24 Weeks & Happy Halloween!

I am at the 24-week marker and that means I am approximately 60% through this pregnancy. How crazy is that!!

This weekend we hung out with Trevor's parents for his father's birthday and saw the movie "Red". It was really good! Tons of action and very funny at the same time. Recommend!
Today we ran some errands and I made some turkey & veggie lasagna and this beautiful caramel apple cake. It was a labor of love, but so worth it.

Caramel Apple Cake with homemade apple icing

Now for my 24-week stats:


How far along? 24 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 9lbs and counting - probably more like 10/11!
Stretch marks? still hoping for none, but probably won't get so lucky.
Food cravings: Mellowcreme Pumpkins. I'm addicted!
Feeling Baby? More and more all the time - he is an active little guy!
Wearing maternity clothes? Yes. In fact this week I have found that only one pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans still fit - my "fat" jeans.
What I love: Knowing that I only have three and a half months left until we meet our little guy.
What I hate: The reaction I get when I tell people that I plan on a natural birth. It's not like I'm signing myself up for torture as a prisoner of war or something. My body was meant to do this. I may not make it, but I sure will try.
What I can't wait for: My shower and then painting and decorating the nursery.

Happy Halloween!!

Wall Art

Last night I starting getting the nesting urge. I decided to try out my artistic skills and create some inexpensive wall art for Jackson.

Our nursery theme is alphabet and animals, and probably a hodge-podge of random design elements like stripes and dots and such.

Here is painting #1 - I painted some stripes on a blank canvas I had laying around. The colors are samples of what we are thinking of painting the room, so not added cost there. I purchased the wooden animals and letter at Michaels for $.33 each! Total cost: $1.64.





This second one isn't completely finished yet. I am thinking about adding some additional animals to this canvas, or possibly some letters.
The canvas is one that I had left over from a prior art project, and the paint again are samples as well as some acrylic paint. Total cost - free!!

Can't wait to put them up and decorate!

Pumpkin Carving

Every year for the past four Trevor and I carve pumpkins at the end of October. This year we added an additional baby pumpkin for little Jackson. We bought a pumpkin carving kit, which was the best $4 I have spent doing this activity! No close calls with knives, or frustration with the lack of control I have using a pering knife. Here they are:

Left to Right: Jack's, my ghosts, Trevor's scary face, Kesler's wolf, and Tanner's doggie bone.


Kesler's is my favorite because it is so realistic. He looks just like this when he is grumpy!!

23 Weeks

I can't believe I am at 23 weeks! It seems like yesterday that we found out about our little nugget - who is getting so big!! Jackson is now estimated at 8.5 inches and 1.5lbs. WOW!!! My belly is starting to get bigger and bigger as well, and I am slathering on the awesome belly creme Carol (fab MIL) gave me in hopes of avoiding stretch marks.

We have set dates to clear out Trevor's office and paint - Nov. 26th-28th, right after Thanksgiving. I cannot even wait for that time. I am such a planner and decorator and I have been having nightmares about having Jack before the room is finished. Yikes!!!

Back to my stats:

How far along? 23 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Back to 8lbs thanks to my meds and Whole Foods' delicious ice cream.
Stretch marks? stay away, please!!
Food cravings: ice cream - chocolate and french vanilla. Delish :)
Feeling Baby? For sure - he is getting predictable with timing and movements. I can also see my tummy move when he kicks. Too cute.
Wearing maternity clothes? Ahh, I love the elastic waistband on my jeans. So amazing!
What I love: When Trevor talks to Jackson and touches my belly.
What I hate: When people I am not comfortable with touch my belly. Awkward and extremely annoying. I want to punch them. In the face.

What I am can't wait for: My Shower!!

Moment of the Week: Going to book club and having such wonderful friends. They are extremely supportive and sweet :)

Crib Bedding and Nursery Theme

I have decided to go with an alphabet and baby animal theme for Jackson's nursery. I found this really cool bedding that I love as a starting point:

I can't wait for Trevor to clear out all of his stuff from the room that will be the nursery so I can get to painting and decorating!!

