Bump Date | 25 Weeks | Baby Has a Name!

So there it is! Our sweet boy will be named Grayson Brooks. We are so in love with his name :)

How Far Along? 25! {15 weeks to go! That is just nuts.}

Size of Baby: a whole foot long and weighing in at over a pound and a half!

Gender: Boy, boy boy!

Weight Gain: 6 pounds total. Finally getting somewhere!


Stretch Marks: No, thank goodness. But my belly is starting to get a little itchy if I forget to lotion up when I get out of the shower. I'm trying to make sure I never let that happen.

Maternity Clothes: Yep! Slowly but surely I'm getting a pretty good collection going. Still in search of the perfect work pants and jeans.

Nursery: Getting better every day! We completely finished painting, Nick installed the new light fixture {which promptly blew up. Not a user error, just a crappy fixture so we will have to try again with that one}, child safe outlets, and dimmer switch. Next up,  new carpets and baseboards, the project is scheduled and I'm totally dreading it but I can't wait for it to be done.


Purchases: Yeaaa... I may have gone a little crazy with the monogrammed layettes on Etsy this week.

Movement: Yes, and absolutely loving every minute of it. I felt him get the hiccups the other night for the first time which was such a funny feeling. I could see every little hiccup move my whole belly. So precious. Lots of direct kicks to my ever shrinking bladder.

Symptoms: Acid reflux and heart burn. There's no way to avoid it. It's not even caused by certain foods. Basically if I eat anything or drink water, I'm paying for it.  I've been drinking so much milk with every meal. Like 3 glasses with dinner. It's the worst when I get in bed. Tums are pretty much the only thing that keeps the reflux under control. I'm thankful for the delicious berry flavors.

Sleep: So all over the place. Some nights are great. Others are terrible. Mostly terrible.

Cravings: All things dessert. Smoothies, vanilla yogurt, cheese cake.


Food Aversions & Morning Sickness: Still avoiding most meats but trying to make up for the loss of proteins with lots of nuts and trail mix and things like that.

What I Miss: Nothing, I love this so much.

Best Moment of This Week: A few family members were able to feel him move at a family birthday party last week. That was pretty special. Starting to feel him moving more consistently throughout the day, and definitely those awesome hiccups. Listening to his heart beat at our last doctors appointment and scheduling all of my doctors appointments from here on out. That definitely made this all feel so real. Our little anniversary weekend was so special. It's crazy to think this is the last one we will have without a little one!

Looking Forward To: More nursery progress! Even with the room completely empty I love going in there a few times a day. I've been imagining how it's going to look when everything is done and I am just so excited.


Workout: I was able to get in a few yoga videos and walks with the dog.

Bump Date | 22 Weeks

How Far Along? 22!

Size of Baby: A spaghetti squash. That's getting to be a big 'ol bebe in there!

Gender: Boy!

Weight Gain: 2 pounds as of my last appointment.


Stretch Marks:  No sir! Belly oiling it up allll the time.

Maternity Clothes: I'm having a real hard time here. Maternity clothes do not fit me. Regular clothes do not fit me. Someone help me.

Nursery: Nursery is painted! We took the light fixture down and got a new one that needs to be installed. New carpets and baseboards are going in soon. I still need to paint the closet, but we're moving at least!


Purchases: We bought G's crib last week. I love it. We found it on Craigslist because, why spend $700 when you can buy the exact same crib {not mattress, thank you very much} that has been slept in twice for $100? I can't wait for Nick to put it all together.

Movement: So much! This little boy is moving. He's always super active right after dinner when we're sitting on the couch. Nick has been able to feel him every night and my mom got to feel him kicking and punching too. He was extra wiggly this week and we were even able to see him.

Symptoms: Overall I am feeling so good. I love being pregnant so much. However, I could do without the insane heart burn and acid reflux that appeared all of a sudden. I've never experienced either of these things before and had no idea what was happening. There's a bottle of Tums living in my purse now.

Sleep: Eh, so so. Munching Tums at 4:30 in the morning is not really my idea of getting a good night's sleep.

Cravings: All things sweet. Still drinking so much chocolate milk, and lots of Haagen Dazs Rocky Road. I ate two cheese danishes at brunch on Sunday morning.


Food Aversions & Morning Sickness: Certain random foods still aren't sitting well but I usually won't know it until I try a bite. Chicken for sure is still a big no.  

What I Miss: Being able to bend over without making a big ooph! sound.

Best Moment of This Week: We had lots this week! Feeling all of G's movements. I felt like I was going to have to wait forever to feel him and I am loving each and every little poke. Nick being able to finally feel him has been pretty awesome too. I'm always grabbing his hand and putting it on my belly as soon as I feel him start to move around. Sharing G's name with our friends and celebrating our friend's wedding at the beach.

Looking Forward To: So many exciting things! Now that we've made it to September I feel like the time is going to disappear so quickly. I can't wait to meet our sweet boy.


Workout: Ha.

Lists, Lists, Lists

I love a good list. My desk at work is scattered with lists of all kinds. Something about making a list makes me feel better about having a lot of things I have to get done. Even if that's as far as I get.

With this bebe on the way it seems like I've got even more lists to make with way more things on them. I've got a baby prep list that is ever growing and a to do list at work that makes my head spin. Getting ready to go out on leave has been a little stressful. Although, I am SO looking forward to that time away.

