{25 Weeks}

Yes, I'm in pajamas. My very favorite leopard pajama pants =)

Happy Halloween!

25 weeks now and not much has changed, although my back pain is starting to ease (I hope). Wedding rings continue to get tighter :( so I have a feeling that in the next couple of weeks, they will be off for good. Boo. Same with clothes. Not that they'll be off for good, but all the non-maternity clothes I could fit in to are slowly becoming too tight as well. Just an excuse to buy cute new things. I'm wearing out Target's maternity sweater dress section =)

I'm still trying to be good about what I eat (well, at least until my glucose test in 3 weeks. Then it's game on!) but all of these yummy holiday foods are making it super hard. And my salt cravings have turned into a wicked sweet tooth. I actually ate a (full size) candy bar the other day, which I haven't done in a couple of years probably. Thank goodness the closest Starbucks to me is 30 minutes away, or I'd be in BIG trouble.

I had a dream this week that our boy was here and Cody and I were calling him Goose (for some unknown reason). Possible future nickname?

He's kicking like crazy, mostly in the mornings when I first wake up or in the afternoons. It was a little strange at first, thinking of another person moving around inside of you. But now, it's sweet and comforting whenever he moves. It makes me happy. As ready as I am to meet this little guy, I think I'll miss feeling him wiggle around in my tummy.

We've FINALLY decided on a name! And I immediately got a burp cloth embroidered, so it's truly official!

I also walked a 5K this weekend. Woop! I stress the word walk, because even the people pushing strollers passed Kaeli and I. Don't judge, you try walking 4 miles carrying 20 extra pounds! But we finished and had fun! I need to keep walking more so this post-baby weight loss will happen quickly.

And now, I need to wrap this up so I can finish cleaning my house! I've got my Leaves candle from Bath & Body burning (trying to use up my fall scents so I can bust out the Christmas candles!) and my windows open. Santa Fe soup is in the crock-pot, so the husband will be super happy when he gets home from work! I'll be happy when this "nesting" kicks in and I'm actually happy about cleaning instead of procrastinating half of my day off.

24 Weeks and a Baby Party!

24 weeks! Woohoo! Sorry for another lazy "I didn't take time to change out of my work clothes" picture.

Well, it's officially week 24, and I'm still feeling good. I hope I stay this blessed the entire time =)
Downside: Scrubs and other non-maternity items of clothing I was managing to pull off are getting too small to wear in public. I've now gained 18 pounds, so all things considered I guess I'm doing good to still be wearing some of them. But I have a feeling the maternity scrubs will get busted out next week. The wedding rings are also getting tight. I can no longer sleep in them or I can't get them off when I wake up in the morning :(

We also had the baby party this past weekend! Our sweet friends Jason and Lacy hosted it, and we had so many friends there it was overwhelming. It was a nice reminder of how much this little guy will be loved, and how even though the thought of raising a kid is super scary, we aren't in it alone! We got tons of cute goodies, which I'm still sorting through in my free time. Since I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to organize the nursery yet, most of it is on the floor still. But I'm getting there!

Here are most of the cool stuff we got =)

Lots of bath stuff!

Chicco KeyFit Infant Carseat and Cortina Stroller

Lamp: Pottery Barn Kids


And for the record, we've been hanging on to the same name for 2 weeks now...so this one could be the winner!!

Name That Baby

Exactly what we've been trying to do since we found out this little nugget was indeed a boy (my husband's not-so-silent prayers were answered). I had an early ultrasound at 17 weeks to find out the gender. It was an anniversary surprise for Cody since our doctor wouldn't schedule our appointment until I was 20 weeks.

The biggest problem in picking a name was the fact that we already had a name picked out. When we started talking about trying for a baby (sometime last year) we had a boy and girl name picked out. Our boy name was Liam. So for months and months I grew attached to these 2 names. The day after we found out Baby R was a boy, my husband came home from work and said, "I don't like the name Liam anymore."

Really? Since when?!

Thus began our perfect baby boy name search. Of course we had an endless stream of suggestions from everyone who knew I was pregnant. I read books, searched websites, and made multiple lists of possible names. 

Liam

Blake

Nathan

Jase

Bryson

Cale

Ethan

Mason

Owen

Heath

...and the list goes on. And on. And on.

This week we may have finally come to an agreement. Can you hear angels singing in the background? I can! Hopefully the name we're mulling over will stick. Until then, I'm not posting it. Although I can hardly wait to because it will end the continuous stream of "well if you don't have a name how will I ever monogram the adorable ______ I'm going to get you??" comments from everyone I know. Remember, we live in the south. We put an initial on EVERYTHING.

