22 weeks - Lil Miss Papaya

I started a Prenatal Yoga video this week. So far I really like it. In some ways it just seemed like glorified stretching, but it felt good and I was shaking through some of the poses. It's about 30 minutes long which is reasonable and it isn't difficult to follow along. My inner thighs and baby-delivering-area have felt it the most :) I suppose there is a reason for that! I've done it 3 times this week so far - I'm hoping to stick with it. I think my body really needs this kind of exercise and yoga has such a calming way about it, I love it!

I read Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy this week. It was okay. It was super short (only like 160 pages), and just lightly touches on different symptoms that women experience during pregnancy, but nobody ever really talks about. Quick and easy read and it wasn't as funny as I thought it would be.

This weekend we're going to Burlington Baby Depot to work on getting a gift registry together. YAY! I'm super excited to start looking at little girl stuff! :) Hopefully we'll be able to settle on a theme (or color/colors... something!) I'm hoping we'll also get around to moving some stuff out of the nursery and find new homes for it. And it's a must to get that room painted LIKE ASAP! :)

I went shopping on my lunch break today. I got a couple of new outfits and some extra tops! It'll be nice to have more than 3 pairs of pants I can wear to work! Plus having a few more top options will help. Hmm...what to wear tomorrow?

Christmas!

Another successful Christmas is now behind us. Tim got more books, cd's, and concert dvd's than I think he could have imagined. I got a Kindle, a waffle maker (that I used this morning and made delicious blueberry waffles), I also got an air purifier for my office which I'm very excited about. My office is in an area where NO fresh air will EVER enter. Last winter was the first time I had been in that office and I ended up with three colds/sinus infections which is not normal for me. Hopefully this little contraption will help some. I made a super yummy breakfast Christmas morning with french toast, blueberry pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, english muffins, and cinnamon buns! It was OVER THE TOP good! Today I'm going to spend some time playing around with my Kindle and buy a few ebooks for it. My brother-in-law got me a gift card to Amazon.com so now I just need to decide what books I will be spending it on!

And of course I have to mention that the little baby girl got a fair share of gifts for herself! She ended up with diapers, a diaper bag, clothes, blankets, toys, and this sweet little sheep that plays soothing sounds. Tim and I are really lucky to have such awesome family and friends.

Now that Christmas is behind us we're going to be focusing on getting the nursery together. It's a little bit of a mess right now because I used it as my Christmas wrapping station. :) We need to get the stuff moved out of it soon so I can have the room re-painted before we put more baby stuff/furniture into it.

Well, I need to get myself motivated. After two days of homemade breakfast I've got a ton of dishes to do, plus there are pine needles all over the carpet AND gifts that need to be put away. :) I don't know if we'll get around to taking the tree down today or not. We'll see!

21 Weeks!! Halfway there...

Can't believe I'm already halfway through my pregnancy! I have loved every moment of it!! And I have felt really great. I've been making an effort to "move" more and stretch before bed and a little at work. I'm usually good about making reasonable food choices, but it's been a challenge this week at work. One girl had a birthday and someone made her a 2 layer chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. I love, love cake so I had a piece. I swear there was so much sugar in the cake that it took maybe 10 minutes for me to go from "normal" to "crazy-sugar-high". I felt awful because obviously that meant the baby was also on a sugar high. :/ She moved around a lot that day which continuously reminded me that I had fed her too much sugar! Tim kinda laughed at me when I told him haha!

I've talked to a lot of women and many have mentioned their delivery experiences - in a non-horrific way. Ya, I get it... it's going to hurt like f'in crazy! It's amazing how no delivery is the same though. I have heard about 30 minute deliveries (meaning she barely made it to the hospital on time, her hair was still in place, and her make up didn't have a single smudge!) And I've heard about 24 hour deliveries!
Tim and I have been discussing day care. I really would rather not put my baby in day care, especially when they are only 3 months old. I'll have 12 weeks maternity leave, but we don't really have a plan as to what we'll do with her after that is over. Not working is unfortunatly is NOT an option. :( I suppose we'll figure it out and hopefully we do so within the next several months. For now I'll just focus on nursery theme and baby names! :)

Pants, Free Stuff, Nursery...etc.

I feel like my belly has definitely popped over the last week and half! My uterus is now up to my belly button so my belly button is starting to flatten out a bit, but is far from "popping" haha! Tim and I went to the Motherhood store in the mall today and got my first pair of maternity jeans. My regular jeans were beginning to be uncomfortable especially while sitting. I got a few free things at Motherhood for giving my name/address/phone number. It wasn't anything major, but I did get a $20 card to Shutterfly, some coupons, and a couple of sample Sunsweet dried prunes! hahaha!! YUM? They also threw in some pamphlets (because I seriously don't have enough from my Doctor's office!) :)

Tim and I have been discussing the nursery theme. We had agreed on Lady Bugs, but when I showed him the set I liked at Burlington Baby Depot he wasn't really feeling it. He's looking for something a little more "fun". :) He pictured more cartoon like lady bugs and Burlington doesn't have any like that. Needless to say we've gone back to the drawing board - although I love the lady bug idea :( Tim did say we could go with it, but that was after he said how much he DIDN'T like the one I had chosen! haha - how could I go with it knowing he didn't like it? I keep saying that once Christmas is over we'll focus on the nursery, but I can't wait! :) We went to Target today and I peeked at some of the little girls clothes and decided to get a little shirt. I haven't really bought many clothes because I know I'm going to get a bunch from family and friends (LOVE you guys!)

