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.
 

Oregon Trip

Back in July Nick and I took a trip up to Oregon to celebrate our sweet friend's wedding. The timing ended up working out perfectly and my little niece was born just a few days before the wedding. Since my sister and her husband live in Oregon only a few hours away from where we were already going, we decided that I would stay, keep the rental car and drive up to stay the week with them and Nick would fly back home for work.

We both had the day off on Friday so we caught an early flight into Portland and made the quick drive into Hood River. Driving up there was such a nice break from being in the Bay Area. All the highways up there are two lane and the scenery is just amazing. We made a quick stop at Multnomah Falls, snapped a few pictures and got some ice cream for the road.


When we got to Hood River we went straight to a winery that Nick had found and wanted to taste at. Some friends met us there and we had such a nice relaxing afternoon with them visiting and catching up. Can I just say... wine tasting has become slightly less fun for me since no tasting is involved. But, sitting on a nice patio in the sun with good friends is always enjoyable. Even with a water bottle in hand.

After wine tasting {and water sipping} we went to check into our hotel. Our whole group of friends was staying at the same place and it was gorgeous. Our suite had a patio that opened up right onto the Columbia River and it was just so beautiful.

We all met for dinner Friday night at a local brewery and pizza place and then went out for drinks {also not as much fun anymore}. Saturday we had breakfast on our patio, just the two of us and then spent the rest of the day at the pool.


The wedding was held at a vineyard across the Columbia in Washington and it was seriously one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. There was an amazing view of Mt. Hood and I can't get over how much I loved that place. The venue was beautiful and so peaceful. The bride is a wedding planner professionally and she really outdid herself with this one.

 

 

Sunday Nick had to drive back to Portland with some friends to catch his flight and I took off toward Joseph by myself. A few hours in the car with snacks and a good audio book made for a really nice day, although I was so sad to say goodbye to Nick. We had never spent that much time away from each other since we were first dating and an entire week was hard.


I spent the rest of the week snuggling with Nayeli and adventuring to the grocery store and out for ice cream with my mom. I really had never spent any time with a newborn and spending that week with my brand new niece was so precious. Watching my sister become a mom has been so special and she just seems so at peace that it really made me feel better knowing what's to come for us this winter.

Needless to say, after spending that week in Oregon I definitely wish we could move up there. Life just seems so much more peaceful. It's so beautiful and we joked the entire time that we were just going to sell everything and move up there and open a coffee shop or Bed and Breakfast. Either one sounds good to me!

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.