So what Wednesday

I haven't done a "So What Wednesday" for a while so here goes!

So what......

If my brain is still in vacation mode!  

That I made the most awful dinner last night, totally overcooked the chicken and we had to throw the whole dish out......

If I am addicted to Bruegger's Bagels, omg they are so good!  I can't even eat other brands now.

That I wish I could wear my maternity clothes for the rest of my life because they are so comfy.

If I bought my first pair of yoga pants a few weeks ago from Old Navy and could also live in them.

That my mom keeps telling people what we are naming the baby even though we haven't 100% decided yet.  I told her to quit, I'm afraid someone will steal the name I like!

If I am dreading going to Babies-R-Us to update our registry this weekend.  I am excited, don't get me wrong but I know I will be so overwhelmed with choices!

 If we have the busiest October coming up: 4 family birthdays, a wedding, child birth and infant care classes, I have 5 nights that month where I work till 7pm, a Halloween Party and hopefully spending some time with my college friends.

If I have been having a lot of hormonal pregnant woman meltdowns these days. Andrew suggested I get a massage to relax me a little, I might just have to find a place that does pregnancy massages.

What are YOU saying so what to this week?

 

Florida Vacation/Babymoon/Anniversary Trip

I had been looking forward to our Florida vacation since the day we booked our plane tickets.  I'm glad it worked out so well and that we were able to stay at my grandma's condo for free!  Now that we are saving up for the baby I wasn't sure if we would be able to go on a lavish vacation but our week together was just what we needed.  We arrived on Saturday afternoon to a hot, sunny 91 degree day.  We got our rental car and headed for the condo.  My grandma's sister, who lives in the next town over, met us there to show us around the place and to take us out to lunch.  We spent the rest of the afternoon settling in, going to the grocery store and swimming in the condo pool.

Sunday we got up early and headed to the beach in Englewood for some shark tooth hunting and fun in the sun.  I've been going to the beach in Englewood with my grandparents for years and it's one of my favorite spots.  We figured getting up early and going to the beach would be best so we could beat the afternoon heat and occasional storms that seemed to happen almost every day.  It had been almost 10 years since I had seen the ocean last and around 15 years for Andrew so that first step into the water and the first smell of the sea salt was amazing and unforgettable.

We spent most of the rest of the week exploring several beaches on the gulf coast (Manasota Key, Blind Pass, Lover's Key, Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island), driving to the Everglades in the pouring rain on Tuesday, visiting the winter estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, shopping at Fisherman's Village and the antique shops in Punta Gorda, swimming in the condo pool, visiting the Peace River Bird Rescue Center, eating at so many amazing restaurants, watching the sunset almost every night at Ponce De Leon Park and soaking in every moment of our time together.  I went to bed every night praying that the week would go slow and that we would never forget this time together.

I could not have asked for a more amazing week together or more memories to keep for the rest of our lives.  I was sad to come home, but I was happy to sleep in my own bed, see the cat and dog and come home to the amazing fall weather. 

Edison Statue at the Edison/Ford Winter Estates and the amazing Banyan tree.

Baby bumping with the Edison Statue.

Semi-rainy afternoon at Lovers Key near Fort Myers

Beautiful flowering trees at the Edison Estate

Rubber Tree

A rainy sunset at Ponce De Leon Park

A much prettier sunset on our last night in Florida

Andrew with his fiddler crab he caught on the beach.

I'm going to miss those sunsets until next time. 

Week 22-23 Bumpdate

Since I was on vacation last week (and I'm working on a vacation post too) I decided to post at 22-23 week bumpdate.  I am having a hard time believing that the baby will be here in just 4 months and that we have been married for a year already, yeah we worked quickly on that one hahaha. 

