16 Weeks

HELLO belly!  Everybody kept on telling me I would just wake up with it one day, and sure enough, I did on Tuesday!  It might now look much different this week, but it definitely feels different...before it just felt like flab, but now it almost feels like someone put a small football in my belly!  I can even flex my stomach muscles and it's still there...I've been showing Noah that little trick for the past couple of days. :)

Size of Baby: An avacado...4 1/2 inches and 3 1/2 ounces!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Somehow, despite eating everything in sight for the past week, still down about 6 pounds...as long as we're going in the positive direction, I'm ok with that though!

Maternity Clothes: I got all of my borrowed (and the few that I've bought/been given) maternity clothes organized this weekend!  I'm wearing a few of the pants, but mostly I can still do the rubber band trick on the button of regular pants.  I LOVE some of my maternity shirts that I wore this week!

Gender: We find out (hopefully) TUESDAY!!!  I can't believe it's so close!  I am still 100% clueless.  Noah very adamantly thinks boy, so I guess I'll stick to my original guess of girl. :)

Movement: I felt a few little "thuds" this week!  They are still extremely light and sporadic...it's very easy to confuse them with everything else going on in there, but you can tell the difference!  Very cool...I'm ready for them to get stronger now!

Sleep: Not bad...the belly situation is making it more difficult to get comfortable (I'm a stomach sleeper).  I've figured out that if you use your leg to prop yourself up at an angle, you can still sort of sleep on your stomach without the belly getting in the way.  And for some reason I woke up at 3 this morning and never really fully went back to sleep.  I guess I better get used to it! :)

What I miss: Not really anything!

What I am looking forward to: Tuesday!!!! I'm ready to find out what this kiddo is!!!

Cravings: No specific cravings, but my appetite has gone into OVERDRIVE this week.  I just eat and eat and eat!  For example, I was starving on the way home today, so I went by KFC and got a combo.  It was gone before I got home at 4 o'clock in the afternoon...and I could still eat dinner!

Symptoms: Morning sickness (literally, just first thing in the morning now)...not every day, but most.  I had one bad day this week where I was sick all day, but those days are rare now.  And a few round ligament cramps...they are only when I bend/move the wrong way, and only last a split second, but they HURT!

Best Moment This Week: Feeling those first mini kicks!

Weekly Wisdom:  The belly will come, and your baby is growing normally...despite your worrying. :)

Random Thought Dump

-We had a great weekend!  We went to one of my favorites (Chuck's Fish) for dinner Friday night, and I stuffed my face with (cooked) sushi.  It was fabulous...and the first time in a LONG time that I've felt full without feeling sick!  Such a good feeling!  We hung around the house for most of the rest of the weekend.

-Nausea randomly returned yesterday.  What's up with that?  I feel fine today so I'm guessing it's not back for good, but it was not too much fun yesterday.

-Today is the first day I actually feel like I have a real-life bump.  I consider it a bump now because I can't suck it in! :)  But I'm still in normal pants...weird?  I'm guessing there's extra room right now because I lost weight.

-Hardy, God love him, is not taking these changes well.  He has started waking up in the middle of the night and using the bathroom in the house...just since I've been pregnant!  I've heard before that dogs know even before we do sometimes, but this is how he shows it?  I'm getting tired of cleaning my carpet to be honest.  And we've decided we've got to break him of the screaming-bloody-murder barking when he gets excited...it's not going to be very conducive to having a newborn in the house.  I LOVE him, he's always going to be my first baby, but it's time the first baby learned some rules. :)

-I find out what this sweet baby is in ONE WEEK!!  I am so excited!!  I just hope it decides to be cooperative that day!

-I've started kind of working on our registry.  Of course I can't do much yet without knowing the gender, but there are some things that will be on there no matter what.  What are some things you could or couldn't live without?

-Is it sad that I get excited to come home on Monday afternoons because I can do my Publix list for the week?  Don't answer that.