Baby prepping so far has been a little weird for us. We are usually quick to make plans {like, we had our wedding venue booked only weeks after getting engaged kind of quick} but this time around has been a little more difficult. I think I can blame it on having to wait  until 20 weeks to find out the sex of the baby. Now that we've got that taken care of we can finally start turning my Pinterest boards into actual nursery plans.

Here's a little peek at what I've got goin' on in my planner this month.

1. Finish baby registry - this is pretty much handled and checked off the list. I've been making a few adjustments but I'm pretty happy with it.
2. Paint nursery - done! We sweated all weekend getting the room done. We went through 4 different colors before settling on the perfect one. Nick, bless his heart, is the best husband and daddy to be ever and humored my pregnant/insane self and painted the ceiling "whiter" for me.
3. Get nursery furniture - no solid movement on this one yet. Although I know exactly which dressers I want. The nursery is the smallest room in the house so I'm striving for efficiency and maximum cuteness for everything we need.
4. Find G's Pediatrician - this, believe it or not, is a daunting task. I want to find a really good doctor that we can get to know and love. Someone who I trust with my baby and someone he can grow with until it's embarrassing to go to a pediatrician anymore. Suggestions from any fellow Bay Area mamas are very welcome!
5. Start daycare tours - I hate this.
6. Replace all outlets in nursery and install new light - Our house was built in the 80's and all of our light switches and outlets are a yucky, yellowy, used to be white color. I don't like how they look on all of our freshly painted walls and would like to have all brand new, stark white outlets and switches asap please :)
7. Clean, paint and organize nursery closet - The closet interior is currently painted the same, not white enough white that the ceiling was painted and that needs to be fixed right away. Also, it's currently stuffed full with camping gear, left over wedding stuff, and bins of crafts, ribbon and other crap. All of this stuff needs to find a permanent home so I can fill the closet with adorable baby boy clothes.
8. Read vaccine book - Knowing that there is likely to be lots of pokes to be had in the hospital I want to know exactly what they plan on putting in our baby so I can be prepared. We do plan to vaccinate but not necessarily on the standard schedule.
9. Schedule bedroom carpet & baseboards replacement - Our house was a rental when we bought it and we had roommates living with us for the first two years. Our carpets have taken quite a beating, especially after bringing Teddy home. I'm ready for some brand new fluffy carpets. Also, the baseboards the builder installed are just silly small.
10. Find/schedule birthing classes - We are currently scheduled for a birthing class through the hospital that I don't really have any intention of taking. I need to find a class that is focused more on a natural birth.
11. Schedule prenatal appointment with the Doula - We met and hired our Doula last weekend and we love her. I'm so glad we decided to go this route. We will see her at least one more time before the baby comes.
12. Schedule maternity photos - We found a local photographer but haven't scheduled anything yet.
13. Get my FREE Breast Pump - I can't even tell you how excited I was to hear that my insurance company will send me the exact breast pump that I have on my registry fo' free! Thank you insurance!

Bump Date | 21 Weeks

Phew! This has been one crazy time for our family. My sweet mama has been dealing with some health issues that finally came to a head and I spent a week in Mt. Shasta helping her at her house at the beginning of August. I finally packed her up and brought her back to the Bay Area with me to see a competent doctor and she was in the hospital for a week. She's home with us now and getting better every day. Thank God! A little side note... she was in the hospital where I will be delivering little baby M and it is nice to have some first hand experience with the hospital staff. We already know we will be in great hands :)

We're not quite ready to share our name yet. That's why the box is blacked out at the bottom of the chalkboard. Soon hopefully!

How Far Along? Twenty One! Holy jeez. Officially more than half way!

Size of Baby: A cantaloupe. Baby boy weighed 12 ounces at our last appointment and is measuring six and a half inches long.

Gender: BOY! Our sweet son. I am so thrilled I can't even talk about it.
 

Weight Gain: 2 pounds. Slowly but surely...

Stretch Marks:  Nope! My belly button has stretched waaay out though and starting to get really flat. It's starting to look a little funny.
 

Maternity Clothes: With fall right around the corner my maxi dress wearing days are limited. I bought a couple cute maternity shirts at Target the other day and still need to find a good dress to wear to a wedding this weekend. I also  need some good jeans asap.

Nursery: Major nursery movement this weekend! Recarpeting in all of the bedrooms is scheduled and we painted the nursery this weekend! I am in. love.

Purchases: I bought a baby book last week that I'm in love with. I'm pretty excited to start filling it out with all of our fun moments so far.

Movement: Definitely starting to feel some soft bumps and jabs. I've been feeling him move especially on my left side and the sonographer confirmed that he's pretty comfortably planted right in that same spot!

Symptoms: Lightning crotch? Yep, that's a real thing. A few pretty strong Braxton Hicks contractions especially right after my midnight bathroom shuffles. Also, low back pain and cramping in the night that makes it difficult to take a full deep breath. This wears off once I get out of bed but it's pretty annoying.

Sleep: Pretty good actually! I've been sleeping so soundly the last few nights.

Cravings: Still loving chocolate milk... and not the premade kind. I will only drink organic milk with Hersey's syrup. Also all kinds of sweets. I actually pulled over at a gas station to get a Twix on the way home from work the other day. Who does that?!

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness:  Eh... certain meats are still not so good and salad still hasn't sounded good.

What I Miss: Nothing!

Best Moment of This Week: Finding out that we will be having a SON! I am so unbelievably excited. I cannot wait to meet this boy and learn him and grow with him. I hope he is just like his daddy. Also finally deciding on a paint color for the nursery and getting it all painted and done!

