Ticker

I'm trying to figure out how to get a countdown ticker on my blog.  I can't seem to figure out how to do it on the blog as a whole (it keeps telling me the url I'm copy/pasting from thebump.com won't work), but I think I may have figured out how to get it in each post.  If you're a genius with computers and want to help me fix it, great.  Otherwise, I'll hopefully have a ticker on each post from now on :)

12 weeks

Pictures next week to celebrate my entry into the 2nd trimester! :)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 12 weeks

Size of Baby: avg size: ~3 in

Total Weight Gain/Loss: ~5 lbs

Maternity Clothes: bought a pair of leggings to wear with my tops/dresses, my first official maternity pants :)  Also bought my first 32D bra.

Best Moment this week: Got to hear baby's heartbeat at my dr's appt today.  Also scheduled my next appt for 16 wks (to hear heartbeat again) and 20 weeks for the regular ultrasound.

Gender: undetermined for 8 more weeks if baby cooperates

Movement: none; I can't wait!!

Food Craving: I drove to the store at dinner time to get groceries just so I could make barbeque chicken on Sunday.  I've been eating a lot of chicken and fruit and drinking a lot of milk.

What I Miss Most: fitting into my clothes.  Not NEEDING a nap to get through the day.

Sleep: still only waking once a night to pee, but a few times I've had to get up early to eat something too.

What I am looking forward to: going to breakfast and shopping with my preggo friend from small group on Saturday!

Belly Button: normal (in)

Symptoms: It seems I'm on a one-good-week/one-bad-week schedule with the nausea and fatigue.  Last week was my good week, and I started feeling sick again this weekend.  But I actually feel okay about the nausea b/c it gives me peace about my hormone levels.

11 weeks

Sorry, no pics this week. I had a busy weekend and no time for belly pics...just look back at last week's pics and imagine about another cm more pooch :-)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 11 weeks

Size of Baby: avg size: 2 in

Total Weight Gain/Loss: ~5 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I went today and bought a couple cute dresses/tops that should last me indefinitely; though they don't look at all maternity yet, they will when my belly is truly big.

Best Moment this week: coming home exhausted after a busy long day to find my amazing husband had single-handedly taken care of ALL the chores. Love that man!

Gender: undetermined, though old wives' tales and friends' stories and hunches say boy. I love the totally unfounded guesses :-) Still gotta wait about 9 more weeks, people!

Movement: none; I can't wait!!

Food Craving: MILK! I've also eaten scrambled eggs with ketchup twice this week (2nd time for dinner tonight!) :-)

What I Miss Most: Energy. Not feeling like I might puke at any moment. And b/c of the energy, caffeine.

Sleep: I've been so tired lately that I've actually been sleeping solid till 4-4:30am recently.

What I am looking forward to: Next week (Tuesday) is my next dr's appt!

Belly Button: normal (in) - actually it might be a little MORE in than usual b/c of the pooching belly

Symptoms: Full on nausea. And lots of being tired after very little exertion. Nelly needs naps!

10 wks

I'm going to post these blogs a day early; I don't actually turn __wks 0days till Tuesdays, but I have Mondays off and it's easier to get done then... otherwise you'll be getting them a week late!! ;-D

This is my "outfit" for taking pictures :)

I had a request specifically for a bare belly pic, so here it is.  Don't get too used to these; I won't be taking them every week.

 

I put on my running clothes and was amused at how much my belly already pokes out in my usual running shirt.  I won't be wearing this one all the way through the summer b/c I don't want to stretch it out. :-)

Pregnancy Highlights:
 
How Far Along: 10 weeks

Size of Baby: avg size: 1.5 in

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm already up 5 lbs, which seems like too much to me, but the dr didn't say anything a week ago, so I'm trying not to worry too much about it.

Maternity Clothes: My baggy pants are fitting me without any "baggy" anymore, and I bought a Bella band to help make my clothes wearable a little longer.  I'm going to be in maternity clothes by my birthday at this rate!! :)

Best Moment this week: standing in church realizing how grateful I am for all God has brought me through, miscarriages and all.  Realizing how much he loves me, and how much I love this little one (not the same amt I guess, but related)

Gender: undetermined, though I keep accidentally saying "she".  Lindsey did that w/Elijah before she knew what he was, so NO, that's not an indicator that I'm having a girl :)

Movement: none; I can't wait!!

Food Craving: I drove halfway across town to the nearest Quiznos for a honey bacon club while I was running errands this week.  I've also been eating oatmeal, a texture I usually have trouble with, but not lately.

What I miss: sleeping through the night.  Energy.  Salad (but the thought of it now makes me want to hurl).

Sleep: The same: I'm waking around midnight to use the bathroom, then tossing and turning from 3am till the alarm at 5:30am.  I'm having those crazy pregnancy dreams too. 

What I am looking forward to: what I'm NOT looking forward to is shopping for pants that fit :) I'm looking forward to a friend's baby shower this Saturday; they're adopting internationally and the baby is already 1yr old (but not here yet), so it'll be unlike any shower I've been to before.

