29 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 29 weeks

*Last night I met a woman in our Baby Care class due 3 days after me, my bump is WAY bigger than hers. Actually mine was bigger than some of the ladies due in Nov.*

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the size of a Butternut Squash

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +20 pounds approximately. I think about 15 pounds are in my belly and the other 5 are in my ass/thighs.

Maternity Clothes: Still a mix, today I'm wearing non maternity jeans with a belly band and a maternity top.

Gender: Baby Boy!

Movement: ALL. THE. TIME. He also loves to give me little hard spots all over my belly from where he's sticking out what I imagine is either his ass or his head or both.

What I miss: Eating chicken. I've had a strong aversion ever since getting pregnant which has made cooking really hard since most of the (few) recipes I know all involve chicken. Hopefully I'll like it again once he comes out.

Sleep: I've actually slept really well this week! Last night I slept so well I only woke up once to pee which hasn't happened in about 7 months.

Symptoms: Backaches and basic discomfort. But the good news is my skin is finally clearing up so I feel like I'm finally getting that pregnancy "glow" I've heard so much about rather than just pimples.

Cravings: Last night on the way home from our class (at 10pm) I was desperate for a McDonalds chocolate milkshake but of course by 10pm their ice cream machines were down. I think Kristian feared for both his and the cashiers life.

Best Moment this week: My babyshower and visit with Kristen. Also, I passed my Glucose Test I took last week!!! So I can still eat sugar which means the holidays won't be torture. Also, taking our Baby Care class last night which I'll do a separate post on.

What I am looking forward to: Hopefully organizing and putting away all our shower gifts. Also, our childbirth prep aka Lamaze class this weekend. Should be interesting.

Shower Recap Part 2- Friends, Games and Gifts

We had a pretty good turnout for the shower, I think we invited around 30 people and about 15 or so came. Most of my friends live out of state so I knew there was a good chance a lot of them wouldn't be able to make it. That was the only disappointing part but since I know how hard it is to travel for events I understood. It actually worked out great, our house is a good size but still not big enough to accommodate a really large crowd, we were able to fit everybody in comfortably and thank God we had the perfect fall weather (sunny and 70's) so that people could spill out onto the deck.

Below are some pictures of the guests.

Here I am with Kristen, Colleen and Kelli. We are all in the same sorority (actually Kelli and I went to high school together as well). Both Kristen and Kelli have 1 year old little boys so I'm excited to join the club!

Here I am with Kristen's son Smith, cutest dude at the party! He really did well and all the ladies couldn't get enough of him.

Here's a pic with my mom and brother. My mom is very excited about her first grandson (she already has two grand-daughters) and my brother can't wait to buy boy toys for his first nephew.

My friend Colleen took charge of the baby shower games. The first game was actually suggested by Kristian. Everyone donated a dollar and got a raffle ticket where they wrote their name and their guess for the day and time that the baby will arrive. Whoever ends up closest will win the pot. I believe the dates ranged from Dec. 13th to Dec. 29th. (My due date is Dec. 26th)

We also played the game where everyone got a ball of yarn and had to cut a piece of yarn based on how big they thought my belly was around. We actually had a tie, my aunt and cousin were almost dead on. Everyone else WAY overestimated my size. Thanks ladies!

We also had a baby themed word scramble and baby themed Mad Libs where everyone had to fill in the blanks about their thoughts and wishes for the baby (unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that). Everyone apparently thinks the baby will look like his daddy. Again Thanks Ladies!

Below are ac couple pictures from the games.

*check out Moxie and Smith eyeballing the lollipops. Partners in crime*

Now onto the gifts. Everyone was so generous and we couldn't be more thankful. Between the shower gifts, presents we received prior and items we've been able to borrow from friends we're almost completely set for our little man's arrival. The only big item we still need is a glider and then some smaller stuff like bottles and extra crib sheets etc.

Below are pictures of just some of the great gifts we received.

