24 Weeks

The yoga pants that I usually wear in these pictures have finally been retired. They no longer fit without taking 20 min to get into and then uncomfortably digging into my belly. So maternity jeans it is. Luckily the shirt is still working :).

Also the location of these pictures has changed since the shelf I usually set the camera on in the baby's room has been relocated. So Max has graciously agreed to take the remainder of the pictures :).

Hopefully I'll be able to show you the progress of the baby's room soon! I work on it a little each weekend and it's progressing nicely!

How far along: 24 weeks
Total weight gain: 16 lbs.
Sleep: My hips suck. And terrible leg cramps.
Sickness: Nope
Cravings: salt, chicken wings, hummus, chips
Make me queasy: Yogurt of any kind, anything too sweet.
General Symptoms: General stretching pains but nothing terrible.
Miss anything: Red meat, sandwiches and, seafood
Maternity Clothes: Just the same jeans and tops and I still mix in some old stretchy favorites
Movement: Quite a bit! Sometimes the kicks to the rib cage are not quite as cute. A few weeks ago we were finally able to see the movement on the outside. I showed Max one night as we were on the sofa and his immediate response was "IT'S ALIVE!" which was pretty cute :)
Gender Prediction: I go back and forth. I think I'm back on train girl. It's weird the closer we get the less I seem to care. I just want to see my baby already!

Names I like at the moment:
Girl: Claire, Olivia, Alice, Eloise (Ellie), Charlotte (Charlie), Lucy
Boy: Jack, Edward (Ed, Eddie), Milo, Nathan (Nate), Ethan, Neal, Luke,

The baby is now the size of a cantaloupe. It's skin is becoming less translucent and more opaque which is good thing lol.

The Kaechele's stop by

Last night Max and I met up with my family friends the Kaechele's. I have known them since I was a baby but haven't seen them in a while since they live in Oregon. But they are down here for a week on vacation so we had to meet up.

We went to one of our old favorite restaurants, O.H.S.O. It was so nice to get to see them again and show them the baby bump in person. We talked about what all they have done and seen so far and Max gave them some tips (maybe too many lol) on places to go and things to do outdoors since he is the Arizona backpacking expert and they love to be outside too. They are enthusiastic bird watchers and are heading down to Tucson to do some watching so hopefully I will get to see some great pictures soon :).

 I hope we get to see them again soon once this little babe pops out :).

22 Weeks

How far along: 22 weeks
Total weight gain: 13 lbs.
Sleep: My hips suck.
Sickness: Nope
Cravings: cheese, salt, chicken wings, hummus
Make me queasy: Yogurt of any kind, anything too sweet.
General Symptoms: General stretching pains but nothing terrible.
Miss anything: Red meat and sandwiches and seafood
Maternity Clothes: Just the same jeans and tops I got a few weeks ago for my birthday
Movement: Quite a bit! It's the most around lunch and at night. I love feeling the baby in there :). Max has also finally been able to feel it. Which was so amazing.
Gender Prediction: Boy. While we didn't find out the sex at the 20 week ultrasound, the nurse found the gender and confirmed it was doing well pretty quickly so I have a feeling it's a boy now :)

Names I like at the moment:
Girl: Claire, Olivia, Alice, Eloise (Ellie)
Boy: Jack, Edward (Ed, Eddie), Milo, Nathan (Nate), Ethan

The baby is now the size of a papaya. It's facial features are now more prominent and it's sleeping in regular cycles. Maybe this will continue after it's born, huh, huh, huh ;-). Some how I doubt it.

Thanksgiving Weekend

So I know this is a bit late but I had to wait for some free time to get all the pictures together :).

Thanksgiving weekend was amazing but such a blur! I am from the Bay Area in CA; which is where all my family is currently. Max and I trade which family we spend the holiday with each year, so this year is Thanksgiving with my family in CA and Christmas with his family in AZ.

I was nervous to fly on the plane, not because something was going to happen to the baby but more worried about me! Was I going to have to get up and pee every 5 minutes; was it going to feel weird, was there going be a lot of pressure. But sure enough it was no different than a normal flight. It's also only 2hrs so it couldn't be that bad anyway :).

We landed Wednesday night and had dinner with the family. After that my mom and I started in on the pies, we are the pie ladies in the family. While it may suck to get off the sofa to make them we always have a good time talking and laughing while we bake.

Thursday was awesome per usual. We watched the parade, ate appetizers, watched some football and of course cooked delicious food. Between dinner and dessert we all got around the table for a re-match of Munchkin. Even though this game mysteriously took twice as long as the first Pat still ended up winning. Clearly he is rigging the game ;-).

Now since Black Friday is basically the spawn of Satan I stayed home and watched tv and hung out with the family. However, my mom had to work a 10hr shift! Which totally sucked but we got to hang out later. We of course watched the ASU v. Arizona football game; I'd rather not talk bout it. Boo. The lucky baby clearly feel asleep on the job.

Saturday was a huge day! It marked the 1/2 way point in the pregnancy, 20 weeks, it was my 25th birthday, and it was the fist baby shower for all the CA people who can't travel to AZ! It was a big day :). My sister Katie did an AMAZING job on the shower. She had so many cute decorations and actually really fun games. It was really nice to get to see some family friends and my best friend Katy (yes this has always been confusing).

Auntie Katie!

The girl cake! It was chocolate chocolate chip and the boy one was Pecan.

I guessed most of them right haha

20 Week Ultrasound

Today was our 20 week ultrasound! This is the ultrasound where they do all the anatomy checking. And where you can find out the sex if you want.

