Five Weeks Old.

Miss Molly,

Well, five weeks ago right now I was getting a shower and breathing through contractions, wondering when you'd be making your arrival. Who would you look like? What color hair would you have? How exactly would your birth story play out? Now we know all those answers! One on side it feels like you were always a part of us, Daddy agrees. I know it sounds corny, but we were destined to be your parents. I already can't remember what life was like without you. But, on the other hand time has absolutely flown by. I was looking at newborn pictures this week while you were napping in my arms and I was tearing up looking at how small you were and just how big you are now! You've passed your one month mark, although I'm not sure when since you were born on the 31st and June didn't have a 31st day, so I guess that pushed it to July 1, but then will you turn 1 month and 2 months in the same month? That's confusing...

You're getting more fun now, and more awake during the day. You're a cat napper - if we're out, you usually only sleep for 20 minutes or so and then you're up. You must be a little busy body and nosy! If we're home though, there's days where I feel like you're sleeping all day long! We haven't figured out a schedule quite yet, but sleeping at night is going fabulously! Last night you actually slept from 10:30 until 4:45! I couldn't believe it! I'm going to ask the pediatrician at our appointment on Monday if that's okay for you to go that long without eating, but my instincts are telling me its alright. Usually you're in bed by 10 or so after a few feedings, and sleep until around 2:30 or 3, eat and back to bed until 5 or so, eat again and I bring you in bed with me after Daddy leaves and we sleep until at least 8, sometimes 9 or 10! Monday and Tuesday nights, after your 3am feeding, I put you in the crib before you totally fell asleep and you put yourself to sleep! Granted, it took about 20 minutes, but I never had to pick you up! You didn't cry at all, just moved around a little bit and eventually fell asleep! I was so proud!

I love when you're awake and alert during the day! I know you can hear us, and you usually can follow us with your eyes, too. You're kind of starting to smile and laugh, but I don't know if they're real smiles yet. I think so because before you'd smile when you were sleeping or in the process of falling asleep/waking up, but now it's more when you're awake. You're so happy in the morning, I love just cuddling with you and watching you move around and take in your surroundings. For the most part, you are a happy baby, only really crying when you're hungry and I don't feed you right away.

We had your first holiday yesterday - the 4th of July! It was pretty low key, we were over Grandma and Poppa's house all day long, after breakfast with Grammy and Pappy. You were pretty good for breakfast, that's the second time you went out to eat with us this week - the first was on Sunday with Uncle Billy. You were hungry both times, and from now on I'll remember to pump a bottle before we go so that we have it on hand for you to eat while we're waiting for our food. I gave you two bottles yesterday! With so many people at Grandma and Poppa's house and no chair in the corner to feed you, it was easier to just pump and give you a bottle, so that's what we did. I want to give you a few bottles a week anyways so that you can switch easily between bottles and nursing.

You and I took our first grocery shopping trip out alone! We ventured to Wegmans and Babies R Us. I took the Ergo and wore you at both stores and you were good! About halfway through Wegmans you started to get fussy and so I hurried up because I didn't know if you were going to cry, but once I gave you your pacifier, you were out and I poked around a little more. Between the Moby wrap and the Ergo carrier, I'm all set with baby wearing. I absolutely love being able to have you close to me and have my hands free. It's so handy! I think you like it, too, although I think you'd prefer to look around. I even get Daddy to wear you when we're out!

We've stopped block feeding, and your poops are normal again, so we're back on the normal eating on one side until it's empty, offering the other side, and switching sides for the next feeding business again. With some pumping/giving bottles thrown in there. I'm still pumping at night after the 3am feeding. I'm debating on getting an electric pump since I've been using a manual that we got free from the hospital. It's hard to justify spending that kind of money on something that I know I can't return if I don't like it. I don't mind the manual one, but I'm usually pumping for at least 25 minutes on each side, even after you eat, and that takes a looooong time at 3am when I could be sleeping. Daddy said he doesn't mind spending the money because it's something that I will most definitely need and makes my life easier. With all the amazon orders I've been getting, you'd think I wouldn't have a problem spending more money, but when it's something expensive that I can't return, I get nervous.

I'm anxious to see how much you weigh at your appointment on Monday. It makes me feel good that you're growing on breast milk alone, that my body can nourish you and give you everything you need. I remember that each time I look (with pride) at my stretch mark filled, fluffy mom pouch. I love it though, I really do. I'm so proud of what my body did! You're definitely growing though, you're officially out of newborn diapers, sadly, and your newborn pjs are fitting perfectly. I just keep remembering that your feet barely reached the footie part when we brought you home from the hospital. You're even filling out your swaddle now! It's hard to appreciate every day when I'm wondering what you'll be like in a month, or a year, or 5 years. What will you be when you grow up? But I'm trying really hard to live in the moment and soak up each moment.

I love you baby girl, and I love being your mommy!

Lent is Over.

