27 Week Belly

I know, I'm a week late getting these up!  How's that for a bump?

Grow, baby, grow!

22 Week Belly

Oh we're rolling now, y'all. I told you Sam was on a growth spurt the last few weeks. I wasn't lyin'!

Wow, what a difference over the last four weeks. Good golly, where will we be in another four?

For my birthday (next week!), my mom's taking me shopping to find some maternity jeans and hopefully some cute options to wear for showers. The weather is finally getting a little cooler here and I need some bottoms! As much as I love my yoga pants and Old Navy skirts, I don't think I can wear them EVERY day.

We had our L&D tour at Piedmont Hospital last Sunday - this is all becoming kinda real! This weekend the hub and his buddy will be starting on the built-in shelves in the nursery. Can't wait to see those going up! We've also got our 24 week ultrasound next week. Can't wait to see how much our boy has changed! Exciting stuff...

18 Week Belly

Something's starting to POP! And boy, do I feel it. I've been pretty crampy the last few days because my belly (and Sam) are on quite the growth spurt right now...




There wasn't much difference between 10 and 14 weeks, but you can definitely see a change here!





We'll see how the waistline progresses over the next couple of weeks - I think it may be time to move to belly updates every two weeks instead of four.

So in other fun news, look what a sweet surprise Sam got in the mail yesterday from his Auntie Kathleen!!!




I was literally looking around on Monogram Chick's website this week and saw these shorts and thought, aw... how cute would those be for Sam?!




Apparently my friends are mindreaders! And look - it's Sam's very first monogrammed goodies!!!




Thank you, Kathleen! I'm in love with it all and Sam will be the most dapper little dude on the block! Mom also picked up a couple of goodies at Target yesterday...




I tell ya, this boy is going to be SET. Oh and my fabric swatches finally arrived this week! I knew I'd love them but I had to see them in person. And yeah, they're definitely way prettier in person. Looks like we're definitely going to go with this group for the bedding and other accessories around the nursery...




I laid all the swatches out for the hub last night and asked what he thought. He studied them for a half second and then pointed at the blue and white striped print. "That one." No, I mean ALL of them together, honey. "Oh, oh, yeah, OK." So you like them? "For what?" For the bedding. "Yeah, sure." Clearly he does not share my enthusiasm for these sweet fabrics, but he approves!

Well, Happy Friday all! And I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! Enjoy this last toast to summer and be safe out there...

14 Week Belly

I feel like this same pooch has just been hovering for weeks. It looks like it's poking out a *little* more than four weeks ago, but it's really not all that different...




It's comin' though! But the best news? I think I've turned a corner and am feeling pretty good now! On Monday, I vomited for the first time. Felt crappy the rest of that day. But on Tuesday, the nausea just sort of was... gone. And I haven't really had much at all sense. I do still get mad hunger pains at time - especially from late night till early morning, and if I don't munch on something right away, I can feel a bit queasy. But it's not nearly as bad as the general nausea I was experiencing over the past couple of months, so hallelujah!

I've still been tired at times, but my energy seems generally better. At least my drive and motivation is - I've gotten more done in the last few days than I have in the last 8 weeks. For example, a couple of weeks ago I'm not sure I could've handled that hour-long trip to pick up the changing table. And hello, I haven't taken one nap all weekend! I did veg for a bit yesterday afternoon after a trip to the outlets that wore me and the hub both out, but I never actually fell asleep. So hopefully this means I'll be feeling pretty good during the 2nd trimester! I sure hope so - it's a lot easier to enjoy all this when you're not feeling like total ass.

Oh and speaking of the outlets, the main reason I wanted to go yesterday was to see what the Pottery Barn Outlet had. We've gotten some major deals there over the years on random furniture and rugs, so I was curious what they had in the way of baby and kid stuff. Our PB Outlet dedicates nearly half the store to PB Kids stuff. I was hoping to maybe find a crib or rocker selection, but no luck. Not a single crib or rocker/glider in sight. But they did have some other furnishings, tons of bedding and bath linens, and other accessories. So I will note that in my mental Rolodex for future.

