pregnancy

6 Comments Posted on parenting, Pregnancy, Spirituality, Uncategorized

Dear Holly or Logan: Your Biblical Middle Name

18 weeks.

Dear Holly or Logan: Your Biblical Middle Name

Dear Holly or Logan,

We are just 6 days away from finding out, and 7 days away from announcing to the world, whether you are a boy or a girl.

Over this past weekend while we were in Destin for your brother Jack’s 5th birthday, Mommy and I finalized what your middle name will be.

Either way, your middle name will be Biblically based.

If you are Holly, your middle name will be Joy. Originally it was going to be Jane. I personally love the name Jane so much. However, Mommy pointed out that “Holly Jane” sounds a bit like “Mary Jane.” We didn’t want your named to be synonymous with marijuana.

However, if we ever have a 3rd child, and she was a girl too, the plan is for her first name to be Jane. I just love that name.

So Mommy chose Joy instead, for your middle name. Your middle name will serve as a reminder that in life, we must choose joy.

The Bible is full of reminders of the importance of “choosing joy” in the Lord despite what happens in life. One example is this verse, 1 Thessalonians 16-18:

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

If you are Logan, your middle name will be Jeremiah. This is a name I had originally picked for your first name, but Mommy and I decided we wanted you to have a shorter first name.

While I was in college at Liberty University, one of the guys in the dorm room next to me was named Jeremiah. He is the only person I have ever known with that name, but I really like it.

The Biblical reference there is in the verse, Jeremiah 29:11, which is this:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD,” plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Just this morning your brother Jack was watching an episode of VeggieTales on Netflix called “It’s a Meaningful Life,” in which the theme was that we are not here by accident; that God has a special plan for each one of us.

The name Jeremiah will serve as a reminder that you are special in the eyes of God, as he has a special plan for you; as He does all of us.

So now we will wait about a week to find out what your middle name is; but more importantly, whether you are a boy or a girl.

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly or Logan: We’ll Know in 13 Days Whether You’re a Girl or Boy

Week 17.

Dear Holly or Logan: We’ll Know in 13 Days Whether You’re a Girl or Boy

Dear Holly or Logan,

Yesterday Mommy went to the doctor for her newest check-in. The doctor confirmed you sound great. And to our surprise, she slid up the date in which Mommy and me and your brother Jack will find out whether you are a boy or a girl.

That is great, because that’s about 2 weeks earlier than we were expecting. That visit will take place on November 25th, just about a week after Jack’s 5th birthday.

Your heart rate is about the same as your brother Jack’s was; which may be an indication that you just might actually be a boy; despite my heart still telling me you’re a girl.

Apparently, typically it’s girls’ heartbeats that are faster than boys’.

I’m excited to find out, but more than anything, I think I’ll be relieved just knowing either way.

Are you Holly or are you Logan?

By the way, I didn’t even realize it until Mommy brought it up last night, but just like clockwork, her nausea has finally went away now that she is in her 2nd trimester with you.

I am so happy for her that she doesn’t have to constantly suffer in that way, like she had to do for the entire 1st trimester.

This week Mommy found a good deal online on Huggies diapers and some wipes. So Tuesday evening, I brought in a big box from the front porch.

Your brother Jack help haul the contents of the package piece by piece.

Therefore, your fairly empty bedroom is beginning to fill up.

I assume that by default, we’ll be more prepared for your arrival that we were Jack’s. For me especially, I feel that even though it was 5 years ago when Jack was born, I’ve now got the basics down of “what to do with a brand-new baby.”

Love,

Daddy

1 Comment Posted on Health, parenting, Pregnancy, Storytelling

Signs of Life from the Womb: Family Friendly (Mommy) Blog

Guest Blogger: Jill Shell

Let me just start by saying, pregnancy truly is an amazing thing.  The act of taking cells, that individually by themselves would just be cells and combining them to make another human life, is undeniably a miraculous thing.  But along with the beauty of the creation of life, comes the sometimes unforgiving and relentless attacks and changes to the body, mind and life of the new mommy.

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Now, I don’t want to complain, but you know that since I just started a sentence with those words, that I am about to complain, right?

What is with the nausea, the hunger, the tossing and turning at night, the pains that start turning up in random places in your body, the clothes that don’t fit right, the leg cramps, and some of the other strange occurrences that you barely want to share with your closest friends?

It seems appropriate that you should expect to endure one or two of those things, but how you get chosen to experience all of those is beyond me.

Forgive me because I know I do not have the worst of it and each pregnancy is different for every woman.  And despite their annoyances, I do consider it a good sign that these signs are present because often times in pregnancy you fear the worst and sometimes these little nuances can be the confirmation you need to know that all is okay.

Again, I don’t mean to sound like the Debbie Downer of pregnancy, but it’s just a reminder of the labor of love that we get to experience (and let’s give some credit to our significant others, family members and friends who support us through it all) as we take this journey.