22 Weeks

I am almost through my 22nd week - time is flying by! Can't even believe the baby shower is a little more than three weeks away. I'm so excited!

Here are my 22 week stats:

How far along? 22 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: About 7lbs or so - a drop thanks to all the acid reflux.
Stretch marks? Still avoiding those - let's hope that continues
Food cravings: Umm... Solids? Seriously - any solid food would be great.
Gender: Boy boy boy
Feeling Baby? Definitely. Mostly in the evening, but also after breakfast.
Wearing maternity clothes? Yes, more and more.
What I love: Starting to look more pregnant and less chubby.
What I hate: Not being able to eat!

What I am can't wait for: Having my shower and seeing my grandma and all my friends :)

And finally - I will post a picture of myself. Not the greatest, but I don't really take a lot of time to primp anymore :)

Pregnant Lady Breakdown

It hasn't been an easy week - since last Tuesday I have been choking down food feeling like it is stuck in my throat. It has become so bad that I can't eat solids, and even some liquids aren't going down well. I finally saw a specialist today, and he confirmed my suspicions - acid reflux. Thankfully, this is something that should go away after baby Jack is here. I was checked out and prescribed some delicious dissolving Prevacid and sent on my merry way to the pharmacy.

(This is the moment where you picture me happy to have a solution and hopeful that it works.)

Then I get to my pharmacy to pick up the prescription and that's when the meltdown started. They not-so-kindly informed me that my insurance won't cover this medicine since I am over 5 years old. WHAT?!?! Don't the elderly need easy-to-swallow tablets too? I replied that I really need this medicine, so I will either pay for it out of my pocket or they can give me a generic. "Fine" replies the snotty pharmacy tech. "It will be $177 for those dissolving pills you want, and we can't give them to you without authorization from your insurance company". I thought my insurance company wasn't covering them???

(At this point, picture me as a tired, STARVING, upset pregnant woman who had had enough after three, yes three, doctor's appointments today.)

I did what any hungry, desperate pregnant woman would do - cry. I let this mean lady know that I can't eat food right now and I'm pregnant and I need this medicine. She was heartless. She sent me away saying they would call my doctor's office with for a "prior authorization" and that it takes at least 4 days and it will probably be rejected, and they will call me when they hear something.

UGHHHH! I am so frustrated. It was worse than being at the DMV. Thankfully when I called my doctor, they were very helpful and are calling the pharmacy to get something else for me. I now very much dislike pharmacy people. A LOT. And I am still hungry. Boo.

Terrible Tuesdays

Yesterday had to be my day from hell!! I started out the day going to the eye doctor for a routine examination. I have been wearing glasses since the age of 8, and contacts since the age of 15, so I have had roughly a dozen eye exams in my life. Out of all the maintenance-type of appointments (dental, physical, eye, etc), I like the eye doctor the best because there is minimal prodding and poking.

So here I am in a lovely office with a nice doctor, going through all the motions when he lets me know it's time for the glaucoma test. This used to be my least favorite part because they would shoot air into your eyes with no warning and it was quite alarming as a child. However, in recent years, they have developed simple yellow eye drops that aren't supposed to cause any discomfort at all. Hmmm.... if only!

The drops went in just fine and the doctor was checking my eyes when I started to get really clammy and queasy and felt like I was going to get sick all over this poor doctor. I waited about a minute until I couldn't take it any longer and asked to use the restroom since I was feeling so terrible. He had a very worried look on his face and must have realized that something was very wrong with this little pregnant woman in his office. He helped me walk toward the bathroom when everything started to go black. Yikes!! I passed out at the eye doctor! How horrible is that?!?!

