23 Weeks

In the nursery we are starting work on.

How Far Along: 23 Weeks

Size of Baby: A large mango. He is now over a pound!

Weight Gain: According to the scale at the doctor this week +8 

Maternity Clothes: Still mixing, but mostly maternity...especially the shirts. Rubber bands are working miracles on my pants :)

Gender: Boy

Movement: He's pretty active now. I love feeling him all throughout the day.

Sleep: No complaints. I've been so exhausted lately that sleep hasn't been an issue.

What I Miss: Nothing currently

Cravings: Nothing new

Best Moment This Week: Getting the floors done in the baby's room...and throughout the house!

Looking Forward To: Not baby related, but Saturday's HOG game! 

22 Weeks

I'm a lot bigger than I look in this picture. Brian even said
when he took it that he thinks the stripes hide the belly.

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of Baby: Spaghetti Squash

Weight Gain: +10 My belly really shot out there this week. I feel like it grew over night. This picture seriously is making me look much smaller than I really look, but I'm feeling large. And for the first time got asked about being pregnant by a stranger. 

Maternity Clothes: Still mixing, but mostly maternity now

Gender: Boy

Movement: He is getting more active by the day and I love feeling him! :-)

Sleep: Pretty good. My 1st graders (along with this cold I have) have me worn out this week so sleep hasn't been a problem.

What I Miss: Nothing!

Cravings: Caramel Brownies! And I may have eaten a whole pan of them in 2 days. Oops. And ice cream. I made a wonderful discovery the other day-Ben & Jerry's Half Baked. It's a mixture of vanilla and chocolate ice cream with brownie pieces and cookie dough mixed in. Yum!

Best Moment This Week: My kids loving on my belly. They are so sweet and LOVE to touch the belly and talk about the baby. My 2 favorite quotes this week were from Gabe 1st: "Whoa teacher, I can really see your baby today" on day 2 which was the 1st time they had seen me not in a dress. And from Neveah who told me the baby is going to be "our little prince." And also Gabe today told the class that he has a baby in his belly too. I'm thinking I may love 1st grade. :) At least, that is the verdict so far.

Looking Forward To: My appointment Monday. I love getting to hear the baby's heart beat!

And on a total other note, Brian is currently clearing our carpet to rip it out tomorrow!! Whoohoo! We have been dying to get rid of the carpet since we moved in. We went to Lowe's last night to buy all our wood and him and my dad are starting to pull up the carpet as soon as Brian gets home tomorrow! Maybe they will have it all done by the time I get home. If only I could be so lucky! :)

21 Weeks

First off, excuse the mirror shot. Brian wasn't home, I was headed to Open House, and was a little afraid of how I may look by the time I returned home. Plus it was the last day I would be 21 weeks so it was kinda a last resort.

How Far Along: 21 Weeks, 6 days

Size of Baby: Carrot

Weight Gain: +7

Maternity Clothes: Are becoming necessary. I am still mixing, but I have to say, I had a lot of shirts that were looser that I thought would work for a while and they really just aren't. I kinda thought I could make it until Fall with just 2 or 3 short sleeve maternity shirts because a lot of what I had would work, but my regular shirts just don't fit right any more. Even the loose ones. They cling in all the wrong places and definitely show off some love handles. A lot of my pants, on the other hand, are still working. I thought it would be the opposite. Rubberbands are my new best friend!

Gender: Boy

Movement: Continuing to become stronger and more frequent. I love feeling him move!

Sleep: Decent. Had 2 rough nights this week...both when I had to be at work the next day. One of those nights I woke up at 2:30 ready to go. There was no by going back to sleep...until finally around 6 right before time for the alarm. I guess I am preparing for what's to come.

What I Miss: Nothing, except maybe having some bras that fit comfortably. I guess it is time to do some shopping!

Cravings: Nothing new

Best Moment This Week: Brian getting to see my belly moving. :) I love when Cade is extra active.

Yesterday was a great day! First Mom, Vicki, and I got pedicures then headed to eat! We ate Chili's for lunch then made a last minute trip to the school supply store. And Vicki brought Cade the cutest little baseball outfit. I need to get a picture of it, but haven't taken one yet.

