30 weeks down, 10 to go

With only 10 weeks until D-Day, here is what we've accomplished:
-ordered furniture
-put together crib
-put together bookshelf/storage shelves
-primed and painted room
-bought an area rug
-bought lamps for room
-waiting for dresser delivery (tomorrow between noon and 4!)
-bought floating shelves for walls
-bought faux wood blinds for windows and curtains (will be hung tomorrow)

I'm feelin good! We were going to go to Chicago Monday through Wednesday as a "final get away before baby", but late Sunday night, decided to stay home and relax/get things done. We're both happy with this decision as we've been getting lots done in baby's room. Tomorrow should be a very exciting day--dresser gets delivered, blinds and curtains go up, furniture will go in it's place in the room as well as the rug. It'll start looking like a little guy's room (hopefully!)
Pictures to come after tomorrow!! Here's to the home stretch...

If you can't say something nice...

I think we all know how the rest goes.

This is especially true when speaking to pregnant women. Pregnant women you DON'T KNOW. Here's what went down:

My mom and I went to the St. Louis Mills Mall today to hit up some outlet stores and have a fun day of shopping. While standing in line at Old Navy waiting to check out, the lady behind me says "oh, are you going to have your baby by Christmas?!" like she was so excited and hopeful he'd be here in FIVE DAYS. To which I politely replied, "nope, I still have a ways to go" (i.e. take a hint and stop talking, idiot). She didn't take the hint. She then says, "well it looks like you could do some jumping jacks and have that baby by Christmas!"

Mmmk, lady. I turned around at this point and my mom was trying not to giggle because she knew how I felt about this issue. Upon our exiting the store I told my mom I should have jumping jacked her face in.

Listen people: if you don't know how far along someone is, and you DON'T KNOW THE PERSON, don't say anything other than "hey! you look awesome!!" or "what are you having?" or "when are you due?" Those are all acceptable. Assuming I'm due in FIVE DAYS is NOT OK. Geez.

"Twins?"

This is what the idiot of a cashier at Lowe's said to me on Sunday when we were checking out.

"Twins?!"

"No, just one huge baby"

Naturally since then I've been completely paranoid that there are indeed 2 babies in my stomach. WHY would she say that? I'll tell you why: because I look like a friggin' whale. Everyone tries to reassure me and say "oh you look so great!" "you're all belly!" But let me tell you, people don't say "twins?!" to someone who looks "so great" at only 28, almost 29 weeks. I still have TWO MONTHS to go here. How much bigger can my skin stretch?

Either this baby is actually these babies or he's going to come out looking like a toddler. Either way, it's gonna be painful.

In other, more exciting news, Saturday was incredibly productive for us. We ordered furniture (yay!) AND bought paint for baby's room. Woot. Now we wait for furniture to be delivered and begin painting the room (well, Brent begins painting). That's about it so far. But hey, for us, those are some big steps. Tomorrow is week 29...holy freakin' cow. We're almost into the 30's. Time to enter into full-blown nesting mode!

Oh Finals Week

At 2:30 this afternoon, I will officially be on CHRISTMAS BREAK. Let me tell you what this means as an educator:

NO lesson plans

NO grading

NO emails

NO phone calls from/to parents

NO students

NO GRADING.

I got done with my last final this morning at 10:00. It was a foods class. They made various cookies: snickerdoodles, peanut butter blossoms, chocolate chip. And, as the teacher giving them a grade, I HAD to sample them all. It's been a rough day.

Now I'm stuck in my room until 2:30 grading. Which is actually a beautiful thing because I'm FORCED to get things done. It also helps to have a projector because of this:

So really, it's not a bad gig.

Furniture Nightmare

This one's too expensive

This one's too poorly crafted

This one's JUST right...

Thought I'm still waiting to find the one that's JUST right...

Here's the story in a nutshell:
My parents have been gracious enough to offer to buy us baby wood's furniture. Thank you madre and padre. Here's the problem I'm running into: furniture on sites like Wal-Mart, Target, and Babies R Us all have nice looking furniture, but the reviews all claim the furniture comes with scratches and dings and pieces missing and doesn't hold up for the long haul. Basically you get what you pay for. On the other hand, over at Pottery Barn, you can pay a pretty penny to get quality furniture but geesh, I just can't stomach paying that amount on ANY type of furniture.
So I continue scouring the internet looking at every combination out there: changing tables that double as a dresser, 6 drawer dressers that are long enough to also be used as a changing table. I honestly have no idea what I'm going to do. Probably cry. That's usually what happens.

