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?

We Have a Heartbeat!

I mentioned it in my 13 week update, but we had a doctor's appointment on Monday! I knew we were going to be able to hear the heartbeat and Mr. Skinny and I were super excited for that. It was a pretty short appointment, I actually lost weight since the last time I went in for my first appointment. The nurse practitioner was really nice, and wasn't even pushy when I declined the flu shot. She made sure I knew it was recommended, and asked why I didn't want to get it, but once I told her that I've never gotten a flu shot before she immediately backed off. I'm not sure why that is, but I was pretty happy with that. 

She had no problem finding the baby's heartbeat and even commented that the baby wasn't shy at all. She let us listen to it for a minute and Mr. Skinny and I couldn't stop looking at each other and smiling. The nurse practitioner actually asked if we had something to record it with, and I'm so glad that we did, I can't stop listening to this video!

It's nearly constantly on repeat any time I feel like I need a reminder that I'm actually growing a human in my body. Such an incredible sound! I actually asked my parents to listen to it (they're both severely hard of hearing), but I didn't know if I put my phone up to their hearing aid if they would be able to listen to it, and they were! I was a little surprised, but really happy that I offered for them to listen to it. So now we'll just have to count down the days until our next appointment where we can hopefully see the baby on screen!

In other news, I did finally announce it on Facebook, and I just made the cut off for my church's newsletters. Everyone seemed to be pretty excited on FB, and I know this is completely selfish, but I had nearly 50 "likes" and 25 comments of congratulations. I know it's silly, but it makes me feel special, like people actually care. My sister-in-law announced it on her FB, and then my mother-in-law did, too. I'm so glad that everyone knows now and I don't have to worry about someone leaking and finding out. I have to say, it went better than I expected it would.

I think I'll do a Thanksgiving post tomorrow with what I'm thankful for this year, but I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Tell me:


Do you put things on Facebook just so you feel special when people like them?
I'm not gonna lie, I delete statuses sometimes if no one likes them.

Thirteen Weeks.

We might be in the second trimester, and we might not. Who knows. Most of my "sources" say 13 weeks is the start of the second, but other says not until 14 weeks. Whatever, I get to hear my baby's heartbeat in a matter of hours. I don't care what trimester I'm in.

How Baby's Growing:


Honestly, nothing too exciting this week. Most of the development is done, although the intestines have moved from the umbilical cord to the baby's abdomen. And the baby has fingerprints, but I though the baby had fingerprints a long time ago?? If the baby is a girl (which I think it is), then she already has the 2 million eggs that she'll ever have, which is pretty amazing in my eyes.

Baby is about 3 inches long, and the size of a peach, and weighs about 1 ounce. Also, the baby is excreting urine and then drinking it to form the digestive system, and I think this is weird and kind of gross. Mr. Skinny is completely grossed out by it, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do to form your digestive system I guess, right?

Source

How I'm Changing:


First things first, I gained 0.4 on Friday, so I'm up 2.6 since finding out I'm pregnant. Considering that a "normal" gain, I think, is 0-5 for the first trimester, I'm pretty happy with myself so far. I am going to the doctor's today, and we'll see what I gained there, but I'm not worried. I'm keeping track of my weight gain myself for a reason.

13 Weeks.

The acne I mentioned on Friday? It's okay, I think it's a little better, but it still makes me self conscious. Even worse than my acne though, is my dry eyelids. It started right when I found out that I was pregnant, then went away a little bit, but now it's back in full swing, and worse! It was just dry, flaky skin on my lids, but now it's below my eyes too. So not attractive and there's just about nothing I can do about it! I know I can buy fancy eye cream, but 1) I feel like that's all anti-wrinkle stuff, and 2) it's so darn expensive! I can't justify that! My glasses don't cover up my dry-ness at all either, so I'm pretty much stuck. I'm glad I don't work with the public.

On Saturday night, I actually slept through the night! Like all night! Well I woke up at 6:30ish or so, and I was so excited I slept all night that I woke myself up, but that's okay. I'm still up most nights to run to the bathroom, but I'm still not up 5+ times a night like I was.

And I threw up. Again. Saturday night. It was popcorn. Seriously, my 2 big up-chuck sessions were popcorn and ground beef. Gross. I don't ever want to eat either of those things again. My brother-in-law, whose 16, made the popcorn and yesterday when I saw him I told him the popcorn was bad because I threw it up and he just stared at me. I told him I was joking and it was pregnancy that made me throw up, not him. Oh, and the week before last I almost passed out at work. I think it was a mix of not eating and just being pregnant, but I got to sit down and get the blood back in my head before I passed out. Although, my boss kept talking to me through the whole thing. I really don't think he "gets" pregnancy.

