Pregnancy Highlights: 25 weeks

I saw this on someone's blog (who is clearly also pregnant, and thought it was super cute and a fun way to remember all of the pregnancy joys....or pains).

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 25 weeks, 6 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 13 pounds (I have an appt next Wednesday so we'll see how that changes by then ha!)

Maternity Clothes: Yep -- mostly Motherhood Maternity and Target

Best Moment this week: Feeling him kick several times in a row from the outside.

Gender: It's A Boy - Carter Nicholas

Movement: More and more...very squirmy while I'm at work, calmer at night (you know, during the good times for daddy to feel him). Starting to kick harder now.

Food Craving: CEREAL! Pretty much any kind, at any point of the day. And fondue. Oh, and hot dogs (yes, still).

What I miss: My unsweetened iced tea when we go out to eat, sleeping on my stomach, not peeing every 2 hours.

Sleep: Sleep? What is sleep? Kidding, kidding. I definitely don't sleep as well as I used to because my bladder is being used as a punching bag and I can't sleep on my stomach, but I've adapted fairly well, especially when Seth came home one day with an awesome body pillow and a fleecy cover for me!

What I am looking forward to: Picking out his furniture this weekend and setting up the nursery eventually. And OF COURSE looking forward to meeting him. I've started getting emotional when I watch A Baby Story, Deliver Me, and pretty much every birthing show on TLC because I can't wait to meet the little guy!

Symptoms: Weird foot pain this week that seems to be unexplained. Oh well, pretty much gone now. Nothing else really...occasionally, I'll get a 10-15 second bout of nausea but it goes away so quickly I can hardly complain.

More next week!

Last day in the 3-digits!

Today is 100 days until my due date, which means tomorrow, we officially cross into double digits!!!! :)

We might have a soccer player.

Up until now, I have only felt Carter kick from the outside a handful of times total. Well, now, it is much more consistent and very cool.

When all of this random, crazy foot pain drama has been going on, the doctor's office had me do a "kick count" just to make sure everything was okay with the baby. They didn't suspect it wouldn't be, but better safe than sorry. And wouldn't you know, I drank several back-to-back glasses of cold water, took a short walk, laid down on my left side, and that little guy wanted NOTHING to do with kicking consistently.

We ended the kick count (everything was fine, by the way) and I hang up the phone and SURE ENOUGH, he kicks like 20 times right in a row. I swear, he was laughing at me in there.

And last night, when we were at the ultrasound appointment to check for deep vein thrombosis (again, everything was fine...no DVT or any clots at all!), I was resting my hands on my stomach and he kicked hard....really hard. And 3 or 4 times in a row. I tell Seth to hurry come over and feel (because he hasn't yet), and he stops kicking the instant Seth puts his hand on my stomach. Seth sits down, he kicks. Seth puts his hand there, he stops.

This little guy might give me a run for my money. :)

25 weeks...

This little munchkin -- who isn't so "little" anymore -- has taken a hobby in squirming on demand (when we move my stomach), kicking me square in the bladder, and causing me oodles and oodles of heartburn/reflux. Oh, and prohibiting me from seeing my feet anymore. :)

But I can't wait to meet the little guy! We're actively preparing for his arrival (giving ourselves plenty of time, of course)...this weekend alone, I reoganized the linen closet and hung up more of his clothing. Plus, we've begun several things on our "to-do" list.

Gotta make sure everything is just perfect for when he gets here!!! :)

Some random thoughts...

A few random thoughts for the day:

- I think it's so fun that the baby is to a stage where, if he falls asleep, I can put my hands on my stomach and move them quickly and he wakes up! It'll probably be the only time in life I want to willingly wake a sleeping baby, but it's fun for now! :)

- My sister's friend, Mary Beth, gave me a huge bag of maternity clothing to borrow and I'm soooo excited! I've been needing some new stuff and everything is in my size and perfect for the winter season! YAY!!!!

- I have a pre-natal massage tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited!! My grandma and grandpa got me a gift card for Christmas and, even though it's only been a few weeks, it has been burning a hole in my pocket. It's best to get them in the 2nd trimester so I figured I better get on that because I'm almost into my 3rd already -- YAY again! Also, the nurse I talked to at the ob/gyn's office said she doesn't recommend these massages because they aren't scientifically proven to be beneficial (um no, but RELAXING! haha). So I got all worried/sad and emailed my doctor as one last check and she said to "have a blast -- you'll love it!!!!" So now that I have her blessing, I will FULLY enjoy. :)

- Seth and I went on a date out to eat tonight. We went for Italian and I thought it was delicious. Baby, on the other hand, did not like it.

- I finished painting Carter's closet doors and touching up the rest of the doors in the house. We also organized the pantry. Tomorrow's project -- organizing the hall closet!

- 3 months and 16 days (hopefully sooner!) til I meet the cutie little baby boy whose ultrasound picture I stare at on my computer desktop every single day.

