What's in a name?

For most girls they dream of what they will one day name their children. I was definitely no exception. I kept a notepad in my phone of all the names I came across along the way that I may one day consider naming my children. Zach would laugh at me as I would take notes about why I liked them. I always had the perfect name for a girl and then the MOMENT happened. You know, the moment when you are in the grocery store and the Mom is screaming at her brat child that wants every toy in the store. Then she yelled it, she yelled THE name. It was MY name. The one I had been dreaming of naming my sweet little angel baby. It ruined it.

So I began to search for names that I loved. I have always loved old fashioned names. I have a niece named Hattie Belle, which I adore. Zach and I both really loved Stella. When I searched for what the name meant it seemed perfect. Stella means "Star" and to us, that is exactly what she will be.

Her middle name has even more meaning to me. For as long as I can remember my Great Aunt Ruth has been a HUGE part of my life. I have always considered her more like a grandmother. My Aunt Ruth is exactly the kind of christian woman I aspire to me. She loves the Lord and her family.She knows how to have a good time, shop til she drops, and I feel like every time we get together we are cheap entertainment for each other. We laugh SO hard. It was the small things that Aunt Ruth would do that I loved so much. My brother Jacob and I always loved the big plastic bubble wrap. We loved to pop it. Aunt Ruth would bring us this almost every trip she made to see us, which was often. We visited her too. She lived in Overland Park at the time. We would always go to Royals games, the pool, or shopping. Visiting Aunt Ruth was always such a good time for me and I still enjoy our visits, especially our special Branson trips.

So there you have it, Stella Ruth Sikes. I love it and I can't wait to put a sweet little face to my precious little Star. :)

Gender Reveal

Dear Sweet Baby,

This week has been one for the books! I kept a secret! A big secret! Your Dad and I were told that we could not find out if you were a boy or a girl until December 6th at our next ultrasound. However, I found out through a friend that we could know sooner if we did a 3D/4D ultrasound at 16 weeks. So we told your grandparents we were waiting until December and we went to the 3D/4D ultrasound. It was the week of Thanksgiving so I knew we would see everyone and we would be able to surprise them. This is a little bit of how our week went.

Monday: We went to stork vision for our first appointment. Your Dad and I were both SO nervous. I was chatty Cathy in the waiting room and your Dad was all focused on business (the way he does when he doesn't want to allow himself to be nervous). As we walked into the room a sense of calm came over me as I realized more than ever that whatever sex you were, we were going to love you SO much. That's when the lady showed us between your little legs. She said "You see there, right between the legs, there is nothing there. It's a GIRL!" I was overcome with excitement. I began to cry. Then she said, "Well, I'm not sure. I can't be positive. The baby doesn't want to move and I can only give you an 80 percent." Then she said she would like us to come back the next day and said I would have to drink some sugar or caffeine to get you to move more.

Tuesday: Tuesday was one of the best days of my life. I haven't had a caffeinated pop in 3 1/2 months or so. This day I had a small diet coke from sonic and felt like I could run a marathon. Apparently so did you because you were doing flips in my belly. We got so many good pictures of you. We also found out that 100 percent you were a little girl. I was thrilled! This day I ordered 2 cakes for your grandparents so that we could surprise them.

The Cake

 

Wednesday: I bought your first baby outfit from baby gap. I'm not HUGE on pink things, so I settled on a sweet pair of courdoroy overalls with tiffany blue polka dots and a matching head band of course! It felt so nice to buy something for you! This was the night that we also surprised your Grammy and Papa Don. Below are some of their reactions. This was so much fun that I cried when your Grammy cut into the cake. I was so happy that she was getting the grandaughter she always wanted.

Great Grandma Connie, Grammy and Papa Don before cutting the cake

 

 

Cutting the cake..It's Pink!

 

I cried..So Grammy cried too!

 

This was such a special night for both of us. We were so excited to share the news!

 

 

 



Thursday: It was a very Happy Thanksgiving. We spent lunch at your Grammy and Papa Don's house and drove to Barnsdall for dinner with your Nana, Papa Kenny, and Papa Phillip. This was when we were going to surprise my side of the family. Your Nana's reaction was priceless and I loved every minute of it.

 

I was so happy we kept this a secret! I enjoyed every minute of surprising everyone. We are so thrilled to be having a sweet little princess. :)

Butterfly or Baby?

Hello my little Burrito!

