28 Weeks

Weeks along: 28

What's new with baby: Little man is the size of a roller blade. His lungs are more mature, he now has eyelashes and he's continuing to pack on the baby fat.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Symptoms: Feeling great this week! My lower back was a bit sore after working out this week, but went away after a quick trip to the chiropractor.

Cravings: I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies so I made some this week. I brought the bulk of the batch to work, but not before I had more than my fair share ;).

Workouts: A 5k walk on Sunday and two 35 minute elliptical sessions with weights at the end.

Baby Purchases: I bought this rug for his nursery. I want to create an inviting space for his room, but having pregnancy brain seriously hinders my decision making abilities. After looking for a couple weeks straight, I kept going back to this one, so Nate convinced me to go ahead and order it :-).

High point of the week: Trivia night with my bestie and her boyfriend. The  4 of us took second place and won a total of $25 (woo!). To celebrate Nate and I went to Sonic afterwards for a little treat.

Concerns/Issues: Just trying to prioritize everything before he's here. There's a lot we need to do in terms of getting his nursery all ready, saving for when I'm on maternity leave and then taking care of some bigger stuff before (car maintenance, dog teeth cleanings). I know we can get it all done, I'm just impatient and would like to have everything scratched off the list well in advance.

Missing: Skiing, but what's new? :-)

Sleep: Still great! Some weird dreams, but I can't complain.

Looking forward to: Going to dinner with our friends tomorrow night in KC for restaurant week.

27 Weeks

Daisy decided she wanted to be in the picture this week ;)

Weeks along: 27

What's new with baby: Baby is now the size of a camping lantern and is just shy of 2 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Symptoms: Continuing to feel good, but definitely slowing down a little. Last night I fell asleep on the couch at 8:15ish, woke back up at 9:15, and then promptly went to bed and didn't wake up until 6:30 in the morning. I guess I better enjoy it while I still can ;-).

Cravings: Besides eating all the fruit, I had a craving for Chipotle after my doctor's appointment, so Nate obliged and we had an early dinner.

Workouts: 2 2 mile walks and one 25 minute elliptical session, plus some weights sprinkled in.

Baby Purchases: Nothing this week. I'm trying to figure out how to decorate the rest of the nursery, but I can't make up my mind on what would work well with the furniture and colors we have.

High point of the week: My doctor's appointment. It's always great to hear little man's heartbeat and spend some extra time with Nathan when he comes.

Concerns/Issues: I had a mini panic attack dealing with our new insurance this week. Nate had sent in our marriage certificate multiple times to verify me as a dependent, and when he checked on it Tuesday it showed me as "denied." Uh, yea, being 6 months pregnant and not having insurance is NOT an option. Luckily after we faxed them the marriage certificate (for the third time) and some tax documents ASAP we got it all worked out, but it made for a pretty stressful day.

Missing: Skiing/traveling

Sleep: Continues to be good. I wake up every now and then with some back/hip pain, but for the most part it's been a solid 8 1/2-9 hours. I have no idea how I'm going to adjust when I'm living off of a couple hours of broken sleep.

Looking forward to: My sister-in-law's baby shower this weekend. She's due just 7 weeks before me with a little girl and I cannot wait to celebrate her and our soon-to-be niece!

26 Weeks

 

It's crazy how much things change in 6 short weeks :-)

Weeks along: 26

What's new with baby: He's now the size of a head of a lettuce and is anywhere from 13 1/2 to almost 15 inches long! His eyes after being closed shut will open soon, and he's continuing to learn how to breathe by swallowing amniotic fluid.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Symptoms: Feeling good this week! With the belly growing bigger and bigger I'm starting to feel my sense of balance shift and my hips loosen, but I'm not quite at the waddling stage yet ;-)

Cravings: Nothing in particular, but I've definitely turned into a snack monster. Fruit, granola bars and peanut butter on crackers have all been consumed frequently this week.

Workouts: Getting better. Managed to squeeze in a 30 minute walk, a BodyPump class and a 30 minute elliptical session + 1 mile walk this week.

Baby Purchases: Nothing that I've bought, but his grandma and grandpa have sure made up for my lack of purchases :-). They got him a whole slew of stuff this week from clothes to a crib mattress. All three of us are so lucky to have such supportive families.

High point of the week: Nate and I did a date night on Saturday and it was fantastic. We saw The Big Short, which if you haven't seen I highly recommend.

Concerns/Issues: I had a nightmare about the baby last night. Even though it's silly I've been thinking more and more today about how I hope we both are healthy when he's born.

Missing: Nothing this week.