What's new with you? :)

The "honey-do" list

It seems like we have plenty of time to get everything done before Carter arrives, but according to my handy dandy little countdown, his due date is in 3 months and 19 days, which, when you say it like that, doesn't seem like that much time.

So I allowed the nesting to kick into full gear yesterday. I decided to paint Carter's new closet doors because we've procrastinated for months already. When I had the paint out (which is the same paint as all of the other doors/trim in our house), I decided that I would touch up all of the doors and baseboards to get rid of the 2-year's-worth of scuff marks and doggy nose prints.

And then while I was doing that, decided that if Seth got me the paint for the kitchen from the supply closet, I would touch up the kitchen too. He also got my the hallway paint, which I have every intention of touching up too but I just ran out of time and energy. This could have maybe waited a little longer, but he took the magic eraser to the spots on the wall with a vengence and took some paint off. Love him for trying though. :)

As we relaxed and chatted, I realized there are A LOT of things I need/want to get done before he arrives for my sanity (and Seth's!) and peace of mind. This will serve as my to-do list:
- replace outlet cover that is broken and put those foam things behind the ones in the baby's room to stop any drafts.
- touch up hallway paint
- take down the 2nd Christmas tree in the basement before he goes to college
- order his furniture (which we've tried, but there is always one piece out of stock...we waited too long, and now they all are. Here's to hoping they're back in stock soon!)
- Put together the furniture, swings, and any other things that may need assembling.
- Organize linen closet to make way for baby things
- Pare down the 5 "junk drawers" in our house to 1...max.
- Continue on our "eat from the pantry and freezer" mission to make some room in there (and use up some stuff!)
- Clean/organize the garage
- Clean/organize our storage room in the basement, including Seth's tool bench. Gives me anxiety just looking at it.
- Go through our drawers and donate all of the clothing we don't use/doesn't fit.
- Catch up on all of my laundry, fold it, and PUT IT ALL AWAY (which we'll have room for once we do the step above).
- Clean all of the baseboards in the house.
- Deep clean both showers/tubs and replace shower curtains.

That's all for now. It makes me tired thinking of it, but it will ensure that I am not stressed when he arrives in just over THREE MONTHS. Crazy!!!! But I can't wait to meet him and hold the one who has been using my bladder as a punching bag. :)

Funny in hindsight.

You know how I said I am emotional and can cry at the drop of a hat? Well, that was further proven last night. I was laying on the couch reading a pet supply catalog (yes, a pet supply catalog) called Drs. Foster and Smith that we've been getting since we got Bentley. They sell dog treats, beds, bones, etc.

In the centerfold, there was a small, 1/2 page story about "understanding euthanasia."

I made the bad decision to read it, and prompty broke down into tears.

I think Seth is counting down the days more than me. :) I love my puppy, what can I say?!?

My Babies R Us Rant.

Everyone knows pregnant ladies can be emotional. I am no exception. I can cry at the drop of a hat over the dumbest things. And it's not all crying....it can be frustration to anger to shear happiness in 2 minutes flat. But right now, I am MAD and am about to vent one tiny little bit to clear my head.

You would think that Babies R Us, after having MILLIONS of people register, would get their act together. Seth and I spent a lot of time building our registry for things for our little BABY BOY. BOY, Babies R Us, did you hear me? BOY! Therefore, we were especially careful to scan the boy version of things we wanted.

Only for me to come home and find that half of it was switched to "Girl" on our registry. I patiently removed and re-added every.single.thing in boy, because, you know, that's WHAT WE'RE HAVING. And every.single.morning, the stuff switches back to girl. I've already had to remove the pacifiers I wanted and just go with clear because I'm sick of dealing with pink vs. blue. I said blue, so stop putting pink.

And I'm sick and tired of putting blue and green feeding bowls on there for them to turn pink and purple every morning. I added a note at the top that if something says "pink" or "girl" for people to ignore and get the boy, but it still frustrates me, just about to the point of losing it.

I'm being irrational, I'm aware. But trust me, in exactly 1 minute, Babies R Us is getting a call from me, and I'm not going to be the happiest pregnant lady at 9:00 am.

So Babies R Us, let's get it together please. If I click blue, let's assume I want blue.

......and off my soapbox.

A list...because my mind is wandering and has not come back yet.

Blogging has become almost non-existent because life has slowed down a bit over the past few weeks. Plus, when it is busy, I am far too tired or in "outer space" (if you know what I mean) to write something that others would comprehend.

So, for now, a list of stuff. Stuff that has been happening and a few of life's going-ons:

1. Carter kicks so frantically sometimes that it makes me feel nauseous. And one time when the baby is asleep right before I go to bed, I will probably come up with a terrible idea to be silly and do a funny dance to "wake him up." Which it will. Which will prevent me from sleeping because he'll kick me in the cervix. Hypothetically speaking, of course. ;)

2. I napped at 10:30 a.m. yesterday, the second I walked in the door from church.

3. We registered this weekend, which was fun and slightly overwhelming. Probably because I was hungry and thirsty (what, am I FIVE?!?) and there were too many people around me. And then when I came home, saw that things we specifically scanned "boy" came up girl on the registry. As in "2 pack pacifier - GIRL." No, no, no. We scanned BOY. All has been fixed now though, thanks to some handy-dandy registery updates from home.