I got the 3 maternity shirts from Old Navy and I do love them, they're really comfortable. I have 4 more on the way from Kohl's, so that should last me a while. I think I definitely look pregnant now, and Mr. Skinny has confirmed that, but because I still haven't announced it on Facebook (I'm going to after the appt. today) and we live in our hometown and see people we went to HS with on a daily basis, I'm not comfortable wearing my maternity shirts when I might run into someone. Silly thing, I know, but it's the truth.

What I'm Eating:


Junk. Seriously, my appetite gets a little better, then it goes away and I want pasta and bagels and nothing healthy. I can't remember what I ate before I got pregnant. I can't imagine eating spinach salads, fruit and yogurt at work and that's it. I feel like I'd be starving. Granted, I'm sure pop tarts aren't keeping me full very long.

Oh, mini controversial topic. Protein powder. Because meat still isn't my best friend, I thought I'd buy protein powder for my smoothies. So I went into GNC and bought some, after I told him I was pregnant and just wanted basic protein to add to my green monsters. But once I came home, Mr. Skinny and my mom were both leery about it. So that's fine, I'll ask the doctor today, but I did some research thanks to Dr. Google and from what I've found out, if there's chemical sweeteners in it (and there is) I shouldn't use it. Okay, that's fine, but now I'm thinking what else have I been eating that has artificial sweeteners in it?? Why does everyone know about tuna and lunch meat but not artificial sweeteners. So now I'm worried about what I've been eating.

How I'm Moving:


Ha! I'm not. The treadmill is being used as a clothing rack. I'm tired, and it's cold and the holidays are coming. I'm hoping I'll get a burst of energy with the second trimester and want to walk again. It's hard to be pregnant in the winter.

Momma's Thoughts & Feelings:


This whole "I'm-going-to-have-a-baby-in-6-months" thing is really starting to hit me. I had another dream about the baby, it was a girl (so now the score is 2-2 for dreams) and I was just so in love with her. It was kind of strange because she was somewhere else and I could go on my life like I didn't have her, but I had to remember to feed her. Then I was getting sad because I wanted to see her personality, but for whatever reason, I had to leave her where ever she was, I couldn't take her. Weird.

Last Wednesday, Mr. Skinny had a rain day, so we went to Babies R Us to walk around and look at everything. We really like one stroller, mostly because the seat could face you while you're pushing, or face the regular way like a normal stroller. I was debating on getting a jogging stroller travel system though since I'll hopefully be picking up running again once I can. Then I don't have to get another stroller. Did you know that some strollers have iPod attachments with speakers? I told my mother-in-law and grandma-in-law that yesterday and they were both floored. Haha, it's crazy how much technology is ingrained in everything. I don't even know when I would need speakers in my strollers.

And I'm having a problem with my self-confidence. Sometimes, in some shirts, I feel like a pregnant lady. But other times, I just feel fat. With my dry-ness around my eyelids and the result of raccoon eyes that are red instead of black, I don't feel pretty. I don't have a pregnancy glow yet. I don't have cute clothes. I have big t-shirts or shirts that I would have worn 30+ lbs ago. It's really hard to deal with. I knew I'd have a problem like this, but I thought I could beat it. I've always wanted to be a mom, and I've spent years dreaming about how I would look pregnant and how I'd feel. And now, it's here, and it's really hard. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited and wouldn't change a thing where I am in my life right now, it's just hard to deal with body image.

That's that!

Tell me:


What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Do you think I'm in the first or second tri?

Fill In The Blank Friday.

I've seen a couple bloggers do these little fill in the blank things on Friday, and now that my 10 week challenge is over, I needed something else to do on Fridays, and this seems perfect!

On a side note let me say that my pregnancy acne is terrible! Holy cow! I put make up on for the first time in months because I'm so self conscious about it. I'd take a picture, but I won't do that do you. This is reminiscent of my teenage years acne and at least I could take prescription pills and use prescription face wash and stuff to get rid of it. Then I loved my face when I was on birth control and now it's just terrible! This baby better be a girl and she better be gorgeous the way she's making my face look. :)

Fill in the Blank Friday:


1. A nervous habit I have is: well, I don't get nervous frequently, and when I do, I don't tend to bite my nails or twirl my hair. I try to pray, but I don't know if that's a habit...? I might blush, though, I guess that's it. I do bite my nails, but that's not when I'm nervous, just when they get too long :)

2. Something that makes me sad is: a ton of things make me sad. One thing that made me sad in the past couple days though is this post by Jana. America is so run by money, and not by caring about people, it's very sad.

3. Today I am thankful for: my God, my family, my online support, and the baby that is growing inside of me. 13 weeks tomorrow!

