Week 28 Update... 12 Weeks To Go!!!

And GOODBYE to Trimester Two!!
 

I remember how excited I was to enter the second trimester at thirteen weeks. It feels like forever ago, yet the time flew by so quickly! The last stretch is finally here, and I'm getting more and more excited with each week! I cannot wait to meet my little man!

Movement: Vaught is a playful little thing! He's starting to kick a LOT, and when he does, I poke at wherever he's kicking. After a few seconds, he'll kick back. If I stop poking at him for a minute or so, he'll start going nuts! It makes me think he's going to be a happy, playful baby! You can totally see him kicking around now. My belly jumps all the time. I've made a few videos of it and plan on sharing them on my Instagram at some point.

Craving: BBQ sauce. On everything. I really like tater tots from Sonic with some of their yummy BBQ sauce! I've not had any major cravings though; I've not had to get up at 2AM just to go get pickles or olives (by the way, I still hate olives). When I get a craving for something, I usually just go get it and then the craving goes away. I definitely indulge when the need strikes! I have craved Mexican food a few times lately, but I haven't eaten it in weeks. I'm waiting on a reeeeally good opportunity.

Weight Gain: As of my appointment Tuesday, I'm sitting at a total gain of 16.2 pounds. My doctor was impressed and happy with the loss from that 12 pound jump and just wants me to continue monitoring until due date. I so wish that at around week 38, assuming I make it that far, I could just start shoving food in my mouth and enjoy at least a whole week of the "typical pregnancy" some women have where they just don't give a shit and eat what they want when they want. But I know that's not a good idea, even for the tiny women who do it! Healthy mama, healthy baby!

Glucose Test: I failed. By 6 little points. My blood sugar was 146, and their cut-off is 140. Some offices dictate 135 and some say 150 is the magic number. If only I went to a 150 office! I seriously could have cried. I was so disappointed, but then my doctor came in and explained that he wasn't worried about it. There could be a multitude of reasons why my blood sugar was elevated and most women fail by wayyy more than 6 points. Even still, I will go back in three weeks for the three hour test, and he thinks I'll do just fine. I can't help but feel a little... Helpless. I'm trying to have the "perfect pregnancy," realizing at the same time that it is not possible. It's yucky and annoying sometimes, and we have absolutely no control over some of the things our bodies are doing. Having gestational diabetes is one of them. Either I do or I don't, and I've got to get over it and stop worrying. If I do, it's okay. I've stayed healthy and will continue doing so. If not? When I leave my OB's office on July 22nd, I'm headed straight for the Mexican restaurant for a humongous, well-deserved quesadilla.

Up Next: Bathing suit for the beach has been ordered! Check out this super sexy number in cobalt. No, I will not post any modeling pictures. I'd hate to put a virus on your device. I also ordered a black tankini top to match some hot pink bottoms I have from last summer.

Vaught's room is coming along very nicely! I recently got a duvet cover and shams on clearance for $11 at Target, as well as navy curtains for $10! Carousel Designs, where his baby bedding was ordered, is also running a 4th of July sale where everything is 20% off, so I got him a changing pad cover last week for $32! A few nights ago, Eric and I put his Eddie Bauer play yard together (pack-n-play, basically), and I got his crib mattress, so we are almost set!  I just need some minor décor items, and I want to get even more organized in his room! It's getting more and more real! He will be in my arms in three months or less!

 

My first baby shower: August 3rd, hosted by two of my best friends, Cheslin and Anna Kate! I'm so excited!!! One of the main things I'm looking forward to?? Anna Kate's coffee punch: my favorite!

Twerk-n-Jerk: One of my July goals is to work out at the gym four times a week. Sometimes I get lazy and might only make it there once or twice. When I work out at home, I'm not as motivated; I move slower and take more water breaks. Usually my dogs will interrupt me, so I'll play with them for a minute or two, often totally forgetting what rep I was on or what exercise I was even doing. At the gym, I move fast and get a lot of work done in less than an hour. Where do I get my workouts? Michelle Marie Fit.  I am obsessed with her workouts, and they can be tapered to fit any woman's workout style! A few of the ones I've been doing lately are below. Give them a try! You feel incredible afterwards!

