16 weeks

It's funny, I didn't think I got any bigger this week and I was just feeling bloated, but looking at this picture and comparing it to last week...yeah, there's a difference!

This weekend we went to our local Mills mall. I am running low on clothes to wear, so I thought I'd check out Old Navy and such for maternity clothes. We stopped in American Eagle first for Rob and it was just strange to be in there knowing it's pointless looking at clothes for me. I went into Aerie afterwards since American Eagle gave us a coupon for Aerie. It was quite comical trying to figure out what bra size I am, but I just ended up getting a  comfy sweater for $15.

Now it was maternity clothes shopping. First stop, Old Navy. I had thought I could get some basic tees and such, but I really didn't find much. I tried on a pair of skinny jeans, but the belly band was too tight. Not very impressed Old Navy. I just got a tank top and Rob got a hoody and we got a Halloween costume for the baby (ha ha). I decided to check out Burlington Coat Factory and see what they had. Score! While I didn't get to really look through the tops much, I did buy 2 pairs of maternity jeans for about $16 a piece. Definitely going back there again when I start to get real big.

So I'm pretty good on maternity clothes for now. I have 4 pairs of pants now! I will need some more tops, but I think the pants will help me feel a lot more comfortable.

It's a constant struggle with me starting to get big. I'm the girl who always wears just slightly baggy or loose clothes. It comes from gaining and loosing a lot of weight and being self-conscious of my body because of all that. It's just weird for me now that I've got no choice for my body and stomach to just be out there and not hidden behind a shirt one size too big.

Pregnancy Ups & Downs

This week...

Pregnancy Ups:

- Rob and I were looking at kid toys last Sunday and it was just so much fun! I love thinking about us and our family in the future and what we'll do and such. We even bought a stuffed lamb, our first purchase for the baby together.

- No food aversions this week! In fact, barely any symptoms at all. It feels soooo good.

- Rob. He's just so awesome and understanding. He lets me be lazy about dinner, lets me vent, he listens to me and he takes good care of me. I always feel much better when I talk to him. All while he's working hard at work, freelancing and training for a marathon.


Pregnancy Downs:

- I barely ate any good vegetables this week and I'm being a little too hard on myself about it. It's a lot of pressure to make sure you eat all the right things!

- I may not be a runner like Rob or some of our friends, but I do enjoy running 5k races. This time of year they always have they best. Halloween themed, Thanksgiving, Christmas, color races, awesome charities. And I'm pretty bummed that I can't do it and walking is no fun. I am, however, going to walk a 5k in December since a bunch of our friends are doing it, it's part of a charity my old boss is apart of and dude, you do it on the NASCAR speedway!

- I know this is only going to get worse, but I don't like being treated like a pregnant person. I am already frustrated at myself for being limited on so much, 'specially when I'm the type of person who likes to be in control. Don't tell me to take it easy, I can actually do a lot before my body tells me enough and I will stop when I get to that point. I don't like talking about myself a lot to begin with, so I'm probably not going to want to talk about my pregnancy all the time (only certain people I feel comfortable with talking openly about it) And do not tell me how big I'm going to get or point out how often I eat! When someone says that it's kind of telling me that I'm gonna get huge and fat. I'm already struggling myself with accepting the fact that I'm getting bigger, I know it's going to happen and I'm excited about it, but some days I don't feel so great about it.

15 Weeks

We are just moving right along now.

Things have been pretty smooth now. I even got my energy back! Yesterday I rode my bike, which was so wonderful and relaxing. I took it easy as I could and still I was not able to last as long as I normally would, but it felt great either way. Just riding along the nature path, surrounded by trees and crunchy leaves. I also set up a spare TV we had in the guest bedroom that way I can do my exercise dvds in there and not be covered in dog hair when I'm done.

I'm also really going to start pushing myself to do more, since I've been spending too much time on the couch watching tv or reading. I've got so many things I want to sew and craft. Granted, I am pregnant and I should take it easy, but I'm just starting to get more grumpy when I do nothing.

Other than that, things are just peachy!

Oh yeah! We got this super cute stuffed sheep at Target. It's our first baby purchase together. (awwww,heehee)

6 years

Today is mine and Rob's 6th wedding anniversary!