Sleep: Like a million times better this week. I've been getting a solid 8-9 hours every night with only waking up once or twice. I wish I could say I had more energy as a result, but it has at least made waking up easier.

Looking forward to: My baby showers! I have some awesome family and friends that I can't wait to celebrate with. They're not for another month or so, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.

25 Weeks

Weeks along: 25

What's new with baby: Baby M is the side of a head of cauliflower (anywhere from 13.5-14.8 inches) and is packing on some weight. He now has a sense of balance so he knows up from down, and he's been stealing my antibodies as his immune system strengthens.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Symptoms: The beginning of this week still started off rough, but thanks to some antibiotics my sinuses now don't throb and I'm starting to be able to breathe through my nose again. Little man seems to be unaffected by my cold because he's active as ever, so at least one of us has some energy :)

Cravings: That Taco Bell craving definitely came back, and this time I let the floodgates open and had a crunchwrap. I think it's been a solid 5 years since my last one, but it totally hit the spot and now that I can breathe again I was actually able to taste it.

Workouts: Even though my energy levels were still down, I managed to squeeze in a couple walking workouts and a Body Pump class.

Baby Purchases: I couldn't resist the after-Christmas sales, so I picked up a couple outfits for him from the clearance rack at Gap. They're so cute, and each item was only $6 after all the discounts so it was definitely a win!

High point of the week: Feeling better for sure! I had some pretty rough moments the 2+ weeks I've been sick so it was such a blessing to start to feel like myself.

Concerns/Issues: Nothing this week. Just focusing on babe and I getting back to 100%.

Missing: Not being restricted by anything. With us finally getting some winter weather all I want to do is hike and ski (and maybe have a glass of champs or two for New Years), but I won't be partaking since making sure babe is safe is my first priority. As much as this pregnancy has been easy, I have to come clean and say that there are some days where I'm ready for him to be here instead of continuing to be pregnant. Props to the moms that have hard pregnancies, growing a baby is tough work.

Sleep: Better this week!

Looking forward to: Feeling more prepared for his arrival by getting some of his room done!

15 for 2015: Final Recap

Happy New Year's Eve! It's crazy to think that 2015 is almost over. This past year Nate and I traveled, spent a lot of time with family and friends, both transitioned to newish jobs (well, I went back to my old job, but it was a new team so I'm counting it!) and announced that our little family will be growing by one. I'd say 2015 was a great year, and I'm looking forward to the challenges and promise that 2016 brings. I didn't check off everything on my list, but overall I'm satisfied with how keeping myself accountable meant that I got some stuff accomplished that I don't think I would have otherwise. Here's how I did on my 15 for 2015 list:

1. Try 6 new recipes that aren't desserts (and post the review/recipe on here).Done! The final list is below. My favorites from the list are definitely the baked chicken parm and the creamy chicken buttermilk dumplings. The chicken parm is soooo easy to make, healthy and delish. The chicken and buttermilk dumpling recipe is definitely more involved, but was well worth the labor and the one recipe where both Nathan and I were fighting over the last leftover. 
1.  Zucchini Lasagna
2.  Baked Chicken Parm 
3. Cheeseburger Casserole,
4. Bangin' Good Shrimp,
5. Creamy Chicken Buttermilk Dumplings. 
6. Roasted Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Pizza
2. Read 5 new books. Read 10 new books. So I met my original goal of 5, but came 3 books short of 10. I think averaging a little over a book every two months was a good pace, and I definitely read more this year than I have any other so I'm still counting this a win. 
1. Bossypants by Tina Fey
2. Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me? by Mindy Kaling
3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (seriously, SO good!)
4. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
5. The Vacationers by Emma Staub
6. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
7. Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult 
3. Try something that takes me out of my comfort zone. Done, well....almost :). I guess having a baby technically is something that's going to come in 2016, but deciding to start a family was a big step. 
1. Having a baby
2. Pushing myself skiing (hello black diamond runs!)
3. Flying 8 (yes, freaking 8) times over the 6 day trip for work to Puerto Rico, Barbados and Trinidad. 
4. Take pictures for at least 4 family functions. I was just one shy of making my goal, but a nasty cold and being exhausted meant I was in no mood to take pictures this Christmas. 
1. Family Ski Vacation - Colorado
2. Little Brother's Graduation
3. Ashton's first birthday party
5. Hang pictures of family/friends on the walls (this sounds simple, but our home has had nearly bare walls...for almost 2 years). Complete! 
   