My aunt (the lady in the chair next to me) made this Christmas stocking for our little guy. It's in the VA Tech colors (where Kristian went to school). We said if the next one is a girl she'll get a purple and gold stocking for ECU. My Aunt has made everyone in our family (including Kristian- his is a camo hunting boot) our own knit stocking so I was psyched that our son will have one too!

My other aunt gave us a bunch of bibs and blankets she made as well including the camo blanket below. This way the baby will fit in when hanging out downstairs in the man cave.

We got a lot of soft blankets which is nice since we're having a winter baby. I can't wait to cuddle him in these.

How cute is this little robe? When I showed it to Kristian he was like "Oh My God we're having a baby" Something about seeing the little robe made it real to him. Apparently my Ginormous belly hadn't tipped him off yet.

We got a lot of cute little onesies and outfits, that tupperware bin is full of clothes from my mom. People always talk about how cute little girls clothes are but boys clothes are freaking adorable in my opinion.

We now have a little Christmas outfit just in case he comes a few days early. Depending on when he comes this may be his coming home outfit.

We also got a lot of bibs, this one says "My dad is cooler than your dad" Love it! Also, Kristen gave us my favorite bib that says "These two dumbasses put my cape on backwards" hahaha (unfortunately I don't have a picture of that one)

Here is Kristian's diaper bag, we each wanted our own and he wanted something a bit smaller and more manly. This was one of his favorite gifts.

Here is my diaper bag, I wanted a bag that looked more purse like. I think it's really cute!

My mom got us our crib bedding that we wanted from Target. I can't wait to see how this looks all setup in the nursery.

The two ladies that helped as my wedding day coordinators chipped in and bought us our baby monitors!!!

My brother bought us our high chair. Kristian picked this one out, he liked the silver and thought it would go well in our dining room.

We got a lot of other great gifts but I didn't want to post 50 pictures. Now we just have to figure out where to put everything!!

So there you have it. My shower was awesome and full of lots of love and everyone is so excited to meet his little guy....me especially!!!!

Shower Recap Part 1- Decor and Food

As I mentioned my shower this past weekend was wonderful. Truly even better than I expected. A number of people helped make the shower a success- my mother who paid for all the food, my mother-in-law who made an amazing diaper wreath and diaper cake, my good friend Colleen who took charge of the games and prizes, my other good friend Kristen who came up with the theme and designed almost all of the decor herself as well as prepared much of the food and my fabulous husband who helped  coordinate everything with everyone as well as helped setup the day of. I can't thank everyone enough!

I decided to split up the shower recap into two parts so that I'm not posting 100 pictures in one post. This post I'll show you the food and decor.

First up though here is a picture of what I wore. I really wanted to wear a blue dress in honor of our baby boy. It was surprisingly difficult to find a cute, blue maternity dress that was affordable. Fortunately I found one I loved at JC Penney of all places. I thought it was very cute and super comfortable. It also matched the ring Kristian bought me and the decor!

My mother-in-law very excitedly made us a diaper wreath full of goodies for the baby which hung outside on the front door. I plan to hang it on the door of the nursery until he arrives and then we'll disassemble it to use everything.

She also made a HUGE diaper cake. When I first saw it I couldn't believe how big it was or how much stuff she included. It's full of onesies, bibs, socks, and a few of Kristian's baby items she still had. It's so cute I don't want to take it apart! We plan to keep it together until closer to his due date.

As I mentioned Kristen made a lot of the decor. For those that don't know she has a side business designing all sorts of paper goods and party decorations and does a great job. All of my family was really impressed with the decorations. Check out her website- http://www.littlelawsprints.com/ (All the proceeds from her sales go straight into her son's college fund)

The overall theme of the shower was the Circus. Such a cute idea!

 Here is the banner she made to hang on our mantle.

She also setup a little photobooth. If you click on the picture you can see in the frame what the invitations looked like. These were some of the props to use in the photobooth. Unfortunately most of our older guests didn't really get the whole photobooth thing (guess they don't read blogs) but we still got some cute pictures with it.