Looking Forward To: Finally getting started on the nursery. It's going to be the best room in the house.

Workout: I've been walking with the dogs almost every day.

It's a...

We are going to have a son! We are so excited and are feeling so incredibly blessed. 

We had a small gender reveal dinner last night with my mom and Nick's parents and sister. I told everyone to come to dinner wearing either pink or blue, whichever they thought the baby would be. Caitlin was the only one to show up in pink, except for baby daddy who played it safe with a blue shirt and pink boxers. 

My intuition was telling me boy from day one and I'm pretty excited to find out that I was right! 

Now we can finally get moving on the nursery, registry, and everything else! 

Bump Date | 16 -17 Weeks

So, another whole week went by and I failed yet again to do a chalkboard and a picture. I'm actually 18 weeks as of today but life is majorly getting in the way of taking these photos! I'm combining weeks 16 & 17 into one.

How Far Along? 17 Weeks

Size of Baby: An onion/softball? Sometimes I'm not so sure about these fruit/veggie/object comparisons. Maybe it's the shapes that are throwing me off...

Gender: Countdown 3 weeks!!

Weight Gain: Finally gained 2 pounds! That doesn't exactly put me back to where I'm supposed to be but at least we're getting somewhere.


Stretch Marks: Nope! I'm definitely growing growing growing though so I've been using all of my belly rubs to help keep them away!

Maternity Clothes: Still fitting into most of my clothes pretty comfortably with the exception of any of my jeans.

Nursery: No... but I know what I want in terms of furniture... I just have to find the right pieces now.


Purchases: I may or may not have picked up boy {and girl} 4th of July outfits for next year on clearance at Kohl's that I just couldn't resist.

Movement: Still waiting... impatiently! We saw the doctor last week and she said probably another week or two. Come on little squirmy baby!

Symptoms: Starting to get some round ligament pain. Especially if I sneeze or cough when I'm lying down. A lot of tightness in general. We are definitely growing and stretching!

Sleep: Eh.. this always gets worse when my work schedule gets stressful. Definitely could be doing better in this department.

Cravings: Chocolate milk! Lots of it.


Food Aversions & Morning Sickness:  Just when I thought I might be getting over my morning sickness.. it's back with a vengeance. I'm starting to think I might be one of the lucky ones to barf my way through the entire pregnancy.  Food aversions... chicken, salmon, sausage.. pretty picky about meat in general.

What I Miss: Nothing! I'm so happy and I'm loving this bump I'm growing so much that it's really hard to think about missing anything... other than keeping my breakfast down once in a while.

Best Moment of This Week: Hearing that little heartbeat at our appointment last week. I can't help but get the hugest smile on my face every time. It is so beautiful that little heartbeat.

Looking Forward To: The month of August being over and done with. This month is way too crazy with work and we will finally find out the sex at the end of the month. Let's get moving stupid month.


Workout: Some prenatal yoga which is amazing. Getting excited to finally start some work outs now that I'm not losing weight like crazy. I have GOT to start doing lots of lunges and squats. These last few months without working out have really depleted my muscle tone and I don't want to regret that later.
 

Bump Date | 15 Weeks

 

Okay so I've fallen a bit behind with these. I missed week 13 and 14 and I'm skipping right into 15. We've been so busy with our summer plans and I've been traveling all over the place. Turns out these weekly updates {and chalkboard signs} are way more of a time commitment that I originally thought. I know I'll be thankful to have them though.


How Far Along? 15 Weeks 6 Days! {I'm seriously so behind}

Size of Baby: A navel orange

Gender: 5 weeks until we know!

Weight Gain: Still down about 10 pounds


Stretch Marks:  Nope! My medicine cabinet is slowly filling with all kinds of belly oil and lotions though. I'm going to do everything possible to keep them away.

Maternity Clothes: I've been breaking in my comfy maternity leggings that I got from Zulily and my sister just gave me a way too cute pair of mint maternity skinny jeans that I can't wait to wear. My little bump really popped this last week and I am running out of room in all of my other pants! Taking full advantage of the hair tie trick at this point.

Nursery: Nothing yet. Waiting to see if we've got a Miss or a Mr until we can really start planning.


Purchases: Nothing... but I did start making a list for items I know I want to register for and picked out our car seat and stroller {I'm in love!!}. Can't wait to get my hands on that fun little zapper gun.

 

Movement:  No! I am so anxious to start feeling things though! My sister said this was the week that she started to feel my sweet little niece bouncing around in there so I'm hoping I'm not too far behind.

Symptoms: Slowly starting to get my appetite back and a big 'ol belly bump all of a sudden!

Sleep: Doing better. Trying not to bring work stress home with me that tends to keep me up at night and as always, my Snoogle is amazing.

Cravings: Sweets! So many sweets. Sour and chocolately candies, ice cream, popsicles. If it has sugar in it, I want it.


Food Aversions & Morning Sickness: I haven't been able to do salmon really and still kind of avoiding chicken in various forms. Most things are back to normal though at least a little bit. Still having pukey mornings from time to time.

What I Miss: An ice cold beer? This is the weirdest thing ever. I'm not a big beer drinker but I do like to have one once in a while in the summer or during football. But I've reeeally been wanting a beer. Umm... yea.

Best Moment of This Week: Spending last week with my brand new niece Nayeli. I had to leave them on Saturday and was so incredibly sad. She's going to be so big next time I get to love on her.