• How far along? 23 weeks and 
• How big is baby? According to my Baby Bump App the baby is about 12 inches long and weighing in around 1lb! 
• Weight gain? I've gained about7lbs so far and I'm sure I put on a few more on vacation but haven't weighed myself since about halfway through the week there.  We did eat a lot of bad food while we were there but we also walked every day, swam everyday and so many other activities!
• Stretch Marks? Two new ones happened while we were on vacation right above my belly button..... 
• Maternity Clothes: All day, everyday and my fall clothes finally arrived from Old Navy while we were gone. I love them!
• Sleep: I slept like a rock when we were on vacation despite the awful pillows at the condo, we went to bed every night at 9 and were up by 6:30 to go to the beach.   
• Cravings: Halloween Candy (go figure), cheese which has been pretty constant, Chipotle, Waffles, Breakfast Food and really cold water.
• Food Aversions: Still have no desire to eat pork with the exception of sausage because I want breakfast all the time!
• What do I miss: Alcohol, for real I know I sound like a broken (and maybe alcoholic) record but seeing everyone with a beer or a cocktail on vacation was tough!  I just wanted one Octoberfest Yuengling or one glass of wine.  I also really miss my normal body. 
• Movement: The baby was super active when we were on vacation and I finally felt and saw movement from the outside.  Andrew was even able to feel the baby move one night while we were falling asleep. 
• Doctor Appointments: I don't go back until October 2nd.  I'm thankful to be having a normal pregnancy that doesn't involve too many appointments. 
• Symptoms: Back pain, hip pain, achy legs and feet, panic attacks (that seems to be a new one as I had two in the last two weeks), headaches seem to be back again as well and the heartburn has gotten out of control!
• Gender: Team Pink!  
• Anything else? I am anxious to start nesting around the house now that we are back from vacation.  I have a lot of things to get done and I feel like time is running out.  Now that I know we are having a girl, I need to get the paint color selected, find bedding and get the rest of the nursery cleaned out.  I hauled away four boxes of junk to Goodwill, three bags of clothes to my mom and sister-in-law but then I came home with another bag of baby clothes from my sister-in-law and the family baby scale.....so now I have more stuff!  I guess that's life!  

Watching the sunset on our last full day of vacation.

22 weeks and 3 days while watching the sunset at Ponce De Leon Park

One year

One year ago today was one of the best days of my life.  I married my best friend on a lovely fall day in front of our closest family and friends.  It doesn't seem as though a year has gone by since September 22, 2012.  I honestly wouldn't change a single thing about that day and even if it took 4 years to get Andrew to the altar it was so worth the wait.

I still look at our wedding pictures constantly, still think about how I felt that day and how much my face and feet hurt the next morning.  I can remember our first dance and never wanting it to end, seeing my family and friends having a good time and knowing they were all there to support us.  That week was so tough, just five days later my grandpa lost his battle to cancer but I carried him with me that day in my bouquet and kept him close in my heart.

 Our lives are really going to change come January when we welcome our daughter into the world and I always want her to know how much her mom and dad love one another and love her.  I know I will never forget that day, I will never forget how I felt and I will certainly keep falling in love more and more with Andrew each day.




 
To my adorable, funny, amazing and hardworking husband Andrew,

I can never say thank you enough for loving me the way that you do, for supporting me through so many happy and sad times, for making me smile, for driving me absolutely insane and for opening your heart to me.  I am so blessed to have you in my life, to have not only your love but the love of your entire family.  I'm so happy that I can share this crazy journey with someone who can keep my feet on the ground.  Here's to the first year and the next 50, to becoming parents, watching our family grow and change, growing old together and living by a lake somewhere when we retire so we can day drink and hang out on one of our five boats.  I love you pumpkin!  Happy anniversary!

Florida here we come

Things will be quiet around here for the week, we're off to Florida for our one year anniversary/babymoon trip but I will do a vacation post when we land back in Ohio!  Have a great week everyone :)

Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda, FL

Week 21 Bumpdate

It looks like I'm now halfway through the second trimester which I find very hard to believe!  I'm still in shock that we are having a little girl when this whole time I totally thought the baby was a boy.  I guess a mothers intuition is not always correct.  