On a slightly heavier note, this little blog entry here is just a forum to share these light-hearted thoughts (and maybe, just maybe, get a little empathy from those around me).  I recently read in a magazine that 1 in 8 couples struggle with infertility and I know far too many people who have been affected by this news.  I can only imagine what they must go through, and I certainly do not take that lightly.

Okay, sorry, I can’t end on a heavy note.  Want to hear a funny story?  Okay, so do I.  Please add a comment with your funny story and make us all laugh.

Leave a comment Posted on funny, parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized, vegan

Dear Holly or Logan: Daddy’s “Sympathy Hunger Cravings”

15 weeks.

Dear Holly or Logan: Daddy’s “Sympathy Hunger Cravings”

Dear Holly or Logan,

Mommy is now officially one week into in her 2nd trimester with you. I have noticed her nausea has seemed to have majorly subsided since crossing that line.

However, her hunger cravings are on still on full speed! And as for me, I’m along for the ride and enjoying it…

After all, it’s only right that I should “sympathize” with her hunger cravings. The best way for me to do so is to join Mommy on this!

She and your brother Jack made some vegan chocolate chip cookies this weekend. And yesterday, Mommy had me pick up some vegan cake from Whole Foods.

(And Halloween is coming up this weekend. I can only imagine the temptations Mommy will face!)

Until now, we’ve never kept fruit juice in the house, because truthfully, it’s just sugar water with vitamins. It’s a processed food so we stay away from it. Once the sugar is extracted from the fruit’s fiber, so much of the nutrition is gone and it just becomes a classier form of high calorie junk food; mostly empty calories.

But here lately, Mommy has been craving grape juice, so now we always keep some in the fridge.

It had been about 6 years since I had enjoyed a nice full glass of grape juice. Because I used to have eczema (dyshidrosis), I had to stop drinking juice because it always instantly flared up my rashes.

But now that I’ve been a vegan for 2 and a half years, I guess it somehow flushed out my body of the toxins causing my eczema to even go back into remission.

Therefore, I discovered that I can now get away with drinking grape juice again! It’s like candy to me!

I see it as a bad habit that I am enjoying a little too much right now. However, this is the time to live it up. (I’ll need to pull the plug on that once you are born, though.)

Your development inside of Mommy’s tummy is causing her to crave more of stuff she wouldn’t normally want. So I might as well enjoy a little bit of the fun along the way.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Holly or Logan: Daddy’s “Sympathy Hunger Cravings”

2 Comments Posted on Health, parenting, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

Family Friendly (Mommy) Blog: Jill Shell on Pregnancy Hunger Cravings

Family Friendly (Mommy) Blog: Pregnancy Hunger Cravings

People often ask me what type of cravings I am having now that I am pregnant.

This used to be a funny question to me because when I was pregnant with Jack, I felt like I had virtually no cravings at all.

Actually, aside from the horrendous leg cramps that crept up in the middle of the night throughout the second trimester, I felt like I had very few “normal” pregnancy symptoms throughout the duration of it.

Well, I can tell you for a fact, I have cravings now!

It’s not the old fashioned “pickles with ice cream in the middle of the night” cravings; it’s the “you name it, I want it” type of cravings.  For example, I was talking to a co-worker one day (who also happens to be preggers, too) and she mentioned how she stopped at Panera to grab a breakfast sandwich on the way to work.

Now, I am vegetarian not a vegan (because I don’t have the will power to say no to ice cream and things of that nature at all times), but because Nick is vegan, I often eat more of the vegan fare, which means we stay away from foods with animal products (no beef, no chicken, no fish, no dairy and definitely, no eggs).

Just a few months ago, I think I had even convinced myself that I was allergic to eggs.  But wouldn’t you know, as soon as my friend began talking about that breakfast sandwich, the brain in my stomach started churning and demanding some eggs.

When I got home that night, nothing sounded good to me, but an egg and cheese sandwich, and I barely ate my dinner.  Hours later as I laid myself down to sleep, I made my plan to get up just a few minutes early to make it into the Panera closest to work.

When my alarm rang, I got up without even so much as a hitch in my step and was out the door 10 minutes sooner than I had been in weeks.  I was second in line in Panera and couldn’t wait to get my hands on that egg and cheese sandwich.  And, even though my mouth suffered a few burns from eating it so quickly, it was just as every bit of delicious that I had needed it to be.

Please do not ask me how many times I have been back to Panera to get this same sandwich . . . it’s a little embarrassing just how much this little baby wonder in me is causing me to crave things I wouldn’t normally care about.

And, don’t even get me started on meat (blackened salmon and steak have never sounded so tempting) . . .

https://familyfriendlydaddyblog.com/2015/10/26/family-friendly-mommy-blog-meet-jill-shell/