23 Weeks

Today makes 23 weeks =)

Let me tell you, pregnancy flies by!

And please excuse my exhausted looking self in the photo, and the scrubs. I literally walked in from work and had Cody take my picture. We always do the pictures on Sunday. He doesn't even complain about it anymore ;)

I'm feeling pretty good still, other than the sciatic nerve pain that won't go away and the swollen ankles every day when I get off work. My husband thinks those are cute. 

Ok, not really. Nothing swollen is cute.

But really, I have nothing to complain about. I am in a pretty good mood most of the time (although I occasionally tear up for no reason). I'm not totally exhausted like I was the whole first 16 weeks I was pregnant. And now that I'm very visibly pregnant and people aren't afraid to ask me about it for fear of being wrong, this whole deal is much more fun!

We're making progress on the nursery. The walls have been painted and furniture put together for at least a week now. Tomorrow the husband will start his project of installing recessed lighting and a dimmer switch. This was his idea, because he didn't want either of us to have to get up in the middle of the night and switch the bright ceiling fan light on in the baby's face. It's funny what men start to think about when their own baby is involved. So once the lighting is in and drywall dust cleaned up, I will get the bedding into place and hopefully post some pictures as it comes together. I'm excited!

We're also having our first shower this week. I say "we" because this is a couple's cookout/party. I think the boys have just as much fun as the girls do at these. Any excuse for them to grill out and us all get together is always welcome! We have wonderful friends, to say the least. Hopefully I'll have some pictures from the shower too!

How adorable are the invites??

Lastly, I'm looking forward to the doctor this week for my monthly check-up. I never thought I'd look forward to a doctor's visit, but it's exciting checking in on the baby every few weeks and hearing good news. My last visit was my 20 week ultrasound, and my placenta was low. Not low enough to cause me to need a c-section, but they want to recheck it again this time. My doctor said she was fairly confident that it would be fine by my scan this week, so basically this is just another opportunity to see my cute little nugget =)

So fingers crossed for another good visit!

Small Victories.

Let's talk about maternity clothes for a minute. {Cue to leave now if you are not female, or just not interested}

Maternity clothes kind of suck, but they're kind of awesome at the same time. Don't worry, I'll elaborate. But first, my small victory for the day. I went shopping today and nothing (well, except for the undershirt) I wore was maternity. I managed to squeeze into a pair of AE jeans and my favorite Under Armour pullover and still look socially acceptable. Could you tell I'm pregnant? Absolutely. But I could STILL WEAR THEM! My excitement over this stems from the fact that I gained 8 pounds the minute those 2 little pink lines showed up on the 3 (or 4) pregnancy tests I took. I swear.

Back to maternity clothes.
Who decided that all pregnant women needed to wear tops long enough to cover their butts, and they needed to have a cute little bow at the waist? Someone's grandmother surely, who thinks that because you are pregnant you should look matronly. Gag. Now I'm sure that these articles of clothing have been drastically improved from what our mothers wore, but they still have a long way to go. You want some cute things to wear when that baby bump really pokes out? You can find them here, but you'll pay dearly. Unless you just have $45 to spend on a black t-shirt, and then shop yourself silly.

That being said, I've found some really cute things at Old Navy, Gap, and Target. Downside: (most) Old Navy and Gap stores do not carry maternity clothes, therefore they have to be returned through the mail. Target is a good choice for basic things, and they have more of a selection online, which can be returned to any store. The bad part is they basically only get one size run of everything in the store, so if you see something cute there you better snatch it up!

Now here's the truly awesome part about maternity clothes. Ready? They are super-comfy and if you find the right fit, super-flattering =)
Well, most of them. Tops that actually give you appropriate room in the mid-section? Awesome. I know several people I could suggest these to. And let's just say that it is {nearly} impossible to get a muffin-top in maternity pants. Again, several people I know should wear these all the time. The "below the belly" maternity pants from Old Navy have been a huge lifesaver.

If you are lucky like some people (people I hate) then you won't gain enough weight during your pregnancy to require you to wear maternity clothes until you are 6-ish months along. I was not blessed with those genes. Again, + pregnancy test = 8 pounds. Boom. Just like that. Whoever discovered looping a hair tie through your jeans' button hole to give you extra room, I bow down to you.