Well, some of you might be wondering how my lent went. If you don't remember, my goal was to be vegetarian for as many days as possible during lent. Well, there were weeks it went well, and weeks it didn't go so well. Since I'm cooking for my entire family, including my meat loving husband, father, and brother, I didn't push for vegetarian meals as much as I would have liked. I tried as much as I could to focus on vegetarian meals, and I've hardly bought meat (trying to save on the food budget), and usually only use what my mom buys on sale and sticks in the freezer.

It's one of those things that gets under my skin about living with my parents. My mom will eat anything, dad won't. He's picky, he's old fashioned, doesn't like to try any new foods and expects dinner ready when he comes home. He comes home by 4pm each night. Mr. Skinny doesn't come home until anywhere from 4pm, if he's only working 8 hours, to 6:30 or 7pm some nights. He misses me waiting until he comes home to have dinner together. We miss dinners together. It's so hard to balance it. I also miss splurging on certain ingredients because my dad is more of a quantity over quality guy. He's rather have cheaper food in larger quantities, while I'd rather spend time making just enough for Mr. Skinny and I. There are recipes that I would really like to try, but I know that I can't because we don't have the money to buy enough food for all of us. It's hard to find a balance.

Sometimes I go through spurts and say that Dad can find himself something to eat if he doesn't like my food, but we live here for free, and mom usually buys the staples (milk, bread, lunch meat, pantry staples, etc.) so I feel it's our responsibility to make dinner for all 5 of us, and on their schedule, not ours.

Anyways, sorry about the tangent. Needless to say, I didn't do as well this year as I was hoping. But, I've come to a conclusion, eating meat doesn't make me feel bad. My goal is to buy meat from a source I trust, and once we have our own house, and we're buying our own meat, I don't think we'll ever get there. My mom isn't on the same page as me in that aspect, and I can't force it on her. She knows I like to cook, so she'll buy things just for me to cook. I can't force my family to eat less meat, so right now I'm stuck. I'm focusing on more healthy, not as meat focused meals, but we're going to eat meat.

Also, when I go for a few days without meat, I don't feel like a changed person with so much more energy. Maybe it's because I'm pregnant, and not eating the healthiest of foods otherwise, but that doesn't bother me. I'd like to try this experiment every so often, and see if that changes. Especially once I'm working out again - I'd love to see how certain foods affect how my body feels. I'll revisit this again, but for now, I'll stick to eating meat, especially when someone else buys it and asks me to cook.

Did you give something up for lent?
What are you feelings about vegetarianism/veganism? Bandwagon or something to it?

Thirty-Two and Thirty-Three Weeks.

Sorry for the lack of posts last week, I had a wicked cold that knocked me on my butt all week. So it's a two-for-one week. I also have a ton of posts that I owe you guys - final pictures of the room remodel, breastfeeding class, third childbirth class, etc. Hopefully, this week seems pretty quiet, so I should be able to write them out this week and get back to some regular posts. 


Dearest baby girl,

I can't help but get so excited each week when your arrival gets closer and closer and closer. Although my math has been off and I've been thinking there's one less week until my due date, I even had Daddy convinced that we were 6 weeks away rather than 7 this past Saturday. Oh well, guess that just means we're getting very excited for you!

Pregnancy is still going well - minor complaints rising, like heartburn last weekend while we were at your great Aunt Jeanne's house. But, I think that was my fault. I ate a lot of junk, processed foods all weekend, and I think I interpreted the heartburn for hunger and just kept eating, which made it worse. Also, we went with you Uncle Billy the Friday before that to go see a college and all that walking around was really hard for me! I'm starting to get a little bit uncomfortable, and usually have to rotate between sitting and standing pretty frequently since you're up so high, but it's all worth it.

32 week picture.

I think my worst complaint is my hips while I'm sleeping. For whatever reason, my hips hurt so badly almost every morning. It started a few weeks ago every couple days, but now it's pretty much consistently every day. I should probably stretch them, I've been slacking on my yoga and pretty much any exercise at all. My eating this past week had been mainly soup and juice. This cold totally kicked my butt! Daddy made me stay home from work on Friday, and I slept pretty much all day. He knew I needed it and I felt much better by Friday night.

Your cousin Matt was sick last weekend, and I think I caught my cold from him. It started out Monday in my chest, I was hoping I could fight it off, but no such luck. It moved right up from my chest, to my throat, and then in my head. I think it was the worst cold I ever had, and I'm sure being pregnant doesn't help at all. I didn't take any medicine, just drank juice and broth like it was my job. Now I still have a little cough, but it's just about gone. Daddy actually kissed me for the first time in a week, too! He's been taking airborne and doesn't seem to be getting sick at all.

We had our breastfeeding class last week, and I'm pretty prepared for that, I think. It seems like all the women in my family haven't had good luck breastfeeding, but I'm going to hope for the best for us. I think Daddy and I are pretty much ready. Our shower is in less than 2 weeks (!) and I'm having fun looking at our registries to see what's being checked off and bought! I can't wait to wash our sheets and some clothes for you and get everything really ready for your arrival. Your cousin Krissy gave us her swing and small rocker chair thing for you, since her boys outgrew both of them already.