Looking Forward To: Finding out who this baby is! Settling on a name and starting to move on the nursery.


Workout: No.

Lessons in Pregnancy | First Trimester

 - Whatever you do.. DO NOT Google or read pregnancy forums for any reason. Every end result is catastrophic and that is just not good for the emotions of this 1st time preggers.

 

- I have no self control and I'm a terrible secret keeper. I cracked the morning after we found out and immediately FaceTimed my mom and sister and told them without Nick. Thankfully he knows me too well and knew I wouldn't be able to hold out and wait for him to be there.

- Being pregnant is a good excuse for anything. All of a sudden we have plans to redo the floors in the house a year sooner than we had originally planned. I also decided that I needed new throw pillows for our bedroom and went on a photo hanging spree. Buffalo wings with my salad at lunch? Yep.

- Food that belongs to other people is gross. Actually... food in general is gross.

- You can pretty easily fake drinking around friends that don't know you're knocked up. Let me tell you a little story. My friends like to get together for the occasional "book club". No books are involved, but wine and appetizers are. Quite the predicament when you are known to enjoy more than your fair share of wine. I was fully aware I couldn't just pass on a glass without getting a few questions. My solution? Buy a bottle of real wine with a screw top, then buy a bottle of alcohol free wine. Pour out the real wine and pour the pretend wine into it's empty bottle. {The screw top makes it not so obvious that the bottle has already been opened.} Pour a good sized glass that won't need to be refilled, and sit back and laugh to yourself while all of the non-pregos happily and unknowingly drinking alcohol free wine!

- Conversations between pregnant sisters are pretty hilarious.

- I have had to do some pretty serious forward planning in terms of snacks. Pretty much everywhere I go these days I have a bag full of snacks with me. The problem with this is that everybody else is constantly eating my snacks! Back off the pregnant snacks people.

- There is nothing more annoying than being dead tired all day long and then getting to bed and not being able to sleep through the night. It's a vicious cycle.

- Going to baseball games when you can't stand the smell of food is never a good idea.

- Not going into every baby store takes major will power. I just want to buy all the things! I haven't, but I want to.

Bump Date | 12 Weeks

How Far Along? 12 weeks 6 days {I'm a little late with this one...}

Size of Baby: A plum. Weighing in at half an ounce!

Gender: Who knows? Nick swears he saw a teeny little peeny on the monitor at our ultrasound this week. Maybe... but maybe it was a foot. Who knows. We officially find out August 30th. Gender reveal is on the calendar!

Weight Gain: Down a total of 10 pounds as of Monday. Definitely feeling ready to start putting some weight back on.

Stretch Marks:  No way... but a little bump has shown itself! I've starting using my Bio Oil again and received the cutest gift from a client today full of all kinds of mama to be body products that I can't wait to use.

Maternity Clothes: I finally bought some maternity leggings and a sleeper bra off of Zulily. I can't wait for them to come!

Nursery: Nope. No major movement is going to be made in this department until we know who this little babe is going to be.

Purchases: Just my Zulily stuff. I also picked up a super cute book to add to baby's collection when I was in New Orleans this last weekend. I cannot wait for bedtime stories.

Movement:  Nothing that I can feel yet. The ultrasound tech kept commenting on how much energy the baby has earlier this week. Must be why I have none?  It was so amazing to see the baby squirming and dancing around like crazy in there.

Symptoms: Still sick as a dog and feeling pretty dizzy. I'm incredibly tired this week. I almost fell asleep on the table waiting for the doctor to come into my 12 week appointment. Woops!

Sleep: Still waking up around 3:30 to potty and scroll through my phone for a little bit but definitely better thanks to my Snoogle pillow. I just can't say enough good things about it. {I was away over the weekend for a bachelorette party and Nick admitted to sleeping with it. How stinking cute is that?}

Cravings: Cold things. Ice cream, popsicles and smoothies. 

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness: Still puking in the morning.. usually only if I don't eat quickly enough but certain days (like today) I lost it in the middle of eating a bagel. That might have been the worst experience yet. I don't recommend it.

What I Miss: Enjoying food. I'm starting to feel like this is not going to change anytime soon.

Best Moment of This Week: Celebrating my sweet friend Brooke's bachelorette party in New Orleans! I was a little nervous going into the trip, having heard about all of the bad smells and things but I had such an amazing time! Also, seeing our sweet baby again on Monday. So much has changed in 4 short weeks. The baby has a real face now! I could stare at these photos forever.

Looking Forward To: Relaxing and catching up on some sleep over the holiday weekend. I'm excited to finally have our anatomy scan on the calendar so I can start planning our gender reveal too! I cannot wait to find out who this little baby is going to be.

Workout: No.. I'm really trying not to do much right now. I'm losing weight like crazy and don't want to burn more calories than necessary. I do want to start some strength training though soon so I can be ready and strong for delivery but I'm definitely taking it slow.

Bump Date | 4 - 11 Weeks

I started keeping track of how I was feeling each week the Monday after I found out we were expecting. I really just want to remember every little thing about this pregnancy. I found out I was expecting at 4 weeks and 2 days. Since we couldn't share the good news right away I grouped each of these together from week 4 to 11. It's a lot but I'm already loving looking back on these past weeks and remembering what the first weeks were like!

This is going to be incredibly long and detailed. Read at your own risk... :)

|Week 4| May 4-10

How Far Along? Four weeks, three days! Baby M is due January 10, 2015!