For the days when I have only half an hour :)

I get a serious burn from this one for several hours!

Gotta keep the legs in check; pregnancy has made mine thicker!!

Belly Shots

I know I should probably wear more fitted clothes for these pictures, but I hope it's obvious that the roundness and poke-out-ness is all baby!



Every Thursday I have to go take belly pictures for my dad in our bathroom at work... He says it's his favorite thing about Thursday now :)

 

I can't believe we're only twelve weeks away from meeting face to face! I cannot wait to hold this little guy! My friends with children keep telling me that there's just something about little boys and their mama's; I can't wait to find out!

Disney Movie Club, Free Stuff, and a Very Valuable Lesson

 

     In my adult life, I am learning a very important lesson. You'd think that after hearing the warning from my parents, teachers, even my husband, I would learn my lesson. Coming from a twenty-three-year-old who's bought her own home, you would assume I would know to always do this, right? To do what? you ask. Ugh. Let me just tell you, to show you what a complete nutcase I can be...

Read what you sign.

     Read it thoroughly, read it twice, three times if you need to. Because the last thing you want is to end up with a dispute that can't be settled because "Ma'am, I have your signature here saying that you agree to the terms... I'm sorry you didn't know that you had to let us know you didn't want the DVD offered within ten days before we charged your credit card for it..." Yes, this is all in reference to my joining the Disney Movie Club. (There's a happy ending to this, I promise).

     It seems as if a bunch of us ladies drank the same Kool-Aid and all got pregnant from doing so at nearly the exact same time. I say this because I have five or six pregnant friends on social media right now, and we love keeping up with one another. I don't know a couple of them all that well, but in a way, I feel like we are just a big group of sisters who can relate to one another and share all that we're currently going through in our pregnancies! So, when two of them posted something about having joined the Disney Movie Club and how they got their first four DVD's for only a dollar (no shipping either!), I jumped for joy. Sign me up! I thought. I was a big Disney fan growing up; I saw Disney on Ice several times, and my mom always took us to see the new Disney movies on opening weekend. A few months later, she would purchase the VHS for us to watch and the cassette tapes with all the music for us to listen to on our radios. I got to go to Disney World when I was five and absolutely loved it. Of course I want our little darling to watch the same Disney movies that we did growing up; although the new stuff is okay, there's just nothing like the classic Cinderella, Lion King, Snow White, Pocahontas, and so on! I visited the website at work one day and signed up. This is where I have to admit that I merely skimmed the terms and conditions... "purchase five DVDs at regular price over the next two years," blah, blah, blah, yeah I can do that. I entered my credit card number and was charged precisely $1 for my first four movies. They arrived just a few days later.

     That was late February. Around mid-April, I received a DVD (Thor 2) that I had not ordered from DMC at what looked like no cost. I thought, Oh, it must be some promotional thing from the website. Since then, I received three more DVD's, including a Blu-ray copy of Frozen. A few weeks ago, maybe around the beginning of May, I tried to get a tank of gas using my credit card. It was declined. Now, I'm no good at paying off the balance every month (don't scold me, I'm a teacher), but I knew that I had at least a hundred dollars in credit on it. At least! And I hadn't even used the card in nearly a month. So, I was stunned that my card was declined but couldn't worry too much about it right then. Thankfully, I had my debit card.

     When I got to school, I logged onto my credit card account to check recent transactions. I was already worrying that maybe someone had hacked the number online and had been using it for over a month! When I pulled up the list, I almost wished that's what had happened, for I saw that the Disney Movie Club had charged me over $80 in the past two months. If you're wondering how that much got past me, just know that this is a card I rarely use, so I don't check the balance on it often. I logged on to my DMC account to see what was up. When I logged in, a notification immediately popped up to inform me that DMC had unsuccessfully tried to process my credit card for my fourth movie. WTF?!

      Anyway, I feel compelled to make a long story short and get to the second part of this entry, the fun part about free stuff. I was able to pull up the agreement that I "e-signed." There it was. In a nutshell, if you didn't notify Disney Movie Club via mail or online within ten days that you did not want to receive (and be charged) for the latest special offer(THOSE ANNOYING THINGS I GOT IN THE MAIL AND JUST THREW AWAY), your credit card would be charged for the offer and the DVD would be sent to you. Ah. Well, that explained the four DVDs I'd received! I felt like a complete airhead, but at least from there on out I didn't throw away any of the stuffed envelopes they sent me in the mail!