I was told by the wonderful doctor (who was so great in not letting me fall on my child) that the drops lower blood pressure. My blood pressure is on the low side (92/65 last week) anyhow, and I have all this additional blood flowing through my body to support baby Jack, so no wonder I passed out!!!

Needless to say, I will be asking for the puff of air in future appointments. Blah.

On a side note - my grandma is coming from Florida to my baby shower!!! I booked her ticket yesterday and I am so incredibly excited for her to visit. She has always been like a mom to me and it will mean so much that she gets to be a part of this special event.

Rainy Sunday

It's finally a lovely rainy Sunday that has been very enjoyable so far. I went to water aerobics for preggys, ran a few errands with Trevor, and had a delicious organic grilled-cheese sandwich. Speaking of organic foods - we watched some incredibly interesting documentaries this weekend that were very enlightening about the foods we eat. Check them out - Food, Inc., and Food Matters. They really made us think about where our food comes from and about how we can be treating our bodies better with nutrition. We have pledged to eat organic and natural foods for the next two months to see if we feel better - as well as exercise and treat our bodies well. This ends my Wendy's spree :(, but I know that this is so much better for us and our baby nugget - who is 1lb this week!!!

Headache

So last night, my incredible husband was serenading me with the worst song ever written (in my opinion) - "More than Words" by Extreme. I was so over the serenade that I turned off the light and huffed and puffed my fussy self over to the bed. I completely misjudged where my pillow was and hit my head on the wall - Crash!!

So all of today I have had a terrible headache that won't seem to go away and the embarrassment is lingering as well.

Another reason to hate that ridiculous song. I wish I could get rid of its existence from my brain.


On another note, I think I have found a new love in crafts - scrapbooking. I have decided to compile one per year (except that I have a feeling I will be crazy photo mom when this child arrives), so if you know of any good websites/ideas please let me know!

Hopefully this is a hobby I don't get bored with. Time will tell!!

20 Weeks - Halfway There!!

I can't believe that I am over the halfway point. Crazy!! And I still don't look like I'm pregnant. When will that ever happen? I'm cool with the baby hiding out and not making me huge for a while longer if that means I don't get as many stretch marks. *Crossing my fingers*

Here are my 20-week stats:


How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Up 8 lbs. - oh boy!
Stretch marks? Not yet! Maybe never :)
Food cravings: Sweets. And Wendy's. Yum!
Gender: Will be a boy from now on (I hope)
Feeling Baby? YES!!! A lot. Jack loves to move around and he is hanging out really low so I get to feel lots of kicks and head butts :)
Wearing maternity clothes? Yep. But not exclusively.
What I love: Knowing it's a BOY!!!
What I hate: Getting tired out of the blue. It just hits me like a ton of bricks. My bedtime gets earlier every day and I wake up at the same time!

What I am can't wait for: Decorating the nursery, and having my shower! I think I have a theme :)

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

I can't believe it! Trevor was right all along. Everything checked out with the anatomy scan and so far we have a healthy baby boy!

Jackson is already 10 ounces and was giving the tech a hard time. Sounds like my baby!!

Here he is :)

19 Weeks

Well - I am almost 20 weeks, but I didn't want to leave anything out :) Here are my 19-week stats:

How far along? 19 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Up 8 lbs. - oh boy!
Stretch marks? Not yet! Praying that I get to say that every week.
Food cravings: Water, chocolate, and chicken nuggets. The 3 essential food groups!
Gender: Girl, definitely a girl, and Husband says boy, definitely a boy :)
Feeling Baby? YES!!! A lot. That little nugget is mobile. Even Dad got to feel it last night. It was awesome!
Wearing maternity clothes? Old Navy maternity jeans are my best friend. I am also starting to wear more maternity shirts just because they are more comfy and forgiving.
What I love: feeling the kicks and movements.
What I hate: Zits - and gas. Not the pretty, glowing side of pregnancy I always heard about.

What I am can't wait for: Decorating the nursery, and having my shower!