They brought me back home after that and Brian and I took a nap then got up and got ready for a little date night! It's the simple things that make me happy. Our dates are a lot different lately than they used to be, and usually consist of trips to Lowe's and baby shopping. This one was no different. And I am sure soon we will be considering trips to Wal-Mart alone a date, but that's ok. :)

First, we went to Lowe's to look at floors and also many other things we are wanting to do to our house soon, but floors are on the top of the list. We have never had carpet in our living room until this house, and it has to go. We were spoiled with wood and didn't even realize it. We are planning on pulling up the carpet in this whole side of the house and replacing it with wood soon, leaving only our room with carpet. It is something I CANNOT WAIT to get done. We also picked up paint samples for the nursery. I think we decided on a color called "Little Boy Blue." Which sounds like a good paint color for a little boy's room. And I think we have decided to paint stripes on the wall after I ran across this picture on Pinterest:

So that's the plan for Cade's room so far. Except with blue. The thought of a whole blue room bothers me for some reason. We still haven't decided if we are going to just do one striped wall or the whole room. We will probably start with one and see how it goes then go from there. 

We didn't eat anything big like we had planned since I had a big lunch so we just went to Braums where he ate a burger and I of course had a sundae. :) 

Then we ran to Home Depot because their floor samples, unlike the ones at Lowe's, are free. But we couldn't find what we wanted there. So we went to Target to do some baby shopping. There we found our carseat and the much anticipated breast pump. Haha. And we also found what we will be putting in our room for the baby to sleep in for the first few months or so. We still haven't settled on a crib, but we are making progress. And I say we found all of these things, we still have yet to buy a single thing, but finding what we want is progress, right? It's a little overwhelming. 

And finally we had what could be considered a real date and headed to the movies. We watched the last showing of "We're the Millers" and somehow I managed to stay awake through the whole thing. And resist the popcorn. Who am I? We thought the movie was really good and funny. We aren't really big movie goers. We typically prefer to watch them after they come out, on our couch, in our sweats. But this one may have been worth going to the theater for. 

20 Weeks

Oh, and I cut my hair! This week's heat got the best of me.

How Far Along: 20 Weeks

Size of Baby: Banana

Weight Gain: +7

Maternity Clothes: I wear a mixture of both. 

This picture is actually the first time I have worn a full maternity outfit. Either my top or bottoms are usually regular and the other maternity or both regular. 

Gender: BOY: Cade Alan!

Movement: Yes, and I love it! The movements are getting stronger and I love being able to feel him more often rather than just when I am laying down.

Sleep: Sleep has been wonderful! 

What I miss: Nothing!

Cravings: Nothing new. Except for some random reason the other night, I got a craving for a Werther's Original candy?? Most awkward craving ever. I did not rush right out to get it since I was in bed, and it has since passed. 

Best Moment This Week: Shopping with Mom and Scotti yesterday. I have somehow managed to resist buying anything for Cade yet. I am proud of myself. I get overwhelmed when thinking about all of the BIG stuff we have to buy, and it just makes buying the little stuff that we could get at our shower seem silly. But we did shop for him a lot yesterday just for fun! Scotti found tons of baby GIRL clothes. She loves bling and kept finding "prom dresses" for him because "we can put them on him anyways and he won't know the difference because he's a baby." Don't worry. Those were her thoughts not mine. She's a mess. 

She also tried to help me find things that MIGHT cover my belly and the things she thought wouldn't were a little appalling :)

Looking Forward To: All things FALL.  

Ready for Fall

I feel like this Summer has flown by, but that's ok with me because I am beyond ready for Fall for multiple reasons!

My classroom is finished...with a week to spare! 

For starters, I am actually ready for school to start! That's not something I say every year, but I am really excited about teaching 1st grade this year. I have no idea what I am getting myself into, but I am anxious to get in there and see. I mean, look at those tiny desks and chairs, how could I not be excited? 

I'm anxious/a little nervous to see what this guy has in store for us.

Also, I am of course ready for football season! Not much longer until the first game! I am anxiously excited to see what our new coach will be like. And just to finally watch the Hogs again! It's been too long...especially since last season was much more dreadful and painful to watch than exciting.

And I'm even excited for Bearcat football. I haven't been to a game since Weston played 3 or 4 years ago, but there is something different about a Friday at school during football season. Everyone is in their purple and gold, the kids are extra excited, the little girls make up cheers at recess and the boys throw those 3rd quarter footballs back and forth (I can almost feel the crisp Fall air of recess duty as I type that), and the afternoons are filled with a Bearcat coloring sheet coloring contest. They are the same ones we colored back when I was in school, but the kids love them and so do I. Friday's lose a little bit of excitement around the school when football season ends.

Ahh and the leaves...I can almost feel the cool air just looking at this

And last but not least, I am ready for Fall clothes and food. Which I guess both really go back to the weather. I love throwing some good Fall food in my crockpot in the mornings and coming home to smell it for a few hours before finally digging in. :) So much better than throwing a meal together after I get home in the oven or stove. And the Fall clothes. Can't beat those. I could live in boots and leggings or skinny jeans! And I pretty much do as soon as the weather allows!

