19 weeks

Baby Gray now weighs over a half of a pound! He's grown from seven ounces last week to eight and a half this week. From his head to his little bottom he is about six inches long. His brain is working overload on sensory development-smell, taste, hearing, vision and touch. My baby sources say he can probably hear Mommy and Daddy's voices by now. It's a good thing too because we're already talking up a storm to the little booger! Hair on his sweet head may already be sprouting, although we're not banking on that considering Mommy and Daddy's genes. I was born with a huge head of black (weird, I know) hair, it fell out almost immediately and then I was nearly bald until I was at least two. Paul didn't have much hair for a while either, so chances are good that we'll have a bald headed baby. And he will still be perfect :)

Here's what Mama is looking like this week...


There's not a huge difference in my bump since the last picture at 17 weeks but I'm sure that won't last. In just a couple more weeks, Gray will weigh over a pound.

We go a week from today for my monthly check up. Can't wait to hear sweet Gray's heartbeat again!

Gray's first gifts

Gray started receiving presents before people even knew he was a he. For Christmas my mom got us this sweet giraffe bedtime noise maker. It would have been used even if it were a girl, but it will be perfect in an elephant/African animal themed nursery.


Also for Christmas, my brother and sister-in-law got him this sweet little blanket set.


Nana and Grandpa (Paul's parents) also got him an adorable little blanket for Christmas that's in the shape of a teddy bear. A funny little side note about that actually...Paul's mom bought the blanket a couple of years ago and has had it saved away waiting for a grand baby ever since. She was so excited to give it to us. I wish I had a picture of it but we think it might have accidentally gotten packed away with our Christmas stuff.

The night before we went for our ultrasound, my mom gave us a pink bag and a blue bag. We got to open both and in the blue bag were these sweet little newborn slippers. These just make me want to squeal they are so dang cute!


My dear friend Abbie bought Gray something the day she found out we were having a boy. Daddy will vote for him to wear these daily until he outgrows them.


If you know Paul well, you know he lives in Puma attire. We've seen Puma stuff for toddlers but never for babies. Thank you Abbie, this could not be more perfect and it was so sweet of you to have already gotten our little guy a gift!

We picked out our nursery bedding earlier this week and Paul's parents have already ordered it!


I love it so much and just can't wait until we can start working on the nursery!! We are so blessed to be getting all of my friend Lindsey's nursery furniture for an incredible deal. It's white, which is my favorite, and there are five very nice pieces that go with it. Lindsey's youngest will turn two in April so she wants to wait until then to move him to his big boy bed. We're so thrilled to be getting it and will wait patiently until April when we can start setting up Gray's nursery.

We have one loved, spoiled little boy already!

And he shall be called...

Gray Christopher Hicks! It feels so good to have a name for our sweet boy. We've been deciding between that name and Paul Walker (he would be called Walker). Paul's middle name is Christopher and I wanted to use part of his name in either name we chose. We both have always loved the name Walker but Gray is very special because it is a family name. Paul's late grandfather and uncle were both Gray. As much as we love Walker, using a family name was important to us and we didn't want to regret not using it if we don't have another boy. But maybe our little family will consist of two boys and one girl and then we can still use all three of our most favorite names! In case you're curious, our girl name was going to be Ansley Elizabeth, which we will still use if we ever have a girl.

I also love Gray because it is very uncommon. I have always loved names that you don't hear everyday. I have known of one or two little boys named Gray and Paul has known one. All were very cute and sweet too, which helps us like the name even more ;) With Paul and I both being teachers, there are so many names we like but would never use because of certain memories associated with some particular children. And that's all I have to say about that.

Gray Christopher, Mommy and Daddy love you so much already! We pray for you every day and will continue to do so as long we live. We want you to stay warm and cozy inside of Mommy for a few more months, but we are already so excited to meet you!

Third time's a charm

Or at least we hope so! We just listed the house with our third realtor and are about to approach the third year mark since first listing it before we got married. We met with four different realtors back in the fall and feel good about the one we chose. All four of them gave us some good ideas of things we should do to spice things up and help our chances of it selling. A few months and a couple thousand dollars later, we are ready to give it another shot.

