A-men!

(Click the picture to see the full size version... much easier to read!)

Another milestone!

I absolutely could not keep this one to myself... this morning I was working away on a plan for one of our affiliate bank groups, and when I sat back to ponder something for a second, I felt a little "bubble burst." I froze for a second, then came two more right after it.

Seems the little one wanted to let me know that he/she is in there! I can't believe I just felt movement for the first time. Soooo amazing! What a great start to the weekend!


16W6D

First College visit at 16 weeks gestation?

This weekend we made the trek up to Penn State for a day of wandering around campus and hitting some of Shaun's favorite spots for food and drink. Despite the bum knee acting up (as it would have whether or not I was pregnant) I managed to have a pretty good time. I'm still trying to find out if the Dark Horse ships or not... I have a feeling I will be craving their wings quite often!

Avocado baby and I are doing great now. Still no movements that I can feel, but I'm sure they aren't far away. I'm trying to enjoy what kick-free sleep I can get for the time being. The weird dreams are more than enough to keep me awake at night. The body pillow Shaun wrangled for me helps a lot though; I had a tough time without it on Saturday.

I'm still very anxious about the upcoming appointments; 2 weeks+ till I see a midwife again and 4 weeks + until the anatomy scan. Every day I look down at my belly and I wonder whether we'll be saying hello to our son or our daughter soon. We aren't far from when the baby will be able to hear my voice, and I can't wait to have a name to call him/her when I say hello.

Here's hoping the next few weeks go quickly so we can get to the fun stuff!


16W2D

15 Weeks...

Saturday the baby reached 15 weeks and the size of an apple. You'd never know it was still that small by my growing midsection. I am starting to show in earnest now, which is actually really cool. Now I don't feel like I have to wear a bunch of layers to hide the extra pounds I've put on - I can show my cute little bump proudly. And I'm finally doing it with some maternity style. I found a couple of shirts on sale at Kohl's on Friday evening. It was disappointing to walk into the dressing room with 6 or 7 shirts and walk out with only 2, but I guess that's just life. I found absolutely nothing at Target either. Disappointing, but hopefully That will change soon.

I know last week I was a little freaked about my maternity pants, but after mixing them in with my regular pants throughout the week, I am convinced that pants with no waistband are the secret to happiness. They're a little difficult at moments (especially in combination with the Bella Band), but overall they are super comfy. Plus the extra layers are good since it's roughly the same temperature at my desk as it is outside right now. I'm curious to see how I'll feel about the "secret fit" belly when I'm 8 months pregnant in June.

Other than the new clothing adventures, I don't have a whole lot to report on the baby front. I'm still feeling pretty good, and looking forward to the first flutters of movement I'll hopefully be feeling in the next few weeks.

In other news we have rearranged our living room for the first time in the nearly 3 years we've been in our house. It was definitely a nice change. We're currently shopping for a chair to increase the seating capacity of our living room, hoping this will make us a bit more apt to entertain post-baby. Other than that we are just looking forward to our trip to State College this weekend; it's going to be cold, but I relish any chance to get away even for a night. Those things will be coming to an end, at least for a while, soon enough.


15W3D

Latest Appointment

I saw a midwife again last night for a brief visit. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler (155 BPM) and she said everything felt fine. We discussed my increasing heartburn (fairly normal) and skyrocketing weight, and she said that since I am small and was "underweight" when I began my pregnancy (which I don't agree with) I am going to put on more weight than some. As long as my blood pressure is in check there isn't too much to worry about. My blood pressure was down from my last appointment (I think the elevated reading was just a side effect of seeing the baby for the first time) so I feel better about the fact that I've already put on 15 pounds.

So my next two appointments are also set; I see a midwife again on February 11th. Then I go back on February 25th for... the BIG ultrasound! Mark it on your calendars, hopefully baby will be all about showing off the goods and we'll know whether it's a boy or a girl that day!


14W5D

Coming to terms with my expanding... everything.

Coming back to work from a 2 week vacation last week was a real shock to the system, in more ways than one. Although I had been feeling physically better for a week or so, I found that not being able to snack on a second's notice made things a little tougher on my tummy. By mid-afternoon on my first day back, I was feeling the blah's all over again. The other surprise was that over the two weeks off, my work pants had shrunk! Or my butt had grown... although I prefer to think it was the former. The final straw came Friday night though, as we were getting ready to go out to dinner with some friends. My jeans (which had been snug but still worked if I wore them unbuttoned with a Bella Band just a week before) would no longer tolerate the stress. I couldn't even pull them up over my hips.

I finally broke down and decided it was time to invest in some maternity clothes. Even though this was something I had been looking forward to, I have a REALLY tough time spending money on clothes so as it is, then you throw in the fact that I'm only going to be wearing these for 6 months or so and it really irks me to have to shell out big bucks for this stuff.

At least it was super easy to gather 3 pairs of pants that suited me. I pulled two different styles of work pants and a pair of jeans into the dressing room, and was relieved to find that all three styles fit the same, which means I can order from Motherhood's website with confidence that what I choose will fit. They are also a bit big, which means I should have room to continue to grow into them and not have to buy a larger size later on. Right now I need to use the bella band to keep the pants up, but that's OK with me. After all, that's part of what I purchased them for.

The only really irritating thing to me was trying to find shirts there. It's tough right now because I am in between regular clothes and maternity wear. I could probably go find some cute flowy shirts that would suit my body for a bit, but I am afraid that like everything I already own, they will be too short to hide the funky, waistband-less look of my maternity pants. All the shirts at Motherhood seemed expensive to me, not to mention that I'm basically trying to shop for 3 seasons all at once (things I can layer over to keep warm now but will be cool enough to wear into June and July). I'm hoping to get out to Target sometime soon to have a look around at what they have.

SO - 3 pairs of pants, a pair of shoes (time to ditch the heeled boots in favor of something more practical and less likely to help me fall), some new knee-highs and a few bras in my new, larger size later, I am starting to gather the makings of a wardrobe fit for a mommy to be. Thank goodness for Christmas money! I promise, I'll be working on those thank you notes this week...

14W2D

Getting the house ready already?

I know it seems a little crazy, but with 6 months to go we are starting to get the place ready for baby. Today we started and finished painting the soon to be nursery. Mand did it feel good to get something done after all the time we spend being lazy this vacation! I didn't take any before pictures, but it's not hard to imagine plain white walls where the colors now are. :-) So, without further ado, here is baby G's nursery with paint:

Before too many questions pop up, no, we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl yet. Blue is my favorite color and this combination is one that I really love, and Shaun liked as well. We figured no matter whether we're having a boy or a girl that we'll be able to decorate the room in the colors we love and still have it work.

Besides that, our registry is all done for the time being, furniture and all. I am really excited now! I know I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but I can't help it. This is just too damn much fun.

12W6D