Here I am with Colleen and Kristen. You can't have a party without mustaches!

Here are the two backdrops for the photobooth.

After Kristian helped setup we took a quick picture before he left to go hunting for the day. I loved this little backdrop with the cut outs. So fun!

Here's Kristen and her son Smith. How cute is this?!

She also made jars full of dyed sugar (yes she DYED sugar) with lollipops and gumballs stuck inside. She also decorated the table with raffle tickets which we used for one of the games.

She also made these super cute cupcake toppers to match the theme.

Here is the food spread, we had veggie and cheese trays, fruit salad, chips and dip, meatballs, a really good pizza appetizer (that I need the recipe for!), popcorn and cupcakes. We also had ice tea, lemonade and wine for the drinks.

So as you can see everything looked awesome! I was so excited and overwhelmed when I walked in and saw the setup. It really was everything I could have wanted and more and all of the guests were super impressed and are still talking about what a great time they had.

Tomorrow I'll post about the baby shower games and gifts we received. Our little boy is so loved and spoiled already!

Weekend full of friends, fun and baby practice

The baby shower this past weekend was awesome! It was even better than I could have hoped thanks to the help of my wonderful husband, my mother, my mother-in-law and my good friends Colleen and Kristen. In addition to the amazing shower I got to spend the weekend with Kristen and her little boy Smith. I haven't seen Kristen since her baby shower over a year ago so it was so much fun being able to catch up in person and have a little boy in the house. Best practice ever for our little guy on the way.

I have to say that Kristen's son Smith is such a sweet, cute and well behaved little boy. Given that he was in a brand new environment with people he'd never met he did an amazing job and was such a pleasure to have around. The best part for me was seeing Kristian and Smith interact. The first time they met Smith walked over to Kristian and gave him a big hug, after that they were buddies. Kristian had a lot of fun watching him run around and play. He said it makes him even more excited for our little guy to arrive.

Smith was also a big fan of our puppy Moxie. They are BFF's for life. Not sure who had more fun or who was more tired at the end of the weekend Smith or Moxie. It was also nice to see how Moxie will do with a little one in the house, thankfully it seems like she will be a great big sister to the baby.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend of Kristian holding Moxie and Smith. I can't think of anything cuter than seeing my husband holding a puppy and a baby. He's going to be such a great dad, total natural.

I plan to do a full recap of the shower including pictures of the amazing decorations and food and gifts but I wanted to just do a quick shout-out and thank you to Kristen especially, who came up with the theme and designed almost all of the decor herself. I know I've mentioned her business before but seriously if you ever need any kind of paper goods or decorations contact her immediately, everything she did for my shower was amazing and everyone was very impressed. 

Kristen- thank you for making the trip up North to help celebrate Baby P, you really made the day/weekend so special and we can't thank you enough!!

After a long day of celebrating Kristen and Moxie got in some cuddle time. 

28 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 28 weeks (Third Trimester!)

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the size of a head of a Chinese cabbage.

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +18-20 pounds approximately. At my doctor's appointment this morning I was 20 pounds over my starting weight but I was also fully dressed.

Maternity Clothes: Both, everything I'm wearing today is stuff I had pre-pregnancy but I do love my maternity clothes.

Gender: Baby Boy!

Movement: Lots and lots of movement throughout the day and night. I hope he's not getting too claustrophobic in there.

What I miss: Not having to struggle to get up whenever I sit or lay down.

Sleep: The last two nights have actually been pretty good!

Symptoms: Backaches and lots of round ligament pain this week which I hadn't had too much of as of yet but my doc confirmed that's probably what I've been feeling lately.

Cravings: Same as last week, just craving liquids more than food.

**I had my glucose test this morning. The drink really wasn't that bad though I did feel a bit nauseous afterwards simply from drinking it so fast but the taste wasn't horrible. I should get results tomorrow or Monday. Also, I'm measuring a week ahead but the doctor said that's fairly normal**

Best Moment this week: Entering my third trimester!!! I can't believe I only have about 3 months left, it's going FAST! Also, buying the car seat/stroller combo.