We also intended to get to IKEA this weekend but that never transpired. I honestly hate going there, so I avoid it until absolutely necessary. But we're interested in redoing the shelving in the nursery closet, so this warrants a visit. Here's a pic of the closet now (actually right NOW there is nothing in the closet because I've cleaned all the junk out, but you get the idea)...




We had originally requested double shelving in this closet (knowing it'd be a nursery someday), but obviously the builders didn't do it. Whatever. But aside from needing more hanging space, the current shelving in there doesn't work great. The hanging rod is so close to the door frame, that every time you open and shut the closet door, it rams into the clothes hanging there. So even if we end up sticking with the current shelving and just adding some more, I think we'll remove the door altogether and hang some fabric instead. But really, I just want to find some better shelving options to maximize the space more. It's a small space, but so much of it is not being used the way it sits currently. I'd like to have some drawers and cubbies and that kind of thing for all the itty bitty sweets baby needs in his/her closet! Nothing fancy... which is why we're calling on IKEA. I'm going for functional over cute here. So hopefully we'll get over there next weekend and be able to price some things out and see what's doable.

Oh, but other than shelving changes/additions, we're painting the interior of the closet a sweet sherbet orange. I wanted something bright and gender neutral, and hello... I love orange. We've already got the paint, so don't try to talk me out of it. That's our first big nursery project, so I should have some pics pretty soon as we'll be tackling this one in the next couple of weeks... stay tuned!

10 Week Ultrasound

Lots of big steps this week! We're officially in double digits! We're now in the "fetus" stage and no longer the "embryo" stage. Very exciting. And on Friday we graduated from RBA and will now be seeing my normal OB/GYN going forward! Big steps... very grateful... and I think we're really starting to get excited.



Friday's ultrasound was definitely the best one so far... our little nut actually looks like a little baby now. An alien baby, but a baby. The ultrasound tech was pushing on my stomach and having me hold my breath to get the little guy to move around. He was definitely dancing around in there! Can't feel it yet though - it's just bizarre knowing there's a little creature inside of you wiggling around.




These scans aren't great - they show up kinda dark here, but hopefully you can see the images OK. We measured right at 10w1d on Friday and baby almost doubled in length from the last ultrasound to 3.31cm. We heard the heartbeat again, which was good and strong. Everything looked great! This 3D image is kinda freaky...




Totally looks like a little alien! Dr. T was excited to see us off and get us back to my OB. It was definitely a bitter sweet goodbye - RBA has been such a big part of our lives for over four years now. We'll of course be back when we're ready for more, but for now it's goodbye. Here we are with Dr. T...




OK so we also figured it was time to start capturing belly shots. I've honestly had a pooch since beginning my meds back in early April. I literally JUST got off all the hormones on Friday (woo hoo!), so who knows if my belly is due to meds, baby, or both. It's definitely there, whatever it is. And we obviously didn't get a "before" shot since I started plumping up before the transfer even happened. So we'll just use this crappy screen shot from my Lupron shot video as my "before" picture. Because it was all over after that morning!




And here's the pooch as of today (10w3d)...




I'm wearing these fold-down maternity pants from Old Navy here and I can already tell these are going to be a favorite. I'm curious if dropping the hormones will affect the pooch or if I'm just in for the long haul from this point. Either way, fine with me! There's plenty of time to get my flat belly back later. Soooooo not worried about that right now. Honestly I'd like the big belly to hurry up and get here because right now I'm in that stage where none of my normal clothes fit. All I can really wear right now to work are dresses, so getting ready for work has become challenging.

I still feel like crap. Still tired all the time. Nauseous much of the time. Eating is a chore because it's impossible to plan my meals. Therefore I've been spending more on food because I impulse-eat. Grocery shopping is hard because (a) it's exhausting and (b) everything is gross. But I'm managing! In fact, I'm about to head out to Publix right now... so wish me luck!

Hope you all have a fabulous 4th! The hub's running the Peachtree in the morning. (Meanwhile, I'll be snoozing.) Then we have a cookout later that afternoon with friends. Enjoy and stay cool!