It would be great if the house sold and we were settled somewhere before the baby comes. That would all have to happen pretty quick though. If it doesn't, we'll be turning our tiny office into a nursery and we'll just keep on keepin' on until God says it's time. At least with a few home improvements, we will enjoy the house even more while we wait. Honestly, I have always liked the house a lot, it's just a weird feeling to know it's not permanent and because of that, it's never felt very homy to me. Not to mention that half of our stuff is stashed at my mom's and we seem to never know what's where. Having a house on the market is exhausting, both physically and emotionally. We spend every evening and morning making sure it's spotless, just on the chance that we might get a showing that day. And most of the time, in the past anyway, the buyer never even bothered to show up or provide feedback if they did. And then of course there was that one time that we finally got an offer, went under contract after the biggest drama and run-arounds ever, and were ready to move out and the buyer backed out at the last minute. That was lovely. Needless to say, we have fleshly reason to be apprehensive. But, we're trying to be content and trust in God's perfect will and timing.

Prayers are welcomed!

Week 18...and it's a BOY!!

Another week down, another week closer to meeting our sweet baby. We had our second ultrasound (first ultrasound was at 7 weeks) appointment this morning. We had been anticipating this day for many weeks, but the time spent in front of that machine was a million times sweeter than we even imagined it would be. All of baby's body parts and systems were accounted for and healthy, which was far better and more important news than waiting to find out what "it" was. She took all of the measurements and checked for everything before finding out what the sex was. As she was moving the wand around taking measurements, I heard her say "I know what it is", and as soon as she said that I knew it was a boy. A few seconds later she pointed out the evidence of him being a boy and there was certainly no doubt! We couldn't be more thrilled about our sweet little prince!

Our ultrasound tech was super nice and gave us 11 pictures of our sweet little man. He was facing down almost the whole time but he was moving his little arms and legs quite a bit. She was so patient and tried for a long time to get him to turn around so she could get a profile picture. He finally did at the end. The little booger is stubborn already. I won't mention which parent he gets that from. Mom and Gram, you can keep it to yourselves too ;) I am pretty certain I felt him one time when she was pushing hard on my stomach trying to get him to move. As I saw his leg kick on the screen, I also felt something inside of me that seemed like it had to be him. It was so quick though, and I didn't feel him again, or at least that I know of. In the next week or two, I should be able to start feeling his movements quite often. I can't even tell you how much I look forward to that!

Based on his measurements, our perfect little boy is about 7 ounces and 5 1/2 inches from head to rump, which is exactly what our baby sources say he should be at this week.

Here are a few pics from today...


Practicing his soccer moves and building up those calf muscles. Daddy is already so proud :)


The feet and hand pics are my favorite!



No question he is a boy!



After leaving the doctor and calling our family, we couldn't wait to go and buy something for Baby Boy. We only bought from the clearance sections but got several sweet little things. Between hand-me-downs, grandparents and great grandparents, I don't think we'll ever NEED to buy anything, but it was fun being able to pick out some things for him ourselves. Now that my mom knows that he is a he, a lot of his wardrobe will be sweet, hand knitted clothes.


With my heart so near and dear to Africa, there will be a lot of elephants and giraffes in sweet boy's nursery and clothing. I could not resist this hat...OH. MY. GOODNESS!!




Baby boy already has a sweater for his first winter. Gap clearance, 6 bucks!


We are pretty close to deciding between our two boy names but won't announce it until it's 100%. There's no going back once it's out there. Even being able to say "he" has been so much fun today. Paul and I feel so much more attached to him already after seeing him today. I could have looked at that screen ALL day!

I go back to the doctor for my monthly check-up on the 30th. Just two more weeks and we get to hear that sweet heartbeat again! God is so incredibly good!