     One day in late May, I decided to go through the envelope just to see what all they had stuffed in these things. I was about to toss it in the trash (except for the special offer part; I had it stamped and ready to go so that they would know I did NOT want a copy of the limited edition Peter Pan), when I noticed something that always seems to catch my eye in our daily supply of mail: gift cards. Not just any gift cards though, gift cards that had the word FREE on them. Not just any gift cards that had the word FREE on them though, but gift cards that had the word FREE on them and also had cute BABY stuff on them. So, free baby stuff? I had to check these out. Four coupons were enclosed (see photo above), each one for a FREE: nursing pillow, nursing cover, baby sling, and carseat canopy. These were all things I had registered for already, but if I could get them for free, why not?! I logged onto the website for the Carseat Canopy first. I picked out a gray chevron canopy and proceeded to check out. The only thing I had to pay? $11.95 for shipping. Okay, so it's not 100% free necessarily, BUT these canopies are typically $40 or $50; I was still getting a deal by only paying for the shipping! I'm sure I looked like a total goob, bouncing up and down on our bed, thrilled to death about my "free baby stuff" with my husband sitting there rolling his eyes at my excitement. I had a hard time deciding what cute design I wanted for the other things, so I just ended up getting the baby carrier sling and the canopy (when I got the sling, I couldn't figure out how to use it, so it's wadded up in a drawer somewhere). I spent a total of about $20 in shipping for both items, and I plan on ordering the nursing pillow and “udder cover” very soon. Now, I guess we'll have to wait and see if I slipped up and didn't read something and will now be billed and shipped a new canopy every month at full price :) But I don't really anticipate that.

6/24/14

     I began writing this post in early June and came back to add to it today because my mother-in-law called me earlier after ordering me a nursing pillow, udder cover (basically, a nursing cover, if you've not caught onto that), five pairs of leggings for Vaught, and a carseat canopy set. She had all these free coupons too! We put two and two together and realized that we somehow both ended up with the exact same coupons. I hadn’t yet ordered the other stuff I had offers for, so I was so appreciative that she had. She picked out a blue minky nursing pillow (big and super soft—perfect for supporting Vaught while feeding him or just holding him), a super cute nursing cover (probably the same design I would have chosen myself), and a camoflauge carseat canopy set that includes four additional pieces for the carseat. Pictures are below! I can’t wait to use the carseat canopy set, and I’m glad to have two of the canopies. The camo is so cute for our little boy! 

The canopy I picked out. Thought about having monogrammed, but I don't think I will; I can reuse it for Baby Pace #2! 

 

 

               So yes, the Disney Movie Club did cause me a minor headache, but I suppose I should take 99% of the blame. In the end though, I got over $200 worth of neat and VERY useful accessories for Baby Pace that I cannot wait to use! I think I'm going to save the things my mother-in-law got for me and open them at my first baby shower on August 3rd! I still have the gift cards I didn’t use on my bedside table, so I hope to order extras of what my mother-in-law picked out—a nursing pillow and udder cover to keep in the car or diaper bag, perhaps! If you think I'm a total moron for all the trouble I went through just to be able to post this blog, I suppose we could blame it on the pregnancy brain. I'm twenty-three years old and bought my own home and vehicle and spent hours reading over the paperwork for both before my pen ever even touched the paper (no, really--it took me four hours to sign for my car). I promise, I'm not a complete bozo.

And even though I totally didn’t mean to, I have officially fulfilled 80% of my commitment by joining the Disney Movie Club; I now only have to buy one more DVD!

Read what you sign, people. Very rarely does not reading work out this well!

What It Is & What It Isn't

     No, I'm not trying to rap here. I'm talking about this blog. Since I've made it public to my family and friends, and social network acquaintances, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback, which I love. But I've also received a lot of questions too:

"Well, what's the purpose of it?"

 "Do you just talk about your life?"