4. My favorite room in my house is: well, since we live with my parents, I'll have to say that my and Mr. Skinny's room is my favorite room because that's ours. Second though would have to be the kitchen since the kitchen table is where we all sit and talk daily.


5. If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted today I would: Considering I just bought a slew of maternity clothes and I don't really need anything, I'd probably put it toward bills, but I will saw the pair of Bearpaws I've been eyeing up for Christmas sound good, too!


6. The last person I hung out with was: Does Mr. Skinny count? I don't have many friends up here and so my family are usually the only ones I "hang out" with. 

From Disney on Ice in 2008. Wow, my face is chubby!

Pick one and answer yourself! 


Any exciting plans this weekend?

Twelve Weeks.

I keep wanting to come up with a nickname for the baby on the blog, well and in real life, too, but Baby Skinny sounds really weird, so I don't like that. What did you call your baby when it was in utero?

Guess you guys don't like guessing games with my kindergarten picture, so I'll tell you which one I am. Left half of the class, front row, 3rd from the left. Don't I look sexy with my strap falling off my shoulder?  Party poopers :)

Whew! 12 weeks already, the first trimester is just flying by, but I'm still trying to appreciate every day and take it one day at at time. Marveling in the miracle that is growing a child. 

How Baby's Growing:

"You are 12 weeks pregnant. (fetal age 10 weeks)

• The fetus is now about 2.5 inches (6cm) length and weighs about 0.7 ounce (20 g).
• The feet are almost half an inch (1cm) long.
• The fetus starts moving spontaneously.
• The face is beginning to look like a baby's face.
• The pancreas is functioning and producing insulin.
• Fingernails and toenails appear.
• The baby can suck his thumb, and get hiccups.

From this week you may well be able to hear the baby's heart beat through a doppler monitor on your tummy. You will notice that the rate is up to 160 a minute, double that of a normal adult.


Your baby now has a chin and a nose and a facial profile. Vocal chords are complete, and the baby can and does sometimes cry silently. The brain is fully formed, and the baby can also feel pain. The fetus may even suck his thumb.


The eyelids now cover the eyes, and will remain shut until the seventh month to protect the delicate optical nerve fibers. The hair is on the head and the fingers and toes have developed soft nails. The kidneys are developed and begin to secrete urine.

Your baby weighs between 0.5 and 0.7 ounce (14 to 20g), and crown-to-rump length is almost 2.5 inches (63mm). Your baby's size has almost doubled in the past 3 weeks.

The 12 weeks scan [10 weeks fetal age] above shows a very active fetus. The mother who can not feel these movements; belly laughs, as she looks at the screen and can see her tiny baby kicking out."

Source

Momma's Thoughts:

Holy macaroni! Knowing that my son or daughter's feet are almost half an inch made me smile from ear to ear. The fruit comparison that baby center uses each week doesn't really make me "aww" but an example like that definitely hits hard. Also, knowing that the baby can cry makes me want to give him/her a hug! Amazing how something so small is already so developed. And look at that ultrasound! It's not mine, I just borrowed it from the website, but wow! I know it's not necessarily true that my baby is that active, but I am in such awe! How can a mother not feel that? Craziness! 

How I'm Changing:

"Morning" sickness is just about gone, I think. I actually laid in bed on Monday past the normal dry heaving stage of hunger and it went away and I was just hungry. So I thought that was pretty exciting. My appetite is coming back, along with my interest of cooking again which I've missed so very much. My mom's missed that, too. She hates cooking, but she's been a good sport of helping out for the past few weeks. 

Baby must be moving off my bladder, too. I can almost sleep through the night again! Oh how I've missed sleeping through the night. I'm usually up one or twice, but that's so much better than upwards of 5+ times a night. 

12 week picture first thing in the morning.

When I weighed myself on Friday, I was up the pound that I lose the week before, so I'm back to +2.2 pounds, which I am very proud of so far. My wardrobe is still shrinking, but I've bought a couple maternity shirts to cope with that, and I'm going to be borrowing my cousin's whenever I can get down to see her. I'm in maternity jeans every day, but they're so comfortable, I don't mind one bit. 

I think I've been fighting off a cold for the past few weeks too. Tis the season for that. My brother is full out sick, and my mom thinks she's been fighting something. So far (knock on wood), my body has been pretty good at fighting it off, and I'm hoping that continues. I've been trying to wash my hands frequently and long enough, and not touch my face, but it's hard! 

My acne is still bothering me, and that's something I don't think I've talked about. I've always had pretty bad acne, but it went away while I was birth control. Once I got off, it came back and hasn't gone away since. I'm hoping this is signs of a girl, but who knows. Speaking of the baby's sex, I have a post in mind about whether we want or don't want to find out the sex of the baby. Maybe next week I'll write that. 