Paint Color Disaster

The wall in Bob's room currently looks like the paint department in Lowe's. There are 6 perfect little squares of colors all labeled, waiting to be chosen as THE color.

Thanks to the lovely paint workers at Lowe's, we discovered on Sunday we needed to prime a the wall we're putting the samples on to get a more "true" look at what the color is instead of putting it over our already blue wall. This DEFINITELY helped. I think we have to narrowed down to 2, just waiting on them to dry. PLEASE LORD help us pick a color. I really can't buy a 7th paint sample!!

In other news, I've changed my mind, yet again, on bedroom furniture. I know, no one saw that coming. I'm now leaning towards...get this....WHITE. What? Yes, white furniture. Mostly because of this beauty. I apologize, Wal-Mart won't let me put the picture in this post :(

Anyway, absolutely love the idea of using that as a dresser/changing table and adding a nice little white crib and a bookshelf/storage shelf with some little baskets. The difficult part is selling this to the hubster. He's not so sold on the white furniture. Mostly because he thinks I'll change my mind tomorrow. Fair enough. I do change my mind...a lot.

Until next time...

Oops, forgot to post about week 27...

Well week 27 is over tomorrow. It brought trimester numero tres as well as lots of movement from Bob. I still love being able to tell where he is and poke at him (softly, of course). Still not sleeping much at night. I toss and turn and wake up at least twice a night to go potty. Calf cramps have been more frequent in the night when I stretch. They kill. I have to stand up and stretch it out then it's sore the next day. Not cool.

That's about it...looking forward to week 28!

I QUIT

Here's my white flag....I surrender.

I quit looking at baby furniture until my head hurts.

Espresso or Cherry?

Tall dresser or short?

Dresser/Changing table combo?

Oh, and let's keep it all under a certain amount.

And don't even get me started on paint colors....

I feel like I'm slowly losing my mind.

Or quickly.

Did I mention next week is finals? And I have to WRITE 4 DIFFERENT finals?

And grade.

Oh and I don't sleep at night so I'm LITERALLY about to fall over all day.

HOWEVER.....

-Baby is healthy

-I am healthy (though it's debatable at times)

-God is still good.

New Day, New Ideas

My mind is non-stop these days. I had every intention of not looking at or thinking about baby-related items until AFTER next week is over and I'm on Christmas break. However here I am, sitting on the couch, laptop in lap, searching for furniture for hours. Here's the latest items I found on Amazon:

This dresser is my ultimate fav. And with a price tag of $160, I didn't really think it could be passed up. So, if I have to match all my other pieces to this one, so be it. It's in espresso finish so I was trying to find other furniture I thought would match. Since we're not doing a set, it's rather difficult to figure out online if all will match.
I would prefer this crib and it seems to match pretty well to above dresser. Brent dislikes the straight lines and "modern" feel.
This was an original pick of the night and it called "espresso" but it seems pretty light in the picture. If it truly is espresso, I would have no problem with it at all.And finally, this little guy is the changing table that has won my heart. I know it's a bit non-traditional but I like breaking up the mundane drawers with some baskets that are lighter.

So, I'm calling it a night as my 4th paint sample square dries on baby's wall. Unfortunately, it seems we'll be going back for a 5th sample as we STILL don't have it right :( I've never considered myself much of a perfectionist until Bob came along. Now suddenly I want his first bedroom to be just right, though I know he could care less. I CARE!

