grapefruit... it's good for ya soul

how far along?  23 weeks

development: baby boy measures about 10.5 to 11.8 inches and about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces - getting bigger! his face is fully formed and is hearing my voice, heartbeat and other louder sounds like living room rocksmith concerts and dogs barking (that's if fender voiced his little opinion more often, lol). baby's inner ear is also developed to the point where he has some sense of balance, and his pancreas is busy creating it's own hormones. his eyes are formed, except he still lacks pigment in the iris, and therefore an eye color.

from thebump.com

maternity clothes?  since i have just one existing pair of skinny jeans that i can hardly wear much longer, i went to motherhood maternity on saturday and stocked up on two more pair of maternity jeans, three shirts and another sweater. loving the long, flowy open cardigan sweaters lately! i should be good now (hopefully) with a mix of existing and maternity clothes to get me through.

sleep?  feeling pretty good overall - waking once or twice a night, though. i've also been having (or remembering more) weird dreams that don't really make much sense. i don't know if most usually do, though.

stretch marks?  none

best moments this week:  meeting a friend's five day-old newborn daughter • clothing shopping at motherhood maternity for some clothes that fit me and are comfy, and window shopping for our little man at carter's - so much cute stuff, but i don't want to go crazy with buying things (we've gotten quite a few clothes at consignment shops and other needed items as gifts, and i'm sure there will be more to come). with toys and other activity-type things, my opinion is that there can definitely be too much and i don't want a house filled with unnecessary 'junk' - we already have too much.

miss anything? a crisp, cold sam adams winter lager would be nice

movement:  small movements, usually in the afternoon or evening right before bed

food cravings:  chicken salad sandwiches on toasted bread, mac & cheese and pizza have been on my mind a lot whenever i'm figuring out what to eat

anything making you queasy or sick? nope

gender:  baby boy. tall oaks from little acorns grow. - david everett

pregnancy symptoms:  starting to notice my belly getting in the way, only i know this is just the beginning. things that haven't necessarily been hard to do, but that i've been mindful of lately with a growing belly: i've had to start propping myself up on my side before sitting up, or leaning on the couch for support if sitting on the floor, putting socks and shoes on, and i've been slower lately in zumba class (trying to stay closer to the ground with lower impact moves). in zumba especially, it makes me miss putting my all into it, but knowing that burning calories without overexerting myself will have to do for now.

have you started to show yet?  uh huh

wedding rings, on or off?  on

happy or moody most of the time?  happy!

looking forward to:  helping out this week as a volunteer zumba instructor at paxton ministries, a community for those with social, mental or emotional needs • next tuesday's checkup appointment • daycare visits in the next few weeks - already have two scheduled!

notes from dad: 4 months left in this pregnancy. We are putting into motion all the things we need to do - Karin keeps us on track, she is the best. I keep trying to do my part to make home a little easier. I washed and folded baby clothes for the first time. I had an "oh snap" were having a baby moment! I have had a couple of those moments lately - like when Karin was telling me about the cost of day care -  "oh snap," it costs what? We went and registered at babies r us a couple weeks ago. That was a big wake up call, too! I am really excited to get into the second half of this experience. Hopefully I will be able to feel the little guy more soon.

i have to give a ton of credit to anthony for putting so much time and effort into making our home what it needs to become, to meet our changing needs and family. he's working on the nursery and has moved my craft and sewing materials from that room into a cozy little nook in our laundry room, so it will still be accessible for those on-a-whim creative moments. now i don't have any reason to not get some laundry done at the same time. lol.

^^ i've had a love/hate relationship with this changing season - the cooler, comfortable weather was really nice for a little while, and i wish it would have stuck around a little longer without getting all wind-blown chilly out. but this getting dark earlier in the evening thing really isn't doing it for me, especially when i think about taking photos for this little bloggie. i dislike flash photography, unless there's some kind of purpose or effect - it's just so harsh and unflattering. so finding the right time to take photos has been a minor challenge. very minor, i know. if this were the worst thing in the world, the world would be a much better place. :)

^^ grapefruit... it's good for ya soul, according to jimmy buffett

week 23 down, 118 days to go!

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!

our sweet potato

how far along?  18 weeks

development: sweetie pie potato is about 5.6 inches long and weighs almost 7 ounces and growing rapidly! baby is flexing arms and legs, moving all around and blood vessels are visible through the skin. we're yawning, swallowing, twisting, turning, punching and kicking!

from thebump.com

maternity clothes?  some thrown into my regular wardrobe - i have just a few pieces so far that are technically "maternity"

sleep?  been trying to sleep just on my side. from thebump.com "baby and uterus are getting big enough to press against large veins in the back of your abdomen, which can reduce the amount of blood going to your heart, making you feel lightheaded, or worse, lowering your blood pressure."

stretch marks?  none

best moments this week:  mail time... receiving two adorable handmade bibs from grandma, the pattern featuring a bounty of fruits and veggies • my own personal rock concerts, compliments of hubby • the satisfaction of makin' this new lookin' blog format work • experimenting with making my own yummy preggatini drink - a madras mia consisting of cranberry, oj, club soda and a lemon wedge

miss anything? no

movement:  not feeling much

food cravings:  pizza 
anything making you queasy or sick? my trip to the dentist on tuesday morning provided a bit of dizziness and nausea when my cleaning was done and the chair (and my body) were returned to the proper upright position. lol.

gender:  hmmm... what do you think? add your two cents to the poll! it's a total shot in the dark, but why not?

pregnancy symptoms:  still feeling good! a few back aches after sitting for longer periods of time. got a stability ball - going to try it as my desk 'chair' at work.

have you started to show yet?  y-e-s

wedding rings, on or off?  on

happy or moody most of the time?  happy

looking forward to:  our 20 week ultrasound and checkup • combined trip to new orleans, la & gulf shores, al in a few weeks! oh, how i love nola!

notes from dad:  This week's been Sweet Potatoes! Just came off back to back trips to Chicago! Spent some quality time with mom. Received lots of congratulations and advice from the family. The Bears even squeaked a win out against the NY Giants!
      Karin got to hear the babys heartbeat at her appointment. Our little one is just chilling out. I ask everyday if she feels anything. a kick? a punch? a zumba move? I guess it's not quite ready to let us know it's there. We are waiting, little one. I guess we all must wait until next week to find out.

things are a changin'... so my bloggie blog got a little facelift and i'm really happy with it! loving it so much more for the clean look, flexibility in formatting and customization. side note - i think you can now add comments to a post by clicking the pink "comments" link in the gray box at the bottom of each post. just click the drop down menu to choose anonymous (you can add your name in the notes).

not too much more new this week. here's a little of this and that...

loving this guy and his dirty little face // sunshine on a sunday afternoon

151 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.