Size of Baby: A teeny tiny little poppy seed. It is hard to believe that there's a tiny little ball of cells in there that is going to grow into our sweet baby. It's so weird.

Gender: No idea! I'll be anxiously waiting a few more months to answer that question.

Weight Gain: I haven't stepped on a scale yet

Stretch Marks:  Definitely not yet. I'm pretty sure it's not in my genes since my mom doesn't have any and my sister hasn't had any with her pregnancy so far. Hoping so anyway!

Maternity Clothes: No way... I tend to live in maxi dresses in the spring and summer time though and I have a feeling this summer won't be much different.

Nursery: The room that will be the nursery has been empty and waiting for over a year now. And by empty, I really mean full of leftover wedding stuff, wrapping paper, photos I keep meaning to frame, miscellaneous craft supplies, and all sorts of other crap. I spent the morning on Sunday throwing stuff away and organizing so that we can eventually start turning the nursery into a NURSERY!

Purchases: Nothing major yet. I've been slowly collecting little bits and pieces of clothes and books over the last year and keeping them in the nursery room. The Friday before I found out I bought a little baby Oakland A's shirt on clearance at Old Navy. The baby pretty much already has a stock pile of A's stuff. :)

Movement: Nothing, obviously, but I can't wait!

Symptoms: "the girls" are on fire. Seriously, stabbing pains. The week before I found out was a doozy. I cried Tuesday night when I saw Nick the minute I walked in the door from work... then I spent the night violently exorcist style barfing. I cried again when I got to work the next morning for no reason at all and ended up going home. This was all pre-pregnancy test so I had no idea what was going on and just thought I was going crazy. Since then I've been feeling great! A little emotional definitely... but great and over the moon happy!

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness:  Nothing really yet but I don't have much of an appetite. I'm  not a big breakfast person, especially on week days but I'm making a real effort to always eat something in the morning. I'm starving around lunch time and not hungry at all in the evenings. Forcing myself to eat though.

Sleep: SO tired.

Cravings: Nothing yet

What I Miss: I started thinking this morning about how much I'm going to miss my favorite deli sandwiches. I know I can find plenty of delicious items to replace them with but now all I can think about is a turkey & cheese sandwich on a sweet roll with pickles and avocado. Mmmmmmm

Best Moment of This Week: Watching my pregnancy test turn positive and telling Nick. Seriously, it was surreal. Also, telling our families the exciting news!

Looking Forward To: Every. Single. Thing.

Workouts: None this week. But definitely planning to be back on the treadmill next week.

|Week 5| May 11-17

How Far Along? 5 Weeks

Size of Baby: An orange seed. Rumor has it, the little babe has a tail and is starting to form teeny little ears and eyes this week!

Gender: No idea

Weight Gain: Still haven't stepped on a scale. I need to do that soon so I can keep track.

Stretch Marks: Nope but I did invest in some Shea Butter from Whole Foods this week and already started using it after I get out of the shower. Anything helps right?

Maternity Clothes: Nope but I have been searching Zulily for some pieces that I like. I don't want to buy anything just yet... but I think a nice pair of maternity jeans and leggings are in my near future. 

Nursery: Nothing new to report

Purchases: Nick picked up some cute books :)

Movement:  No Sir

Symptoms: This week has actually been pretty great! I'm hitting a wall around 2:00-3:00 and ready for bed really early. My boobs have doubled in size and hurt so bad.
 

Sleep: I'm waking up every single night between 3:30 and 4:30 to shuffle to the bathroom but I've able to fall back asleep pretty quickly.... sometimes.  

Cravings: Nothing yet.

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness: No specific food aversions but I am noticing that I've been incredibly annoyed by any food smells and food commercials. Unless I'm eating it, I don't want to smell it or see it. It doesn't make me sick, I just don't like it.
No nausea really either, as long as I keep my stomach full. As soon as I go more than an hour or two between meals or snacks I start feeling a little queasy. The problem is that the only time I ever really feel hungry is around lunch time. The rest of the day I just have to keep reminding myself to eat.

What I Miss: I would have been missing some Champs at Mother's Day brunch but I found the FRE makes a delightful, alcohol removed sparkling wine. I had a glass or two and couldn't even tell the difference! Crisis averted.

Best Moment of This Week: Celebrating Mother's Day with our sweet moms! Also, Disneyland! Being a pregnant lady at Disney definitely has it's challenges, especially considering my above mentioned annoyance with other people's food. Those giant turkey legs? Bleh.

Looking Forward To: Everything!

Workouts: A couple miles on the treadmill, and endless miles at Disneyland & California Adventure. Does getting up and down from my pool chair at the hotel to go to the bathroom 100 times count?

|Week 6| May 18 -24

How Far Along? 6 Weeks, 3 Days. This week I'm officially half way through my first trimester!

Size of Baby: A little sweet pea

Gender: No idea.

Weight Gain: down two!

Stretch Marks: No Sir! I have been using my shea butter though and just bought some Bio Oil that I've been using a couple times a week before bed. I'm mostly concerned about my boobs at this point. I officially can't even squeeze into any of my bras anymore. I need to go shopping!

Maternity Clothes: Nope, but always looking on Zulily. I haven't found anything that I love yet.

Nursery: Haven't stepped foot in there in at least a week. I'm trying really hard to stay out of there so that the room doesn't turn into another storage disaster.