I can never get over how lucky I am to be married to Rob. He's such an amazing husband and friend. He always supports me, listens to me, lets me be myself, makes me feel beautiful and brings me down to earth when I get upset. I am a better person because of him. And I just can't wait to see him as a dad!

We took it easy this year since we already went to Asheville a few weeks before. Last night we had an awesome fancy dinner at a local place called FlatIron. This morning we made pumpkin pancakes and exchanged our cards. We didn't do gifts either this year, instead we each bought some much needed clothes. I did get lovely flowers however. Later we went to a few stores and had lunch at Panera. Then we'll end the evening with our lazy Sunday dinner and watch Once Upon a Time. Just a lovely day.

First Trimester Recap

I meant to post this earlier this week:

I survived the First Trimester!

As someone who's been on the road trying to get pregnant for 2 years, that's a huge thing. I did it! My body did it! Our baby did it! We are a kick ass team! Seriously, nothing makes you feel more proud of yourself and body than being pregnant.

I had an amazing first trimester. My morning sickness was never really more than just feeling icky and kind of queasy, but no throwing up or gagging even. Food aversions were sucky just because I wasn't eating as healthy as I used to eat. Smells were also kind of bad, that was the only thing that caused me to be hormonal and cry. Poor Rob does his best to keep the litter box clean, but I just always smell it. I can still smell last's nights dinner upstairs in the bedroom. And after a month, I don't smell the cleaning products from when we had a cleaning service come to the house. Exhausting! But! It all could've been worse and I'm grateful for how easy I had it.

The first trimester is almost like playing pretend. Sure, the doctors confirm you're pregnant and you look at the screen and see a little baby and you hear its heartbeat....but it just doesn't feel real! You don't have a bump and you might get bigger, but it's more like feeling bloated than anything. You can't feel anything since the baby is so tiny. All you can do is take good care of your body and hope that whatever's in there likes it and stays for the ride. Surreal is the word that expresses my first trimester.


My First Trimester Tip:

Don't be afraid to change or try different prenatal vitamins.

I had been taking the same prenatal vitamins for over two years and I never had a problem with them. They were great and had all the right stuff plus more.

When I went for my first OB appointment, I got tons of prescription prenatal samples. Some actually sounded pretty good. I tried one out and amazingly the next day I felt awesome! Like half of my morning sickness symptoms and my dry mouth were gone. Coincidence? Whatever, I feel great.

Pregnancy Ups & Downs

Second Trimester is easy indeed!

Pregnancy Ups:

- I got to hear sprout's heartbeat again at this week's OB appointment. Yes, I still get teary-eyed hearing it.

- I've been doing core exercises and stretches every morning and I've walked the dogs 3 times this week. Go motivation and energy!

- Maternity pants are awesome! It feels great to wear something that fits so good and comfortable.

Pregnancy Downs:

- Last night I had zero desire to eat the stir fry I was making for dinner. I couldn't even force myself to eat it. I only made it because I didn't want to waste the food. I had an egg and waffles instead.

-  I've been feeling a little down and gloomy this week. Nothing in particular or maybe too many things.  My pregnancy hormones just exaggerates it a bit.

- Dreams. Throughout the day my mind is a sponge, picking up whatever I see or experience and saves it for the night. More often than not, it's a disturbing dream, even nightmares. Watching the season premiere of Walking Dead resulted in dreaming of zombies ALL night long. Fun times!

14 weeks

Finally!! I am in my Second Trimester. Such a huge milestone! I'm at the point now where if anything really bad were to happen to the baby, it would've happened. I still run the risk of course, but not like the first trimester. We're riding this till the end!

And it's true, once you get to your second trimester, you feel great again. This past week has been the best I've felt since I got pregnant. Headaches and a bit of food aversions were the most annoying thing. Even sleep has been better. I still wake up a lot and even go to the bathroom, but I fall back asleep quickly and sleep more soundly. It could also be from the cold weather too, what ever the case, I am happy. I've also gotten my energy back. I've been walking the dogs more and I even helped Rob with some yard work and I felt great. I even feel motivated to start doing my chiropractor instructed exercises cuz I'm really going to start needing a strong and healthy core to help ease back strain.

