Weekly Update- 20 Weeks

How far along: 20 weeks- Half baked!!!

Total weight gain/loss: -3lbs still. I am down 14lbs where I was with Miller at this point. I am kind of scared that I am going to start gaining 5 lbs a week to make up for my lack of progress so far.

Maternity clothes: I think that I look pregnant especially in my maternity clothes but I actually have to tell people that I am pregnant. Apparently it is not as obvious as I feel it is.

Stretch marks: Nothing new.   

Sleep: I have been sleeping fine even though I keep waking up on my back. I think I have been doing a little too much lately and I am so worn out. Just overall exhausted and achy.

Best moment this week: We started working on the nursery this week. I love nesting and making a space for our baby girl in our home. We are pretty far along already and I am hoping to get it done soon. The Fall is going to be hectic and I am already pretty sore trying to do everything at this point, so it will be good to be done soon.

Movement: I swear that Miller was more consistent by this point. I feel her move everyday but there are some days where it is a while before kicks and it makes me nervous.  

Food cravings: I really only ever want sweets. All other foods I only eat because I have to.

Food aversions:  Apparently, I am not a fan of meat. We made sloppy joes one night and while Ben was browning the meat, it started smelling funky to me. Ben and Miller are fine with it but the smell makes me sick and we all know that smell and taste are connected. So I have been having to find something else to eat every night while Ben finishes them off. It makes meal planning super hard when half of our normal foods are off limits.  

Gender: Little lady

Labor Signs: So far away from that

Belly Button in or out? When Miller gives the baby a kiss he checks my belly button too. I assure you that it is still far back there.  

What I miss: I miss feeling like I can relax. I have a stern deadline to get a lot done before December. Plus, I like to keep busy but I know that I am pushing myself too much now. At least I am at the point where most things I can sit and do.

What I am looking forward to: I am looking forward to doing more of this nesting.  

Weekly Wisdom: I thought I was crazy for being so gung-ho on getting the nursery done soon but the other girls at playgroup agreed that it was smart.

Milestones: I am so happy to be in the 20’s. I remember the 20 weeks were nice because you are far enough along that people know you are pregnant, but you are feeling all right and not uncomfortable yet

Weekly Update: 19 weeks.

How far along: 19 weeks (these teen weeks are dragging)

Total weight gain/loss: -3lbs still

Maternity clothes: Before getting pregnant, I was so excited to be able to wear my maternity clothes again. Now, I am already tired of them. I have two pairs of shorts and a dozen of the same tank top in different colors that I rotate in between a couple of dresses.

Stretch marks: No news is good news here.  

Sleep: We have been SOOOO busy this week that I pass out and do not wake up until I hear Miller.  

Best moment this week: Officially finding out the gender this week was awesome. Even though we already knew, it was great to get confirmation and share it with everyone.

Movement: She has some days where she barely moves and then others where I feel her all day. I do think I am feeling her more though. She definitely responds to certain noises, such as her brother screaming and making noises. This bodes well for the future.

Food cravings: I am constantly forgetting to eat so no real cravings. Eating is such a chore that most days I have to remind myself that I HAVE to eat and it is not just for me. Meal planning for our family is about absolute torture!

Food aversions:  I am still staying away from same old foods but nothing specific here.

Gender: Baby GIRL!!!!! We are so excited. We were right all along in our guess which makes us 2 for 2.

Labor Signs: Heck no!

Belly Button in or out? Not going to budge

What I miss: It has been sooooo hot outside and I have been overwhelmed with lots of stuff that I need to start doing now that we know what the baby is, I could really use a nice, cool glass of white wine to take the edge off. Basically I miss being able to relax and not be so worried.

What I am looking forward to: At this point, I feel like the only thing I am looking forward to is holding our baby girl. In reality, I have lots of projects to do before she arrives and I look forward to all that nesting.

Weekly Wisdom: I have heard lots of people say things about little girls but none are anything surprising. “Have fun shopping”. “Ben is in trouble”. “Get ready for the drama”. We will see what our little girl is like. I am hoping she is at least more easygoing than her brother.

Milestones: Being able to find out the gender and have the rest of our anatomy scan is a pretty good milestone.

Gender Reveal: It's a..........

 

  GIRL!!!!!!