Operation: Baby's Room

I started out Saturday morning feeling very frustrated and defeated. This is due in large part to the fact that as soon as I got up, I hopped on my computer and continued my ongoing search for baby furniture. I literally hate this task. Thanks to the encouragement from my hubby, I shut the laptop, ran to McDonald's for a diet coke and waited until later to revisit the furniture. In the mean time, we got to work on clearing out what will be Bob's room. This included:

-Taking apart a day bed
-Clearing off a desk and making room for everything in/on it elsewhere in the house
-Taking the desk apart
-Taking out a recliner
-Taking out a dresser and TV
Major props and thanks to my awesome hard working hubby for hauling all these things out into our garage in frigid temps and snow flurries. And, if I may, major props to me for being 26 weeks and 4 days preggo and cleaning/organizing the crap outta this house. We found spots for many things I thought would be impossible. Thank the Lord we have a basement to throw Rubbermaid totes.
I didn't get a current "before" shot of all the junk that had accumulated in the room before we started clearing out, but here's the best I've got of the room from when we moved in over a year ago:

What you don't see is the day bed which is to the left. The desk is on the right.
And now, here is the room in it's current state:
Sad and empty yes. But ready for a furniture and a fresh coat of paint! Which brings me to my next issue: paint color. Blah.
At this point we all know I don't do well with large, pretty premenant decisions. I am currently waiting for the 3rd paint square to dry on the wall to see if it passes the test. Have a mentioned I have an incredibly patient husband? God bless him.
The first color was too green. The second too gray. I'm hoping to hit the nail on the head with number 3 which is a more blue/gray. We shall see.
While we wait for it to dry, let's take a look at my current top furniture pics for Bob:
Here is the crib I'm leaning towards. And here is the changing table/dresser I'm learning towards. Not the same brand so hopefully they will match well enough. Bleh, we'll see.
Ok check back later in the week to see about paint decisions. Here's hoping we're as productive with furniture, painting, and picking out a baby name as we were yesterday with clearing out the room!

26 Weeks

This week hasn't brought many new things. Other than my uterus growing to the size of a BASKETBALL. Which is funny because that's exactly what it looks like I've shoved under my shirt. The lady checking me out at Kohl's last night even said "it looks like you've got a basketball under there!" To which I replied, "that's exactly how big my uterus is right now!" I'm sure she wanted to know that.

We chose a hospital tonight at dinner which was something on our to-do list. Since Springfield has 2 hospitals we had to choose between Memorial and St. John's (where I happened to be born). We both agreed on St. John's (not because of the previous fact) mostly because it as a NICU and Memorial doesn't. Hopefully we won't need it, but it'd be nice to be at the same hospital as my baby if he did need to be rushed there.

Also as I type Brent is painting a sample square of a second color we are considering in Bob's room. Thank goodness for these $2 sample paint containers you can buy at Lowe's. This color is more gray and I really have high hopes for it. Mostly because I want to start painting tomorrow!

My goal tomorrow is also to order the crib/dresser set. Stay tuned for a picture/link to that.
Here are 26 week bump pics. Enjoy!

Week 25

Well, it seems this week has gotten away from me again. Today is the last day of week 25. With Thanksgiving thrown in there it flew by.

Baby boy (or Bob, as we affectionately refer to him) is doing well. Growing and kicking like a mad man. No new developments really. I still feel great. I don't sleep very well at night as I toss and turn from one side to the other, avoiding laying on my back. The potty trips are also getting more frequent in the night. Brent has offered to paint my toenails as I fear it isn't possible to reach my toes anymore :(

Bob's room is currently at a stand still. We need to clear out the furniture in it right now (if anyone would like a daybed, speak now), paint which we can't do until we've picked a paint color, and order the new furniture to go in. Whew. I get tired just thinking about it all. Thankfully we don't have anything going on this weekend so maybe we can make a dent in that to-do list.

Here are a couple bump pics we snapped at my parents for turkey day:

So Long Week 24...

Today is the last day of week 24 and I finally got around to taking bump pics last night. I know, I'm a slacker. We also registered on Saturday. I was completely dreading it (and I'm sure Brent was too) but it turned out to not be so bad. We only registered at Babies R Us because let's face it, they're basically a monopoly when it comes to baby goods. We just started at the front of the store and worked our way to the back, then back up to the front for things we forgot. I've had to edit our registry online a couple times based on reviews of things we added that weren't so good. Overall, I feel pretty good about it. Check it out if you'd like!

Our latest feat has been picking out a paint color...easier said than done.