I bought two pairs of maternity pants on Saturday from Kohls. I was having a particularly bad body image and clothes dilemma that morning and Rob was kind enough to let me shop after our lunch. Trying on those pants felt awesome! Fitting into something that fit good just made me feel so much better. I could've bought normal pants at a bigger size, but ya know, I'm going to need maternity pants eventually. And while the belly band does help, I still find it a little annoying to wear. Now I just gotta start buying some maternity tops. Let me tell you, this stuff ain't cheap. Thankfully, there's always a sale somewhere.

I have my monthly OB checkup this Tuesday. I really don't know what to expect. Another ultrasound? Either way, I am excited. I also have a lot of questions, mostly concerning traveling. We've got a long road trip and air travel coming up. I'd like to get some tips on that.

Good things happening here!

Pregnancy Ups & Downs

This week on Pregnancy Ups & Downs,

Pregnancy Ups:

- I am now feeling about 90% back to normal. It's like a breath of fresh air!

- My belly is growing! More noticeable to just me, but I just get so giddy and I constantly look at myself in the mirror, hee hee.

- As always, I am so happy and grateful that I am pregnant and that it's going so well. We've waited for this day for so long and it just makes it that much more special to us.

Pregnancy Downs:

- These headaches kind of suck and there's nothing really I can do about it other than just bare through it. It's usually when I'm around smells that bother me, which then makes the smell that much worse.

- I'm starting to get hungry more often, which is frustrating because I do snack a lot to begin with. I'll also be starving by the time I get home and I have a few snacks before Rob gets home for dinner and twice I've practically lost my appetite, lame.

- I'm at the stage where I want to start buying some more clothes, 'specially with the weather getting cooler, but I know I'm just going to get bigger quickly and it's still too soon for maternity clothes. Not a super down, more like a mild frustration.

Getaway to Asheville

As I mentioned in my last post, Rob and I went to Asheville this past weekend for a last minute, but much needed getaway.

Friday Rob dropped the dogs off at the doggy day care, picked me up from work and then we were off to the mountains!

This weekend was all about indulging, relaxing, destressing, taking it slow and enjoying each other's company. We've, more so Rob, been under a lot of stress these past few months and with Rob's birthday on Monday and our anniversary coming up, well...how could we not go somewhere.

We stayed at the Hotel Indigo, this swanky, but laid back new hotel in Asheville. What a great place!! Everything was decorated so modern, but not in a stuff lux way. And everyone was so friendly and helpful. We treated ourselves to the suite, which was lovely and we had a great view of the mountains. The shower was amazing and there was even Aveda products for the toiletries.

Friday we stayed in and had dinner at the restaurant at the hotel. It was very yummy. I had pizza and Rob steak with these amazing scalloped potatoes. I was happy that they had sparkling lemonade to drink since I'm limited to what I can drink. We got a wild blueberry cobbler to bring to our room. Yum.

Saturday Rob got up super early to run in the gym since he's training for the NYC Marathon. I got to wake up on my own and take it nice and slow since there were no dogs bugging me for breakfast. It was such a nice moment for me. After Rob got back we had breakfast at the hotel. I had a fresh made croissant with egg and fresh made sausage and Rob had steel cut oatmeal. We decided we didn't want to do what we always do in Asheville, walk around downtown looking at all the same places we always look at. So we decided to finally check out the famous Biltmore house/mansion/castle.

We were surprised to find that it was barely a 10 minute drive to get to the Biltmore. Even more surprising when you see how much open land it's on. I think I read it's like on around 125,000 acres. The house itself was just grand. We spent the afternoon walking through the rooms and such, all still set up from the early 1900's. We even got to see an old fashion basement pool, it was so big! I wish it was filled to really see it.  And the view from the terrace....breath taking! Just hills and woods, not a modern building in site. Walking the house took us about 2 hours and we were beat afterwards. We then drove to the Antler Village on the grounds to check out that area and have some lunch. Sadly we didn't go to the winery, not really exciting when you're pregnant. Oh and how jealous I was of everyone on their bikes going around the property, how awesome would that be? I'd go again just to be able to bring my bike and ride around the property. I'm really glad we went to the Biltmore. It just relaxed me even more, even with all the crowds. It was just so nice seeing some american history.

Since we were exhausted, we decided to stay in that night. Not before we made a stop at a beer store for Rob, who got some pretty sweet beers. Jealous. We just spent the rest of the night watching crappy cable and me eating leftovers and Rob a wrap from the hotel.