I'm still mentally registering that we're having a girl. It's crazy to finally KNOW. I loved being able to look at just girl stuff today. As we walked around Target I was thinking about Christmas next year and she'll be 7 almost 8 months old! I have always loved Christmas, but I expect that after this year it will forever be different - more special - in so many ways!

MERRY CHRISTMAS*

We're having a GIRL!!

Little baby feet!!

We had our 20 week check up and ultrasound today! We found out we're having a girl! Everything looks good, she's healthy and active. She weighs in at a whopping 14 ounces! :) I swear she looks like me and totally has Tim's legs! (his are longer than mine and I'm thinking her legs look long). My mom, sister, and sister-in-law were there to share in the moment with Tim and I. I loved having them there, as did Tim, it made it even more special. Many people at work were surprised that I wanted to know the sex of the baby. They asked "why don't you want to be surprised"? But really, it's still a surprise whether I know now or in another 4 months. And they really don't know me because I would definitely prefer to know and
"plan" than to have a bunch of yellow and white
things for the baby.

I always know that Tim is super excited about our appointments, but while we're AT/IN the appointment he tends to not show his emotions. After it's over we usually hang outside for a bit and just digest what happened. That's when I see the excitement. :) He says he's just trying to take it all in and then once it settles he gets excited. haha On his way home from work tonight he bought me some flowers. And he kept saying how there was a little girl in my belly :) AND he took tonight off from work so we could spend the evening together! YAY!!

Now it's time to figure out the nursery and decide on a name. We have a first name in mind, but I don't want to formally announce it until we're 100% sure. Once Christmas is over we'll register for baby gifts and start getting the nursery a little more organized. We haven't decided whether or not we're going to change the wall color. Right now it's a purple, but it may be a little too dark for a baby's room. The sun doesn't go into that room at any point during the day so I'd rather have it a little brighter of a color.

One thing I'm a little upset about is that I thought I was going to have video on the CD they gave me. I knew we'd have pictures from the ultrasound, but my friend who is pregnant got a video on hers. :(

My little Mango!

I'm 19 weeks along today! The baby is about the size of a Mango - 6 inches long and 8.5 ounces. Each week I read up on what is going on with the baby. One of the things that the website said was that this week there is "A waxy protective coating called vernix caseosa that is forming on the baby's skin to prevent it from PICKLING in the amniotic fluid". I found this rather funny - to think that the baby's skin would pickle without this protective coating.
Today also marks the first day I wore a full maternity outfit - that means both the pants and the top were maternity!! I'm really enjoying being pregnant, well, honestly I don't always 'feel' pregnant which makes it easier. :) I really need to start exercising and stretching more. Especially where my job has me sitting most of the day. :/

I've had a little cramping and some mild lower back pain. All probably from the ligaments stretching around my uterus. :) I know I'm dreaming every night, but I just can't seem to remember them (like I did earlier in pregnancy) or they all blend together. Heart burn continues to flair up most every night.

The picture isn't the best, but Tim was in a hurry because he was running a little late getting to work. :) But I insisted I get at least 1 picture!

I can't believe we find out WEDNESDAY what we're having! Which I've been so wrapped up in the date of our ultrasound that I *almost* forget Christmas is like 2 weeks away!! I'm going shopping this weekend which I'll be able to hopefully finish up most of it. I'll probably need 1 more trip out after this weekend.

Excuse me... have you seen my button?

This has been another some what average week. However, at work the button of my pants did "fall" off which actually made me smile. I wasn't wearing the belly band, but these pair of pants fit comfortably underneath my belly so I've continued to wear them. What I probably don't realize is the extra strain that is being put on the button especially since I need to sit down most of the day for my job. I managed to locate a needle and some thread (after sharing the "my button fell off" story, because naturally people want to know why you need needle and thread at work). Come to find out there are actually a lot of people who bring mini sewing kits to work - interesting.... probably not.

Today I'm 18 weeks 3 days - 4.5 months. The pictures were taken last night. After the Anonymous comment on my last post about my belly pictures only being "side front", not total "side" and that they all looked the same I decided to switch it up and go CRAZY with some sitting pics!! I suppose we could have done the pictures with the camera lower to be more straight across from the belly, but really my belly is little so it's like...whatever!

Christmas update: we bought our Christmas tree Friday night and we're waiting until tonight to decorate, well so the branches can settle a little. We don't normally have the tree in front of the living room window, but we decided to this year. Our living room is a little small and so a fat tree is now making it smaller. But it's all in the name of Christmas so I can easily get over it (I say easily, but not after a couple of small huffs and puffs).

This is the classic "annoyed Kristie" look. I probably was annoyed because Tim was giving me a hard time about my fear of the flash (or it could be that he takes forever to take a picture so by the time he takes it I look like a serial killer). Now come on people, I have high cheek bones therefore my eyes squint up, and I'm just "preparing" for the flash so my eyes practically close. Note: this is why the sitting shots are done while I look lovingly at my growing belly. hahaha!!

JUST 10 MORE DAYS UNTIL WE KNOW WHAT THE SEX OF THE BABY IS!!!!