I have a confession- we actually found out what the baby was two weeks ago when we were in Tennessee. One of the doctors that my mom works with generously offered to do an ultrasound and look to see what our little bug is. We have been convinced that the baby was a girl since we got pregnant and the ultrasound was just confirmation. Although, for the past  two weeks I kept getting afraid that it was too good to be true. I was obsessively looking up ultrasound pictures on-line trying to convince myself for sure that we were blessed with a little girl, giving us one of each. As soon as I would start looking on-line, I realized how unmistakably those were girl parts.

Here is Miller's ultrasound to compare. (Yes, I am showing off my kids private bits but at least it is only on a blurry ultrasound).

At our official anatomy scan this week, the tech asked us what we thought but neither of us wanted to admit our unofficial ultrasound. The tech looked and looked but little lady had her legs crossed. Ben said, "Good, and they better stay that way". I finally fessed up to our other ultrasound and showed her the picture from that and she said that was definitely a girl. She was finally able to get her spread eagle but did not see anything and when she went from a different angle, she saw her girl bits.

We are beyond thrilled that Miller is getting a little sister. I have always dreamed of having a daughter and I am so excited for the way things worked out. I was thrown for a loop when they told me Miller was a boy because I had no idea what to do with a boy. Well that little man has taught me so much about love and I could not imagine life with out that funny guy. I am ecstatic that I had him first so he can be a protective big brother to our little girl. I feel like this is the family I always wanted and here it is. I am enjoying being pregnant and do not want to rush it, but tears well up in my eyes when I think about holding both of my babies in my arms at the end of this year. That is the best Christmas/birthday present I could ever think of. (Although, second best would be both kids sleeping through the night from Day 1 but we will get there eventually). 

Weekly Update: 17 and 18 weeks

So I slacked off last week (I am sure no one really missed it though). The day that I turned 17 weeks was the Fourth of July and it was a pretty busy day. We were in TN and visiting with family. I did not even end up filling in my questionnaire until 3 days later.

How far along: 17 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I still have not budged. Down 2 lbs. 

Maternity clothes: The flat spot is still there, ugh! Some days I feel like I am so big and obviously pregnant and then others I feel like I am barely showing at all. 

Stretch marks: Same old, same old.

Sleep: I have been so tired lately. Both of the kids are wearing me out. Thankfully Miller sleeps in as long as we do not have to get up and be anywhere.      

Best moment this week: We got to do an ultrasound and see the baby kicking while I could feel it.

Movement: There is lots of wiggling going on in there. The baby had a lazy day on Tuesday and had me all worried but made up for it on Wednesday.

Food cravings: Every few days, I get a craving for Christmas cookies. I think it is because the baby is due around then and I keep thinking to that time of year. Thank goodness I have some frozen sugar cookie dough and buttercream frosting.

Food aversions:  We had a shrimp boil and after the first night of it, it is not that it tasted bad to me, it just did not taste appealing to me anymore. Normally I would pawn off the food on Ben but I can not do that with shrimp.

Gender:  We are pretty confident in our guess but are waiting to say anything until our anatomy scan on 7/16.

Labor Signs: Seeing this question on here even makes me nervous. We have a long way before I even want to think about this.  

Belly Button in or out? It will be stuck in the whole time like it was with Miller.

What I miss: I miss not feeling so sore and tired all of the time. I am just always hobbling around and never feel like I am all there. Lately I have been having headaches, which makes me just foggy and sleepy.

What I am looking forward to: I am looking forward to the official anatomy scan and telling everyone what our little bug is.

Weekly Wisdom: I cannot think of anything for the life of me.

Milestones: Baby is starting to hear. I thought that they could by their reactions when some noises are made but I actually read that somewhere this week.

Here are some pictures from our latest ultrasound. 

Miller ran over to my side, pointed to my belly while he watched the screen and said, "Baby!!" He might actually understand this whole  thing. 

We have been in Knoxville for our whole 18th week.  

How far along: 18 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Still down 3lbs which is funny because one book said I should have gained 10- 13 lbs by now and with Miller I had gained 7.5 lbs.

Maternity clothes: Definitely in maternity clothes. There are certain things that I prefer since they make me look pregnant and not awkwardly fat.

Stretch marks: Nothing new here.

Sleep: I have slept pretty good, despite two horrible nights of Miller getting in bed with me. I am trying to not sleep on my back since I know my doctor will tell me at my next visit that I am not supposed to but I keep waking up that way.

