{22 Weeks}

It's been pretty quiet around here. I finished creating Gracie's letters for her room the other day and did my registry at Target. :)





How far along? 22 weeks!
Total weight gain: I am not sure yet, but my belly is starting to feel a little bigger, so we'll see on February 13th.
Maternity clothes? Of course. I'm still loving my preggo leggings and jeans. I'm ready for some warmer weather so I can wear dresses more often.
Stretch marks? Yup.
Sleep: Sleep and I are best friends right now. I love sleeping in!
Best moment this week: Creating Gracie's letters for her room and feeling her kick throughout the day.
Miss Anything? Nothing in particular.
Movement: Yup! Her kicks are getting stronger and I can't wait for Josh to be able to feel her.
Food cravings: Cereal and fudge rounds. YUM!!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope.
Gender: Girl.
Labor Signs: Nope
Symptoms: Leg cramps, but it's not too bad.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: A happy mama.
Looking forward to: Going to the prenatal class with Justin and Jessica, doing maternity pictures with them and another couple and baby shower planning. :)

21 Weeks

How far along? 21 weeks!
Total weight gain: I've lost two pounds, so now I can have all my guilty pleasures without feeling guilty for the next month. :)
Maternity clothes? Yup. Still loving my maternity leggings. I would like some more maternity shirts for my growing belly.
Stretch marks? Yup.
Sleep: I've been sleeping very well. Especially since I asked my midwife about sleeping with my arms above my head and her reassuring me that it won't cause the umbilical cord to wrap around Gracie's neck since that was just an old wives tale.
Best moment this week: Josh making me laugh so hard in the waiting room before my appointment.
Miss Anything? Sleeping on my stomach comfortably
Movement: Yup! Especially when I listen to music.
Food cravings: Cheez Its and ice cream
Anything making you queasy or sick: The anticipation of doing my diabetes test and having to drink that nasty liquid.
Gender: Four weeks later, she's still a girl!
Labor Signs: Nope
Symptoms: Some lower dull back pain, but it's not bad.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: A happy mama.
Looking forward to: Continuing to put her room together, our prenatal class date with Justin and Jessica, helping plan the baby showers and buying Gracie more cute outfits.

Ultrasound Update

We had our twenty week appointment this morning, which included an ultrasound. I love it when Josh is able to make it to my appointments with me, even though I know hospital settings give him the heebie jeebies. And he kept cracking me up while we were in the waiting room. For example, he looked at a very pregnant woman across the room and said, "Wow, she must be ready to pop any minute...her belly button is sticking out!" I laughed so hard that I thought I was going to pee my pants. He also admitted to me that he would be scared to death if he was me. I asked why and he said, "I wouldn't want to birth a baby if I were you. It sounds awful!"

I couldn't believe how long we were in there for the ultrasound. They were very meticulous about finding all of her parts and making sure everything looked good, which was the first twenty minutes of the ultrasound. After she finally finished, the fun part of the ultrasound started, where we got to see Gracie in 3D4D mode. And this is what our silly daughter was doing the whole time.



Josh and I couldn't stop laughing at how she was sitting. It was so incredible to get a peek into what her personality may be like. We also confirmed that Gracie is still a girl, which is great! The ultrasound was wonderful, but my stomach is hurting so badly this evening. Here's a video of our little gymnast. :)



Josh finally got to meet Susan Myers and his first reaction was, "She looks younger than me!" But, I could tell he was more comfortable with her than Dr. Chandler, so I couldn't be happier. My blood pressure was normal and I lost two and half pounds! Once again, Susan asked me if I was eating and there is no doubt in the world that I'm eating for two. I was so surprised when I saw that I had lost weight. I'll probably be eating my words (no pun intended) when I do finally start gaining the weight and keeping it. I also found out that I have to do my gestational diabetes test early to check on my thyroid levels, so I have to get it done between now and my next appointment on February 13th. I've heard good and bad stories about the mystery liquid that is the diabetes test. We shall see...I may try to knock out the test in the next few days.