Something AMAZING happened this week. Since I have been pregnant I have had trouble sleeping. I wake up almost every night without fail around 3:30 and I stay awake until 6 or so. This usually causes extreme drowsiness all day and my days have been mixed with my nights to say the least. A few nights ago I was going through my nightly insomnia when I felt something amazing. It felt like little butterflies floating around in my stomach and it didn't go away. It just kept happening. I googled the next day to make sure I knew what I was feeling was my little prince or princess and not just gas. Everyone on google says the first time you feel your baby it feels like a butterfly or a tickle, so it must be true because google doesn't lie. I came up with a theory that once you arrive you will probably be wide awake from 3:30-6 so I better get used to this nightly routine. Either way, I will enjoy cuddling you anytime. Until then, you can continue to move around. At least I will be awake to enjoy it. :)

Love,

Momma

Pookie

Dear Sweet Pumpkin,

Today you are the size of a navel orange. Something sweet your Dad and I do every Sunday is read my baby bump and What To Expect Apps before we even get out of bed. He makes me read it aloud and then he gets excited and wants to talk to you about how you are growing. His favorite part is finding out what size of fruit you are. It's something silly the app does. We laugh often because it's sorta funny to picture a whole fruit in your belly. Well, at least I find it humorous.

Your Dad and I have very odd terms of endearment for each other, almost embarrassing. It started because Zach was raised in a family of 3 boys and a bunch of boy cousins. If you can imagine, it was hard to know how to treat girls or know what to call them if you were never really around them growing up. So that's how he began to call me Princess Face. Not Princess, not Sweet Princess, just Princess face. I thought it was kind of cute. I immediately responded by calling him my Pookie, always have.

You should know a few things about your amazing Dad and my Pookie. He is a Guy's guy for sure. There is nothing soft about him. Most of the time, he is a bull in a china closet. It scares the life out of me to think you are a little fragile girl that he could one day be playing with. Every week, I have a new bruise or bump. It's that bad. But I love him for it and God knows he tries.

For being this way, he is also sensitive. Not mushy, but sensitive. He HATES when I cry or when anyone makes me mad. He immediately goes into fix it mode. He's the one that loves to snuggle at night while I prefer my space.

He's the handiest man in the whole wide world. He can stain concrete, fix plumbing issues, install blinds and drapes, put together any complicated piece of furniture, fix a truck, and more. I mean it, this man is HANDY.

He's a caretaker. He always makes sure I'm taken care of. If I'm sick, he takes care of me. If I'm stressed he talks it out with me. If I'm hungry, he will cook for me. Granted, its usually oven pizza but hey I'm easy to please.

My favorite part about your father is that he is a man of God. His Dad and Mom raised him right. He prays with me, for me, and for you EVERY day. He introduced me to our church home and I can't wait for you to be a part of it.

I know that one day you will love Pookie just as much as I do. :)

Princess Face

Week 14 Baby Scare and God's blessings

This past week has been somewhat awful to say the least. Our little baby decided to give us a big scare. Although I won't get into the disgusting pregnancy details, Zach and I have spent two nights this week and have had an extra appointment with our Dr. On the way to the ER the second night, I prayed that God would send us the right Doctor and nurse staff to answer our questions, make us feel at ease, and find answers for us. All of that was answered and more. Not only did we have the BEST ER doctor that night, he sent us to an ultrasound tech that spent 20 minutes showing us our baby. Our first ultrasound was kind of a let down because we only spent 5 minutes or so looking at the baby. This time we saw the legs and arms moving around and doing circles inside my belly. It was AMAZING. Plus, he printed some pictures for us to keep. :) I feel so relieved that we FINALLY figured out what was going on with my body and we were able to receive answers to any questions we asked. Baby Sikes is right on track for our May 5th delivery. Although, the ultrasound tech said that his head was big. Imagine that. I just knew I would get a baby with my husbands head. Darn my luck. Now..can I schedule that C Section?

Hunka Hunka burnin' love..Baby's first Elvis experience

Dear Baby,

Last weekend I took you along for a little adventure. I picked up Aunt Donna and Mom in Coweta for a weekend getaway to Branson, I love it there (I really am an old soul). We made a pit stop at the famous Lamberts, home of the throwed rolls.

These women absolutely crack me up.

 

 

The ride up seemed so quick as we talked and caught up on everything. We talked about when you would be born, if you were a boy or girl, how much fun we could make your baby shower etc. There were a TON of laughs.

 

We met sweet Aunt Ruth and my cousin Brian in Branson. Mom made us spaghetti for our first night (I got to pick). The condo was beautiful and relaxing to wake up in. We shopped til we dropped, ate too much, and laughed more than you can imagine. The big reason for our trip was to see the famous Elvis impersonator, Tony Roi. Your great great Aunts were SWOONING over him. It was quite hilarious. You would have to see his moves to believe them so I've added a picture below. Besides, he could end up being related to us one day. Donna is set on making this happen.

 

 

 

 

 I'm sure that you had a good time. Mom told me on this trip that she could see my baby bump. I guess that means your growing up. Must be all that spaghetti and orange juice I'm lovin' these days. I can't believe you are already 14 weeks old in my belly. 2 weeks until we hit the 4 month mark and you celebrate your first Thanksgiving. I'm sure I'll feed you well and I won't even feel guilty about it. I've added a few pictures from our trip for you to laugh at one day.

 

Aunt Ruth (you COULD be named after her one day), Aunt Donna, Momma

 

 

Your Silly Great-Great Aunts

 

Nana, Aunt Donna, Aunt Ruth, Momma

 

 

Love,

 

Momma