23 Weeks - Goodbye Office HELLO Nursery!

How far along? 23 weeks. I missed the boat on 22 so just imagine this same post but slightly less pregnant and a week earlier.

Baby size? More than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound

What's going on with the baby? She's forming little nipples; her face is fully formed and just needs some extra fat to fill it out; she's listening to my heartbeat, and voice (sorry girly, this is just the start of the terrible singing in the car that you will be forced to hear for the next 16 years or so)

Total weight gain/loss: I can still see my feet. So there's that.

Maternity clothes? Score of the week: Found a maternity Giants top to last me through the season!!! Which is great because plan B was to wear a bra and paint my belly black and orange every game.

"Giants SF Fan on Deck"

Stretch marks? None yet.

Sleep: Not bad lately, I switch off every few nights with the Snoogle pregnancy pillow, which takes up way too much of the bed and I wouldn't be surprised if I came home one day to find that my husband had buried it in the yard.

Best moment this week: Joe finished his Structural Engineering Licensing exams!!! Two days and 16 hours of tests later, he was little worse for wear but he survived!!! This means he no longer spends the weekends studying AAAAAND we get to start working on the nursery! Bless his heart, the day after his tests were over, Joe let me drag him to Ikea first thing in the morning. Of course once we got there and anxiously waited about 20 minutes for the doors to open, I immediately had to run inside and pee. But THEN we started tearing up the place and got a dresser, cubby system and curtains! Several hours and Swedish instruction sheets later, this is what we accomplished...

So long office, Hello Nursery!

A baby could totally live here right? OK we still need a few key things like the crib,  a glider, some baby stuff and oh yeah an actual BABY, but man does it feel good to have a designated room in our house for Baby Girl. I literally wake up every morning and poke my head in there just to make sure it's still not an office anymore. It's not.

Miss anything? Bud Light Lime-a-Ritas. If you don't know what that is, go to your closest Target, search the drink section and do yourself the favor of buying some. 

Movement: All the time. Once in a while we can even see my stomach pop up a tiny bit when she gets a real good punch in. Still light enough that it's adorable though and I love it. I'll probably be cursing those words in a couple months when I have the bruised ribs to show for it.

Food cravings: Strawberry Carnation Insant Breakfast. mmmmmm...

Anything making you queasy or sick? Windy car rides while I'm passenger. But that did it to me even before I was pregnant.

Have you started to show yet? Yup. 

Gender prediction: Baby Girl

Labor signs: Nada.

Belly button in or out? In. 

Wedding rings on or off? On. And for the record, my ankles are still, in fact, ankles. My biggest fear at this point is the day I wake up to cankles. I'll keep you posted on that one as I'm sure you're on the edge of your seats in anticipation for when that happens. Jerks.

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy. Like, obnoxiously happy. It's disgusting :D

Looking forward to: More kicks, a bigger belly, and our 24 week check up this week. 

21 Weeks - Hearts, Hiccups & Hunger Fits

How far along? 21 weeks

Baby size? 10-1/2 inches from head to heel

Total weight gain/loss: Not gonna lie, the number on that scale is definitely creeping up there, but I'm trying to remind myself that as long as baby is healthy that's all that matters. 

Maternity clothes? Ah-yup. And one thing I've noticed is that maternity pants don't have zippers (or buttons for that matter) since they have elastic waistbands. Well, after 4 more months of this I'm almost positive that when I go back to normal pants I'm guaranteed to forget to zip my fly pretty much all the time. Fabulous.

Stretch marks? Thought I found one this morning, but thankfully it was just a sheet imprint from bed.

Sleep: Insomnia starting around 3:30am is back with a vengeance. The other night I woke up Joe to see if he'd like to suffer through it with me. He of course had no interest in anything of the sort but he was sweet enough to say that if I was still up by 5am, he'd get up and take me to Denny's. I think I fell asleep around 4:59. Darn, coulda had me an All American Slam!