I also had a doctor's appointment last Wednesday and you're still growing right on track! I've only met 5 of the 13 doctors that could deliver you, and I'm almost positive I won't be meeting them all before you are born. I just pray that I get a doctor who is understanding of the type of birth I'd like, and is kind if my birth sways from our "plan". There are also 3 midwives, and I have an appointment with one of them next week and I'm going to ask how I can have a midwife deliver you, and how that all works out.

33 Weeks

Speaking of the doctor's appointment, she had a student with her and she had a little trouble finding your heartbeat, so she gave the doctor the monitor, and she couldn't find it either. It was about 10 seconds of the doctor trying to find it, but enough to put me in panic mode. Here, the student didn't turn the volume up on the monitor enough and she just couldn't here it. Whew! That was unnerving. I knew you were fine because you had just been moving minutes earlier, but it was still scary!

Easter family picture

You are definitely growing in there, little girl. I can feel you moving around all day long and I absolutely love it. I think you needed a few days to catch up after being sick and having me wake you up all the time from my coughing - you were a little quiet this weekend, but I'll trust my instincts that everything is still good and you are still moving, no doubt about that. You're back to your "normal" moving self this morning. I wish I could see into my belly and see which part of you it is that's dragging across my belly, or what part of you is hard right at the top of my belly. It truly is a miracle that you grew so much inside of me, and I can't wait to snuggle up with you once your born.

Your great Aunt Chrissy had a dream that you were born on May 4 - 3 weeks early! I'd love to meet you earlier, but as long as you come when you're good and ready, I'm not going to be evicting you (as long as everything looks healthy), so you come when you're ready, we're all waiting for you! I have no feeling if you'll be early or late, but I am mentally preparing myself for a June baby just in case you decide to stay put for a little longer.

Keep growing and moving baby girl! Can't wait to meet you!

Love,

Mommy

Lenten Sacrifices.

I'm sure this isn't the first blog post you've read about giving up something for lent, and I'm almost positive it's not going to be your last. Sometimes, I feel like lent is a chance to break up those New Years resolutions that we all put on our ourselves, the eat better, be a better person, workout more resolutions. Considering that my New Years goals were pretty broad, this is sort of true for me, too.

Since lent is really based on a religious practice, a lot of people think we're crazy to give something up for 40 or 46ish days (depending if you go by Sundays are the exception philosophy), but it's to focus on the ultimate sacrifice that He gave. One that makes me teary eyed each time I think about it in my pregnant hormonal state. Since I am pregnant this year, and don't know exactly where I'll be in 46 days, I wanted to be an easily bendable ish sacrifice for myself.

My mom would give up sweets nearly every year. She never made us give up anything, but once I got old enough to realize what lent was really about, I always toyed with the idea of giving something up. Last year, I kind of mentioned on the blog about going vegetarian 2 days a week. This year, I'm going to be following the same routine, although trying to step it up. Since I am pregnant, if I get a craving for a big juicy steak, I'm probably going to indulge, but Mondays & Wednesdays will be vegetarian nights in this house. Honestly, only my mom and I are on board with this idea, and I'm sure the men in the house will complain about it each Monday & Wednesday. I'd really like to try to be a vegetarian the majority of the next 46ish days. If I eat meat, I'm going to try to only do it at dinner time, which shouldn't be too hard.

Being a vegetarian is something I toy with quite often, mostly because I don't agree with how the animals are treated that I'm eating. Ideally, I'd love to only eat meat products that I know where the came from, and be a vegetarian in all other cases. Hopefully, some day I'll get there.

In addition to going meatless as much as possible, I found a devotion that's specifically about lent, and will be reading that each morning. Moreso that just sacrificing something, I want to really focus on what this time is all about in my relationship with God. I've been pretty good about reading the devotions from my woman's Bible, but I want to focus on these next weeks and what that means to me. I want to grow closer in my relationship with God and be the best Christian and follower of Christ that I can be.

Tell me:


What are your feelings about lent?
Are you giving anything up this year?

2011 Goals.

Be prepared for a bunch of posts in the next couple days. I'm going to do a combined week 18 and 19 letter to baby. I have information about the ultrasound which might go in it's own post. I also have a 2011 recap to include, and I'm thinking about how I want to do my 2012 goals. I'll try to do one a day so you don't get too overloaded, but I hope to be back to normal blogging as of last week. Hope everyone had a great New Years!

A ton happened in 2011. I honestly think that if you told me last year at this time where we'd be right now, I would have never believed you. Ever. Crazy to think that even though you try to do some goals and plan everything for a year, a year is a really long time, no matter how fast it goes, and things happen that you just can't plan. 

Here are the goals for 2011 that I set out in January 2011.