Purchases: Nothing this week...

Movement:  Won't be able to answer this one for a while.

Symptoms: Overall I am feeling really, really good. Still hitting that wall right around 2:00. I've been tempted a few times to sneak away from my desk in the afternoon and a take a nap in my car in the parking garage. I haven't gone for it yet but I think I'm going to put a pillow and blanket in the backseat just in case. I'm consistently tired enough to fall asleep at 9:30 and I slept a solid ten and a half hours on Sunday night when we got home from Disneyland.

Sleep: See above. Doing pretty good! Still waking up to pee around 3:30 every night.

Cravings: Nothing specific. I successfully ate my way through California Adventure and Disneyland this last weekend though. For every ride I had to wait for the family to go on, I got myself a snack :)

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness:  Still nothing! Feeling pretty lucky to not have any nausea yet!

What I Miss: I am missing my morning coffee. I haven't cut it out completely but I'm only allowing it for a treat which hardly ever happens.Otherwise I'm sticking to tea and chai just to keep the caffeine headaches away.

 

Best Moment of This Week: Telling all of our sweet friends! It's still early but we have some events coming up with our groups of friends and it was just easier to share the news sooner rather than later. The outpouring of love from our friends has been absolutely amazing. I will never forget how wonderful this feels. We are so blessed, and this baby is already so loved!

Looking Forward To: Spending these next 7 1/2 months growing this baby. It is such an amazing and special feeling knowing that I am the only person on earth that gets to have this time with this baby we made.

Workout: Not doing so good in this department. I got in one elliptical workout on Thursday.

|Week 7| May 25 -31

How Far Along? 7 weeks

Size of Baby: A blueberry

Gender: No idea

Weight Gain: Down two pounds

Stretch Marks: Nothing but always making sure to lotion up after showers

Maternity Clothes: Nope

Nursery: Nothin'

Purchases: Nothin'

Movement:  Nope

Symptoms: Holy tired fest. I am seriously SO tired I can't even do life right now. I cannot wait to get my energy back.

Sleep: All over the place. I'm falling asleep super early and then up for 30 minutes to an hour in the middle of the night at least once and then falling back asleep way past when my alarm goes off.

Cravings: It's not even possible to crave anything at this point. I pretty much have to decide on the only thing that doesn't make me gag and try to force it down. The problem is that I can pretty much only eat something once. Once I've eaten it the idea of that thing makes me so sick. I'm running out of the things to eat!

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness:  Oh goodness. Morning sickness and food aversions came on with a vengeance this week. I woke up and RAN to the toilet on the first morning of week 7. Nothing, and I mean nothing sounds appetizing. Early in the week I picked a dinner I really wanted to eat the other night, Nick made everything and put my whole plate together and then couldn't even eat a bite of it. My annoyance with other people's food and food smells is not such much of an annoyance anymore... it's turned into real sickness. I have to leave my office around lunch time before I turn green from the smells of everyone microwaving their lunches in the kitchen. I'm not going to be sad when this part of this pregnancy is over.

What I Miss: Enjoying food!

Best Moment of This Week: Seeing my dad! He came down to visit over the weekend with my step mom and we had such a wonderful, relaxing time. We barbequed with my in-laws on Saturday and pretty much spent the rest of the weekend lounging and napping. Also, my sweet cousin had the most beautiful wedding. It was so much fun to see the family and share the news with everyone we hadn't seen yet!

Looking Forward To: Wanting to eat again

Workout: Yea right. Keeping my eyelids open for a full 8 hours at work is enough for now. Also, getting a pretty good ab workout since I keep loosing my cookies.

|Week 8| June 1 - 7

How Far Along? 8 weeks!

Size of Baby: A big ol' raspberry

Gender: No idea

Weight Gain: Down another three pounds. I've lost a total of five from my pre-pregnancy weight.

Stretch Marks:  Nope, I'm shrinking.. not stretching!

Maternity Clothes: No but still looking all the time.

Nursery: Nope but we've been talking about it a little. I'm making some early furniture plans and starting to think of some ideas of what we might want. Of course, we can't really make any plans until we find out who this little baby is!

Purchases: Nothing but we did get a cute little Oakland A's onesie in the mail from my sweet friend :)

Movement:  No ma'am

Symptoms: Barf  Barf  Barf. Yep. I've been having my self a nice time right around 8AM every morning. Sometimes in the shower... sometimes over the toilet. I know. I'm sorry.

Sleep: Pretty good! It's such a relief to get a good, solid night of sleep. I've pretty much been falling asleep around 9:30-10:00 and sleeping all the way through the night with only one quick potty break around 2:30. I've been falling asleep on the couch for a quick little nap after dinner on work nights and taking longer naps on the couch during the day on the weekends.

Cravings: I hate food.

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness:  Everything. Pretty much all food is still disgusting. Sour candy has been good.. green apples and green grapes too. I can handle a baked potato on a pretty regular basis and a PB&J here and there but I'm gagging on pretty much everything I eat.

What I Miss: Enjoying my food!

Best Moment of This Week: We had our first doctor's appointment this week! We got to see our sweet little babe on the monitor. We could see the teeny tiny little heart beat and a little bit of movement. It was seriously such an incredible experience. It really made everything feel so much more real to finally see that sweet little life. Also, our friends had a beautiful wedding that we were so lucky to be a part of. I was Maid of Honor and got to finally add another big old check to my 30 by 30 list!