Week 17

This week baby is about 5 inches long and weighs about 5 ounces. His/her skeleton is changing from cartilage to bone. Sweet pea is already starting to form body fat and sweat glands.

All of my baby reading sources tell me I am entering a growth spurt. Wait, I think they meant Baby...but that means I am too, right?! My bump seems to be growing daily and I continue to love it. I'm finding myself touching and rubbing it more and more. I still haven't felt any movement and may not for another week or two. I feel extremely blessed to feel as good as I do. I've been having a little shortness of breath here and there and can feel things stretching inside of me, which is often uncomfortable. I haven't slept through the night since I was about 7 weeks pregnant. Between 2-4 trips to the potty and trying my best to sleep on my side, sleeping is just more difficult these days. But if that's all I have to complain about, I'd say this pregnancy is going great!

One of the most common questions I get besides "Are you sure there aren't TWO in there?!", is people wanting to know what I am craving. Honestly I haven't had any real cravings but I do find myself wanting things I know I can't have, like a Beach Club from Jimmy John's (deli meat and sprouts) and I think it's definitely safe to say I am going through sushi withdraw. I am already dreaming about what my first post pregnancy meal will be. Other than that, I find myself being more picky than ever if anything. Things like chili, salmon and chicken that I used to love just don't seem too appealing to me at all. I can't eat nearly as much at a time either. It's like I can literally feel my skin stretching after just a few bites and it HURTS! But then about 2-3 hours later I am starving and feel like I haven't eaten all day. We've had a lot more leftovers around here, which is probably a good thing.

Here is what I'm looking like at 17 weeks.


Needless to say, I don't think anyone is questioning whether or not I ate too much over the holidays...it's quite obvious that there's a baby in there :)

One week from today we will know if we have a sweet little boy or a sweet little girl. I've had about half and half as far as guesses go. Some people think that because I am "all belly", that means it must be a boy. Other people are certain it's a girl. We have two boy names and one girl name picked out. If it's a boy, I think we'll decide between the two pretty quickly because I just can't wait to call that sweet little booger by name. We still have no idea what it is and are just excited to know either way. We already love him/her so much. This is simply the most amazing experience I've ever been through, and it's not even to the best part yet!

16 weeks

I am exactly 16 weeks today. Four months down, five to go! I can't believe how fast it's going already. I'm sure towards the end when I am waddling around and can't put my own shoes on, that it will be going by much slower. I have felt great for about six weeks now and am absolutely loving being pregnant! I am sure that will also change in another three or four months, but for now I am focusing on the positives. We went back to the doctor last week and everything is looking good. We got to hear sweet Baby's heartbeat again and seriously, I don't know of many better things in life right now. I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that I have only gained 5 pounds so far. I haven't been eating like crazy or craving anything yet, but I was certain that this growing bump was at least 10-15 pounds already.



As of now, baby Hicks has accomplished all of the following (just to name a few of course):

*though they are still growing and changing, Baby Hicks has developed his/her brain and all body parts

*hands and feet are no longer webbed and sweet Baby already has reflexes and is moving those arms and legs all around, although I won't be able to feel him/her for another 2-3 weeks

*his/her heart has already divided into four chambers and as of this week he/she is pumping 25 quarts of blood every day

*tiny teeth have begun to form, along with sweet little finger and toe nails

*Baby is already making and floating around in his/her own pee pee

*he/she is able to make facial expressions and suck his/her thumb

*he/she can now sense light and as of this week may be able to hear Mommy and Daddy's voices

(I hate all of the "his/her" but I just can't stand calling our baby 'it")

*Baby has grown from the size of a poppy seed to a 4 and a half inch avocado

Reading and learning each week what our baby is doing inside of my womb is one of the most fascinating things to me. I have become even more in awe of our Creator...what an amazing God we serve!

We find out in just two weeks from today what we are having. I sure hope Baby cooperates and isn't hiding his/her little parts. I still don't have any kind of feeling as to what it will be and I honestly still do not have a preference. Mommy and Daddy will just be thrilled to call this baby by name and start planning things in more detail.