Best moment this week: It has been so fun to be able to make plans and do some shopping while we have been in town. 

Movement: A few times this week, it is like the baby is putting on a show. Once it was when Grandma asked if I had started feeling movement and they wanted their presence known. They seem to be a little slow in the beginning of the day, just like mommy.

Food cravings: Nope, nothing specific.

Food aversions:  We had burgers for the 4^th of July and I only got a half of one. I am glad that I did because after a few bites, it had a weird taste to me. Not sure what is going on with me and meat this pregnancy.

Gender: It will be official next week. Our anatomy scan is bright and early on Tuesday morning. I am so excited but nervous. I am just hoping everything comes our clear and we do not have any false anomalies like we did with Miller.

Labor Signs: Nope!!!!!

Belly Button in or out? Still super far back there.

What I miss: I miss not worrying about every little thing. Part of me wants to rush through the pregnancy so that I know I come out of this fine with a perfectly healthy little baby, but then I know once the baby is here, I will miss being pregnant. I felt this same way when I was pregnant with Miller.

What I am looking forward to: Our official anatomy scan next Tuesday. Then we can tell the world what our little bug is.

Weekly Wisdom: I am so nervous about our anatomy scan next week but Mom keeps telling me that I am being silly, which I know I am. I just cannot wait to hear that everything is fine come out of the ultrasound tech’s mouth next week.

Milestones: Baby can hear now. I am pretty sure that theory has been tested a few times already. The baby jumps at certain noises which I find funny because they are the same ones that Miller did. It is probably more that they can hear the same things from in there but I like to think that it is similarities between my babies.

 

Beach Trip '13- Final Night

See we were vacationing with other people, they just kept alluding my camera. 

Miller's signature posing move is catching on. 

Look at that little farmers tan. How darn cute is that?!?!

Mom bought some glow bracelets and pieces so we took them out the beach our last night. See how far the boy came in a week. Just 5 days before, we could not get him to put his feet in the sand or water and at this point we could not keep him out of it.

Silly girls!

He got a little too brave and would jump in the deep end by himself. 

Finishing Ninny's drink.

One of my favorite things was to look at the moonlight in the ocean. Such a pretty reflection!. 

Overall, it was a great trip. I was nervous about handling Miller and sleeping in the same room with him but besides the first night where he slept with us, it was fine. I really enjoyed our first family vacation and can not wait to have more in the future.

Beach Trip '13- Days 4, 5 and 6

Miller playing with Daddy's hair. 

This is an outtake from the pregnancy announcement pictures. I am only sharing it because I love that he is pointing to the board and saying, "TWO!!" He has been learning his numbers lately and I love that he recognized it. 

 

When Ben and I were planning our honeymoon, while everyone was going somewhere with a beach, I said that my pale, red headed husband was not made for the beach. I did not realize then that this was the perfect plan.

We would get up in the morning, eat breakfast, apply sunscreen and then head down to the pool and beach. We would spend a few hours down there and then all go upstairs for lunch. Miller would run around and play while we ate and then I would put him down for a nap. After that, I would head back down to the beach where I would read while my pale husband hid from the sun and supervised naptime. See how that worked? I get to go relax at the beach, while Ben got to play on his computer, all while the baby sleeps. Win, win!!

The last few days, Miller started to wake up early so he was exhausted by naptime. On this day, he asked to sit in bed and watch a movie. Then he asked to be covered up and then his pacis. We came back a few minutes later to this. I love this kid but he is never cuter than when he is sleeping!

We finally had to make him wear his puddle jumper because he got a little to brave and wanted to be in the pool by himself. 

Look at that, walking on the sand, willingly. He finally got used to it.

Yes there was a pirate ship that passed by our spot in the beach a few times. 

The best picture we could get of me and my Miller where my pregnancy bump does not look  awkward.

One bump picture from the beach. (I normally am against posting shameless bikini pictures of oneself but I am sharing for any family that might be curious how the baby baking is coming along).

That little boy and his brother brought down that big truck. Miller stalked it for about 20 minutes. He would walk by it slowly while looking out of the corner of his eye. He would just happen to drop a toy near it. Here he is hiding behind his toys while he would peak over and watch it. 

I have one more update that I will post later this week.