Looking Forward To: Everything. Even with the hatred for all food and with the morning sickness, I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. I cannot wait to experience everything this pregnancy has to offer.

Workout: A few dog walks are about all I could handle this week.

|Week 9| June 8 - 14

How Far Along? 9 weeks 3 days

Size of Baby: A green olive.

Gender: Who knows?

Weight Gain: Down a total of seven pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.

Stretch Marks:  No ma'am!

Maternity Clothes: Still no...

Nursery: Is currently filled with laundry piles. I need some serious motivation.

Purchases: An itty bitty pair of shoes to use in our announcement photos and a Snoogle pillow. I'm pretty excited for that big guy to show up. Nick is not going to be so happy. I also started putting together a check list for registry items that I definitely know that we will want.

 

Movement:  Nope!

Symptoms: Still hating food. It's gotten a little bit better but my portion sizes are still staying very small and pretty much nothing sounds appetizing.

Sleep: Really hit and miss. I generally sleep better on weekends but I'm waking up at least once a night to potty and that is really making it difficult to get a good sleep.

Cravings: I wouldn't call them cravings, but I have been wanting sweets a little more than normal. I baked some brownies and chocolate chip cookies this week and ate about 4 rice crispy treats at a BBQ we were at this weekend. Wooops!

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness:  A baked potato with shredded cheese and non fat plain yogurt is about the only thing I've been able to eat consistently. I've been all over the place with my morning sickness too. I'm throwing up only once or twice a week with no real rhyme or reason to it. It seems like if I wake up sleeping on my back in the morning those are the days I'm getting the most sick.

What I Miss: Enjoying food.  

Best Moment of This Week: Sharing the news with more of our family and friends. It's been so much fun to see everyone's reactions. We went to visit Nick's Grandma this weekend and brought her pictures from the sonogram. She's certain I've already got a belly {I don't} and that the baby is going to be a boy... and that we should name him Jamal... Not so sure about that.

Looking Forward To: Everything! Regardless of the sickness and the hatred of all food items, I just feel so happy and content. I'm excited to finally get a little belly and hoping that happens sooner than later. I'm ready to actually feel pregnant rather than just feeling like puking.

Workout: Trying to take it pretty easy in the interest of not loosing much more weight. Mostly just dog walks after work with the hubby.

|Week 10| June 15 - 21

How Far Along? 10 Weeks!  This is going by so fast.

Size of Baby: A prune! A little wrinkly prune.

Gender: Who knows...

Weight Gain: Down 7 pounds

Stretch Marks:  No way

Maternity Clothes: Still nothin'
 

Nursery: Nope

Purchases: Nothin'

Movement:  Still not for a while!

Symptoms: Tired, tired, tired. 3:00 - 5:00 is the worst part of the day. I feel pretty good when I get home but still so tired.

Sleep: Not sleeping very well at all. I've been having crazyyyy dreams and waking up at night to potty isn't helping with the solid sleep. I'm still waking up for an hour or so around 3:00.

Cravings: Baked potato with plain yogurt and shredded cheese. All day err day. And Cheerios. And peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness:  The three items listed above are pretty much all I can do. Random other things sit well once in a while. Still throwing up too much.

What I Miss: Food! Well... liking my food.

Best Moment of This Week: Celebrating Father's day with the sweetest father to be!

Looking Forward To: Our next doctor's appointment. I'm doing the NT scan and we will get to see the baby again. I can't wait to see how much baby has grown since last time!

Workout: Yea... no.

|Week 11| June 22 - 28

How Far Along? 11 weeks 3 days!

Size of Baby: A lime! How did we get from a lentil to a lime so quickly?!

Gender: Nooo idea

Weight Gain: Down 7 from my pre-pregnancy weight.

Stretch Marks:  No way Jose.

Maternity Clothes: Still nothing.

Nursery: Nothing...

Purchases: A Snoogle! Omg amazing. Best $59 I've ever spent. Nick doesn't even hate it as much as I thought and I've even caught him snuggling up to it in the middle of the night a few times :)

Movement:  Nope

Symptoms: Still puking, still not liking food. Certain smells are really, really bad. Even if it's something I recently wanted or even ate. This is such a weird thing.

Sleep: A little better thanks to my big fluffy pillow boyfriend. I'm still waking up to pee {I have a feeling that's not going away anytime soon} but falling asleep a little faster than before.

Cravings: No... pretty much just my standard baked potato w/ plain yogurt and shredded cheese.

Food Aversions & Morning Sickness:  Yep. puke, puke, every day.

What I Miss: Not puking every time I wake up. Honestly, it could definitely be worse though. I'm complaining... but I'm really not.  

Best Moment of This Week: Celebrating Nick's 29th birthday in Napa! I actually felt like a normal human all weekend and did pretty good eating and made it through the whole weekend without a nap. Feeling like I might actually be growing a little belly that I'm not trying to suck in for once!

Looking Forward To: Everything! I keep saying this, but it's so true. There is so much to look forward to.

Workout: No...

Five on Friday | On Being Pregnant at Disneyland

Happy Friday! I'm linking up with April & Co today for a little Five on Friday fun! I'm bending the rules a little bit and making all five on the same topic.

So, this summer I found myself on a long pre planned Disneyland vacation with my in-laws. Something I had been begging for, for years. I hadn't been since I was seven years old, long before California Adventure had been built and back when I was terrified of going on rides.