1. Pay off as much debt as possible. That doesn't mean the minimum payment. If I want to have a baby, we need to have $0 credit card debt. Ha! Um, yeah so we're pregnant, and have probably the same amount of credit card debt that we had last year. We might have paid off a little bit, but we haven't made huge leaps and bounds in that category.
2. Keep putting money away in a savings account, save as much money as possible. We definitely accomplished this one. We have a decent savings account and we're doing really good with putting money away with each paycheck in case Mr. Skinny is laid off (very unlikely this year). 
3. Continue working on being healthy; losing weight, working out, running, eating healthy. Hopefully this means getting to goal, looking hot and feeling awesome about myself, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I can't get to that. I know how much of a slow battle this loosing weight thing was for me. I lost about another 10-15 pounds before I got pregnant which was pretty good for me. I came to a couple more standstills, but pushed through. I'm still 10 pounds less than I was this time last year so I consider that a win. I'm back to eating healthy, and although I haven't run and won't be through my pregnancy, I know that I really did pretty well before my back started giving me problems and I got pregnant.
4. Try new foods, new cuisines. Cook new recipes that I would never have tried before. I actually think I did really well with this before we moved. And even once we moved up and before I got pregnant. Now, it's whatever sounds good to the pregnant lady. I want to keep this on the list for post-baby 2012, since I really love cooking and trying new things. 
5. Get closer with God. Go to church weekly, get involved in a church. God has blessed my life and marriage and I owe Him a lot, and have been neglecting that relationship. Oh yeah, done. Since moving back up and going to church weekly, it's been a lot easier to focus on God. This goal will never be complete, and I can just keep striving for that relationship with God. 
6. Get closer to my husband. We've only been married a year, but it definitely is different when you're married. We see each other pretty much daily, but it's easy to fall into a habit and not take the time to spend a day together. I know we'll be on a strict budget, but I'd like to go on a few weekend trips throughout the year and just spend time together. So the weekend trips never happened. Other than going to Ocean City which was super fun and very appreciated, we didn't have the money or time to go away for a weekend, but we've enjoyed date nights monthly and spending more time together. I'd consider this a success. 
7. Move toward vegetarianism. I'm pretty sure I could never become a full vegetarian, the combination of my hate of the texture of beans and my husband's love of meat will prevent that, but I can make a few meatless meals a week, and incorporate vegetarian meals and foods into my diet. Over the summer, I actually did a lot with this. I did two meatless dinners a week, but it definitely went out the window once I got pregnant. I'd like to keep working on this one, too.

Bullet Updates.

I'm so far behind in blogging. I actually had a bunch of posts planned for this week, but instead I think I'll just do some updates instead. Eventually I'll have to write my week 18 letter, and an update on Christmas, and I wanted to do an end of the year post, but for now, bullets will have to do.

- Christmas was awesome. Lots of family, fun and food! Got some good presents, including a magic bullet and pearl earrings, necklace and bracelet from Mr. Skinny. New camcorder from my parents and a Dumbo Blu-Ray from my in-laws.

- Mr. Skinny's mom's side of the family does Christmas Eve every year when everyone comes in and there's gotta be more than 50 people there. Each year I get nervous someone isn't going to know who I am because I still think of myself as a newbie, but this was my 8th Christmas Eve with them. There was no problem and everyone was talking to me and congratulating me, asking how I felt. I felt accepted.

- I am so thankful that I have such wonderful in-laws who have fully accepted me as a daughter, niece, sister, granddaughter and cousin.

- The baby has finally moved! I felt him/her move last Thursday night. I didn't pay attention to it at first, then s/he did it again and I realized that I should be paying attention to this! It was super exciting! Mr. Skinny was SO excited! So were our families when we told them! I've felt the baby move every day since there. It's just a little flick and kind of feels like a muscle spasm, but I prayed I'd feel him/her move before Christmas and s/he just made the cutoff on December 22!

- Our doctor's appointment last week went well. The doctor was a little more pushy than the nurser practitioner we saw last time about the flu shot, but I know that I have the final say and I saw no. So there.  It was a very short appointment. The nurse was a lot nicer than the doctor, so I'm praying that I don't have this doctor when I have the baby. There are 17 doctors in this group at my hospital, so I'm hoping to find at least half that I like.

- Our ultrasound is tomorrow night! I finally convinced Mr. Skinny we didn't need to find out the sex. Although when I tell people that he says that he still wants to find out, but it's not worth the fight any more to find out. So ha! I won :)

- I'm sick. I'm sure I picked something up from someone over Christmas. Oh well, tis the season, right? It started with a sore throat on Monday, but now it's kind of in my sinuses/back of my throat mess. I'm just praying I don't have to go to the doctor because I switched my primary doctor so I could go to the hospital I wanted to for my pre-natal care/labor & delivery and my new doctor is about an hour away, in a different county. I keep telling myself it's just a cold.

