21 Weeks: Birthday Belly!

Well, I celebrated my 27th Brithday on Sunday... and what better to celebrate than with a nice belly pic?!  I finally broke down and got some maternity yoga shorts and tank tops ... ala, the outfit you see below!

21 Weeks

Recently, I've been having some very annoying dull and achy pain in my lower abdomen, especially on the right side.  This, in addition to the wonderful lower back pain I've been having has been leaving me in a really fantastic mood lately!    Apparently, this is just growing pains (joy) but they are a lot stronger this time around than with Connor.  Working out does seem to make it worse ... at least afterward for a few hours, so I may have to start cutting back a little bit.  (which I've already done anyway.... but I guess maybe I need to start taking it a little easier!)

Anyway, we leave for LA next week for a week and a half, so I'm laying here making lists of things to bring so when Jamie gets home I can have him drag up the suitcases and I can start packing.  Grr... I am such an over-packer it's actually very stressful!  Oh well, I've tried to get better and I'm not sure it's possible!

Happy Spring!

20 Weeks and 10 Pounds Later.... We're Halfway To The Finish Line!

Yes, today officially marks the mid-point through this pregnancy!  (we'll, secretly I'm hoping we're a little further than halfway and that I'll only make it to about 2 weeks from my due date... ;)

So far I still feel like I'm able to do most things I want to do... except my back starts hurting a lot sooner.  Working out is still pretty much status quo, but I've started using an incline bench for exercises on my back (instead of flat) and it's hard for me to run for very long without feeling like I have to pee really bad!

Eating an apple before bed (and then nothing afterward) is now a mandatory part of my routine.  My OB nurse told me she heard this helped with heartburn and reflux and I was skeptical.... but it's funny what you'll try when you are desperate!  So far, it's working great!  I can't believe my heartburn and reflux is already this bad!  When I think of how much bigger this baby is going to get ... and subsequently how much smaller my stomach will be squished up inside.... eating could be rough for the next few months!

I'm still able to find some regular clothes in my closet that still fit, but the selection is getting slimmer!  I'm actually super excited about most of my maternity clothes, even swimsuits, so I'm not minding getting to wear them again!


In other news, we made a lot of progress on Connor's big boy room this weekend.... it might not look that way, but we did a lot of cleaning, shade hanging, etc... now we just need to dresser delivered and the bed built and we're set!

More belly and room pics to come later this week!  Thanks for stopping by!

19 Weeks - Appointment Details AND Making Some Progress on Connor's New Room!

Monday's appointment went very well .... annd as you know, was very informative!  BOY!  {Woot!}  That is really what I was hoping for!  The heart beat was 148 (prefect) and all the measurements looked great.  The baby is still measuring right at 19W +1D (on Monday) which is exactly where that first ultrasound at 9 weeks would put him!  The due date is now set in stone as August 1st! (so unofficially, to me, that means late July! ;)  Our ultrasound pics weren't nearly at great this time around.  Mostly because baby was curled up in a ball with his legs crossed and head turned away ... so no cute profile pic this time!

19 Weeks

We are also making some major strides on Connor's new "Big Boy" room!  Last weekend we completed the painting of the room, all of his furniture from PBK arrived and we have the room completely cleared out of all the old furniture!   Here are some early before and afters.  I'll keep posting pics as we get further along in the process!  My plan is to have this completely ready for Connor when we get back from LA in early April!  He is so excited!  We go up and 'visit' his new room daily and talk about his new bed, etc....  I really hope this transition goes smoothly because the next step is potty training!!  ahhh!

BEFORE - As our office, the room was already a mess because we had been storing things for the NEW room in there!

In Progress - That's my dad and grandfather painting ... we paid them in McDonald's and beer!

AFTER - Still not cleaned up ... and the tape is still on, but you can get an idea of the colors.  They are Pottery Barn colors: Old Blue Jeans and Navaho White.

What we came home to after dinner on Thursday night!  All the furniture and bedding! (minus the dresser which will have "white glove" delivery including assembly and clean-up of the boxes and mess... which is good because we'll have A LOT to lug upstairs and assemble as it is!

This is the look I'm going for.  You can see everything online here. I've pretty much gotten everything in this room, accept a different lamp and rug, plus we're not going to put a basketball hoop in Connor's room as he is already WAY too obsessed with shooting basketball (and this is coming from a HUGE UK Basketball fan!  But enough is enough already with the sports inside the house!)