Max and I decided to keep the sex a surprise! Sorry everyone you will have to buy us all gender neutral items. Let the predicting begin!

We saw all 10 fingers and toes, two strong legs, and two cute arms. The head and brain are in good shape, thank god. And the heartbeat is at 140, nice and strong. Both kidneys are there and the bladder and stomach are looking great too.

The baby is now just under a pound! Getting bigger each day.

All in all this little baby is doing great in there! It's nice too now that I haven't failed as a mom already :).

Now for the fun part. Pictures!


Torso, leg, and foot. The head didn't make it in the picture, little creepy :)

Face, leg, foot, and hand. Look all 5 fingers! :)

Face, torso, arm, and hand.

20 Weeks

How far along: 20 weeks
Total weight gain: 10 lbs
Sleep: This is not getting any easier. My hips KILL me in the morning.
Sickness: Into the second trimester so all is good :)
Cravings: cheese, salt, chicken wings, hummus
Make me queasy: Yogurt of any kind, anything too sweet.
General Symptoms: General stretching pains but nothing terrible.
Miss anything: Red meat and sandwhiches
Maternity Clothes: The soon to be grandparents couldn't let a present opportunity like my birthday go by without buying me some cute new maternity clothes. So I have 3 pairs of pants (jeans, red and black skinny jeans) and 7 tops. And the best nursing bra from Target.
Movement: Quite a bit! I love feeling the baby moving around in there. It is stronger and stronger each day. I can tell it's getting bigger because it started first lower near my groin and now its up around my belly button :)
Gender Prediction: Girl. Our 20 week ultrasound was today where we could find out the sex if we wanted but we decided to keep it a surprise!

Names I like at the moment:
Girl: Claire, Olivia, Alice, Eloise (Ellie), Hailey, Lynn, Amelia
Boy: Jack, Edward (Ed, Eddie), Eric, Milo, Nathan (Nate), Ethan

The baby is now the size of a banana. It is now gulping down several ounces of amniotic fluid a day! This seems too crazy.

Surviving the First Trimester

So now that I am nicely settled into the second trimester I thought I would give all the first trimester mommies some tips on how to survive this "special" time.

So pull up a chair, grab a barf bag, and read on!

1.  Morning sickness is not ONLY in the morning: I am sure you have heard this 100 times but it is so true. The only times I ever felt sick was immediately upon arrival home after work. Needless to say Max was not too pleased by this. The only times I got to talk to him during the work week was filled with the constant fear that I might throw up all over him. So be prepared to feel sick at any time. Know where the bathrooms are and maybe bring barf bags with you just in case. But don't stress about it too much, this too shall pass.
2. You will be exhausted at all times: I'm not talking about you might feel like a short cat nap but more like you may fall asleep at any moment and your plate full of dinner looks as comfy as your pillow. Ladies this is real; don't pretend like you can still stay out until 1AM partying. You will be lucky to survive the car ride home from work. So stay safe out there and go to sleep whenever you feel like it. You will need your rest once this nugget pops out.
   
   
   
3. Your boobs will try to kill you: This is no joke, I thought, "Duh. They are stretching just like everything else but it can't be that bad". This now makes me laugh like a 60 year old woman watching all the 20 something's wrangle their kids. It will hurt so bad that you will turn into a Gollum like creature screaming "Not my precious!" while covering your boob whenever anything/anyone gets too close. This is perfectly ok. The only thing I can suggest is a slightly tight bra that also fits the new size of the girls comfortably. This will protect your boobs and those dagger like things they call nipples from the outside world.
   
4. You will have to pee constantly: This is NOT only in the third trimester like others will have you believe. Starting like 3 hrs after you find out your body will kick into baby mode and you will be in the bathroom more often than any human should be. Don't get too excited, this isn't because you have an awesome ahead of the curve baby and it's already pushing on your bladder, this is because your body is starting to make the amniotic fluid which means you are creating more blood and other things that produces waste and thus you pee...a lot. So stay hydrated and learn to love your porcelain thrown.
   
5. Get comfortable with farting in front of those you love: This sounds weird but is very true. I thought it was just me and kept apologizing to my husband every time; however I learned through other amazing blogs and some www.thebump.com research that this is completely normal. So ladies LET IT RIP :).
   
6. Eat REASONABLY: There are 1001 websites out there that will make you believe if you eat one bite of deli meat your baby will either turn into a mutant creature with gills or you will kill it from Listeria bacteria. Take a breath. As long as you have stopped doing all those drugs and you are leading a decently healthy lifestyle you will be fine. Women have been having children while eating sandwiches, fish, and even drinking wine for generations. So if you hare craving a hot dog, go for it. The first trimester is about survival. Eat whatever you can keep down and skip what you can't. Once you are past the first trimester you can start worrying about eating vegetables and fruit like it's your job. You will be so hungry anyway that anything will sound delicious.
   
7. Love thy partner: Show your partner in baby crime some love. While they are not going through the special hell, I mean wonderful beautiful experience, that you are going through they are going through their own version. While you are constantly throwing up, they are holding your hair and kissing you. You get to fall asleep (while uncontrollably) at 5:01 after work they are cleaning up dinner, maybe off your face, feeding the dogs/other kids, etc. So show them how much you appreciate it. Say thank you as much as you can, offer to help during your non puking and awake hours. Talk about their day rather than the uncomfortable gross things that are happening to you.
   
   
   
   
   
   Stay strong ladies. The second trimester is close and I promise it gets better. You will be able to feel your baby move in a few months, which makes all this so worth it :).