6. Send a birthday card in the mail to 3 6 friends/family members. Met my original goal of 3, but didn't step up to do 6. 
7. Do an act of kindness. I think this is halfway done. I paid for a stranger's coffee, and Nate and I adopted a family from our local community shelter. Nathan was the one to really dive into the adopt-a-family by offering us to help, so I can't take most of the credit, but it was nice to be able to help out a family in need. 
8. Visit 3 places I've never been before. Complete!
1. Trinidad
2. Barbados
3. Puerto Rico
4. North Carolina
5. Atlanta
9. Follow a clean eating or whole 30 plan for a week (hopefully longer, but baby steps, right?) Yea, this definitely didn't happen. Could it have? Yes. This will definitely be on my list for 2016. 
10. Work back up to running a 5k again, straight through. Completed on the treadmill in July, but never got to it outside. Right now running seems downright laughable, but once baby comes I'm looking forward to getting back into it. 
11. Blog at least 24 times. Done! 
12. Clean out/organize all of the closets in our house. I'd say this was about 80% complete. Before our little guy gets here I'm planning on doing an overhaul on our basement/closets (baby stuff takes up a lot of space!) so we can donate/purge everything we don't use or need.
13. Surprise my husband in some way. Surprised N with tickets to Modest Mouse in September. 
14. Do a house project.  Complete! Painted the house and put on new shutters, and then in early November we replaced our kitchen back splash with tile in lieu of tin. 
15. Go visit a friend that lives in another state. Done! Visited our friends in Atlanta over Labor day weekend. 

-A

24 Weeks

Weeks along: 24

What's new with baby: Baby is the size of a cantaloupe and is just about a foot long. His skin is becoming less see-through and the new capillaries that are forming in his skin are making it pinker as well.While little man still has 16 more weeks until he's fully cooked, he'd have a chance out in the world if he came early.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Symptoms: Pregnancy-wise, still feeling great, but I've officially hit the week mark with this cold and I'm so freaking over it. Unfortunately there's nothing my doctor can really do since it's a virus, so I just have to let it run its course. I'm still taking Sudafed maybe once or twice a day and then one Benadryl tablet at night to help me sleep. It helps a tiny bit, but not much. Fingers crossed that by Christmas it's all cleared up!

Cravings: I had a massive craving for a Taco Bell taco this week, but with everyone being out and about for last-minute shopping, the line was ridiculous so I opted out. Don't worry though, I've still been eating all the Christmas treats at work this week ;)

Workouts: Nada. Nothing. And probably won't happen until I feel better.

Baby Purchases: Bought our little guy this outfit that says "Mommy's Little Cub" on it from Carter's on Sunday. I know we'll probably be overloaded with boy outfits, but I just couldn't pass it up.

High point of the week: Christmas, of course!

Concerns/Issues: Just want to be able to sleep with my mouth closed again.

Missing: Being able to take all the medicine without hesitating. I've been staying away from taking anything besides my pre-natals throughout this pregnancy, but I finally caved towards the end of the week and got the clear from my OB to take some Sudafed and Benadryl to help with my cold.

Sleep: With being really congested sleep has been hit or miss, but I <3 the Snoogle. Actually, the entire family does. I've caught N stealing it at night to put in between his legs, and the pugs love resting their head on it.


Looking forward to: Getting everything for his nursery and putting it together.

23 Weeks

A little late, but better late than never! 

Weeks along: 23

What's new with baby: Baby boy is the size of a grapefruit and his face is fully formed.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Symptoms: Was feeling great this week...until N brought home a cold. This whole weakened immune system kind of sucks, but I'm just trying to take it easy. Fingers crossed it doesn't last long.

Cravings: Cheeze-its were on my mind this week, besides all the sweets.

Workouts: Thanks to being sick, only got in one 3 mile walk/run with weights afterwards. Taking a break from pushing myself until I feel better.

Baby Purchases: None this week, although my mom bought him a couple soft blankets for his room.

High point of the week: My dad painted the nursery and installed some new closet doors for little man. My friend Jenny and I also did our annual baking day, which is always fun and helps me get in the Christmas spirit :-).

Concerns/Issues: Just wanting to make sure this cold doesn't progress into anything that could harm baby M.

Missing: Being able to take all the medicine without hesitating. I've been staying away from taking anything besides my pre-natals throughout this pregnancy, but I finally caved towards the end of the week and got the clear from my OB to take some Sudafed and Benadryl to help with my cold.

Sleep: With being really congested sleep has been hit or miss, but I <3 the Snoogle. Actually, the entire family does. I've caught N stealing it at night to put in between his legs, and the pugs love resting their head on it.


Looking forward to: Getting everything for his nursery and putting it together.