Baby continues to move like a crazy man. The most recent thing has been that I can SEE where he is because my belly bulges out on one side and it's hard when I touch it. I very much enjoy actually FEELING his legs or arms or whatever it is from the outside. According to my "What to Expect" app I read daily, Brent could potentially hear baby's heartbeat by putting his ear to my belly. We tried this last night and he couldn't hear it. We'll keep trying though because that would be awesome.

I still feel great, pretty tired and bending over is getting virtually impossible. So tomorrow is week 25 and Wednesday I go to the doctor for my glucose test and another sonogram :) She wasn't able to see everything at the last appointment because of how he was sitting so I get to see the little guy again...very excited about this!

Well, Happy Thanksgiving. I'm quite excited to gorge myself on turkey and lots of carbs (we get 3 Thanksgiving dinners this year...there's a chance I'll be turkey-ed out by the end of it).
Baby Wood's quilt that came with the bedding (which happens to be PERFECT and I love it!):Week 24 bump pics:

24 Weeks

Today is day 1 of week 24. It hardly seems real. Baby boy has been moving like a crazy person trying to bust out of my uterus (which happens to be the size of a soccer ball. A SOCCER BALL people!).

Baby Wood's bedding has been ordered. It's supposed to be delivered tomorrow and I can hardly wait! I went with the bedding pictured in the previous post. Hopefully it looks as delightful in person. Next on the weekend agenda: REGISTER. PICK OUT PAINT. CLEAR OUT BABY'S ROOM OF ALL JUNK. Ok that won't all get done in a Saturday. We'll be lucky to get registering done in one day without one or both of us breaking down.

Chicco or Graco?

Dr. Brown's bottles?

What type of pack n' play?

The mind can only comprehend so much.

On a bright note: 5 full days of school until Thanksgiving and 19 days until Christmas break (including finals).

Lord knows this weary body and brain need a BREAK and some delicious holiday food like no other.

Check back later this week for bump pics and how the bedding turned out!

Is It "The One"??

While spending most free time on the internet searching for the perfect bedding set that won't make me nauseated everytime I take baby wood to bed, I keep coming across this beauty. I'd have to say it's my favorite at this point. I don't remember if I already posted this before, but I just love the colors and lack of animals/sporting equipment (no offense to those who enjoy these...it's just not for me...or the baby). I can also see doing a grayish/blue on the walls. My goal is to get this ordered this week as our first big step toward getting baby's room ready. It's a big step and big decisions always make me a little nervous...

Inspiration...

I'm looking for some. Inspiration, that is. If you remember back to last spring, I found this beauty in our garage:

I see great potential in it and would love, love, LOVE to spruce it up for baby's room. I can picture hanging it vertically on the wall, adding a couple hooks along the bottom and hanging letters for baby's name from it. Or something else equally adorable. My problem lies in knowing where to even begin with this beast. Obviously it needs to be scraped and sanded and re-painted but I've never been known for my craftiness or martha stewart-ness.

SO, I am now welcoming suggestions and my goal is to start working on it before it gets too bitterly cold outside. I'd love to check SOMETHING off my baby to-do list, it seems I'm great at adding things but not so great at removing them :(

22 Weeks

It's hard to believe we're almost done with week 22, they keep flying by and I seem to never get the things accomplished I need to during that week. As of today, we have done nothing to get ready for baby. Scratch that, we did get a car. Last week we finally found a lovely silver 2006 Chevy Impala for under our budget and very low mileage. We're really happy with the car, super clean and runs great. Now we're debating on who gets to drive it the most :)

Aside from the vehicle, nothing else has been done for baby and I'm starting to feel pretty stressed about everything that needs to get done, on top of keeping afloat with school-related things.

Baby boy has been very active this week. He should be weighing in at or a little above a pound now which feels great to be out of the ounces and packing on the pounds! I continue to feel him kick and punch all the time and I can never get enough of it (I'm sure I'll feel differently when it starts interupting my sleep and causing my bladder some serious pain). I've still been feeling wonderful. I can hardly tell I'm pregnant unless I'm eating in which case it starts to get more difficult to breathe or when I'm trying to put socks/shoes on.

