we will hear bad news at this appointment. Jason and all the boys went with me to the appointment. They loved getting to see the baby and get to hear the heartbeat. The heart was beating at 154 bpm. Baby P is actually measuring a day ahead now which makes the due date August 25th, but they will keep the 26th for my records. I have to say I am really curious what this baby is. I am so tempted to go peek in the box. I don't remember being quite this curious with Lucas! I do not know how I will make it until Saturday! That pretty much sums up everything at my appointment. It was pretty quick. She said that I was super easy to scan, so she was able to get all the measurements that she needed which was great! I go back next Thursday to see Dr. Leinenbach for my regular OB appointment!

18 Weeks

I am 18 weeks pregnant today! I weighed in this week at 134 lbs. I am pretty disappointed that I have gained so much this month! I was hoping to only gain 2-3 pounds a the most this month and I have already gained 5! The last couple weeks I have kind of slacked off on the healthy eating and have been snacking more. I was eating cinnamon toast crunch for breakfast most every morning last week and I had chicken salad on a croissant for lunch almost everyday. Dinner was kind of all over the place and definitely not very healthy. Then we went out for a big breakfast sunday morning after church. I also was drinking more juices or sugary drinks the last couple weeks and now I am trying to be back on drinking my Dasani water. I also hardboiled some eggs last night to eat for breakfast this week in the mornings. I love hardboiled eggs its just that I forget to take the time to make them. I will probably have a grilled chicken wrap for lunch the rest of this week except for friday and I will probably have maybe tuna or peanut butter sandwich.
I have felt a lot of movement  this week and it has been a lot more frequent and a lot stronger. I have still yet to feel any with my hand though.
I am still not in maternity clothes but  a lot of my shirts are getting too short and a lot of my pants are getting too tight. I might have to be breaking out the bella band soon!
I am still getting up at least once at night and sometimes it is twice a night. I have to pee all the time. It is driving me crazy! I have at least most of the time been able to go right back to sleep. It seems like I have 1-2 nights where I can't fall back asleep. That makes for a very tiring day the next day and then it also stresses me out on how on earth I am going to be able to work, take care of 4 kids, and keep up with my house. Jason and I are talking about getting a house cleaner. We are both all for, but neither one of us no where to start on finding someone that is good and trustworthy. I have just realized that I can keep up with the day to day tidying, but I can not keep up with the deep cleaning around here and I hate to clean bathrooms. I would love to find someone that could come once every other week to do bathrooms, floors, all over dusting and some deep cleaning. My mom always had a cleaning lady when we were growing up and she said it was the best thing she ever did, because then she didn't stress about the house and was able to relax and do ore with us kids.
Tomorrow is my ultrasound appointment! I can't wait to see this little peanut! I hope everything is going okay with the pregnancy and the baby. I am always so nervous that we will here bad news at this appointment. I am really looking forward to our gender reveal this Saturday! I finally have the menu all planned out. I don't know how much decorating I am going to do though. I might just get some pink and blue flowers to sit out and call it done. I am going to do the raffle again and the baby names. Even though we think we have the names. Jason and I are still on the fence about Junelyse. Jason loves Elyse, but I really want June and I don't want four names. I just like to have options for nicknames later and then she can also pick what she wants to go by later on. That's why I am wanting Junelyse, but I do worry that it is just too different. Gail is the middle name no matter what and we both agree on that. As far as a boy goes we both have boy names that we like better but Elijah is the one name that we both like and that we can agree on, so Elijah will probably be the boys name. The middle name will be Jourdan no matter what for the boys name after my Great Grandma Schmitts maiden name. Jason likes that for a middle name but he isn't crazy about the spelling. I like the different spelling though. Jason and I were talking last night what we think it is and he is starting to think girl, because he thinks I have been different during this pregnancy. I told him that I felt the same with this one that I did with Lucas. I am thinking it is a boy because of the heart rate and how I have felt. Although I do have to say that there are a few things that make me think girl. One is the timing of when we had sex and when I actually ovulated. Another thing is the little calendar test that I do. It has been right with all my boys and this time it is saying a girl. It is when you take the month you conceived in and the age you are when you conceive and add the two together and if it is an even number it is a girl and an odd number is a boy. Well, we conceived in december which is the 12th month and I am 32, so that makes 44 which means girl. Just 4 more days and we will know for sure! I am so excited to start planning and shopping!

17 Weeks

I am 17 weeks pregnant today! I weighed in at 133 lbs. This makes a total of 13 lbs. gained so far. I am not thrilled with this and this past week I have really not been eating good at all. I don't know why because its not like I am even craving that bad of things, but yet I have been eating bad and then I feel like crap afterwards. I have actually been craving fresh salads and sandwiches and fruits and vegetables for snacks, but yet I haven't been taking the time to actually fix myself these things. I have been better this week on snacking on fruits and veggies instead of chips or crackers. I cut up fruit on saturday so I would have it ready for the week. I need to still cut up some veggies for when I am not craving something sweet. I have been eating chicken salad with grapes and pecans on a croissant the last couple of days for lunch and it has been wonderful. I have to pee all the time now! I don't know what the deal is but I literally have been peeing 20 times a day. Luckily I still only get up once at night to pee, but I have to go all day long. I do not have time for this! My sleep has been ok lately. I have weird dreams and I am really restless at night. Hopefully this will get better. I am still wearing my regular clothes but they are getting tight and my belly is definitely growing. I have been feeling a lot more movement this week. They are still like flutters but definitely getting stronger and more often. This is the best part of being pregnant and I will miss it so much if this ends up being our last one. My boobs are still sore but not quite as bad as they were. I am getting so excited for the gender reveal party. I really don't care what we are having, I just want to know so I can start shopping and planning and cleaning things out! I plan on taking the month of April to hopefully go through all the totes of clothes and all the totes of toys and get rid of things I won't be needing or using. We still haven't decided on a hospital for sure yet and we actually haven't even talked about it. I think that will end up being a last minute decision for us. I have to say the time change and weather still have me messed up and I am more tired than usual. I can't wait for this weather to get nice, so I will have more energy!