-I am shocked at this, but I've felt a few little thumps over the past few days!  I still feel like it's really early, but it's a really unique feeling...definitely not what's normally going on in there. :)  Very cool!

Notice Anything Different?

I decided yesterday was also a good day to clean up the blog! :)  So I gave it a fall makeover.  What do you think?

And I've had a couple of people ask me about doing blog designs in the past few weeks.  I decided a few weeks ago to take the month of September off, just to get through the first trimester in one piece. :)  If you're interested, I'm going to start taking orders again October 1st!

The (Not So) Sickies and 15 weeks

You might be asking yourself, "Why is Leslie home, and in jeans, at 8:30am on a Thursday?"

You also might be asking yourself, "Why isn't she wearing makeup in a picture that God and the rest of the world will see on the Internet, and what is up with that freakish lovely pink hue to her right eye?"

That would be pink eye, my friends. And I am NOT a happy camper about it.

I feel fine, but woke up with this yesterday morning.  I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon to confirm what I thought.  I was specifically told that I would be contagious today, so I had to stay home.  Which, when you're a teacher and have just enough sick time saved up for maternity leave, means you're essentially taking an unpaid day off.  When I feel just fine.

See why I'm not too happy?

Apparently it's easier to get when you're pregnant, since your immune system is already down.  Add to that I'm just getting over a cold, and I was a pretty easy target for Mr. Pink Eye.

So moral of the story...wash your hands.  Lots.  Especially if you're pregnant and especially if you work with kids that love to hang all over you and inadvertently give you their germs.

Ok, moving on to the pregnancy post.  I added a couple of sections this week...

Size of Baby: A navel orange (that seems HUGE!)...about 4 inches and 2 1/2 ounces

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I am down 7 pounds from pre-pregnancy as of this morning.  It's starting to get frustrating - I am eating everything IN SIGHT and can't gain weight.   Why can't I have this problem when I'm not pregnant? :)

Maternity Clothes: I think I shrunk this week. :( I'm actually back in my normal pants for the most part, but I do still have to do the rubber band trick on them.  I've got the (small) belly...it's just because I'm losing weight and that's balancing out my growing belly that I'm able to wear my regular pants!

Gender: Not a clue!  We find out in about 2 weeks, on October 4th. :)  Don't forget, you can vote here if you have a guess!

Movement: I think it's still too early, but there have been several times this week that I could have SWORN I felt something.  It feels like the slightest little taps on the inside of my tummy.  It's incredibly light...if I wasn't looking for it, I probably wouldn't notice it, but I think there's something going on! :)

Sleep: Still great!  Waking up one time in the middle of the night still, but that's really it.

What I miss: After this week...my immune system.  Ha!  I've had a cold and now pink eye in one week.  They aren't kidding about your immune system being down during pregnancy!

What I am looking forward to: Feeling some distinct kicks!  And of course seeing what this sweet baby is!

Cravings: No real cravings, but I'm starting to want more "substantial" meals...not just pickles and sorbet all the time. :) I actually cooked this week, I was kind of proud of myself!

Symptoms: I still get sick in the mornings, especially when I brush my teeth.  That gets me EVERY time.  But I'm not sick anymore besides that!  I believe having a cold started the lovely sinus problems you get during pregnancy, because I've had a stuffy nose ever since.

Best Moment This Week: Hearing that sweet baby on the doppler...I know I say that every week, but it really does calm my nerves, especially since I'm just not growing a whole lot yet.

Weekly Wisdom:  Wash hands.  Wash hands, wash hands, wash hands.

And now, I'm off to clean my house...something good might as well come out of taking a pointless sick day. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Nursery Planning :)

 I am so excited that it's almost time to start baby shopping!  I'm not sure if Noah is as excited about the shopping part. :)  I've waited so long to do this, and already have so much planned!

I'll be honest...I've been planning this nursery for a LOT longer than 15 weeks.  This has been in the works for years!  As I see something I've just kind of made a note of it...and this is the combination of all of it together!