Here are a couple 22 week bump pics:

Making do with what we've got (or lack thereof)

There are many pros and cons about finding out the gender of our little bambino. One of those cons is the overwhelmingness I've been feeling since we found out Thursday. Let me tell you--baby stuff is not cheap! I realize this is why you have a shower and register, but part of me also feels guilty in doing this and that we should be purchasing some bigger items as well. Brent can't get over how expensive baby bedding is, which I have to agree with him on. It costs more than our bedding and it for a little child weighing a mere 8 pounds. Then there's the crib/furniture debate. He wants to get hand-me-down, I want to get cute/new. For some reason, I seem to think this baby's room has to be "perfect" and look a certain way. The irony of it all is that our child won't even know what their room looked like when they were born, nor will they care. I'm trying to come to grips with accepting hand me downs and work on saving money. Considering we're also trying to purchase a vehicle right now.
So, here I sit, scouring the internet for cheap(er) bedding that still fits my liking and isn't cheesy nursey themed. Here's to hoping I can quit thinking we need the "best" of everything for our little babe. And here's also to hoping we get more trick or treaters. The turn out this year is really pretty pathetic :(

21 Weeks-Belly Pics

Finally got a couple belly pics taken this weekend:

28

28 Things I love about my hubby:

28.  He wanted to marry me

27.  If one of his socks goes missing during laundry time, he cannot move on with what we're doing until he finds that missing sock.  And he always finds it.

26.  His routine in the morning:  potty, take out retainer, brush teeth, shave (not everyday though), shower, blow nose (ridiculously loud), start coffee, get dressed, pour coffee.  This is, without question, his routine every day during the work week.

25.  He always wants to pray for our baby before bed.

24.  How patient he is. 

23.  He loves our cat as though he was our child (which he basically is....until baby comes)

22.  How much he cares for others

21.  He wakes up chipper and happy in the morning.  I do not.

20.  His faithfulness to the Miami Dolphins.

19.  His faithfulness to the St. Louis Cardinals, even when they're sucking it up.

18.  He has adapted so well to my lack of organization/cleanliness.  Bless his heart.

17.  The only time I have had to take the trash out has been when he is out of town for work.

16.  He literally never takes off his wedding ring.

15.  When he wears dress socks, he pulls them up as far as they'll go.  Generally this is up to his knees.  It looks amazing.

14.  How fast he can fall asleep at night.  It's freakishly fast.  Though this also means he starts snoring fast... :/

13.  He's going to be the best dad in the world.

12.  If he got up in time, he'd love to watch Saturday morning cartoons every weekend

11.  He tells me that from the back, I don't look pregnant.  

10.  He makes delicious chili.

9.  He loves to touch my belly and feel the baby moving.

8.  He needed a button sewn onto a pair of pants and wanted me to teach him how to do it.  And he sat and learned.

7.  When I feel like a huge failure and incredibly inadequate (most days), he reminds me how great of a teacher I am.

6.  He looks really handsome in a suit.

5.  He makes me laugh at least 5 times a day.

4.  When he sings loud in the car.  This is rare, so I take it when I can get it :)

3.  His hugs are the best.

2.  His desire to take the CPA exam

1.  His passion and desire to become the best husband and father.

HAPPY 28TH BIRTHDAY TO THE WORLD'S BEST HUSBAND AND MY BEST FRIEND!!

I honestly can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else.  Or having anyone else as my baby daddy :)

Baby Wood is a.......

B

O

Y

!

What a relief to finally know!! I kid you not, this was the longest day in history waiting until 3:00. PTL we were cooking in Foods and the kids got out an hour early so really the day went pretty quick. Not only is baby wood a boy, he's quite the showoff.

The nurse doing the ultra sound was quite impressed with his arm muscles he kept insisting on showing off during the whole 30 minutes he was on the screen. It didn't matter what part of the body we were looking at, his arm would inevitably appear.

We got alot of good pictures and there was no doubt he is ALL boy :)

So now my little head starts spinning...

...baby bedding

...NAMES

...decorating the room

...clothes

...REGISTERING

Oh goodness.

Brent and I are most thankful he's a healthy little guy. All measurements looked good and he's weighing in at 14 ounces which is right on target. Now I will share his lovely 21 week photos :) These are the best of the best 8 we got of our SON :)

His face is forward and his little hand and arm are crossed over in front by his face:

His strong arm muscle:

His cute little profile:

Here's the proof :)

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do. I could really look at them all day. I'll post belly pics of week 21 later on. Gotta get through parent/teacher conferences first!