What I am looking forward to: My baby shower this weekend and Kristen and her little man Smith flying in tomorrow. I haven't seen her since her baby shower over a year ago! We're also taking a baby prep class next week (which teaches you about caring for a newborn) which I'm actually excited about.

Tis the Season

When I was finally able to convince Kristian to have a baby we never really discussed our preference for the time of year we would like for the child to be born in. After all it takes a lot of couples many months or even longer to conceive (and I didn't think we would be any different, we got very lucky in that respect) so most people don't really get to pick the time of year their child is born, they take what they can get. I do know that some couples will take a month or two off from TTC (trying to conceive) in order to avoid having a Christmas baby or having the child born during a certain time of year that may be inconvenient for them.

Well I was so excited when Kristian finally agreed to "just see what happens" when I just happened to be ovulating that I didn't count ahead and realize that if it did happen to work that month we might end up with a Christmas baby. Lo and behold two weeks later I was pregnant and looking at an estimated due date of Dec. 26th. Now if given the choice in a perfect world I would not choose for my child to be born around Christmas. From everyone I've talked to with a birthday around Christmas they think it more or less sucks reindeer balls. But not much I can do about it now except try to make his birthday as special as possible each year.

With all that said I have to admit I am happy to be having a winter baby in general. There are definitely pros and cons to having a winter baby but for me the pros currently outweigh the cons. Let's take a look at my handy little list:

Cons-
*Having a birthday right around the holidays (this isn't an issue for later winter babies born in Jan/Feb)
*Having to potentially drive to the hospital in a blizzard (fortunately we don't get many of those and my husband has 4 wheel drive)
*Making sure any visitors don't get the baby sick during the height of cold/flu season

Pros-
*Not having to be 9 months pregnant at the height of the summer which would be even more uncomfortable
*I don't foresee wanting to go out much during the 1st six weeks anyway and being that it will be cold and potentially snowy I won't feel bad about staying inside. If it were nice weather I would hate being stuck indoors.
*I will have about 5-6 months to get back into some sort of shape before bathing suit weather
*I will be 8 months pregnant at Thanksgiving which means I don't have to worry about the first trimester nausea/food aversions during the holidays and can still enjoy my meals.
*Jan/Feb is a fairly slow time for me at work so my boss was pretty happy about the timing.

So despite the whole Christmas birthday part of it I'm kinda glad the timing worked out for us to have a winter baby even if we didn't exactly plan it that way.

Share time- what were the pros/cons about the time of year your kid was/will be born?

Riding in style

On Sunday Kristian and I headed to Babies R Us to make a pretty big purchase. We ended up buying our car seat and stroller combo. Initially we had registered for a travel system (a different one than we ended up buying) but decided to go ahead and get it ourselves because we needed to have a car seat for this weekend when my favorite Florida resident and her handsome little man come up for my baby shower!! P.S. SOOOOO excited to see her! To save Kristen from having to lug Smith's car seat up here with her I figured why not go ahead and just get ours now since we need one anyway, then Smith can help break it in for our little one!

We hadn't planned to buy the stroller this past weekend but there happened to be a sale going on the one we liked which was for $75 off if you bought them both at the same time and with my $50 gift card that my mom gave me for my birthday we got a great deal on both!

Here is what our little guy will be riding in once he arrives:

S1 by Safety 1st onBoard35 Air Infant Car Seat - McKenna

 

S1 by Safety 1st Trivecta Stroller - Mckenna

When we got home we put the stroller together (which was really easy) and played around with both. While Kristian tried to figure out how to get the car seat out of the base I tried to figure out how to fold and unfold the stroller. We looked like total first time parents (who apparently don't like to read directions).

We both love the set, the black and grey is gender neutral so it could work if our next kid is a girl, it looks good in both of our cars (we both have silver cars) and just has a really sleek, cool look to it (so Kristian can still feel cool pushing a stroller).

We're so excited to see our little guy in these in a few short months!