 "Is it a blog about your pregnancy?"

 "Who is your audience?" 

     It's hard to answer it all to so many different people, so I decided to write a "brief" history of my blog, followed by an explanation of its role in my life now, to maybe clear up some of these common Q's.

     When I started the blog in 2010, it went by a different name, and I wrote entries about college and sorority life mainly. I've deleted many of those entries now because I would also talk about the nutcase of a roommate I had at the time and an unnamed friend who was suffering from an eating disorder (not negatively, just in general). I sounded so vain and immature sometimes. I would never release my full name or where I lived; it was like an online diary, I guess. I didn't really filter anything I wrote. 

     I grew bored with the blogging world and didn't really mess with it for nearly three years, but in the summer of 2013 (precisely a year ago), I came back with intentions of making this domain a health and fitness blog where I could journal new healthy recipes and smoothie mixes I was trying. I had also planned to begin blogging my workouts, which were pretty intense for a while, and list my muscle gain and fat loss along the way, but I never got around to it. Once again, I suppose I just lost interest.

     When I discovered I was pregnant, I came back to it and renamed the blog "Keeping Pace." One of the main questions I've been asked, even from my husband, is why Keeping Pace? What does the name mean? Well, if you're keeping pace, it means you're keeping up. It's a play on words; my last name is now Pace, so you're keeping up with me. Get it? Clever, I know. I decided that although I wanted to refrain from making it a blog about my pregnancy or baby, I really did want to keep the site up-to-date with interesting articles and lifestyle columns.

What it is:

      Lately, I have written a lot about my pregnancy; this is a lifestyle blog after all, and pregnancy is currently a pretty big part of my life! Plus, there's just so many interesting areas to explore with pregnancy. I really like being a member of the Baby Center community; I never post anything on the discussion boards, but I love reading the discussions and thoughts of other mothers; it gives me an inside look to how different all of our nine month journeys really are. Much of what they say inspires me for what I write about here, concerning pregnancy and children of course.
      As my life changes, so will the content of my blog. I'm really looking forward to blogging more about health and fitness once Vaught arrives and I begin working on post-baby body. I'm a seasoned runner and weight trainer, so expect some good pieces on that in the future. I follow thirty-four week pregnant, WBFF competitor Abigail Edwards on Instagram and get a lot of my pregnancy workout ideas from her, and I would love to blog about those sometime soon. Basically though, a random thought or topic will just come to mind one day. I'll open the Blogger app on my phone and begin writing from where I am, be it in line at the grocery store or waiting in my OB's office.

     Keeping Pace is a place for me to let everything out and be 100% honest--not that I'm not in real life, but I think that we understand ourselves and our situations so much better when we're able to put them down on paper, in our own words. Yes, I know this isn't exactly paper, but you get what I'm saying. Keeping Pace is not a reveal all, tell-all, but it is the one thing that can be all about me or whatever is going on in my life at the current time. It's not like Twitter or Instagram, or dare I say Faccebook, where you don't have a choice but to see what I post or Tweet. If you're reading this, then you made an effort to come here, meaning you're interested in my life and/or what I have to say, which I LOVE. Seriously, I love how many readers I've gained since going public! Even still, you're reading truly by choice; I can put whatever I please on here, and if you grow tired of me, all you do is simply stop visiting. Because of that, I can write whatever I please. There's much that I'd rather not say on Twitter or Instagram because I don't want to offend anyone or hurt any feelings. But this blog is an open range where I feel like I can write about anything I want without having to tailor much of what I say. That's what I truly love about blogging.

What it isn't:

     As stated above, it's not my online personal diary. If you're looking for deep, dark secrets you won't find them here. This blog is not where I hang my dirty laundry, trust me :)