Best moment this week: One thing I didn't talk about earlier was that the anatomy scan revealed that Baby Girl had only 2 instead of 3 blood vessels in her umbilical cord. Normally there is one vein pumping blood in and two arteries pumping it out, but Baby Girl only has one artery. Apparently this happens with about 1% of babies and its not generally a problem, but it does raise a flag to check that the heart and kidneys are developing normally, which they were from what the anatomy scan could tell. We were, however referred to a pediatric cardiologist to get a fetal echocardiogram where they would get a more in-depth look at Baby Girl's heart. We semi-nervously went to the appointment and after staring at a million different views of our little girl's heart pumping on the ultrasound screen for about half an hour the doctor said everything looked great!!! Plus Baby Girl got the hiccups during the echo, which is  just about the cutest thing ever to see and feel at the same time. 

Miss anything? My core strength. Between baby belly and lack of a core workout, I grunt like a 90 year old man anytime I have to get up from lying down.

Movement: Yes Indeedy. Our new tradition is lying down in bed at night and feeling her ninja kick-attacks. 

Food cravings: Why yes I would like fries with that. And a pickle. And some Frank's Red Hot. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? The fact that Kim Kardashian is pregnant at the same time as me. Oh you mean food-wise? No, not really.

Have you started to show yet? Sure have. 

Gender prediction: It's a Girl!

Labor signs: Nada

Belly button in or out? In, but ominously stretching. 

Wedding rings on or off? On. 

Happy or moody most of the time? Mood Swings? More like Food Swings. I'm worse than a child when it comes to my hunger tolerance. Joe's starting to learn that from the moment I say I'm hungry, we've got about 7 minutes to find something for me to eat or I'll turn into the Incredible Hulk.

Looking forward to: Breaking ground on that nursery of ours. Joe's huge test is next weekend which means I'm free to go baby room crazy immediately after it's over. I've been bottling it up for 21 weeks now and MAMA NEEDS TO NEST!!! Just kidding. kind of. 

20 Weeks - Half Baked!

How far along? 20 weeks. Halfway Baby!!

Baby size? 6-1/2 inches from head to bottom, 10 inches from head to heel, and 11 ounces

Total weight gain/loss: One MEELLION pounds. Or at least that's what it feels like.

Maternity clothes? You betcha.

Stretch marks? Not yet, but I'm mentally preparing myself to earn my tiger stripes :)

Sleep: Still up a couple times a night, but not staying awake for quite as long each time. Hopefully that means I'm a little less crabby these days. You'll have to ask my husband if that's true or not though.

Best moment this week: The 20 week anatomy scan! Found out our baby is doing great and SHE is a beautiful baby girl! Woo hoo! Oh and it was my 29th birthday too. But for the first time in my life, I could have cared less about my birthday because this little girl has kind of over shined everything up until this point :) I'm very obviously OK with that.

Miss anything? I hate to say it, but jogging. I haven't gone on a real run since finding out the news that I was pregnant and now it's too uncomfortable to do anything more than a brisk walk. Even that takes it outta me!

Movement: I feel our little girl poppin' and lockin' several times a day now. It's really cute, and it's almost guaranteed to happen every time I drive to/from work.

Food cravings: You name it, I want it.

Anything making you queasy or sick? I gave it another try and Milk seems to be okay now! A glass of milk at night with a homemade cookie (Joe's learned how to make a batch of two cookies at a time) and i'm not queasy! Although I've made the stipulation that all milk I ingest must be with cookies.

Have you started to show yet? Yep! Thank goodness! Unfortunately it's not just in my belly. I think my butt is competing with my belly size. 

Gender prediction: GIRL! Ok, not really a prediction anymore but let's all have it in writing that I WAS RIGHT!!! I knew she was a girl. Momma's intuition!!! 

Labor signs: No...and it better stay that way, I'm only half way done cooking this little chica!

Belly button in or out? In. But not quite SO in. Uh oh...

Wedding rings on or off? On. Hoping it stays that way.

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy, elated, excited and SMILING!

Looking forward to: Wow, up until this point it was finding out the gender. I guess now I'm just looking forward to whatever else this little girl has in store for us!