We're leaving the walls the neutral color that's throughout our house, regardless of boy or girl.  Our whole house is basically the same color, and it would just stand out in a bad way if we painted one room.  Plus the color matches our idea for both nurseries!

Our boy and girl nurseries are pretty much the same. :)

In either a boy or girl's nursery...

I've had SO many people recommend Best Gliders!  They are expensive, but we're getting one that can be used in another child's nursery...so worth the money to me!  The one for our nursery will be in a Linen color, not the one pictured above...

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I LOVE the thought of having a big, shaggy rug in the nursery, in front of the crib...this just so happens to be made by the bedding manufacturer, so it matches perfectly!

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I'm planning on doing some type of tie-up valence for the curtains...sort of like this, but with our fabrics obviously.  I thought about doing floor-length curtains, but Noah didn't like the idea, and I've heard it's not the best idea when the baby becomes mobile and starts pulling at things.  So we're going with the valence!  This is something I'll make myself.

To hang over the crib, I'd like some kind of monogram, but I'm still undecided on it...something classic though.  I don't really want to do the vinyl decal that a lot of people are doing, maybe something framed...I don't know, jury's still out on that one. :)

For boy's nursery...

 

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Our furniture set...Monterey by Bedford Baby.  I've looked at several ones and just keep going back to this one!  It's a convertible crib, so this is furniture that will stick with the baby for a long time (we did the same thing for a girl)...so we went on and decided to spend a little extra since it was an investment.

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Our bedding Central Park by Glenna Jean.  This actually wasn't in the original plan at all!  For years, I have planned to have the bedding custom made.  But we were in Buy Buy Baby a few weeks ago, found this, and just fell in love!  It has the same exact toile fabric we were going to use in the custom bedding.  With coupons and discounts, it's going to be much cheaper too!

For girl's nursery...

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I've had this picked out for a long time!  It's Sorelle Vista in French White.  We're planning on getting every piece shown here (ignore the fact that the chest of drawers is grayed out).  Once again - it's convertible, so it'll be long-term kind of furniture!

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Our bedding for a girl would be Madison by Glenna Jean.  This is pretty much the same story as the boy's bedding - we were planning on doing custom bedding, but this is SO much cuter and has the exact toile pattern we were going to use!  It is almost identical to the boy's bedding, but in pink tones.

Now I just need to know what this kiddo is and start shopping! :)

Fun Baby Pool!

I just found this online and thought it was cute!  You can enter a baby pool that guesses the gender, weight, time of birth, etc. of Baby Lambert.  I'm interested to see what everybody has to say!

Click the box to go to the site...

And just an FYI to those guessing...I was average size and born the day after my due date, but Noah was born 2 weeks (yes, WEEKS) after his due date and weighed almost 11 pounds. Not that I'm worried about that or anything...

14 weeks

I'm 14 weeks pregnant today!

Size of Baby: A lemon...about 3 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 ounces!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I think I'm down around 5-6 pounds again.  I had a rough weekend with nausea, which kept me from being able to eat a whole lot.  Of course the one time in my life that I want to gain weight, I can't. :)

Maternity Clothes: I'm in that awkward stage between normal and maternity pants.  I'm too big for normal pants (despite the weight loss), but I'm too small for maternity pants.  Anytime I'm wearing maternity pants I actually have to stick my belly out a little to keep them up!

Gender: I don't know...I keep flip-flopping.  Noah's referring to it as a "he," which I think is what's making me wonder if it's a boy.  I did have a dream a few nights ago that we went to the gender ultrasound and it was a boy!

Movement: Nothing that I can feel.  But pretty much every time I go to listen to the heartbeat on the doppler, he/she is moving like crazy...I'll find the heartbeat, and it'll only hang around for a few seconds because we're off to a new place!  I think when I finally can feel it, I'm going to feel it A LOT.