Belly Button: normal (in)

Symptoms: I thought I was doing pretty well b/c my symptoms were kinda tapering off, but they came back with a vengeance this week.  Nausea and fatigue.  Glad I had last week off work; lots of couch time! :)

Another New Beginning

As most of you know (b/c I've already gone public on FB), I'm pregnant!  I thought it would be fun to track some of the highlights for you to follow each week.  Of course in these first weeks there's not too much to tell, but a friend of mine blogged her pregnancy and I really enjoyed following it, and thought "I'm going to have to do that when I get pregnant".  So here it is, format stolen directly from her :)

My barely baby bump, just enough to make my pants tight.  Apologies for the angle of the picture; I had to set the camera on the table and turn the timer on.  I might try to find a better place for the future, but this is what I've got for now. :)

Pregnancy Highlights:
 
How Far Along: 9 weeks

Size of Baby: about an inch (average)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: a few pounds already

Maternity Clothes: I'm wearing my baggy jeans but no maternity clothes yet.  So far I just look like I'm getting "fat", not pregnant. :)

Best Moment this week: seeing baby's heartbeat again yesterday at the ultrasound!  And finishing the Steamboat Springs Half Marathon in less than 3 hrs.

Gender: undetermined

Movement: none

Food Craving: pizza has been a constant, and too many carbs

What I miss: surprisingly, b/c I don't drink much - alcohol.  I wish I could have a mojito so bad!

Sleep: I'm waking around midnight to use the bathroom, then tossing and turning from 3am till the alarm at 5:30am.  I'm having those crazy pregnancy dreams like my apocalypse dream where I was looking for the bathrooms instead of stressing about the catastrophe. 

What I am looking forward to: everything :) - painting the dresser/changing table, picking out furniture for the nursery, registering, showers, starting to show, maternity clothes, the whole shebang.

Belly Button: normal (in)

Symptoms: I can't seem to keep my eyes open past about 8:30pm without a nap or two during the day.  And I'm eating smaller meals more often to avoid the trifecta of hunger, queasiness, and bloating.

Easter Fun

Elijah loves the gong!

Elijah plays games

The boys play while the girls cook

Serial killer nephew

Cool kid

Shades

Easter snow!?

Stitch hat!

A new blog

Just wanted to let my followers here know that I've started a new blog over at life-of-gifts.blogspot.com if you're interested in following my journey through God's blessings in my life.  And I intend to take some pictures this weekend, so I'll be posting a real entry here soon too.

Holiday cheer

I know I still owe you pictures, so here's the whole holiday season.  I forgot to take pictures of a lot of things, like opening presents or going for a walk with Elijah's new wagon.  But here's the best of what I've got.  Enjoy!!

Thanksgiving turkey; undercooked, but delicious in the end!

The day after the freezing fog I caught some gorgeous pics first thing in the morning before it all melted.

Spikey Ice



Frozen leaf



You can't beat that blue sky!



The stockings were hung on the bulletin board with care... :)
And isn't that red just the perfect backdrop for C-mas?!

The tree.  We added a couple more presents, but it was all for Elijah... that poor kid is going to be confused about the meaning of Christmas until we add some more babies to the family!

We finally bought a new dining table so we could host the C-mas dinner.  I LOVE it :)



Proof that mom and dad really did come for the holiday.



Elijah running in the snow

Lindsey's making perfect snowballs...

...and after much instigation, mom threw one of those perfect snowballs at daddy (who was inside); I snapped this pic just before he wiped the evidence off himself.

Showed Elijah the gong and the next time he came over he pointed and said very clearly: gong??

He LOVED getting to bang it, and he didn't even deafen us!  Letting him also won me more brownie points towards being his favorite aunt :)  hehe

Christmas Contentment

Merry Christmas!!

My parents are here, and it's so nice.  Though, like Josh said, when you don't come down and start opening presents, it doesn't "feel" like C-mas.  Monday will be our "C-mas" with Elijah here to open his, but the adults opted not to do C-mas this year.  Mom & Dad paid for plane tickets to get out here and that's a C-mas treat for me!  And we just bought a house, and Lindsey & Steven have only been in theirs less than a year (plus plane tickets to visit his family aren't cheap), so it's a kids C-mas.

So today I strapped on my new Vibram shoes and headed out for my first "barefoot" run with my dad.  I walked at least half of it and jogged very slowly to stick with daddy (and he even jogged some!), but it was a good first go.  The soles of my feet are sore in a different way than regular shoe runs b/c they had to work a little more, responding to what was under them.  And one of the shoes has a little spot that caused a minor blister, so that'll need to be addressed.  But otherwise, I like them.  My feet were surprisingly not too cold once I got running and the blood got pumping, even though the temps were in the 30's.

Anyway, I'll snap some pictures of the C-mas decorations, my new shoes, and our C-mas celebrations on Monday, then I'll post again with a few shots of everything.  I hope that your C-mas has been filled with peace and love.  Happy New Year! :o)

Whirlwind of Wonderful

I love the holiday season.  I love that people take it as an excuse to get together.  I'm so excited about my upcoming month.  Here's how it's going to play out, with additions along the way as new invitations roll in.
12/9 - Watching baby E for 7 hrs.  Say a prayer for us; she's not taking bottles well yet.
12/10 - Breakfast with Mindy.  Pizza with M&M, then Scrooge too.
12/11 - Matinee date with hubster to Voyage of the Dawn Treader
12/13 - Hanging out with Lindsey & Elijah
12/15 - Hearts Like Hannah's at church - nervous b/c it's my first time; I hate strangers.
12/17 - Dinner and Secret Santa with the ladies from the CDC.
12/23 - Another full day with baby E
12/24 - My parents fly in for a week
12/27 - C-mas dinner with parents and Lindsey & fam.
1/8 - I fly out for a week in Jax with my beloved Palmieri's.

Now doesn't that sound like a good month to you?  Lots of fellowship with friends and family, and even branching out to make new friends too. 

Oh, and brownie points for Josh - he got me a Kindle for C-mas!  Now I just have to get a cover so I'm not afraid of using it!! :-D  I have the best hubs!