In other good news, we got Gracie a crib today! It matches the changing table and it's completely perfect. :)

20 Weeks {Halfway there!}

Well, it's official: I think I am in the nesting stage. All I want to do is work on her room and hang everything up and get everything that we need for her. Okay, maybe I'm in the selective nesting stage because I don't feel the urge to do dishes or laundry. Baha. I've got a map in my head of where I want everything and how I want it to look. My poor husband...I've been harassing him about work and asking him when he's going to be finished with this current big job because he said once he gets paid from this, we can go get the crib. I can safely say I've never been so interested in any job that Josh has done till this week. He lost a day of work because he got a cold/flu/something ghastly and then, the inevitable, I caught the cold and am still recovering with the occasional cough and necessary nose blowing. I just have to say that being sick while pregnant is lame because the only thing I could take was Robitussin DM. I was definitely jealous of Josh being able to take Nyquil and sleep soundly through the night. But, as you can plainly see, I lived through it and I am okay. Here's a sneak peek at some of the things I've prepared for Gracie's Alice in Wonderland room:



Kristin and I had a nice conversation today about feeling baby movements. She said that when she was pregnant and started feeling movements from her babies, she couldn't remember what it felt like to not have them moving around in her stomach. I am at that point, too. I still get surprised and excited every time Gracie moves. I wish I could figure out what she's doing, like if she's rolling or doing a fist pump to my stomach. I really can't wait for Josh to feel her. She was moving around really early this morning after Josh's alarm went off and I moved his hand to where she was kicking. As soon as his hand was there, she stopped. We both laughed a little bit. My favorite movement of the day was when I was driving home from Joplin and listening to one of my favorite songs and singing with it. In the middle of the chorus, she kicked me and it was so low that it surprised me, especially since I was driving. She moved during the entire song and then when it was over, she became quiet.

Here's one of the recent purchases from Josh and I:
Yes, there are four little Green Bay onesies there. That bib makes for two GB bibs that she has now and the combo outfit on the right came with little green and gold booties. All of that plus the Green Bay blanket that Kristin made...I foresee a Green Bay themed photo session when Gracie Mae gets here. I can already anticipate Josh asking me if she can wear one of these for her announcement photo at the hospital.

We've got a lot to do in the next twenty weeks. My next appointment is Monday, January 16th at a very early time in the morning. I am very excited about this appointment because it's another ultrasound. Josh and I also need to start registering for things for Gracie. I've been trying to corner Josh to go, but I think he remembers how boring he thought our wedding registry was, so he's hard to convince at this point. The next major event we have planned is date night with Justin and Jessica to the Prenatal Class on Monday, February 6th. It's going to be a long three hour class and I'm sure we're all looking forward to watching some scary birthing videos and learning about all of the fun that we get to have soon. :)

How far along? 20 weeks! HALFWAY THERE!
Total weight gain: 1 pound. I think I may have gained another pound, but I always like to wait and find out at my appointments.
Maternity clothes? Yes and I'm still wearing most of my regular clothes.
Stretch marks? Duh.
Sleep: I didn't sleep well while I was sick, plus we have loud ghetto neighbors, so I have been napping a lot.
Best moment this week: When Josh was talking at my belly to Gracie when we were standing in the kitchen making dinner.
Miss Anything? Nyquil when I'm sick. Lol.
Movement: Everyday, usually early in the morning and at night when I'm in bed
Food cravings: Twix and mexican food (and not at the same time)
Anything making you queasy or sick: Missing a meal. I can definitely feel myself bottoming out when I do miss one.
Gender: A little lady
Labor Signs: No (thank goodness)
Symptoms: Nothing in particular.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Always happy.
Looking forward to: My 20 week ultrasound, the prenatal class and continuing to get more things for our little lady.

Yes, I am a bad, bad blogger.

I haven't updated my blog since December 12th, when we found out we were having a girl. I am so bad! But, c'mon, between Christmas with multiple families, the Megan anniversary and New Years, things have been pretty busy. But, I digress...