My tips to you:
Buy maternity basics that will work with what you already own. By that I mean a few pairs of jeans in different styles, a couple of pairs of dress pants, basic tops (t-shirts, tanks, etc), and a few dressy tops. Also, get some maternity leggings/yoga pants (again, why do people not wear these all the time?? You'll see what I mean) as well as maternity tights. You can always use things in your closet to layer, like cardigans, vests, etc. Winter pregnant girls are lucky because we can get by with sweats and no one cares. Summer girls are lucky because you get to rock cute dresses all the time!

Show your bump off! Trust me, hiding it (why would you want to?) only makes it worse. It's hard at first, but once you get past the "Is-she-pregnant-or-is-that-a-Mexican-food-and-beer-gut" stomach, you'll be ready to flaunt it just so people won't think you're fat anymore. At least that's how I felt.

Accessorize! You'll get to a point where your closet is boring you, because you've worn all your maternity stuff/regular items that still fit multiple times, but can't seem to find anything else you like. Scarves, shoes, and jewelry are your friends =) or at least they're mine. I treated myself today with a super cute new pair of pajama pants and a gold giraffe necklace that I fell in love with. 

{I can hear my husband rolling his eyes}

Pajama pants and necklace from J.Crew Factory Store

Playing Catch-Up

Being the Pinterest addict/junkie that I am, I found a blog on there one day that gave me a super cute idea for posting pregnancy pictures without looking...inappropriate. Apparently, the day that you conceive, people want you to either post or send them pictures of your pregnant stomach. I'm self-conscious on a good day, so posting naked-belly pictures all over Facebook simply wasn't an option. So I decided on the "cute descriptive chalkboard" method originally found here. She looks adorable in her pictures! I'll use this post to show my pictures up until this point:

How did I manage to not look pregnant at all here? I should wear this shirt more often.

Those are the last few months of my life in a nutshell.

My pregnancy has been fairly easy so far...hopefully it continues this way. Notice my first picture is at 10 weeks, which is when we announced "Baby R" to the world (outside of our parents and brothers). Someone said "Thank goodness you had sense enough not to tell everyone the minute you peed on a stick!" and I say, to each his own. We just felt better after going to the doctor and knowing everything was going well. And apparently I was feeling rough at 12 weeks, because there is no picture of me =)

I've been blessed not to be sick {much} during this adventure. During my first trimester, the only thing that sent me running for the bathroom was tomato sauce. Of course, I craved tomato soup. I got over that around 16 weeks, only to have the same ill feeling return this week. Sigh. 

My other issue is this little nugget sitting on my sciatic nerve, where he has been comfortable positioned since about week 15 or 16. My OB said hopefully as I get bigger my uterus will "tilt" forward and off my sciatic nerve. No luck yet. It's also not helpful that I'm a nurse and when I'm at work, I'm on my feet 13+ hours a day. My advice: stretching and a maternity pillow. I have the Boppy Maternity Pillow and it has been wonderful. My husband would beg to differ, stating that it feels like there's a third person in the bed with "that thing in here," but he can occasionally be dramatic. I feel like it will definitely come in handy in my later months too when I'm rolling around in bed like a beached walrus.

We are currently working on putting the nursery together, so there will be pictures coming soon. As I previously mentioned, Chloe is not very happy about her room being remodeled. But if we're being honest, she's a cat so every room in the house belongs to her.

The Beginning

So...I've never written a blog before. In fact, I've never written anything before other than in a journal when I was in middle school (your welcome for not posting THAT on here). But being the sentimental, hormonal, pregnant person that  I am, I have the sudden urge to document everything. I decided this would be a good way to keep up with things going on in my life and pregnancy, and one day I can look back on this and laugh hysterically. Until then, I'll just write what I think.

In hindsight, I probably should have started this blog when I found out I was pregnant, or even when we started trying. Those of you that know me know that I am a procrastinator, so better late than never ;)

A little background info for someone who might stumble upon this randomly:
I'm a critical care nurse in a small hospital just outside Nashville. I've been married for 3 years now to my sweet husband (who will probably be called various names throughout this blog!), and I am 22 weeks pregnant with our first baby!

We're having a little boy, due in February 2013. And before you ask, no he does not have a name yet. That's a whole post in itself. We have a furchild, a sweet cat named Chloe who doesn't understand why we took the bed out of her room and replaced it with nursery furniture.

I like to craft (when I have time), and bake. Cooking, not so much. I leave that to the husband mostly. But I can throw down on some desserts!

So with the basics out of the way, I guess I'll just blog myself silly now!