orange is the happiest color

how far along?  15 weeks

development:  this week is a citrus sweetie... our orange is about 4" long and weighs 2.5 ounces. joints and limbs can all move now, and our legs outmeasure our arms. ears are properly positioned on the sides of the head (from the neck) and eyes are migrating to the front of the face from the side of the head.

maternity clothes?  not yet, *see below :)  lots of leggings, though and excited to start wearing my good old riding boots again since the weather's changing.

sleep?  unlike last week, i haven't been pre-sleeping as much and have actually had a bit more energy in the evenings. i've been sleeping decently through the night, sometimes still getting up once, and have started using my boppy body pillow (thanks, rachell!)

stretch marks?  nope

best moments this week:  evening walks (the first day of fall!) - i wish this weather would stick around longer in the mid 70's • spending way too long perusing websites for ideas and things we need to register for and/or buy, otherwise known as online window shopping • pregnancy massage!

miss anything? no

movement:  although i haven't felt any movement yet, the little one is supposedly squirming a ton!

food cravings:  nothing crazy out of the ordinary 

anything making you queasy or sick?  the banana i had this morning was a little less than enjoyable (slightly grossed out by the taste) but i'm pretty picky about bananas anyways - they can't be too ripe

gender:  still waiting - maybe up to another month till we find out

pregnancy symptoms:  some slight back pain, mostly in the evenings or after being active with zumba

have you started to show yet? yes, but i guess that's my perception - anthony says yes. it may all be relative. i definitely have a belly, but someone who doesn't know me may not notice.

wedding rings, on or off?  on

happy or moody most of the time?  happy! although, i have been a little more opinionated in stating things lately, but i don't think that makes me moody, right? ;)

looking forward to:  what i'm gonna find on saturday at the big consignment sale in lancaster, and a few longer range things like finding out the gender of our babe, fall happenings like the local pumpkin fest and our 5 yr. anniversary next month

notes from dad:  knock, knock. who's there? orange. orange who? orange you glad you're not still the size of a lemon?

*so i made my first trip into motherhood maternity this past weekend... i must have looked like i was totally misplaced when i walked in, because the sweet lady working the store immediately asked if i needed help like she was concerned for me. umm yes, i need help, thank you. i walked out spending a little more money than i planned on (or realized) but picked up a few really cute, stylish pieces that i think i'll get a lot of wear out of.

not too much more happening, which i guess is a good thing at this point.

173 days to go.

lemonade

how far along?  14 weeks
development:  we have a little baby lemon! about 3.5" long and weighs about 1.5 ounces. arms will soon be in proportion to the rest of the body, hands can grasp, facial muscles are forming one expression after another.
maternity clothes?  no, but hoping to get to a motherhood maternity soon. anyone up for shopping with me?  :)
sleep?  falling asleep on the couch has been my thing lately - anthony says there's a lot of 'pre-sleeping' going on here. pre-sleeping: verb. \sleep : the natural state of rest [on the couch] during which your eyes are closed, before you actually migrate into bed.
stretch marks?  nope
best moments this week:  hearing back from the blood work portion of last week's screening to find that all is great! • rooting around at a kid's consignment sale and purchasing our first bunch of tiny clothing • volunteering as one of four zumba instructors at a class at paxton ministries, a community of homes serving people with social, mental or emotional needs - seeing these people enjoy just a 45 minute class of zumba fun really means a lot!
miss anything? not really
movement:  nothing yet
food cravings:  wanting pizza and ice cream a lot lately. i feel like i could have pizza for almost every meal.
anything making you queasy or sick?  no
gender:  still waiting. our next appointment is at 17 weeks on 10/10, but i think that it's just going to be a check-up appointment. we'll probably schedule the big ultrasound for soon after that (hopefully sooner than later). looking forward to purchasing more gender specific clothing and starting to plan for decorating the babe's room.
pregnancy symptoms: had a few more headaches than normal lately, but nothing major
have you started to show yet? yes
wedding rings, on or off?  on
happy or moody most of the time?  h-a-p-p-y
looking forward to:  breathing in some crisp fall air, taking a break this weekend with a massage, and attending another consignment sale next weekend.
notes from dad: there has been some dispute on the size of our fruit this week - i am telling people that we are a lemon and consensus is telling that a peach (from last week) is larger than a lemon. i'm not sure where we got the comparison. maybe we should send the question to mythbusters. week 14 is also week 3 in the nfl. the bears are 2-0 and are visiting pittsburgh sunday night. go bears!