Adios, Woodchieva

Brent affectionately named his 1997 Oldsmobile Achieva the "Woodchieva". This has been a trusty car for him and us for about 4 years. Unfortunately, due to a recent flood on our street and his car being parked on the street, the Woodchieva is about to bite the dust. We were hoping to stretch it a couple more years since we're currently car payment free, but it doesn't look like that will be happening. So we've been on the hunt for a new (used) vehicle to drive along side my lovely and ever trusty Ford Focus (which I have dubbed "Black Beauty"). In case you don't remember what a 1997 Achieva looks like, let me remind you:

There she is. Only ours now has a nice musty stentch and rusty inside.

So here are the prospects we've had our eyes on thus far.

1. A Chevy Trail Blazer

2. A Chevy Equinox

3. A Pontiac Grand Prix

And, if we weren't on such a strict budget, Brent would love to get a Dodge Charger (I can't say I would mind one either)

This is a foreign process for me. We've been scouring dealership websites anywhere from here to St. Louis and everywhere in between in search of a great new family vehicle. I'm open to suggestions of vehicles that are great, roomy, and affordable! Oh and dependable. I'll keep you posted on what we choose.

Also, we find out baby Wood's gender TOMORROW at 3:00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's going to be be a long day :)

Am I dying?

Because that is what it feels like.  I woke up this morning and had to pee really bad, as is the norm on most mornings.  However, I also felt a slight cramping in my side that I thought was because I had been holding my pee in for too long.  It didn't go away after I went to the bathroom, or as I drove to the grocery store for my foods class, or as I got to school and was getting things ready in the kitchen.  It slightly resembled the feeling I get when I have poop cramps (sorry for being graphic and referring to all my bowl movements...just trying to explain.)  Conveniently, I was able to do "that" business before 1st hour in hopes it would relieve these cramps.  It did not.  Once I got the students cooking, I called my doctor to see if they could identify what was going on.  I mean, literally when I would sit down at my desk and then stand up I would almost feel like I could pass out it hurt so bad.  Only on the left side.  So the nurse finally called me back and I explained it to her, expecting to have to go into the doctor on my lunch (I tend to over-react, but I'm also preggers so I'd rather be safe than sorry).  She kindly informed me that what I'm experiencing is my ligaments stretching as my belly is growing.  I've read about these cramps happening but I didn't quite expect it to feel like someone is spearing my side.

Lovely.  So there's nothing I can do (besides pop some tylenol which we all know does nothing) and this is probably only the very beginning of these wonderful cramps.  So I'm in wincing pain today while the left side of my stomach stretches itself out.  Did I mention I'm a bit dramatic?  I can only imagine how I'll handle contractions :)  And yes, I'll be requiring an epidural as soon as they allow me one.  And yes, I'll be purchasing some cocoa butter after school because darn it if this child will give me stretch marks!!

HALF-WAY MARK! aka 20 weeks

The fact that we're halfway to d-day is both exciting and terrifying.  In the next 20 (or less) weeks we have to:

• get the nursery ready.  this will entail: painting, moving furniture out, getting baby furniture moved in, decorating
• register for baby gifts.  i get overwhelmed just thinking about walking into babies r us
• think of a name for this little peanut, which will be much easier after next thursday :)
• get sub plans together for the 6 weeks i'm enjoying this new little peanut at home and not working 
• stock up on diapers (no, i'm not cloth diapering.  why?  i'm having a baby, that in itself is enough for me to stress me out.  also, i'd like brent to change diapers and i know there's a greater chance of this happening if he's not scraping poo off a diaper and into the toilet.)
• read my what to expect book
• not get huge and fat
• continue praising our awesome God for blessing us with this tiny (yet amazingly huge) miracle

Oh, did I mention this is my first year teaching?  And I have 4 preps?  Yeeeahhh.  

