little man or little miss?

how far along?  20 weeks

development: our little man measures about 6.5 inches from head to bottom, and about 10 inches from head to toe, weighing 10.6 ounces. he can hear my heartbeat & voice. hair, nails and eyebrows are sprouting. his heartbeat is growing stronger and is now about twice as fast as mine - at today's appointment, it was about 150bpm.

from thebump.com

maternity clothes?  some, yes. 

sleep?  pretty much normal, sleeping through most of the night

stretch marks?  none yet

best moments this week:  celebrating our five year wedding anniversary • a beauty of a day for the jdrf walk at hersheypark on sunday • noticing the fall colors around us • our 20 week ultrasound and checkup today!

miss anything? no

movement:  slight bit of fluttering, nothing definite or very strong - still a little peanut!

food cravings:  my drink of choice lately has been lemon lime sparkling seltzer water + diet cranberry with lime • loving my apple cider • ice cream

anything making you queasy or sick? nope, thank goodness!

gender:  boy, oh boy!

pregnancy symptoms:  still just mildly achy belly muscles from time to time

have you started to show yet?  yes

wedding rings, on or off?  on

happy or moody most of the time?  happy!

looking forward to:  planning, decorating and adding to our registries now that we know we'll have a boy • vacation to new orleans and gulf shores next week! 

notes from dad:  what are little boys made of? snakes and snails and puppy-dogs' tails. that's what little boys are made of. very happy to see a healthy baby moving in there - arms, legs, hands and feet.

we had our 20 week anatomy ultrasound today - everything looked great. the tech told us he was the best ultrasound of the day, being soo cooperative and just active enough to get a good look at everything. all limbs and organs look to be developing as they should. we couldn't be happier with our beautiful boy!

experienced kind of a bittersweet moment yesterday - instructing my last zumba class for a while. my class presented me with a cute card and gift card to babies r us - what a great ending to a fun, rewarding year of spreading the zumba love! i made the decision at the end of august to continue to teach through october, and recently i've been torn about whether i should continue teaching longer. but i don't want to stress myself or feel responsible for teaching, especially when i have no idea how i'll be feeling these next few months. i'm going to continue to attend classes as long as i can, though!

week 20 down, 139 days left. half way there!

beneath the mango tree

how far along?  19 weeks

development: our tropical mango is about 6 inches long and weighs 8.5 ounces. nerve cells are developing in the brain for taste, hearing, sight and smell.

from thebump.com

maternity clothes?  some maternity. mostly just reaching for the comfy clothing - there are certain things i won't even try to put on anymore.

sleep?  surprisingly, i've been getting through most nights without getting out of bed

stretch marks?  none yet, keeping up with my daily shea butter body cream!

best moments this week:  sharing a meal with loved ones • zumba fitness sunday • enjoying a deep cleansing facial at a local spa

miss anything? no

movement:  maybe something here and there, nothing definite yet

food cravings:  pizza, mac & cheese, olives... not all at once though :) 

anything making you queasy or sick? nope

gender:  less than a week till we find out!

pregnancy symptoms:  mildly achy belly muscles, prepping and stretching for our mango

have you started to show yet?  yes, seems like more than ever. (but that's kind of obvious, like saying today i'm the youngest i'll be for the rest of my life). definitely have the belly!

wedding rings, on or off?  on, five years and counting! :)

happy or moody most of the time?  happy

looking forward to:  celebrating our five year wedding anniversary tomorrow/thursday (and ten years together!) • attending the jdrf walk to cure diabetes at hersheypark on sunday for our nephew gavin • our 20 week ultrasound and checkup next tuesday to see that baby mango is developing and progressing properly

notes from dad:  This week we celebrate 261 weeks or 5 years of marriage. We have grown, learned and even dreamed together. All these wonderful little moments leading us to right now. 19 weeks pregnant and I am sitting here contributing to our first pregnancy blog. It almost doesn't seem real! I love this life we live. I am so proud & excited to add our little mango. This is a happy anniversary. 

"being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." ~lao tsu. five years ago, anthony and i were lucky enough to spend a spectacular week at the moon palace golf and spa resort in cancun, mexico. my hope is that we return in another five. :)

timing appropriate to both our little mango and looking back at our wedding day five years ago, i revisited this song this week (a little misty-eyed) that was played during our ceremony on the beach - "better together" by jack johnson

and lastly, here's some randomness from this past week's iphone adventures ↓

although you might not be able to read it, the cast of friends stayed at the comfort inn near our house "welcome friends" (ok, not really, lol)  //  selfie  //  olive bar at the grocery store, yum  //  fender cuddling with our bear

baby bibs from grandma  //  fender looking oh so handsome  //  homemade apple dessert  //  sticking with my 'up' tracking and progress  //  my boys napping on the couch

week 19 down, 146 days to go. almost half way there!

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.