• How far along? 21 weeks and 3 days
• How big is baby? According to my Baby Bump App (I had to delete What to Expect, it updated and was awful), the baby is 10.5 inches long and weighs around 12 ounces. 
• Weight gain? I've gained about 5lbs, which I am starting to accept is okay.  The baby is doing fine and I am feeling great so that's all that matters!  
• Stretch Marks? I have noticed one tiny new one above my belly button, but I'm still slathering on the cocoa butter morning and night!  
• Maternity Clothes: That's pretty much all I wear! 
• Sleep: Over the weekend I had awful night time heartburn and that made sleeping difficult.  I finally find a nice pillow to prop under me so I'm sleeping a little more elevated now which helps a ton.  Some nights I have to wake up a few times to pee and others I can sleep through the night.  It seems that every night is different when it comes to my sleep. 
• Cravings: Candy, cheese, Mexican food, ice cream, Waffle House (which I finally got to have over the weekend), grilled cheese and macaroni and cheese. 
• Food Aversions: Still have no desire to eat pork chops or any kind of pork besides sausage. 
• What do I miss: Octoberfest beers, apple jack/apple pie moonshine, you know all those yummy fall things.  Good thing I can get a decaf PSL! 
• Movement: Very consistent now.  The baby is the most active after I eat and in the evenings when we are sitting around watching TV.  Last night I saw one movement from the outside and it was so weird!!!!!
• Doctor Appointments: I don't go back until October 2nd.  I'm thankful to be having a normal pregnancy that doesn't involve too many appointments. 
• Symptoms: Back pain, hip pain, achy legs and feet, mood swings (though they are not as bad as they were say about 2 weeks ago) and getting full quickly. I also cry a lot over strange things, songs on the radio, commercials for baby things and sometimes I want to cry when my dog or cat does something cute......
• Gender: Team Pink!  
• Anything else? I'm so excited to leave for vacation that I cannot think about anything else!  I know we are going to have an amazing time and the beach will be a wonderful change of pace.  We've both been so busy at work and some time together will be great!  I also didn't get a bump photo this week, but I look about the same as I did last week, only my belly feels harder but you won't be able to see that in a photo :)

The week ahead

Time is flying by and I cannot wait to go on vacation at the end of the week!  We plan to spend as much time on the gulf coast Florida beaches as possible and to eat some amazing seafood!

Our weekend was another busy one.  Friday night I met my best friend for dinner and shopping after work.  I wanted to find another pair of maternity shorts for vacation since the days of wearing my normal ones with a belly band are now far gone.  I resisted buying every little girl outfit in Macy's that night and headed home early to spend some time with Andrew.

Saturday morning we went to visit with Andrew's family and headed home early to get ready for an evening wedding.  I must say I was rather jealous that they had such amazing weather for their September wedding and loved sharing such a special day with very dear friends of my family.  They were married at Buckeye Lake and the reception took place under a huge tent, everything was very low key and lovely.  The bride rode up to the wedding in a horse drawn carriage which was a complete surprise to the groom.  The look on his face was priceless and so incredibly sweet.  I know they will have a very happy and amazing life together!

Sunday I woke up at nearly 9am knowing that I had over done things a little the night before.  It's funny that I can still feel hungover even though I didn't drink.  I danced like a fool, laughed and ate too much and it came back to bite me.  I was up for two hours in the night with heartburn and the baby kicking me rather violently and woke up in the morning to a swollen face and sinuses.  I also have about 15 mosquito bites on my legs and feet despite wearing tights under my dress and putting on repellant.  Needless to say, Sunday was a rather lazy day.  I did manage to make it to the grocery store and ran a few loads of laundry but that was the extent of my activity.  Most of the day was spent on the couch flipping back and forth between an ABC Family Harry Potter Marathon and Sex and the City. 

I'm planning to spend most of my evenings this week getting us ready for vacation and continuing to clean out the nursery.  We've finally decided on a paint color and I've found bedding that I love at Pottery Barn Kids (thankfully I made a sad puppy face over the cost and Andrew agreed after seeing how cheesy things were at other stores) and I'm hoping to get to work after vacation.  We're also in the final stages of planning another remodeling project which will give our home another full bath.  I'm so excited to have this project done but I know it will be a lot of work for Andrew and his dad.

I hope to post my week 21 bumpdate in the next few days and I hope everyone has an amazing week! 

Week 20 Bumpdate - Gender Reveal!!!

Holy cow, I'm 20 weeks!  Time has really been flying by and this week we got to sneak a peek at our baby to be and find out the gender.  I was so anxious to go to the doctor on Wednesday I could hardly stand it!!! I didn't sleep much at all the night before thanks to a headache and awful stomach pains.  I'm not sure if I just wasn't feeling well or I was having a lot of anxiety.  It took us FOREVER to get to the doctor that morning but the ultrasound itself didn't take very long at all.  The baby is measuring right at the 40th percentile for growth which is good according to the doctor, my weight gain is still good and my blood pressure is great as well!