At my last appointment on December 19th, it was my first official appointment with Susan Myers. She is absolutely wonderful! Kristin came with me to that appointment and we got to hear Gracie's heartbeat again (eeek!). Everything looked really good, except that when they first took my blood pressure, it was a little high. Susan asked me if I was nervous or excited to see her and why my blood pressure was so high. So, we took it again at the end, this time I was sitting down, and it was back to normal, thank goodness. We also scheduled my twenty week ultrasound on January 16th. I absolutely can't wait to see how much you've grown since we saw you on the 12th in December. Hopefully you won't hide in the back and shield your face with your hands. There's no need to be shy considering how many thousands of pictures I'll be taking once you're here. :)

Christmas Eve and Christmas day were so busy. We enjoyed dinner on Christmas Eve with Josh's family, where Josh received another favorite gift of mine: a Green Bay Packers bib. Josh and I enjoyed Christmas morning together, opening presents while the fake fireplace crackled on the TV, thanks to Netflix. He got Gracie the pink shelf for her room and two pink drawers to go in the cubby holes that I really wanted. He's such a good daddy in training. Then, we went to my mom's to open presents and she got me a neat little First Year baby album to fill out and put pictures in and Gracie's first Halloween story book, since my mom knows how much I LOVE Halloween. After presents, breakfast and spending time with my mom, we ventured over to Josh's mom's for presents and dinner. Josh's mom, Brenda, got me two things that I've been wanting for a while: a crock pot and a toaster, since we lost both of those in the tornado. I was so excited and have already used both of them. We made chicken and noodles, thanks Pinterest, in the crock pot and my first order of business with the toaster and what I've been eating every morning since I got the toaster: BAGELS! I am in bagel and cream cheese heaven.

December 28th was a hard day for my family because that marked a year that my sister, Megan, has been gone. I spent the entire day with my mom and we also went with Megan's friends, Samantha, Edie and Hannah, to see Megan and also to Orange Leaf for some comfort froyo. As emotional as it was, everyone was so wonderful and comforting that day, especially Gracie. That day was the first day I had ever felt so much movement from her. I like to think that she was letting me know that she was here for me on the hardest day of the year. And she has been moving and shaking every day after that, especially after I drink a caffeine free Dr. Pepper or a sweet tea.

On New Years Eve, I supervised while Josh helped my mom and dad move to the new house. I didn't anticipate how hard that day would be till we were sitting in the empty house at the end of the day. I walked into Megan's room and sat there for a moment, letting everything sink in. Her room was the last place that I truly saw her, played with her and laughed with her on the Christmas morning of 2010. Then, I walked into the dining room and completely broke down. Josh held me for a bit and it was amazing that he completely understood and simply knew why I was sad. When Mom saw me crying, she came and hugged me, too. I felt a lot better after that and Josh and I headed home so I could get dolled up and ready for our New Years Eve date. We went to our favorite place, Red Onion, and then walked around Books a Million for a bit so that I could spend the gift card he got me. We came home, relaxed, and watched the ball drop in NY. After we shared a midnight kiss, we went to bed and woke up to the year 2012. I loved our little date night and wanted to do something nice since we'll have little Gracie with us next year.

I wanted to include belly updates for Week 17 & Week 18 since I am a fail blogger and missed a couple of weeks.


How far along? 18 weeks
Total weight gain: As of December 19th, ONE POUND! Whoo!
Maternity clothes? Yes! And I got some sweet preggo skinny jeans as a Christmas present to myself.
Stretch marks? Always.
Sleep: Currently, I'm trying to transition to my side because it feels like too much pressure when I sleep on my stomach.
Best moment this week: Feeling Gracie kick or move or dance or whatever it is that she's doing
Miss Anything? Not being limited on caffeinated beverages. Lol.
Movement: A lot everyday since December 28th.
Food cravings: Fruity pebbles and any form of pizza.
Anything making you queasy or sick: The burritos that Josh made the other night and the filets that we made sometime ago.
Gender: GIRL!!!
Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: A little heartburn, but nothing too ghastly.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY :)
Looking forward to: January 16th, when I get to see Gracie's little face again.