Five Months - Half Way!

How Far Along: 20 weeks - half way!!
Size of the Baby: The length of a banana - and about 10 oz. (although two weeks ago we were told sweet little girl was weighing in at 10 oz already -- the 90% percentile. Gulp. The technician assured us this is no indication of how big she'll be when she's born.)
Maternity Clothes: For the most part, I'm still wearing my same clothes. My amazing parents bought me a couple of shirts, dresses and leggings which I'm excited about wearing. I got my first pair of maternity jeans from H & M and oh.my.gosh. Will I ever be able to wear normal jeans again? Maternity jeans are heavenly! Why don't all jeans come with an elastic band at the top?
Stretch marks: not yet.
Weight gain: +10ish pounds total
Sleep: I can't really complain - I'm still sleeping through the night (minus getting up to pee at least once).
Best Moment of the Week: The few days the weather cooled off!! I was dying in the 90+ degree weather. I normally love summer but not so much lately. I'm fully ready for the fall chill to grace the air. Boots, scarves, football, candles, fires - bring it on!
Movement: Still pretty sporadic. Last night I felt three little pushes in a row, not just flutters, but actually pushes. It was the best feeling in the world :-) 
Food Cravings: I eat Rubio's almost daily for lunch.
Gender: GIRL!
Belly Button in or out: In
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope (still so happy about this!)
Labor Signs: No
Wedding ring on or off: On
What I miss: The jacuzzi!!!! I don't know if it's because now I know I cannot sit in one for fear of boiling my baby, or what, but I think about it almost nightly.
What I am looking forward to: I'm going baby furniture shopping with my parents this weekend!
Nursery: I am torn between two color schemes! Once I make a decision, we're going to paint (and by we're I mean Brandon, haa).
Emotions: Well, I made the mistake of watching not one, but THREE live births on Baby Center. One natural, one epidural and one c-section. As beautiful of an experience as it is to see the baby come out and the mom hold them for the first time, I just don't ever want to see a vagina being stretched and torn in that way ever again. And I certainly don't want to think about my own looking that way. I think I still might be in denial that this is the only way this little one is going to come out.  

It's a ....

GIRL!!!!!! 

We could NOT be anymore thrilled! From the very beginning, Brandon and I have both had the strongest feeling that it was a girl. I just couldn't picture anything else. We had an elective ultrasound at 14 weeks, 5 days and they confirmed it was a girl, but I knew it was still early so I wanted to wait until my 18 week ultrasound to confirm. The sweet words, "well, she's definitely a little girl" were like music to my ears. It's weird how knowing the sex makes the baby more real. I felt closer instantly just being able to refer to her as a her, and not an it.

I finally got to splurge at Target and pick up all of the cute baby girl outfits I'd been eyeing. Oh my goodness, all of the little summer dresses and rompers and sandals are killing me! I can't wait to see her chubby little thighs peeping out the bottom. Both of the ultrasound techs mentioned that she already has long legs, which makes this stubby legged mama very happy :-)

Little legs with her ankles crossed :-)

Her little 3D face head on. She's smooshed there directly in the middle. Can you see her? I think her little nose looks like Cindy Lou Who from Whoville :-)

The best news of all is that she is perfectly healthy! I was so nervous going in for the appointment because they check everything. Brain development, the four chambers of the heart, the spine, the kidneys, the bladder, the bone development, the nasal bone. Everything looked great :-)

In good/bad news, I start my very last class of my Master's program on Wednesday. I'm so excited that it's my last one, but so burned out already that I don't know how I'll finish. I need to summon energy from somewhere, but after working all day the only thing I want to do is pin baby stuff haha. For this last class I have to put together a portfolio of all of my papers and projects and demonstrate to my advisor that I have met all of the objectives of the Master's program. Wish me luck! I will need all I can get.


18 Weeks

Brandon and I are slowly getting settled in to the new place. Our bedroom, garage, kitchen and both bathrooms are unpacked, but the amount of boxes still in the guest room baby room are overwhelming. As soon as everything is organized, I'll share pictures.

I contemplated making the bed just for the picture but decided against it.

How Far Along: 18 weeks
Size of the Baby: A large Mango
Maternity Clothes: I've purchased a couple of maternity shirts and dresses that are still too big. My bella bands are working perfectly :-)
Stretch marks: Nope
Weight gain: In total, about 9 pounds so far. It's definitely not that exciting watching the scale move every week.
Sleep: Still enjoying it :-) The heat has made it a little uncomfortable though. I'm so thankful every day that I will not be in my third trimester during the summer!
Best Moment of the Week: Spending most of the weekend in the pool! It's nice to have a tan again :-)
Movement: Brandon and I finally felt the little twitches on Saturday night! I could feel something fluttering on the inside, and quickly grabbed Brandon's hand. I didn't think he'd be able to feel it, but we both went "whoa" at the same time when peanut moved.
Symptoms: I'm still tired...I still have enormous boobs.
Food Cravings: Nothing specific - just food in general.
Gender: We'll be able to share this Friday when they confirm the sex - I'm so excited and hoping I don't have to return any of the outfits I've purchased :-)
Belly Button in or out: In
Anything making you queasy or sick: No, and I am thankful for this every single day.
Labor Signs: No
Wedding ring on or off: On
What I miss: having more energy
What I am looking forward to: We're having our quad screening and ultrasound this Friday, and I'm looking forward to hearing that everything is great and baby is healthy!
Nursery: still filled with boxes from the move.
Emotions: Pretty steady :-)

17 Weeks

This has been an exhausting weekend! We moved out of the tiny duplex that we were in, and into a cute little house complete with wood floors, a fireplace, TWO BATHROOMS (which I will never take for granted again) and a little backyard. Not to mention there is a community pool in the neighborhood :-) I see many summer evenings floating on a raft in my future. Thank you so much to all of the family and friends that helped us this weekend - we wouldn't have been able to do it without you! Especially poor Brandon who picked up a lot of my slack since I wasn't much help in the heavy lifting department. My mom helped me pack up our whole kitchen, and my mother-in-law helped me unpack the whole kitchen :-) In the midst of our move, I've also had to stress about completing my final project for my summer class. It's due tomorrow! But then I have a whole two weeks to lay by the pool every day after work before my very.last.semester starts.