4. We went to the farm show yesterday. So did 134,000 other people. Seriously, we waited in line to go up the steps to the second floor. It was crazy.

5. I have a new niece, Emily Lynn!!! She was born yesterday at 10:47 a.m. and looks EXACTLY like her big brother. Well, for now at least. We're very excited to meet her!!!

6. I am craving hot dogs and cheese fondue. Separately, of course.

That's about all for now! What's new with you? :)

(Almost) 23-week Appointment

I had my 23 week appt today (at 22w5d) and everything was great! Baby Carter's heartbeat was 151 beats per minute and he was squirmy for the nurse (I saw a nurse practioner today which was fine by me because I really, really liked her). I absolutely loved that she asked me his name and then used it during the appointment. Exactly why I wanted to share his name--so people can talk about him, pray for him, and get more "personal" with him before he's even born.

She did that whole measure-the-stomach thing and said that the measurement was literally spot on for how far along I am--so baby is not measuring too big or small, but just perfect! She said my weight gain is perfect too!

At my next appointment, I have the glucose test where I have to drink a weird orange drink and then have blood drawn to test for gestational diabetes.

Also, tonight is mine and Seth's first childbirth preparedness class. We are participating in a clinical trial for the hospital (for some big bucks!) which included a home visit and us taking a childbirth class for 6 Wednesday evenings (which we were going to take anyway). I sort of laugh just thinking about it...I can't imagine being serious when she tells me to lean against Seth and take deep breaths and go to the happy place. :)

Anyway, that's all for baby's appointment details for now. Yesterday I got him 3 super cute new shirts -- one was plain, one said "Most Eligible Bachelor," and one said "Big Guy." I love them all!!!!!!

Jamaica Wrap-Up: The Brief Version

Well, we're back to the cozy 19 degrees of PA. What a shock coming from the 80s!

We had a great time in Jamaica -- we spent most of the time relaxing by the pool, swimming in the ocean (more Seth than me), eating out (and not having to clean up or pay, per se, since it was an all-inclusive and was already paid for), playing games, etc.

The weather was gorgeous when we got there...I think it was about 85 and super sunny. We were SO HOT until we got to the resort, which was a brief TWO HOUR DRIVE (sense the sarcasm :) from the airport. And, the pregnant lady was star-ving to say the least. We dropped our bags and headed straight to lunch!!!

For the most part, the weather was nice the whole time, with the exception of Wednesday and Thursday when it was fairly overcast most of the day (and super windy!). We decided to forego the swimming suits for the morning, and head out on a shopping excursion. I'm not a huge fan of being hounded by locals, but we were able to haggle for a few souvenirs, including a tiny little green t-shirt for baby Carter (it WAS his first vacation, afterall!) :)

Thursday was also overcast with rain off and on. At one point, I got so tired of packing up my stuff and retreating to the roof area that I just went and got an extra beach towel and went under that while it rained. At about 2 pm, the sun finally came out and we enjoyed some time soaking up the little bit of sun we got that day!

New Year's Eve was loud and fun -- the resort was decked out and they transformed the pool and beach area into a huge buffet and whatnot. Fun to celebrate the new year in a completely different environment.

The food was pretty good, but not amazing. Well, scratch that. I'm sure it WAS amazing if you like seafood and spicy things, but I'm more of a plain Jane kind of eater.

Friday was spent at the pool all day, followed by dinner at the most yummy restaurant at the whole resort...we had beef wellington. YUM! :) Saturday, we spent a few hours at the pool before we packed up and headed 2 hours BACK to the airport, waited in line to check in/immigration/customs/security for 2 more hours, and finally got on the plane. It is said that Jamaicans are on "island time," and let me assure you, that is so very true.

Flight times are mere suggestions to Air Jamaica. They will leave when they see fit. A pretty uneventful flight home made way for the most scary last 10-15 minutes and landing of all time. The wind and turbulence were HORRENDOUS, and I was white knuckling the seat the whole time. I would compare it to the longest and most intense roller coaster ride of all time. And the screaming kids all around us made it so much more relaxing (oh wait, sense the sarcasm there too!) :) The plane was basically just careening back and forth towards the airport. We were at the window so one minute you saw Baltimore, one minute you didn't, then you did, then you didn't. NERVE. WRACKING.

As we approached the runway, I was fairly certain that we were going to overshoot it before the pilot managed to get the wings leveled out and touch down because the runway lights were flying by underneath us. We touched down and braked so hard, I thought I was going to slam through the seat in front of me. Good times, good times.

But we're home and all was great...had a wonderful time away from the cold to rest and relax. I can never get enough of that gorgeous blue water and sunny skies!! :) Pictures to follow when my photo account stops acting up!