     My precious baby boy... I love how many celebrity gossip magazines are adopting the "No Kid Policy," meaning that they are refusing to print paparazzo photos of celebrities' children; they will only print pictures of famous children if the photos were made public by the parents (i.e.: Channing Tatum posts a picture of his little girl to Instagram with millions of followers; therefore, People Magazine is safe to use it as well). I would almost like to adopt a "No Kids Policy" with Vaught. Yes, I will post plenty of pictures of him, I'm sure, but this blog is not the place to do it. Also, I do not want, and am very adamant in this, a "Facebook baby," where it seems like my child's entire life is documented on Facebook, or any social media for that matter. Before deactivating Facebook, I vividly remember a friend of mine posting question's about her newborn son's recently circumcised penis, open for all Facebook friends to see. And people were answering her questions like it was nothing. Maybe it was okay to many of them, but I just completely disagreed with it. To each his own, but personally, I would never, ever put stuff like that out there for everyone to see. First, out of respect for my son. Secondly... it's just not what I want to see on social media. And I don't want to do that to other readers. So, this is not a place where you'll read all about my son's life as he grows and develops into the handsome little stud I know he'll be. I'm extremely personal about pictures of young children and babies being everywhere, and this definitely is not the place for that.

     A ranting page. This should be quite obvious because I don't have any posts where I'm just throwing a fit. I've seen lots of blogs like that though... the writers just seem so angry! Who wants to read that?? Some of it's entertaining, sure, but this is not the thing I'll turn to when something or someone pisses me off. Positive vibes only!

     To sum it up, Keeping Pace is one of the things I am happiest about in my life. I know that probably sounds weird, but I love writing; therefore, I really love my blog. It's a place where I can be myself without worry and a place I can connect with other bloggers. We all have interesting things to share and talk about, and I love reading about others' lives and experiences. If you're reading, then I want to encourage you to continue doing so. It makes me so happy to log on every day and see the page view tab keep going up and up. It's inspiring and makes me want to go even further with my blog. Once Baby Pace arrives, expect my entries to tailor slowly back to the "lifestyle" area, with many articles about fitness, health, and of course, post-baby body updates. I'm seriously considering enrolling in a bootcamp after baby and tracking my progress, scary as that might seem right now.

 

You're not going to see breastfeeding selfies nor any opinion articles on breastfeeding here :) You're not going to be forced to listen to me whine and complain about the hardships of being a new, young mother. Keeping Pace is a positive, happy place. And I am hopeful that you'll continue keeping up with me.

Our Lives Are Not Over.

image from Glamour.com

"I've lived a very big life, and I don't feel my age, and I feel like I was born to be a mother... Sometimes people speak about [having kids] like, 'Your life ends--you're never going to be able to do anything again!' And I'm like, 'What are you talking about?' Motherhood is the most beautiful, exciting thing."

     This quote comes from 24-year-old actress Hayden Panettiere, from her May 2013 issue of Glamour magazine. I fell in love with it after I read it, for even before I became pregnant, I knew that what this beautiful, talented young woman was saying was very true. 