We were so excited to find out that I had finally gotten pregnant only weeks before we were supposed to go on our trip. I immediately started Googling what rides I could go on and only found a bunch of forums with ladies fighting with each other about being selfish, terrible mothers for even thinking about rides at a time like this. Yikes. Spare yourself that drama. 

Anyway, I decided to make it easy and just stayed away from any of the rides that Disney has dubbed unsafe for pregnant women. {Read: all of the good ones}. This doesn't mean that your trip can't be fun. I will admit I was pretty bummed at first but found some acceptable ways to cheer myself up that I'm going to share with you.

ONE
First, find yourself a cute pair of Minnie ears and let your little kid flag fly. I wore mine the entire time, even to dinner and was laughed at many times by my family. So what.

TWO
Since you are going to have to spend time waiting for the people you are with to go on a ride, at least be productive with your time and wait in line for a Dole whip, churro bites with chocolate sauce, cheese filled pretzels, and a giant corn dog or two. Sitting in the shade with a delicious snack is way better than standing in the sun in line for a ride for 40 minutes. {Avoid the humungous turkey leg at all costs though. Those seriously grossed me out. Blahhhh}

THREE

Try to be past your first trimester so at least you have a little bump and people might suspect you're pregnant. Otherwise you're just a weird girl wearing sparkly Minnie ears sitting by herself stuffing her face.

FOUR

When you go to the pool bring some kind of pregnancy book or magazine to read. That way, instead of people looking at you and thinking "that girl is shaped kind of like a jellybean" they will think something like "Oh she's pregnant! How cute!" Or whatever. Also, side note. Spend a little more to stay at a Disney hotel. We stayed at the Grand Californian and it was a-maz-ing. There is a private hotel entrance for guests to get into the park so you don't have to wait in line and it was so nice to be able to quickly go back to the room to change shoes, grab  a sweatshirt, take a nap, etc.


FIVE
There are still tons of rides that you can go on, albeit, most of them are little kid rides but not everything is off limits. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is fun! And, it's possible that people watching in Disneyland is more entertaining that going on any rides at all. Seriously, there are some funky people in this world. Also? Stroller shopping! I seriously became obsessed with strollers on this trip. I was constantly pointing them out to Nick who laughed at me every time. I definitely came home with a wish list.

When you can't go on any rides... take a selfie with your MIL who hates Splash Mountain :)

So, there you have it. I absolutely loved this vacation and was so happy to finally get to spend a couple days in the happiest place on earth. I'm happy that we went before my morning sickness and real food aversions really set in strong. It was so much fun and I couldn't help but imagine our first trip after this little one comes. It will be a while, a few years at least, but I can't wait!

 

And Baby Makes Three!

We have a fun little announcement today! Yep, that's right...I'm cookin' a little baby M!

Here's a little story about the day we found out...

Sunday May 4th I laid in bed and listened to my husband and the dogs sleeping. Nick was curled around me and I stared up at the ceiling. I kept feeling like something was different today, we were on the verge of something big. I couldn't shake the feeling that I might be pregnant. Of course the chances were there since we had completed our first cycle of Clomid and got a positive ovulation test. My doctor did warn us early on though not to count on it working the first time. She said the chances of a pregnancy were slim. I was just so happy to see that the Clomid had done it's job that I wasn't really counting on anything else.

As I lay there I put my hands over my stomach and prayed and prayed that God would give us a baby. The same prayer I have been praying for months. For over a year.
 

　

Nick woke up and went off to the kitchen to make a French Press pot of coffee and I decided I was going to take a test. I didn't tell him and I shut myself in the bathroom. I set the test of the counter and didn’t take my eyes off of it. Slowly, that second, pretty pink line started to form. My heart started racing and my eyes filled with tears. I stared up at myself in the mirror in total disbelief and then back down at the test. I realized I was completely unprepared… and somehow, now, I needed to go tell Nick. I had always  planned on doing some kind of cute thing to tell him. So much for that! I tried to pull myself together and walked out to the kitchen. He looked up as a I came in and I think he knew right away. I set the test on the counter and cried and cried.

　

We spent the morning staring at each other from across the counter in total shock and laughing, and I cried some more. We talked about the due date and I let a couple holy sh**s! slip. The entire day felt so surreal and I was so happy that it was a Sunday and we were able to spend the whole day together.

The line on the first test was pretty faint and I took maybe four more tests throughout the rest of that day. I ran to the store to get a digital test and jumped around like a crazy person to see Pregnant flash on that beautiful little screen. There's just something about seeing it in writing that still makes me feel a little giddy.

Since we live a few hours from my parents and a state away from my sister we weren't able to share the news with them in person. I FaceTimed my mom and sister on Monday morning before I got out of bed to share the good news and then told my dad over the phone on Tuesday.

We had Nick's parents and sister over for Cinco de Mayo dinner to tell them. Nick's mom is a walking Pinterest board and she has helped us so much with choosing paint colors over the years and giving us decorating and home improvement advice. I picked up some pink and blue paint chips and hid them in a drawer in the kitchen. When everyone was sitting around the kitchen island I asked her if she could help us with some paint colors. I pulled the chips out and set them in front of her and asked what she thought about those. Everyone started screaming and laughing, hugging, and crying. It was such a fun way to tell them!

Everyone is so excited. Our families {especially our moms and sisters} have been so involved in this process and anxious for us to finally get to this point.

We are so excited and cannot wait to meet this sweet baby that we have all been waiting so patiently for!