here's part of my curated collection of nursery ideas that i've been gathering on pinterest:

randomness from the week... a selfie, my up progress showing over 100% sleep and steps for sunday, homemade granola, tiny person clothing & dark chocolate covered pretzels:

in honor of this week's piece of produce, i give you u2's 'lemon'... i've never been a total u2 fan (sorry rachell :), so the song was a new one for me and i think it's honestly a bit odd, but every time we mentioned a lemon in conversation this week, anthony started singing this:

told you it was odd. so long, week 14... 178 days to go til march 18.

13 weeks

 

so, i can't believe that i've forgotten to mention it before in past posts, but our actual due date is march 18, 2014 just a few days short of anthony's birthday on the 21st. hopefully if anything like the phrase, 'march comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb', our babe will be more like a little lamb, not a lion! roarrr! here are our weekly updates:

how far along?  13 weeks. last week of the 1st trimester!
development:  our produce has grown to the size of a peach! about 2.9" long and weighs about .81 ounces. vocal cords and teeth are forming.
maternity clothes?  no
sleep? anthony gifted me a jawbone 'up' for my birthday a few weeks ago, and it's been really interesting tracking my sleep patterns and daily activity - i feel a little more in tune to what my body is doing. i've been able to see how much light and deep sleep i've been getting, and how many times and how long i'm awake during the night. it's also made me realize that i need to walk more, a lot more. it's hard to do though, sitting at a computer for the majority of the day.
stretch marks?  nope
best moment this week: let's say moments, cause i can't really pick out one best. they're simple, really, but... grocery shopping, welcoming ant home from a work trip, buying and feeling really good in a few new comfy shirts that will hopefully stretch with me a bit and finally, our appointment today at maternal fetal medicine.
miss anything? not really
movement:  nothing yet
food cravings:  nothing out of the ordinary, but when i have a taste for something, that's usually what i want
anything making you queasy or sick?  no
gender: waiting to find out! 
pregnancy symptoms: been feeling really good
have you started to show yet? yes
wedding rings, on or off?  on
happy or moody most of the time?  i wouldn't say moody necessarily, but a few things have seemed to annoy me pretty easily - mostly work related. i guess that's normal. lol
looking forward to: just being and enjoying the little things 
notes from dad: Thirteen weeks is an exciting week. The baby's grown to a peach. Karin asked me to draw the peach on the chalkboard! (be sure to check that out). We cannot forget it's the first week of football season! Go Bears! And a couple days in Orlando for work. That always makes the heart grow fonder. We are busy still enjoying summer events on weekends. We have a lot of projects we are hoping to do. The calendar has never been more important. How will we do it all? Who knows? We're enjoying getting there!

our appointment this morning went really well - this was the ultrascreen testing, where we had an ultrasound done, and blood work taken. the nurses seemed really happy with how i've been feeling and progressing so far. our little creature looked more like a baby than a little blob on the screen, and although it was very active, was cooperative to get all the right angles for measurements and viewing the nose and back of the neck for this test - the thickness of the skin at the back of the neck and the nose development were what they focused on. everything seemed normal. i'll hear on monday the results of the blood test, but from everything that we saw today, there seems to be no reason to worry. it was amazing to see the development - arms, legs, the face profile, the two hemispheres of the brain, heartbeat and spine! still too early for the gender.

here is my grocery store oogling for the week. i actually love grocery shopping and i love cheese. can i say again?... i love cheese. and not that i love prego, but i thought it was funny since we've probably all heard the term (and i must say i'm not fond of it) for pregnant ladies. i just thought it would make a fun pic.

for those who haven't seen me in zumba 'gear'... i'm still continuing to instruct zumba fitness classes once a week through the end of october, and attend classes about two other times per week as long as i can or feel like it. this photo was taken almost a year ago and i hope to look like this again after baby!

week 13 down. 187 more days to go.

oh snap...