Sleep: It's great...I'm only waking up once in the middle of the night, and that's actually working pretty well - I take my vitamins then, and go right back to sleep, because if I take them any other time they make me sick.  So it works out!

What I miss: Nothing at all!  I finally got the guts up to take my first bath (as opposed to shower...yes, I do bathe :)) since I found out this week.  I'm slowly getting the courage to try things that are still ok, but scare you during pregnancy!

Cravings: Not really many this week.  I'm getting my appetite back (most of the time), so there aren't just certain things I will eat.  Don't laugh at this - but I have been DYING for Ramen Noodles!  I don't know why to save my life, but several nights this week that's all that has sounded good.  So weird, especially since I haven't wanted pasta since I got pregnant!

Symptoms:  Sickness, on and off.  I can tell a HUGE difference if I don't take Zofran at least once a day.  I tried not taking it this weekend, and if I hadn't known better, I would have thought I had a stomach bug...it was bad.  So I've started taking it once in the afternoons, even if I'm not too bad, just because it will get bad if I don't.  Still going to bed pretty early too!

Best Moment This Week: Finally realizing that I do have a little bit of a bump that's not all bloat! :)  And getting to hear the heartbeat on the doppler...that is so much fun.

Want to Hear the Greatest Sound in the World?

Still holding strong in the low 160's, as of this afternoon. :)

What A Difference...

I'm awake at 5am...on a Saturday.  I'm sick and honestly just want to go back to bed.

But I absolutely could not be happier to be going through this today.

On September 10, 2010, I took this test...and it told me I was pregnant for the first time.  I can't believe that was one year ago.  It really is crazy how much we've been through in just a year...but I could not be prouder of our journey.

I've never really blogged about that weekend, just because by the time I was telling everybody, we knew that it wasn't going to last.  But it was one of the best weekends of our lives.

This is a picture of us at the football game that weekend (it was Penn State, just the same as today by coincidence)...we were so happy.  Naturally, when you get pregnant, you don't want to think about the fact that it might not be guaranteed.  So we didn't...not until things started going downhill at least.

I just didn't know that that weekend would be the only time we would ever be able to celebrate that pregnancy.  I started having signs of miscarriage that next Monday, and the situation never really improved.

So yes, morning sickness and insomnia are not the most glamorous parts of pregnancy.  But am I complaining today?  Absolutely not.  Because the me of last year would have done anything to be in the me of this year's shoes right now.

13 Weeks

I'm 13 weeks pregnant today!  HELLO second trimester...I've been wanting to meet you for awhile now!

Size of Baby: Peach...almost 3 inches long and weighs almost an ounce!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Only down about 4 pounds now from pre-pregnancy.  I'm very thankful I'm starting to catch up a little.  I will put this disclaimer on here - my weight has CRAZY fluctuations.  So it's not that odd to gain/lose 3-4 pounds in a week for me.  So don't think I'm on some weird diet if it happens! :)

Maternity Clothes: I'm thinking the switch to maternity pants is in my near future.  There's only a couple of pairs of regular pants I can wear now without the weird muffin-top look.  I wore maternity pants for the first time this week - and they are UH-MAY-ZING.  They're still a little loose, but better than my too-tight regular pants.  Shirts and dresses are still fine though!

Gender: I'm starting to get a "hunch" that we might have a girl.  That's TOTALLY a hunch, but I've just got a gut feeling.  We'd be happy with either one though!  AND we scheduled the appointment to find out today - October 4th is the big day!

Movement: Nothing that I can feel.  The nurse did say the baby was moving all over the place when she was trying to get a heartbeat today at my appointment - she'd have it one second, then it would move.  I can't WAIT to feel something!

Sleep: Still good...but I've started waking up in the middle of the night for like 15-30 minutes.  If you know me, you know I NEVER do that - I am usually a super sound sleeper.  Very strange.  But I'm not sleeping quite as much - I'm actually able to stay awake until 9-10 now! :)  Definitely getting some of my energy back.