     At sixteen years old, I swore off marriage and children. I just knew I would never get married or reproduce, two things that absolutely terrified me to think of, even hypothetically. When Eric and I began dating when I was 18, I started to think that maybe this was a guy I could marry some day. Maybe marriage isn't so bad. Maybe! Then at 21, I knew it was him. I wasn't sure of very much else, but I knew he was the man God sent for me. And although marriage was still a pretty scary thought, my decision to become his wife was one I felt sure of. Being married to him makes me the happiest girl in the world. In a world full of uncertainties, our devotion to one another is the one thing I can always hang my hat on. And that makes me happy.
     Then comes the thought of children. I still didn't want any, but I married a guy who did. I told him we would need to wait a few years. Maybe when I was 27 or 28 I would feel more at ease with the idea of motherhood. In the back of my mind, I think a part of me hoped that after it was just us two for so long, Eric would no longer want children. I know--selfish, right? But sometime shortly after our wedding, I happened to pick up Hayden's issue of Glamour (and it was almost an accident--I thought she was Scarlett Johansson at first glance of the cover), and I read and reread her interview a dozen times. My favorite part? The part about motherhood, of course. Here was this absolutely stunning 23-year-old woman who was willing to say, with confidence, that she feels like she was born to be a mother (and rumor has it that she is pregnant now). It was enlightening because that is, after all, a large part of God's purpose for woman. The idea of motherhood suddenly not only seemed possible for me-- it began to sound appealing.
     Even still, you can read Baby Pace's story and know that we weren't really planning for him, so I want to talk more about what went through my mind when I realized he was coming. Other young mothers and mothers-to-be should understand that it is perfectly acceptable to feel this way... At 20, 21, 22, as I watched (on Facebook, mainly) girls from high school, even some from my graduating class, become young mothers. I would laugh and think, Bless your little heart; your life is over. After those two positive pregnancy tests, I kind of thought the same thing to myself, I admit. What happened to all of my plans and my aspirations? What's going to happen to my body, and will I ever look the same? Will Eric and I be as happy with a third person in our home as we are now? What about all the stuff I wanted to do first? Can I really do this? Yes, all of those things came to my mind. In all honesty, it took a good week for the news to really resonate with me; I wasn't this giddy, happy pregnant girl at the first sight of a pink plus sign. When I announced our big news, I was almost afraid of what people would think and say. All of my friends know me as the girl who was never having kids, who claimed to strongly dislike them even, and would wear many titles in life, "mother" never being one of them if I had it my way. In their minds, I feel like so many of my friends and family kind of laughed at me after announcing the news (and I do hope it was with good humor). Others may have thought the same thing I used to think of all those girls: Well, your life is over.
     In this interview, I think that's the barrier that Hayden is trying to break down. To all the girls and young women who make crude jokes about pregnancy, our lives are not over. If anything, they have just begun. And you. have. no. idea. what. you're. talking. about. Are we scared? Yes. I think any new mother would be crazy to not be at least a little. Are our lives about to change forever? Well, of course. That's motherhood, dear. And I'm hearing that it's a pretty incredible change. But are our lives "over?" Are we officially going to be bumps on the mommy logs who just sit around all day wiping away spit-up and filling bottles? Nah. At least not all the time. Our lives are not over. Not in the least bit.
      I never really saw myself in these shoes (swollen feet and all), but now that I am, I couldn't be happier. Every kick reminds me of the miracle that's taking place within me. It's so amazing, I cannot even begin to describe it. The first time you hear that little heartbeat, you've never been more sure of anything in the world except how badly you yearn for this tiny person in the making. Suddenly every decision you make revolves around this little one; you do everything with him in mind, and you shudder at the thought of harming him in any way. Your entire outlook on life changes. To be honest, my plans are not important anymore. I was supposed to at least have my Specialist's degree before Eric and I even considered babies. And it will happen (I'm still trooping through the Master's program), but it's not important anymore. I was supposed to run my first half marathon in New Orleans the first week of February; after finding out I was expecting, I decided not to, for fear that I might suffer a second miscarriage. I couldn't bear the thought of the possibility that I could cause this child any harm by running thirteen miles. I was supposed to do a lot of things in my mind. It's not important to me anymore.
     It's not a walk in the park, and I think that's part of the beauty of this journey, and yes, it is beautiful. I still get really anxious and scared sometimes. As a matter of fact, I had a complete meltdown on Memorial Day. It was silly, but in the midst of my family having a good time at my house, I retreated to my bedroom, laid down, and cried for nearly an hour straight, due to something that arose in the conversation we'd been having that had frightened me. Upon realizing something was wrong, my mother found me, and I cried to her that I was terrified at the thought of not being a good mother. I expressed my fears of not being able to provide or give him everything he needs. My mother hugged me and told me I was being silly. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear at the time, but I knew she was right because she's never been wrong before about things like that. This is all 100% normal, and if you've had children and say you've never felt this way, you know you're kidding yourself. Yes, it's beautiful and wonderful, but it's also scary. Marriage is a huge step, but motherhood... Motherhood is one giant leap of faith into the unknown.

I can't say that I'm going to do everything perfectly as a new mother or that I'll even know what I'm doing half the time. The first few weeks may be all about survival and doing whatever I've got to do to get a little sleep and keep my sanity. But I do know that I'll be okay. I can't say for sure that I'll ever get that doctorate's degree, though it is still an enormous goal for me. I can't say for sure that I'll end up running a half marathon or that I'll open my coffee shop when I'm older (another dream of mine). But these things aren't so important anymore.

My life is not over, and even if all of the above never happens, I feel as if I now have more to look forward to than I could ever imagine.

 

Proverbs 31:25 "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she laughs without fear of the future."