• How far along? 20 weeks and 3 days
• How big is baby? According to my What to Expect App, the baby is as big as a banana, about 7 inches long and weighing in close to a pound! (They estimated that baby weights 12 ounces at my appointment)
• Weight gain? So far I've only gained about 5lbs and yesterday the doctor who did the ultrasound said that was fine.  She said they have cut back on the amount of weight they tell women to gain and since the baby is growing nicely, she didn't seem concerned!
• Stretch Marks? No more than I had before.   
• Maternity Clothes: That's all I wear now!
• Sleep: I don't have a problem falling asleep but I can't seem to stay comfortable to stay asleep.  I'm also really into bed hogging these days.  I feel bad for Andrew. 
• Cravings: Nothing new this week, I'm just really hungry all the time now. I have been wanting fall foods though like pot roast, chili, pumpkin pie and apples. 
• Food Aversions: None really, besides pork which has been going on for a while now.
• What do I miss: Subway and Jimmy Johns.  I told Andrew on the day I go home from the hospital we are going to Subway for my spicy italian footlong!
• Movement: The baby is really moving and grooving in there!  I know feel movement in the morning, while I'm sleeping and in the evening after dinner.  
• Doctor Appointments: I don't have another check up until October 2nd!  Yeah for a normal pregnancy. 
• Symptoms: Leg pain at night and back aches.  It's so hard to be comfortable for more than a half an hour especially at work.  I did exchange my desk chair and get a foot rest to that's helping me a lot.  I haven't been as moody this past week and I'm starting to get super tired again. 
• Anything else? I've been working on the room that will be the nursery and let me tell you I have no idea where I am going to put all my junk.  I have tossed two huge trash bags of old papers from school and just general junk but I have a long way to go.  I've been boxing things up for Goodwill and I need to get some storage tubs this weekend.  I know it will get done, I just have to keep working at it!
• Gender.................

 

We're having a girl!

What I didn't expect while expecting

I never thought much about what it would feel like to be pregnant, watching my body become something totally foreign to me had never crossed my mind.  I never thought about how I would get to having a baby, just the end result of holding a baby in my arms. I knew I would read lots of books and really prepare myself for what was to come, but I think no matter how much you prepare you may never realize.......

• How forgetful you will really become or just plain stupid.  I tried to swipe into the garage at work the other day and still had my window rolled up resulting in me slamming my hand into the window several times.
• You will be uncomfortable all the time.  I cannot sit still, I can't sleep in one position for more than 30 minutes, I can't sit on the couch at night or even sit in a normal position in the car if I'm not driving.
• The amount of rude/bizarre/strange things that people will tell you....everyone will have a comment and an opinion to share.  My advice, just smile and nod.
• How differently your husband will look at you.  Andrew has a funny way of showing that he cares and is very blunt and honest.  At the beginning of my pregnancy I felt fat like I'm sure most women do but he just kept saying it was for the baby.  Now that I am showing, he looks at me different, sort of like he did when we first met.  I told him I felt the baby move the other night and he ran over to put his hand on my belly.  Maybe he's more excited than I thought.
• How differently your parents will look at you.  Someone told me that dad's have a funny way of thinking about their daughters being pregnant, like they still don't want to think about you being sexually active and now they have no choice.  My mom just can't believe that I'm pregnant and pretty much acts like she's the one having the baby.
• That your sanity is in question all the time, along with your emotions.  I swear there are days when I think I've lost my mind, I can't remember anything and I feel like I'm walking around in a fog.  Other days, I just want to cry for no reason and jump on anyone who makes me angry.  The smallest things can send me over the edge and it makes me feel like an awful person.  Blame it on the hormones!
• How strange your body will feel.  At the beginning of my pregnancy, I was so incredibly tired and moody.  My boobs hurt, I had all these strange aches and pains and my sinuses were constantly full of pressure.  At the start of the second trimester, I started to feel better till the new symptoms started, back pain, leg cramps, hot flashes, frequent trips to the bathroom, hunger pains and sleepless nights. I wonder what the third trimester will bring.
• That cravings and aversions to food are a real thing.  I have yet to crave food that I never wanted to eat before.  My mom always wanted brussel sprouts with my brother and now she can't even stand the sight of them.  I have craved everything from fruit roll ups to Chipotle (that happened before I was pregnant too) and steak to various UDF flavors of ice cream.  I could not eat chicken for the first three months I was pregnant and chicken wings are one of my favorite foods.  I've also come to hate pork and hot dogs.

I'm sure that more things will come to me as I progress along and today I'm 20 weeks and one day!!!  I'm going to wait till later in the week to do a bumpdate because we find out the gender tomorrow, assuming the baby cooperates at the anatomy scan!  I'm so anxious I can hardly stand it!