What I miss: Really nothing!  I almost got up the nerve to have a caffeinated drink today, but I chickened out. :)  Maybe soon!

Cravings: I'm not as much on the sour kick.  I've been LOVING water, and I've actually really liked spicy things this week!  We went to PF Chang's last night and I COVERED my food in that chili paste they bring you.  Noah looked at me like I was nuts.

Symptoms:  I see what everybody is saying about starting to feel like yourself again about this point! I'm still sick, but not nearly as much.  It's still bad first thing in the morning, and I get a little queasy at dinner, but if I make myself eat through it I'm fine.  And I'm getting my energy back too!  I don't feel the need to sleep 12 hours a night anymore.  I'm still having the stretchy feelings, but nothing that's not normal.

Best Moment This Week: We got our Doppler heart monitor in Tuesday!  It only took a couple of minutes to find the heartbeat.  I am LOVING having that at home, so I can check in on the baby anytime I want!  I would HIGHLY recommend getting one (but I'd wait until you're 12-13 weeks before you do...the heartbeat can be hard to find before then, and there's no sense in scaring yourself for no reason) (says the crazy pregnant lady that freaks herself out with something stupid pretty much every few days). :)

We also had a great appointment today!  No ultrasound this time, but nurse found the heartbeat on their doppler too.  It's still in the lower/mid 160's.  Everything as far as my measurements looked great too.  And like I said above, we scheduled the gender ultrasound for my next appointment...4 weeks and counting! :)

12 Weeks

I'm 12 weeks pregnant today!

Size of Baby: Plum

Total Weight Gain/Loss: DOWN 6 pounds, as of this morning.  Doctor says it's normal...I promise I'm eating as much as I possibly can (which is not much these days)!

Maternity Clothes: We're close.  I've been doing the rubber band trick on the pants button for a couple of weeks now, and I wore my Bella Band for the first time yesterday.  Shirts are fine - it's pants that are the problem!

Gender: No idea!  Most of the old wives' tales are pointing towards girl...I don't really buy into them, but they do make you wonder.  Chinese gender calendar says boy though.  So we'll see. :)

Movement: I think it's still too early.  I have been having the strangest sensation in my lower ab area...it almost feels like my stomach is growling, but less intense, and lower obviously.  I don't exactly know what feeling I'm looking for here, but I've never felt anything like it before!  Is that it?

Sleep: Is my BFF. :)  I'm averaging about 11 (yes, eleven) hours every night...it's not uncommon for me to go to sleep at 7 these days.

What I miss: Ok, the better question...what do I miss enough to not be pregnant and have it?  Absolutely, positively nothing!  But, if I'm being honest, I do miss sushi, and my cup of coffee every morning.  But this is SO much better!

Cravings: Sour, sour, sour!  My absolutely favorite has been Sour Patch Kids...like the candy you get at the movies.  On several occasions, I've eaten so many that my tongue hurts and I had to stop!  I've also loved pickles and any sour fruit.  And I get a Cherry Limeade EVERY single day on the way home!

Symptoms: Morning sickness is still with us.  It's worst first thing in the morning - that's really the only time that I've actually gotten sick.  Then it gets better, and comes back (just as nausea) right before dinner.  I'm trying to eat a early dinner now so I can get some calories in me before I get sick!

I'm also still pretty sleepy.  I've had some cramping off and on, which ironically, has gotten better since I stopped my progesterone earlier this week.  I've had very little (if any) since then...it's mostly stretching feelings now!

Best Moment This Week: Stopping the progesterone!  I was nervous, but I'm on day 3 without it and doing fine!  It is SUCH a relief to jump that hurdle.  And, making it to that magical 12 week mark is pretty awesome too!

I've been taking bump pictures since week 9.  I can't tell a huge difference yet...it's still mostly bloat to be honest.  Come on baby bump! :)

(And yes, I am looking a hot mess in these pictures...I've been chasing 16 six year olds for 7 hours at this point, so you understand. :))