Sunday we got up bright and early, had breakfast. I got the steel cut oatmeal this time with dried apricots, walnuts and honey....pregnancy super meal! I even treated myself to a decaf soy latte.
Then it was time to head home.

It was just so nice to get away. I told Rob we'll have to do this a couple more times before the baby comes. Maybe not splurge like we did, but just to get away and clear our heads. Like I mentioned before, I felt amazing during this trip, no pregnancy symptoms at all. Lovely.

13 Weeks

Looks like I still have one more week in my first trimester. So many sources say different things, but it seems like most says 14 weeks, what I always thought before too.

So one more week!

Look at that shirt! I'm starting to fill it in! I'm getting rounder more around the upper area rather than just in the lower area. You should see me after dinner time, it's quite comical.

This weekend we went to Asheville, NC for a much needed mini vacation. It was so great because I felt awesome! No queasy, no headaches, things smelled fine, food was yummy, sleep felt good...lovely. The only hint that I had that I was pregnant was slowing walking around The Biltmore for a couple hours really wore me out. My legs were shaky a bit once we were finished with the tour.

This was also the first time were we ate out a lot. I had to be careful what I ordered. A lot of the stuff I wanted had cheeses that I'm not allowed to have. No bacon wrapped mission figs with goat cheese for me. Most meals, I just ate half my order and saved the rest. And I think that really helps me not feel queasy because when we got home, I had a big lunch and ate more than I should've and I felt sick for the rest of the day.

Next week I have my monthly check up. I love going to the doctors, it just makes things feel a bit more real.

Pregnancy Ups and Downs

sprout - 12weeks 3 days

I thought I'd start a weekly pregnancy ups and downs. Fridays sound like a good day!

Pregnancy Ups:
- We got to see sprout again! Our screening ultrasound went really well and sprout moved around quite a bit after some poking from the ultra sound teach. We even got to see it turn. Amazing!!

- I am feeling about 80% normal now. I usually only feel icky after big meals and well, my headaches are a pain, but *shrugs* comes with the territory.

- I started sleeping with my Leechco pregnancy pillow (that I got a garage sale, but it was clean and I cleaned it again myself!). A little early, but I've been getting pain and tingling in my hips so I knew I needed to sleep with a pillow between the knees and this Leechco pillow is awesome! I have better quality sleep when I actually do get to sleep.

Pregnancy Downs:
- While the Leechco pillow is amazing, I still wake up a lot and often have a hard time falling back asleep. And this marks the first week I had to pee more than once at night and getting a charlie horse. Good-bye sleep.

- Smells still really bother me and I've noticed that that's what usually brings on my headaches. Smells that are the worst are garbage, cigarette smoke, heavy air fresheners and the litter box.

- I haven't exercised since Saturday and I've only walked the dogs once this week. I'm trying to tell myself that it's only the first trimester and soon I'll have the energy and will to get moving again.

12 weeks

I can't believe I'm at the end of my first trimester!

Nothing much has changed since last week. I know, just boring! Although, yesterday I noticed the bloating had kind of gone away and I'm just getting bigger around the front now. My tummy area is feeling more solid underneath. The next couple of weeks I'm going to start popping. Yes!!

I've trashed all my old make up, which is barely anything, and bought a natural powder foundation and a natural eyeliner. This is something I've been trying to do before, but now that I'm pregnant, I'm really trying to use only good stuff on my face and body. I even use natural hairspray. And truthfully, I'm not spending that much more, in fact it's still cheaper than getting department store beauty supplies. Any changes I can make to help ease my mind on what I'm putting in mine and my baby's body, the better.

But....on the other hand. I had two deli meat sandwiches this weekend! Scandalous! Rest assured, both sandwiches were heated up. I have been craving sandwiches forever now, falls into my comfort food craving. And even though both sandwiches were pretty heated up and toasted and tasted sooooo delicious, I still had that nagging worry and paranoia. *sigh* Hopefully that'll keep that craving at bay for a while.

This week we go for the Nuchal Folds Test and blood test to check for chromosomal abnormalities. A little nerve-wracking, but it's good peace of mind. Also, we'll get to see sprout again and that's totally worth it!