here's our little announcement that anthony and i came up with to share our news ~

although not very productive, yesterday's appointment went really well. it was just pretty much a check-up visit to see how things are going and progressing. my blood pressure was taken, i listened to the baby's heartbeat and the midwife and i discussed upcoming genetic testing.

the baby's heartbeat was right around 160. normal heartbeat range during pregnancy is from approximately 120-180, with it being higher during the first trimester and then slowing throughout the pregnancy. at our first appointment at 8 weeks, the heartbeat was 171. theories suggest that an unborn baby's heart rate can predict the gender, with faster heart rates (above 140) indicating a girl and slower rates indicating a boy. apparently, the basis is the faster metabolism of baby girls. but again, this is just a myth... we'll see if it holds any weight here in this fam.

my next appointment is scheduled for next thursday 9/12 for an ultrascreen genetic testing. from americanpregnancy.org, the ultrascreen test "combines a maternal blood screening test with an ultrasound eval of the fetus to identify risk for specific chromosomal abnormalities, including down syndrome, trisomy-21 and trisomy-18."

after that, i don't have another check-up until 10/10.

chuggin' along...

12 weeks

how far along?  12 weeks

maternity clothes?  bought some knit fabric to make a few belly bands... no more hair tie tricks here. hopefully the belly bands will help to extend the life of wearing some of my pants (unbuttoned). where's my sewing machine?

sleep?  about the same as it's been - i can count on being up once or more each night. it's usually me, anthony, fender or a combo of all three of us up at some point during the night.

stretch marks?  nada

best moment this week:  putting together a little announcement for our pregnancy that most people will see soon enough. anthony had a good time art directing our photo shoot and then i put my design magic to work on the rest of it.

miss anything?  nothing too much

movement:  nothing yet

food cravings:  been eating too many sweets! need to cut back on that. i have been a pretty hungry girl, though.

anything making you queasy or sick?  i feel so lucky not to have had any morning sickness or other major symptoms. nothing to report and i hope it stays that way!

gender:  that's a question that everyone's been asking - yep, we're going to find out. i don't think i could not find out.

pregnancy symptoms:  again, i've been pretty lucky with everything. i guess the symptoms have been pretty normal and not too uncomfortable... yet. growing belly, a little extra weight, hungry and heartburn just a few times so far. no nausea or major headaches (minus a headache today that has me headed to bed right after i post this).

have you started to show yet?  i'm at the point where i'm starting to feel self-conscious about my weight, growing belly, and changing body. i have to remember to tell myself that it's ok.

wedding rings, on or off?  on, although i noticed in this week's and last week's photos, i neglected to have them on. oops. i swear i wear them 95% of the time.

happy or moody most of the time?  happy. although, last night sparked a somewhat emotional convo on our walk to the coffee shop (decaf, naturally), about said question 2 above

looking forward to:  our next appointment this thursday (tomorrow), and hanging out with a dear friend this weekend for some arts festival shenanigans.

notes from dad:  12 weeks has been pretty full. Cookouts, parties, revealing our secret to more and more folks. I have been reaping a few rewards. Karin has been my designated driver all weekend. It's pretty sweet but i am sure she wishes she could have an adult beverage. At 12 weeks i have learned a bunch of wives tales on how to tell the sex of the baby. Spinning  needles, heartbeat rate and other crazy things. People are speculating a baby girl. Karin has some kind of family stat predicting a girl. The stats these ladies keep on this Prego thing is alot like ESPN sportscenter. I guess we will have to sit back and wait to hear what our little produce has grown to next week.

my quest for a dresser for the baby's room came to a close this past week, in finding a 'gem' on craigslist. anthony doesn't seem to agree with me in the quality of the dresser, but he graciously drove me to a furniture store half an hour away to lug it home. it needs some attention, but it matches a dresser that i so lovingly still have that sat in my bedroom as a little girl. we'll refinish and paint both of them. i'd show a photo of the one we just bought, but it's sitting on it's side, tucked away in the garage until we decide to have some fun refinishing it.

here's a similar style dresser i found on pinterest - i'm not sure we'll go with a mint color like this, but i do love how bright it is.

lastly, who could resist a photo of the cutest doggie ever. until those cutest baby photos start popping up, here's fender at about 9 weeks, a few days after we brought him home 5 years ago.

week 12, check. 194 days to go.