Much more awake in this picture.

What I'm Eating:


I mentioned that my appetite is coming back, but I still have a main focus on carbs. Meat has been sneaking back in, but not too much, and still not ground beef. Veggies and fruits aren't too much of enemies anymore, however it's hard when I'm still missing all those delicious farmers markets fruits and veggies. I've been craving watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, but I don't trust buying them from the store out of season. What's a pregnant lady to do?


I had a craving, well still do, for a big soft chocolate chip cookie. When we were at the store on Sunday, I saw a box of them, so I just had to grab them and I took them to my in-laws because I was making dinner for everyone there. My father-in-law saw the cookies and asked where they came from and I had to tell him that I had a craving for them, so I got them and he asked if he could open them. I said sure and between the two of us, I'm pretty sure we polished off nearly the entire box. But they were little cookies, so not exactly what I wanted. I've been wanting to make cookies, but I know I shouldn't eat the raw egg, so I need to make vegan cookies, but I'm a little leery they won't taste the same. Any suggestions on recipes?


One good thing that's been sneaking back into my diet (and by diet, I mean the food I eat)...

Ignore the Budweiser glass. I don't even know where
this came from. No one drinks in my family!

Yes! Green monsters! Okay, well I made one and it was delicious. I tried to make one the next day and it was nasty. Fail. I think I put too many chia seeds in the second one, and it was too thick, I had to toss it. I used a half a scoop of my brother's protein powder for some extra nutrients, but he warned me that night that he didn't know if the creatine in it would be okay for the baby. So looks like I'm going to have to buy my own regular protein powder then. 


Not that this is healthy, but with all the rain we've gotten this week, I've been craving hot beverages, too, so I made some peppermint hot chocolate this morning and it was delicious and just what I wanted! 

How I'm Moving:


Last week I was good, walking 3 days and even doing yoga! This week, I'm using the excuse of fighting off something to go for a walk. Granted, the cold, dreary weather hasn't been helping either! Mr. Skinny keeps getting on my butt for not exercising, but it's hard from now until say April :) I know it's only hurting me if I don't exercise though. I get bored with walks, I feel like that's not a good enough workout even though I get out of breath. 

Walking with the doggie.

Momma's Feelings:


I feel better as each week goes by and everything feels good. I love feeling my bump, I've caught myself rubbing it multiple times a day. I can just stare at it and wonder about the person inside. I also feel more relaxed with how many people know now. I don't have to hide it from anyone. I told my 3 best friends from college this past week and they're all super excited for me. We have one more very important person to tell though, and that is Mr. Skinny maternal grandmother. She lives in Florida and will be up on Sunday for Thanksgiving. This will be her first great-grandchild and she's not even 70 yet! I'm super excited to tell her, and I'm so glad that everyone has kept it all a secret and we've gotten to tell who we wanted to on our terms. I get nervous for everyone we tell though. Just writing about telling Grandma is making my heart pound. I don't know why, I guess because I'm not sure what exactly they're going to say, even though I know they'll be super excited. Once it's out on FB, and my church knows (just one more week!) I will breathe a huge sigh of relief that that's over.

There are days where I get nervous about our financial situation - BTW, I've been graduated for six months, so all those awesome student loans are coming in, including ones I didn't really know about. Awesome. But I know that 1) God won't give us anything we can't handle, which gives me instant peace and 2) a loving family is so much more important than anything monetary. I'd rather have my family and love them than worry about having enough money to go on a yearly vacation or have the latest gadget, and I think God is trying to teach me that. We have a wonderful extended family and we will never go hungry and we will never be homeless, and we'll always have love.

Tell me:


Are you as amazed with that ultrasound as I am? 


What's your favorite hot beverage? Unless it's still warm where you are, then what's your favorite beverage right now?

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?

10 Week Challenge: Picture

First off, thank you for your comments on my last post. I teared up with each comment, the blog-o-sphere is so my source of friends, and I thank you so much.

Last one! One picture of myself. Well, let's have a little fun here. I don't have any fun pictures of myself on my computer, so I stole some off Facebook. Thank you social media. 

Right Half

Here are two halves of my kindergarten picture, can you guess which one I am? You have a 1 in 13 shot of getting it right. If I wasn't such a cheapskate I'd do a giveaway, but ya know, I am saving money for a baby here, give me a break :)

Left Half

If you need a reminder of what I look like, here we go. I'll even give you a picture from freshman year of college (holy cow that was four years ago), so that I'm a little younger than am I now, however, I don't think I've changed at all.

Let me know what your guesses are :) and have a fabulous weekend!