- We're going to see my cousin in Southern PA for New Years. When we were younger, we would always go down there for New Years and my uncle would make a bunch of appetizers and we'd watch the ball drop, but up until last year, my cousin and I were in different stages of our lives, and we just didn't get together. Now we're finally in the same stage, just about, she has two boys and I have one on the way (in case you forgot - ha!) so we'll get together with them.

- Mr. Skinny and I - mostly Mr. Skinny - are redoing our closet. It's a walk in closet, turned mini kitchen and back into a closet now. So there's lot of sanding, spackling, and there will be some painting next week. Our room is a disaster because the clothes that were in our closet are everywhere in our room now, but there's not much we can do except work as much as we can on it so that it gets done. I need to take some pictures and I'll show you. And don't worry, my only job so far has been holding the spackling dish thing for Mr. Skinny. No sanding and no painting for this pregnant lady!


And that's where I am about now. Hopefully I'll get back to regular blogging next week sometime, maybe Wednesday if Mr. Skinny is off on Monday.

Tell me: How was your holiday?

Christmas Time!

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

Honest to goodness, I didn't know Santa didn't wrap presents! I guess in a bunch of movies, Santa just leaves the presents, but Santa always wrapped our presents. 

Colored lights on tree/house or white?

I love colored lights outside, but on the tree, I'm all for white. I like the color that comes from the ornaments. However, Mr. Skinny disagrees. He likes colored lights on the tree, which is kind of funny because he can't see all the colors anyways (he's partially color-blind).

Do you hang mistletoe?

Nope. Never have.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

We do seafood for Christmas, but we switch it up every year, so we don't really have the same thing. I will have to say that shrimp cocktail and veggies with dip at 10am always made for an awesome breakfast.

Favorite Holiday memory as a child?

My brother and I got up one year at like 3am to look at our presents and we couldn't fall back to sleep so we tried to sleep on the couch, but couldn't of course. What 5 and 9 year old can? My dad came out to go to the bathroom and saw us in the living room and we opened our presents that year at 3am. Dad and Mom took a nap on the couch that afternoon! 

Snow? Love it or dread it?

Love it! Especially for Christmas! It's been a couple years since we had a White Christmas and I miss it! 

Real tree or fake tree?

Fake is so much easier, but I think once our child(ren) are older we'll go cut down a tree. Mr. Skinny would really like to plant our own tree once, too, which I think is a really cool idea. 

What’s the most important thing about Christmas for you?

Celebrating Jesus's birth! 

What is your favorite Holiday dessert?

I can't pick one Christmas cookie, are you kidding me? 

What is your favorite tradition?

I would initially have to say putting the cow on the loft thing in our manger scene. I've been doing it since I was super little. I finally realized after mom telling me for years that cows can't climb a ladder, but it's the perfect spot for him, so he goes there every year. 

Secondly, I have to say having shrimp and veggies for breakfast Christmas morning. And thirdly, going to Mr. Skinny's Christmas Eve party. There has to be at least 50+ people there and this party has been going on for probably 50 years. I love seeing everyone and seeing how the family grows each year with new marriages and new babies. Santa comes and the kids always love that. It's such a great time! 

What tops your tree?

Our family tree, a Minnie Mouse angel, but Mr. Skinny and my tree has a simple silver star on the top. 

What is your favorite Christmas Song?

I can't pick just one. I love the old hymns - "O Holy Night", "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and the like. 

What do you leave for Santa?

Milk and cookies, duh! We even left carrots for the reindeer! 

Well actually, a few years ago Mr. Skinny informed me that he used to leave kielbasa and beer for Santa. How redneck is that?? I laughed for an hour at that. I couldn't believe that someone didn't leave Santa milk and cookies. He thought he just left Santa's dinner while everyone else left Santa's dessert. 

Do you have a Christmas morning tradition?

We were never allowed to get Mom and Dad up before 7am, and I still get up early on Christmas morning. But other than opening presents we don't have any special traditions. 

Do you prefer to shop on-line or at the mall?

This year it's been mostly on-line, but I feel like next year it'll be Toys R Us :)

What did you leave for Santa? Do you think kielbasa and beer is super redneck? 

Pick a question and answer it yourself! And Merry Christmas!

Seventeen Weeks.

I wanted to change the format of my weekly updates now that we're nearly halfway there! Instead of doing sections, I'd like to blend it all together in a letter to my son/daughter. Honestly, my reasoning here is completely selfish because I want to do a weekly scrapbook to the baby and instead of changing my wording from "the baby" to "you", "me" to "mommy",  and "Mr. Skinny" to "daddy", it would just be easier to do that here and just copy and paste it! Granted, I might hand write them, I think that would be more personalized than a typed letter, but I'll figure that out. 


I originally wrote this yesterday, December 19th. 