Glamorous bathroom shot

How Far Along: 17 weeks
Size of the Baby: Bell Pepper. Peanut is also yawning which I thought was really sweet :-)
Maternity Clothes: Not yet, I've been getting by with dresses and my bella band :-)
Stretch marks: Not yet!
Weight gain/loss: +2? 
Sleep: I would sleep all day if I could - but it's not quite as comfortable as it used to be. I miss sleeping on my stomach.
Best Moment of the Week: We are FINALLY moved in to our new place! It was the longest weekend, and every part of my body is sore - but I'm looking forward to organizing and decorating our new house :-)
Movement: Nothing certain yet! There have been a few flutters that may or may not have been the peanut.

Symptoms: My sloth-like behavior continues - I still cannot manage to get off the couch after work. Growing a human being is hard work!
Food Cravings: Food in general - holy hunger!
Gender: :-) We found out a couple of weeks ago, but we'll have it confirmed next Friday!

Belly Button in or out: In...although it is starting to look a little different - a bit more shallow.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Knock on wood - no! 
Labor Signs: nope
Wedding ring on or off: On
What I miss: Still miss having as much caffeine as I want.
What I am looking forward to: turning in my last project for my summer class tomorrow!!  
Nursery: Our "nursery" is currently filled with boxes of all of our stuff! I'm sure it will be awhile before it starts looking at all nursery-ish.
Emotions: I have to admit that I started sobbing last week when Brandon got home from work and wanted to pack up the truck with boxes before eating dinner. I tried to tell him I was too hungry, and when he insisted we could do it quickly, I burst into tears. He decided it was best to eat first.
Stupid things I have done: Please see above.

16 Weeks

So I feel like a guilty blogger -- I know I haven't posted very often the past month, and when I have it has been pregnancy related. I didn't intend to have a pregnancy blog, but it seems like that is all that is on my mind lately! I hope that doesn't bore some of you away, but I'd like to document this whole journey for myself and Brandon to look back on some day. I haven't had that much time to blog recently between work, my summer class and packing to move this upcoming weekend! I'm hoping things will slow down sometime soon!

What kind of blogger have I become?
Snapping phone pics in the bathroom at work requires much less effort than my "real" camera

How Far Along: 16 weeks, 2 days - the 4th month! :-)
Size of the Baby: Turnip
Maternity Clothes: no, but I've been loving my new bella band. I'm still able to wear my regular jeans but with the bella band I don't have to button them!
Stretch marks: not yet, although I know they are lurking in my future - months down the road.
Weight gain/loss: 0/+1 pounds
Sleep: still my favorite part of the day!
Best Moment of the Week: We got the keys to our new place today! Moving commences this weekend -- eeek. Very excited to move out of our tiny duplex and into a house with TWO BATHROOMS and a wood burning fireplace :-)

Movement: not yet, but I should sometime during the next month
Symptoms: are enormous boobs a symptom? I'm getting nervous trying to imagine how monsterous they will be by the end of my pregnancy.
Food Cravings: York Peppermint Patties
Gender: :-)

Belly Button in or out: In

Anything making you queasy or sick: I'm golden as long as I eat every few hours.
Labor Signs: nope
Wedding ring on or off: On
What I miss: Still miss having as much caffeine as I want
What I am looking forward to: Feeling our little peanut kick
Nursery: Trying to decide on a color scheme
Emotions: Pretty steady. I'm learning that when you are pregnant everyone wants to share their opinions with you about the "right" way to do things. There are so many controversial topics: vaccines, breastfeeding, epidural vs. natural, and I need to learn early on not to let some overbearing opinions hurt my feelings. Ultimately, it comes down to Brandon and I making the best decisions for our family.
Stupid things I have done: Well, poor husband has been dying to see The Dark Knight so I bought tickets at the luxury theater (I plan to use my pregnancy to justify the need to recline in leather seats over the next 6 months anytime we go to the theater.) When you get tickets at the luxury theater you get to pick your seats online which is amazing because there is no rush to get there. Brandon was very clear about which seats he wanted me to select, which I did. Upon arriving, the doorman points out that we had purchased tickets for Monday...not Sunday. Of course Brandon looks over at me and I sheepishly declare, "I wouldn't have done that! We're at work on Mondays." So we hussle back to the front desk where she tells us that there are two seats left, but they're in the second row. We groan but accept. When we get back to the door, the doorman wants to see our IDs (it's a 21+ theater because you can order alchol.) Well, do you think I brought my purse? Nope. I've pretty much stopped carrying one. So Brandon blurts out, "Well, she's pregnant - so she won't be drinking." The man looks down at my questionable "gut" and ends up letting us in. Thank you trusting doorman! I got the stink eye from Brandon the second we sat in our second row seats. Thankfully our seats reclined because being in the front is no joke, we both left with kinks in our neck.