16 Weeks

I am 16 weeks pregnant today! I weighed in at 130 lbs. this week. I'm not happy to be in the 130's but i knew it had to come sometime. I am actually 10 lbs. less than I was with Lucas and 7 lbs. less than what I was with Jax and I think I weigh the same as what I did with Christian. I just need to stay on track with eating somewhat healthy and exercising. I am walking 16-20 miles a week right now. I'm sure that will increase once the weather gets nicer. the boys love to go for walks around our street and I love taking them. Also once summer starts I will start swimming laps in the pool for more exercise. I wish I could get myself motivated to do planks and squats everyday also to help tone, but I just can't seem to fit that in my routine. We have finally had some nice days the last couple days and it has been amazing! we pent all day outside yesterday and we were loving it! Today is going to be even nicer, but then it is going to get cold again tomorrow. I am really hoping for a warm and nice spring break for the kids. Christian has so many things he wants to do outside together and I am really hoping we can do everything. I am definitely starting to show more, but I am still not wearing maternity clothes. My heartburn has gotten worst this week, but I think it is because I have been eating turoni's pizza lately. Their pizza gives me heartburn worst than any other kind for some reason. Other than that I have felt pretty good. I am still tired in the evenings and afternoons. My boobs are still sore, but seem to not be quite as bad. I just can't believe it is already 16 weeks and that we will find out what we are having in 2 1/2 weeks! I am hoping that we will have everything finished on our house inside by easter. That means all the new interior doors painted, Lucas' room finished, Patio door installed, trim all painted, full guest bathroom painted, carpet in the octagon room, and nursery finished. That way in May we can hopefully get most everything finished outside and then we can enjoy our summer relaxing. I haven't been craving as much this week. Tomatoes still sound good with everything and I have been drinking a lot more milk. I have been sleeping a little better. I still get up once at night to pee, but I have at least been able to get back to sleep pretty easily. Every now and then I feel little flutters, but its not all the time and they are really faint. I am hoping this week I will get to feel them more regularly and a little stronger. I need to get on the ball with planning the gender reveal party. I have told a couple people when it is but I haven't really invited hardly anyone to it yet! That is on my to-do list this week.

15 Week Doctors Appointment

Today was my 15 week doctor's appointment! Everything went well, which is such a relief! I weighed in at 129 lbs. I was so happy to still be in the 120's. I am not wanting to see that 130 mark just yet. I know it will be here next time though. The baby's heart rate was in the 150's again. The other boys were in the 160's at this same time in the pregnancy and typically boys have slower heart rates, so I am thinking boy even more now. I have my ultra sound scheduled for March 26th which is great because Christian will be out of school and can be there with us. He will be so happy when I tell him. We will do the gender reveal probably on that friday. My doctor will be out of town, so my appointment with her won't be until the following week. She did say that if something bad came up on the ultrasound they would bring another doctor in to talk to me in case I needed to see a specialist right away or something. Hopefully that will not happen though. I always worry though after alisann had the single umbilical cord artery thing with Patrick that they will tell me something bad after the ultrasound. So far we are still in agreement on names, but nothing is set in stone yet. We will probably do a fish fry for the gender reveal since it is lent and we can't have meat on fridays. Jason isn't thrilled with this idea, but I haven't been able to come up with anything better so far! I think we are going to wrap up the onsie and have the boys open it for everyone. I hope these next three weeks go by fast! I am ready to know what this baby is and ready to start shopping and working on the nursery!

15 Weeks

I am 15 weeks pregnant this week! I weighed in at 129 lbs. this week. I am hoping that holds true at my doctor's appointment on thursday. I have been feeling much better and not really been gaining much weight so this all has me a little nervous for my appointment. I am still kind of craving tomatoes but I haven't really been eating them a lot. They just sound good on everything! I have also been loving Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich. This is not a good craving to have! I haven't really had a huge appetite lately which is different for me. It seems like my stomach is not digesting food very well. I will eat a normal amount and it takes forever for the food to settle and for me to digest it. I feel like it is just staying with me for so long and normally I eat a lot and I am hungry again in no time. My clothes are fitting more and more snug. I am wearing my size 4 jeans and some size 6 jeans now instead of my size 0 or size 2. My shirts seem to be shrinking in length and are  bit tighter, so i am now digging out my medium tops or extra long tops to wear. I am not wearing maternity clothes yet and hoping to get by with not having to wear them at all. I think I have felt a couple of flutters this past week and that has been exciting. Its still hard to tell for sure though. It could be just gas. Christian is dying to feel the baby kick! I am still not sleeping well. I get up at least once a night to go pee and I have the hardest time going back to sleep. Then I am so exhausted during the day and I have had no time to take a nap lately and that kills me. I have still been walking for an hour about 4-5 times a week. We walk a 15 minute mile when we walk which is a pretty good pace. I am anxious for my appointment on thursday to see when we can have the gender reveal!