PS: Pottery Barn Kids actually has a pretty good incentive to both create a registry with them AND open a PBK credit card.  You earn a 10% off registry completion discount for 6 months after the date of the event you register for (which can be anything .... in our case, Connor moving to his big-boy room!) to be used for anything you don't recieve.  That discount can be used online or in the store.  The credit card has a rewards program where you earn $25 for every $250 you spend!  That's a really great perk... much better than most store credit cards! (just make sure you pay it all off every month!)  With our purchases for Connor's new room, I was able to get a personalized Anywhere Chair and Basketball Net Shelf for free!  Yeah!

IT'S A BOY!!

Just a quick little note to say: It's a Boy!  I screamed (probably a bit too loud) in the ultrasound room when I saw "it" .... I yelled "I see a penis!"  Haha!  Just wanted to share!  More to come!

Tomorrow Tomorrow! The Day Has Come!

I'm now 19 weeks and tomorrow is our official ultrasound appointment!  Yea!  I say 'offical' because we've had 2 previous ultrasounds (1 very early on around 9 weeks and then 13 weeks for the nucal test) but this is the one where they do all the important measurements of the baby, it's heart, brain, etc... and of course, find out the gender!

I am getting so pumped up and excited about finding out the sex!  As I've said before, I am really hoping for a boy.  Mostly for practical reasons like having WAY too many boys clothes, a baby blue nursery, and blue everything!  However, if we are having a girl, I could get WAY excited about painting the nursery pink, buying a baby UK Cheerleader outfit,  AND we already have a girl name picked out that we both agree on.  Sooooo....... basically I just cannot wait until tomorrow morning!  I'll be updating my Facebook page first... and then this blog later in the day! Thanks for stopping by!

Because I Said I Would :)

18 Weeks .... I took this Monday morning!

It's funny, because you can clearly see where the 'baby belly' begins and ends ... at about the 6th gray stripe from the bottom you can see a little indentation.

I'll try to take pics every week now since I seem to expanding on a daily basis!  I LOVE looking back at the belly pics I took when I was prego with Connor!  I'm so glad I did it!

The Countdown ... 6 More Days!

Time seems to be creeping by as we await our next ultrasound .... the one where we find out the sex of the baby! (among other, more important facts like the health of the baby's heart, etc...)   I'll be right at 19 weeks at the time of the ultrasound next Monday, which is a really good time to tell the sex.  As much as I wanted to schedule it sooner, any earlier than 19 or 20 weeks might not warrant the "results" we want, which is a definite gender decision!!

What do we know so far?  Well, at my 13 week ultrasound, the tech really thought she found a penis twice... AND a vagina twice.... so that doesn't really help.  But, she did say she was 75% confident that it was a boy!  That's #1. 

#2 is based on the Chinese Calendar.  Many people don't think this is very accurate, but others claim over 90% accuracy.  My thought on this discrepancy is that people aren't using it correctly.  You must use the LUNAR calendar.  This method was accurate for Connor and MANY other moms I know who used it correctly.  This is a good website to try and will help you to convert months and ages from solar to lunar.   For instance, I am 26, but 27 in lunar years.  And this baby was conceived in the 11th month of our calendar, but in the 9th month of the Chinese Lunar calendar.  This predicts I am having a boy, as well!

#3 is even more off-base and it involves the old wives tale about dangling a pendant above your hand (or tummy).  Supposedly, if it swings back and forth, it's a boy.  And if it swings in a circular motion, it's a girl.  I tried this both with my hand and tummy and both times it swung back and forth ... indicating boy!

However, my face has been breaking out a lot more with this pregnancy, I had more morning sickness this time around, and the baby's heartbeat was pretty fast at my last check-up ... all indicating girl!

So..... what does this tell us?

NOTHING!  Except we have to wait until Monday to find out! ha!

And as I type this, I feel the little bugger kicking and moving around in my belly and it just makes it harder not to know the sex!  It's also comforting to feel the baby moving this early... it's like a tiny voice saying "Hey mommy!"  Love it!

On a slightly different note, I've gained right at 7 pounds, which is a little low (maybe from working out.... maybe I'm just waiting to explode all at one time .... yep, that's it!)  That said, I've really tossed all cares aside when it comes to eating!  Yea!  Fun!  Regular Coke here-I-come!  That is truly my special pregnancy treat! 

Also, there is no hiding being prego now!  This happened in the last few days where I'm even waking up looking pregnant!  Before, it was mostly toward the end of the day once I had eaten a lot!  Pics to come tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping by!