Dear Baby,

You certainly are making mommy's tummy grow! As soon as I took my jacket off at your Grandpa's house, he got all excited because he can finally see my belly! We had a party with your daddy's family this week and got lots of comments on your "appearance" and even some tummy touching. I didn't mind, I like knowing that you're growing in there. Speaking of growing, I still don't think I've felt you moving around. All my sources say that I should be feeling your moving in the next couple of weeks. I try really hard to feel you, but I don't think I have yet. Your Grandma asked me if I felt you and I had to tell her no. I was hoping I would feel you by Christmas, so you have a couple of days left, but I know your Grammy didn't feel me move until really late, so I'm not worried. I'm just looking forward to it!

You weigh about 5 ounces and are about 5 inches long, the size of an onion, or a turnip! I remember when your daddy and I found out about you, you were just the size of an apple seed! Your skeleton is changing from cartilage to bone, which is why I should be feeling you kicking shortly. You can move all around and bend your joints and you're even developing sweat glands! You're also starting to put on some fat, too. All your organs are well developed, your kidneys are creating urine and the live is starting to produce bile. I think most exciting of all is that you are starting to hear sounds! Sounds of my heart beating, and you're starting to hear my voice when I'm talking! I'm trying to listen to music all the time so that I can sing (your mommy always sings when there is music on!) and I want to make sure that you love Christmas as much as I do, as well as your Grandpa!

Your mommy isn't doing very good with watching how much weight she's gaining, especially over the holidays. I gained another whopping 1.6 this week, bringing my total gain up to 7.4 pounds. A month ago I was holding out at a 2.6 gain, so I really need to watch that. I don't want to gain too much, considering I didn't loose all the weight I should have before getting pregnant. I'm going to focus on more fruits and veggies and whole foods as opposed to processed foods. It's hard to find a balance! It also doesn't help that I'm not exercising like I should be. I have every intention of getting on my treadmill today for at least a half hour. I have an episode of "Kourtney and Kim take NY" to catch up on! Update: I did get on the treadmill, but only for about 23 minutes. Super tired today!

10 weeks.

My eyelids are still dry, but I'm just getting used to them. I think being pregnant in the winter isn't making them any better. I made your daddy get a flu shot, since I'm not getting one and he's the one person I'm closest with. He just got it yesterday and today he was nauseous and had the chills. I hope he doesn't sick since I can't really take care of him. He knows that it was the best thing for you, but your daddy is not an easy sick man, he complains. A lot.

14 weeks.

17 weeks.

Oh, I also fell on Saturday while I was putting my socks on. My balance is off, and I know it, but I had just gotten out of the shower and was standing on one foot, which had the sock on, and I lost my balance and fell right on my butt. Your daddy asked right away if I was okay, and I was, it wasn't a hard fall, I just started laughing and laughing. Guess I have to sit down when I put my socks on now!

And I think I got heartburn last week after eating salsa and chips. I couldn't really tell since I've never had heartburn before, but I think that's what it was. Honestly, your daddy's family were all born with a full head of hair and the old wive's tale might be right in saying that heartburn means you'll have a full head of hair!

Lastly, everyone LOVED the Christmas card we sent out! Everyone thought it was adorable! Can't wait until next year when you can be the star of our Christmas card!

Love you lots and keep growing baby!

Love,

Mommy

Sixteen Weeks.

Four months. That's how long I've been pregnant. Craziness! I can't believe that I'm closer to halfway than not. Half of me wants time to fly, and the other half just wants to enjoy the time that Mr. Skinny and I have as a family of two before we become a family of three.

How Baby's Growing:


Honestly, different sources say the baby is anywhere from 3 inches to nearly 5 inches, with the fruit of the week ranging from a lemon to an avocado. So take your pick. Baby is growing, with his/her bones turning from cartilage to bone, so kicking should be felt in the next few weeks. I haven't felt anything yet, but I'm hoping I'll feel it soon. My mom said that it took her forever to feel my brother and I moving. She actually started lying to people when they'd ask her because she couldn't believe she didn't feel it yet. I'm not worried yet. Fine details are developing as well, lines where the fingers and palm bend, and s/he has enough muscles to form a tightly clenched fist.

I've also read that the baby's eyelashes are growing and most of the development this week is inside the baby. His/her heart is pumping blood and the umbilical cord is completely developed. I don't know about you, but I didn't know it took so long for the umbilical cord to be developed. I kind of thought it developed almost immediately.

Source

Momma's Thoughts:

I wish we could have an ultrasound now! I want to see what my baby is doing, how s/he's moving! Some news though, the ultrasound I thought we'd be having next Wednesday? Yeah, most likely not happening. I called our insurance yesterday to find out if they help cover the cost of a breast pump and/or childbirth classes (coupon for $30 off the pump and no help for the classes where we want to take them), but I was transferred to a maternity counselor and let me tell you, she was the nicest person I've talked to in the health field since finding out I was pregnant! She totally understood why I didn't want the flu shot and just suggested I keep some anti-bacterial gel in my car/in my purse and wash my hands frequently. No judgement. Asked how I was feeling and how I was handling my pre-natal vitamin. When I told her that the vitamin's fine, I just cut in in half since it's a little big, she suggested I asked for a smaller vitamin. I didn't even think of that! Simply genius.

