18 weeks, pictures, and the hunt for a name

How far along: 18 weeks (tomorrow- Friday)

Symptoms: My nausea has FINALLY started decreasing and becoming far more manageable. (I finally gained back the weight I'd lost at the beginning and can actually do chores and move around without hurling. Sweet.)

I am dealing and will forevermore deal with headaches (migraines in particular) I'm afraid. They're pretty rough when you're pregnant because you can't take migraine meds, the tylenol/caffeine/lots of water/ extra sleep combo does nothing, and it's a pain. But, I'm used to dealing with migraines and so honestly I'd rather have that then the insane nausea. I usually get one bad one every week or two and it lasts a day or two. Way better than constant sick.

I'm also having some sciatic nerve problems... good times. I'm trying to exercise and all that now that I can actually function so hopefully that helps it, but like I said, I'll take anything over the nausea.

Sleep: I still have to get up once or twice a night (usually once), but I'm used to that now. In other news, I (of all people) didn't have many crazy dreams during the first trimester. But, they're gradually coming back now.

I had a dream last night that we were driving to my cousin's house and missed a turn. Somehow with a combination of road construction and a narrow road, we really had struggles turning around. We eventually turned into a floating speedy car and turned around and cut off three policemen who were carrying guns. The policemen weren't even in cars...they were running along the sidewalk (like out for a run) and so the fact that we cut them off in our car was problematic...aaaand we spent the rest of the dream trying to avoid them to make sure we didn't get a ticket. Lol. Who knows. I don't know that my weird dreams will ever have anything to do with being pregnant though because I had weird dreams before that trump them all.

Exercise: I go to a water aerobics class twice a week (seriously makes me feel like a grandma saying that but it's good). I try to walk lots. Now that the nausea is finally starting to go down a little I'm going to try to get up the courage to do my prenatal yoga and barre dvds... it's just that downward dogs and stuff are really tough when you're puking lol.

I have to say, not doing as much exercise the past few months besides walking has turned my arms into mush. I went to do some pushups the other day and was SO EMBARRASSED how weak I am now. I need to get on that...especially if our baby is anywhere near as big as Bryan and I were... I'm pretty sure we were both at least 8 pounds when we were born, and, though you'd never know it now, Bryan was in 12 month clothing when he was like 3 months... so my arms need to be prepared. :)

Memorable moments: We found out we're having a boy! We're excited. (I don't know if it's appropriate to put the "I'm a boy" part of the ultrasound picture here... but rest-assured it was very clear.) It was also pretty dang cool to see the little guy on the ultrasound moving around and stuff. #proudmommoment ;)

We surprised our immediate families with adorable "reveal cakes" that my cousin made. It was a lot of fun.

Looking forward to: Feeling him move more, our big ultrasound with the doctor in a few weeks, and the fact that it's summer! On a mostly unrelated note, I'm really close to finally being able to collect the data for my thesis study, so that's super exciting. I'm sure our son is excited about that too ha ha.

Miss anything?: You have no idea how great it is to not have to deal with as insane of nausea... so really I don't miss anything at all right now! :) Still sick here and there but an extended period of time dealing with really hard stuff makes it so you don't pine away for random stuff when it's over. You just count your blessings.

Great advice: I just finished the Old Testament, so I've started studying the Book of Mormon at the beginning again, and this time through I'm looking for anything I can learn about parenting and families. In just the first few chapters it's been really cool to learn about what makes a good parent through the example of Lehi. Here are a few examples of things I've learned (this deserves its own post later I'm sure):

-Good parents teach their kids the things of God and knowledge of the world (sciences, etc).
-Good parents set an example of prayer.
-Kids should hear their parents praising and worshipping God.
-When the Lord answers your prayers or teaches you something, you can often share that with your kids so they know that God hears us, answers us, and guides us.
-Families are promised that "the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance" (1 Nephi 1:20).... so if we're faithful, the Lord's tender mercies will deliver us. What an amazing promise!

Anyway, I'm loving my scripture study these days and I'm really excited to learn more about how I can be a good parent and have a righteous and successful family.

The hunt for a name: Of all things I could possibly be anxious about right now, (being pregnant, giving birth, having a newborn, having him become a teenager, etc), I am most anxious about naming this tiny human being. The pressure is INSANE, and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I THINK HIS NAME SHOULD BE! AHHHH! I'm really indecisive about names... poor kid may not have a name til he's born. Bryan reassures me that this is fine, but it scares the crap out of me. Just for the record.

I get daily emails from a "nameberry" website. Today it suggests names to honor civil war heroes for memorial day... names like Ulysses, Hiram, Grant (one of the only normal names on here and one that I couldn't ever use), Absalom, Alpheus, Ambrose, Braxton, Cadmus, Claudius, Cullen, Fitzhugh (we have a winner!), Green, Jubal, Rufus, Speed, Zealous, Zebulon... 

Hmm... 

If you have any names you just love and never got the chance to use or something, we're open for suggestions! :)