Just to Remember

I am 20 weeks, 3 days and this morning I felt my first REALLY STRONG movements! I was laying in bed this morning when I felt 4 really strong movements. I really think he was rolling around more so than kicking. I usually feel him more to one side or the other, but I think his position this morning made the movements even more obvious. He was right in the center just under my belly button and they were so strong that I could even see my belly moving from the outside! I have heard that later on you can see a foot or certain body parts, this was nothing like that of course but I could see my belly moving where he was! It was crazy! And I just wish Brian would have been here to see/feel as well! It was definitely one of those "Oh my gosh" moments that I do not want to forget! I usually have to pay close attention to feel him and this morning there was no denying that that was him in there moving like crazy!

19 Weeks

I went ahead and included my 18 week bump shot since I couldn't get it to work last week. Also, I forgot to take my 19 week picture until today when I actually hit 20 weeks so if it looks like I grew a lot in 1 week...these are actually 2 weeks apart. Hopefully I can remember to get a new 20 week picture sometime later this week!

How Far Along: 19 Weeks

Size of Baby: Tomato...or 9 oz at ultrasound

Weight Gain: +5

Maternity Clothes: I wear a mixture of both. 

Gender: BOY-Cade Alan!

Movement: Yes, and I love it! He's most active at night and early in the mornings which makes me a little concerned for our future :)

Sleep: Sleep has been wonderful this week! I think I am extra worn out from working in my classroom so much lately...and several shopping trips to Fort Smith for school supplies! 

What I miss: Nothing...well, ok MAYBE an occasional drink :)

Cravings: Anything sweet. Tropical Skittles have become my newest addiction!

Best Moment This Week: I have several:

1st and foremost, finding out he is a HE of course! And getting to tell everyone/seeing their reactions when we did!

Getting Cade's first gifts: Book from my parents, blanket from Brian's mom, and Britney bought him 6 HOG onesies this week from a friend of hers. Those are officially his first clothes and I cannot believe how tiny they are and that soon we will have a little human small enough to wear them here with us! :)

And last but not least, shopping with my mom and Anson yesterday. My mom bought me some more maternity clothes! I have been wanting some maternity skinny jeans (which sounds like an oxymoron) to wear rolled up as capris for now and with my boots this Fall/Winter so she bought me some of those plus I got another pair of jeans and 2 new shirts! I think I'm pretty set for a while now!

Some People

I had heard before that some people feel like it is appropriate to say ANYTHING to you when you are pregnant. I had my first experience with that yesterday, and it was not enjoyable. I am sure it will only get worse as I grow, but this lady at the school yesterday felt the need to say that she could tell I was having a boy. Which is perfectly fine, most people proceed that comment with BY THE WAY YOU ARE CARRYING, or YOU ARE CARRYING LOW. Both perfectly fine. She, on the other hand, went on to say, "You're carrying your weight all like this and this. None here." And for the first THIS she put her hands by her hips and moved them outward, the second THIS did the same thing to her butt and for the NONE HERE- her stomach...where you are supposed to carry a baby. The worst part was that I was unaware until her comment that I was gaining in those places. I did not feel like I was. I felt like I was gaining only in my stomach, now I'm a little self-conscious. Who says that to someone?? Especially with hand motions! Really, lady?

As if that wasn't enough, she then went on to show me how the other pregnant lady at the school is carrying "All right here (doing the stomach thing again), like a basketball. Not all over like yours. She'll have a girl."

Ok, first of all, that is backwards. Boys are supposed to be only in the stomach, girls all over, but everyone carries differently. Second of all, if you ever feel the need to comment on how a pregnant woman is carrying stick to the SAFE PHRASES such as high or low unless they are only carrying in their stomach in which case you can tell them. Otherwise, do not point out where they are gaining weight, especially by placing your hands in that region and moving them outward. And third, if you absolutely must tell them where they are gaining weight, do not do it in front of a room full of people. It is quite embarrassing and a little annoying...especially if the woman, like me, is oblivious to the fact that she is gaining in the places you tell her. 

And I MAY have came home last night in an exhausted state after working in my room for 11 hours and examined every inch of where she said I had gained. And although I just gave a fake laugh when she said it, I MAY have also came up with some things I wish I had said back to her that were not very polite. Maybe next time. Moral of the story-Don't comment on pregnant women's weight unless it is something nice!