But she said that since we don't have a time for our ultrasound, then it probably isn't scheduled for next Wednesday. As disappointed as I am, I'm glad that I talked to her and she told us so that we have time to prepare before going to the appointment. I'm hoping I can make an ultrasound appointment as soon as I turn 20 weeks. I don't want to wait too long! I want to see what this little guy/girl looks like! I'm still trying to figure out how to convince Mr. Skinny that we don't need to find out. But now I have more time to figure that scheme out!

How I'm Changing:

Finally my weight leveled out a bit and I only gained 0.4 last week, bringing my gain up to 5.8 pounds. I'm hoping to have another small gain this week since my eating has been a bit healthier. I'm getting more comfortable in my "new" body, and I'm embracing the pregnant curves. I actually feel pregnant and feel like I look pregnant. I've even gotten a couple up and down glances from strangers, trying to figure out if I'm pregnant I'm sure. I definitely feel I've crossed over into the looking pregnant part of my pregnancy, and I don't just look fat all the time.

I got a couple good nights of sleep, and a couple nights of not so good sleep. It all balances out since I have 2 days each week where I don't work and can sleep late if I need to make up some sleep.

Like that bra in the background? It's new, it's a 36DD.
Awesome.

My acne is getting better, I suppose, but my dry eyelids have good and bad days. I think the dry, cold weather doesn't help either, but I have a loooong winter ahead of me. Oh well, I'll deal. What else can I do?

Oh, I had one last (hopefully) vomit session. Saturday morning Mr. Skinny tickled me, I coughed and my body took that as a sign that I need up dispose of the nothing that was in my stomach. I tried to control myself, and Mr. Skinny tried to help, but it didn't work. Oh well, at least it wasn't popcorn. Or ground beef. Blarg!

I also haven't felt baby move, I don't think, but I'm not worried about that yet. My mom said she actually started lying to people because it took her forever to feel my brother and I move. When I talked to the lady from our health insurance, she told me some tips and assured me that there's nothing to worry about, I still have time.


What I'm Eating:


Not too much has changed since last week. Healthy appetite is back, with a good balance of unhealthiness, like the fettuccine alfredo I made last night. But it was oh, so good. Mmm. Doesn't help that my parents brought a ton of stuff back from Disney and we're slowly eating through that.

I'm also getting a little frustrated with the things I can't eat. And the things that I don't know if I can eat or not. Like shrimp. It's Christmas and for Christmas Eve, we're at Mr. Skinny's parent's house, which is fine, but dinner consists of sandwiches (no lunch meat for me) and shrimp (questionable). Awesome. And once I make the mistake of telling Mr. Skinny what I "shouldn't" eat, he remembers it and tries to be helpful with reminding me what I shouldn't eat. I always said I was going to eat perfectly when I was pregnant, but once you're actually there, it's super hard.

How I'm Moving:


I actually moved! Once. For 30 minutes. On the treadmill. While watching Kourtney and Kim Take New York. It's my trash TV. Don't hate. Remember how I miss running? Well, I ran for probably a total of 5 minutes, split into 2 sessions. I didn't push myself and stopped when my shins started bothering me. I didn't look at the clock so I'm not sure how long I went, but the fact is I RAN! And I felt great! I was a little more tired than normal (duh, I am pregnant and haven't run is MONTHS), but I hope I can really keep this up. NO excuses. I'm home Monday and Wednesday, have a DVR full of junk to watch and I have a treadmill. Please keep hounding me on this!

Other Random Tidbits:


We took our Christmas pictures last weekend. I had a vision in my head of just taking a picture from our shins down with a pair of baby shoes in the middle, but when I went to look for shoes, I couldn't find ANY unisex shoes. So I found a onsie instead and took these shots.

The bottom one was closest to my original vision, but I thought it looked weird without our faces, so just the other two got on our Christmas card. And I sent them all out today! Go me! Granted, this is the first year that we just did a picture card and not personalized cards and I do feel a little bad about that. This might be the first of many years of that though. Thoughts?

Tell me:


What do you think about picture cards vs. personalized hand written cards?
What have you heard about shrimp during pregnancy? Do you think you followed/would follow all the "rules" during pregnancy?

Thanksgiving.

Whew! Sorry for the break folks, but it was needed. I didn't want to buckle down and write posts when I should be enjoying my time with Mr. Skinny and our families. Mr. Skinny had a record breaking 6 days off, and even though he doesn't get paid holidays, he deserved the break. It's the longest break he's had since he started working in March of 2010. While he didn't get anything done that he wanted, I think he still enjoyed his break.

Yesterday was my first day back to reality, too, and I will be counting the days until Christmas! I love the holidays and since I don't really like my job at all, any break is very welcome. I have a whole slew of pictures that I took this weekend, so I think I'll recap the last week.

Thursday - Turkey Day!