In other news, I'm feeling wonderful (thought slightly like I'm treading water and my head is barely above the surface).  Belly is growing daily it seems.  Baby is moving around like crazy (I look forward to sitting on the couch every evening just to feel it kicking.  And also because I like sitting on the couch) Daily I feel as though I'm losing my mind and it's a good day if I remember my name, the day of the week and which house is ours on the drive home (I drove past our street last weekend, I blame it on the catchy song I was singing/car dancing to)

20 week pictures to come when I get off the couch and take them :)

Week 19--Photos

Also, Brent finally got to feel baby moving and it was wonderful! Now we're obsessed with laying and trying to feel it all the time.
Did I mention we find out the gender in less than 2 weeks? Because we do...

19 weeks

Today is the first day of week 19!!  It's really hard to believe we're almost halfway through.  We find out baby's gender in 2 weeks...probably the longest 2 weeks of my life!

Baby has been doing great.  I feel it kicking (or punching, or head butting) pretty regularly when laying/sitting.  Unfortunately, Brent hasn't been able to feel it yet.  

I feel fabulous.  I seem to be always hungry, but fill up super fast.  I find myself huffing and puffing after eating  a big meal.  Often, when I drop something or notice paper on the floor in my classroom, I contemplate how much I really need to pick it up because bending over isn't so fun anymore.  I realize I have a long way to go and it's only going to get worse, but it has most definitely begun!

It's hard to start shopping much for baby, but naturally I've looked up a couple nursery themes I'd like to go with for each gender.  Once we find out what the baby is...oh man...hold me back :)

For your viewing pleasure, here are my top pics thus far for both genders

This lovely number is from Pottery Barn and while it's difficult to really see, it's got great little branches and birds and its pink and green.  

This next number also hails from Pottery Barn and might be my top pick at the moment.  If it's a girl, we aren't naming her Lindsey, but I find these colors and prints just adorable and wonderful.

Unfortunately, I was unable to copy and paste the boy pictures so you'll have to use the link to see my top boy pictures.  This one would be my pick if price were no issue (it is an issue).  Love the chic-ness of the colors and design.  This beauty is about half the price and still pretty cute.  And finally, I'm not sure why but I kept being drawn to this guy.  I don't know why and maybe I'm crazy but I find it cute and interesting.  

Well, that's all for now.  Week 19 pictures to come later in the week :)

Hey, where did my waist go??

It's true, I'm having a difficult time locating my waist these days. Baby is ever growing. In fact, I think I felt it move for the first time about 5 minutes ago!! (I think, hard to tell for sure though...)

Had a doctor's appointment last week. I got to hear the heartbeat. Let me tell you, that is a very comforting sound. If I can't see our baby at every appointment, It's a nice alternative to hear the heartbeat and know our baby is still alive and healthy :)

Next appointment is at the end of October when we'll FINALLY find out if baby is a boy or girl!! I literally cannot wait. In the mean time, here are some photos of week 17.Baby Wood and I at the Apple Barn in ChathamBaby Wood with it's big brother Milo

16 Weeks

16 weeks has already almost come and gone.  In a way things seem to be going quickly when I think that in a couple weeks we'll be in month 4 (!!!) but at the same time, waiting to finding out the gender seems to be taking sooooo looooong!  I don't know how people can not find out. I just don't have the patience.  

I've been feeling great.  I haven't been sick in almost 2 weeks, I'm eating more (lots more, actually) which is a great feeling.  It's finally starting to look like I'm actually pregnant instead of just bloated.  My students are starting to notice and ask if I'm preggers.  This makes me very happy because for SO LONG I've definitely been FEELING pregnant, but haven't really been looking it.  It's nice to both feel and look like an expectant momma :)

I have a doctor's appointment on Monday which I'm greatly looking forward to.  Anything to make sure baby is still doing well.  Can't wait until I start to feel it moving inside!!

Here are a couple pictures Brent snapped last night before it started raining:

Guacamole anyone?

Baby Wood is the size of an avocado this week!  I'm finally starting to feel like my bump is indeed a baby and not just bloated from overeating.  I wish there was something more exciting to report, but unfortunately (or maybe it's fortunate) there isn't.  We're in week 15 and it seems as though week 20 will never get here.  Just wanted to let you all know if you eat guacamole this week, think (and pray) for baby wood :)

Highly Anticipated...

Here it is folks, the highly anticipated "bump" picture.  I decided it was time since today marks week 13, aka trimester TWO!!

So here's to you, Kitty T...enjoy :)