Walked in to watch the parade with the family
and saw this - Dad passed out at 9am.

We ate with my family this year, but since my brother and his girlfriend ate at her house then came to our house for a second dinner, my mom declared that it makes more sense for us to just have our family Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. So next year we'll be eating with Mr. Skinny's family, and I guess every Thanksgiving from here on out. Dinner was amazing, I love fresh turkey right out of the oven. After dinner we went to Mr. Skinny's grandma's house, then to his parents house to visit with both sides of the family. We got a lot of congratulations and hugs, so that was exciting for us!

Friday - Black Friday! My dad wanted to go out and get some cabinets for the garage so he guilted Mr. Skinny into taking him so that he could use the truck to fit the cabinets. It was a boy's outing for Black Friday, Mr. Skinny, my dad, and my brother while Mom and I stayed home and slept. Apparently Mr. Skinny turned into Santa Claus because he bought me a ton of stuff. I told him this is the last year for that, we're saving our money for the baby next year, not spending it on each other! After the boys came back, Mr. Skinny went to cut some wood and I hung out with my family until later when I went to join Mr. Skinny's family.

Saturday & Sunday - Went to see my favorite cousin and her family. She has two adorable little boys, remember Colton and Isaiah? Colton is so big now! Almost 7 months! And Isaiah just keeps getting cuter! Mr. Skinny also held his first non-walking baby! Huge step for him, I was so proud! Although Isaiah got a little jealous because him and Mr. Skinny are buddies and even though Isaiah doesn't normally get jealous about his brother, he was a little upset with Mr. Skinny holding Colton.

Colton just fell asleep in Mr. Skinny's arms. He
didn't know what to do!

Buddies!

Colty - how adorable, right?

Monday - Mr. Skinny was supposed to cut wood again, but we went up to the mall to return the pair of real Uggs Mr. Skinny got me for Christmas, but they don't fit my massive calves :( When I told the manager that he said he could fix them and I got so excited! I thought since they were expensive maybe they could send them back and make them wider, but no. He just folded them down. I don't like them like that. So I went with a pair of Bearpaws. A heck of a lot cheaper, that's for sure. After shopping we came home and did 4 loads of laundry, organized just about our whole room and put up our mini-Christmas tree.

All the ornaments we have. I think we need some more.

New addition for this year!

Courtesy of my cousin!

Finished decorating!

We also put together my first Christmas present - a mirror/jewelry box - isn't it pretty? I love that it's more multi-functional that just a standing jewelry box.

Mr. Skinny was off yesterday, too, but I had work so he hung out with his mom, brother, and grandma all day and cut a little bit more wood. All in all, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend, got to relax and enjoy ourselves. Only 25 days until Christmas!

Tell me:


How was your Thanksgiving?
Do you have a lot of jewelry?

TSO.

Happy Monday! I am only okay with Mondays because I don't work :)

I didn't have any guesses on my kindergarten picture! I'll give you a clue. I'm in the left half of the class. I'll give you another clue, I've always been short. Now take a shot.

I want to do another weekend update. Week 12 pregnancy update will come on Wednesday. This weekend, Mr. Skinny and I had tickets to see Trans Siberian Orchestra, or TSO. If you don't know this awesome musical group, here's a preview of one of their shows.

Back when we knew we wanted to go see TSO and we knew the tickets were coming out, Mr. Skinny and I were trying to figure out how much we wanted to spend for tickets. We eventually decided that since we've seen this show twice before, we'd just get cheaper nosebleed tickets. We were still in the center, just all the way up the top. And I mean all the way, like next to last row up top.

So we got settled and starting talking and checking our phones to waste time for the show to start. This couple comes up to us...

"It is just the two of you?"

"Yes..."

"We do this every year, we buy extra tickets to give away. We're in the fifth row on the floor, center stage. Would you like to come sit with us?"

Jaws drop.

Mr. Skinny, looking at me, "it's up to you."

The husband, "C'mon. Fifth row."

"Sure!"

Holy. Cow. I don't know if it was because it's been 2 years since we saw TSO, or the show was that much better from the fifth row, but Mr. Skinny and I agreed that we would pay the money for close tickets from there on out because the show was incredible! 

At one point, one singer who sings a song in the back of the arena runs up and we got to slap her hand! Although according to Mr. Skinny she "almost kissed him". Ha. Ha. I didn't know kissing was code for high five-ing, but if it is, I've kissed a lot more people than I've been thinking. 

I promise, she has two arms, I just caught
her at an awkward mid-arm swing.

The awesome narrator. He's the only one without
long hair, but he still head bangs while playing
air guitar.

Super cutie singer. Don't tell Mr. Skinny. I'm a
sucker for dimples, but Mr. Skinny knows that,
he has them!

I thought this guy was super sexy and I don't know
why! 

All in all, it was an amazing show, and if you ever get the opportunity to go, you should totally take it!

Tell me:


Have you ever heard of or seen TSO?
Do you like rock concerts?